Oops!

Today I was out in my little cargo trailer moving some things around to make room for the shipping supplies that right now are stored in my son's car. There's a lady here in town who loves to recycle as much as I do, and she saves bubble wrap for me--the last time I went I took my son's car and I never unloaded it. Somehow I thought he might do it for me......

Nah. He's going to leave it there until I do it. LOL!

Anyway, my son had unloaded everything from the auction Tuesday night into my trailer for me so I expected those boxes to be in there.

What I didn't remember is that I've put half a dozen boxes of other collectibles in there too.

Oops!

I guess I'd better get started putting stuff on line again!

However, I'm about to ditch eBay. They're making so many changes that are to the detriment of sellers that I'm just about done with them. They aren't worth the trouble.

Another one bites the dust

Well, the economy has claimed another victim. My friend Ellen Babbitt, who had been the manager of Benedetto's Auction until the new owners ran it into the ground, opened Ellen's Auction House in March of this year.

I had great hopes for her new venture. While there are a lot of auctions around, Benedetto's was a class act as long as Dick and Anne Benedetto owned it and Ellen ran it, and when the subsequent owners let it die an unnatural death it left a definite void in the auction industry in Tampa Bay.

However, it appears that even the combined efforts of Ellen and Anne weren't enough to pull off starting a new auction house in this economy. It's a real shame, too........Ellen's was filling the space that Benedetto's had left open.

Why this is important to me is that Benedetto's and then Ellen's were where I picked up some of my nicest collectibles to sell. So now I'm going to have to find some new sources.

My best to you, Ellen and Anne, in whatever venture you undertake next. I'm sure it will have something to do with auctions and antiques; keep us posted.

Am I ever going to get anything done?

Ohhhhh, this is going nowhere. I haven't managed to get a thing done with all the stuff in my inventory room but add to it.

I sure have found some neat china, though. Four place settings of John Deere tractor china from Gibson. I have a cousin who will love it.

I can't say that I have a think that's going to be a big seller once I get it on eBay or Bonanzle or wherever, though. It's all small stuff.

A junk day

Summer has definitely arrived! It's hot, sticky, and rainy.

This morning Rick and I went to a couple storage unit auctions. Not a whole day thing, just two of them close to the house.

The first one started early. Definitely a no-no in this business. By law they're required to wait until the published time before they begin the auction because the people who own the units have until that time to come in and pay. However, she started at 9:25 instead of the published 9:30, so we didn't get a good look at the one unit that might have been worth buying.

That's a first. I've been to a lot of storage unit auctions that started late, but I've never been to one where they so flagrantly violated the law.

Other than that, it was just a lot of junk today.

However, I have my ledgers all caught up and I'm ready to start posting some good stuff on eBay again. Any minute now........

Almosts there.......

Wheeee! It took me longer than I expected, but I finally got everything from the "termite episode" put away.

Now I can start listing stuff on line again.

But first........

Don't you just hate "but first" jobs?

I have to clean up my ledgers and my inventory list. I got the eBay one done last night, but I still have a lapidary list to update. That will be my project for tonight.

Getting there.........almost.......

Time is the enemy

Oh, I am doing it again! Accumulating some great inventory but no time to put it on line! I have some Johnson Brothers back there, and some brilliant period glass, Mikasa, Franciscan......

Time is my enemy. I just don't have enough of it!

Holy smokes! When did I become a vintage article?

Back in 2001, I started selling antiques and collectibles on eBay. It really started out by accident; I had some Star Trek china and some old Johnson Brothers mugs, and I thought I'd see what happened when I put them on eBay.

They went like gangbusters, and I was hooked. I started working as a runner at an auction so I could learn more about what I was selling, and eventually ended up buying a 5x8 cargo trailer to hold my inventory.

But when I hit 50, it suddenly dawned on me that I'm as old as some of what I'm selling as vintage! When the heck did that happen?

More and more, the items that sell are things I grew up using. I guess that makes me at least vintage, if not an antique!

Well, it's still fun. I find lots of junk, some stuff worth selling, and a very few treasures. Come along and see..........