eBay Seller Chat with Scott in Indiana: Vintage & Rustic Collectibles 📻 🪒 🪖

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Transcript

Suzanne Wells: 0:18

Hello, listeners. This is episode number 267 of eBay the right way. Today's date is April 29 2026 and my guest is Scott in Indiana. Reminder tomorrow, April 30, is the last day to sign up for my happy mail club. If you want to receive the May mailing Hello world, you're the song that we're singing. Come on. Get happy. A whole lot of love in his wife. We'll be bringing. Will make you happy. Sorry, I couldn't resist that song popped into my head to find my club, just Google Suzanne's Happy Mail club, and you'll see the YouTube video right at the top, the AI overview with the links and the link to it on my teachable school. I'm getting all my ducks in a row for the first mailing. This is going to be something different and fun. Okay, now on to the conversation with Scott. Hey everybody, and welcome back. My guest today is Scott, and tell us where you're located, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Okay, lots of in are the Indians or what do you what do you call

Unknown: 2:06

I'm really I'm originally from Michigan, so I'll call myself a Michigander.

Suzanne Wells: 2:11

What do the Indiana people call themselves? Hoosiers? Maybe, I don't know, just a Hoosier. Okay, yeah, use the name of the state, okay,

Unknown: 2:19

but I'm a Michigan fan, so

Suzanne Wells: 2:21

Okay, that's good, alright, um, so now we know where you are and tell us your backstory about how you got involved

Unknown: 2:31

in eBay. Yeah, so I've always had Ebay. I think I remember selling some stuff back in 2005 I was big into sports cards. And I ended up getting, like a rare triple flag jeff gordon card that I was like, Well, I'm not going to keep this thing. So I ended up selling it for like $500 at the time. And then I kind of just went away from it, just bought stuff on it. But about 2024, I have a pickup truck that needed some work, and my son was going to start driving this year. And I said, Man, we just need to start saving up some money. And he's like, Well, I don't know. Maybe you could start up your other business, which I used to make bottle openers and sell them on Etsy. They were wooden. And I was like, it's just a lot of work. I don't want to do that. You can't really scale that when you're making a one by one, right, right? So I said, why don't we start selling on eBay? And I had had a bunch of stuff that I had collected over the years, concert T shirts and so forth, that I was like, I'll hold on to these. One day, they'll be worth more, you know? And I said, Well, I'll just start with that. Started listing that and some old clothes, vintage clothes, and then I got back into going to the thrift stores. And Salvation Army is kind of my go to around here, because the good wills are normally, like you say on your podcast, are really high priced. I mean, it's, it's not even worth going and get it. You can go to Walmart. Keep escalating all the time. But lately, Salvation Army's kind of been the same thing for me. I feel like they're pulling it before it hits the shelf and going online and auctioning. I feel somewhere, you know, because we have, gosh, I won't say, four or five salvation armies here in town that I could hit, you know? But I was like, Man, I need to find a different route. So then it became a state sales, and man got the bug of that. And it's like, you can find some good stuff there. Game changer, right? Yeah. And then it was due to covid, you know, all the high bed online auction, estate sales, so I started getting into that. And last year, I think I went way too crazy. I think I spent like $26,000 yes, but a lot of cool things eBay registered that I did like 24,000 last year, but a lot of side sales too. That. I may not claim for cash, but yeah, Facebook marketplace and stuff like that. Yep, Facebook marketplace. And then I've got certain customers that are just repeat they'll buy certain things, whether it be Nickel Plate, railroad stuff or military stuff. So I do love those repeat buyers that pay cash, because it makes it a lot easier, and you know you're going to sell it. So the other stuff I just list on eBay, it pretty good. My first year think eBay report I did like 16, and then really dove into it, like I said last year. So started vintage and rustic collectibles in February of 2024, and that was the main one. We have about 500 things listed on there right now. I try to stay organized in my garage. Try to keep it out of the house as much as possible, because, like you said, this kind of creeps in, and it just gets to be too much. I have a couple racks probably, let's say, 1234, metal racks in my garage. And I normally try to list it, package it, label it, and then put the skew on the mobile app so that I know where it is. And then on the box, I'll write what it is, briefly, the measurements of the box, the weight, and then where it's located. So that's worked out pretty well, especially when you get up past 100 it just gets chaotic. I found out real quick. I was missing stuff. I was mis shipping things. So then you're like,

Suzanne Wells: 6:35

Yeah, everybody goes through that. It's almost like you have to go through that. That forces you into some type of system. Yes, once you make a few of those mistakes of shipping the wrong thing or not being able to find it, you're like, okay, the buck stops here. I gotta right. I gotta create a better system, because this cannot continue.

