Brocante Finds and an eBay Cassini Search Rant

Here's some of my recent brocante finds that will eventually end up on either Etsy or eBay!
Yard sales haven't been good lately so I rely on brocante (both online and offline).

In this lot: a very large cast iron rooster in a wonderful green paint (a door stopper most likely), a cute, whimsical little chick (ceramic), an old wood bench, a zinc florist vase, a fleur de lis zinc frieze, an old jam jar filled with marbles (I'll need to research marbles a bit, I know they sell well, but I know nothing about them. Might just make a big lot with best offer option)

Brocante finds

Otherwise, yard sales have been slow lately (luckily I have a lot of inventory not listed yet). I'll post about what I found later this week, nothing much thrilling tho.

Sales on eBay right now are very uneven, it's either a flood or a dry spell, something I have never experienced before. Something is very strange and I do hope it's only a temporary situation, not a taste of things to come... When buyers tell you "I have been looking for this for months on eBay" and your item has been listed for months, you know something is wrong. We all know Cassini search is not very good, but I feel that goes beyond that. Traffic seems off, it's like my store is visible then invisible. Of course the flood of cheap Chinese crap on eBay doesn't help anyone: buyers get burn and don't return, buyers cannot find what they want because the Chinese sellers are known to manipulate search so they go elsewhere....

What do I do then? I keep listing but no longer exclusively on ebay!

Mermaids: a Fun Theme that is Collectible

Among the things I look for when I am thrifting, yard sailing or browsing online sales for things to flip, is mermaids. Popular collectible, mermaids come in all sort of shape and forms. I look for whimsical items or unusual enough to pique curiosity. Mainly vintage or antique (although you may have success with modern decor pieces as long as it is original/unusual enough and not mass produced in China).

Here are a few of my finds that have sold:

Vintage tin box with mermaids

Mermaid hand held mirror

Signed cast iron trivet by Deville

These were all bought online to flip and they were all successful flips.

Never Accept a Buy Now Offer On An Ebay Auction

I have been selling on eBay since 1998 under various "niche" accounts and stores.

I sold anything from:  

Vintage clothing: This was a very hot niche for me in the late 90's to the mid 2000. I did especially well in the "EMO" style niche. But when I moved to France I pretty much dropped that niche because at the time the French postal service were not offering any cheap small packet rates. Now that they have been fined a couple of millions euros by the European Union for this aberration, and are now offering small airmail packet rates I guess could go back selling vintage clothes. But for what I see the market is not as strong as it use to be. So I still offer the occasional vintage t-shirt or French designer piece, but that's pretty much it.  

Collectibles: all sorts of collectibles and small antiques. Stamps, coins and paper money as well.  

Magazines and books: especially French magazines and rare French books

Now back to the "never accept a buy now offer on an Ebay auction" AKA "you know you got a winner item when....": If you list an item up on auction and within a few hours you got messages asking if you would sell for a fix price, it pretty much mean you hit the jackpot.

Never accept any offer for a buy now. Even if it sounds attractive. It just mean the buyer KNOWS it will go high and he tries to get a deal. Even if the offer sounds attractive (like 10 times or 20 times your starting price).

 I had this happen often: One time it was a vintage Iron Maiden t-shirt. Within a few hours I got 3 offers ranging from 50$ to 125$. I refused them all and the t-shirt sold for over 300$ to a Japanese buyer.

 Another time it was a very "ugly" advertising display for some sort of drinks. Some plastic sculpture of a guy holding a tray of said drink and the display would be illuminated by a light bulb. Ugly. I paid 2$ at a garage sale (I mean for 2 bucks, the risk of loosing money is almost nil). Same, got a bunch of offers, turned them all down and end up selling the thing for 500$ to someone who's dad had a bar in the 50's with the same ad. He wanted it as a tribute/souvenir of his father.

So if you don't know what it's worth, let the auction run its course. On eBay or elsewhere!

My eBay Hauls: Very Little Finds so Far This Year

It's such a slow start of the year that I haven't posted much yet (but that is going to change soon.... lots of huge community sales coming in the next few weeks, so fingers cross).

I went this morning to a medium size community sale and didn't find much. Some Littlest Pet Shop, a pair of My Little Pony G3 and 2 interesting necklace that should sell ok ( paid less then 4$ for the pair).

Easter eBay haul

The elephant necklace carved in bone might be an hassle to list on ebay because elephant and bone in the title will probably get me in trouble (even though that is not elephant ivory, eBay is very very trigger happy. I had one pulled a few years back. I'll need to get creative and avoid triggering the filters.)

Pretty elephant necklace carved in bone

The other necklace is very pretty and signed Ikita Paris.

I am looking forward to April. Next weekend I have 5 large sales to attend, and then the next two weekends I'll be in Paris and it looks like I'll need a real planning if I want to max out my time (lots of sales are already advertised, all over Paris)

Good Online Finds To Flip on eBay

January is usually a pretty dead month for yard sales, charity sales and community sales, especially here where it's cold. So I have been sourcing online, including on ebay. And I did find some nice profit making toys.

Among my purchase is a MIP My Little Pony Midnight in Canterlot set for 25$ (yes not cheap but it's going to be an easy flip). I plan on listing it on eBay eventually. They go for over 80$ on Amazon, so I am pretty confident I can make a decent profit.

Also I did source a lot of MLP and Littlest Pet Shop for cheap. Including some Mint in Package (such as a LPS advent Calendar). I bought many lots as well, with decent LPS pets and ponies and a lot of accessories. Even when I factor in the shipping on these lot, there is a good profit to be made. I do check ebay and other online marketplace daily to find the good lots and so far I am doing really well and I don't plan stopping when the yard sale season start!