Since it’s publication two years ago, Buying Stampin’ Up Sets At Garage Sales has produced more email from readers than any other post on The Auction Rebel. Because of this continued interest, and because much of the original information is no longer up-to-date, I thought I would revisit the subject and put together some more current prices and information.

The popularity of rubber stamping and scrap booking has grown over the last two years, resulting in increased interest by both sellers and buyers in these sets on eBay. This increased popularity has also resulted in a growth in the number of Stampin’ Up sets showing up at garage sales.

The increase in sets available at garage sale provides the savvy seller with the chance to garner some nice profits selling sets on eBay. However, this increase also means you can get stung if you aren’t careful.
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Popularity: 12% [?]

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The first month of the 2008 Garage Sale Challenge is complete and sales have been respectable considering the garage sale season doesn’t pick up a full head of steam until June.

Here’s a list of the top 10 best selling items from the Challenge. Hopefully the list will give readers some idea of the kind of things that can be found at garage sales and thrift stores that sell well on eBay.

1. A University Of North Dakota School Of Mines Vase by Julia Mattson - $202.50 - 380026946104

2. A University Of North Dakota School Of Mines Vase by Flora Huckfield - $177.50 - 280226328140

3. A battery operated Polaris Mustang snowmobile in it’s original box - $108.15 - 280228701737

4. Lenci Clothes Book - $94.87 - 280228702064

5. A University Of North Dakota School Of Mines vase by Julia Mattson - $69.95 - 280226328046
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Popularity: 42% [?]

If you regularly shop at garage or yard sales for antiques and collectibles to sell on eBay you know there are plenty of days when you go home empty-handed. However, if you are willing to take a little more time at each sale, you may be surprised what you can find that will make a “day-without-antiques” profitable.

Here are ten things that regularly show up at garage sales that will pay for your gas and make you a nice profit when sold on eBay.

1. Adult Halloween or Holiday costumes. That big pirate, Easter Bunny, or Minnie Mouse costume that no one else is paying any attention to can easily bring $50 or more when listed on eBay.

2. Current college textbooks. It’s amazing how many of today’s college students will pay $125 for a text book and then put it in a garage sale at the end of the school year for two or three dollars. If you live near a college or university campus watch for these. Most any textbook with a copyright date of either the current or the previous year will bring $30 or more on eBay. Just hold onto them and list them in August before the school year starts.
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If you are thinking about selling books on eBay or Amazon, I’ve just uploaded nine short videos from You Tube that provide some basic book selling tips for the beginner. I uploaded them as I found them, so they are in no particular order but each should stand on it’s own.

If you are reading this offline you will have to go the the blog to view them.

Photograph by Bing Ramos.

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This morning I visited a local thrift store to find that they had put out quite a few new books sometime yesterday.

When I walked in, a friend who buys books to sell on Amazon, was already there. He had several piles of books on the floor and was just putting his cell phone away when I arrived. One pile had three books in it, the others appeared to each be about 15 to 20 books high.

As I said ‘Good Morning’, he began putting all the books from the larger piles back on the shelves and said, ‘There’s lots of new books here, but you’re wasting your time looking at them. I’ve gone through all the new stuff and those three are the only ones worth buying. I just spent 30 minutes going through all these for three books I’ll probably get $40 for. It’s hardly enough to pay for the gas.’

As he walked up to the counter to pay for his three books, I went to the shelves where they regularly put out cookbooks and, within five minutes using ScoutPal, had found four cookbooks that I can list on Amazon for a total of roughly $85.
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Vita-Mix blenders don’t show up at garage sales on a regular basis, but they do appear often enough that you should be aware of what they are so that you can take advantage of it when the opportunity presents it self to buy one.

Vita-Mix has been manufacturing blenders for home use since 1937 and for commercial use since 1986. Any of the various models they have manufactured over the years are worth considering when you come across them, but we will look only at the household models here because they are the ones most likely to show up at garage sales.

