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I'll tell you that a lot of the things we post for sale on eBay never ever sell and we never make a dime for that lost work. Some items are so hard to pigeon-hole with words and get lost among the billions of other items for sale. In any case, I thought this cute old piece had potential; the maker had her name and date of 1942 on it so I gave it a shot in the dark and while $30 isn't a huge sale, sometimes it's more about finding something a new home.

Every week we visit homes all over the area treasure hunting and we've learned to look closely at the contents of kitchen 'junk drawers'. You never know when some obscure old piece will turn up $80!

Another old Chinese piece on it's way back to where it was made. This piece wasn't particularly special in my opinion but several people drove the price up in a bidding war. Now that China is a booming economy, we're seeing a trend of citizens buying back their treasures from years ago. I just wish we could find a way to send them their stink bugs back :)

People ask us all the time if we take books and the answer is usually 'No' unless they are very old or deal with specialty topics. Like many items, books are expensive new but have hardly any value second hand. We have a small library in our store of old and eclectic works but people sometimes tell us we're crazy selling them for $5 when most thrift stores sell books for twenty five cents! Sometimes we'll find a collection from a given author and using 'media' mail we can post them online with an affordable shipping price but for the most part, books can be donated to whomever will take them.

This was another find that I had hoped for a good sale price but after nearly a year of fishing I finally let them go for fifty bucks. Just because something is old doesn't neccesarily make it valuable.

Many pieces like this just aren't in demand anymore so I was very happy to see it find a good home. The strategy for selling certain things is the sit and wait approach which can pay off - if you don't mind the sitting and waiting part :)

Old signage is always in demand - even something as mundane as a no parking notice. Anything to do with transportation is always of interest.

This pin was just costume, but it might as well have been real gold for the price we got for it. Most fine jewelry sells for close to scrap value on eBay but old fashion pieces can be in big demand.

Old and ornate architectural pieces are always in demand

Keeping in tradition with sharing old lamp sales we've made

These old panels were truly 400-500 years old. They had condition issues but were still premium items in my opinion. eBay puts our items in front of tens of millions of viewers but at a starting bid of $500, we only got one taker. I do feel we got a fair price for them but I have to admit that with a proper appraisal going through a name-brand auction with 'clout', they might have sold for significantly more. At the end of the day, they were donated to a local church so the money was found to them and these pieces found a good home.

Some types of old tools and devices can have surprising value but most things like this have been replaced by computer technology. 

True vintage music, movie, and entertainment memorabilia is always a good seller. Pop culture items go quick! On top of the $40 purchase price, the buyer paid another $30 to ship it to the UK! We live in a small world these days  

Sharing another old lamp that sold. I really thought this one would bring a little more

One of my associates had this tagged to be sold on-line for $60 but when I saw it, I knew it was a good piece that was worth a little more. Sure enough, someone quickly agreed with my price. My team member didn't do anything wrong, but some items are uncommon enough to demand a little more than what our research tells us. It pays to have more than one pair of eyes inspect things and this is how we handle your consignment items as well - we get as much as we can - keeping in mind the need to sell a given item in a timely manner.  

We find pieces like this all the time - they aren't worth what they used to be and we had to sit on this one for over a month to find that perfect buyer who would pay a fair price.  When we meet customers who have entire homes full of hard-to-sell items, consignment isn't always the best option and sometimes we just offer to outright purchase things in a 'bundle' at a 'wholesale' offer. 

We've talked about old metalware having value before. Garden and patio pieces can do particularly well but the cost of shipping heavy items to someone who wants them can really cut into the value of what an item is worth. These actually sat in our loading dock for several weeks before I processed them - most people have spare money like this lying around, how about you?!

Some types of items can be total guesswork as to whether or not they will sell and the effort to post things on the internet is significant. While $30 isn't a big sale, we're glad to see lower value things find a good home. 

Just keeping in tradition with sharing another old lamp we found a good home for. Knowing periods and styles is critical to describing items in order for them to be found by buyers.

While many antiques and collectible have dropped in value across the board in the past ten years, old cast iron is still holding on. This piece went right back to where it was made - Johnstown PA

Some pieces have such a defined period look that they simply have to be worth something. Knowing periods and styles is key to helping buyers find your items.

This was another 'mid century' item that was so awful that I knew someone would love it and sure enough it sold in just a couple weeks. A good 'picker' can find pieces like this at the thrift stores for $5 and cash in big with the right buzz words and the expertise to pack and ship it.

These things used to be all the rage and cost a fortune when new. The company took a wrong turn when they started making some of their stuff in China and then realized that the main reason their customers were paying hundreds of dollars for a freaking basket was because it was made in America. When we get collections of these, we usually just sell them in the store as the online market is flooded with them.

The market is great for old advertising and display pieces but subject matter and product determine the value. 

I knew this was a decent piece when I found it but it took months to get a price I thought I should have gotten overnight. If you have walls lined with shelves like we do, you can afford to hold out and wait but sometimes something isn't worth the space it's taking up :)