How to make money on eBay
March 31, 2010
Okay, so no one likes maths, but unfortunately it’s necessary to understand at least a little bit to make sure that you can not just make a theoretical profit, but actually earn some real money from your buying and selling activities on eBay.
Don’t worry though because there is a simple way to calculate whether or not you can make some real money later on – and it really is easy peasy! Read more
Auction Update
March 31, 2010
Just a quick update on the latest auctions.
The 18th Century Creamer and the cups both have bids on them already and so I will at least double my money on those – my first profit!
I just wish I knew who’d made them, that could have pushed the price up!
The Caughley Tea Caddy and Caughley plate both have bids on them, so although they aren’t anywhere near what I’ve paid for them, they’re hopefully getting enough interest to get some more bids (please!)
No one has bid on the Antique Chinese Octagonal Bowl yet, although it does have a few watchers, so fingers crossed on that one – surely I can’t lose money on a £3.99 purchase – can I ???
Keep watching to see what happens!
18th Century Creamer
March 31, 2010
The 18th Century creamer, originally bought as a vintage 14 piece coffee set has now been listed here.
The cups and saucers from this set have been listed here.
Both of these lots cost me 50p each to list, and I’ve started each at £29.99p
A quick update
March 30, 2010
Just a quick update to my earlier blog post.
After wittering on about none of my items arriving, 3 of them did the impression of a number 37 bus and turned up together, about 5 minutes after I’d pressed the publish button.
Anyway, they are now all listed on eBay and you can see how they’re doing in the current auctions section.
Fingers crossed!
Antique Chinese Octagonal Bowl
March 30, 2010
The antique Chinese bowl is now listed on eBay here, I started it at 99p as well, I do hope that collectors of Chinese porcelain like it too, I really don’t know anything about Chinese porcelain!
I’m not sure that this was such a wise buy either, but surely it has to make a profit when it only cost £3.99 – surely?
Caughley Tea Caddy
March 30, 2010
I’ve now listed the Caughley tea caddy starting at 99p – let’s hope someone likes it!
I’m already wondering whether it was a good idea to buy 2 items that were clearly described as Caughley and then relisting them, we’ll see what happens though in due course – I get the feeling that I’m not going to make much from either this or the Caughley plate!
This cost £0.00 to list, and you can see it here
Caughley Plate
March 30, 2010
I’ve put the Caughley Plate onto eBay for sale now, and have started it at 99p as I will with most of the items I sell.
It cost £1.07p in listing fees and you can watch this auction here
First Batch of Antiques
March 30, 2010
Here are the figures for the first batch of antiques bought, and hopefully sold!
| The Antique Bought | Total Price paid | Item sold for | Profit or (loss) |
| Vintage Coffee Set | £28.81 | £161.59 | +£109.72 |
| Victorian Coffee Pot | n/a | n/a* | n/a* |
| Caughley Plate | £69 | £43.22 | -£32.82 |
| Caughley Tea Caddy | £85 | £137.00 | +£38.30 |
| Antique Chinese Bowl | £3.99 | £2.20 | -£2.01** |
| TOTALS: | £186.80 | £344.01 | +£113.19 |
- The total price paid includes postage costs
- The “Item sold for” is the price received for the antique, less costs. (doesn’t include postage received)
- The profit is the “Item sold for” – “total price paid”
So, from my original £300 I have spent a whopping £186.80, leaving me with £113.20 in the kitty!
*UPDATE – unfortunately the Victorian Coffee Pot was wrongly listed, the item shown in the photo on eBay is no longer available, and so the £9.90 will be added back into the kitty since the vendor has agreed to refund the price, postage, and even the return postage.
**The Chinese bowl was paid for by cheque, so there were fortunately no paypal fees!
The best laid schemes of mice and men
March 30, 2010
The best laid schemes of mice and men…
Well, what can I say? You’d have thought that this “game” that I’ve devised for myself would have been quite straightforward, I mean really, what could be easier?
I go and find some bargain antiques on eBay, wait for them to be delivered, relist them, and hopefully make a profit.
Well unfortunately it’s not quite going as expected at all!
My first problem has been in making the decision to wait for all of the items bought in my first shopping trip to arrive before listing them – I thought it would be easier to follow if I bought my round of antiques and them sold them in one go before moving onto my second round of buying, etc.
If only life were so simple!
Out of my first batch of antique goodies, only my “Vintage Coffee Set” has arrived, and I have someone wanting to buy that off me before I’ve even listed it!
My “Antique Drinking Mug” still hasn’t arrived from the States, weeks after I’d bought it, so I’m still waiting for that one and may have a considerable time left before it arrives, if it ever does.
My sweet little “Victorian Coffee Pot” has been a disaster, with the vendor sending me the wrong item entirely, he’s shipped a hideous 20th Century lustre thing, and he isn’t responding to my emails, or eBay communications, nor to my Paypal communication to him either, so this one may need to be written off completely.
My other 3 items, the Caughley plate, Caughley tea cannister, and “Antique Chinese bowl” are similarly lost in the postal ether, but hopefully they won’t take too long to arrive since they’re all from the UK.
I really do hope that they arrive soon because I’m desperate to get them sold and get on with buying my second lot of antiques.
I do actually have my eye on some goodies already that aren’t too expensive, so I may start buying out of the change I have left before I’ve sold my first lot, but I want to avoid this where possible because otherwise it might get a bit confusing.
I’ve created a page with the running totals listed so that you can see how much I’ve spent, and how much I have left.
Anyway, please keep watching and we’ll see how I get on – will I make a profit – who knows!
Bowl
March 25, 2010
Item no 6 is a rather unassumingly decribed “bowl”:
