I had been doing a lot of selling on eBay and without really paying attention to what I was doing, I purchased a large amount of estate merchandise that ended up all but taking over my house. I've since cleared a lot of things out, but in the process, I realized that I might have something else useful to share. As I sold items and started making some money, it occurred to me that there was a huge second hand marketplace surrounding us that a lot of people never pay any attention to at all.

They say you should write about something you know. I've sold thousands of unusual and hard to find items on eBay over the years. I've also scoured the store shelves looking for sale items to resell on eBay. I've also explored options for buying wholesale, but didn't particularly like that option for myself. It was too hard for me to find a decent product at a price that would work for me. That is also the point at which I learned that there was an awful lot of the same low quality stuff being pushed by a few dropshippers. I think you get the picture. I've learned quite a bit about what kinds of items sell and what ends up turning into clutter that you wish you had never bought.

Back when I was just starting to sell, I bought a lot of "clutter" items. My wife showed tremendous patience with me as I learned about the fine art of selling on eBay. I felt quite stupid as I threw away junk that I had paid hundreds of dollars buying at garage sales. I also did tons of research and ending up buying a lot of junk eBooks that said they would help me to figure out what sells. I have no intention of selling that information. I'd rather just share what I've learned. If I help someone find something they couldn't locate, that's great. If I help someone who is trying to learn how to make money by selling on eBay, that is great too. I'm not going to try to sell anyone a $47 ebook. My information is free. It comes with no promises (read that part again) but it might help you to find some good things to look for if you don't know what to sell. I'm not a pro blogger, so I hope you'll bear with me as I work out the kinks and figure some things out. I think there are a lot of people who can use this information whether they are searching for something to buy or to sell. I end up doing a lot of research when I sell things and I learn a lot. I thought I'd make this site sort of a mix of information and a blog about what I've found.

I'll also try to point you toward what look like hot items to me. I usually do this by following my instincts, checking out what has been getting bids and then looking at what actually ends up selling.

There are many items on eBay that just slip on by without even a single bid.
I hope you like it and find something you can't live without! Once again, I can't predict the future and I make no promises about what will actually sell. You have to be responsible for what you actually go off and do. I'll just be pointing out what looks good to me at the moment. From time to time I may do some posts featuring things I've got sitting here from my massive estate sale purchases over the past few years but I'll also be writing about some of the more interesting and unusual items I've sold on eBay over the years.

My posts may also be about other items that I find interesting as I come across them. I'll be doing that because I need a break from seeing this same stuff over and over. Honestly, I'm updating this because one of the things I really like about eBay is browsing around and looking on in amazement at some of the things people buy. I don't mean that in a bad way at all. My wife makes fun of me because when we were younger, I used to go out all the time to do one thing or another. Now I'm a little bit more prone to staying close to home. I could go weeks without a phone call and not really worry about it. (I'm not anti-social, it is just that my "real job" requires that I talk to people all day and I like some down time when I'm at home.) When I see some of the things for sale, I realize that maybe I do need to get out more. My wife gets tired of my pointing out the "interesting" things I find, so I will most likely end up blogging a bit about them here. I hope you don't mind. You can just shake your head and wonder why I'm so amused like my wife does.

If you happen upon this site and find what you are looking for, I'll be thrilled because it means I wrote about something people are actually looking for on the Internet. If you have been thinking of selling stuff on eBay, this blog might give you an idea of what things sell (and sometimes don't). If you can use that to your advantage, more power to you!
There are a lot of really interesting things trading hands every day. Sometimes you can find them close to home. Other times, it makes more sense to look for them online.
Second hand sales are a great way to save some money and get your hands on gently used merchandise for big savings. I like hitting estate sales and yard sales a lot as a way to find things I need around the house. These can also be a great source for finding items to sell if you are looking to make a few extra bucks. If you like this site or if it helps you, I hope you will mark it as a favorite and come back to visit often. If you really like it, throw me a link or share it with someone! If nothing else, please leave a comment if you find something useful. I'd love to hear that someone benefited from my experience. I hope you enjoy your visit!
Mike

Recently, I started thinking about what types of quality second hand items I find on a consistent basis.  These are things that I know I can find with a fair amount of certainty.  They are also the things that I won’t pay full price for until I’ve spent at least one weekend looking for them in acceptable used condition.  Most times I can find these things at a fraction of what the original retail cost was.

