I'm not a fan of participating in fun activities on the days everyone else is participating in fun activities. Too many people! Happy birthday, USA, but I'm stayin' close to home!!!
This morning, instead of attending an out-of-town barbecue or raging pool party, I got up early and made my own fun. In fact, I took part in the funnest activity of all time -- yard saling! Yes, today was an awesome day for yard sales. There were millions of them! (No, not really, but the four I went to were very, very good! We scored big time. I couldn't believe it!)
First of all, we ended up finding two amber cat lamps (a mama and a baby) for $4. According to Terapeak, the large cat alone is worth quite a bit of money. Two mama cats have sold within the last 90 days. Each one sold for $100. Who knows how much a mama AND baby will be worth. We'll see! (See link below if you would like to check them out.)
We also found numerous brass cat figurines (brass has been a hit for us in the past), a signed copy of Electric by the Cult , and an unopened Soundgarden EP from 1989 made of colored vinyl. We looked it up on Terapeak, and a Soundgarden album like this one has not sold within the last 90 days. But guess what! The album they released AFTER the album we have sold for $133!!!!! We need to do more research.
Another item we found was an old-school Swatch Watch (if you call 1996 "old-school"). This one is part of the "Access" series which somehow gives Swatch wearers access to ski resorts....not sure what that's all about. I must continue to do research. There is only one listed on eBay, and it is listed at $59.99. I didn't find anything on Terapeak.
I looked at Swatches when I was in Vegas last week. I sooooo wanted one! When I was in 8th grade, some of my relatives in Germany sent me a Swatch. I was the first one at school to have one. I was actually cool for an entire day!! It was one of those white ones that had multicolored dots on it.
In addition to the aforementioned goodies, we found a wide variety of used cell phones (always hot sellers). Finally, we found a stack of 27 Life magazines from the 1930's +. Usually I steer clear of antiques and vintage collectibles because I have been burned many, many times, but I couldn't resist. Wow! A history lesson in every issue! I think I am going to read some of them. Hope they don't sell too quickly.
Overall, the magazines were in good condition. They are worth about $10 each. A few are worth more, but I decided to list them as a lot at auction for a starting bid of $89. Since we only paid $20 for all the mags + a big stack of vinyl, I think we're ahead of the game. We'll see. It's amazing that Life magazines featuring Mussolini and other cool guys don't go for more. Mind boggling.
That brings me to the "Christmas in July" topic. At the last yard sale of the day, we found a number of holiday sweaters. Most eBayers know that Christmas sells year round, and Christmas sweaters can be hot property -- especially Christmas sweaters in larger sizes and those made my popular companies like Quacker Factory. Along with the awesome, super ornate Christmas sweater we found, we purchased an incredible Halloween vest that had just been dry cleaned. The sweaters cost me a whopping 25 cents each. I had a friend model the Halloween vest just for fun.
It's sure to sell (although I don't think I will use this photo in the listing). I will be putting it at a fixed price since Halloween isn't for a few more months. If it doesn't sell at a fixed price, I will turn it into an auction a few weeks before the holiday hits. Don't forget to measure sweaters armpit to armpit and top to bottom. I don't bother with other measurements. Takes too long. Remember: Time is money. Fast is good.
Yes, it may have been Independence Day, but for me, it really was Christmas in July -- in more ways than one!
Here are the links to the items I have already listed:
Amber Cat Lamps
Life Magazine
Remember: If you are lucky enough to wear a hard-to-find shoe size, check out Bluefrogshoes.com, my eBay store. If you are interested in becoming an eBay seller, call me at (530) 680-8715 or call Oroville Adult Education this fall at (530) 538-5350 X 108.
And I love feedback! So if you want to leave a comment for me, go right ahead! - Miriam @ bluefrogshoes.com
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