Month: January 2018

Recent sales: December

garbagefinds19 Comments

After my recent auction success (which turned out not to be much of a success, but whatever) I decided to change a bunch of my older Buy it Now listings to auctions. I wondered if the auctions would get more exposure and clicks, and hoped that it would help clear out some old stock.

So far, it doesn’t seem like the listings are seeing much, if any more interest than they were beforehand. A couple have bids, so at least I’ll get rid of two things, but they’ll probably end up selling for less than I would have earned if I stuck with the Buy it Now.

Either way, it was a worthwhile experiment that goes to show the value of the Buy it Now listing, especially for niche stuff that’s unlikely to get a lot of views. My auctions end tonight at around 8pm EST so check them out if you’re interested! They’re almost certain to finish at a bargain price. If they don’t sell, most will end up in my yard sale pile.

December was a pretty good month for sales. I also calculated my total profit in 2017, which you can find at the bottom of this post.

1. Maruyama courting couple figurine: On eBay for 60$. One of the last pieces from that china collection I found a few years back. It was in great condition. Found in Ville St Laurent.

2. Vintage transit documents: On eBay for 15$. Found in Rosemont.

3. Vintage Paratrooper poster: On eBay for 25$. Four down, around 15 to go.

4. Christmas light lot (tested): On eBay for 45$. Testing all this stuff was a hassle, but the profit wasn’t bad. Mostly found in Westmount.

5. SAP textbook: On eBay for 40$. I’ve sold a few of my SAP textbooks now. Hopefully I sell a few more, but if not I’ve made a bit over 100$ for my efforts. Found in the Plateau.

6. Montreal Olympics slide lot: On eBay for 200$. The buyer seemed most interested in photos of the gymnastic events. Found in TMR.

7. Three brown bakelite light switches: On eBay for 60$. These were more valuable than I originally expected. Something else to keep an eye out for while picking!

8. Aurora Hastil pen with 14k nib, for repair: On eBay for 40$. It needed some fixing but still sold for a good price. Found in the Plateau.

9. Phillips LFH9600 digital memo recorder: On eBay for 120$. Found in TMR.

10. Krieger tidal watch: On eBay for 515$. It cost 35$ to get a new battery in there, which I subtracted from the profit. Krieger isn’t a particularly well known company, but they make quality watches and their tidal wares satisfy a niche market. Found in Outremont.

11. Superscope (Marantz) TDR-830 8-track player/recorder: On eBay for 90$. This machine needed some repairs, but Marantz stuff always does well on eBay. Found in Rosemont.

12. WWII Vickers ammo box: On eBay for 80$. This sold pretty quickly. Found in NDG.

13. Birks silver picture frame: On eBay for 40$. Found in Hampstead.

14. Birks silver picture frame #2: On eBay for 30$. This one was bigger but had no glass. Found elsewhere in Hampstead.

15. Ed Levin silver bracelet: On eBay for 80$. Found in the Mile End.

16. Boston Pops 1952 program: On eBay for 10$. I’m just glad this is gone! It had been on eBay for an eternity.

17. Zassenhaus 532 coffee grinder: On eBay for 250$. I would have loved to keep this for myself, but I can’t afford to own a 250$ coffee grinder. Found in Westmount.

18. Expo 67 construction photos: On eBay for 20$. Found in NDG.

19. Christmas light lot #2: On eBay for 40$. These sold on boxing day. Found in Westmount.

20. Christian Dior Poison soap bar: On eBay for 50$. Not bad for 30 year old soap! Found in Outremont.

21. Schuco Fex windup car: On eBay for 60$. I got neutral feedback for this because I forgot to mention in the listing that the winding mechanism probably didn’t work. My bad. If the buyer had contacted me directly I would have offered a partial refund, but I guess it didn’t bother them that much. Found in Westmount.

22. Round bakelite light switches: On eBay for 25$. More old bakelite switches. These were a little beat up, so I didn’t ask for much.

23. Yearbooks: To a reader for 100$. I gave them a deal on the yearbooks I had on eBay, as well as a beautiful art deco era “Old McGill” yearbook I haven’t posted here yet.

24. Drewrys bottle opener: On eBay for 15$.

25. Sherman bracelet: On eBay for 35$. I ended up giving a partial refund because I didn’t notice an issue with the clasp. A 15$ discount resolved the issue, however, and the buyer left good feedback. Found in Outremont.

26. Vintage Micronta alarm clock: On eBay for 30$. This had very big numbers!

Refunds:

1. Secret Dakini oracle tarot cards: -60$. These sold to someone in Germany but apparently they haven’t shown up. There’s no tracking number (tracking anything going overseas via Canada Post costs at least 40$) so there’s no way to say where it is. I can only hope that it shows up eventually, and that the buyer is honest enough to pay me again. Regardless, the occasionally refund is just a cost of doing business.

Total: 2015$, 27152$ in 2017. This bests my previous record by around 5000$. I credit an extremely successful yard sale season, as well as my consistently improving eBay skills for the great year. I hope to cross the 30k mark in 2018!

It’s worth noting here that my stated sales totals are the gross profit, and don’t take into account the eBay / PayPal / Etsy fees I pay for my online sales. So, my actual earnings are about 8-10% less on the things I sell on eBay and about 6% less on the things I sell on Etsy. I’d guess that I paid around 1800$ in fees in 2017 – I’ll figure out exactly how much when I do my taxes. No matter, I did pretty well for selling trash!

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to garbagefinds.com
6. Follow me on Instagram

Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a while to get back to you.

