Garage Sales and Flea Markets

Here in Ohio, tis' the Season to start treasure hunting for items to sell on Ebay, at our local garage sales, flea markets, yard sales, barn sales, rummage sales, ect.! Back in 2002, outside of wasting our money, on items that held no value, we were always in search of items that appeared to be antique. This is not the case now. In our experience, an owner, will usually have some knowledge of their antique and will price it entirely too high, (to resell on ebay for a profit) or an owner may not know what they have, price it low, and it will sell, as soon as the doors open. (This is where you gotta get up early and GO!) Then there are items, that are indeed antique, but are not worth money on Ebay. Antiques are not our forte and we usually do not even acknowledge them anymore, unless it is the obvious. There are literally, 1,000's of items, outside of antiques, that are worth money!! Items that you would not even imagine!
Before I tell you of some of my Amazing finds, an excellent resource to begin your Ebay venture is the "Garage Sale and Flea Market Annual". An excellent resource! You can find these on Ebay, for the best price, or your local Book Store. A new issue of this book is offered yearly. The last one issued is the 2008, 16th edition.
I will try and keep my stories short, to keep from boring you:) It can be pretty exciting to purchase an item for .50 cents at a garage sale, come home, and find out that it's worth $150.00! It can also be discouraging to purchase an item for $5.00, come home, pull it up on Ebay, to find that it's not worth $1.00. Any knowledge you can soak in, will be more profitable for you, later on!
Ok, I remember going to a Garage Sale, in our home town. It was our annual "garage sale" day. Keep in mind, this was hours after the garage sales opened. My husband picked up this funny looking vase with a man on it, and asked me what I thought. I actually thought it was ugly and could not care less about it. I said, "How much is it?" He replied ".50 cents". Well for .50 cents, you couldn't go wrong, so we bought both of them. (there were 2) A couple days later, I figured I should throw one online to see if it would bring any money. I forget what category I put it under. (turned out to be the wrong category) Well, the vase had "Kona Kai" on it. I stated this in the heading, on my Ebay listing. Sure enough, a lady emailed me within minutes, stating that, "She loved my vase, and that Kona Kai was her and her husbands, first restaurant, that they had went to, together." (How sweet, I thought) and she offered me $80.00 to end the auction early and relist it with a "Buy it Now". I fell for this! THEN, I decided to research this vase on Ebay. It turned out that this vase was a Tiki Drink Mug, from a Kona Kai restaurant, that went out of business, back in the 60's. Needless to say, I immediately refunded the woman's money, listed my tiki mug, under "tikis" and brought $150.00 a piece for my mugs! We spent $1.00 and turned it into $300.00. Gosh, if you could only do this several times a week!! I cannot stress enough, how important it is to do your Research!! I have some errands to run for now. I will be back to discuss more "Ebay Finds".
HINT; If you list an item and start receiving immediate interest, it may be worth more than you realize. Do not "jump the gun" as I did, by placing a "Buy it Now' on it. Do some research. And, please realize, ending an auction early on Ebay, and reselling it, outside of Ebay, is against their policies! Just a word of advice.

Another "find" that I will never forget. We stopped at a garage sale, that seemed quite busy with merchandise and people! At a glance, I did not see anything that interested me, except for a new bottle of perfume, in the box, never used, by Yves St Laurent. I knew the name was familiar, but had never personally used it. I asked the lady how much she wanted for it....She thought for a second, and said .50 cents. She insisted on .50 cents since the perfume was new and never used. LOL. So I took it. I figured that if it was not worth selling on Ebay, that I would keep it for myself. I came home pulled up "In Love Again Perfume" (this is what it was called) My results; $140.00! Turned out, this was a rare perfume that was only produced for a short time! What an accidental Ebay find!

I plan on adding to this post several times a day, so check back often! I really need to get some items on Ebay, but before going, I'd like to share another "find" with you. Just the other day, my 13 yr. old son was looking at newly listed items on http://www.craigslist.com/, in our area, and seen a 1980 Trans Am, listed for $1,000.00, firm. (My son has learned alot from my husband) Well, we just knew, it was gone! I called this guy, asking him if the Trans Am was still available. He replied, "Well, I have a guy looking at it tonight, but you can call me around 6:30, to see if I still have it". This was quite disturbing, to say the least. My husband prompted me to text this guy and offer him $1200.00, cash tonight. An hour later, the guy text me back and said, "I will hold it for you". My husband picked the car up yesterday. Now, go search "1980 Trans Am" on Ebay. My husband plans to restore the car. Research, persistence, and consistency, is key! And, did I mention Research? LOL And the Oh so familiar saying....Money talks and bullshit walks! How true!