Hello online selling friends! Sorry I haven't posted for a while, it's been a busy spring for us. Anyway, I wanted to take a minute to tell you about a new tool that I heard about. The links below are not affiliate links, I just put them there for your convenience.
My friend Jen over at Molasses Creek Traders just told me about this great new tool if you use Craigslist to find local yard sales. It's called Yard Sale Treasure Map and it's free! It maps out the yard sales in your local area based on the posts on Craigslist. If you're in a big city it's a great way to narrow down the sales in your area. Here's how it works:
You just input your address and use the drop-down box to decide your maximum distance then chose the day for which you'd like to map out the sales.
Boom! You have a marked map of your local sales! It worked great for me but I did read of some glitches when I was reviewing the comments on their site.
Yard sale season is just starting here in PA, so I plan to use this tomorrow to help me find my local sales.
Happy Selling,
Jackie
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Friday, April 29, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Coins: Pocket Change to Big Bucks
Most people know that old coins are valuable and that coin collections can be worth thousands and thousands of dollars. However, you don't need to be an expert or an avid coin collector to make a bundle by selling coins on eBay. I don't know a lot about coins, but in February I sold these 80 coins for $465:
My father introduced me to coin collecting as a child. He showed me how to tell if a coin was 90% silver by the way it looks and by the date. My father didn't actually collect coins, but he did accumulate them. A true collector has them graded, looks for coins that have not been circulated, and knows a whole lot more about them then my father did!
Anyway, after talking to many different people about coins, I'm finding that more and more older folks have coin accumulations that they don't know are very valuable. You see, the value is in the SILVER weight, not the rarity of the coin. It doesn't matter if they've been used and show wear. Rare coins are a whole other ball game and I don't know nearly enough to discuss them with you. I'm talking about people that have thrown coins in a jar or box or whatever for many years, preferably in the 1960's or earlier.
The last year that coins were made of 90% silver was 1964. Since I was born in 1965, silver coins were plentiful while growing up. My father told me to keep them because they'd be valuable some day. Here is the second lot of quarters that I sold recently:
This is lot of 80 quarters, all 90% silver that I sold for $518 at auction and it's just like the lot I sold in February. None were "rare", all were previously circulated, and some showed significant wear. The value was purely in the silver.
I realize that you can't just walk into a yard sale or thrift store and find coins. Since it's been 46 years since they stopped minting coins in silver, you don't often get silver coins back for change when you buy something at a store. Once in a while you do, but not often -- it sure is worth glancing through your coins though to see if any are dated 1964 or earlier. If you look at the photo, they look a little bit different - shinier and brighter.
Why am I telling you this if you can't just find it at store? Because I bet many of you have an older relative or friend who has been hording miscellaneous coins for years and they have no idea what they have. Personally I don't sell a lot of items for other people, but this is one thing that I will take on consignment because they are so easy to sell! Think about how easy it is to ship 80 quarters, and if you take a 30% commission, you'll make over $150 and the coin owner will be very happy to have hundreds of dollars instead of just the original face value of $20.
Dimes dated 1964 and earlier are also made of 90% silver. Check out this listing; who wouldn't want to get $6,400 for $250 worth of dimes??
So next time you visit older relatives and friends, strike up a conversation about coins and see if they have any that they would want you to sell for them. You don't need to be a coin expert to sell coins for the silver value.
Happy Selling,
Jackie
My father introduced me to coin collecting as a child. He showed me how to tell if a coin was 90% silver by the way it looks and by the date. My father didn't actually collect coins, but he did accumulate them. A true collector has them graded, looks for coins that have not been circulated, and knows a whole lot more about them then my father did!
Anyway, after talking to many different people about coins, I'm finding that more and more older folks have coin accumulations that they don't know are very valuable. You see, the value is in the SILVER weight, not the rarity of the coin. It doesn't matter if they've been used and show wear. Rare coins are a whole other ball game and I don't know nearly enough to discuss them with you. I'm talking about people that have thrown coins in a jar or box or whatever for many years, preferably in the 1960's or earlier.