Sortilège Pt.3

garbagefinds24 Comments

This box full of old picture frames was on the curb the first day I stopped here (it was fuller than seen above, but I tossed out some broken ones). I sold the frames to someone at a yard sale, who later returned the photos to me as part of our agreement.

Most of the frames contained 8 x 10″ photos signed by doctors. This guy is Nathan Shock – not a household name by any means, but someone apparently deserving of a Wikipedia page as the “father of gerontology.”

I can’t make out this guy’s name, but he looks like someone who might have a Wikipedia page. Any guesses as to who he is, or what the signature says?

This one is signed: “To a fine doctor and friend – Lou Wolfson.” Assuming it’s the same guy (he definitely has the same ears), this Louis Wolfson was a Wall Street financier and one of the first corporate raiders. He was also apparently big into horse racing – his farm bred Affirmed, who won the triple crown in 1978. His signatures don’t seem to be plentiful, so maybe this could have some value to a collector with an interest in horse racing or Wall Street.

I also found some loose photos, like this one from a 1957 American College of Chest Physicians meeting. The detail in this photo is great, zoom in for a closer look! I think I sold this at one of my yard sales.

I’ve been wondering who this guy is for some time now. I feel like he’s part of a boy band or something. Any ideas? I can’t make out his signature either.

This fun photo was taken at “Au Lutin Qui Bouffe,” a long defunct Montreal restaurant best known for having their clients pose for photos with a piglet and a milk bottle. I found a cool old menu of theirs a while back, which I ended up selling for a nice profit.

I found a few books but this one – a bid book published by the organizing committee of the 1980 Moscow Olympics games – was the most noteworthy of the bunch. Bid books are basically official responses to an IOC questionnaire sent to every city that wants to host the Olympics.

The book was very nicely designed. This is one of the first pages, which opens into a large photo of Moscow (below).

Inside the cover was this business card. I did a bit of research on Gresko (I found more info under “Alexander” than “Alexandr”) and he was suspected of being a KGB agent on top of his role as a sports organizer. This article contains some interesting anecdotes about him, while this book mentions how “it became clear” to Canadian officials that Gresko was KGB.

Bid books often do quite well on eBay. I can’t find any others like it online, and the Moscow games were notable for the politics involved so it seems likely that this book is worth a least a couple hundred dollars. I just need to figure out how to glue to picture of Spasskaya Tower back on the cover – it has come undone after 40 years. Can anyone suggest a type of glue that would work well but not damage the book in any way?

Check out the pictures below if you’d like a closer look!

 

My car right now

In other news, yet another massive dump of snow (about 36cm apparently) will make trash picking annoying for about a week. I’ll probably go on only short runs to familiar spots for at least the first half of the week.

I bought this overhead light on Amazon. It should arrive early next week, and I hope that it’ll allow me to take quality photos in my garage.

Finally, the guy who won the Bakelite bead auction hasn’t paid me yet, so it seems likely that I’ll have to go through the auction process again. It’s a bit disappointing, but I was careful not to get my hopes up and I’m happy to know that the beads are worth more than I expected (though likely not as much as they were bid up to).

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to garbagefinds.com
6. Follow me on Instagram

Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a while to get back to you.

Sortilège pt.2

garbagefinds17 Comments

Most of the snow from the past week has finally been cleared, making it easier for me to go about my business. I went on a long run this morning, passing through some of Outremont and lots of Cote St-Luc. I didn’t see much of interest, but five nice pens (including a Parker 51) I found on one of my last streets may have salvaged the day.

My Tuesday evening run was also saved by one good pile. Some rich folks who look to soon be moving put out bags and bags of clothes, most of which were in great shape. I found a bag loaded with barely worn jeans, a bag of nice shoes and boots, a bag of jackets, and a bag of dress shirts. Most seem to be in yard saleable condition, but one pair of 20-eye Doc Marten boots might be worth listing on eBay.

It’s supposed to rain a lot, and then snow again tomorrow which might put a damper on my picking. We shall see! In the meantime, here’s some more finds from the summer. This place was tossing out great stuff week after week, from fun vintage “quality junk” to some silver and gold jewelry. Above is a nice old rotary phone, an Oticon hearing aid doohickey, a Cartier watch box, and some chandelier crystals.

I saved a sewing box filled with shoe shapers, many of which sold at my yard sales.

The family looked to be Jewish. Above you can see a mezuzah and a medallion commemorating one of Israel’s military victories.

This coin celebrates the 25th anniversary of Israel. They don’t tend to be worth much – I think they were pretty commonly given out as gifts. However, maybe one day I’ll get lucky and find one made of silver or gold. This one is bronze.

I found some cool frames here. The green ones are a bit odd – they have no earpiece to speak of and are also perhaps the strongest glasses I’ve ever tried on. Usually it hurts my eyes to put on strong prescriptions, but these ones just make me feel drunk.

Here’s some of the costume jewelry, as well as some smaller pins & baubles.

You might remember those pens from a recent sales post. They were old Parker Vacumatics that despite not being in perfect condition still sold for 90$. That Birks frame was missing the glass but still sold recently for 30$. There’s another mezuzah here, as well as a nice vintage Montblanc pen box that should sell for a decent profit.

My favourite finds though were the bits of gold and silver jewelry you see above. Most went to my silver/gold scrap guy – he can do with them as he pleases. I kept the gold Star of David pendant, which I expect I can sell at above weight value online, and the charm on the bottom left. All in all, these pieces should end up making me around 300$.

There’s one more part to this series. It’ll include some interesting photos and an uncommon book!

Links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to garbagefinds.com
6. Follow me on Instagram

Email: thingsifindinthegarbage@gmail.com. I often fall behind on emails, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a while to get back to you.