Unknown: 6:54

Yes, yes. And so this year I started I do, like, a lot of military stuff. So both my grandpas were in World War Two, Korean War. So that's kind of where I got the drive for it. They didn't really talk about it, which a lot of veterans kind of don't, so it kind of got my curiosity going. So my son also collects World War Two stuff and military things. So we're like, Well, why don't you do that as your business? Because he's 15 now. And I was like, You're gonna need some serious money to drive that truck, because it's gonna cost you, like, $250 to fill up the tank here pretty soon.

Suzanne Wells: 7:32

Oh, right. No way. So he's how old, 15? Okay, so he's not driving on his own yet, but,

Unknown: 7:39

yeah, yeah. So I was like, you know, it's either you go get a job, you know, or you could do what you like and sell on eBay, you know, or sell the collectibles. You'd rather keep them than sell them. So his rooms like a museum. So it's quite interesting. I was like, Well, you know, the World War Two stuff is never going to go down in value, because it's going to be harder and harder to get this year. Early March started foxhole supply is what I called it, and I just listed some stuff. I have some stuff that I've collected over the years where I don't really want to get rid of it, but here's my let it go price, right? Some of those let it go prices actually went and I was like, hmm, okay, maybe I'm a little too low, but it's a good start for him. He still hasn't got the drive for it yet, so I'll just wait and see what happens. So now I'm kind of running two stores. I will say that the new listing way, and I don't know if you've experienced it with the app, if you start up a new shop, it's like, all AI, so you take the pictures, it drums it all up for you. It tells you suggested price, weight, everything, and the title. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so easy compared to, you know, taking all the pictures, creating your own title. So you just have to read it. Finagle it. But wait, are you? Are you still taking your own pictures? Yes. So you'll open it up and say, you want to sell something, and then it'll say, take the pictures. And it'll tell you, Okay, take a picture of the bat customers.

Suzanne Wells: 9:17

That's on the desktop too, for some items, where it tells you, like, if you're selling a pair of shoes, front, top, bottom, size, label, like, it prompts you to put in everything to make it complete.

Unknown: 9:32

Yeah. Well, this one, you just take the pictures, and it automatically pulls everything up. It just puts it there. It puts it there. Yeah, it's super interesting. The only frustrating part is I don't have because it's not a shop, because I just have the startup, and it doesn't allow you to put the skew in. So the location, I was like, well, some of it's hanging on the walls, so I guess,

Suzanne Wells: 9:53

can you go back to maybe on the desktop? And I. Add a column to your active listings for skew. Oh, I could try that some label. Well, when I revise something and change the picture or jiggle the price or whatever, there's not a custom skew field on the listing, unless you put it there when you created it. But you can go back to your active listings, and, you know, customize and add a column, and if it doesn't have a skew, there's a little, you know, the pencil where you can click that icon and you can add one later. And so that's what I do when I revise something, is I put that information in the custom label field so I'll know the last time I touched it. And, you know, maybe every six months I'll jiggle things around a little bit, because eBay says don't end things and restart them. You want to leave it there. Too many URLs confuse all the search engines, and it's better to just revise a little bit here and there to give it a a boost in search. Anyway, I do not list from the app. I just am a computer person, so I don't know all the nuances of what the app doesn't have, that the desktop has. So I know for some people, the app is just easier, it's faster, it's more convenient, but I started back before the app existed. Sometimes I am not an early adopter of technology. I just keep doing it the way I like it. But yes, that custom label field is very important for many different things. So if you don't see it, try checking your like on a desktop or laptop and see if you can add that field and then put in what you want.

Unknown: 11:57

That's good. That's good. Yeah, I'll have to check it out after to see, but yeah, it's, it's crazy, because it was just, it's super quick to list 50 items. And I was just like, Yeah,

Suzanne Wells: 12:08

well, and I reached out to you because you had been posting some really high dollar sales, and you kind of popped up. And I'm like, Who is this Scott guy? And I always go and look at like, how long have you been in the group? And you've been in there two years. Yeah. Seems like, yeah, you've talked to me before. And I'm like, last three months I've been seeing you, which I love to see new people come that's more information for everybody. But it was like, what does this do with all this super high dollar stuff. Do you want to go over some things that you have sold? Yeah, let

Unknown: 12:44

me see if. So we can, at least we can talk about it, I guess.

Suzanne Wells: 12:49

Okay, so what Scott has done, he's Ultra prepared. He has some images of his sales, so we're going to talk about those. Knowing this is the podcast and you guys can't see this, we will do our best to describe everything.

Unknown: 13:04

So this is my largest sale. It's about $1,025 and I had bought John Williams, the conductor's autograph, and a lot of autographs at on high bid. And it was, I think, $90 for three bag fulls. Oh, wow, I have a ton still. And it was a, I saw this, and I was like, gosh, that seems like it's, it's his signature. So I was, you know, searching online, making sure. And I was like, that is so I bought this bag. I think I paid$29 for it, and I was so ecstatic. So I was like, Well, I'm going to send it off to Beckett. I'm going to get it certified. So I think that cost me $50 to get that done. I got it back, and then I listed it. And I was like, You know what? I think I might get a little creative with it and just try to make like a shadow box with it. So me and the kids went to Hobby Lobby. We were looking around. The background is a curtain from Star Wars. So I cut that to fit in one of the shadow boxes that I got there. And then I had silicone glued the actual signature in there, so if they wanted to remove it, it wouldn't harm it at all.

