This is a story about some cufflinks, and some of the surprises we see when we are out at yard sales, and selling on eBay. We’re updating and re-publishing this old post, because in the years since we started this blog, we lost some content when we switched web hosts. This is such a good story that we really wanted to share it – especially since it proves a point that I make, which is…
Not Every Dealer Sees Everything
So this happened in 2011, nearly 10 years ago. At a yard sale, Kathy came across these cufflinks for $5.00.
We sold them – as you can see from the photo – for a good chunk of change! $699! I wish every Saturday morning yard sale experiences came up with a winner like these! 🙂
I want to mention that these were on a table in a “tired” yard sale, late in the morning where dozens of dealers had already pretty much gone through the place. Why were these still sitting there? I truly cannot tell you.
I do recall that they were in a non-descript, “Made in China” box. Nonetheless, Kath has this “thing” about cufflinks, and was intrigued by them – she liked the black enamel with what appeared to be diamond chips. But even more, she liked the “18K” and “Tinelli” engravings inside the links.
Once she took a closer look and asked the seller how much they wanted, and they said, “$5.00” she put them back on the table (yes, she did!) to ask me if I thought that was too much. LOL.
Anyway, she picked the box up again before anyone else had a chance to look, and paid the seller the $5.00.
We took the cufflinks to a jeweler who advised us that we could get far more for them on eBay than he could offer, since he could really offer only scrap value. The jeweler estimated the retail cost to be probably about $2,000 or so. Obviously in a non-retail setting we wouldn’t get that.
We decided to list them, and I’m glad we did.
Last Minute Sniper Bid
Instead of using the “Buy it Now” function – actually, we don’t even remember if that was an option yet – we listed them at auction. Kath was all excited, but by the following Sunday evening, when the auction was scheduled to end, her excitement turned to a growing feeling of disappointment that no one seemed to want these beautiful cufflinks.
We no longer have the text for the auction, but she worked hard on it, because she envisioned these as a perfect groom or best man type of gift, or Valentine’s Day gift.
The auction was scheduled to end in less than 60 seconds, and her dejection was evident. I told her not to worry, because it wasn’t over yet. Yeah…yeah…
She turned to walk away and I called her over… 10 – 9 – 8 – 7… and in literally the last second of the auction, BOOM! Sold!
It was a good night. 🙂
Anyway, for me, one of the best parts of that is that she is now a willing participant in the Friday and Saturday yard-sale outings (although she’s still not thrilled with flea markets, but all it’s going to take is one good find, and she’ll be hooked!)
Thanks for reading!
