ebay – Page 3 – Things I find in the garbage

Recent sales – May

June 23, 2017 garbagefinds5 Comments

1. Harper’s Bazaars: Three different issues for 145$ (40, 45, 60 – eBay). All were from the 50s and 60s. I was wondering if any of the vintage magazines I listed would sell, and then three of them did in a month. Each netted me good feedback as well.

2. Jovan musk oil: On eBay for 65$. The second of two bottles I found.

3. 2010 MacBook Pro for repair: On eBay for 180$. This was the one I found in the McGill Ghetto on moving day.

4. Sheaffer desk pen, 14k nib: On eBay for 50$.

5. Vintage Sharp calculator: On eBay for 15$.

6. Vintage 1970s US Military recruitment poster: On eBay for 25$. I finally sold one of the posters I found in the fall. Only around 20 more left! They’re not moving as fast as I had hoped, but I’m sure they’ll sell eventually.

7. Microsoft Surface RT, for parts / repair: On eBay for 75$. I couldn’t get the Wifi to work, but otherwise it was in fine condition. Found in Outremont.

8. Arts & Crafts era brass bookend: On eBay for 50$. I love this era of design, which took place in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

9. Legend of the Legendary Heroes (anime DVD): On eBay for 45$. Only four DVDs remain from that collection I found about a year and a half ago.

10. Parker 51 fountain pen with silver cap: On eBay for 30$. This pen was in pretty rough shape overall, but still had some good parts that were of interest to a collector.

11. Vintage ink eraser: On eBay for 25$.

12. Expo 67 Restaurants: On eBay for 30$. This had been listed for so long that I can’t even find pictures of it on my computer. I’m a “list it and forget it” kind of guy, though I do revise the price when I think I’m asking too much, or if I’m just sick of having the item lie around the house.

13. Wilkinson razor blades: On eBay for 20$.

14. Mount Eisenhower RPPC: On eBay for 10$. Part of the postcard collection I found last year.

15. Pfaff sewing machine needles: On eBay for 20$.

16. WWII bail-out bag: On eBay for 115$. I’ve had this for a while, and most of the time I thought it wasn’t worth much. Recently though I decided to do more research and found that it was relatively valuable, and definitely worth listing on eBay. Apparently this would have been used on the Canadian Universal Carrier during WWII. This was part of that Montreal West haul where some guy chastised me for looking through his trash. I ended up leaving behind a few bags unopened, but here’s hoping I got all the best stuff anyways.

17. Glass chandelier crystals: On eBay for 30$.

18. Arne Johansen Danish modernist jewelry set: On eBay for 500$. This set took a long time to sell, but it’s finally gone. I just kept lowering the price bit by bit until someone… bit. Part of a great jewelry haul I came across in NDG.

19. New Wayfarer Ray-Bans: On eBay for 90$.

20. Serengeti sunglasses: On eBay for 75$.

21. National Liberation Front (WWII Greece) White Book: On eBay for 45$. Another item that took forever to sell. I think I had it listed for around three years.

22. Old McGill yearbook: On eBay for 47$. One of three McGill yearbooks I found a few weeks back.

23. Commodore calculator, for parts / repair: On eBay for 20$.

24. Brutalist peacock brooch: On Etsy for 90$. Another piece from that previously mentioned jewelry haul. It was hallmarked as sterling silver, and also stamped with a makers mark I couldn’t identify. This was a really cool (and large, about 3″ long) brooch and I wasn’t going to let it go for cheap.

25. Other jewelry: On Etsy for 40$ (30, 10).

26. JBL L-86 speakers: On Kijiji for 150$. These sold the day after being listed. They needed some work, but JBL is a good brand and someone was more than willing to take on the project of fixing them.

27. Vintage Japanese steel Shogun bike: On Kijiji for 40$. Another project. I could have gotten a lot more for this if I had any bike skills, but I really don’t have any. I don’t have any particular interest in knowing anything outside of how to change a flat tire. Gotta pick your battles.

28. YSL Champagne: To a local buyer for 100$. It had never been opened.

29. Yard sale: 720$. This was my best yard sale ever! It was a really nice day and my friend’s house is in a pretty good spot. Since then I’ve had two much less successful sales, which I think were partly due to mediocre weather and the shutting down of St Laurent to traffic.