The last year that coins were made of 90% silver was 1964. Since I was born in 1965, silver coins were plentiful while growing up. My father told me to keep them because they'd be valuable some day. Here is the second lot of quarters that I sold recently:
I realize that you can't just walk into a yard sale or thrift store and find coins. Since it's been 46 years since they stopped minting coins in silver, you don't often get silver coins back for change when you buy something at a store. Once in a while you do, but not often -- it sure is worth glancing through your coins though to see if any are dated 1964 or earlier. If you look at the photo, they look a little bit different - shinier and brighter.
Why am I telling you this if you can't just find it at store? Because I bet many of you have an older relative or friend who has been hording miscellaneous coins for years and they have no idea what they have. Personally I don't sell a lot of items for other people, but this is one thing that I will take on consignment because they are so easy to sell! Think about how easy it is to ship 80 quarters, and if you take a 30% commission, you'll make over $150 and the coin owner will be very happy to have hundreds of dollars instead of just the original face value of $20.
Dimes dated 1964 and earlier are also made of 90% silver. Check out this listing; who wouldn't want to get $6,400 for $250 worth of dimes??
So next time you visit older relatives and friends, strike up a conversation about coins and see if they have any that they would want you to sell for them. You don't need to be a coin expert to sell coins for the silver value.
Happy Selling,
Jackie
Thursday, March 17, 2011
This One Takes The Cake ~ Cake Pan That Is!
Have your cake and eat it too...or at least you can afford to buy a great cake if you find some hot Wilton cake pans!
Sorry for the puns, but I've been giddy ever since I sold my Mickey and Minnie Wilton cake pans the other day. Here's my photo:
Last week I responded to a post on Craigslist; a woman was selling a bunch of Wilton cake pans for $3 each. I reviewed her list and picked out 8 pans that I wanted, including Mickey and Minnie. So last Thursday I drove 45 minutes and spent $25 for 8 big pans, a few mini pans, and a bunch of other stuff that she threw in. I photographed and listed Mickey and Minnie as a pair on Sunday, and on Tuesday morning they sold for $139.99! Well worth the drive even in the pouring rain!
I also scored The Little Mermaid, which is very hard to find. I have her listed here for $69.99. I also got a 3D Winnie the Pooh, which I have listed for $64.99:
Some of the pans that I bought only sell for $25, but they are easy to ship; they usually fit into a Priority Mail "shirt" box (1095). Still a nice price for something that only cost $3.
You can often find Wilton cake pans at yard sales for $1 or $2. I'm always searching Craigslist for them too, and it's usually the 2nd thing that I look for at a thrift store (toys being first). Here are some of the top sellers to watch out for:
Happy Selling,
Jackie
Sorry for the puns, but I've been giddy ever since I sold my Mickey and Minnie Wilton cake pans the other day. Here's my photo:
I also scored The Little Mermaid, which is very hard to find. I have her listed here for $69.99. I also got a 3D Winnie the Pooh, which I have listed for $64.99:
You can often find Wilton cake pans at yard sales for $1 or $2. I'm always searching Craigslist for them too, and it's usually the 2nd thing that I look for at a thrift store (toys being first). Here are some of the top sellers to watch out for:
- Minnie Mouse
- Mickey Mouse
- Star Wars (their are several different SW pans)
- Mystical Dragon
- Super Mario
- Shirt
- Crawling Baby
- Motorcycle
- Playboy Bunny
- Large number pans (full set)
Happy Selling,
Jackie
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Online Selling Forums ~ A Great Way To Learn More
I fell in love with selling on eBay the minute I made my first sale. At the time is was only a hobby, but I couldn't stop talking about it. When I became a more serious seller, I think I was getting on everyone's nerves because it was the 2nd topic of conversation, right after I told them all about my new baby boy!
One thing that I really yearned for was other eBay sellers to chat with and to trade ideas. The eBay discussion boards can be informative but I find them full of snarky people with a negative attitude toward eBay in general.
Then a friend referred me to Here Comes The Stork (HCTS) and I joined immedately. It is a selling forum like no other. I've made many friends, learned of many, many hot items, and took my sales to a whole new level after joining. The best part is that it's busy!! Have you ever joined a forum only to find that people rarely post anything? This site is HOT!
The members sell a wide variety of items from baby toys to collectibles. The focus is more on children's items, toys, and clothing but we also talk about jewelry, hand-made items, and just about anything else that you can sell on eBay and Amazon.
