This was a barn find that was originally covered in rust but J took it home and blasted it clean and painted it and turned a $20 item into $280! Sometimes it can pay off to restore certain items or at least make them more presentable.
Wow - I'm thankful to the turkey who paid $100 for this platter.... too much class and style for my table though
And hippopotamuses like me too...
Another toy - my favorite type of thing to sell.
Old boxes and woodenware items seem to do well.
This knob wasn't much of a turn but I always like selling reclaimed and salvaged hardware and fixtures.
In the interest of saving time and creating more value, we sometimes make 'group lots' of similar items. Boy Scout related things are fairly collectible and in hindsight, I could have made more parting this lot out.
Authentic period items like this are in demand, the problem is there are so many good quality 'aged' reproductions that it takes a trained eye to tell the difference.
This was a bit of a surprise and for an item that wasn't even made of real silver, these chopsticks really did shine!
I almost didn't want to wrap all these up for a $45 sale but what else do I have to do these days.... got to keep the business floating!
Funky vintage art can usually sell well. Knowing the name of a style or period is a big factory for helping people to find what they are collecting
The market for obscure old pieces like this is not what it used to be and I would now consider things like this to be a 'hard sell'.
People love fancy designer ornaments and this beauty flew off the shelf in the twinkle of an eye.
Like I said, with the store being closed, I'm putting things on eBay that normally would not be worth the effort. It's funny to see what people buy during the apocalypse!
Since quarantine, I've had time to look closer at certain types of items to try and find value. I remember hating the factory jacket buttons when I used to wear suits and it turns out, there is a market for designer aftermarket ones like these.
I've met several people that maintain small private military tribute museums and items even as mundane as old uniforms can have some value. Often times, the buyers want to know the name and rank of the items in question to help 'tell a story' of the owner
People love their dogs and some vintage figurines can really make for a big bark!
Most books have such low re-sale value as not to be worth the effort trying to sell but sometimes I have luck with specialized works and small collections.
Designer and studio pottery can have a strong following based on name or brand.
Vintage lighting is one of my favorite sellers.
Retro costume jewelry and fashion items are always in demand. The problem is that most such items have very little value. Since all of our business is on-line right now, I am scraping items from the bottom of the barrel just to keep the lights on.
Vintage tools and technology that were used in the military can be very collectible.
The cost of shipping larger items like this can discourage internet shoppers but this was a nice old piece that had been sitting in our store for months - and since we're closed right now I put it on eBay and it actually sold for the same price in just a day and the buyer paid shipping as well.
Old fashion accessories have some appeal but there are more of them up for sale than you might think and they are not worth too much
Another piece from the toy collection I overpaid for last year.... My entire eBay store is on sale right now and people are wanting even bigger discounts to pull the trigger on higher dollar items