Scandinavian Flag Pins

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $0.83 Profit: $4.16

Got these pins in one of many pin bags, and figured I'd sell all three together since they were the three flags of the three Scandinavian countries. They were older pins (can tell from the style of the clip on the back), and nice enamel pins. Another easy $5, and probably the last sale of August.

Oh, Another Cariboo

Bought: $6.78 Sold: $29.99 Fees: $4.57 Profit: $18.64

Chris' 5% Commission: $0.93

My last listed Cariboo sold, probably because school is starting up. I'm so glad this is gone, but I know I have one or two more in storage that need to be listed. Cranium really should bring this game back into production, thereby destroying the secondary market for it, and I could then stop selling them.

Play-Doh Sesame Street Stamp Out & Count

Bought: $3.15 Sold: $34.99 Fees: $4.78 Profit: $27.06

I picked this up at a VV in Toronto while there for a weekend. It was new in box which is quite rare to find at VV, and it sat in my store for almost a year, but Play-Doh sells. I figure someone is buying if for their classroom now that school is back in session. 

NAVCAN Pin

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $0.83 Profit: $4.16

Another pin sale! I love selling pins. Everything about them is easy - easy to photograph, list, store, and ship. They are essentially free because once I sell one or two the whole bag is paid for and the rest is all profit. I'll gladly take $5 for pins all day long. 

Disney Cartoon VHS Game

Bought: $4.50 Sold: $19.99 Fees: $3.49 Profit: $12.00

This was the oldest item in my inventory, and has been on eBay for 2 years now. This is not something I would ever buy now - the ROI isn't good enough - but I'm glad it finally sold. It's always nice when older stuff sells and finally gets to leave storage. 

Auction of Ephemera Items

August 30th - Lot of over 150 QSL Cards

Sold for: $39.99 Fees: $5.25

These are really cool - they are a bunch of vintage QSL cards. These are cards that people who were into CB or Ham radios would make with their name and call sign on, and when they made a connection with someone over the airwaves they would send them one of their cards so they could prove that they had made the connection. I was hoping that there would be some really nifty ones in there that I could put up for auction, but despite being old, none were from a particularly interesting place. I just put them up as a lot, and made a good ROI on them. Not only that, but it's the first time I've sold something to someone with their own Wikipedia page. That's pretty nifty!

The Numbers:

Initial Overall Cost: $120.36

Number of items sold in August: 8

Number of items sold overall: 8

Gross Profit for August: $103.92

Fees to eBay: $12.44

Net Profit for August: $91.48

Net Overall Profit: -$28.88

I bought a number of lots at an online auction that consisted almost exclusively of ephemera (things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time or items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness). The main items I got was 100s of vintage post cards, but there were a number of other ephemera items as well. I'm going to be listing them sporadically when I have time. I don't expect any of these to be fast sellers, nor do I expect to make a fortune on any one item, but I expect that over time I will make a nice profit on this investment. Ephemera are slow sellers, but I am okay with that. I'll list them and forget about them until they sell.

August 4th - National Semiconductor 4660 Calculator Manual

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $0.56

I listed 3 small manuals that were in one of the lots, this being one of them. An instructional manual for a vintage calculator, that is only in French. Ephemera is hard to price because often there are none others list, and you are often looking for one or two people who might want it. I'm happy to get $5 for an old instruction manual. Could I have got more? Maybe. But if I had listed it for $10 it may have sat and never sold. You can't play that guessing game. I will list with what I'm happy to get and move on. It is all about the overall number of sales with this lot. Plus, really, most people would never have thought to buy this to try and sell, to most people it's garbage. I'll gladly take $5 for it.

August 6th - Bowmar MX100 Calculator Manual

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $0.52

Another vintage calculator manual sold. This one is less than 24 hours.

August 7th - Electric Engineering Bulletin from 1961

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $0.86

This is an example of the ephemera that was included in the lot - a short 4-page engineering bulletin update. It is stamped as received in 1961. I have no idea why someone would want this. Surely whatever engineering note is being made here is long out of date. I suppose someone collects ephemera from Sylvania, or just likes old engineering documents. Either way, I made $10 off a piece of paper, so I'm not complaining.