Gently Used Designer Clothing

If you like to wear designer brand clothing, or you have kids who want it, a yard sale can be your best friend.  I learned years ago that teenage girls tend to outgrow this expensive clothing long before it looks worn out.  If you shop around (especially in more expensive neighborhoods) you can often find moms clearing out the clothes that no longer fit their kids anymore at great discounts.  Resellers should look for brands like Aeropostale, American Eagle, Hollister and others of that ilk.  eBay buyers LOVE to buy these items in bulk and will occasionally bid it up to some pretty hefty sums of money.  If you are just buying for yourself or the kids, it isn’t unusual to find this clothing selling for about a dollar per piece.  Compare that to what it sells for in the store.  This works for guys clothing too, but I mostly come across a lot of girls’ clothing.  When the size is right and the condition is good, I’ll grab it up by the armload for my own daughters.

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LOT 4 MENS ABERCROMBIE HOLLISTER AMERICAN EAGLE SMALL S MEDIUM M AEROPOSTALE    US $34.99

LOT 3 MENS ABERCROMBIE HOLLISTER POLO TEE S L LARGE SHIRT AEROPOSTALE THERMAL    US $34.99

1 CENT CD Force One Network The M M E Program 1 PA    US $.01

1 CENT CD 2AM Club What Did You Think new 2010    US $.01

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Second Hand

These are usually found at estate sales.  People having yard sales are still using all of those hammers, screw drivers, and countless examples of gardening equipment.  At estate sales, these items get treated like leftovers and are usually relegated to a far corner of the garage.  I love to snag cool looking tools when I find them because they are usually on a dollar or two a piece.  If you don’t mind that the tools might need cleaned up a bit, this is another place where you can save a pretty penny compared to buying new.  Check for damage to the tools, but usually these are a pretty good find.  Just as an “FYI”, do a little research before you head out.  Some old hand tools like Stanley Planes and some older hand saws can be extremely valuable to collectors.  How valuable?  Think in the neighborhood of hundreds of dollars each.  Most of the time though, I just consider the second hand tools a great way to keep my own garage and shed well stocked on the cheap.

Kids Toys

This works along the same lines as the designer clothing.  Kids outgrow things.  They don’t just outgrow things though.  They want new “stuff” to replace it.  For most people, buying a new home to fit an endless supply of toys is not a practical option.  That means that something has to go most of the time.  If you’re a mom (or if you know one), you have probably noticed that when they say to get things cleared out, they usually mean it.  That means that toys that have been outgrown get sold dirt cheap.  This can include relatively expensive items like play gyms, outdoor playhouses and even wagons.  The often get sold for far less than retail.  The only catch is, you have to give them a thorough once over before buying and you have to have a way to transport larger items that very day.

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1 cent cd LED ZEPPELIN 4 CD BOX SET ALL 4 DISCS IN CASES NO OUTER BOX    US $.06

Step By Step Outdoor Projects 1998 Paperback    US $3.99

Building Backyard Structures Sheds Barns Bins Gazebos Other Outdoor Const    US $.99

Large Vintage Little People lot including Camper from 1972 and house from 1969    US $.99

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Second Hand

I learned about the popularity of vintage Harley Davidson items a few years ago after I found myself owning a ton of the stuff.  There were no actual Harley Motorcycles involved in that particular transaction, but I think I ended up owning a little bit of almost everything else!

I'm exaggerating a little bit there, but seriously, I had a LOT of Harley Davidson gear in my house. I never realized there was so much Harley Davidson memorabilia made until I had so many samples of it scattered all over my home.

I had gone to a large neighborhood garage sale and probably visited over fifty different houses looking for things I might want for myself or that I thought might sell on eBay.  One particular house caught my attention because it looked sort of like a department store.  There were clotheslines full of shirts, various items spread out on tables, the works.  When I walked up I saw that it was almost all vintage Harley Davidson merchandise.  I didn't really know that much about Harley gear, but the shirts were from all over the United States and many of them had dates on them going back to the 80s and even 70s.

The lady who was selling the stuff came up and started talking to me.  She introduced herself and explained that she and her husband were both pretty big into riding for a long time, but he had been injured pretty badly in an accident the year before, and they didn't ride anymore.  She seemed pretty upset when she mentioned the accident.  I think her husband had spent a good bit of time in the hospital after it happened.  Anyway, she said that she was selling the stuff off.  We talked for a while and I bought a few things before moving on.

