eBay has teamed up with Sparkle City Comics to host a premier series of comic auctions, featuring some amazing CGC-graded comics, original comic art, and collections and runs. There will be over 300 items offered, valued at over $500,000 and best of all, all items start at $0.99 (with a few using a reserve).

Highlights include:

Amazing Spider-man #74 original cover

Captain America #1 CGC 2.0 (Original Owner book) – estimated value of $20K. This is the infamous edition that features Captain America punching Hitler in the face!

Avengers #4 – CGC 9.4 – estimated value of $25,000

All of the auctions close on June 24 so bid early, bid often! Go to 

http://pages.ebay.com/comics/summer-of-superheroes/index.html to view and bid.

We don’t usually post about other stories published by the press but this one definitely bears a mention. Check out the New York Times peice of Jefferson R. Burdick, ”A Hobby to many, Card Collecting Was Life’s Work for One Man.”

Considered to be the father of card collecting, (though he collected much more than just early baseball cards), Mr. Burdick started collecting in the early 20th century and died in 1963. His collection was left to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. His collection numbered over 300,000 peices including baseball cards, cigar bands, greeting cards and other advertising ephemera. Parts of his collection are always on display in the American Wing of the Met. If you collect anything, you will want to read this peice.

Griff

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with eBetsy (Betsie Bolger) who, among many things, is an avid collector of anything with an eBay logo or that is eBay-related.  Here are some examples of her extensive collection:

Just a portion of eBetsy's Vast Collection of eBayana

Griff: Welcome, Betsie, to the eBay Collectors Blog Interview series. Please tell us how long have you been on eBay? 

Betsie: Since October 1st, 2000. 

Griff: And you buy and sell as well, correct? 

Betsie: That is correct.  We have a seller account of our own and we also sell for our clients. 

Griff: And what are some of the things that you sell? 

Betsie: Well, for the client, we sell estate jewelry and Harmony Kingdom Limited Collectibles.  And for ourselves, we sell jigsaw puzzles, Converse shoes, bags and apparels, rubber ducks, computer books, and anything around the house that we don’t want to – yes, we don’t want to hang on to that’s from our previous collection. 

 And we buy and sell eBayana. 

Griff: eBayana? 

Betsie: eBayana is eBay memorabilia of all kinds.  And some of it’s internal employee items, some of it is stuff from the eBay Shop, some of it is was created by loving hands at home.  Anything that is eBay-branded and eBay-centric. 

Griff: So some of it could also be merchandised or objects of art that were created by individuals that have an eBay theme or the eBay logo on them? 

Betsie: Yes, exactly.  You’d be amazed how many paid homage to eBay by creating works of arts that involve the eBay logo or I’ve got some woven rugs and wall hangings and you’ve got the eBay Radio wall hanging. 

eBayana From A Fan of eBay Radio

Griff: How big is your eBayana collection? 

Betsie: Oh, thousands of items.  I have a whole room full of it, literally. 

Griff: You have a whole room full of it? 

Betsie: Yes.  Down at this little office building that we have, we have two spaces in it.  One of the stores are selling inventory, the other is all eBayana. 

Griff: What are the most unusual items in your eBayana collection? 

Betsie: The most unusual is definitely the NASDAQ dinosaur, one of three made.  One was given to Meg Whitman.  One was given to Pierre Omidyar and one was given to Jeff Skoll by the officials at NASDAQ, on the occasion of eBay’s IPO in September, 1998. 

eBay NASDAQ Dinosaur

 And I bought Meg’s on eBay a few years back.  It was an employee promotion where all the employees were challenged to sell for charity on eBay and I bought Meg’s NASDAQ dinosaur.  It was a hard-fought battle. 

Griff: Did she sign it? 

Betsie: No.  She didn’t sign it.  It’s there in the bag and it’s got the NASDAQ tag attached to it that says, “Welcome to NASDAQ.”  And then on the back, it says, “Welcoming the eBay Community ” that shows all the community logos. 

Griff: That’s fantastic. 

Betsie: Yes.  It’s really cool. 

Griff: So would you say that was your most-treasured eBayana item? 

