e-bay-out of control!

[southern Maine diver]

Hey Warren...
Wasn't that cool though... all the original peppers still in the bottle? It was down about a foot into the mud when I found it... Boy didn't it stink when I brought it home and left it out for month...[:'(] Cool though...

Wayne

 

[pupman]

Thanks for the input folks,it seems that there are two schools of thought in this matter.Certinly we all congratulate the seller on a deal well done! It also seems some people think this is a bit extreme for a bottle such as this but as one of you guys says in his quotes"one mans trash is another mans treasure! I have seen bottles go extrodinarily high beccause they had a particular persons name on it and that drove it.Similarly,I will certinly admit that a specific state or area can likewise drive the price up. I see an awful lot of cures and high prices associated with them but this one surprised me.
I wonder where we got a price of $405.00,is there an actual record of the bottle bringing this in an e-bay auction or other. At any rate ,that shootin match is over and we await the next auctions to see unusually high prices brought by certin items!By the way ,who saw that colored pontiled Lynch celebrated dyspepsia cordial go over $6200.00?PUP

 

[bearswede]

I wonder where we got a price of $405.00,is there an actual record of the bottle bringing this in an e-bay auction or other.

Kevin...

It is from "American Antique Medicine Bottles 2006 Price Guide" by forum member Matt Knapp. He has used, for the most part, actual realized auction sale prices. I highly recommend Matt's book to anyone interested in medicinal bottles!!!

Ron

PS... All profits go to Habitat for Humanity...

 

[pupman]

Thanks Ron,I am going to have to pick one up,you can never have enough research information! Kev

 

[bottleboy311]

I don't think ebay is out of control, if there was one thing I learned in busines classes, "The price of a product has nothing it's value, the price has to do with whatever the market will bare!" It is all economic supply and demand. But there is more to it than that. First, it has to do with marketing your item on ebay. And I not talking about there stupid ebay store they wish to sell you. I am talking about going out there and promoting what you got to sell. Second, and sometimes more important, it has to do with luck, having the right persons to go on line when you have listed your item.

Let me explaine:

Marketing is important on ebay. So what I do is when I list an item, I research it on ebay and see if a simular item has been listed and sold in the last few weeks. I think most people on selling on ebay do that. But their is more to it than that. If a simular item you are selling has sold previously you put what it sold for on your listing. People like to see comparisons when buying. I just did that with a Light Colbalt Blue San Francisco, Crystal Soda Waters bottle I listed a yesterday. I found 2 aquas had sold in the past week, one for $147.00, though both were not as nice as mine. I put that price it sold in my listing and explained why mine was worth more. Than I went to the bidding lists of the two simular items and sent a mesage out to each of the bidders telling them that I had just listed a simular item like they had bid on and gave them the item #. It is the same letter to each on of them that I easily cut and paste. I usually get return emails from the bidders thanking me for telling them about the listing. I just did this on the Crystal and in less then 15 hours, I had 4 bids, 12 watchers and the item's price is now over $100.00. I still have 6 days to go before it closes.

As far as luck that is what increases your sales. How many times have you had an item, you had it at bottle show, after bottle show and so many people look at it, they comment about, but no one buys it. Sometimes you feel you couldn't even give it away. Than one day the right person, that wants that particular item, shows up and pays you your full asking price. They don't even want to bargin with you. Sometimes when I have sold a bottle or item at a show like that I wonder how much money I have left on the table. He may have paid you $100.00 for the Bottle or Jar but would have forked out $200.00 because he really really wanted it that bad. Well let's say you have a bottle for $100.00 at a show and two people want it. You are going to sell it to the guy that gives you the $100.00 first. Well how do you know if either would have pay more. You don't know. I have sold at bottle shows, bought an item from one dealer for $40.00, and sold it a hour later for $100.00. Why, because the right person showed up at the right time and wanted to buy it.

I have been selling on ebay a number of mint in the box toys from the late 70's that I got from a guy who closed his toy shop in the late 70's. Earlier this month, I listed a toy on ebay, a Charlie's Angles Girls 3 Piece Vinyl Lugage Set. )Remember the 70's TV Show with Farah Fawcett WOW!) Anyway, the set was in Mint Condition in the Original Box. I put a Buy It Now Price of $59.95 on the item, I thought that was a good fair price. The item sold in less than 10 minutes for $59.95 on the But It Now. I had another one, exactly like the first so a couple weeks later I listed it. I raised the Buy It Now to $65.95. The first bidder thought he/she could get it at a deal and went for the opennig bid, so the Buy It Now was taken off. When the bidding finally closed I sold the item for $127.50. Almost twice as much as the Buy It Now. I would have been thrilled with the $65.95. But getting over $60.00 more all had a lot to do with luck, not ebay being out of control. Had someone used the Buy It Now I would be $60.00 poorer. But there were two bidders, both had seen the item and both wanted it. I could had taken that item to a flea market, antique toy show, or placed it at an antique mall. But I probablly never would have got $127.50 for it. In fact it would take 4 to 6 months for me to get the $65.95 price.

