I've been buying a lot of old books and photos on Ebay lately. The people that have businesses that specialize in this stuff - where do they get their inventory? Are there wholesalers fro this kind of stuff?
Old books and photos
- Thread starter Ridemonkey
- Start date
Estate sales and in house auctions. Books, magazine and photos are among the hardest items to sell outside of eBay the market is pretty slim. I will typically sell a lifetime's worth of paper items to one dealer for around $250.00 - I let them sort the good fromthe bad.
In the niche I am interested in, I often see books go for as much as 200 each and individual photos as much as 500 each.
Seems like finding a good estate sale is tough to do?
Seems like finding a good estate sale is tough to do?
Vintage Porn?
move to the deep south.
The niche would be?
Man, you guys are nosey. Mining history.
The discontinued Madonna s3x book.:devil:
It's all supply and demand - we might have a good $50.00 book that is hard to find but finding a buyer to buck up the cash isn't easy in a 2 day sale. Put the book on eBay and you have several interested parties.
By the same token - you'd be hard pressed to find a mining book you'd want at an estate sale or auction. Ebay has made buying and selling easier than it once was.
Anyhow mining stuff has always been a hot property - it's a huge part of the American West's history. In my area it's logging crap that goes for a mint. It seems like any old timber claim or deed is worth $100.00 or better.
I have a buddy that works at a used book store... his job is to find the books. He travels around the nearby states and goes to book fairs.
Yeah, I hear he was at a bookstore the other day and he was able to buy your balls for $1.00.
Literally - "Mining History"
Now that there is some Five-Star inuendo. Do your other niches include tunneling, hammering, boring, plowing, reeming........?
I don't know if it was urban legend, a business model or something completely different, but I heard a story about a guy on eBay who collects old magazines and cuts out the car ads. He then put then in cheap frames and sells them on eBay for like $20 each. One mans trash... I guess.
Anyone know of abandoned shafts that could use exploring?
There has to be some in Colorado with as much mining in the mountains. If you go through Georgetown, CO sometime there's a shop downtown that has tons of old mining stuff. Including a collection of books and stuff. It's kinda cool. Then motor over Loveland pass and hit up Keystone for some downhill!!
Yes, in Vermont and New York. Also furnaces, kilns, and pit mines.
I have a a photo you would like, I think. A donkey powered pit winch, with the donkey. In the background, you can see the steam winch that's going to replace the donkey. It's a last day on the job photo, I think. I'll try to scan and post it.
J
***Officially derailed***