There are still treasures to be found, just like this one. + Recent sales

STAND This items was one of Olivia11dancer's recent sales.  I thought I would highlight it as a motivator for getting out to those thrift stores, and garage sales to find these treasures.

Olivia11dancer purchased the item for 25 cents at a small rummage sale in Burnsville Minnesota.   At the time she didn't even know what it was, but she knew she liked it.    This item spent the next 15 years without being identified until a couple of weeks ago, when Olivia11dancer decided to do some research on the statue.  

ART DECO FRANKART ASH STAND

More types of frankart

The buyer of this stand will be restoring it to its original condition.  Hopefully they will send us some pictures when they are finished with it.

This sale gives me inspiration to get into the books, and do more research.  I think if I had found this statue for 25 cents I would have snatched it up too.

Speaking of research I think its time to go over some more sales.

UTICA STAINLESS STEEL FLATWARE MADE IN THE USA

Paid: $2.99  Sold:  99.99  

Why it sold:  Stainless steel flatware that is made in the USA is very desirable.  If you can find large lots, they sell very nicely.    I highly recommend you check out the flatware bins when you are at the thrift stores.  Pick up different forks, and feel the weights and the quality, then you will begin to understand why these are so desirable.    Flatware made in Korea or Japan usually vintage, and are good quality utensils.  Stay away from items made in China and Taiwan.

VINTAGE SWAG LAMPS

Paid: $5.99  Sold: 49.99

If you come across swag lamps I recommend picking them up if the price is right.  I knew this one would sell because it looked like iridescent carnival glass.    The big thing you need to know about swag lamps is whether or not the coloring is sprayed on, or if its the actual glass.  Sprayed on coloring will flake off and is not worth as much.    Ambers are the bottom of the bin while the greens, blues, and reds are the sure sales.

Things are finally starting to pick up again so I will have plenty of more sales to talk about soon, bookmark my blog if you have not already, and see what I post about next time.






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How to profit off shopgoodwill.com

Shopgoodwill.com will kill you on shipping so if you want to make a descent profit you have to be near  a Goodwill that lists items on shopgoodwill.com

There are 2 Goodwill stores in the area where I am at that list items.

Go to the search option and then under sellers, select the closest goodwill.

Browse their entire listings looking for heavy items that people outside of the area wouldn't want to pay shipping on, or items that they don't want to ship.

Selecting the hard to ship items locks out all the bidders that are not in the local area, and gives you a chance to get great deals.

You don't have to pay for shipping because you can just drive and pick the items up which will save you a lot of money.  I feel like they over charge on shipping but thats just my opinion.

It is possible to still make a profit buying items off shopgoodwill.com for resale, but the shipping eats into your profits.

Happy hunting


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My first garage sale hunt of the year along with finds & sales

This weekend was a great weekend for my first hunt. It was nice and sunny, which if you are familiar with the pacific northwest then you know that's a pretty big deal. I ended up spending a total of $100.00 when it was all said and done. I also learned about a prime spot for metal detecting so I am going to have to go check that out eventually. Ok lets get on with the finds shall we?

Vintage industrial style adjustable lamp

Danish Modern table lamp.  I wish I could have found the other one, but it was MIA.  I already have an offer for $25.00 for this lamp but I literally just listed it so I didn't take the offer.

Vintage TOKI mid century modern goose neck desk lamp.  

This is an interesting find.  Its an art deco goose neck desk lamp.  I am guessing its probably from the 40s.  The base is cast iron so its fairly heavy.

Vintage cosmo clock made in the USA.  Faux wood face with arcade like numbers, I am going to offer this one as a vintage gamer clock and use woody ( like the Atari) as one of the keywords.  Should be an easy sale.

Hollywood regency chic angel goddess wall plaques.  I just sold this exact pair for $38.00 so it was nice to find them again.

Homoco four seasons wall plaques.  There is a specific term for this style, I just can't remember what it is off the top of my head.  If anyone knows please leave a comment.

I have to do some more research on this clock but its Hollywood Regency and its called the Homestead clock made by Talley Industries. ( Made in the USA)

Vintage desk lamp with articulating arm.  I just sold the yellow version of this lamp for $39.99 so this one should be an easy sale.

This light fixture is probably from the 40s judging by the wiring.  I am listing it as Gothic Victorian.

This is another interesting light fixture.  This one is probably from the early 1900s judging the wiring and porcelain sockets.  Its  all brass with some sort of lacquer coating which is scrapped up.  This would be great as is or someone could paint it.

