Auction Finds - Check EVERYTHING!
One thing you absolutely cannot do if you want to sell collectibles online for a living is take anything for granted. So you have seen a MILLION floral paintings? Are you pretty ho-hum about them? Be careful! I try to check everything, because sometimes you may be surprised!
My husband paid R40 ($3) for all three of these small oil paintings at a local auction. We get heaps of these floral paintings. In the shop we would have sold them for about R70 ($5) each. A more than fair profit. But as it is our habit to check all paintings I discovered that the artist was a well known Australian artist and I have already sold all 3 for R250 ($19) each! A great profit!
We buy in bulk as we (my husband and I) have a secondhand shop as well as a large online auction site. We will buy the deep boxes filled with assorted junk (and a LOT of it is). We will take that filthy item/s that others won't touch as we know soap and water works wonders.
We were very fortunate to have this bread/meat cutter the subject of a bidding war. I usually sell them for around R220 ($16,50), but 2 people REALLY wanted it and it sold for R520 ($39)!
Next comes the sorting and it is a horrible job! Luckily not mine, but my husband's. (I research, take the photos and list.) After the auction the loot is hauled upstairs by 3 employees. The sorting takes place at our home so it is unfortunate that we have a home with stairs. Still I try to be fair, and tell the staff that I will discount their gym fees...! Items are sorted into what must be listed online, what must go to the shop, what we will re-auction, and what must be thrown away. Bi-monthly trips have to be made to the local dump. I would complain about people using auctions as an alternative to visiting the dump, but very often the good stuff is mixed with the junk and the average auction buyer won't touch those boxes. All the stuff that needs to be cleaned must also be set aside, as well as items needing repairs.
As you may have noticed from my blog posts we really do get anything and everything and this is due to us buying in bulk. Auctioneers love us. We will try to sell most things at least once!
I suspect this was a souvenir pendant, now broken.. A child gave it to me to list, but I will have to remove the listing very soon.
Antiquarian book and vintage magazines.
This box of matches is now headed to the Netherlands from South Africa.
Havana Cigars letter opener.
A vintage pencil sharpener.
SAA (South African Airways) sherry glasses. Old SAA branded memorabilia is quite collectible in South Africa.
A squeaky Teletubbie!!!
This snake Hot Wheels is pretty cool!
This transceiver is used by HAM Radio enthusiasts. I have sold quite a lot of HAM radio equipment. This piece is particularly attractive - shiny!
Wow it's very beautiful pictures!!
I like you job and I follow you now :)
Cool! Thanks so much!