Suzanne Wells: 14:20

And then that's actually like the it looks like a business card size,

Unknown: 14:25

yep, it's an index card, so three by five, okay, and it's encapsulated. It looks like, Yep, yeah. So that's what they do. When you send it off to back it, they verify like that, okay, yep. They verify that it is actually authentic. And I think those autographs were going for, I want to say $800 but there were so many of them listed just plain. I wanted to jazz it up a little bit so the top of it is actually a light that you can actually plug in or charge. And I think I had it listed maybe for a month. Or two, and someone bought it. The worst part was shipping it, because it was so large,

Suzanne Wells: 15:04

so you made it into a way to display it. It's not just the autograph card, yep. And so how much your cost was, $50 plus the supplies to make this display case?

Unknown: 15:18

Yeah, I would say maybe at most, $150 and it sold for $1,025 and how did you even come up with the price? I just shot for this guy. I think I listed it for 1200 and then someone sent me that offer, and I said, okay, yeah, okay. This was an interesting one. I was at an estate sale, and I was just digging in the kitchen cabinets and, of all places, to find a razor. Ah, oh my gosh, yeah. So I found this, and I'd done well with Gillette, and I was like, okay, you know, if they charge me $1 or two, I'll be okay. Well, then I go to the garage and I'm looking it up, because the house was packed with people. And I started looking it up, and I started seeing all these sales, and they're over, like, 700 600 the handle sold for 400 and I was like, what? Like, you've gotta be kidding me. So it's Sheffield, England, stamped in the actual handle. And I guess they're super rare. I had to do some research. I think it was an x7 you know, everybody reaches out to you right as soon as you list it. There was, I think, 10 watchers within the first couple hours on it. And then some, I think I had it for, I think$1,200 just throwing it out there, you know, and then some an offer. I received a lot offers, a lot of low balls. And then someone said they'd buy it for 910, and I said, Yeah, I'm more than willing to So, so

Suzanne Wells: 16:56

it's the title, is Darwin's safety razor, Sheffield, England. Rare find. Was it Sterling?

Unknown: 17:05

I don't think it didn't list it on there at all. It's just those razors are hard to find, I guess. Do we know how old it is? I want to say the early 1900s Okay, so basically, yeah, so that was a neat little find. I think I paid $2 for it. And where'd you find that again, at an estate sale? Okay, yep, it was just in a kitchen cabinet with and so it pays to, like, look in things. That's one of my biggest things. I'll go to an estate sale, and I've heard it before on your podcast, look where people aren't looking, and that's definitely been a savior for me, I found that's weird that it would be in the kitchen cabinet. Like, did somebody pick it up? And this was a horror house. It was so everything was everywhere. Oh gosh, it was so bad. I was like, I just need to get out and get a breath of fresh air. And I think that's part of it too. They're just like, we don't care. Let's get rid of it. You know, I've dabbled in a little bit of everything. So this one was kind of a break. And I think you've had some people talk about it before, where you can get in on purchasing some team names online, and then they'll open up all the packages. And I think I paid $39 for the Steelers at that time, and I ended up getting this Terry Bradshaw ka boom card. Sold it for $549 Oh, yeah, the quick sale. And the interesting part was, I put it in that case which you can get off temu, just to kind of keep it safe, but they'll send it off to PSA afterwards. And I don't know if it's an option that they have when they buy it and they they'll grade it and send it to the customer to make sure it's authentic. And I was like, well, that's neat. If it's free, that might be worth it. You know,

Suzanne Wells: 18:53

you know how old this card is, 2024, four. Yep, so they're still making Terry Bradshaw stuff.

Unknown: 19:01

Yes, yeah, every year, every year, like all the old players, Joe Montana, I feel like they just don't have enough big time players right now. I guess to make money on so

Suzanne Wells: 19:13

old is new again. Okay, I know nothing about sports cards. I just My son was when they were done playing, that was it. They weren't on the cards anymore.

