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I would presume this would only work if you have a team. 1 or two people, can't go to a house, buy it up, clean the items up and list them individually on eBay. It would take decades to do. You'd need a team that would come in, sort out the items, get inventory, take photographs, list them and sell them.

Not true at all.
Especially with today's technology.
With a smartphone, you can get things appraised, scheduled for cleaning, moved out in your truck and placed on ebay all in the span of a few hours.

Larger items, yes. But if it does not involve things like contracts and background checks then yeah, its very possible to have it gone in a matter of hours.

For me to generally list 5-6 items per day, it takes a full day. I have to research the items sell prices, write up description, include nice pictures. So how can I do 200 items in a few hours.

Nope. I get little to no help.

The only help I do get is for the heavy stuff.

I go and sort the best antiques and have totes and bubble wrap for those items.

Box lot household low ends ups go into other colored totes for feedback builders or run back through auctions.

I source the appliances and furniture out to already known sources. I make a call and they show up and pay me for what I do not want and I dont lift a finger.

If the items are junk or trash I do not deal with them. I try to tell the people selling I do not clean the house, I will remove my items and will not leave any messes but I dont clean the entire house top to bottom. But I dont leave it a mess.

The DH will come by and help me load the trailer or uhaul but other then that I sort, clean, picture, list and pack the items.

Decades? Guess you have not been in the antiques business long or bought an estate.

We cleaned out an entire house full of super antiques and collectibles in one weekend. Of course you have to be willing to work hard, long hours to get it done but we have done it.

Not a team, just me sorting and separating on day one and DH and my 14 year old sometimes who lends a hand sorting but other then that, not a team and only a few days if that on a full house.

I take one color tote with all the better stuff to one storage unit to get ready to picture and list.

I take the other color with less items to another unit to get ready for a few new accounts.

Then items I have not decided on yet get ran back through a local auction to keep the better stuff moving.

I can list 100s of items once I have the pictures and descriptions in no time.

Most are not willing to put in the long hours in one day.

I dont leave any house a mess, we will not touch anything that we dont buy and if we move things around that we did not purchase etc we put it back.

You are assuming I clean the house top to bottom and I dont.


Been buying estates for 20+ years and have system down that I can be in and out depending on how much stuff is in the house in 1-2 days max most times.

LOL

I have bought 600 box lots at one auction house in one day and they were sorted, pictured, on ebay, etsy, amazon etc within 7 days easily depending on what accounts I am running that week.

Being organized, knowing the product, sorting quickly, tossing items that are found to have nicks, chips, issues and sorting the best from the other right away saves a ton of time.

I have cameras and do the descriptions right at the unit. Come home and list them in no time.

Thank you.

It can be done easily with little to no help if you are not lazy and willing to get moving and get it done.

I think this poster believes you buy the house to and I dont buy the house, only the contents of the house.

The house has nothing to do with buying estates and I think he/she has it confused.

Holy moly.

5-6 items a day?

I know my product and dont need to do much research at all.

I believe I have listed close to 500 items in one day easily using auctiva.

I might as well quit if I could only list 5 items a day.

If I dont do 30 or more items in an hour I am slacking or tired.

Sunday nights I list well over 500 items on 15-20 accounts to run for 7 days.

Of course the pictures are done and cropped and all I need it my trusty description.


HINT--- I line up my items in a row I want to list. Take my pictures in that row. I use a voice recorder to describe the item, measurements etc.

When I list it, I listen to my recording, pause and do the write up. Add the picture and bam, its listed. On the the next item.

Not to poke fun at you but your user name is 100hoursaweek.

Listing 5 items a day no way are you working 100 hours a week.

If I worked 100 hours a week on ebay alone I would have 5,000 or more items listed easily.

I put in 70-80 or more every single week and get a lot done. I sleep on averahe 3-4 hours per day most days. It is all I need. I am on here and ebay at the same time many nights until 3 am or so. Then back on here when I take my kids to school by 8 am and back to ebay or making accounts.

Hmmmm.... I use eBay to post my stuff. So I go to completed listings, find one item that I also have for sale. Then use that category, put in the info, my description, and my HTML codes for the item. All of my items are different, so I don't have one thing in two quantities. However what you are doing is pretty impressive. Very good work.

500 Items a day, wow mama mia.

Things like this does not happen in the uk I don't think?

If it did I'd be all over it like a rash.

@Sandy D - your like an eBay machine. Do they make a third party software that can be integrated with eBay of yourself? I would get one in a flash :)

I take about 4 or 5 minutes for each listing. Trick is to know what your selling

I take all my pictures, wipe all EXIF data off them, sort them into different folders depending on what account they do onto and get to work.

Sandy you are a Machine 500 items a day!! God Bless You, Good For You. You should make a video all about selling on Ebay and creating Accounts, I'd definitely buy a copy.

