Yard Sale finds for eBay!

I went onto Craigslist this weekend for a listing of neighborhood yard sales and I went to one on Saturday and two yesterday and I found some nice things!

On Saturday I found a nearly new queen sized comforter for $8 that I might be able to sell for $10-$15 on eBay. An Indian scarf with beading on the corners for $1.50 that I will list for $3-$5 and another smaller one I bought for 75 cents that I can try to sell for about $3. I also found a pair of nearly new Liz Claiborne pumps for $6 that I will try and sell for $10.

Sunday was the motherlode though. I had seen an ad that said they were selling a special first edition of a Larry Fraga Christmas ornament. I don't collect ornaments and have never heard of Fraga before, but I did a quick eBay search of his name before heading to the yard sale and his ornaments are highly collectible. The average price they sold for was between $40 and $60!

I was ever hopeful that the ornament was still available by the time we got there. Since it was Sunday, it meant that her yard sale was going on yesterday too and we got there about 11:30 AM, two and a half hours after she opened up.

But what luck! I saw the ornament and snatched it up. She had more of the same design and wanted $20 each for them but was willing to negotiate. I ended up purchasing 2 for $35!!! That's what haggling for prices in Thailand did for me, to not be shy about haggling a little bit. I didn't want to be insulting and offer even less, but I thought a $5 discount would be fair.

So I'm going to hang on to these ornaments and not list them til about November when more people look on eBay for nice ornaments and hopefully I'll make a nice profit! And today I'm doing a more leisurely search of Larry Fraga Designs. I imagine I'll learn a lot when I pick up stuff at yard sales to resell.

The last yard sale we went to I found a set of six small decorative spoons in a small case and I could tell they were real silver because they were tarnished. They had an "Italy" stamp embossed on the back of each. The woman selling them said they were at least 35 years old. Hmmmm... real silver and made in Italy. How much? $1!!!!! This just added a few hours later: I just now found an ad on eBay for the exact same spoons and the seller is asking $10 so I've got it on my watchlist to see what happens. This is so much fun!

Lastly, I found an old set of a brass knife, fork and spoon with resin handles that were chipping a little. What was special was that they were Thai! Each utensil was topped with a traditionally styled Thai angel and the set came in its original box. I got it more for us, since the handles weren't in the best condition. Also only $1!!

Yard saling's gonna be fun this year!!