eBay now cobblers - it's official (well according to the comments in the last 'bay related post) - but when the online auction house was worth pitching in and listing on, real deals could be easily had, and without tooting my own bugle too much - I managed a quite lively run on the 'bay.Here's a few of my greatest hits and some bits still waiting in the wings...
Best sales
A set of 11 Guns 'n' Roses records
I deliberately listed these on the very same weekend that G n'R's Greatest Hits album was released. All that free publicity, promotion and renewed interest sent the sale price sky high - including £250 for one import that cost me £5.99.
BOY 1981 Catalogue
Even now almost anything interesting from the original punk period will get you top price (it wasn't merchandised like other youth cults, the gear wasn't made/expected to last and the best of it is now locked away in private collections) - paid (I think a fiver in '81), and sold for £150 in 2004. - you can see a few pics here.
Too Many Remixes volumes 1 - 8
When bootleg remixes first exploded onto the scene in 2002, I collected and compiled the best booties from the net (pre-broadband too), burnt them to CD and listed them eBay as 'Too Many Remixes' - riding on the back of Soulwax's 'Too Many DJ's' album title. Caused a fuss on a few forums, but stayed a regular seller for some months.
David Bowie - Midnight Special 1980 Floor Show
A still unreleased Bowie show from 1974 and the final Ziggy appearance with the Spiders, I downloaded a copy via WINMX for myself, but soon realised if I wanted a copy - other Bowie fans probably would - made it a double VCD with other rare TV appearances and included period pic's on the sleeve. A bread a butter 'buy now' seller which shifted a healthy amount copies every week.
On the sub's bench - bits to be sold
Starlust - Fred and Judy Vermorel (1st edition)
For some unexplained reason this collection of genuine fan letters to Bowie, Robert Plant and I think Shakin Stevens, edited by the Vermorels (who a have a Pistols/McLaren connection) and has become highly desirable. I bought my copy (first edition) for 50p back in the eighties from a Charing Cross Road overstocks shop.
Up They Rise - Jamie Reid (1st edition)
Another Charing Cross bargain book shop bonus, paid 99p for it in the early ninties and goes for over £100 now.
John Lennon Ltd Edt print
Framed extremely limited edition print approved by the Lennon estate and signed by Yoko with COA (only available in the US, but I had it shipped over).
Burns Flyte bass guitar
Only a handful of these concorde inspired guitars are in circulation Gaye Advert played one and Marc Bolan had a 6 string version - I picked it up for a snip at the Bass Centre, but doubt that I'd actually ever sell this piece of rocking retromania....
Marc Bolan - London Boys, Marc and his Burns Flyte(I find it eye-watering to watch the moment at 02:05 where he launches the guitar from the podium)
9 comments:
Wow! That's really cool. I've never done that much on eBay. I've bought a few things. I know some people who have done quite well for themselves. A woman just sells on eBay for a living now. She does so well with it.
Fantastic ebay successes PM, you’ve got an eye for it I think…
You really should give it a go both of you - the only trouble is you can tend to end up tearing your hair out about all the best bits you've ever given away or part exchanged for pennies...
It's an up and down game; the best - and luckiest - single item price mark I ever got on selling was £1300 for a £90 "00" model train. It turned out to be rare, but I can't claim I knew that when I bought it.
The worst being a nice Sony CD walkman which went for the bargain price of 99p. However I've got a bad habit of buying stuff off ebay with the intention of 'selling it on'. Now my house is stuffed so I'd better get on with it - free listings this weekend, Arthur Daley's everywhere!
I'm too much of a hoarder to sell any of my stuff on ebay - I know I'd instantly regret it.
Are you cursing selling those Guns n Roses records now that Axels back...?!
Bloody Hell OP that's incredible - I think I may have a few childhood Hornby bits knocking around I'll to see what the 'bay prices are..
I'm a terrible hoarder Cocktails, but once you've rattled up a few sales on ebay your priorities of what stays and what sells soon changes
No regrets about selling the G N' R records as it's all relative really (and I got twice the list price for most bits - which were back to list price a week later)
This was the biggie of the bunch the first EP , and on their own label - only 10,000 ever made with just a handful coming into the UK - I picked up on the band quite early on and grabbed it summer 87.
It's all the stuff that got given away and part exchanged pre-ebay I'm regretful about.
Yes Mondo it was quite a surprise to me too, as it turned out to be a limited edition Wrenn item I'd bought 17 years before. At the time though I'd just been THROWN out of work, so it saved the day as far as a holiday and a few other things went.
As for the CD player, well, the girl that bought it emailed me a picture of it with her on her hols, which more than made up for the price, though Mrs OP did wonder what was going on. As an excuse you couldn't make it up. Anyway this girl was a dead ringer for Kelly Brook so I kind of thought that was 'excellent feedback' as we say!
Never, ever get rid of that Burns Flyte. If I had one hanging on the wall, I'd grin like a loon every time I passed it.
What a result OP - my biggest regrets are some Mclaren/Westwood tops from Seditionries and World's End top that went well before ebay - the Seditionaries tops (3 of them) had the arms cut off and went in the bin - the World's End got swapped for a frilly shirt - be worth a blooming fortune now..
That bass is going nowhere LFB, had a real result and got it for a third of the list price - it's a peach to play - I just need to find a glam revival band to join
PS (see this month's word Page 43 for me in my old glam days)
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