ISSUE 18: March 2005
Yard Salers: Issue 18! What Sells on eBay for What Updated
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www.yardsalers.net
Yard Salers and eBayers: Issue 18! 3.18 – March, 2005
Happy March, all!
This is sort of an "interim issue," but as these Yardsalers newsletters have hardly been frequent lately, I'm hoping you'll welcome it.
I wanted to announce the release of my updated ebook, "What Sells on eBay for What," now available at www.aolmemorabilia.com/whatsells -- or click What Sells on eBay for
What.
I also want to pass on a couple of resources that I think you may find profitable and useful, and discuss a strategy for making more money per auction sale. So, we're going to try a couple of different things. ("And now for something completely different," as they used to say on the old intro to "Monty Python's Flying Circus").
As you know if you've been a regular reader of this newsletter, I rarely (if ever) endorse other products. My current policy is I will only endorse anything I have not myself evaluated and that I think would be of value to my
readers.
So it is with an experimental spirit that I want to tell you about one such product, an engaging and informative read entitled "How an Overworked, Traveling, Soggy Sandwich-Eating Dental Hygienist Made $11,202.00 A Month 100%
Online."
It is an ebook by Janiece Smith, who sells apparel on eBay from a major American women's clothing retailer. The book shares step-by-step how Janiece discovered her current source of products, and also discusses the other products she's sold successfully, and how she picks them. And she tells you the steps you need to take and exactly what to say to acquire a source of your own such products.
She also dicusses how to determine what is selling well on eBay, which is a topic I am, as you know, fascinatedwith. Another thing I really like about the book is the focus on how to determine not just a winning sales price point, but a starting bid. As you probably know, you need to research completed prices on eBay to see exactly what
is selling well and why, but there is also some psychology and emotion that goes into the whole art and science of why people bid on certain items and why. So what is a starting bid that will get bidders' attention, without being so low as to make you lose money should that be the only bid you get...or so high as to turn bidders off from the
get-go?
Janiece talks about this stuff, among other things. The price is $34.95, which may sound high, except when you consider that the time it could save you could be worth much more than that.
If you want to buy her product, I'd appreciate if you'd support use this affiliate link to do so:
hop.clickbank.net/?juliawilk/expresspro
Now, let’s get to the rest of the newsletter...
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Do you have your copy of Julia's book, “eBay: Top 100 Tips & Tricks”
available on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. If you do want to order the book, I’d appreciate if you’d use my affiliate link below.
ebay top 100
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Have you checked out YAB’s web site? Give it a look at http://www.aolmemorabilia.com/yab (I know, the next step is a better url).
I still need to plug in a few holes for a few back issues, but we’ll get there.
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Do you like this newsletter? Please forward it (in its entirety) to a friend!
**Don’t have five minutes to read the newsletter now? Print it out; take it to bed with you! (That’s my favorite place to read my newsletters!). **
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In This Issue:
1) What Sells on eBay for What: Updated!! Get your copy today!
2) The $50 Sweet Spot: Make More per Hour, and a Great Resource Recommendation
3) eBay Live 2005
4) YOUR FEEDBACK WANTED (No Reader Mail in this issue; Reader Mail will return in the next issue).
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1) What Sells on eBay for What: Updated!! Get your copy today!
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You asked for it, you got it! I've *finally* updated my bestselling eBay book, "What Sells on eBay for What"!
You can buy it and download it instantly -- click What Sells on eBay for What or go to www.aolmemorabilia.com/whatsells.
What's new in this edition?
How about:
- most popular search terms and Most Watched Items in EVERY eBay category!
- detailed price data for the categories:
- Antiques
- Art (What subcategory here tends to have the most wondeful bargains? Find out here!)
- Books & Magazines
- Catalogues (Which of that "junk mail" should you be saving for its collectible value a few years...or months..from now?)
- Business & Industrial
- Cameras & Photo
- Cars, Parts, and Vehicles (eBay Motors)
- Clothing
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2) The $50 Sweet Spot: Make More per Hour and a Great Resource Recommendation
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I had a $50 epiphany the other day. Well, not an epiphany worth only $50, that is...but one potentially worth many times that. I realized that I've sold many items on eBay for only around $10 - $20 (and amazon.com, for that matter, but
those items are of course books). Don't get me wrong...I've had some pretty lucrative sales... the infamous battered old Vuitton duffle bag I bought for $5 and flipped for $75, some Photoshop software for around $100, many high-end items of clothing for $50 and up. But, there have been those middling items that sat there respectably enough, garnering one or two bids in the end, coming out at only around $10.