ebay is not out of control, the guy selling the Kitchle Cure was lucky. And he may have also done his homework and promoting correct too. It sold at the right time. Had only one bidder been interested in it and the others never went online to ebay that week, it may of only sold for $200.00. If he had taken it to the best bottle show in the world he may have got $400.00 to $500.00. But what ebay does is bring the buyer and seller together. And by doing this it makes the chances for luck a little better. They are providing the net with antique shows, bottle shows, toy shows, retail outlets and so on, all across the world. But not every item is for ebay. I would never list a Ball Blue Perfect Mason Quart Jar on ebay. I can get more for one at my antique shop or at the flea market. But if I had a Sun Jar with the original closure for sale, the chances that a person wanting that Jar walking into my antique shop or shows up at the flea market I am selling at are not very good. But ebay can help bring him to me. Though I have to urge him too visit and bid, by doing my home work, making a good listing, and finding potencial customers, etc. The more unique the item the better chance of it selling it and selling it high. The Kitchle Cure with the original paper label was very unique. I agree, I would not spend $1,009 for that bottle. There ar a lot of other things I would spend that kind of money for. But someone wanted to pay that amount of money it. Than there was the losing bidder, who would have paid a few dollars less to buy it. Maybe the losing bidder would have paid more if they had the chance. IT IS WHAT EVER THE MARKET WILL BARE! And for this bottle on that particular day it was $1009.00.

And Thats My Opinon,

Lee

P.S. Check Out my Crystal Soda Water selling on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6239676256&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

 

[flasherr]

I just realized I have viewed your bottle auctions many times. You bring up some very good points im sure I will incorporate some into my sales. I have one question though. Isn't it against Ebay rules to email bidders about your auction of similar items? Nice auctions and you have some very valid points. I only do a few good shows a year rest are low dollar shows. I save a lot of good items for Ebay myself. I am able to sell a lot of things on there that I would never sell around here because I haven't found the right buyers on it. Ebay bidders will pay what they are comfortable with. Like your crystal bottle. you are comfortable at letting it go for 49.50. One of the bidders may be comfortable paying 490.50. The bidders set the market we as sellers can try and set it but will only sell if the bidder is willing to pay it.
Brian

 

[bottleboy311]

Brian,

You said my points exactly. ebay is not the best thing since sliced bread or the crown top bottle. It has it's inharent problems. It is not the soulution to all our needs. But it is a newer way for us to sell and buy than we had done for so long in the past. I buy a lot of things bulk at auctions, estate sales etc. I bought 12 boxes of toys at an auction for $5.00. I knew one toy in the lot was worth at least $30.00. I sold that toy on ebay for $36.00. The rest which I realy was not thrilled about, because they were mostly newer toys, is now all gravy to me. I sold over $125.00 from this lot gross just in the past month mostly for Christmas Gifts, and I still have not sold half of the items. Gee, I could donate the rest to the Salvation Army and get a $50 to $100 tax write off. Also I was given by a friend a box full of 1950's and 60's Gun catalogs. His dad had been a gun dealer for years and he was cleaning his stuff out after his dad's death. He was going to throw these out but thought I could sell them. I sold all but three of them in less than a month all at hirer prices than I would have got at my antique shop. And if I had put them in my antique shop it would have taken 6 months to a year to sell them. See how it is a new way to get rid of you stuff.

My niece who lives near Duluth, MN, (brr cold), gets perfectly good every day household items, toys and nice clothes, ussually for free or next to nothing. These would otherwise been thrown out, at the dump. I don't know how she get this stuff, she has got some real nice stuff, but she has her conections. Being a stay at home Mom with 3 kids, 2 preschool, she adds extra income to her family by selling these items on ebay. It's like a part time job to her, without having to worry about child care costs.

As far as ebay policy on emailing members about your listing. I was told by ebay there is no problem doing that. As long as it has to do with ebay business. But if I emailed you and said I have a item to sell you outside of ebay using their message system that is againist thier policy. They find out you are doing that and after 3 or 4 times ebay will kick you off. ebay wants to get their listing and selling fees. They are in this business profit. Why let you use their system and they get nothing. I have had people email me to sell to them outside of ebay but I don't. If you do that you lose the protection of their system, like feedback, non paying reports etc.