Betsie: It’s definitely the most expensive eBayana item.  And, yes, it would be right up there on the top three.  The second one would have to be the bottle of eBay champagne, which I just figured is very cool.  It was given to its sellers in eBay Germany when they got a thousand feedbacks.  If their feedback starts to turn red, they would send them a bottle of eBay champagne. 

Griff: Wow. 

Betsie: They’d clearly – eBay-branded sparkling wine.  It’s – and I had a heck of – I’m finding on selling it.  They would ship it to the U.S.  But I got myself a bottle and brand new in the box and it came it came with a, you know, it came with an eBay box around it and it has a little straw crate – straw-filled crate. 

 It’s just great.  You could see the picture right next to the picnic basket. 
And then the next thing, I guess it would have to be – gosh, I don’t even know where I’d really start with the next – the third most beloved thing.  I think I will have to choose my eBayana from the international eBay sites, as a group, to be my third most favorite thing. 

A Selection of International eBay Collectibles

Griff: You mean eBayana that didn’t originated at eBay.com or the U.S.?  

Betsie: Yes. The eBayana from international sites.  When I first discovered the eBay international sites, they were so new that they weren’t on the home page of eBay.com yet.  And I just happened to notice that when I was buying some Converse sneakers one day, I was all of a sudden at eBay DE instead of eBay.com. 

 And then one day, I noticed I was at eBay.co.uk.  So I started entering different country suffixes after eBay to find other eBay International sites, and I discovered quite a few of them.  I decided that I would take a little tour of them and try to buy and sell something on each site if, you know, that was possible. 

 This ended up kind of turning into a gig on eBay Radio called “Around the World on eBay in 80 Seconds with eBetsie” back in 2005 where I reported live each week from a different international eBay site.. I had the best doing it and I’ve met some really interesting people. 

Griff: I noticed in the photograph, something that looks like a cricket set. 

Betsie: Yes, that is one of, one of two cricket bats and balls that I have.  They were given to eBay employees on the eBay India team on the occasion of the launch of eBay India. 

Griff: Would it be accurate to say that you have the biggest collection of eBayana in the world?

Betsie: Well, I’ve had help from few employees who are willing to part with their goodies.  That’s for sure.  One employee sent me five boxes of items that included something like amazing things.  So we’re – he had a deal on those but a lot of it I’ll resell.  But some stuff in there is just like absolutely keepers. 

 And my husband has found some cool things for me, too.  He goes out and hunts when I’m not out hunting.  He found me the big “Get Fired Up” finger with the flame on eBay Canada. 

Griff: Are you still hunting

Betsie: Oh, I’m always looking.  You know, any time I see something unusual that catches my attention, I go search eBay for it.   I have some little search checks that I use to just kind of search those items that aren’t necessarily in the eBayana category.  I’ve found some of my most interesting items that way over the years. 

Griff: Outside of the eBayana category?

Betsie: Yes.  You know you’re devoted when you put the word eBay into the search engine and just search by that.  And you have to look through a lot of the stuff, not eBayana but before eBayana you find out that why it’s their choice. 

Griff: Wait a minute.  I’m just going to do this now.  There’s 37,000 items that has eBay in the title.  That’s a lot to look through! 

Betsie: Yes, it is.  Yes, didn’t used to be that many but if you just kind of skim through them – that’s why I found like some of my home-made eBayana and some of my eBay apparel, my eBay jackets and eBay shirts, and what else was there that came – oh, there was an eBay Montage and my PayPal eBay – my eBay PayPal flag, came out of that.  It’s the actual flag that flew over the PayPal headquarters. 

Griff: When did you pick that up? 

Betsie: Earlier this year and it’s great.  It’s kind of tattered at the ends from having blown in the breeze and it says, “PayPal, an eBay Company.” I would have bought eBay flag but I just settled for the PayPal once. 

Griff: Are you going to hang it somewhere? 

Betsie: It’s already hanging-in over my kitchen doorway.  We keep it like low-profile. 

Griff: Do you ever sell things from your collection? 

Betsie: Oh, absolutely.  I have a ton of duplicate items and things that, you know, are just good sellable items that – I’m figuring we’ll provide you with inventory for years to come. 