And, after a lot of price research on eBay, although I've noted a slew of dizzyingly high final sales prices on the site, I've also noted many categories where a large number of items sell for around $10-$15. In my case, that can be OK sometimes, and it must be OK with a lot of other people too or they wouldn't be selling (and continuing to sell) these kinds of things. But I decided that when I looked at my time factor in listing a single item, given that most items (other than my ebooks) are unique and require a unique description, photo, etc., $9.95 just is not enough money to make it
worth my while. That is not to say that I can't understand why people sell items for that little..some people have plenty of time, or perhaps they sell in such bulk abd sell so quickly that it doesn't matter. (Most of us have read about the 1 cent CD people who work around the clock packing and listing cd's). Or, there may be other
reasons.
But when I look around my inventory boxes, closets, and other parts of my house at all the things I need to sell and the space I need to free up, I decided I need to do more "big lots."
I'd written in praise of big lots before, but the other day I read a newsletter that was so jam-packed with useful (and interesting I might add) information about one type of thing you can buy and resell for $50 and up. The items in question are books, and the newsletter (actually a special report) is called the 50/50 report, which you can sign up for at . (Yes, you have
to pay for it, but I firmly believe you will make many times over what you spend on this report in the sales you can make based on its information. 50/50 is by Craig Stark, editor of the BookThink newsletter at www.bookthink.com.
Why is it called 50/50? Because it is a report on 50 books (or series of books, or magazines) that are relatively common at yard and estate sales and the like (such as library and church sales, etc.) Craig explains why each book is valuable, and, perhaps most interesting, in some cases how to group a series of books or magazines to hit the magic $50 mark.
(A complete ad with an explanation of 50/50, prices, and link to subscribe is at the bottom of this article).
I'll give you just a couple of examples because I don't want to give away all Craig's juicy nuggets of info.
The examples I'll give, appropriately enough, are the books I discovered thanks to his report. One is a funny, unassuming little book called "Fun with a Pencil" by
Andrew Loomis. I had picked it up at a local church book sale about 6 months ago, totally on a whim. I bought it for my daughter, because she likes to doodle and draw, and even has a cartoon character of sorts that makes recurring appearances in her spontaneously created comics. When I flipped thru the book's pages, I saw so many charming sample illustrations and step-by-step line drawings of cute little
animals and characters that I thought why not, I'll buy it.
Well, "come to find out" via 50/50 that Loomis's name is gold in the bookselling world (Loomis was an artist who wrote books about how to draw, paint, etc.), and this particular volume regularly brings in $50 and up. Here are some recent sales for "Fun With a Pencil": $64, $51, $43,
Here are some other recent eBay final sales prices for Loomis titles:
Successful Drawing ANDREW LOOMIS rare art book NICE / $185.00 / BuyItNow
Andrew Loomis The Eye of the Painter DJ RARE! / $159.06 / 24
DRAWING THE HEAD & HANDS,ANDREW LOOMIS / $128.50 / 10
Drawing The Head & Hands by Andrew Loomis 1970 NR / $122.50 / 8
Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis / $111.01 / 3
Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis 1947 1st edition / $102.50 / 11
Figure Drawing For All It's Worth - Andrew Loomis - NR / 80 / 11
Drawing The Head & Hands; Andrew Loomis / $76 / 9
Figure Drawing For ALL It's Worth / Andrew Loomis 1955 / 76 /21
DRAWING THE HEAD ~ ANDREW LOOMIS ~ NEAR MINT / $31.99 /BuyItNow
Drawing the Heads and Hands By Andrew Loomis / $31 / 4
(this last one has a faded cover and some pencil marks)
Well, you get the picture. And that's just one example. Another: the "History of Civilization" series by Will and Ariel Durant. Craig's 50/50 tipped me off to the value of this set -- one which my family had in the house when I was a kid, and which my mother still has on her bookshelves in California.
I spotted this set at an estate sale just this last weekend, and I immediately went to the sale's manager and bought it. On eBay, one 11-volume set with dust jackets sold for $102.50; a 12-volume set went for $59.99. 10-volume
sets went for $88, $25 and $21.50.
Those are just two examples of books and authors that 50/50 gives you. But perhaps the most valuable advice in the newsletter was about how to group items to make more money. This is where we tie into the concept of big lots.
Instead of selling those National Graphics one by one, put them in lots of a whole year. Craig also mentions specific periodicals that tend to bring in the magic $50 and up when grouped together. Some of them I never thought of as that collectible, and would have passed up at a sale.