Like I say there is the good, the bad a the ugly of ebay. I don't like everything about ebay but until someone else comes up with the better mouse trap that you can reach people worldwide, like ebay does, I'm sticking to ebay. Every other online auction, trying to compete with ebay, past and present, has either gone belly-up or found their nich that they can make money and is outside the scope of ebay. However, none have every made the fanastick growth that ebay has. I 've been dealing with e bay on and off for over 5 years. About 3 1/2 years ago a guy at a antique show said, "ebay's listing have dropped so much in the last six months, I feel in a year or two it will be a thing of the past. People are just not using it" A thing of the past, ha! I wish I had bought ebay stock back then.

Oh well, hope everyone enjoys my postings, as much as I enjoy writting them!


Lee

 

[Miles]

Well the problem about ebay now is that it's so well known that you barely ever save say 10 bucks. A bottle on ebay is worth what people pay for it, and when bottles are fought over on ebay, someone may be willing to pay more than it's value.

Bottle X is worth 100.000
Person A wants the bottle, but isn't going to go over its value too much.
Person B is willing to go over the value of the bottle in order to get it.

Person A bids 50.00
Person B sets a reserve of 95.00
Person A bets 98.00
Person B bets 110.00
Person A bets 110.00
Person B bets 130.00

Person B wins the auction. Tack on shipping and that's close to 40.00 over the value of the bottle. At an antique store, there's no fighting over prices, so you buy it for the set price, and that's that. Ebay is really only good if there's a bottle you can't find anywhere else.

 

[slimdigger]

Having sold many bottles on ebay I have to put my 2 cents in. I always tell people that ebay is not something for a one time shot with bottles. If I sell 10 bottles on ebay a few will bring less than I wanted but at the same time some bottles will bring far more than I could have ever hoped.

Ex. I sold 3 of the same druggist bottles within a two month period. The first bottle sold for $ 20. The second one sold for over $80 and the third bottle sold for $18.50. It is all about the timing.

When I get a rare bottle I almost always set the starting bid at $1.00. I have never been disappointed.

Just my opinion. Nothing more.

 

[bottleboy311]

Miles, ebay is not only for the unique or rare item but for the item they may not be popular in your area. Example I picked a nice clean F.A. Heim Hutch soda botle from Los Angeles, CA. for $5.00. It is a fairly common Hutch in Califorina. However, there are new collectors that may want it for their collection. A majority in the west. If I take it down to the St. Pete bottle show in Florida next spring, which is less than a hour drive away, I could most likely sell it. probably for $10.00 to $12.00 (those collector won't be there). However, I still make a profit. But if I take it to the LA Bottle Show next fall, a 4 day drive, I could $25.00 or more. Twice as much. Now I am not going to sell at the LA show. But ebay alows us to sell in that market where I can not make it to. I probably if I hit at the right time on ebay, (TIMMING) I could get $20.00 for it on ebay add $5.00 and the person is paying the same amount he would have paid next fall at the show and getting it delivered to his door. And me I am making 80% more profit than selling it at St. Pete, without driving 50 miles, setting up at the show, packing back up, and heading home another 50 miles. This is what we call a WIN WIN Situation. Even if I sell it for for my opening bid of $9.99, around what I would get at the bottle show, (due to bad timming). I still make a profit without leaving my house.

Now Bruce, I have found out the more bottles I have listed the more bids I get. If I list just one soda bottle, most soda bottle collectors will look at it. However, it won't appeal to all of them. Yet they may go to my other listed items and find a soda bottle that does appeal to them. Now you know that bottle collectors don't just collect one type of bottle. In fact the collect other things besides bottles. (For me it is ex-wifes). A friend of mine is a Bitters collector, he also collects Fruit Jars. I don't know why the two don't seem to go together, but he likes both. Well lets say he looks a a bitters bottle you have listed, but he is not interested in it for some reason. But down on the bottom of your listing you say " I have also listed on ebay a few nice Fruit Jars." He goes to your listed items, finds a jar he interested in, looks at it and bids. You may have not sold the bitters bottle, but it helped make a sale of your jar. This goes good with other collectable items. I sell alot of vintage toys and advertising item, sometimes I will have a person bidding on one type of these items and one or two of my bottles. I started listing 4 or 5 items a week, most got 15- 20 hits, unless they were a very unusual item. Now I list 50 to 60 items a week and get about of 35-50 hits per item. And the number of members watching item has increased too. When I was in the retail business in Califorina we judged our business on how many people came in the door. The more that showed up the more business we would do. It is the same on ebay the more people who visit your listing the better chance they will sell. Unless of course you do what one fool did a few months ago. He listed a common Quart Blue Ball Perfect Mason for $15.00. For those of you who don't know, that is a $5.00 or less Jar.

Just some advice, take it or leave it,


Lee