August 8th - HP Product Brochure from the 1980's

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $1.55

This is a short 8-page brochure advertising the HP lineup of calculators. I figured this would sell since it is HP. There was no date on it, but from the products being advertised it had to be from the 1980's. I'm surprised how fast some of these pieces of ephemera are selling.

August 12th - Middle of Nowhere Postcard

Sold for: $3.99 Fees: $0.67

The main thing I bought from the auction was a couple hundred postcards. I haven't had a chance to list many of them yet, but the first one sold. This cute graphic post card from the middle of nowhere is off to Arizona.

August 29th - IBM Selectric Typewriter Adjustment Parts Manual

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $1.29

Another manual sold, this one for an IBM Typewriter. 

August 29th - Digital Research CP/M-86 Manual

Sold for: $19.99 Fees: $1.74

The second manual to sell today, for an old computer operating system. 

Cranium Cariboo

Bought: $6.78 Sold: $29.99 Fees: $4.43 Profit: $18.78

Chris' 5% Commission: $0.94

I'm glad this sold so its out of my storage, but I can't stand selling these things. They are the item that I've sold the most of, they sell relatively quickly, but I get no enjoyment out of them. They are so boring!

Head of the Occoquan Medal Ribbon

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $9.99 Fees: $1.55 Profit: $8.44

I got this in a random hanging baggie along with a bunch of pins. VV always has bags of medals - usually children's soccer and baseball participation medals - which are normally worthless and I just throw them out. This one, however, was pretty unique and had no date or name on it. There were no other HOTO medals, but I knew the HOTO event is a big deal and it's a nice looking medal so figured someone would buy it. Sure enough, it sold after only a month of being listed. 

Sheet of Canadian Stamps

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $0.77 Profit: $4.22

This is a sheet of Canadian stamps commemorating historic land vehicles. This was in a stamp album set I bought along with a few other sheets. I listed the album and these sheets separately. I was surprised to find out how little "collectible" stamp sheets sell for, but it's still $5. 

ESTIVALIA ANTONIO PUIG Eau de toilette

Bought: $2.25 Sold: $20.00 Fees: $3.19 Profit: $14.56

This is a small bottle (25 ml) of a retired perfume. It looked unused, but it may have been used slightly. I picked it up in a hanging baggie for $2 along with another perfume, which hasn't sold yet. I bought this because I was reading that vintage and retired perfume can sell since people are often looking for it after its no longer available, and also because Robin said old perfume would never sell, and so any reason to prove her wrong. I bought the baggie primarily for the other perfume, so this was just an added bonus. 

Flipping Experiment #1: Comic and Anime statues, comics and posters - Month #16

August 26th - She-Hulk Poster

Sold for: $35.00 Fees: $7.01

One of our few remaining Marvel Posters sold, this one featuring She-Hulk. This is an awesome poster, I'm rather shocked it took so long to sell.

The Numbers:

Initial Cost: $2,000 

Number of items sold in August: 3

Number of items sold overall: 110

Gross Profit for August: $64.98

Fees to eBay: $13.04

Net Profit for August: $51.94

Net Overall Profit: $3206.82

Chris and I have recouped our initial investment, and each made a profit of $1603.41

August 6th - Two Lady Death Comics

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $3.08

Two Lady Death comics are off to Newfoundland. I think this is my first sale to the Rock.

August 9th - Medieval Spawn Witchblade Trade Paperback

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $2.95

This is a small trade paperback, one of the few in the storage locker. Unfortunately not a very popular title, so didn't sell for a lot, but it is still $15.

Fraidy Cats board game pieces

Bought: $5.64 Sold: $19.99 Fees: $3.19 Profit: $11.16

I picked up this board game, but it wasn't complete so I listed the parts that were not broken together. A few months ago I was contacted about selling just a few of the pieces, which I did and are not counted in the profit here. Yesterday someone messaged me asking if they could just buy the dog, and I agreed but since I was out of town I told them they would have to wait until I got home and made a new listing. A few hours later someone else bought the whole lot. So that first person is out of luck, but what are the chances two people found this and wanted to buy it within hours of each other, espicially considering this has been listed for months. That being said, I'd much rather sell it all as one as opposed to selling the dog and then trying to sell the rest later. 

