eBay sales have slowed a bit since the change of season. This is normal, as people are more active in the warmer months and spend less time browsing on the computer. Regardless, I had a good month in large part to one big sale.
I don’t usually do auctions, but I have a few up right now if you want to check them out. The Kaman photo negatives (which I found a long time ago) are doing a lot better than expected, while we’ll just have to wait and see where the postcard auctions end up.
1. Kaman experimental helicopter negatives
2. RCMP postcard lot
3. Vintage Chinese postcards
1. Mid century modern Widdicomb chair: On Reddit for 750 US$ (~950$ Canadian). Not long after finding this chair I posted some pictures of it to Reddit’s MCM forum to see what people thought. I wanted to make sure it was authentic for one, not knowing that furniture knockoffs with fake labels are actually pretty rare to nonexistent. Someone who saw my post asked me if I wanted to sell it, and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. We did the deal through Paypal, which is something I’ve never done before. I was a bit stressed out about that considering how much money was on the line but everything seems to have worked out. Apparently the appeal is that the chair was designed by George Nakashima as part of his “Origins” line. The buyer plans on reupholstering the chair. Found a little over a month ago in a nice part of town.
2. Yard sale: 280$. Another pretty successful sale! My plan this summer is to do fewer yard sales, maybe holding them every three to four weeks. This will cut down on my workload, and ideally my profits won’t drop much because I’ll have more to sell when the time comes. Last year I made nearly 3k from yard sales, so we’ll see how it all works out.
3. Toy car lot: On eBay for 45$. Most weren’t in particularly good condition, but they still made me some decent cash. Found a while ago in Montreal West.
4. Vintage Porsche Carrera shield-style sunglasses: On eBay for 170$. That collection of sunglasses I found in Hampstead around a year ago ended up making me some big money. Without looking at the numbers I’d guess that they’ve netted about me around 600-700$ overall, much more than I originally expected. These Porsche glasses in particular have serious collectors value!
5. Dolce & Gabbana frames: On eBay for 50$. Found a couple months ago in TMR.
6. Small change: Exchanged at the TD Bank coin machine for 98$. I found about 40$ in change while scouring the McGill Ghetto on move-out day (I have yet to post about this!). Otherwise, the tupperware container I found in TMR ended up containing 892 pennies (as well as two dimes and a loonie), and the bags of change from my second-to-last post ended up holding about 16$ worth of boring, run of the mill Canadian and American coins. The rest I saved from various spots across the city.
7. Leak Trough-Line III tuner: On eBay for 105$. It doesn’t look like much, but apparently these old Leak machines are of interest to collectors. Found in NDG last summer.
8. Replica “Tea Escape” perfume – Maison Martin Margiela: On eBay for 75$. Another McGill Ghetto move-out day find.
9. Haiti souvenir guide: On eBay for 6$. This took a loooonnnggg time to sell. I didn’t know much about selling when I first listed it, and I had it overpriced for quite some time. I’m just happy it’s gone. Found nearly three years ago in TMR.
10. Apple iPhone 4S, for parts / repair: On eBay for 40$. Found a few weeks ago in the Plateau.
11. Kaman experimental helicopter photo: On eBay for 20$. Found a long time ago in the Plateau. After this sold I finally got around to listing a collection of negatives featuring the Kaman helicopter, which I linked to above. Those are doing very well so far!
12. Liberty London soccer themed silk scarf: On eBay for 50$. This took a while to sell, but the profit was pretty good. Found a couple years ago near Snowdon metro.
12. Miniature “Pearson Pennant”: On eBay for 47$. Found last summer in Westmount.
Total: 1936$, 11489$ since the new year.
Relevant links
1. Facebook page
1. My eBay listings
2. Etsy store
3. Kijiji listings
4. My donate page
Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a long time to get back to you.
Be careful of the TD Bank coin machines! http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/n-y-files-suit-td-bank-inaccurate-coin-counter-article-1.2607164
Haha. I wondered how easy it would be for them to skim a bit off the top. Honestly though even with the missing money it’s still a better deal than anywhere else I can go. The only other machine I know of (a “Coinstar” if I remember right, in the Provigo on Mont-Royal) advertises a payout of 91.6% of the total. It looks like TD still pays out about 96-97% after the error. And I told myself years ago that I’d never roll coins again (I hate it!) so that’s not an option.
Get gift cards out of the coin star (Amazon, etc.) and you keep 100%.
I don’t think this one has that option
I haven’t seen any gift cards offered in machines here in Montreal. Not that I’ve checked a lot, but having heard that elsewhere they did offer gift cards, I assumed it wasn’t happening here (though I don’t know if “here” means Canada, Quebec, or just Montreal).
I’m sure the banks actually like this better, since they have to make sure the coin count on the rolls is right anyway. I suspect that means a coin counter anyway.
Michael
I look forward to all your posts. They’re just so darned interesting!
I thought you were keeping that chair … but you certainly got a nice payout for it! (I’m guessing it was sold to someone in Montreal; I can’t imagine you’d ship a chair!)
I think that’s a good idea to do fewer yard sales. Less stress, and more time for you to use in other ways.
A lot of people are moving on June 1 instead of July 1.And even the masses who actually move on July 1 often throw out good stuff one to three weeks before the move as they start packing and organizing.So you will see a lot of moving-related trash in areas where a lot of single people and apartment dwellers live.I found $50 of new,unopened food consisting of cans of unopened soup,cans of chickpeas and lentils,an unopened carton of Uncle Ben’s rice and some gourmet vegan food in a big open box for garbage pickup on the curb next day.I also found many prerecorded audio music cassettes in St.Henri in May with the curbside garbage and brough them home.Go to NDG,St.Henri,Verdun and all the areas where many single people or apartment dwellers live
Yup, the end of the month is a good time general, but particularly in the summer months. There’s no real right place to be though, as people tend to move around the end of the month in general, even those in houses. I also find apartments are generally more picked over than other places, particularly in lower-income neighbourhoods like St Henri, so I tend to leave those for other pickers. There are good finds to be made there for sure, however. I just can’t cover the whole city so I have to pick my spots.
Found you via Eddie’s blog (Eddie-torial Comments) and I’m utterly amazed. I mean, I’ve found some junk in the garbage before that I’ve sold, but nothing like you!
He is truly inspirational!!!
[…] before a couple years ago. The Replica perfume on the left for example sold quickly on eBay for 75$. The “Juliette has a Gun” is listed for 60$, while the Vanilla one sold at a yard sale […]