Griff: That’s good to hear.  Well, it’s good that you can help seed new collections by offering some of you stuff back on eBay which is where I assume you’re selling…

Betsie: Oh, of course.   Can I tell you just quickly about a couple of the other items that are in the picture? 

Griff: Oh, yes, please!

Betsie: I have one whole plate full of eBay magnets from the different eBay international eBays and also one from eBay careers.com, which is, I guess is an eBay internal job-hunting site. 

Griff: That’s correct. 

Betsie: And then the store magnets on that crate from Germany.  And then you could see my eBay Radio mosaic and my eBay Radio, of course.  And there’s some – the set of magnets that has eBay radio.  And then there’s a plateful of star awards and the Power Seller Star and a eBay Foundation star. 
 You’ll see the two eBay view master and the trophy.  h, and the clocks in front of that.  The little cars over there are from eBay India.  But the trophy, it’s really cool.  It’s from the eBay Olympics.  It was for First prize of the intelligence competition.  And then the bear, the eBay bear is wearing the  gold medal for the eBay Olympics in eBay China.  Oh, and one more thing… 

Griff: Is there anything in your collection that came from me? 

Betsie: Yes.  That little star – the little star clock there? I won that on eBay Radio. It turns around and it has a picture frame in the back.  And yes, actually I have a third favorite item. 

Griff: Yes. 

Betsie: I just didn’t think of this before but you see the shirt up there in the front that says, “Staff” on it?  eBay Live Staff? 

Griff: Yes. 

Betsie: That is eBay Live 2006, and that was my own personal staff shirt because when I applied for my eBay Radio credentials that year, they actually sent me staff credentials instead.  And so after that, I ordered the shirt in the employee orientation and I got to be in the staff orientation and everything and that is like my best memory of eBay Live ever. 

Griff: That was our mistake, but it was your benefit.  That’s pretty cool. 

Griff: Well, I want to thank you so much, Betsie, for taking your time to share your eBayana collection with us.

Betsie: Thanks for having me.

You can find all sorts of eBayana on eBay by searching in the eBayana category or just by searching on the word “ebay” in Collectibles. – Griff

eBay Seller David Lawrence Rare Coins is offering an unusual opportunity to coin collectors. Proclaimed by the PCGS Registry as “the 4th All-Time Finest Collection in the ‘Lincoln Cents with Major Varieties, Circulation Strikes (1909-Present)’,” the 300 plus coins that make up this rare collection are up for bid on eBay with a few choice examples already bid up past the $10K mark.

Yes, you might want to dig out that gallon jar of pennies and start going through them. No guarantees one of them will be of the caliber and value of some of these choice Lincoln Cents, but you never know!

You can view the current live listings here

Join us tomorrow Feb 29th for the first of our Collectors Wednesday Twitter Parties throughout the month of March! We’ll talk collectibles for an hour, share introductions and photos of our collections, tips for treasure hunting and the care and display of collections. And, we’ll be giving away four $25 eBay Gift cards throughout the hour, every Wednesday through March!

Participation is open to all and is very easy. Just go to ebay.com/collectorswednesday Feb 29th, between 9-10AM PST and start Tweeting! Make sure to add the hashtag #eBayCollectors in order to qualify for one of the four $25 eBay Gift Cards we’ll be giving out during the hour.

See you there!

Griff and the eBay Collectors Crew

‘Tis the season for taking photos and documenting all those merry moments (plus a little bit of family dysfunction). Yet your current camera isn’t up to snuff, and you find the huge selection of makes and models out there just plain overwhelming. Sound familiar? Fear not. Here, we make choosing your next camera purchase as easy as answering some simple questions about yourself, your lifestyle, and how your plan on using the product. Family types will discover rugged models that sticky fingers won’t destroy, while budding shutterbugs will find the perfect upper-echelon-yet-not-too-advanced selection. With all the stress this time of year, we wanted to take the anxiety out of the equation for at least one decision on your plate. No need to thank us…just Photoshop in our favor next time.