Disney's 102 Dalmatians Puppies to the Rescue Computer Game

Bought: $3.38 Sold: $29.99 Fees: $4.26 Profit: $22.35

This is a computer game for Disney's 102 Dalmatians designed for Windows 95. It was still factory sealed. It looks like a terrible game, but since it was still sealed I figured it was worth taking a risk. I actually bought this in Toronto while visiting my friend Hayley who kindly took me to VV, and it was her boyfriend who found this. I forgot I had this until it sold today, but not a bad profit.

Commissioned Sale: 2 McDonald's Pins

Sale Price: $14.99 Fees:$2.74 Profit: $12.15

My 30% cut of the Profit: $3.68

These two Hamburglar McDonald's pins sold. I listed them together because they are just two variants of the same pin. 

Commissioned Sale: 10 Teenie Beanie Babies

Sale Price: $14.99 Fees:$2.67 Profit: $12.32

My 30% cut of the Profit: $3.70

So when my assistant asked me to sell her pins, she also brought a giant pin of Beanie Babies and said they were just taking up space and to sell them as well. She didn't care if they went for little, she just wanted them gone. I've been ignoring the box for over a year now since I have absolutely no desire to sell Beanie babies, but I finally decided I wanted them gone so I could better use that space. I listed about 15 at $0.99 auctions and got no interest, so I relisted them as all 40 in one lot. I also listed these 10 "teenie beanie babies" which are smaller than normal beanie babies as one lot, although this lot was a buy it now as opposed to auction, and there is a lot of really big beanie babies which are the size of teddy bears. I'm hoping that the other two lots sell at auction and I am able to get rid of everything in three lots. This lot I priced low to just move it and it sold within a few days. The buyer of this lot bid on the 40 beanie baby lot right after, then messaged me asking me a question about them and after I answered she decided she wanted to cancel her bid as she assumed they were older or "rarer" (if that even exists for beanie babies) than they actually were. The next day she bid again... no idea why! She is currently winning the other lot. That being said, she bought these and they are off to her today. One of three lots sold and gone!

Commissioned Sale: Justice League Comic

Sale Price: $6.00 Fees:$1.14 Profit: $4.86

My 30% cut of the Profit: $1.46

This was one of the comics I rescued from Hayley's parents garage. It is a relatively early Justice League of America comic, although it was in pretty rough shape. $6 is a good price for it, and it's off to someone who will enjoy it, which is far better than sitting in a garage. 

Nickelodeon Poster Series

Bought: $3.15 Sold: $149.99 Fees: $17.01 Profit: $129.83

When I saw this orange box in among the board games at VV I was curious, and as soon as I saw that it was a box of Nickelodeon posters I grabbed it. After I researched it I realized it was never commercially sold, and was given out as a prize at various comic book conventions. It not only included 10 posters featuring original art of their 10 most popular shows, but it also included 10 postcards of the same images and a bag of stickers. The posters had never been hung either. There were none on eBay, and google searches only brought me to information about it, but nothing about prices - likely because it was never commercially sold. I listed it high at $150, and had some initial interest but all very low offers, with the highest offer around 50% of my asking. I was content to sit on it and wait, and I had actually forgot I had this for sale until it sold today. It shows that if you have something unique and desirable, you just have to wait for the right buyer. Someone clearly felt $150 was a good price for this, and I'm glad they found it.

Flipping Experiment #2: Online Auction

August 24th - United Counties Stormont Dundas & Glengarry Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $59.68

Another pin sale - this one of the united counties of SDG, which is the are that encompasses Cornwall. I thought this pin might be a bit specific and local to sell, and I thought for sure that if it sold it would be off to Cornwall, but apparently not. It is off to Toronto. No idea what makes someone at 3am buy a pin on eBay, but I feel like alcohol had to be involved. 