Vintage Harley Davidson Motorcycles for Sale

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Harley Davidson 131807540 Harley Davidson Sears Roebuck Mini Bike Motorcycle Model 1318807540 Vintage Old    US $400.00

Harley Davidson Dyna 1997 DYNA WIDE GLIDE TONS OF EXTRAS PYTHON EXHAUST BAGS TWISTED SPOKE WHEELS    US $510.00

Harley Davidson sx250 aermacchi 1978 ony 469 produced Vintage Harley Davidson Dirtbike aermacchi SX250    US $707.77

Harley Davidson HARLEY 1200 1974 HARLEY DAVIDSON SHOVELHEAD OLD SCHOOL RIGID BOBBER CHOPPER BATES BUCO    US $1,525.00

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Second Hand

The Harley Davidson Gear Pays Off Big Time!

Later that afternoon I started looking on eBay to see if any of my newly acquired merchandise might be worth anything (this was how I used to shop in my clutter building years).  I really should have known that it would be.  Back in the 1980s and 90s, I had been in Daytona during Bike Week on two different occasions. Obviously some money was getting spent on all of that Harley gear.  It turned out that the vintage Harley stuff was incredibly popular.  I jumped into my van and quickly drove back over to her house.  I felt a little sick when I saw that everything had been packed up and taken back into the house.  I guess I was feeling pretty bold at the time because I actually knocked on her door to ask if she was still interested in selling any of the Harley stuff.  I explained that I thought I might be able to re-sell it on eBay and that I was interested in buying whatever she was willing to sell.  I asked her how much she would want for everything she had just dragged back inside.  Unbelievably, she said I could have everything for FIFTY bucks!  That was fifty dollars for well over one hundred vintage Harley T shirts, Harley Davidson Helmets, Harley Davidson jackets, Harley Davidson patches and decals, Harley floor mats and steering wheel covers...the list goes on.  She just wanted to get it out and didn't want to bother with putting it all away again.  I jumped all over that deal and loaded up my van with all of the Harley Davidson merchandise.  As I was loading the van, I actually started to feel a little guilty.  I asked her if she was sure about the price, and she confirmed that she really just wanted to get the stuff out of the house.  I had seen her husband up and walking around, but I think that his accident had really put him off of the idea of riding again.

People Love Harley Davidson Collectibles

That may have been the single best purchase I ever made as en eBay seller.  I was selling that stuff off for the better part of a year and I had more than made my fifty dollars back just from selling one of the jackets.  I was constantly doing research about what used Harley Davidson items might sell best and I found that although there are people looking for Harley Davidson motorcycles for sale, it seemed that even more of them were looking for Harley accessories and collectible items.

This is another one of those areas where eBay shines for buyers looking to find something.  The old vintage Harley stuff still looks very cool.  Some people search out parts for vintage bikes, but I believe that even more are looking for those old items you can't get in a bike shop anymore.  The commemorative shirts from bike week events in places like Sturgis and Daytona did very well.  Vintage 3D T shirts picked up bids almost as quickly as I listed them.  As I've been checking recently I've noticed a lot of interest in almost anything celebrating the Harley Davidson 100th anniversary.  That anniversary was in 2003, so items from that celebration aren't quite vintage yet.  But they are definitely popular and if you search on eBay, you will probably find that someone has listed some 100th anniversary stuff as vintage.

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2 Vogue patterns Paris Original Givenchy American Designer Kasper    US $9.00

2 Vogue pttrns Desig Org Bellville Sassoon American Designer Oscar de la Renta    US $9.00

2 Vogue pttrns Couturier Design Valentino of Italy Paris Originl Pierre Cardin    US $9.00

VINTAGE PHOTO PICTURE WORLD WAR II HARLEY UL VL 6X8    US $9.00

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Second Hand

I just love this song.  Every year I hunt it down and listen to it over and over.  I even like it during the summer!  Something about it just soothes me and really gets me into the Christmas spirit.  So, it has absolutely nothing to do with my eBay stuff or other collectibles and I'm not going to ask you to browse while you listen.  I saw that someone started pasting sales links on top of another version of this video.  Not here.  Just enjoy the music.  It's a beautiful song.

If you're more into the rocking version, I'll stick that in here too.  I like this one a lot as well.  The singer has an amazing voice, but the one with the kids gives me chills.

Walmart Black Friday

I've started looking at hot news items recently.  I guess I'm getting myself back into the loop after tuning out toward the end of the election blitz.  It looks like Walmart is worried that someone might leak their Day After Thanksgiving Specials a bit early.