(Via eBay Gift Guide)

Some fragrance companies release very limited editions of special colognes or perfumes that usually sell out quickly. One example would be Tabaróme from Creed. Originally launched in 1875, Creed has, in recent years, limited production to low number special editions (and has stated with the last that there will be no future editions). Following the trusty law of supply and demand, existing bottles of this gem tend to go for high prices, like this example.

Note that if you should find a bottle of Tabaróme in your travels, the sought after version at high prices is Tabarome and not Tabaróme Millésime, which is an entirely different fragrance from Vintage Tabaróme and is still in production.

We recently received word from eBay seller Amy Weintraub of ShopItLA that she sold the entire contents of Dr. Earl Mindell’s Authentic Old-Time Pharmacy and Apothecary Museum from her eBay store! The museum, located in Los Angeles, houses the lifetime collection of Dr. Mindell and is considered one of the most comprehensive collections of vintage and antique pharmacopia and apothecary items in the world.

The final Buy It Now sale price was $68,000. Amy says that the buyer is a pharmacist in Ohio and that he plans to recreate this “museum” exactly as is was and attach it to his pharmacy and open it up for his community to enjoy.

The sale included the contents of three room including the, fixtures, cabinets, furniture… pretty much everything you can see in the photos in the listing.

When Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’ daughter, Lucie Arnaz decided it was time to part with some of her parents’ personal items and memorabilia, she turned to her good friend and eBay seller, Maida Webster (eBay User ID connectibles) for advice.  It took a little coaxing, but eventually Maida convinced Lucie that eBay was the best venue for offering her family treasures for bid and there was no better seller than herself! And no better year to sell the collection than 2011, which is both the 60th anniversary of the ground-breaking, I Love Lucy show and the 100 anniversary of Lucille Ball’s birth.

The first lot of what is promised to be several hundred Lucy and Desi items that Connectibles will offer in the coming weeks and months is now available for bid. In this first lot, there are signed letters, photos, personal clothing and accessories and household items as well. 

Lucille Ball's TANO Spain Tortoise Lucite Cigarette Case

But so far the most popular item of the first lot has to be the LUCILLE BALL personalized own Tall Director’s Chair. In less than a day, four bidders have battled up the price to $535 (and counting!)

There is something to suit the tastes and budget of any I Love Lucy fan or collector so preview and bid today!

Finding good sources for collectible merchandise, whether for one’s own collection or for resale, can be a fun, if often challenging, endeavor.  Thrift stores are becoming a popular hunting destination for more and more collectors and dealers. Recently, I sat down to talk to two of the most famous experts in sourcing at thrift stores, Bryan Goodman and Jason Smith who together have created the web site and the service called, “Thrifting* With The Boys.”

The "boys:" Bryan Goodman and Jason Smith

[* "thrifting" and "to thrift" are recently-coined verbs referring to the act of visiting and shopping at, thrift stores. - Griff]

Griff:  Jason, how did you two meet?

Jason:  When Bryan was here for the eBay Radio party a couple of years ago, we decided to out and go thrifting and I took him and a couple of others. I was very apprehensive at first to take other people into my thrift, figuring of course they would be buying stuff that I would have bought had I not been there.

But I learned – we learned a lot of from each other that day, and that’s where the magic started.

Griff:  And now you have a very popular Facebook Fan Page.

Jason: Yes. We presented together for the first time at the eBay Radio Party earlier this year. It was really our first time doing a presentation together and we were really shocked at how well received it was by the people who attended and even more so by the people who missed out by sleeping in that morning, who were just clambering to hear what we had to talk about because they had heard so many good things from other people who did attend.

After the event I said to Jason, “We need to start a Facebook group page for these people,” and he said OK.  I said, “You want me to start it don’t you?”  So that’s what I did.

My feeling was that there were plenty of other places on Facebook that you could talk about a variety of things, that you could complain about, you know, shipping problems or problems with eBay fees or whatever it might be.  That really didn’t have a place the “Thrifting With the Boys Facebook” group.

I wanted it to be about thrift store finds so that people could share with other people things that they were looking for and would find and how well they did with them.  And if you had questions, you could shoot back and forth and it’s really become what I envisioned, and I know Jason felt the same way about it.

Griff:  What have you learned from your new endeavor so far?