Unknown: 19:23

But no, they'll still use coaches and everything. And it's, I think it's just to fill the packs, because they try to sell so many. I think a case of those cards was like $549 for, like, eight packs or something like that. It was pretty ridiculous. So it was way cheaper to get that upgrade. Okay, oh, well, that's good. This was super interesting. So since my son collects military stuff, displays it in his room for Christmas, it's super easy to shop for him and his birthday, because I'll just go find some military stuff and then wrap it up and give it to him. So this was before. Or I use chat and any AI stuff, just couldn't find this at all. And I ended up going to a state school. I bought on high bid. This guy had a mass collection of end of day, I call it, or end of the world type stuff, where it's communication devices, and I just cleaned out most of it. Filled up my vehicle. I put it in the garage, I gave him his stuff, but then I just kind of let it set to the side. Well, then I started using chat, and I started scanning some of the stuff, and it let me know that this was part of the Nike Ajax missile system for the Cold War. And it was like a test launch. And I was like, how did this guy hit this thing? I want to say I spent maybe $400 total at that estate sale, and filled up my car with all this stuff, and I sold this by itself for $400 just a really interesting find. So then that's why, you know, I kind of later went to the foxhole supply, because most of my large sales are military related. So the

Suzanne Wells: 21:04

title says Nike, Ajax missile system, a bunch of numbers, remote control unit, Western Electric, Cold War. And it just looks like a like a stereo. It's actually a crank.

Unknown: 21:21

So you'll actually crank it up, charge it, yeah, just looks like the old stereo components, you know, black box. Well, that's what I thought it was the whole time. I was like, Oh, it's just, you know, it's$100 piece, and I was going to list it for that. And I was like, Oh, thank goodness I did, because I couldn't find it where it was laid out this way. And I was like, wow,

Suzanne Wells: 21:40

okay, what year were you born? 82 Oh, you're young. Okay, okay, so you're that's still Gen X, isn't it? I think it is, anyway, just just for perspective of what you know and remember, because when I said stereo component, oh, wait, does he know what that is? But yeah, well, you would have been, you would have been a teenager in the mid 90s. So yeah, and

Unknown: 22:11

my parents were big. Anti antiques. They had booths, so I would always go to auctions. I collect a lot of things, just like my son is doing, but I feel like it multiplies as you, you know, continue on, he's got way too much of everything, and then, like, you need to get rid of some of it, because you can't walk in

Suzanne Wells: 22:33

your room. Okay, this next one that you're showing, I think I put that on my business page because I had no idea what it

Unknown: 22:38

was, yeah. So, yeah. So it's a hangers 1897 combination whiskey lock. And this one actually came with the instructions and the actual code to open it, which was super neat. I think I paid up for this. And I think I spent like$60 at an estate sale on high bed, picked it up, but it still has its original container. It was really in bad shape, but for being that old, it wasn't working. And I was like, Oh, it would really sell big if I could get it to work. So I just took some PB Blaster and sprayed it into a lid, and then I just soaked it. And I soaked it for a couple weeks, and then when I came out and I put it on a towel, let it dry out, well, the downside is the cork went bad on it because it was so old, so I had to go get a cork to make it fit. So I got that to work, and then I ended up being able to get the combination to work on it, everything, and it sold fairly quick, I want to say a week or two for $325 so what exactly does it do? So it was back in the day at the I guess at the bars or the saloons, they would lock the whiskey because people would steal it and pour themselves drinks. So this only works on the hangers whiskey jar or glasses, which they're still out there. I was going to buy one, but I was like, it's not it's not

Suzanne Wells: 24:03

worth it. So they lock the bottle so you can't open it, or they lock the bottle get anything out of it.

Unknown: 24:08

Yeah, you it corks down in and then it spreads out.

Suzanne Wells: 24:12

So there's they just stole the whole bottle and broke it. They would have to break it to get the

Unknown: 24:18

whiskey out. But you got to consider, those are old bottles, and

Suzanne Wells: 24:23

they're so I mean, back in the day, did this really work? Was it a deterrent? I doubt it. It's really It looks like it's a cork, and then it's a little round lock.

Unknown: 24:36

Yeah, it's super small, fits in the palm of your hand, yeah.

Suzanne Wells: 24:39

And then he's also got the original paperwork with it, I guess, with the combination on it, how to use it. But I don't know, every Western I watch, they're in there shooting up the place, and everything's breaking. So did it really work? Good? Try specifically. Like to their bottles too. Bottles. That's why I was like, What is this thing, and how does it work? And did it work?

Unknown: 25:07

And I ended up buying another one on eBay that they didn't have working. And I still haven't got around to that one yet, but because I have to find the combination on it. So I was like, Detective mode, like, how am I gonna put a stethoscope up to this thing and listen to it, you know? But it's so tiny, it's hard to do,

Suzanne Wells: 25:26

but that, that is the most fun part of this business, I think, is you find these things. And what is this thing anyway? What does it do? And I guess if you got it off high bid, you were able to pull up the pictures and drop them into Google Images and figure that out and do all that before you bought it. Was it a local pickup? Or did you have it shipped?

Unknown: 25:48

Yeah, local pickup, which was super nice. I do like to find like, I'll use high bid, but there's certain ones that don't use high bid because they don't want to pay into it. And I love those ones because it's super cheap compared to their own auction. Yep, their own, yep, they'll do their own shipping and everything.

