A Family Affair

This past Saturday I got the day off, a rarity in tax season. I had decided to spend the day record shopping. I decided to hit a couple of record stores with Phil, my son and adviser on video games. He has even gotten into selling stuff online. When he gets tired of a video game, he has me sell it with the money going towards a new hard drive for his computer (which he bought with money made from selling things online plus a summer job cutting lawns).

We hit Found Sound in Ferndale. The store is very clean and neat. They had quite a selection of new and used vinyl but the prices were quite high. They had some used video games too but nothing that Phil thought would sell. Next we hit Solo records in Royal Oak. I really like this place. I can always find records even a few in the dollar bin and was not disappointed. I picked up some 80's stuff as well as some Squeeze albums and some Al Stewart albums. Though I was looking in particular for some Gil Scott-Heron albums for my private collection, but to no avail.

Our next stop was to visit my Mom, Phil's grandma. She has just gotten out of the hospital and is having a tough time getting around. She has some health issues that are going to force her to move from her quad style house to a ranch. She cannot handle the stairs anymore. I mention this because when we stopped by she was going through her books and cds. She asked me if I would like them because she was donating them to the library. I was overjoyed. My mom has always been supportive of my online business. She was the one who taught me about garage sales and always said "One man's trash is another man's treasure". It sounds cliche but she really said that. Two of the cds she gave me "Rubber Soul" by the Beatles and "Wingspan" by the Wings sold within hours.

Finally, one of the things I picked up at Solo Records was a Mama Cass Elliot album. I grew up in a house where music was a diverse thing. I grew up with irish folk music, jazz,  Rock (the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas, the Fifth Dimension to name a few) as well as crooners such as Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole.

I did not know "Mama" Cass Elliot had a solo career away from the Mamas and the Papas. I found this out a few weeks ago when I heard her song "Make your own kind of Music" on an episode of "Dexter". So I was going to order the cd. I never got around to it and happened to find the record at Solo. It's not worth much because it is a re-release of an earlier album. But I am going to keep it for my own collection. 

Finally, I grew up hearing the jokes about how Mama Cass died choking on a ham sandwich. She was ridiculed about her weight and the story was spread as truth. In doing a little research, I found out that she died of a heart attack due to extreme dieting. Because a ham sandwich was found in her room, with a bite out of it, the rumor spread that she died that way. It was later revealed that her heart had been weakened by only eating 3 days a week (she had recently lost 80 pounds in 8 months). She was 32 years old. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW1TZCcemek&feature=kp#aid=P7wKa4iRzVg

Selling Books Online

When I started selling on Ebay in 2001, it was mainly books. Back then you could get a decent price for hardcovers as well as paperbacks. As I mentioned earlier, when the Kindle and other e-readers came around, your average mass market hardcovers and paperbacks were not worth as much. What is still worth money is First Editions. First Editions, first printings are the best type book to find and often are worth the most.

Recently I had this particular first edition for sale:

First Editions go for more money if the dust jacket is intact. This one was with no tears or creases. To tell if a book is a first edition you go to the page with the publishing information:

 On this page it is stated as a first edition. Also note the number line at the bottom of the page. The first 5 numbers are the years it will be printed. 1978 was the first year of this book. the other numbers indicate the printing of the book. Since the number line is from 1-10 that means that this is the first printing of the book. If it was the second printing, the number 1 would be gone and all you would see was 2-10.

Paperbacks are another story. Older paperbacks from the 40's to the 60's are usually worth something to a collector, but for the most part mass market paperbacks are not worth that much. You can usually get more for them on Ebay than on Amazon. On Ebay you can get maybe 2.00 for one that is in really good condition while the same book on Amazon would only be worth a penny.

Also it's worth noting that some hardcovers may not be first editions but are still older (from the 30's or 40's). These books can sometimes go for a decent price. Always check Ebay and Amazon to see what other sellers are asking for it, and make your price adjustments from there.