Jason:  We were actually very shocked by the amount of people who sell on eBay but who do not “thrift.” Not that everybody needs to thrift, but it is such an easy way to find collectibles and turn a profit on them. I have always been a “thrifter.” There are tons of collectibles in our local Savers every day.

For example, I collect Tiki mugs, and between my assistant and I, we find at least three or four tiki mugs a week, every week. We have not found the million dollar seller yet, but quite a few of them have turned us a nice profit.

Griff:  Are there tools that you use in the field, for items that you find when you are thrifting that maybe perhaps your intuition tells you, you should buy but you are not sure of say, value?  Is there a way to conduct research while in a thrift store?

Bryan:   Yes, definitely. With mobile applications on your device, whether it is a tablet, or and iPad, or a smart phone, it is pretty easy to take those tools along with you as you are searching. For example, one tool I use is Terapeak. It allows me to see if there is something similar that has sold on eBay; what it sold for, if there have been a number of sales. This has been very helpful for my in researching while thrifting. 

One of my other ways of determining if something is worthwhile purchasing or not;  I shoot an email to Jason or other experts along with a  picture of the item, and ask, “Hey, what do you think of this? Is this worthwhile?” and most of the time the response will be, “No do not bother,”  and, other times, it is a “Yes! Yes! Yes! Buy it!” or “How much is it?” and so on.

Determining what to buyt is pretty easy for somebody like Jason, who has a passion, when he is out there specifically looking for Tiki mugs. And the same holds true with other people depending upon what they collect or what they used to re-selling.

They can easily find items within their niche, no matter whatever they collect, or search for.  What is more helpful, though, is, being able to expand your horizons a little bit to so that you can find other things that will be worthwhile to other collectors.

For example, now, every time I go into a thrifty store, I am looking for Tiki stuff. I still do not know much about it, but because I know it is something that Jason can either use himself or tell me how to sell it, I am more likely to take a chance on it.  But, just in general, for people out there that are collecting just one specific thing, once you expand your horizons a bit, and you are able to find some things and make a $100 here and $50 there and a couple of $100 or more there, well, then you will have some ready cash available to go and add to your own collection.

By the way, did you know that Jason recently lost out on a Tiki mug that went for almost $300.

Griff:  Whoa.

Jason:   And the mug was chipped and cracked and it still went for over $300 that’s how rare it was.

Griff:  Jason, what do you use for tools?  Do you take a smart phone or a tablet with you?  What apps do you use?

Jason:  Yes, I definitely – one thing I use more so than Bryan is either Skype or Facetime with my mom because she also thrifts and shops for me and she lives in Cleveland.  So some days I’ll be sitting here at my desk and she’ll be at a garage sale or a thrift store with her iPhone and she’ll Skype me and we’ll video chat while she’s walking through the store showing me things. I’ll be like, “Yes… no… yes… no… yes… yes…”

Griff:  Do you have an iPhone as well?

Jason: I have an iPad. As Bryan was saying,  if you’re going to be serious about thrifting and looking for collectables it is very important to bring along the right tools. For me, I have a tablet.  Smart phones work but boy, a tablet comes in real handy if you can sit down for a second especially in a thrift store.  And there is always a table and chair set up somewhere in nearly any thrift store. Often I will sit down at a table and set up a little office. I  bust out my iPad, set up a little stand, type it all out, figure out what’s good, what’s bad and move on from there.

Griff: Bryan what kind of cell phone or what kind of tool do you use when you’re out thrifting?

Bryan:  I have an Android phone and also a tablet that I use to help determine value, etc.

Griff:  When the manager of the thrift stores observes you working away on your phone and talking to people and how does he or she react? Do they even react?

Bryan:      Well I’m not quite as flamboyant as Jason so I don’t get as noticed as much.  But …

Jason:  Thanks, I think.

Bryan: …No problem. But I get noticed a little bit at times usually by other customers who might say something but not much. I mean these days most of the time people realize that you might be taking a picture of an item to send to somebody because you’re interested in buying buying it or you’re interested in asking someone else, “What do you think of this color?” It’s not like I’m out there shouting “Hey I’m buying all this stuff to resell.”  So I don’t get noticed.  I do at the checkout at times and it’s funny how people will say, “Oh you’re doing your Christmas shopping early!”

