Trash or treasure?

[Rustic23]

DW's father dies awhile back, and Sister is the executor. It is going on 8 months and the house is still not up for sale. It is going to take over a year to get it ready for the estate sale. I have told DW that the cost of holding the house will out weigh what ever they will make on the estate sale. The house is a tear down. Holding cost on the house is about $600 a month.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan I just cleared out the family home of 71 years in a city 2500 miles from here. I can appreciate this thread. Used a contents/estate sale advertised widely, then craigslist and Kijiji. Sold collection of electronic magazines from the 50s to a dealer for $100. Two loads to Goodwill and Sallyann. Two truck loads to the dump. I have some rare coins and bills that I will eventually sell on ebay. (Thanks.) When I left that home for the last time, it was clear and spacious for the first time in my memory. Listed it for sale on the last Wednesday (9/23) I was in town. It sold the following Tuesday for 7% above list price. Early closing this Friday (10/16). I had to call the phone company and cancel the number that had been the family's for 71 years. (Also sold three original black dial phones.)

Ouch. That is tough, dismantling and selling 71 years of family history. At least the house sold quickly.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan I have some rare coins and bills that I will eventually sell on ebay. (Thanks.)

A couple years ago I got great help from this discussion board on assessing an old coin: CoinTalk

It's strange. Valuable sterling souvenir spoons are supposed to be polished, and valuable silver coins are supposed to be tarnished toned. Maybe one of the reasons my spoons are selling is because eBayers are buying them to clean up and resell.

[FIREd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan I just cleared out the family home of 71 years in a city 2500 miles from here. I can appreciate this thread. Used a contents/estate sale advertised widely, then craigslist and Kijiji. Sold collection of electronic magazines from the 50s to a dealer for $100. Two loads to Goodwill and Sallyann. Two truck loads to the dump. I have some rare coins and bills that I will eventually sell on ebay. (Thanks.) When I left that home for the last time, it was clear and spacious for the first time in my memory. Listed it for sale on the last Wednesday (9/23) I was in town. It sold the following Tuesday for 7% above list price. Early closing this Friday (10/16). I had to call the phone company and cancel the number that had been the family's for 71 years. (Also sold three original black dial phones.)

Brrr... shivers...

I don't even want to think about what will happen when my dad passes away... He is the ultimate pack rat. He found a way to accommodate his ever growing collection of stuff: build new wings to the house. He just finished building wing #4 to the Hill Billy Castle as I call it. Quite frankly I wouldn't know where to start if I ever had to clean up the place.

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords A couple years ago I got great help from this discussion board on assessing an old coin: CoinTalk It's strange. Valuable sterling souvenir spoons are supposed to be polished, and valuable silver coins are supposed to be tarnished toned. Maybe one of the reasons my spoons are selling is because eBayers are buying them to clean up and resell.

This should be in the dreamed of board member thread, but last night I dreamed i was on an ebay auction site, some German auction, and the seller mentioned in his ad copy a relative going to America with a commemorative spoon (describing an old photo for sale?). In my dream I copied the auction # and got it to you Nords on the off chance that that was your Grandpa mentioned. All seemed very ordinary. I couldn't have an off-color dream about booted bbbbam? http://mylifeisaverage.com/index.php?page=12∂=year

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustic23 The house is a tear down. Holding cost on the house is about $600 a month.

The time needed to deal with things is often priceless. In spite of the natural tendency to let someone else dispose of it all, the process itself provides a fair amount of closure.

Ours was also a teardown, and I asked if they would discount things much if it was still full...the answer was that it is not an option. There are companies that will come in and do it all now. But I could not live with that. I had this board consisting of Mom, Dad and Bro overseeing the process.

[Nords]

Amazing. Nearly three days left on the last lot of auctions and one of the spoons (300356522144) has been bid up to $27 with nine bids from five different bidders. It's the kind of bidding that makes me wonder if I missed something in my research. And I can't understand why they're tipping their hands by bidding now.

One bidder from Germany has entered bids on all but a silverplate spoon and a wooden display rack. (Apparently they're not concerned that I'm only offering to pay for U.S. shipping.) Some of these bidders have buyer's feedback ratings over 4000 and have won 60-140 items in the last month.

I'm not surprised to see a bunch of watchers gather during the week and then start a bidding frenzy in the auction's final five minutes. However I don't understand this group's behavior. Of the seven items that have bids, five of them have at least four bids. I can only imagine what Sunday afternoon/evening is going to look like. Although for the German bidder it's going to be more like 1 AM Monday, and I'm not looking forward to calculating shipping costs to Germany.

I'm also surprised at the lack of feedback for the first six items I've sold. One buyer promptly gave feedback as soon as the spoon arrived in the mail, but I've heard nothing from the other five. One of them even closed his eBay account. It's not just the lack of feedback, but even no response to “your spoon is in the mail” e-mails. Maybe they're all buying so much that they can't be bothered with e-mail or feedback.

But their money's good. So far.

[kcowan]

I think you have established credibility as a credible spoon supplier. This would be a big issuer, especially for bidders outside the US. It raises the point that maybe the best approach is to run a couple of auctions until you get positive feedback. Then your audience for futue auctions will be bigger and bids probably higher.

[Orchidflower]

Told you those spoons were collectibles...so happy for you!

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan I think you have established credibility as a credible spoon supplier. This would be a big issuer, especially for bidders outside the US. It raises the point that maybe the best approach is to run a couple of auctions until you get positive feedback. Then your audience for futue auctions will be bigger and bids probably higher.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower Told you those spoons were collectibles...so happy for you!

In that case I'm going to retire from this unexpected career, at the top of my game, in just 31 hours...

[igsoy]

During the past year I have been buying and selling some stuff on craigslist, I think it's pretty cool. I started buying exercise equipment for my friend who was opening a training studio. Then I started gathering equipment to make my own garage workout area.

