Solid Perfume › Forums › General Lauder Solids Talk › Your Last New Solid › Re: Your Last New Solid
You seem to be very knowledgable about ebay. I thought prices would be going up through Christmas and then go back down when the holidays are over. Could you share some of your expertise with me?
Thanks,
Joni
Sure Joni, short lesson on ebay.
I started on ebay selling beanie babies about 8 years ago. To me it was fascinating that I could buy a 8 buck toy and sell it for 100 bucks. Now that was not my price, cause I started all the beanies at 9.99 , it was the buyers that would drive the price up. Like solids, in the old days finding the new beanies that were selling was hard to do, I would sometimes get up at 3am and go stand in line at a store that opened at 10 am to get ONE that I knew would go on sale there that day. I was single, putting my son thru college and had no responsibilities except my real world business, so it gave me something else to do to occupy my time. And it was fun and I made many neat friends standing in line with other ladies doing what I was doingFor 3 years I made good money selling beanies, and then the beanie craze went away and so I looked for something else to sell. So I started going to garage sales, and estate sales and buying pretties, and reselling on ebay. You name it and I have probably sold it on ebay. I was spending about 200 a week buying and selling about a 1000 a month, so I was making some profit but not getting rich. I sold a lot of kids toys, a lot of electronics(x box's, playstations,computers) tickle me elmos, patty dolls, furby's waterford, sterling, jewelry, purses, books) I found a solid perfume at an estate sale and sold one at ebay and it brought a really good price so I started buying solids, but I fell in love with them, and then my ebay career became a way to make money to pay Neimans, saks, and harrods for my solid perfumes.I also bought a lot of solids off ebay from bbqueen in canada, woody, pamela,calbeanies lacysea, and various others that were selling solids.
AT the time ebay did not have a watch program, so I might have bids on 3 solids all the same one, and accidently win 2 of the same one. Sometimes I sold my duplicant that I had won, but most time I kept it and had two. That was in 2001 and my collection went from zero to 100 in less than 3 months…LOL…I think I may have OCD when it comes to solid perfumes. I was sill going to estate sales and buying other things to sell on ebay to pay for my solid perfume habit….LOL
I have noticed over the years, that summer prices are always the lowest, no matter what category it is.,…..probably because in the summer people are taking care of kids that are out of school, doing the vacation thing, and playing outside cause the weather is so beautiful
When the weather starts to get bad, people are indoors and therefore on the computer more so you have more than one person trying to buy the same thing so prices tend to go up. But it is only 2 weeks before christmas until tax time in March that the prices are really the highest. Prices are usually still low all the way thru thanksgiving and the first week of december, and then people start looking for christmas presents and wanting a bargain they go to ebay. Even when prices are the highest at ebay, they are usually still way below retail or value of the item, so ebay is really a shoppers paradise. Now I am not talking about solids there in pricing, as solids usually go on the back burner during the christmas rush, becasuse the collectors are not buying for themselves but looking for presents for other people, so the solid prices normally stay low thru christmas with maybe a little price increase. After christmas when everyone has their christmas money and the husbands are watching the new years day games, the bowl games, and the ladies can't get out to run around because of the snow is when the prices start inching back up.
I am now gearing up for the holiday season and yes i will still have solids in my ebay stores at fair prices for what I paid for them, but my main focus will be on auctions of other things, not solids.
I will start in the next week selling vintage christmas decorations, signed 1st edition 1st printing books, beautiful glassware that is perfect for gifts , vintage glassware for those looking for something special to give to a friend, glitzy jewelry(costume jewelry ) perfect for all those holiday parties, vintage purses, evening bags for those parties, cooking stuff( normally magnalite which is the greatest stuff to cook in during the holidays) and anything else that would make a great gift or a great collectible for those people that are hard to shop for that are on your christmas gift giving list, or stuff that you will need to entertain with during the holidays,
I shop all year long preparing for the christmas selling season, and buy stuff that I know people will be looking for and try to buy cheap enough that I can make at least $5 on each item that I sell. Sometimes I get bidding wars going and make a bunch on one item, but for everyone I make a bunch on, I have a lot that don't sell and I lose my investment on and those are given to charity at the end of the year or resold after christmas to try to break even on my investment.
The last two weeks, I have been trying to buy tickle me elmo's as that is the hot toy this year, but so far I have had no luck, and I know all the tricks for finding them retail to resell at a higher price to make money on them, but this year they are just not there to be found,. But when playstation comes out Nov 17 I will buy as many as I can, and easily double my money on those.
If you know your seller on ebay, then ebay can be a great way to shop. But you have to either know the seller or buy from those with a lot of positive feedback points, so that you are buying something from someone with an established reputation at ebay so you won't get scammed.
(feedback points are those little numbers in paranthesis after a sellers name). if you ever have a question on ebay email me at kasikirby@gmail.com and I will try to answer you superfast, so that maybe I can allievate your fears about buying at ebay. There are a lot of great bargains on ebay and I personally do all my shopping there(except for food to feed the family with…giggle) I hate to pay retail…LOL. And I have found that anything you could ever want to buy, is on ebay.
I currently don't have any auctions on ebay but I will begin to post new things on Monday from now to the end of christmas season. So come shop with me. And if you are looking for solids, they will still be in my ebay store and yes the carousel is still there and will probably be there until everyone gets their christmas money and then I'm sure it will dissappear. BTW I will give you girls a 10% discount on anything in my store( as long as you don' t buy it thru ebay, just email me).
If you are in the states, my toll free number is 800-880-3366. sorry out of country people but that number doesn't work for you girls.
Ooops didn't mean to write a book, but when I am drinking my first cup of coffee for the morning I tend to overwrite…..LOL
Kasi
ebay ID Kasi