When I started this venture, it was mostly to occupy the small amount of free time that I have. I've always been interested in estate sales, but not at a level where others take it. Some of these folks are down-right aggressive. At my first sale this spring, I knew I had to get their early: the listing mentioned a working 8-track player, and by gum, I was going to get it! Well, for the right price, anyway. Me, I'm perfectly willing to walk away from something, but these others... It was truly my first recent exposure to the hard-core.
I show up at the location about an hour early, and spend the time sipping my iced coffee and watching the "professionals" arrive. Hungry people with dreams of "the big score", eyeing everything in sight, peering through the windows and discussing in hushed voices their plan of attack. Fortunately, there seems to be at least a little decorum when it comes to these things. I was recognized as the "first one there" and was told numerous times that there'd be "no cutting". This put me initially at ease... until the doors opened and I was practically shoved through the door -- that was the only courtesy given. After that... well, I've walked through bar brawls with greater confidence.
Sure, I found my way to where the player had been set up and proceeded to test it out along with snagging the tapes in better condition. However, I was unprepared for the dozen folks behind me jockeying for the Christmas collectibles, each trying to snatch what they could like starving beasts. It took me about a half hour to wade my way through them so that I could pay for my items and be on my way.
Christmas nick-knacks. Really? Do these things sell? Apparently so. Someone out there can't live without a 12-piece matching set of demitasse cups with pigs dressed up with Santa hats and someone is going to profit from this condition. Poor sods, one and all.
And this is where I was able to define myself - I'm not in this for the money. Sure, I learned my lesson that it's better to grab what I can and run, sorting out the "bum tapes" after the fact. I'm kicking myself for not grabbing the remaining half-dozen 8-tracks of Elvis Christmas albums. At the time, I thought "well, I'm not a fan of Elvis nor Christmas music, so I'll just leave these here" not realizing that the ones that I did grab would sell within a day on eBay. Could I have made a bit more to cover the cost of the player? Sure. Well, now I know.
I have a friend who is also into cruising around garage sales, and I have to say that it is a bit more fun when you have a second set of eyes. We had gone to a sale recently and I will admit that I'm glad she tagged along -- while I was rooting through a box full of books and stumbled across a first printing of the first "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, she nudged me and pointed out a Ken doll with Ken as Spock from Star Trek, still in the box. Sure enough, that's one of my hotter listings at the moment. I would have passed it by.
Now we get into an area that seems murky and formidable -- antiques. I can tell if something is "old". I can not tell if it is "old and worth something", much less "old, worth something and actively in demand". My friend is somewhat the same way, but she has a rather large collection of Mason Ironstone "Brown Vista" china now sitting in my garage because her father caught wind of the eBay adventuring and wants us to sell it.
Hello... crash course taught by Prof. Google.
The dishes look nice. They've been kept in boxes, wrapped in newspaper and left mostly undisturbed. A quick search shows listings going for quite a decent amount for individual pieces, and we're sitting on something like 60+ pieces. We've identified by way of the stamps that they are most likely 1940's-1950's era... now what?
Do we sell it all as a set? Do we list individual pieces? Just the plates, then the cups? EBay is interesting in that like any auction -- the final sale price has to do with perceived worth rather than actual worth for an item: someone may think the listing of the Spock doll is too pricey, but to the person who's missing just that one from their collection... my listing must be a steal.
Getting the dishware appraised has been a bit of a hassle as well... There's a cost attached, and even the ones that have been able to talk to me at a high level have said that china "just isn't sexy right now". That phrase came from an estate sale worker that I chatted up last weekend... "Look around here... you see how much china we have here, and it's just not moving." She was right... free markets are petulant little buggers. The nice thing is, I suppose, we have time to wait until there's more interest and we know more about exactly what she has.
In the meantime, however, the lesson that I am learning is "stick to what you know". At the above estate sale, I hovered right on over to the media, gently stepping by the packs of professionals poring over the jewelry and other high-ticket items. Quietly, in a corner, I spied the records and found 20 excellent condition Disneyland storybook records from the late 60's, barely used. Learning my lesson from the Elvis Christmas 8-tracks, I decided that even though I personally have lived my adult life with a sense of satisfaction without having songs from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at my disposal, the Disney label does perk up an ear or two and sure enough... I have a couple of watchers watching a lot of 10 that I put up yesterday.
The pro's can have their nick-knacks.
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