I decided to write about the items I am listing tonight and tell you the story that goes with each one. These are 3 glasbake square mugs that were part of a promotion for Lipton tea, probably in the 1970s or so.  I think they originally came in a set of 5 because I had one of these sets last year and it sold for about 40.00 or so. Each mug is a different color and they are really neat looking!

silkies pantyhose

I bought a few of these at an auction some time last year and thought I would try them on eBay. I paid about 1.00 for the whole box. Imagine my surprise when I sold 9 pair for about 30.00! This company has been mail ordering pantyhose for many years so I guess they are rather popular. I came across more at an auction a few weeks ago so I am listing them in lots according to size. These are a queen size and I hope they go for 30.00 again but I’m not holding my breath!

14 vintage damask napkins

I find lots of vintage napkins at my local auctions. It’s tough to find more than 4 that are in very good condition though! Sometimes I wash them up but I love it when they are already in great condition and I can just list them. These are damask because they have a shiny subtle design on them. They are actually 2 sets of 6 and 8 but they are so similar that I am grouping them together. If you had them around a table, you would never know they are different. Sometimes I can sell these napkins for over 20$ but usually they go for a bargain price of 5-10. Still a good deal when you consider the department stores sell them for at least 2-3$ a piece!

sheet music magazines

Did you know that you can buy and sell back issues of many types of magazines on eBay? Just look up your favorite magazine and check it out! These mags are great because they contain lots of sheet music. I have also sold recipe magazines like Taste of Home and have seen the Martha Stewart magazines sell for a good price when an entire year or subject is grouped together.

Perhaps this gives you an idea of what you can sell or buy on eBay. You can click on any of the photos to go to my listings or click HERE for     everythingvintagesteph.com.

Have a great day! It’s snowing here in PA again!

On sale starting Feb. 4

Who knew you can sell vintage fruit on ebay?? A few weeks ago I bought a bin full of plastic grapes. I was going to save it for some props for the plays I am in. I decided to try selling some on ebay. I sold about 9 bunches for 12.00. Then I sold another 12 bunches for 15.00 and another 8 bunches for about 8.00. I paid 1.00 for the whole bin. So when I saw these at the local auction a few weeks ago, I bought them (for 1.00 of course!). These are on sale right now. Why not try again??

20 vintage Valentines

Also on sale starting tonight is a LOT of vintage Valentines. These are usually pretty popular. Some people sell these one at a time but I like to bunch things together in lots. The ones in the lower left corner are probably from the 1920s. A lot of people collect these and now is the time to get them listed!

Renwal dollhouse furniture

Then there is the vintage doll house furniture by Renwal. This is a good brand name, probably the most popular, for doll house furniture. I only have the blue bedroom set but I am always on the lookout for Renwal. With the price of new doll  house furniture in the stores, you can pick up a nice bargain on eBay!

TEN 8 track tapes

The last item I have listed starting tonight on eBay is a lot of 10 8 track tapes. Yeah, when I first got a few of these I was ready to throw them in the donation bin. Then I tried selling a few on eBay and I was surprised that they sold. I’ve only gotten a few dollars each for them so far but at least they sell and I usually can pick them up for very little money. I don’t even have a way of testing them but I give a guarantee and so far have not had any complaints!

So, check my completed auctions in a few days and you can see what price these items sold for and you will know their “approximate” worth.

CLICK HERE to view my auction

listings!

vintage red poncho on auction until jan 28

If you are lucky like me you can find a mannequin at a local estate sale or thrift shop. Keep your eye open at going out of business sales or even craigs list. I finally got myself one for 20.00. I already see a difference in sales—or maybe it’s just a coincidence for now but I think the trend will continue! I always had trouble taking photos of dresses and coats. I either laid them out on the floor or hung them on a hanger over the door. But people like to see what they might look like in a piece of clothing so the mannequin really is a LOT better. Take a look at these and decide!

sold this coat for 15.50

didn't sell this one although I think it is nicer. it's listed in my store now

What happens when you have sold items at a flea market for over 40 years and now you are ready to retire? You sell your stock at a local auction! That is what happened to an old timer at the Leesport Farmer’s Market in Leesport, PA. He sold items at his stand for over 40 years and he was ready to retire. I guess you get tired of almost anything after 40 years! I went to the auction. 

There were boxes and boxes of little knick-knacks and toys and stuff that had been new about 20 years ago that now could be considered “vintage.” There were matchbox cars and models and wrapping paper and pencils and stuffed animals and dime store jewelry and…… thousands of cookie cutters. This person was especially known for his cookie cutters. Plastic, metal, tin–all shapes and sizes. Most of his original prices were 1.00-3.00 a piece.

So… I bought about 1000 of them myself. My daughter was with me and she bought a few hundred and there was plenty left for others to bid on too. Most of the bidding went for 1.00 – 5.00 a box lot and a box lot contained about 10-30 pieces. This was June 2009 or sometime around there. So I loaded up my van with my treasures, figuring I could sell them by the bag at my local flea market and also bag up the older ones for my antique sales and my antique booth at Zionsville Antiques. 

I took 6 bags to the Kutztown Extravaganza in the fall and sold all of them for 5.00 a bag—a nice bargain! I’ve sold about 20 bags at the flea market and antique mall. Then I was in my glory organizing them for eBay. I had groups of animals, Christmas, dinosaurs, big Texas size ones, and little miniature ones. I am down to one bin full that I have left in my garage. They are still selling on eBay and make a great find for your Christmas cookies in all shapes and sizes!