In doing that I had come across some people just selling all the equipment they had because they were moving, or needed the basement room, whatever, they sold all this equipment for pretty cheap just to get it gone. I just wanted a couple things they had, but took it all and then sold the rest back on Craigslist for more than the whole set cost in the first place. So I end up with a profit plus the stuff I wanted was free, haha. Since then I have bought a lot more sets of stuff, and kept what I wanted and sold the rest and have now come out ahead by several k.

This works for me because I've had the whole summer off work because of my shoulder surgery, so I can be the first person to see the ad and then can show up at any time the seller would want me to. Once I've bought the stuff there is no effort required to sell it at all except knowing what people will respond to in an ad and knowing the sweet spot for selling price that makes people respond quickly.

I'll have to post a picture when I get everything in my garage set up the way I like it.

[Nords]

The auctions are over, and I've grossed $196.66. Once the rest of the payees straggle in, and after fees+mailing supplies/expenses, I'll probably net about $160.

All that's left is a Heinz 57 collectible spoon (silver plate, not sterling) and the wooden rack. (I think they'll make a lovely Goodwill donation.) I'm a bit surprised that there was no sniping on any of these auctions.

The bidder whose profile says he's from Germany won three spoons, so although the mailing expenses are a lot higher I'll still be able to save by combining shipping. But I'll probably have to take a trip up to the post office for that one. I'll have a better feel for it when I have his mailing address... and his money.

One bidder spent $37 for a spoon that matched the rest of their silver pattern. They had to beat out four others through 14 bids, but they got what they wanted.

Spouse is impressed that a spoon could bring that much-- she's going through her drawer of "wedding gifts that haven't seen daylight in 23 years".

[W2R]

Wonderful, Nords! Had you thrown all of that out, as I innocently suggested, you would have ended up with $0 instead of $160 profit. Also, you would not have had learned how to sell on E-Bay, and that sounds like fun.

Congratulations!

[Achiever51]

I knew those spoons would sell one at a time...nice return on those spoons, Nords! And thanks for an entertaining series on your experiences selling on eBay.

[Moemg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords . The bidder whose profile says he's from Germany won three spoons, so although the mailing expenses are a lot higher I'll still be able to save by combining shipping. But I'll probably have to take a trip up to the post office for that one. I'll have a better feel for it when I have his mailing address... and his money. ".

Those three spoons should fit perfectly in a priority flat rate small box. Depending on the cost you will need either the small green form or the larger form for customs .

Congratulations ,you did well for being a new seller .

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg Those three spoons should fit perfectly in a priority flat rate small box. Depending on the cost you will need either the small green form or the larger form for customs . Congratulations ,you did well for being a new seller .

Thanks! It seems easier to use the flat-rate box because it's only another $1.50 for the convenience of being able to do all the paperwork over the USPS website. I'll know in a few more days if it really worked. Our mail carrier seemed happy, anyway.

I thought it'd be a challenge to sell off all the inventory without visiting the post office. The only challenging part was estimating total shipping weights, and I was able to do that during one visit to their automated kiosk. If I had a postal scale then I'd never visit the post office.

I got a big "Congratulations!!" spam e-mail from eBay for "becoming an international seller". They must be really desperate for the business.

I felt obligated to welcome the German buyer despite my "U.S. only" caveat on the listings. (Hey, he did buy three of them. I guess he figures he might as well ignore the restrictions and see if his payment is accepted.) When I was buying solar panels over eBay I encountered quite a few geography-challenged sellers whose auctions would say "U.S. only". I'd win the auction (or "Buy It Now"), send along my payment, and get quite a bit of hostile "Hey, read my listing, U.S. only!!" It was usually futile to educate them about Hawaii. They'd eventually cooperate to avoid having to deal with eBay's problem-resolution process.

I had a huge "aha!" moment at Goodwill, where aloha shirts are only $4.99-$6.99 each. Most of eBay's completed auctions went for $10-$20 each.

[RonBoyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords The only challenging part was estimating total shipping weights, and I was able to do that during one visit to their automated kiosk. If I had a postal scale then I'd never visit the post office.

Several years ago, I purchased a 10# scale from USPS. I use in mostly in the kitchen but it is pretty handy for postage. I tried the USPS website and couldn't quickly find it but it is available here:

USPS Digital Postage Scale, New $15.00 in Indiana - Free Indiana Classified Ads

[Moemg]

I bought a cheap digital scale on ebay that I use for my items . It works great so all I have to do is print the postage and go . I sell to US & Canada but I have a few regulars from Singapore that I do ship to . International sellers can be a pain because it takes a long time for the items to arrive . I shipped pants to the United Arab Emirates and they took three weeks going priority . If you print the shipping for Germany make a three copies because they need them for various custom stops . Also write down the custom number that is how the item can be traced .

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 I've threatened to put dh2b on the corner with a cup of pencils whenever he wants to buy some techno-toy that is way outside of our budget. Hmmmm...maybe not such a good idea after all (Women Be Wise music is still playing in my head).

Remember, he is "darling husband TO BE"............he can bail if he wants, so be careful........

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg I bought a cheap digital scale on ebay that I use for my items . It works great so all I have to do is print the postage and go .

I have a nasty habit of acquiring gadgets like this and then covering every horizontal surface on my desk with them. I think that's why I've been holding back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg If you print the shipping for Germany make a three copies because they need them for various custom stops . Also write down the custom number that is how the item can be traced .

Ruh-roh. I have the online receipt from the shipping label but I just taped the shipping label (which included the customs declaration) to the box. I didn't put any copies on the box. Anyone wanting copies is going to have to slap the box down on the copy machine.

Can't wait to see what comes back in the mail over the next few days.