Can you stand another eBay thread?

[Thumper]

I guess I goofed off quite a bit last year. A 2-week cruise, another 2-weeks in Los Angeles (that killed a month right there) along with a bazillion 3-4 day trips for weekend getaways really cut into my selling since I close my store whenever I'm out of town. But, hitting the estate sales (IF there are any) for 2-4 hours/week, really isn't much of a strain and more fun than actual work. That's the main thing, it's a lot of fun (to me anyway). I closed the month/year last night and even with all the time off this past year, I was able to pull in $16,000 in sales. (actually, I was $6 short at $15,994) I had a good month in December, closing with a $2500 month.

Not bad for a part time and fun little "hobby". I came up just short of hitting $50,000 in total sales for the past 3 years at $49,115.42. I was hoping to hit 50K by the end of 2015, but it won't happen 'til this month. And before you say it, I know, I know ... my actual COB runs about 13%, but I don't pay a lot of attention to that and just look at it as "entertainment expense". ;)

It's not much by most standards, but it keeps me off the streets and combined with my retirement, it gives us enough of a shot in the arm to get out of the house from time to time. Heck the per capita in this sleepy little town is only $23-$24K ($40K household).

I just hope it never ceases to be fun, interesting and educational. Now it's time to see what surprises 2016 will bring.

[Fido]

2016 is going too be a most critical time in our country I fear!!!

[jb]

Glad you found your niche, gives you a reason to get up in the morning and go and meet some people.
Not bad $$ for having fun either.
I know without my little sideline I'd go nuts, it also gives me a reason to get up, go to work and meet other people besides my lovely wife each day.
Work keeps you young, look at Captain, he had to go to work in one of those big box stores cause he found himself talking to the cows, really bad thing was
they started to answer back.
Next up will be Posthole, he won't last long being 100% retired.

[Big Muddy]

Good beans, Thump....btw, whatcha do with those Masonic plates???

[airbud7]

Good stuff thump loveyabro......you are the reason I stayed on here @GH....You are a Good Man Thump!

[BarryBobPosthole]

Good stuff thump loveyabro......you are the reason I stayed on here @GH....You are a Good Man Thump!

Now you've done it. Now he's gonna get the big head. And believe me, having met him, his melon is already x-large.

BKb

[Thumper]

Takes all that room to store the massive amount of brain material I have to lug around with me. ;)

Muddy, I haven't listed the plates yet. I was holding onto them to do a bit more research since the Mason type dufes around this joint are so friggin' secretive. :D

[Thumper]

JB, I know what you mean. With my back in the condition it is ... and basically, my OVERALL physical condition these days, I'd go crazy without a bit of a distraction. There's no way I could lay around the house and watch soap operas all day! I really can't do much of anything physical at all and just a few trips up and down the steps (we have a 2-story house) will pretty much wipe me out. With eBay, I can work at my own pace and there's really nothing physical about it to speak of. When I hit the sales on Fridays, I'm pretty much useless by noon. (no comment from the peanut gallery needed) ;)

[BarryBobPosthole]

That's a great year by anyone's standards, Thump. I sure wished we had the demographics here to support something like that. We just don't have the kind or number of estate sales here that you do there. I actually considered the art angle as there are some really good sales here for art of many types. But you kind of have to know what the hell you're doing or you'll take a bath real fast. I think the way to go would be to buy it in bulk, store it somewhere and sell it the same way.

BKB

[Captain]

Muddy, I haven't listed the plates yet. I was holding onto them to do a bit more research since the Mason type dufes around this joint are so friggin' secretive. :D

I done told you all you need to know (and all ANY Mason will tell you) in order to list them.
They are Antique metal Masonic Lodge Art.
Any Mason will know at a glance what they are and can identify the meaning of every image in those pictures. But knowing what each individual "thing" is in the picture ain't gonna help you list them.

[BarryBobPosthole]

What I'd like to know is how they are typically displayed. Are they usually framed, hung on the walls of a meeting hall, put on an easel, what? Or do you eat off of them? I mean you said they're plates.
BKB

[airbud7]

Its a secret Barry....a secret. thats all you need to know....:]

[Thumper]

I'm with you on the art thing P-hole, I just don't know enough about it to stay out of trouble. It's much the same with antiques ... I'd end up buying reproductions!