The Numbers:

Initial Overall Cost: $118.10

Number of items sold in August: 8

Number of items sold overall: 22

Gross Profit for August: $119.93

Fees to eBay: $23.35

Net Profit for August: $96.58

Net Overall Profit: $180.94

August 2nd - Chloe Perfume

Sold for: $19.99 Fees: $3.22

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: -$14.31

This was the first item to sell from the lot of perfume bottles. It is a nearly full bottle of Chloe perfume with the box. I was a bit unsure about this lot, but I wanted to take a risk. I've sold one bottle and recouped half the cost of the lot. I sell one more and I break even! Plus, overall my haul from this auction is already well into the black and with the sale I'm up over $100!

August 3rd - McDonald's Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $51.78

I knew when I saw this McDonald's pin in the lot that it would sell relatively quickly because of how fast my other McDonald's pins have sold. Unfortunately this was the only one in the lot.

August 3rd - Rotary International Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $55.73

Another Rotary International Pin sold, which is good, since not only do I have a lot of Rotary pins in the lot, but I have about 10 copies of this exact pin, so I hope other people want this one.

August 4th - Crossword Dictionary

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.97

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $24.86 Profit on this lot to date: $44.10

Among the books, most of which I didn't list, were two copies of this Crossword dictionary. I'm not sure why someone would need two copies of the exact same dictionary, but it seemed to sell relatively well, so I listed them and the first has sold. Not a huge profit, but another $5 doesn't hurt.

August 9th - St. Lawrence Seaway Coin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $0.56

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: $55.82

This was among the royalty trinket items and was a collectible coin issued to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway.

August 20th - Lot of 110 National Geographics

Sold for: $60.00 Fees: $12.41

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $24.86 Profit on this lot to date: $91.69

In the lot of books that I picked up, there was over 100 national geographic magazines covering nearly 10 years. I knew they weren't worth much, and the weight of shipping them made it nearly impossible to sell. I listed them as 5 lots of 24 (2 years per lot), for $10. I kept the price ridiculously low, just hoping to move them but shipping was still very expensive. I got a message from a guy near Toronto asking what it would cost to combine shipping. I checked, but since together they weighed over 45 kg they were over the maximum weight for Canada Post, so I said I would could ship them as two boxes for $40 each. He asked if I could better on the price, so I sold them all for $40. I ended up only spending $60 on shipping, so ended up making $60 on the magazines. This is a lot more than I thought I would realistically make from them, and so glad to have them out of my basement.

August 22nd - CATS Souvenir Program

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $2.07

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $24.86 Profit on this lot to date: $104.61

This is a CATS souvenir program from when it ran at the Elgin theater in Toronto in 1985. It's off to Great Britain.

Two Vintage Compasses

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $34.99 Fees: $4.74 Profit: $30.25

Robin's grandmother was going through some stuff and throwing it out, and she offered it to me to sell, and I was excited for it as it would likely have sold well, but then Robin saw it and decided she wanted to keep it all. This was the only thing I was allowed to sell - two basic compasses. They are made by Silva, a good manufacturer of compasses, but are both entry level compasses. That being said, it's $30 for free, so can't complain. 

Commissioned Sale: Disney Light-Up Pin

Sale Price: $14.99 Fees:$2.74 Profit: $12.25

My 30% cut of the Profit: $3.68

This is an interesting pin. All those little dots are actually lights that flash on and off with a push of a button. The problem is that one of the four small watch batteries in the back had seized inside its holder and I wasn't able to get it out. So I sold it "as is" with no ability to test if it was working and advising about the stuck battery. Still, I'll gladly take $15 for a pin. 

Uncle Scrooge Comic Collection

Bought: $3.47 Sold: $49.99 Fees: $6.29 Profit: $40.23

This was one of the handful of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics I got at VV a few months ago. This was the most valuable of the lot, and had a really nice ROI. Really happy with this sale.

Two Ontario Pins

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $0.83 Profit: $4.16

This was a lot of 2 Ontario pins - the coat of arms and the flag. There are a lot of these on eBay, and I'm sure they are given out all the time by MPPs and the like. I was not expecting these to sell, but I'm glad they did. These were bought by someone in North Carolina! Always glad to see pins sell.

Wrebbit 3D Creations Music Box

Bought: $3.15 Sold: $39.99 Fees: $5.40 Profit: $31.44

This is a 3D creations build your own music box, and it was still sealed. There were none on eBay, but figured it was worth a shot for that price and I'm happy with the price I got for it. It sat for a while, about 8 months, but it had a good ROI, so worth it. 