1ft retro funky mod Lucite candlesticks.  I have never seen any like these and there are none listed on eBay so we shall see if they sell.

Hollywood regency faux bamboo octagonal cocktail tray.  These seem to be fast movers, I have sold every one I have ever found fairly quickly.  

Well that's all for the finds as of right now.  I have a bunch more, but I have been listing all day, and I have not had a chance to take pictures of the other stuff.

Now I am going to go over some of my recent sales. (Not that there are very many, things have been SLOW lately)


Dorothy Thorpe pitcher and bowl


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130444983567#ht_500wt_922

Paid:  $3.00  Sold: $60.00     I had these in a lot with a champagne glass and another pitcher as you will see in the link.  I ended up breaking up the lot and selling the 2.  Its probably better this way.  They had been posted for awhile.     If you find Dorothy Thorpe items cheap, do not hesitate to pick them up.

Navy pea coat

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130478654323#ht_1402wt_907

Its spring, and I am still selling winter coats.  If you find a pea coat for under $20.00 I would recommend buying them as long as they are in good shape.

Paid:12.99  Sold: 79.99

Corning percolator cord

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130483770627#ht_1402wt_907

Vintage corning percolator cords are not worth a ton but they do sell.  You can't sell certain corning percolator bodies on eBay due to recalls so people piece together parts when they have the body.

Paid:$0.50  Sold: $15.00

Ship wall hangings

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130504902469#ht_1402wt_907

Vintage nautical items sell pretty well so if you find anything old and nautical, its worth a look up.

Paid:$4.00 Sold: 50.00

Vintage adjustable  lighting.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130504896458#ht_1402wt_907

These lamps are probably from the 70s judging from the cords.  The color is what told me I would be able to sell these,  it just stuck out at me.

Paid: $2.00 Sold: $45.00

Pendleton Tweed jacket

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130509513973#ht_485wt_1033

I say this all the time, but once again.  Its vintage and its Pendleton...  nuff said

Paid:  $4.99   Sold: 59.99

Graphic novel - Manga Naruto 1-27

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130493995677#ht_1402wt_907

Manga is expensive, but it sells.  If you find a large lot I would pay up to $1.00 per book.

Paid: $27.00  Sold: $100.00





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Research website list for all your identification and pricing needs

Today I have been rearranging the blog to be more user friendly
(Hopefully more crawler friendly also)
I moved the research links onto another page.  These links are now in alphabetical categories, and most have a small description to let you know what kind of site this is.  Its a fairly long list and I couldn't have done it without all the great inputs from the people in the treasurenet garage sale forums.  Thanks guys!

You can click on the "Ebay item research list" at the top of my blog page or you can just click right here.

Also if you have any sites you would like to recommend, just leave a comment and a short description and I will add it to the list.

How do you manage your ebay income?

When I first started selling on ebay, I was just trying to make a little bit of extra cash to help pay for my wedding. Even before I sold my first item on ebay I knew that I wanted to keep the ebay money separated from our other finances. 

I started by requesting a PayPal debit card.  Once I received the card I started using it to make all of my ebay purchases. After about a month or so my PayPal card started acting up, and would only work at about half of the places I went to.

Mrs. Famous Turtle then had the very brilliant idea to use one of our rewards credit cards strictly for Famous Turtle Treasure purchases. Now whenever I make a purchase I receive reward points through my bank which in turn helps pay for airplane tickets home to see the family. (Just remember to pay off your credit card off on time so you don't get any late fees!)

Having a closed loop system where my sales and purchases come out of the same "pot" helps me keep my the ebay purchases away from our personal bank account.  Of course as Mrs. Famous Turtle would tell you, I am not always the best at taking my ebay card with me, but I try to remember it.

I started out using about $500.00 to purchase items to sell on ebay.  In the 10 months that I have been doing this I have never had to put any extra cash into my paypal account, and my current overall sales is sitting at $20,000.

Not too shabby for part time work.

How to ship a lamp shade

I had to ship a rustic 60s burlap lamp shade a couple of weeks ago and came up with a pretty good way to keep the shade from being crushed.   This one has already been delivered safe and sound.

Tools needed:  Bag of balloons, shrink wrap

Step #1 - Get your shade

Step #2 - fill up enough balloons to fill the shade, and place them inside.

Step #3 - Wrap the shade with shrink wrap, place the shade in a box big enough to fit the shade and enough room to ad some more padding and you are set.