Total: 2757$, 10602$ so far in 2017. If every month was this profitable I’d be doing pretty well!

Expo’s [sic]

May 5, 2017May 5, 2017 garbagefinds25 Comments

I looked through the rest of the photos / slides from last week and found a bunch from the 1976 Montreal Olympics. They’re pretty neat! Whoever took these went to the Olympics pretty often, as there are photos from several events including the opening ceremony and even some kind of public showing of the construction of Olympics stadium. Below is a small sample of what was included.

Surprisingly there don’t seem to be many amateur Olympics slides on eBay. I saw a listing of 31 Greg Louganis slides that sold for 32 USD, so maybe I can get around a dollar each for these as well. That would be nice, as I probably have around two hundred in all!

I also found one box of slides from a late 1970s Expos game. There’s some neat shots here of Gary Carter, Tony Perez, and Warren Cromartie, the latter of which now leads a group trying to bring baseball back to Montreal. I also can’t find any amateur slides of Expos games on eBay, but I expect these might worth around a dollar a piece.

It’s been a good few weeks for photos. I found a box on the curb earlier this week with some very cool photos inside, many of which date back to the turn of the century. I even saved a couple of tintypes – those don’t turn up in the trash very often. I’ll share some of the cooler photos in an upcoming post!

I focused a lot on the McGill area during move-out last week, but I’ll wait until my next post (or the one after that) to show you what I found there. Lots of good stuff, I’ll say that much.

It’s probably just a proximity bias, but Friday is the day that makes me realize what how little of my Montreal’s garbage I’m actually able to pick. A huge region near me (the Plateau east of St-Denis, Rosemont east of Iberville all the way to Pie-X, Centre-Sud to I’m not even sure how far, all of which are connected) has a Friday morning collection, as do other areas not too far away. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people on the same day – I could go picking from around 7am-3pm and I’d still be unable to see it all. Not that I have the energy to do that anyways, but most of my other routes are self-limiting – once you’re done, you’re done.

Anyways, I happened upon these boxes while cruising around the Centre-Sud area (near Sherbrooke & Fullum) last Friday.

Inside was some great stuff. One box held some mid century lighting, including this nice “eyeball” desk lamp; …

… and a cool ceiling fixture. Sorry for the crappy pic, it’s hard to capture this kind of thing well without a legit studio! Both pieces were in good condition and looked great after being cleaned and polished with a micro-fibre cloth. I expect they’ll sell for a nice price, I’m not sure about this piece but I saw a similar desk lamp that sold on eBay for 75$.

I also saved a vintage Christmas tree. The fact that it comes with the original box probably improves its value. I won’t bother listing it anywhere before November, but it should eventually earn me some $$.

Here’s what the tree looks like! It might not actually be the same tree on the box (I think that one is just green) but it’s close enough.

I’m always picking up vintage luggage, even if it’s not in particularly good condition. Oftentimes they’re at least attractive or sturdy enough to hold yard sale stuff. This one however is in very nice shape and it’d be a shame to use it as such. Maybe I’ll keep it myself for home storage, or try to sell it for a premium on Kijiji. It was made by Dominion Luggage in Toronto.

This Belkin FM radio transmitter is probably my most useful recent find. I found another one a while back that I hadn’t gotten around to testing, but this one is probably better anyways. Now I can listed to podcasts in the car!

I found two nice vintage JBL speakers in Rosemont. They look like they need some work, but JBL is a good brand and I expect they’re worth money even just for the cabs.

I also saved a pair of mid-century looking tables in the Plateau. I was on bike at the time, but went home so I could pick them up with the car (and also because I was carrying around 20 pounds of vintage files on my back and was getting tired).

I’ve been doing that Thursday evening Rosemont run pretty regularly, in large part because there’s no real competition for that time slot. It’s also been producing some interesting stuff, like this box of vintage sewing bric-a-brac, an old tin, and a neat vintage “souvenir of Canada” pocketknife. I can probably get around 20$ for the latter. Just FYI, these are two photos spliced together, so the pocketknife is not the same size as the tin. It might look a little confusing!

That same spot also gave me a couple of stuffed monkeys, one of which looks hand-made. I’m a sucker for anything hand-made. Both are in nice condition, and you can expect them to appear in my next yard sale.