These are the models you are most likely to find.

The Vita-Mix Mark 20 was manufactured during the 1950s and early 1960s. Most buyers of the Mark 20 on eBay are probably collectors rather than someone looking for a Vita-Mix they can use on a daily basis in the home.

When considering the purchase of a Mark 20 be sure you test the blender to insure it works. Vita-Mix still has parts available for many models on their web site but this isn’t one of them. Nearly all of these I’ve seen have at least some rust at the top of the base around the drive shaft mechanism, so be sure to check for rust there. If it has light rusting, it can be removed, but if it is heavily rusted, it is probably a good idea to pass on it, unless it is so cheap you feel you can make a few dollars selling just the barrel and the top.

The Mark 20 can bring anywhere from $20 to $80 on eBay depending upon it’s cosmetic appearance. With that in mind, I wouldn’t recommend paying more that $5 or so for one of these.
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Popularity: 37% [?]

The last few months have seen a significant increase in the number of regular Auction Rebel readers. Since there are close to two and a half years worth of articles on the blog, many of you may not yet taken the time to fully explore the Archives.

With the garage sale season either just around the corner or already starting in many areas of the country, I thought now might be a good time to bring to your attention a few previous posts about various items you may find at garage sales that are almost sure winners on eBay. Some of these posts are a little old and the prices they bring may have changed, but they all are still well worth being on the lookout for.

Lots of Rich Dad Poor Dad books and related material

Books by Peter Capstick usually do well

Gene Hill’s books are almost always winners

Lots of magazines often do well - keep your eyes peeled for them

Never pass up a box of Animorph books

Many Stampin’ Up rubber stamp sets do well

You can’t lose with some Weight Watcher cookbooks

P. Buckley Moss cross-stitch pattern booklets

Photograph by C.P. Storm.

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Today is the beginning of a big weekend in Grand Forks.

The North Dakota State Democratic Convention is taking place here this weekend and in just a few hours both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will be addressing the Convention. Several hours before either candidate is scheduled to speak, the line outside the Alerus Center, where the convention is taking place, appears to contain half the people in Grand Forks.

For those not interested in seeing either candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, at about the same time Senator Obama (the first speaker) steps onto the podium, the opening ceremonies of the week long World Curling Championships take place at the Ralph Engelstad Arena. While the line outside The Ralph isn’t as long as the one outside the Alerus, it’s still plenty long due to the number of people from our neighbor to the north, Canada, in town for the Championship.

Both events are receiving a lot of television coverage. Part of that coverage has focused on the lines waiting to get in each venue.

But the most important lines won’t appear until tomorrow morning and without any media coverage. Tomorrow morning will see the first garage sales of the year in Grand Forks and the people will be out in force. So far, there are four that have been advertised and they offer a range types of sale.

There will be an estate garage sale loaded with antiques, another sale that advertised lots of books, a church sponsored sale charging $2 for early buyer rights one hour before it opens to the public, and the last along the lines of an everyday garage sale.

Photograph by Mike Licht.

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Based upon last week’s poll, the majority of readers who voted would prefer to see another garage sale challenge.

Based on those results, I started thinking about whether this summer’s challenge should mirror last year’s, or if some changes might make it more interesting.

One of the changes I thought of was the possibility of having interested readers be able to set their own challenge and share their progress and final results with everyone on the blog.

That leads to a second question. If I can figure out some way to easily share your results with other readers,

Photograph by A. www.viajar24h.com.

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One year ago on The Auction Rebel I was just wrapping up the final $1000 A Month Thrift Store eBay Challenge and was starting to make plans for The $10,000 Garage Sale eBay Challenge that began in May.

I hadn’t given much thought to doing another Challenge this summer, but several readers have written and inquired if there would be one this summer, but if enough readers would like to see something similar over the next few months, I’ll consider it.

To gauge the level of interest I’ve set up a simple poll and encourage everyone to voice your opinions.

Photograph by Indy Charlie.

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