That's awesome, I just started my online business little under a year ago , and love it , I have a part time job bartending so I usually put 3 hours before and 3-4 hours after work . I'm now starting to cut back my days and focusing more now on Ebay. Only 7 months since my first account got canned and now I have almost Triple the selling limits and making double in Sales.

Inspired by you sandy I'm actually trying to expand my business and been venturing out into thrift stores. There is so many items, antiques , everything . When I'm here I always think I wish Id have u around to guide me.

I have one great category of items that is my bread and butter but I actually enjoy going out to thrift , goodwill , etc, just wish I'd had little guidance when looking.

Sandy what steps can I take when venturing out to educate myself on the worth of items you would find in thrift shops, particularly with older items, antiques, etc???

I always reference back to ebay but if you have any input for me I'd appreciate the guidance.

I do the same, sort them in a folder and get to work.

All my accounts already have the write ups done and all I need to do is add the description, sizes, pictures etc and its done.

Estates sales/ auctions is the way to go. If you can attend a huge auction selling everything in the house that is where the money is.

Also, full estates if you can get them. because you get everything in the house and do not have to share with 500 other bidders.

I hit the thrift stores, yard sales etc usually on my way to something. I do not go out of my way to go to lots of them much anymore because my warehouse and storage sheds are full so I more concentrate on esates and antique auctions.

But if I am going by a thrift store I wont miss it either.

Lots of great feedback builders in thrift stores for sure. And I have found some gems in them as well.

Years of experience and of course my Grandparents dragging me to every auction, flea market, yard sale when I would stay with them on the weekends and during the summers. They beat the info into my head. This is who made this, this is the year it was made, look for this name, dont pass on anything like this kinda stuff.

Many learn by attending antique auctions and watching the bidding. Most, not all auctioneers know what an item is and if it sparks your interest make a note of it, name, price etc.

I learn about new items I did not know about at every auction. Always something to learn. I dont know military stuff well but last week I watched a ton of WWI and WWII items being auctioned off and learned a ton just from that.

I also tell people to go with your gut feeling, if an item looks to good to be passed on look it up. Also buy items that you have knowledge of as it helps you get ahead of the game if you do.



I bought a Galaxy Tablet to carry with me now as the phone thing was getting old. It has worked like charm for me looking up items before I buy them!!

Sold and completed listed can help but I also use Terapeak and sometimes look at Worthpoint.

And the newest thing I do since I sell a lot of items on Etsy anymore is look at Etsy sales. You dont get a ton of info but it shows what sold and that helps me know that particular item does have some interest.

Going to be a big market over the next years of families selling off the war memorabilia the GIs took back to the USA. Stuff that has been in trunks in attics is going to be back on open market. Prices will be high. A 1918 Erfurt Luger with 90% blueing is worth roughly US$2700 these days.

Such was the precision and accuracy of the methods used by the Germans at the Erfurt Armoury, it can be possible to trace/track the origin of these fine guns. Big money in this market for the converted.
:typing:

Saw a few estate auctions posted up in ads recently...sadly, the timing was not good for me to attend...kind of "miffed" at that...was in exploration mode and wanted to check them out

Can not have been that keen. You need to make time or miss the chances

That estate will be making money for another person now

Have to take the plunge and make time. That is how I work on sourcing goods

You're GB - could not get time off of my daywork duties...hence the interference...not making an excuse but yes, job got in the way

I have been looking at this for years knowing USA baby boomers will be hitting record numbers to hit retirement age this and next year.
Should be a ton of items up for sale soon.

Hummm I buy from estate auctions a lot without being there.

It is called an absentee bid.

Leave it with your credit card number etc and they will bid items up to your left price.

Do it all of the time. Go to the auction house or home look over items, leave bids and leave. They will call if you win something.

The clan (my brothers) in the UK are going across the pond in Fall/early winter. They will be prepared for 'shopping'.

They are laying down the ground work for what they want. Been networking for years with this in mind.

Since they are all ex-Armed Services, their network is large.

Good times ahead.

=}-

Good point - the past ones I mentioned had viewing only in the AM but I will look for others with better viewing times

Re: This is why I buy estates and houses full of items
 

Made it to a couple of estate auctions this summer/fall and there were some great bargains to be had there. I was very cautious in my bidding and didn't buy much, but the items I did buy made about 10x profit on eb.

I was also shocked at how much antique furniture went for, items I thought about bidding $5 on for went for $125. There were clearly experienced antique buyers there, but not many eb sellers.

One thing was clear to me, I need a smartphone at the minimum to research prices on the fly. My slider text phone wasn't cutting it, I had to text someone to lookup prices for me.

Re: This is why I buy estates and houses full of items
 

I have started to get into the estate buying and have done a few. However, I seem to have trouble finding the right advertising venue. Other than handing out business cards everywhere you go, where do you advertise? I've tried the local paper classifieds and they don't seem to bring in much. Thanks!