Suzanne Wells: 26:07

Well, that makes the buyer's premium lower, if there is one, because that usually covers their fees to put the listing on high bid. And some of those fees are 20%

Unknown: 26:19

Oh, yeah, it's getting ridiculous. Yeah, it's good, you know, it's still somewhat worth it if you could get it cheap, but, like, if you didn't know and you started buying so I have to tell some of my friends that are getting into it. I'm like, just make sure you're paying attention to are they shipping it themselves, or are they taking it to a store? Yes, are they doing an up charge for it? What's the taxes there that they claim, and what's the, you know, the buyers premium on that? Because some of them are just, I think I've seen over 20, you know, California, Florida area, and I'm just like, just because it's sunnier, you're

Suzanne Wells: 26:55

you're charging well. And when I started doing the online auctions a couple years ago, I it was overwhelming to keep up with all this information, and so I made a spreadsheet with the name of the auction company, you know, where they're located, buyer, premium taxes. Do they ship in house or outsource it? Because if it's if it's outsourced, that's an automatic No, I'm not doing that. Could I pick it up? Is it close enough? You know, I have all this information. And so when I go looking for items to buy, I know which which companies to look at. Yeah, you can just put in keywords for things or find ones close to you. But I've gotten things from the West Coast very reasonable, because maybe they didn't even have a buyer's premium. It's, you know, we don't charge that, and we everything is shipped in house, and we ship the most economical way. And, you know, they would, they would rapidly breakables in any soft goods, like they didn't use packing material. They just kind of did it smart. So you're right. You really have to factor all that in. The first few times I did it, I was like, I spent way too much because I didn't know about all that stuff that was added on.

Unknown: 28:18

So anyway, some of the rare things. It's, it's difficult for me to pass up on, you know, especially military, rare stuff that I see online that I'm never going to see again, you know. So it's like, you just have to bite the bullet sometimes. But I remember, I think I had a Japanese World War Two flag that was signed by a US soldier. It was a bring back, and I think, to ship it to me, and they put it in just an envelope. Was like, $13 or something like that. And then they charged an extra 20 on that. And then, you know, then all their their packaging extras. And I was just like, What is going on here? So, item, yeah, it looks like something they'd wear on Lost in Space. So this was at one of the local estate sales, Northern Indiana. I was going through the garage. I love going to the garage first, because I think everybody avoids it. It was so cluttered, cold, and I'm just going through stuff. And these were covered in mud. And I was like, those look kind of cool, you know, like some real biker boots, you know, that I've never seen before. So they're Alpine Stars, high point motocross racing boots. And they have, like, steel toe on the front of it that wraps around to the bottom. The shin guards are, are metal as well. So I had to do a lot of cleaning up. Went to my local Meijer and got some shoe polish, because it was really bad. I think I paid $5 for them, and with all the work into it, it took me a couple days, but sold them for $269 just as I buy it now. Price, yeah, you have to put

Suzanne Wells: 29:59

on your. EBay glasses. When you see some of these things, like, what's the potential here? What kind of like? And this is a nice looking pair of leather boots. They're black with the silver shin guards. That's the that's the Lost in Space part, I guess. Right. Yeah, $5 into 269 and you said they sold pretty fast, yeah, within a week

Unknown: 30:24

or two, I feel like they sold. And it was, it wasn't, I think the season, because it was cold. Oh, it's not like you were, like, I still use them indoors. I didn't know where they used them. I just knew they sold from looking at the comps. So the steering wheel was crazy about it. Bought it for $1

Suzanne Wells: 30:42

Oh, you're kidding, yeah. So that's beautiful, yeah, oh my gosh. That reminds me of, like, the two tone cut lists. It was

Unknown: 30:54

just universal. You could pop that center part out and it would just have a different logo on it, because it came with a couple other ones. So I bought this, and then i i also bought a steering column, and this one was in better shape. I think I paid $13 for the entire steering column with the steering wheel. So the item is 1977 through 79 Ford Thunderbird steering wheel, and it's a cruise control.

Suzanne Wells: 31:22

It's just brown with the middle part is that, what do you call that material, or faux wood that look like fake Yeah, definitely fake wood.

Unknown: 31:32

Yeah. It's just like something I would imagine my parents would have been, you know, have as their steering wheel on their car, like old compass or something like that. Yeah, it was a good flip, you know, $1 to 224, so sold fairly quick. The guy commented that the color wasn't what he thought it was, but he'll accept it anyway. So I said, like, a caramel brown color, yeah, he said it didn't match his interior. I was like, wells his interior was wrong, that's the problem. He said, he'll figure it out. I said, Okay, diverse items, yes, and that's why I kind of streamline a little bit more, because I've been burned quite a bit on other things, you know. So I think I'm going to gear more towards the military stuff from on.

Suzanne Wells: 32:19

Tell us about one of your fails where you're like, I'm not doing that again.