Using Craigslist.org effectively

Last year, when I decided to start my business, I used craigslist.org to find garage sales. Each week, starting at around Wednesday, I would search for garage sales selling video games. I was mainly looking for games for the Nintendo Gamecube system, but I was also interested in Xbox 360 games and even PS2. My son Phil, has an Xbox 360, PS2, Nintendo Gamecube and Nintendo 64. He has collected these systems over the years. I will only purchase games that can be played on these systems so I can test them (having been the buyer of a broken game, on a few occasions). I would not buy any PS3 games or Nintendo Wii games because I do not have a way to test them.  But I digress.

When I first started using craigslist.org to find garage sales, I was mainly looking for video games. So I would click “garage sales” and when I got to the garage sale page. I would further filter the results by typing “video games” in the search box. Then I would read the ad, seeing what kind of video games were for sale, and if it was what I was looking for I would make my list of addresses and go looking for garage sales. Don’t get me wrong, I found some great deals: a gamecube system with all the wires, controllers and 11 games (good ones including Mario Sunshine) for $15.00.

Game testing central

But what I soon found out towards the end of summer, is that a lot of people will not call them “video games” but actually by their names like “gamecube” , “Nintendo” and “Xbox 360”. It turns out that my search was too broad and I did not take into consideration that these games could be called by something more specific. Shame on me! All of my years of buying and selling on Ebay should have taught me that when doing a search, I need to be specific. I would think of searching “video games” on Ebay or Amazon, I would get thousands of results!

Here are some tips for using craigslist:

• Craigslist.org is great if you are having a garage sale. It is free advertising and the times I used it, have been my most successful sales.
• Personally, I have never used craiglist to buy something off someone person to person. If you are planning on doing that, meet in a neutral location and bring someone with you if you can. My husband got a great deal on a Dell laptop that way.
• Also, there are a lot of scams on craigslist so be careful. If something sounds too good to be true, be wary. This is especially true in the employment section.
• Be specific in your search so you can find exactly what you are looking for.

Selling on Ebay or Amazon.com

So you have decided to clean out that attic or garage and start selling on Ebay.com or Amazon.com. Here are some tips to get more people to see your items for sale.

·        Always use the UPC code to list your item. This will insure that you have the right edition of the book, record, game, etc. If there is no UPC code be as descriptive as possible.

·         Take pictures. Ebay.com now allows you to take as many pictures for free. Take advantage of this. It will allow your buyers to fully see the condition of the item.

·         Research what your item is worth. What did recent items sell for? Guide are good, but always remember: an item is only worth what people are willing to pay.

·         Write a detailed description. I will be the first to admit that I often only use the item specifics that ebay has via the UPC code. Here is a recent item I sold:

What is wrong with this listing? Well for one, I don’t list the titles of Damon Runyon stories included. Adding a detailed description lets the person searching for a specific story search not only the titles but descriptions. I had three pictures which was good but I should have probably at the very least added a picture of the table of contents.

Also, please note that Ebay.com does not have as vast of a database of products that amazon.com has. I have noticed with the older books, ebay.com only will have the more recent editions, whereas amazon.com has most if not all the editions, which it makes a customer more likely to find the exact thing they are looking for. Also when searching on amazon.com for Damon Runyon and you find the book you are looking for, when you click on it, all the new and used books of just that book are shown. On ebay.com you may get other books mixed in.

As for fees: I pay 15% of the total on amazon.com plus .99 cents per item sold. I can list as many things as I want for free. If I think I am going to sell more than 35 items, I can pay a flat fee of $35 for unlimited items.  On ebay.com they charge me 10% of what I sell but I have to pay 6% to paypal.com who processes my payments. I get 50 free listings a month on ebay.com but they often have specials like 100,000 free listings for the next few days.I do get a better deal overall with amazon.com but I stick with ebay.com because all the more exposure. Plus on amazon.com paperbacks often are listed for a penny, whereas on ebay they are more fair market value.