I worked at a Walmart photo lab many years ago and my main memory of Black Friday is the insane lines of people who were willing to stand in a line 30 people deep to get photos developed.  Many complained the entire time they were waiting and couldn't understand how the one hour service could possibly be backed up to 1.5 hours even though there was only one machine running and about 20 times the normal load to be processed.  I never got up the nerve to ask why they couldn't wait until the next day when service was back to normal.  Here's a couple links related to the Walmart panic...

Black Friday Takedown Notices Hitting Mailboxes

It's Never Too Early To Leak Black Friday Promos

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Second Hand Sale Presents...

My ramblings about selling on the internet.

I warned in an earlier post that there could be some rambling going on here!  I suppose this post is for myself or possibly for anyone who has been selling on eBay and pondering their future options.

I've got a lot of stuff built up from estate sale purchases.  It needs to go.  To be honest, I'm tired of looking at it and for the first time I've been considering just walking away from selling on eBay.  Generally, I do my best to have a good attitude, but I've been looking at the numbers and it is getting tough to keep on going.  eBay has instituted many changes over the last couple of years and it seems to me at times that they are pushing small sellers like me out. I do my best to have low prices and still make some money, but honestly, with the changes, I find that I'm losing money or just breaking even more and more often.  I'm not writing this to jump on the complaint bandwagon though.  Listening to people whine while watching them do nothing about their situation really annoys me.

So...I decided that I had some choices in front of me.  When you think about it, you've got tons of choices every day.  Life is really made up of countless little choices (and some big ones).  Where you end up depends quite a bit on the choices you make.  But I digress.  Here is how I saw my choices:

1. Give in to my frustration of the moment and call a charity organization to come pick everything up that I'd bought over the last few years.  This one feels too much like giving up to me though.  I have a problem with that.
2. Continue doing what I've been doing and possibly watch sales on eBay continue to dwindle as eBay makes more and more changes.  I think the economy is playing a part here too.  Some people realize that you can actually find really good deals if you look on eBay and they use that to their advantage, but others are just clinging to their wallets and refusing to spend.  Continuing to do what isn't working anymore seems rather silly to me.  I believe Albert Einstein is credited with defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  This choice doesn't work for me either.
3. Try something different.  Adapt and overcome.  Think outside the box...Fill in your own bit of trite positivity here!  This is the one I've got to go with.  I might sound like an idiot with my head in the clouds, but this is really the only option I can accept for myself at this point.

SO...What to do?

Short answer:  I'm not sure.  What I have done so far is:

• Set up a blog (you're reading it) as a way to attract people who might be searching for the items I have selling on eBay through internet searches.  I just taught myself to do that this year using WordPress (it's very easy).
• I've spent a lot of time researching keywords, search engine optimization and the like (I'm still no expert, trust me).  I managed to make Google's front page within a week of starting this blog.  I suppose that's good since I did it with just organic traffic (no pay per click).
• I've started using "Comment Luv" which rewards visitors who leave comments on your blog with links back to their blogs.
• I've started a big push to list the stuff I want to sell as "buy it now" store merchandise this week.  I think I have about 1/2 of 1% of my total "estate stuff" listed at this point, but I'm still plugging away!
• All of the "buy it now" stuff listed up to this point has been submitted to Google through Google Base to get it indexed.  For now, I suppose the best thing is to get more stuff listed and try to make some semi-entertaining posts related to the items I sell with decent content.
• I'm working on some other things, but it's bit time consuming and this isn't my "real job".  We'll see how that goes.

I suppose this post was mostly for shaking the cobwebs out of my own mind and letting potential buyers know where I'm coming from with this site.  If you are a current or potential eBay seller feeling challenged, I hope you'll take some inspiration from this posting.  My sales aren't skyrocketing yet, but I have sold a few things.  If you read this far and you're still awake, congratulations!  Reward yourself with a link back to your own blog with Comment Luv.  If it helped you at all, I hope you'll take a look around and stop back.  Maybe even throw a social bookmark this way!  More shameless self promotion later.  Thanks for reading.

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As part of my attempt to bring traffic to this blog, I've been reading a lot about SEO and WordPress plug-ins in general.  One plug-in that I kept running into during searches was Comment Luv.  This neat little plug-in rewards visitors who visit your site with a do follow link to their site and a short blurb (or at least the title) of their most recent post.  From what I've read, I don't think there is any SEO benefit for the hosting blog, but I'm interested to see if having it on my blog will encourage comments from visitors.  I believe that blogging is more fun when it is interactive.  With that said, I imagine I'll have to be sure to keep up on my comment moderation.