Unknown: 32:25

Oh, gosh, there's been so many try to pick one. Gosh, what was one of the reasons? Oh, I was big on the train memorabilia stuff, so ephemera, and I did really well with the first lot I bought, and it was early 1900s reports, but it had the map in the back of it of the actual train routes. I said, Well, I did so well with those ones. You know, I think I paid 90 I've made my money. I don't mean 1000s of dollars I've made on it. And I said, Well, I'll try this, this train lot. So I ended up paying up on it, because I knew how much I, you know, made on the other ones, it was a huge flop. There were time timetables and old manuals, but when I got them, they had a musty smell. They were really bad. So I was trying to air them out. I ended up just pitching them because it just was not worth the time. So I lost out. It was probably about $150 on that one, but at least I had the other one where I made up for it. But yeah, there's a ton of things where you kind of got to find what you like to collect, and are you willing to keep it, type thing. And a lot of the times, I'll just go through my garage and I'll be like, Well, I haven't listed this. I know it's not worth over $10 and I know the small sell, but it's just not worth my time to go through all that, and so I'll just donate it to Salvation Army and so forth.

Suzanne Wells: 33:53

Yeah, I bought some ephemera online and received it, and it just disintegrated. I don't know how it made it to me without disintegrating. So I I kind of like, oh, you know, you better get it really cheap, yeah, or do it at estate sales so that you can examine it first. Because sometimes these online auction companies, they don't take a whole lot of pictures, or the lighting is bad, or and really, they have so much to list that you got to get them ass on that. But it's a buyer beware, because if you get it and it just falls apart in your hand, it's so sad, because this could have been a great item. Somebody would have loved this, but it was too old or had water damage and it just fell apart.

Unknown: 34:48

Mm, hmm, Yep, yeah, it's difficult. I'll say, you know, it's a hit miss. It's, it's like playing the lotto in a way like this, for example, was it was in a box. I just seen a glimpse of it. I. I said, well, some stuff in there has to be worth at least 20 bucks, you know. So sometimes I'll just buy lots in hopes to find something in the bottom of the you know that they only took a picture of the box and said, right, like what fell to the bottom that they don't even know, right? So this was in a box that I think I it was like 20 or $30 of other stuff, but it had railroad memorabilia in it, and that stuff sold. So I made my money on it. And this was just sitting in with all I have a little jewelry pot out there, tie clips and so forth in my garage, and I just kind of toss stuff in. Well, I scanned this with chat, and it reported that for me, and it said it there should be a gold marking on the back of it. Well, it was so dirty, and so I cleaned it up and looked at the back, and I said, sure enough, says 10k on the back of it. So I had listed it for, I think, 300 something ridiculous, just to see what could get. And it stayed on there for quite a bit. And someone finally, I would, I want to say I probably had it for three to four months listed online, someone finally offered me a reasonable price, the 224, and I figured, you know what? Need some money this month.

Suzanne Wells: 36:08

Might as well, right? Yeah. So it is an Odd Fellows, metal, solid, 10k gold, and it's a star and dove fraternal jewelry. So do we? Do we? Oh, the club is called Odd Fellows. Is that right?

Unknown: 36:29

Yeah, international order, a lot fellows. And, okay, too familiar with it.

Suzanne Wells: 36:35

I know a lot of people that could be in that club.

Unknown: 36:41

That's, I'm just like, okay, yeah, there's the 10k stand, okay, and it's really small. I mean, it's less than two inches, right? Yeah. So just been a little badge that they had on there. They're sure, yeah, pays to diversify well and to look through the stuff you have. And, you know, because we just don't know what we have until you've seen it. And that's what I do love about it, is because I get to hold it for a little bit and, you know, get the history of it, and then it's like, Okay, I'm done with it, you know, I don't want to keep it, yeah.

Suzanne Wells: 37:18

And that's an experience selling collectibles, because so many things pass through our hands. But you know, we're not their final stop to have that experience for a little bit of researching it, looking at it, handling it, appreciating it, and then it can go on to its final home, maybe, who knows, maybe that person's going to sell it.

Unknown: 37:43

So this one was pretty neat. I had mass toys when I was growing up. Ms, okay, yep. So this was a boulder Hill. I'd never had this one. I think I was in a bidding war on high bid. It was a local pickup. I want to say I paid $39 for it, after everything was said and done, I want to say it was probably 55 ish. So they've they messaged me and I had it listed for I had it listed on Facebook because I really didn't want to ship it too big to ship, so I had it on there for, gosh, I want to say three months on Facebook. And then I finally just spit the bullet and said, I'm just going to put it up eBay to reach more people. It probably said on eBay for two to three months. And then someone reached out to me, and they paid full asking price for it. And I started at like 350 ish on it, and then just kind of cut bringing it down, because you can always go down you don't want to come down. Yep. But they put a note in here. You know, I've been waiting for this for so many years, since it came out back in the day. So I'll need to find Alex and Jack Rabbit. So those are the little characters that would be in it. And the front panel for the gas sign, I don't see the background, pops out, flips down on the wall and ceiling also. Why did you photograph the flip down wall unit? Something broken with it? Well, I didn't know how it worked at all, so I was just like guessing through pictures online. It was in fairly rough shape. It been played with. You could tell over the years. It was the tower in the back here was busted, so I didn't put it like in the picture, but I had to use my kitchen table to display it. It's probably a volcano. Is it? Yeah? Is it? Yep, and then Yep. And then that pops off, and then the little gun pops up with a little guy in it, and he could fight or whatever. And then it just Kenner, the toy company, Boulder Hill. And it's, it's like, is it plastic?

