Flipping Experiment #2: Online Auction

July 31st - Two Mr. Dressup buttons

Sold for: $9.98 Fees: $2.06

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $47.83

In the pin lot was two of these buttons, and I listed them both for $5, and someone bought both. A nice easy $10, and with this sale the pin lot is only a few dollars short of the Royalty trinket lot as the most profitable from this auction. Overall, in this first month I've sold over $200 worth of stuff from this auction, and only paid  $120 for the item, so I'm well into the black in the first month with a lot more to sell. So far this experiment has been pretty successful. 

The Numbers:

Initial Overall Cost: $118.10

Number of items sold in July: 14

Number of items sold overall: 14

Gross Profit for July: $234.85

Fees to eBay: $32.39

Net Profit for July: $202.46

Net Overall Profit: $84.36

This past weekend I went to a friend's cottage in Cornwall, and I found an online auction that had the pickup in Cornwall the same day. Knowing that I was going to be there anyways, I looked to see if anything in the auction caught my interest. I saw a gorgeous barrister's bookcase that I wanted to buy for myself, which I won and now sits in my office, but decided to see if there were any lots I could buy to resell. I ended up buying 5 lots of items. Since the lots all have multiple items in them, I'm going to keep track in one monthly post that I update as necessary.

The five lots are: 

A lot of pins, which I paid $6.22 for.

A lot of vintage perfume bottles, which I paid $31.08 for.

 A lot of Royalty trinkets, which I paid $31.08 for.

A lot of letter openers, which I paid $24.86 for.

A lot of books and magazines, which I paid $24.86 for.

I've sorted all the lots into what I think should sell, and donated the garbage. I've listed almost everything except the lot pins. Now we wait to see what sells.

July 14th - 7 Canadian Junior Red Cross Pins

Sold for: $34.99 Fees: $4.85

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: $24.90

This was 7 Canadian Junior Red Cross pins. These were given out to students in schools in Canada from the 1950's to the 1980's for various activities related to healthy living. It took me a while to figure out what these were, and once I did I couldn't find any on eBay. I listed them for $40, and took a best offer of $35. They sold in an under a day, which may suggest I priced it too low, but I'm with $35, and in the first day of being listed this lot has already made back it's investment and I'm up $25.

July 14th - 1959 Royal Visit Pin

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $2.07

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: -$5.24

Another of the items from the royalty trinket lot sold within 24 hours. This is a vintage pin from the 1959 royal visit of Queen Elizabeth in Cornwall for the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Two items from this lot sold and almost recouped my investment. 

July 14th - Royal Cypher Costume Jewelry Pin

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $2.07

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: -$18.16

This is a vintage lapel pin featuring the Royal Cypher (ER) for Queen Elizabeth with some fake jewels. This sold within 24 hours of posting, so maybe I listed it too much, but there were not a lot of comparables to gauge a listing price off of. That being said, I made back half my investment on this lot with my first sale so I'm happy with it.

July 17 - Three Save the Children Pins

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $1.55

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $10.66

This lot of three pins sold within hours of being posted. These are three pins from the Save the Children campaign. I remember it being much more popular in the 90's, but apparently it's still around.

July 17 - OPP Canine Unit Pin

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $1.55

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $2.22

One of the lots I purchased was a large lot of pins for $5 (plus tax). I knew that if even one pin in there sold for a good price I would break even. I listed about 20 pins last night, and this was the first one to sell, and in my opinion was the best pin in the lot - a nice OPP Canine Unit pin. It sold in less than three hours. I guess I could have asked a bit more, but I'm happy that the first pin sold paid for the whole lot and gave me a profit. The rest now is all gravy.

July 18th - Holland America Westerdam Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $14.61

This is a pin from a cruise ship, the Westerdam, of the Holland America line. I've actually been on this ship, and I'm sure I have a copy of this pin somewhere. My uncle is a captain for Holland America, and my aunt used to work for them too. I didn't realise people actually want these pins. Anyways, this was a quick sale, and the pin lot is starting to look like it might be the most profitable.

July 19 - Rotary International Montreal Convention Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $18.56

The collection had a number of Rotary International pins, the owner must have been a relativity active member. This was a pin for a convention that was held in Montreal in 2010. It sold to someone in Georgia. So far the pin lot is selling the most items, but has yet to make the profit of the Royalty lot.

July 20th - Lot of 62 Issues of Scotiabank Hockey College News

Sold for: $74.99 Fees: $9.05

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $24.86 Profit on this lot to date: $41.08

One of the reasons I bought the book lot, aside from it only being $20, was that there was a stack of magazines but I couldn't tell what they were and I was curious. It turned out they were a contract bridge magazine and worthless, but there was this stack of magazines that I couldn't see in the photos. It was 6 volumes (1977-1982) of issues of this hockey news magazine. It was in great shape and had every issue in those 6 years except for one. 3 of the covers featured Wayne Gretzky early in his career. I did an auction for this hoping that there would be more than one person interested, but it only got one bid in the last 30 seconds. That being said, it sold in a week for a very good price. I made back my investment on this lot and made a profit on it with this one sale. I didn't find much else in the book lot, just some ephemera, so this will be the biggest sale from this lot but I'm fine with that. Also, I've made back my entire investment and am at a profit for this auction. In just over a week with only 8 sales I've back in the black, and still have a lot of stuff to sell. I'm glad I made this investment, it already paid off, and I'm hoping it will continue to make me money.

July 23rd - Two Rotary International State Pins

Sold for: $19.98 Fees: $2.58

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $35.96

The lot had a number of Rotary International pins, she was clearly a member. I knew these two would sell, both of them are in the shape of states and are District pins. Someone bought them both This pin lot continues to be quite profitable, and I am confident it will end up making the most money.

July 24th - 1993 £5 Coin Queen Elizabeth II Coronation

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $0.90

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: $33.99

This was one of the items in the Royalty trinket lot - a commemorative £5 coin celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Queen's coronation. This is legal tender and I considered just getting a bank to exchange it, but since £5 is worth around $8.15 CDN right now, I figured I would see if I could sell it for more, and I did! It sold for $9.09 after fees, so made almost a dollar more!

July 25th - Souvenir Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $39.91

Another of the pins from the pin lot sold, this one a souvenir pin from a tourist trap in New York. It's a nice looking pin, but not one I would have thought would sell so quickly. The pin lot is only one sale away from being the most profitable lot I got at this auction.

July 28th - Royal Visit 1984 Bottle Opener

Sold for: $19.99 Fees: $2.59

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: $51.39

Another Royalty trinket, this one is a bottle opener from the 1984 Royal Visit. This lot is so far leading as the most profitable, but I still expect the pin lot to eventually take over.