If you've had any good or bad experiences with Comment Luv, please share them.  Like I said, I'm interested in seeing how it plays out.  It was very easy to install by the way and it's free!

Update:  Well, I did give this plugin a shot, and I'm sad to say that I was pretty much avalanched by spam comments.  That makes me a bit sad, because I really do appreciate legitimate comments and discussion about the things I write about.  Please, though, I'll still leave comments open so anyone who wants to share some interesting bit of information should certainly feel free to do so.  I enjoy the interaction with my reading audience, and its a great way to learn about collectibles that we might not have thought of before.  So, feel free to share some interesting anecdote, or tell us about you collection of hamburger wrappers from the 1970s.  I'm still interested!

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Car Sales

Second hand car sales are a wonderful way to save some money.  That new car smell just isn't worth the thousands of dollars it costs to enjoy for fifteen seconds before you drive your new vehicle off of the lot and watch it depreciate in value instantly.  I've had two friends ask me recently about helping them to list vehicles on eBay.  I've never done it before for any car that I've owned, but it looks like a pretty simple operation.

I'll be helping them set up their own accounts for listing the cars, just because I really don't want to be the middle man for questions.  I also don't want to complicate my numbers by having to keep track of who received money that went through my eBay ID.  I avoid selling on consignment because my home state of Pennsylvania passed a law stating that you have to hold an aucioneer's license if you sell consigned items.  I'm not interested in paying money for that priviledge at this point.

Some people prefer leasing their vehicles.  I did that once, but don't currently.  I found an interesting site that I wish had existed when I did have a leased vehicle.  LeaseTrader.com
offers a service in which you can get rid of the lease on your current car and take over the lease on a vehicle that better suits you. This would be nice for those who don't like to commit to long term relationships with their cars or for people who find themselves with different needs (new baby?) than when they signed the original lease.

If you just want to see what is available in the way of used cars, type whatever car interests you into the eBay search box on the right of this post.  Just for fun, try typing in your dream car!  I think you'll be surprised at how many results you get.

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I'd like to use my Second Hand Sale site as a place to give more thorough descriptions and background information about what I have managed to collect over time.  I also think it is important for buyers to get a feel for who they are dealing with when they buy online.  Of course, I invite you to check out my feedback on eBay, but I also invite you to post any questions you might have as well.

If I had the room, I could probably set up a "vintage museum" that would be pretty interesting.  I really do enjoy examining all of the old stuff I find.  Of course not all of it is all that old.  Some things I pick up just because I think maybe I can make a few dollars for my trouble of doing the leg work for a collector out there.  But, in general, I think I find a lot of really neat old stuff.

When I first started selling on eBay, I sold only things that I already owned.  Once I got bitten by the selling bug, I started buying tons of stuff without really researching things too much.  As you might expect, I ended up with quite a bit of what was not much more than old junk.  I ended up just giving that stuff away or discarding it if I couldn't use it myself.  There was a learning curve involved, but I think I've got a much better feel now for what interests buyers on eBay while still holding my own interest.

Honestly, who wants to go out week after week, driving all over the place if you don't get some kind of enjoyment out of it?  When I go to estate sales, I think I sometimes see people who this applies to.  They rush through the sales, grumbling all the way about the "junk" and muttering about how there must have been a presale because they can't find what they want!  Selling on eBay has never paid me well enough that I'd want to give up so much time just to be miserable while I did it.  I actually enjoy "the hunt" for interesting stuff.  If you ever see me at a sale, I'll be the one browsing slowly and looking closely at the old boxes that other people are rushing by to get to the "well known" collectibles.  You might even see me off in the corner reading an old magazine from the 1920's.  I enjoy that.  I'm just weird like that I guess.

I hope you find some things you like here because as much as I enjoy finding this stuff, I just have way too much of it right now.  I want my family to be able to use the game room again.

Thanks for visiting!

In my opinion, this is great news.  I've always enjoyed selling on eBay and also browsing to see what was up for sale.  One problem though was having to be careful of the occasional less than steller seller who had little regard for the buyer.  Those low rated sellers are now being bumped by the sellers who do their best to provide a quality product and superior service.  It's great to see the people who do the best work being rewarded while at the same time making the buying experience that much better.

You can check out the story here.