Suzanne Wells: 39:48

Yeah, yup, okay, okay, so it's like a play set, and it's a volcano, and some of the pieces come out interesting. I had never, I want to say it

Unknown: 39:57

was like 24 wide, and then 36 feet. I. So I had to use a furnace filter box to ship it, and we'd messaged back and forth. And he was so ecstatic about it. He got it. He said, Wow, you packaged it so well. I'm so impressed with it, I can't wait to display it. So he has a full on display of all these toys. And he's my age, so people collect everything.

Suzanne Wells: 40:21

This little for 280 and how much did it cost you? I want

Unknown: 40:25

to say about 55 total, with everything $7 got it on the high bid, yep, okay, and it was a pickup. And then another interesting one that I found at Salvation Army paid up for it.

Suzanne Wells: 40:41

Well, that's the thing that separates some sellers, is some just are like, I'm not paying more than x for this. And that's understandable. We all have a budget to work within. And then you get more aggressive, and you know, it's value, so you're like, I'm going to pay up for this. And, yeah, it's, it's kind of like anxiety producing, oh gosh, there's been$100 on this. But people post on the group all the time. I paid 100 for this and sold it for 500 so you got to look at the overall profit, not just your investment price well.

Unknown: 41:21

And I was like, I'm gonna come back later, and it's not gonna be there, you know? I was gonna wait for the sale. They had it at $49 and I said, Well, I've looked up online, and it appears that they sell pretty decently. Okay, you're talking about this moppets secret doll house. Okay, yeah. So it's 1980s Moppet secret doll house by Nick and Knickerbocker. Saw her dress, and I can't scroll through the pictures, but her dress would come up and the doll house is underneath it.

Suzanne Wells: 41:51

Oh, okay, so she has, like a Southern belle type hoop skirt dress. And then there's Suzanne. There's each

Unknown: 41:58

section, there's a living room, a dining room, okay, on there, and it had all the accessories in it and everything. I don't know how you would play with her in it, because it just seemed like she was maybe too big, but it is

Suzanne Wells: 42:12

like she's just the creative packaging for the little miniature doll house underneath. But they paid

Unknown: 42:21

full asking price, and they just said, Hello, I wanted to thank you for being willing to part with us. My mother has always wanted one of these, and you caught me at the perfect time during the high season at work, I'm so grateful she'll be so excited. You Oh, that's wonderful. It was super nice to I was like, Oh, wow, yeah, I'll, you know, get the shipped out right away. It was neat, because I got to spend time with my daughter. She helped me put it all together and everything. And I said, Well, you know, because she was at the store with me, and I said, I don't know. I think we give it a try. You can help me. You know, she doesn't have the bug at all, like she doesn't really collect any things.

Suzanne Wells: 43:05

How old is your daughter? She's 12. Okay. Is it just the two kids? Okay? Is it just the three of you in your household?

Unknown: 43:14

So, divorced, 2019 ish, I think it finalized in 2022 and then that whole pandemic thing was chaos, right? But it's shared custody back and forth. So this week

Suzanne Wells: 43:28

you've got two kind of helpers.

Unknown: 43:30

Yes, with my son definitely enjoys it with finding things, identifying cool things. Yeah, he'll go through high bed, he has my login, and he'll go through, he'll go through and like things and or watch him, okay, then he'll shoot me a message, yep, right. And say, did you see this one? The auction ends here? Or he'll remind me, and I, I just say thank you, because it's so chaotic with working all the time and on the go high bed is a little easier than I found them going to the stores. It's just Yeah, and they do give

Suzanne Wells: 44:04

you enough time to think about it, watch it, be prepared to bid on it. It's not some of them go for two weeks, yes,

Unknown: 44:16

like, I've seen it. I'm like, gosh, by the time it gets to there, I'll forget that it didn't exist well, but if you whatever, you get reminded go to it, you know, like it's logging into it. If you forget to log in, then you, you know, you don't get it right?

Suzanne Wells: 44:34

Yeah, it is. It's a whole world of stuff out there. Oh yes, for those people that can't get out and physically find things. And you know, it's another option that really wasn't there years ago. You had to get out physically and schlep around and carry stuff. And you know, if you've got bad feet or bad knees, and like everybody's having a knee replacement these days. And, you know, you're recovering from something, or you got grandkids, you don't want to take your money out. But online options really are a good option.

