All kinds of antiques, from dolls to furniture are certainly great sellers. But most of us are not antique dealers and may not know or care enough about them. So here are twelve things that sell like crazy that you can profit from using online auctions. (The list is not in priority order.)
1. Coins
A lot of people are coin collectors. You can buy on the Internet all kinds of foreign coins; pesos from Mexico, and coins from Brazil. Now we have the Euro, coins in the old money can only increase in value as they become a rarity.
These are very cheap coins. Some people have packaged them, like one hundred coins of the world, and they have sold at auction for £60 and £70. Many of those coins, like the Mexican peso and Brazilian one peso coin is less than a penny.
Also, Indian Head pennies and old silver, and even some current silver that’s not that old, what’s called junk silver, but it is still silver, is very popular. Some people bid this stuff up far more than what you can buy it for as base metal. It’s crazy, but that’s how it is.
2. Pocket and hunting knives
Both old and new pocket and hunting knives are very popular items. This category also includes swords.
It’s not for everyone, but if you are interested or have some knowledge of survival skills using knives, or find the history of swords fascinating these items do well online.
3. Watches and Rings
People are into some unusual watches and rings. Some of the turquoise watches and jewellery from New Mexico, was originally popular twenty years ago. But then it went out of fashion and nobody would wear it. Now, once again, it is popular.
If you can buy that jewellery at a good price, you can double and even triple your money.
4. Music boxes
Music boxes are very collectible and highly popular. They are relatively easy to ship to customers. A visit to any junk shop, car boot sale, antiques mall or market will usually yield at least one music box.
5. Holiday Season Items
All kinds of unusual items linked to Easter, Christmas and Halloween are extremely popular. People have bid items in this category way up.
6. Native American Indian Arts and Crafts
Anything to do with Indian arts and crafts is big business especially in the USA, UK, Germany and Belgium. Old arrowheads are popular, blankets, saddles, beadwork, all sorts of things connected with the Native American nations.
7. Religious Items
It doesn’t matter whether the religious items are Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu or any other religion. They are all very popular.
In the Middle East they have “worry beads.” I had an Arab friend many years ago that gave me some. They don’t cost much money. I’ve seen them bid up to £25.
8. Rocks and Fossils
Rocks and fossils are very popular, perhaps because they are so collectible – they take little room up but a collection can be startling and interesting.
9. Bedspreads and Quilts
The star quilts of the North American Indians are very popular as well as the varied quilts made by the Victorians. Still a popular craft today, even modern handmade bedspreads and quilts can fetch a good price.
10. Perfumes and Colognes
This includes perfumes and colognes for both men and women. Especially name brands at a discount where people can bid for it, but get it for lower than the £50 it might normally sell for in a big department store.
11. Regional Items
Regional items have increased in popularity. People, who live in Arizona and New Mexico, California, Texas, can slip past the border and pick up Mexican arts and crafts extremely cheap, and yet double and triple their money on eBay.
If you don’t live in the States, but take a holiday in Mexico or South America, you may still find this lucrative. This category also covers tourist items bought anywhere in the world; such as African beadwork, dolls in the costume of the country, china from seaside towns in the British Isles, handbags from Egypt, it’s endless. As an aside, there is a vast, thriving market in British seaside trivia from pre-1970s.
12. Autographs
If you know, or have, anything that was signed by a famous person; a rock star, movie stars, presidents, whatever, they are bidding these up big time on eBay and the other auction sites. Some collectors’ are also keen to bid for a famous person’s item of clothing or lock of hair.
So, that’s just a summary of twelve categories that sell well through Internet auctions.
Of course you can sell thousands of other items. All sorts of books sell, for instance, there is no question about that. I’ve sold books and I’ve had three or four different companies buy books from me and resell them on eBay, Yahoo and other auction sites. However, you must either buy or print books cheap enough that you can ask for big enough discounts.
For example, a £25 book might get auctioned off at £6 or £7. Now if you bought it for £2, or printed it for £2 it shouldn’t be a problem making a steady profit. The profit margin is big enough for you to walk away with cash in your pocket.
Source by Nick James