LEGO Toy Story Woody Alarm Clock

Bought: $6.32 Sold: $22.99 Fees: $3.67 Profit: $13.00

I picked this Lego Toy Story Woody clock up because he was just so cool. It was a bit pricey, and didn't sell for as much as I would have liked, but it was a quick sale (under 2 weeks) and made a profit. This is what happens when I buy something because it's cool and I don't properly look it up first.

Bandai Power Rangers Supertrain Megazord

Bought: $9.19 Sold: $49.99 Fees: $6.50 Profit: $34.30

This is a power rangers toy from the 1990's that can be either assembled into Megazord as seen here, or each part comes off and transforms into individual train cars that link together. I picked this up at VV in Moncton while there for work, and was hoping that it would sell while I was there, but it didn't, so I had to bring it back home with me, but it finally sold, and for a good price, so a good buy.

Scales of Justice Pin

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $0.83 Profit: $4.16

This is a pin of the scales of justice with a maple leaf included in it. This is likely the symbol for some judges or lawyers group, but I wasn't able to identify it. That being said I figured it would sell to some lawyer, and sure enough it sold to a family lawyer in Toronto. 

Meccano Set

Bought: $9.03 Sold: $29.99 Fees: $4.78 Profit: $16.18

This was pretty expensive, but I have a hard time passing up a sealed Meccano kit as I know they sell. Didn't make a much profit, but it only sat in my store for a couple months and more than doubled my money. This was a newer set from 2015, so it hasn't been out of production for too long. 

Nerf Ammo Belt

Bought: $4.73 Sold: 30.00 Fees: $5.30 Profit: $19.97

I picked up a hanging baggie with three NERF ammo belts at VV, and they sold pretty fast. Nerf stuff typically sells, it's usually just a question of whether shipping costs makes it feasible. 

Lot of 3 Coca-Cola Pins

Bought: $3.00 Sold: $19.99 Fees: $2.38 Profit: $14.61

I bought these 3 Coca-Cola pins almost a decade ago in a random lot of Coca-Cola pins where I paid, with shipping, about a dollar each. I'm slowly selling them off individually, and I sold these three together. They are three versions of the same pin just in different language - English, French and German. They are Coca-Cola pins from the Olympic Collector's Fair in Lausanne Sweden in 1994. They sold to someone in Sweden actually, which is a first for me. 

CMHC Pin

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $0.83 Profit: $4.16

This is a pin for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or CMHC. I have no idea why someone would want to buy a pin for a Government agency, let alone one as boring as this one. It sold to a real estate agent, so at least it's related to his work. 

Cariboo

Bought: $6.78 Sold: $29.99 Fees: $5.08 Profit: $18.13

Chris' 5% Commission: $0.91

I had a pile of these games sitting in my to-list pile, and I just couldn't be bothered to get around to it. This is my least favourite thing to list, just because I've sold so many and they are just boring at this point. They are pretty big and a pain in the ass to box up. That being said, they do sell fairly well and usually very fast, this one in under a week.

Two Vintage Card Games

Bought: $2.25 Sold: $19.99 Fees: $3.20 Profit: $14.54

I found these two vintage card games in a hanging bag at VV for $2. I bought it figuring that the Yogi Bear one would be desirable to someone. I knew it wouldn't be a huge profit, but turning $2 into $20 isnt' bad. 

Atmosfear II and III

Bought: $8.45 Sold: $49.99 Fees: $6.83 Profit: $34.71

Chris' 5% Commission: $1.74

The first two sequels to Atmosfear, the french version of Nightmare. The expansions always sell better than the original when it comes to Nightmare. The french versions seem to sell eventually, just not very fast. They, of course, always get bought by someone from Quebec. 

Nortel Pin

Bought: $5.74 Sold: $19.99 Fees: $2.38 Profit: $11.87

This is a great Nortel pin. I knew that some computer collector out there would want this, and it sold to a university professor of computing in Kitchener. For the cost I combined the cost of all unsold bags of pins, so that for all the 100+ pins I have listed they will all be pure profit when they sell.