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That's the sounds of the man working on the computer
by acdickson
Well, either my calendar is broken or it's late October. 'Tis the season folks. No, not the World Series (c'mon, get it together Houston, let's make it interesting at least), it's eBay selling season. If it's not already common knowledge, let me make is so. October through January is the prime-time for eBay sellers. Consider the late winter, spring and summer the pre-season. A good seller can and should make over half their yearly earnings between the back to school shopping rush and the I deserve to buy myself what I didn't get for the holidays January blues.
AC is in full bore selling mode right now with over 100 live auctions.
Of the many auctions I have ending in the next few days I want to make a special mention of a 6 auctions I have put up for PDX Super Crafty, the collective my wife Susan is a part of. Fresh out their party at the Doug Fir in Portland, hosted by AC, we've listed 6 auctions to help promote the release of their book. Highlights include A signed book plus a t-shirt and a tote bag, a crafty mystery package, and for you Portlanders only, a gift making party with Susan and her gang at your house during the first week of December!
On top of all the live auctions, my store is slowly but surely filling up.
The store is funny thing. I got a rush of sales when I first opened it, but nothing as the shelves have filled. It remains to be seen, me thinks, whether or not a store is a good option for the purveyor of ephemera. Part of the problem may be that AC is putting what didn't sell at auction in the store at double the starting price. I am offering a 'make me an offer' option, which some people have taken advantage of, but so far this method isn't working as well as I had hoped. This past week I put up a few things in the store directly, skipping the auction step altogether. The nice thing is that the insertion fee is nothing (starting at 2 cents versus 35 cents with no penalty for a high buy it now price), but they take more on the back end. Plus, it's much harder for shoppers to find store items. They only come up in a search when no one is selling anything similar for auction. So we'll see.
The most interesting item I put up in this manner is a late 60's street publication called The Lives and Loves of Cleopatra. It's like a thin newspaper of cartoons featuring a vampy Cleopatra getting in on with Mark Anthony, Soldiers and other entities I won't mention in a family blog. I did my google research and learned that it was put up by Berkley hippies and illustrated by an albino African American from Santa Monica who was a boyhood friend of Janis Joplin. I could find no other copy for sale anywhere on the Internet, so I listed in my store for $500. I figure I'll let it stew there for awhile then pop it over to a live auction right around Thanksgiving. I figure lots of people will be kicking it front of their computer that weekend, looking for that perfect one of a kind gift. So if there are any aging hippie perverts in your life, er... I mean collectors of rare counter-culture memorabilia, you can cross them off the list. They're going love this.
Tis really the season. A few people I know have all seemed to jump into the eBay wagon this holiday season. I suppose now is probably a great time to buy as well.
Posted by: Mikey at October 27, 2005 11:32 AM