Have any of you been doing ebay lately?

[Vinca]

I've been stashing my finds with the thought of listing them when the mood struck. Well, the mood struck and I started looking up current values on some of the stuff. How discouraging! Last summer I found a Haviland Babar kid's mug and, at the time, one had sold on ebay for $75. This morning I checked the ebay solds and found a complete set of the Babar dishes sold for about $35. Everything I had previously checked seems to have hit rock bottom. I do have one interesting find I might try - a 1950 Maxfield Parrish exhibition brochure - but that's about it. My husband suggested selling at the flea market this summer and that's sounding pretty good about now. My booth sales at the group shop were pretty good over the holiday season, so I'm convinced it's just ebay that has turned into a mecca for bottom feeders and not my stuff. I think ebay sellers who list things at 99 cents with no reserve have done us all in. Especially the book sellers. Sometimes you see a decent book has sold for a penny and the seller is offering free shipping. Losing money. Makes no sense. Another thing I'm thinking of doing is expanding the empire and renting space at another shop in another state. Maybe this week I'll look into that, but I'm pretty much ebayed out.

[sufrommich]

1. Try Esty.com. In the "Vintage" category

It seems to be moving pretty well. My Mom has a shop there and I'm opening one this month.

[Vinca]

2. I'll check it out. Thanks.

[northoftheborder]

5. it's "Etsy" not Esty. Very good site

[grasswire]

3. that is so sad

My ex-husband's third wife does eBay and once in a while I look to see what she's selling. (Any of the family heirlooms???) She does pretty well in vintage kitchen linens, holiday figurines, scandinavian kitsch, that kind of stuff. Sometimes amazing prices.

So I think the market is out there for certain things, still.

I have such fond memories of my first two years on eBay. Every morning I would wake up and look to see how much I had earned overnight. It was like a money tree. I had access to good stock then, and made a lot of money.

Wahhhhhhhhh.

[Vinca]

4. Well, I need to flog myself this morning. I threw something on ebay

last night and nearly fell over when it sold within a couple of hours. Mea culpa. I miss the early days of ebay, too. I don't think I've ever had so much fun. You could list a pile of rocks and someone would bid on it. Maybe I need to add another New Year's resolution to the list: be optimistic.

[pengillian101]

6. So how do you price things? Buy now and/or best offer?

I don't sell, but I buy. Just the other day, I was interested in something (Betty Crocker's 1969 Red Pie Cookbook). It's a hot item for the hardbound first edition.

Well, some sellers list other editions and ring bound ones - yet advertise falsely in the headline and start the bids very high and mislead bidders. Some folks <I believe, imho> buy editions other than what they thought they were getting and pay through the nose.

However, I really enjoy shopping at ebay and etsy.

:hi:

[Vinca]

7. I usually research ebay completed auctions first.

If nothing turns up I google the item and see what comes up. Sometimes you can find the result of a live auction or see what other people might be asking for the item on another site. Every so often I'm stumped and if I have a gut feeling something is valuable I'll hang onto it. Other times I'll put it on ebay as an auction and let the market decide.

[grasswire]

8. what's the going rate for that cookbook?

do tell

[pengillian101]

9. Well, some folks are selling for over $100..

I prefer the versions with bookmarks and handwritten notes. I have a true 1969 original book that was a wedding gift in 1971.

The spine has three layers of duct tape and I would never trade it.

I'll share recipes though!