Actually, having a lot of sales can be a bit overwhelming. Much like going into a restaurant with a 20 page menu ... it's nearly impossible to decide what to order (for me anyway). Tampa and Orlando have a bazillion sales every weekend. I won't make the drive because ... number one, it's too hard to decide which ones to hit and number two, with the price of gas, I try to keep expenses to a minimum, so I stay local.

Here (small town), we many times have 1 sale per week (if any at all), sometimes two ... occasionally 3 or 4 (rare). Due to the holidays, we haven't had a sale since 11/18 and there's nothing coming up this weekend either. The catch is, you have to be consistent and hit any sale that comes up. On an "off" week, I'll sometimes stop in the little thrift stores in town (even Salvation Army/Goodwill) as their inventory changes daily. I've made some fantastic discoveries there. Yard/garage sales are the same problem as too many sales ... there are just too many of them. One, how do you decide which one's to hit? Two, you'd spend a fortune driving all over town to hit them all. Three, although there are treasures to be had, most are junk the people no longer want, but it's too good to throw away. What I like about estate sales is, EVERYTHING is for sale ... things the owner never had any desire to dispose of.

It's odd there aren't any sales there. Surely people croak in Okieland, don't they? I don't have an answer and don't understand why there are no sales there. Who knows?

The variety is what excites me. I like learning about different things.

I recently sold a spool of wire I bought for $2. Just sold it yesterday as a matter of fact, for $140.00
I bought some old Corelle dishes a hoarder lady collected for $0.50/case. I've made $825.00 so far on those. (I still have 5-6 cases).
I bought a pile of climbing gear for a total of $10. (the guy was an ex tower repairman) I went through the stack and the stuff is worth about $500-$600. I just listed the first piece (a body harness) the other day and it sold in a matter of hours for $125.
I paid $1 for a crappy old electrical fixture (it was broken even and had a missing part) ... it just sold for $65!
I bought an old brass fire extinguisher for $5 and it sold for $90. I feel "kinda" bad about it as a guy in Singapore bought it and I quoted him $90 for shipping. He jumped on it. As I was packaging the thing to ship, I realized there was a typo and I actually quoted him $190 for shipping. WTF? He wanted it anyway, so I actually made an extra $100 on the deal. (I felt bad about it for about 2 minutes) ;)

It's endless and you never know what you're going to stumble across. I have a blast doing this stuff.

[Thumper]

No problem Cappy ... they're "Antique Metal Masonic Lodge Art" ... the question of the day is ... what are they worth?

$5? $50? $500? $5,000? ;)

[BarryBobPosthole]

Oh we have estate sales. The deal is, the sales just aren't much punk.

Maybe you need to come out for a couple weeks and we can hit some and you can show me the ropes.

But as one example, you seem to find a lot of outdoor equipment at your sales. If there is any at all, its usually a couple of broke ass rods and some reel that looks like a winch.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yeah, they may be broke ass old winches here also. I just don't usually pay much attention to them. Besides, you have to remember, we have a lot of salt water here and many guys aren't really into maintenance. Now if I run across a new one in the box, I'll usually snap it up! The trick is to not get tunnel vision ... be open to anything and everything. EVERY house has kitchen drawers full of stuff like kitchen knives. My buddy just got into this stuff with me and the first place he heads is the kitchen. 90% of what he sells is kitchen knives! They usually sell for 25-cents to 50-cents at the sales and he just figured his first year sales last night and he hit $9470.50 ... not bad for a newbie!

Heck, I'll buy sewing stuff ... scissors, button-holers, sewing machine accessories ... even old Singer oil cans .... (as Mike & Frank would say) ... ANYTHING I think I can make a buck on. If you get narrow-minded and try to specialize, it really cuts down your chances to score. ;)

[Captain]

No problem Cappy ... they're "Antique Metal Masonic Lodge Art" ... the question of the day is ... what are they worth? $5? $50? $500? $5,000? ;)
The answer to that question is... Yes
They are worth whatever someone will pay for them. ;)

[Thumper]

Well, let's try this then. I hate auctions ... at what (buy-it-now) price should I list them?