Unknown: 45:10

Yeah, that's kind of one of the blessings from the pandemic, you know, because that was where it kind of triggered off, like all these estate sales needed to happen with people passing and was just like, What

Suzanne Wells: 45:21

can we do? You know? Yeah. But then there's though, those estate sale companies that don't do it, and they just, they like it the old fashioned way, and they put, I was looking at one the other day that had over 500 pictures. If they have that many pictures, I'm just going to go, I'm not going to sit here and scroll through everything.

Unknown: 45:39

I normally start at the bottom, because I go for the garage stuff, just to see what they're hiding or storing, because you normally kick it to the garage or whatever. And I'm just like, I'll look through there, and if I glimpse and see something, then it kind of leads you down that path. Mine's the military, so I'm like, okay, so they were in the military. Their parents might have been in the military. So then it's like they might have other stuff there, and normally I do pretty good with finding the other stuff. So speaking of the old radios, I've got a bunch of vintage tubes. Yeah. So those, I've tried listing all of them, and that's a majority of what I have listed on this new page that I have. I feel like they they really were pushing for me to sell, to get the, you know, locked in on it when I started up this one, because we're already at, I mean, eBay records that just under $900 in sales. But after everything's taken away, it's probably 500 and something. So I paid, I want to say, $200 for all the stuff that I got recently, and started listing all the stuff on there. I don't think that was the first sale. I think this, this is very interesting, because I was like, hmm, so this sold fairly quick, old vintage thermal telegraph. It was a converter for military communication equipment, and I was just looking through who bought it, you know, thinking, because they just bought it right away. And it said somewhere in there Israel, that they ship stuff to Israel. So I don't know if this is for the war effort or whatever, but it shipped to Maine, and then it's shipping out there to Israel, yes, but it sold fairly quick,$310 and it's just a piece of old military equipment. Yeah, it just looks like another one of those stereo components. It works dials and buttons on it. I will tell you, though, like a lot of that older stuff, I get really scared. I don't know if I can even show you, but it's not grounded, yeah, but like a shocking sale, all right? Well, and I always, my son always watches me do the stuff, and I'm out there cleaning it up, and I'll plug it into the power strip that's off, and then I'll turn the power strip on, because the the cord itself, where you plug it in, is metal. And I was like, who came up with this design that just does not seem safe? Yeah, so it's hard to see it in there. I don't think it's in the picture, but yeah, quite a few sales right away. On this one. I only had one sale when I came back off vacation, I will say it was quite interesting. Put both of them on vacation, and, you know, for a week, and I sold seven things on my other shop, and it had been dry for a week because I hadn't really been listed on there. I've been listed on this one, and I'm like, maybe I'll go on vacation again. I'll tell them.

Suzanne Wells: 48:44

Well, you, you came out pretty well there. So just keep posting these sales, because they are pretty fascinating. You have such a diverse mix of offerings. So anyway, we're getting to the end here. Do you have any last words to share, I would

Unknown: 49:01

just say, like, start with, if you want to try it out, start with the stuff that you have in your house, you know, that you can get rid of. And I've told, I think I've gotten two or three of my friends to start that way, where they just have stuff, and they're just shocked once they sell it, and they're like, Wow, this doll sold for $60 you know, and I've got a whole suitcase of them. Was one of my best friends wifes that started and so then he started selling. But just start with what you have. Start small. Just keep organized. Come up with your own way. Everybody always does. I do like packaging at first, labeling it. So when I come home from work, it's not a big task. I can just go grab them from those locations, print the label from my phone, which is another thing, if you know, once you get up and going, you start getting some sales, get one of those thermal Label Printers. Makes super, super nice Bluetooth, just and dumb. But yeah, that that would be it. And then

Suzanne Wells: 49:57

for maybe five years now. I was a little late on the bandwagon for that. But, yeah, you don't have to buy ink, and it just zips that label right out super quick. Yeah, all the I think the labels come out to be about two cents a piece, because I get a big box of them on Amazon like once a year, same thing. Yep, yeah. Gotta get your supply for much easier. And it's quiet. It's not like the old ink jet printers where, you know, it rattles around, it makes all this noise. Yep. Anyway. Well, thanks for making time to come on and talk about your amazing business. I learned a lot talking to you. Hopefully we'll see some more of your sales on the group?

Unknown: 50:41

Yeah, I'll try to post more on there. Okay, well, thanks again. You have a good afternoon. Thanks. You too.

Suzanne Wells: 50:50

Next week, my guest is Rachel, who was last on the podcast in December of 2021 so four and a half years ago, and she is still chugging along. All right, everybody, thanks so much for joining us for the last hour, and don't forget to sign up for my happy mail club. Take care of yourself, and I'll talk to you next week. Bye, everybody you.