CLICK ON ANY OF THE PHOTOS to go to my eBay store and find them there or on live auction—if I have any left!!

Lilacs, lily of the valley, PA Dutch girls, farmers, snow scenes, Christmas holly and poinsettias, these are some of the designs you can find on the great old cotton printed tablecloths from the 1950s. I love finding these at the local auctions! My favorites are the bold flowers—the bolder the better!

If I look through the linen boxes before the auction starts, I might find some tablecloths buried on the bottom and I can’t wait to bid and hope no one else has discovered them! Usually they have and I’ll have some people bidding against me. Other times I get lucky and I can get a tablecloth for 1.00 or an entire box of linens for 1.00 that has some tablecloths in it—yeah! It’s gold to me.

Then there’s the condition to think about. It is rare to find a tablecloth that doesn’t have any wears, tears, or stains. The stains can be worked on, especially if they are in a white area. Even the worn and torn ones can be valuable to someone who wants them to make aprons or curtains or purses out of them.

When I list a tablecloth on eBay that has some damage, I put the word “cutter” in the title. Those who are looking for craft projects can find them this way.

I don't have many printed ones left in my store!

Here are some stats as to what they are worth: 123 “vintage printed tablecloths” are listed on eBay at the time I am writing this. I think it is important to use the word “printed” in the title. In the last 30 days, 149 out of 247 listed have been sold. This is a sell through rate of 60%. The highest price was 83.76 for a Wilendur Christmas tablecloth (Wilendur and Vera, and Startex are all good brand names). The average price was 14.91. This info comes from HAMMERTAP (see sidebar for info).

I have a few tablecloths in my laundry room right now that need to be washed and the stains worked on. They can be soaked in oxyclean for a few hours or a few days to see how much of a stain will come out. Then I use a bleach stick for small areas. If I have to, I will bleach the entire tablecloth but I won’t soak it too long or the fibers could weaken. Not too worry too much though because the cotton these are made out of is pretty tough! Hanging them in the sun to dry also helps the stain.

CLICK ON ANY OF THE PHOTOS or visit me at everythingvintagesteph.com THANKS!

click to view ended auction

Do you  have an ugly Christmas sweater that you don’t wear any more? Yeah, like those ones from the 80’s with the padded shoulders and big designs and sparkles. What, you still have it? Apparently, there are office parties out there with contests for the ugliest Christmas sweater. The best place to find one is on eBay! I just sold one from Eddie Bauer that wasn’t really that ugly but I got 15.50 for it. (above).

cute snowman sweater

This sweater is kind of cute too but I listed it as an “ugly” Christmas sweater. I also have one more listed on eBay right now and they both will be over on Nov. 19. Are these from my closet? No! They came from the same place that my jeans come from that I sell a lot of—the 75 cent bins at the Morgantown, PA Goodwill store. I love that place! I was just there on Thursday and bought 23 items that are worth selling on eBay. Check out the sweaters and some of the jeans at everythingvintagesteph.com.

At 5 weeks old she is already smiling! (Not for sale on eBay!)

Ok, I only got 7.00 for the vintage nun doll. That was the opening (and closing) bid. It is only a 1.00 or 2.00 more than what I paid for her! Here’s what we wonder now… Did I start the doll at the correct price? If I started her lower, would she have gone for more? If I had started her at 15.00 would she have sold for that? These are ALWAYS the questions that eBay sellers ask themselves and the answer is… you never know! It is good to do research before you price an item but unique items like this are very hard to research. But again, that’s the fun of eBay—you never know what is going to happen!

So… on to the next item!

You can watch this doll auction at everythingvintagesteph.com

The antique NUN doll (featured below) finally has a bid at 7.00. She has 6 watchers and is over on the evening of Nov. 3. I will report on her progress! You can see my auction listings at everythingvintagesteph.com.

I also just listed a large group of something NON vintage! Crocs socks! Yes, these are specially made socks to wear with your crocs in the winter—since those Crocs are so comfy. Now you can wear them all year long. Click on the photo to go right to my eBay store and search for “crocs”. Or click HERE. I have a couple of different listings for different styles (and I am adding smaller sizes later). I will report in a later post how I got the croc socks and how they are selling and how I did the research to decide on selling them. So come on back!

I don’t have the time to write now because the next game of the World Series (go Phillies!) is about to start!

I have an old antique doll listed on eBay right now. She is dressed like a nun and made of composition. I don’t know how old she is and there is no manufacturer so it is very hard to tell what she might be worth. I started the auction at 7.00. I am not sure how much I paid for her—I think it was either 5 or 6$. Here is the listing… NUN DOLL. I also added a video to the listing to make it more descriptive. You can click on it above. The auction will be over Tues. November 3 so I will report back how much she is worth!

see all my eBay sales at: everythingvintagesteph.com

Remember that quilt I showed in the video a few days ago? (see Oct. 12 ).

I promised I would tell you what it sold for. The final bid was 48.44. I think I got more interest in it because I used a video. If you sell on ebay, this is very easy. Go to vzaar.com and upload your videos and then click to put them in your auctions. That’s it! It doesn’t cost anything extra either. Any video site (including youtube) could also be used.

You can see the auction here.

Check out my new auctions at everythingvintagesteph.com. 

newly listed NEW Italian leather gloves