It did happen recently when we were in Kansas. We were checking out and I was purchasing a bunch of Harley Davidson manuals from last 10 years or so. The woman standing next to me said, “Oh you have a Harley?”  I said, “No.”  She said, “So, you just like motorcycles?”  I said, “No I’ve never ridden on a motorcycle in my life.” And it just went on – the questions just kept coming and coming.  And I never did reveal exactly what I was doing with them.  There are so many other people out there who just don’t have a clue as to why we’re buying so much stuff or buying particular items or using our smart phones or tablets and other devices to scan, photograph or check products. It is kind of amusing in its own little insider way.

Griff:   What’s the most exciting or valuable thing that you ever found while you went thrifting?

Jason:   Well probably the most valuable thing I found, oddly and not surprisingly, was a Tiki mug that was mismarked.  It kind of looked – it was red and yellow and it kind looked not “Tiki-ish” but “clownish” so it was marked “clown mug – $10.” I bought it and sold it on eBay for a hundred and a quarter.

Griff:  That’s a good price realization.

Jason:  Oh absolutely. I would love that to happen every day.  I also buy a lot of clothing too, mostly t-shirts… concert and band t-shirts especially,  and if you dig through enough t-shirts, you find the vintage ones that go for $50 to $100 and I only pay usually about $2 apiece for them so yes if I could do that all day, that would be awesome.

Griff:  Bryan what is your memorable find? 

Bryan:  My favorite was last year but not in a thrift store. At a garage sale I happened to run across a nice set of tires and wheels that would fit my car.  And I was thinking of getting them for myself and I didn’t know what the woman wanted for them and after a little back and forth I asked her, “Ok, how much?”  And she said, “What are they worth to you?”  Now, I knew how much these things were worth.  I said, “Oh, I don’t know… $50 for the set.”  The woman thought for a minute. I knew the car wasn’t around anymore, that it had been totaled (she had told me as much). These tires were like new. She thought for a moment and said, “OK.”

What’s funny about the story is that I didn’t even have the $50 on me.  I gave her $10 I said, “I’ve got to clean out the car so I can put the tires and wheels inside.”

Griff: You are an incorrigible thrifter.

Bryan:  So I said I’ll be back in an hour and I cleaned out my car, got the rest of the cash, came back and when I go to pick them up she said to me – she handed me a card and she said, “You got a good deal. If you don’t want them for your car this guy is interested in them.”

But naturally I didn’t call him. I did wind up putting them up on eBay. I listed them for about $1,000 for the set with best offer and somebody came up with an offer for $750 and I said, “Sold!”  So that was a good find.

Griff:  Yes, I’d say that was a very good find.

Bryan:  And that’s one thing I’d like to mention to anybody who’s just getting into thrifting. You can call on different aspects of your life like different jobs that you’ve had, different interests you have had in the past and use them to help focus your thrifting search. For example, I was in the car business for many years and that’s how I knew the tires were good ones.  Even though I’m not involved in the car business anymore,I knew something good when I saw it.  I find cameras all the time while thrifting, for $5 or less that I know I can get $50 or more on eBay.  That’s because I was also in the camera business 30 years ago.  So you really have to think a little bit outside the box even though you may be collecting say, old records you can use different aspects of your past careers to help you find things to buy and sell in thrift stores and use the profits to buy more old records.

Jason:  I would just to add to Bryan’s point, when we teach people we tell them this: If you’ve never thrifted, start – like Bryan said – with what you know.  We teach a lot about buying clothes.  I always say, start in your size.  So if whatever you buy doesn’t sell, hey you’ve got an extra shirt for two bucks.  But start with what you know and then work up from there.  I buy purses and dresses and stuff, not really in my wheelhouse but I’ve learned it because I know I’ve made good money off of them, so.  I started in big boys shirts and then moved on from there.

Bryan:  And now you’re a transvestite.

Jason: Yes. But it takes a while to put an outfit together because I am a big guy.

Griff:  Well, that’s just fantastic. What is your website?

Bryan: Thriftingwiththeboys.com.

Griff: Thank you both for taking the time out to talk to us today.