Things You'll Need:
- Newspaper classifieds or online local classifieds
- Vehicle
- Spare room, garage, storage shed, workshop or just some extra space in your house
- Computer
- Internet Connection
- Digital Camera
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Step 1
Purchase your local Sunday newspaper. Look in the Classified Ads for the Auctions section. Estate auctions, moving auctions and farm auctions are some great places to start.
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Step 2
Make a list of the local auctions that are going to be taking place over the next week. Map them out to find the ones closest to you. Sometimes they will list their high value items. *Don't get too excited about the high ticket items that they advertise as their will be a slew of people at the auction for that very item.
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Step 3
Plan to spend the day at the auction you decide to go to. Pack bottled water, a few snacks and bring a blanket or a chair to sit in. You'll make a day out of it, but it will be a fun day so don't worry about that!
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Step 4
When you arrive at the auction find the booth and go register to get your bidding number. You will need to provide identification so be sure to bring it with you. The number is what you will need to use to place a bid on anything. When you want to place a bid, you hold your number up so they see it and they will acknowledge you.
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Step 5
The key to getting a great value at these auctions, is waiting until the auctioneer has offered his very lowest price for an item or group of items - this price is usually $1.00. The high ticket items won't get that low before people jump in and start bidding - don't get caught up in this or you're likely to spend more than you can sell an item for.
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Step 6
Most of the time, waiting until the end of the auction will pay off. This is when they will group together many boxes full of items that did not get bids. Examples of the kind of items you will find: Tupperware, old, sometimes antique dolls, pottery pieces, unique items like salt and pepper shakers, furniture and many other types of items.
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Step 7
Once you've placed your bid on the items you want and you are ready to leave, go to the payment booth and give them your bidding number. They will add all the items for your bidding number and give you a total. It is easy to leave with a truck full and only spend $20.00 or so.
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Step 8
When you get home I recommend unloading into an unused area such as the garage, basement, storage shed or somewhere without a lot of traffic. You can then take one box at a time and go through it. You will want to sort items into several piles: Ebay, Garage Sale, Donation, and Trash. Don't discount anything before checking on ebay. One of my best items was a lot of hearing aids that I found at the bottom of a box (bought for $1.00) and sold for nearly $200.00! I was going to throw them out but a friend suggested I look into it!
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Step 9
Look each item up on ebay. If you are unsure what something is use Google or another search engine and enter the best description that you can and try to learn more about it. If you don't know about it yet, it's possible that it is a rare piece that someone is looking for! Take sticky notes or a piece of paper to label each item, what it is, what it might be worth and what you plan to list it on ebay for. This makes it go more smoothly when you are listing your items on ebay.
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Step 10
Spend a small amount of time shining the item up if it can be (some older, antique or vintage items you might want to leave alone to preserve value). Take several pictures of all angles and make sure to get pictures of any markings or numbers that a piece has.
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Step 11
Once you've gone through enough items to get you started, you'll want to start listing items on ebay. Go to www.ebay.com and register if you aren't already. Follow the prompts to list an item. Use other listings as examples if you need help listing an item.
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Step 12
Once got your first batch of items listed, go through the rest of the boxes and repeat the steps. It's also imperative that you check ebay at least once a day, if not several times for people with questions. You don't want to lose a customer because they couldn't wait for your answer!
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Step 13
Plan to have a garage sale to sell the items that you couldn't sell and that you chose not to list as well. This will provide you with additional profit from the auction items!
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Step 14
Lastly, donate the items that didn't sell on ebay or at the garage sale and save the receipt for your taxes.
Comments
LilacGirl said
on 9/30/2008 This is a terrific article. I've never bought items to sell on ebay at auctions before, but I'm going to check into it now. This was a well-written, detailed, informative article, and it was just plain interesting to read!
Desula said
on 9/27/2008 Thanks for the ideas on making money with items gathered at auctions. Selling on eBay is a great way to make some additional income.
Moomettesgram said
on 9/26/2008 I always enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and haven't considered an estate auction, but will try it out to see what it's like! Nice tips!
simplelife said
on 9/22/2008 Auctions are just fun, too. My grandpa used to take me with him when he went (many years before eBay!). He used many of the above methods to get great deals on antique furniture that he would take home, fix up, and sell for a very nice profit. Great valuable tips!