Winter in eBay Land.........

Hallelujah! It's finally cold!  Today's high was 66 degrees, so I decided to wear my first sweater of the season. It's pink and fuzzy .....and only cost a dollar. I usually wear black, so my co-workers were pretty shocked when I walked in the office this morning. When I got home, I decided to put on my sheepskin boots  -- nice and cozy.  After a long, hot summer, I'm really looking forward to the winter months.

Speaking of winter...

I love snow globes. I call them “winter in a bottle.” Shake them up, and ….Ta-da! It's December. Personally, I prefer the miniature ones. They're easy to list, easy to store, and easy to ship -- an all-around awesome product.

Snow globes are a lot like coffee mugs. They're very inexpensive, and the average globe sells for between 10 and 20 dollars. Like coffee mugs, snow globes from famous cities are extremely popular. I've sold quite a few featuring the Eiffel Tower. I usually purchase them from former study abroad students. (I live in a college town.)  The ones I have been finding look something like those found on the website Parissouvenirs.com (see picture).

Vintage snow globes are especially cool. A few months ago, I found two Las Vegas beauties.  The first was a calendar snow globe. It had dials at the base so you could set the date. It was made of a high quality material commonly known as "plastic." Very retro. I sold it to a lady in Australia for $10. 

It reminded me of something my grandma might have picked up years ago on one of her church-sponsored gambling trips. Once every 12 months, G-ma and her peeps would ride the bus to Reno to play the slots and see a show. (As far as I know, she never made it to Vegas. I'm guessing the 13-hour bus ride would have killed her.)

I sold the second Vegas globe a few weeks ago. It wasn't the most attractive piece, but it was definitely vintage, and the buyer loved it.

 

Recently, I listed a snow globe for New York City fans.  Maybe I should have kept it since I'm going to miss Michael Buble when he plays Madison Square Garden this November.  (Anyone have an extra grand or two sitting around?  If I go, I want a front-row seat.) 

Christmas-themed globes are also popular. Costco sold a number of very nice ones a while back.  Most of them featured nativity scenes.  They were made by Kirkland.  I find them at yard sales all the time – new in box. They are quite heavy, but they come packed in styrofoam, so they're relatively easy to ship.  They go for around $20. 

Pictured below is a nativity snow globe I purchased last weekend.  It was a bit pricey ($2), but I'll still make about $6 on it.

And, of course, there are the snow globe superstars.  I haven't found one yet, but they're out there.  In the past 14 days, the following snow globes have sold for quite a bit of money:


1. A "Louis Vuitton Client Gift" snow globe sold for $810


2. A Mary Poppins St Paul's Cathedral snow globe sold for $650


3. And a Finding Nemo snow globe sold for $250


And now for some super secret snow globe tips:

1. Don't worry if you find one that is low on water. Check
    the bottom. If it has a plug, you can refill it! 

2. Use bubble wrap to save on weight when packaging mini
globes. You may be able to send them using First Class – an 
inexpensive and fast way to ship packages.

3. eBay does not distinguish between snowglobe written as one word and snow globe written as two.  Your listing will come up no matter how buyers search for it.  However, snowglobe written as one word seems to bring the most money and saves space. According to Terapeak and the Google Keyword Tool, buyers are also searching for domes.  (Interestingly enough, eBay has the word snowdomes as a subcategory.)  The word water also popped up as a popular snowglobe-related search term.  Use as many of these keywords as possible to attract a wide variety of buyers.

4. Inspect snow globes carefully before purchasing them. 

    Sometimes pieces inside break.  You can see them floating
    around if you look carefully. 

             
5.  If you buy a large globe, make sure it's really cool, extremely rare, or unbelievably tacky.  It needs to be a home run.  Shipping a heavy item is expensive, and nobody wants to pay a fortune for something they can buy at Walmart.  Use Parcel Post to save buyers money, but let them know that they have the option of paying for Priority if they need their purchases to arrive quickly.  Parcel Post is inexpensive, but it's also very slow. 

So there you have it.  Winter in eBay Land.  Sounds dreamy, doesn't it?  Speaking of which.......What's your dream?  Is it to have fun and work at the same time?  Well, thanks to eBay, you can.  Continue reading this blog, and you'll be livin' the dream in no time. 

For the best eBay selling tips around, become a follower of this blog, The eBay Life.  (See the "follow" button to the right of this post.)  If you need shoes at discount prices, check out my eBay store, Blue Frog Shoes.  And don't miss next week's post when I plan to blog about my favorite show, Pawn Stars!