That’s all for now! There’s lots more to show you, but it’ll have to wait until next time.

Relevant links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to Garbagefinds.com

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.

Cool tools / efficiency

October 30, 2016 garbagefinds16 Comments

I’ve had some good luck recently finding useful stuff!

It all started with this collection of furniture I found on the curb in Rosemont. I’d been wanting a set of drawers, so I unloaded the car (which was full of junk) and came back for the dresser on the right. It was a challenge to get the thing in the trunk by myself but it all worked out.

I’m always paranoid about bedbugs, especially with furniture and especially when I see it in dense, working class neighbourhoods. However, I inspected the dresser and saw no signs of infestation – if anything it was unusually clean. It’s good to be wary though – I recommend checking out my guide to avoiding bedbuggy trash if you’re ever considering taking something off the curb!

Anyways, the dresser replaced a trunk in my room. It’s a lot better for storing the small items I tend to find, and I also like that I can stash some stuff underneath.

(FYI, I do have the missing handle. It’s broken but might be easy enough to glue back together).

However, the best part is that switching the trunk with the dresser allowed me to finally set up a light box! I wasn’t able to before because the trunk was top loading, and moving the setup every time I wanted in the trunk would have been very annoying.

(Here’s the light box I bought. The price is 300$ now for whatever reason. I paid 100$ and would recommend it at that price, but 300$ seems a bit rich).

It’s just a small box, but it’s big enough to photograph most of the items I find. It makes listing on eBay much easier that’s for sure! I no longer have to rely on natural light or plan around the weather, and can take clear photos at any time of day. Here’s a picture I took recently using the light box.

Here’s a photo I took outdoors, just to show the contrast. This photo is good enough for eBay – I’ve seen some truly disastrous examples of photography on there – but it’s not great and it’s certainly not a game-changer. Some turned out better than this, but I regularly had to deal with these sorts of long shadows and weird lighting and would often end up compromising on photo quality. I’m still learning how best to use the box, but its consistency is obviously a plus.

A few days later I found an old Windows XP desktop computer, a monitor, and a laser printer in two large boxes on the curb.

I should mention that I’ve long had an irrational hatred of printers. Especially those stupid inkjet ones that are designed to be thrown in the trash after the cartridge runs out. It seemed like every time I’d try to use one I’d encounter a software issue that was unreasonably hard or impossible to figure out, there would be paper jam for no particular reason (actually the reason was that the modern inkjet printer, even when new is a cheap piece of junk), or the print quality would just be crap. I hated printers, and though I’ve seen many inkjet printers on the curb in my time I’ve never bothered to take any.

However, maybe this one is different. I plugged it in and the photocopy function seemed to work okay, though the print was very blotchy. Thanks to the minimal, no-nonsense setting layout I was easily able to find the “clean heads” function which I ran several times. Soon enough the print quality was very good. Installing the drivers also proved easy, and I found myself printing in no time!

For years I’ve been hand-writing the labels on my shipments. I didn’t mind doing that, especially considering my hatred of printers, but it was far from efficient given my profession and increasing number of sales. Lately I’ve been enjoying printing my labels. I definitely like not having to double check the address, or re-write the label when I inevitably screwed up. It’s also great that PayPal automatically adds the tracking number to eBay, saving me the effort of doing so myself.

Perhaps this Samsung SCX-4200 will be my BPF (best printer forever)! Oh, and the computer worked well too. I was tempted to keep it but decided to list it on Kijiji instead. I don’t have much space to work with, so continuing to use a laptop is probably my best bet.

All in all these finds (and one purchase) will help me run this operation a fair bit more efficiently. They should save me time, but perhaps more importantly hassle, leaving me more energy to find more, list more, or just chill out.

Otherwise, I had a … let’s go with “interesting” encounter with the police last week that ended with me getting a ticket and them forcing me to get a mechanical inspection – basically another safety – of the car I was driving despite it being in rather good condition. All this because I had the nerve to look through trash in one of Montreal’s wealthier neighbourhoods. My next post will describe the experience in detail!

Relevant links

1. Facebook page
2. My eBay listings
3. Etsy store
4. Kijiji listings
5. Contribute to garbagefinds.com

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.