So I urge you to think in terms of groupings and big lots. And not just with books. You can extend this to videos, clothing, jewelry, you name it. For example, I rounded up 10 of the "Thomas the Tank Engine" videos (animated movies about a cute little train and his friends) that my son was no longer interested in (alas! He's
growing up) and put them up as a lot on eBay, along with a plastic train case in the shape of Thomas. The set easily sold for $46...close to the magic number. ;)
I am also running an auction of six pairs of sandals I no longer wear, all the same size or close to it. I plan to keep you posted as to how that one does. Think about what you can group together and sell. You may need a little bit bigger box to ship the items, but I think you'll find that you'll be happier with your final sales
price, and, therefore, the amount per hour you will be making.
So get creative and put together some "big lots" to sell. And, when you do, I'd love to hear about what you grouped together and how it sold. Email me at juliawilk@aol.com!
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SUBSCRIBE TO BOOKTHINK'S 50/50
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New! A Market Report for Booksellers
What could be more important for booksellers than to know when to buy a book and when not to? Not anything I can
think of. If you have a substantial amount of this kind of information in mind when you go to sales or can access it quickly (via a notebook or some sort of handheld device), great. There'll be no stopping you.
But there's information, and there's information. Some of it's necessarily more (or less) useful depending on how likely it is that you'll have the chance to put it in play. What good does it do you to know the title of an uncommon book that can be resold for $50? If it's uncommon, the chances of using this information are relatively
slight, and whatever you invest in acquiring it may not be time or money well spent. Far better to invest in information that will have wider applicability. Far better to have knowledge of books that will sell for $50 and more and can actually be found at sales or other venues with some regularity for prices that will give you plenty
of room to profit handsomely.
This is where BookThink's 50/50 comes in. 50/50 is a detailed market report that lists and annotate 50 books that typically sell for more than $50 online and - here's the best part - surface at sales and other venues with some regularity. This is information you can use and profit from often. Uncommon books will not be included.
Here's a sample of what you're likely to see in 50/50:
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THE COMPACT EDITION OF THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
2-volumes. Unabridged. Originally issued in dark blue cloth with a 3-compartment box, the upper compartment housing a boxed magnifying glass that operated like a drawer. The magnifying glass was essential for reading microprint, a necessary evil in condensing what was originally a 10-volume set into 2. Beginning in the early
1970's, Book-of-the-Month-Club offered these dictionaries at deep discounts for new members. Many sold, and many are still out there. Values are understandably lower if the box and/or magnifying glass is missing, but final values at or near $100 are commonplace.
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So, if you could use 50 of these every other month, then BookThink's 50/50 will bring them to you. As with BookThink's Gold Edition, BookThink's 50/50 is available for purchase either by annual subscription at $20 or individually at $10.
Click here to subscribe instantly:
Checks and money orders should be made payable to BookThink LLC and mailed to the following address:
BookThink LLC
P.O. Box 1329
Apopka, Florida 32704
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3) Requests for eBay Live 2005?
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eBay Live moves to Silicon Valley this year, and I'll be there! Yes, eBay announced they would have this year's convention in their hometown of San Jose, CA. I do plan to attend again this year.
Will Pierre make another guest appearance? Will the eBay wedding dress guy model a new line of clothing? Will a gaggle of Googlers come crash the party? Anything can happen. Any requests, questions, etc..please email me!
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Reader Mail will return in the next issue.
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YOUR FEEDBACK WANTED: What Else Do You Want to See in Yardsalers?
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I am always open to reader articles, so if you want to write about something relating to yard sale-ing and
eBaying, just flag me down! I will of course give you credit, using your eBay ID, web site, or any other contact
info.
That’s it for this issue. Until next time, happy yardsale-ing and eBaying!
Julia
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eBooks by Julia L. Wilkinson:
[all my ebooks are offered at 1/2 price from their regular prices to the subscribers of this newsletter. If interested in any of them, please email me at juliawilk@aol.com.]
- Making Big Bucks off Catalogs on eBay:
http://www.aolmemorabilia.com/clkslcat.html
- Over 100 Books that Sell for $50-$100 on eBay: Updated for 2005!
http://www.aolmemorabilia.com/100bkclkslsub.html
- Selling Kids Clothes on eBay: email me!
(these last two will be available for purchase via my site soon).
- How to Spot Fakes
Julia Classic:
What Sells on eBay for What: Now updated for 2005! $8.95, 1/2 price from the $17.95 retail price.
http://www.aolmemorabilia.com/whatsells
My Life at AOL (available at amazon.com, booklocker.com, and 1stbooks.com)
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Copyright 2005 Julia L. Wilkinson
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