I learned how to sell on Amazon from HCTS, I learn about opening an eBay store, and I learned how profitable plush toys are years before the self-proclaimed Queen of Auctions started to tout their income potential. That's just the tip of the iceberg. When I'm feeling down about anything, it immediately cheers me up to visit HCTS. Sorry if that sounds sappy but it's true!
If you love to sell online and want to be able to chat about it, vent about it, learn what sells and what's better to donate, then you might consider joining Here Comes The Stork. I'm a life-time member and visit the site several times a day. It feels a lot like a family :-).
Happy Selling,
Jackie
One thing that I really yearned for was other eBay sellers to chat with and to trade ideas. The eBay discussion boards can be informative but I find them full of snarky people with a negative attitude toward eBay in general.
Then a friend referred me to Here Comes The Stork (HCTS) and I joined immedately. It is a selling forum like no other. I've made many friends, learned of many, many hot items, and took my sales to a whole new level after joining. The best part is that it's busy!! Have you ever joined a forum only to find that people rarely post anything? This site is HOT!
The members sell a wide variety of items from baby toys to collectibles. The focus is more on children's items, toys, and clothing but we also talk about jewelry, hand-made items, and just about anything else that you can sell on eBay and Amazon.
I learned how to sell on Amazon from HCTS, I learn about opening an eBay store, and I learned how profitable plush toys are years before the self-proclaimed Queen of Auctions started to tout their income potential. That's just the tip of the iceberg. When I'm feeling down about anything, it immediately cheers me up to visit HCTS. Sorry if that sounds sappy but it's true!
If you love to sell online and want to be able to chat about it, vent about it, learn what sells and what's better to donate, then you might consider joining Here Comes The Stork. I'm a life-time member and visit the site several times a day. It feels a lot like a family :-).
Happy Selling,
Jackie
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Who Would Have Thought...
Let's talk about some odd items that you probably would have never given a second thought and may have walked right past. Now I'm not talking about some of the fetish items selling on eBay that make many of us squeamish, but some items that you'd find at a yard sale, thrift store or ...... your uncle's house.
Frisbee anyone? My husband's uncle gave us a couple of old Frisbees, which made me think "who saves this stuff"?? Well when I looked up completeds, I was glad that he did!
Check out this listing (not mine) for a Frisbee that sold for $112. And if you find an older one that wasn't opened, well check this out... it sold for $250! Unfortunately the ones from Uncle K were not worth nearly as much, but I did get $16.99 for one similar to this:
And the other one sold for around $30. Not exactly a big hunk of change, but my motto with eBay is that it all adds up. I got the Frisbees for free, so the $47 just added to my bottom line.
Of course it's hard for me to write without mentioning yet another doll. I'm sure my friend Cindy over at Girls Horse Clothing has been waiting for a Chucky doll post!
Yes, Chucky, that creepy character from the horror films is popular!
Here are completeds. Many that have recently sold are new in the box, but when I researched him around Halloween, used Chucky dolls were selling for up to $100.
I'd love to hear about your "you've got to be kidding" item that you have seen or sold on eBay! Please share your story in the comments below.
Happy selling,
Jackie
Frisbee anyone? My husband's uncle gave us a couple of old Frisbees, which made me think "who saves this stuff"?? Well when I looked up completeds, I was glad that he did!
Check out this listing (not mine) for a Frisbee that sold for $112. And if you find an older one that wasn't opened, well check this out... it sold for $250! Unfortunately the ones from Uncle K were not worth nearly as much, but I did get $16.99 for one similar to this:
And the other one sold for around $30. Not exactly a big hunk of change, but my motto with eBay is that it all adds up. I got the Frisbees for free, so the $47 just added to my bottom line.
Of course it's hard for me to write without mentioning yet another doll. I'm sure my friend Cindy over at Girls Horse Clothing has been waiting for a Chucky doll post!
Yes, Chucky, that creepy character from the horror films is popular!
Here are completeds. Many that have recently sold are new in the box, but when I researched him around Halloween, used Chucky dolls were selling for up to $100.
I'd love to hear about your "you've got to be kidding" item that you have seen or sold on eBay! Please share your story in the comments below.
Happy selling,
Jackie
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