Keyword lookup tool

I just discovered this keyword tool by adwords.

https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__c=1000000000&__u=1000000000&__o=te&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS#search.none

Basically you put in a keyword and it comes up with other related keywords and also shows you how many times those keywords have been used in searches.

Some of the keywords won't relate, but I bet some good keywords could come up. 

Just another tool for your tool box.

Running low on wrapping paper?

I ran out of brown wrapping paper a while back and I have been using brown paper grocery bags as a substitute when wrapping small to medium size packages. You can't beat free shipping supplies!

Well I just sold a domino rally set and the box measures 20x15x4 so this thing wouldn't fit into any of the grocery bags around the house, and I didn't feel like cutting a bunch of poly bags and piecing them together.

I was out doing yard work with the very lovely Mrs. Famous Turtle today so I remembered that I saw some yard waste bags in the shed so I decided to give it a shot.

The yard waste bag worked great, not to mention they are double lined so I still have enough bag left over to wrap another entire large box. This is a great way to use free (or almost free) materials and provide safe shipping for your customers.

FAMOUS TURTLE'S TIP OF THE DAY

While you're looking for treasures, keep an eye out for shipping materials such as foam, cardboard, boxes, packing peanuts, etc. You can often find things in the free boxes, garage sales, recycling centers and even stores. A lot of these materials are really useful in shipping and can be very expensive to buy. Smaller retail stores (my personal favorite is our local Dollar Store) will often be more than happy to give you their boxes for free to save them the expense of recycling them. Keep your eyes and mind open to the possibilities!

Famous Turtle's tip of the day

The early bird gets the worm.

This early bird needs some coffee right now.

Famous Turtle's tip of the day.

Don' t pass up items just because you think they are ugly or uninteresting. 

You are trying to sell to other people, not yourself.

Some more items to keep your eyes out for

Some more finds from Olivia11dancer.  You never know,  you could run across this stuff.

http://cgi.ebay.com/William-Spratling-Sterling-Silver-Amethyst-Owl-Pin-/170624962516?pt=Antiques_Silver&hash=item27ba0a4fd4

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vtg-Art-Deco-Jakob-Bengel-Machine-Age-Galalith-Necklace-/130496856068?pt=Vintage_Costume_Jewelry&hash=item1e62380004

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/BAUHAUS-MACHINE-AGE-ART-DECO-JAZZ-COCKTAIL-TRAY-1930s-/200591823304?pt=Antiques_Decorative_Arts&hash=item2eb43451c8

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Telephone-Machine-Age-Industrial-Phone-/250798327046?pt=Architectural_Garden&hash=item3a64bec506

http://completed.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=fire+king+mixing+bowls&_sacat=0&LH_Complete=1&_odkw=fire+king+luncheon&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-30s-NAUTICAL-WORLD-BRASS-CEILING-LIGHT-FIXTURE-/180633905827?pt=Architectural_Garden&hash=item2a0e9eaaa3

Famous Turtle's tip of the day

If you are shipping glass or fragile items, do a shake test.  If you can hear it move, you may want to think about adding more padding.

If you are afraid to shake it,  theres a chance it won't make it.

Famous Turtle's selling snap shot

Well I am finally done with the month long ordeal that I had to go through.    I have a lot of catching up to do.

I have decided to continue with the quick seller snaps shots.    I still sold plenty of stuff in the past 30 days, thanks to Mrs. Famous Turtle keeping the store running smooth.

Ok lets get down to business.....


Video game strategy guides.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140527282824#ht_500wt_922/

Paid  $.99        Sold  $29.99

Hollywood regency chic goddess wall plaques.  Syroco is still going strong as always

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140514590502#ht_1402wt_907

Paid $2.99  Sold $38.00

Hollywood regency faux bamboo wine rack.  Faux bamboo is hot right now

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130483814795#ht_1402wt_907

Paid $4.99  Sold $65.00


Hollywood regency starburst clock.  I posted this one on treasurenet a while back.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=130473321959#ht_1302wt_992

Paid $12.00   Sold $85.00

That's all for now, I have plenty of other things to post so I keep posting items that I have sold.  If you want to know more details about these items, please leave comments.  It would be great to know that people are actually reading this blog.

FAMOUS TURTLE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Print your shipping labels at home through Ebay or Paypal.   You will receive discounted / free tracking, no more waiting in line at the Post Office, and you can even schedule USPS to come pick your items up at your house.