Back to the Auction

Yesterday was my first official day of summer. I celebrated in grand style by going to the Woodburn auction like I did almost every Tuesday last summer.

Last year at one of my first auctions I bought a box of some trading card game for $10 that ended up being worth $600. That put the thought in my head that I could accomplish that feat every week. Instead I got a garage full of collectible plates and purses and a few trips to the Goodwill store.

I did end up making a little bit of money every week. But just a little. The time invested was not worth the pay out. The auction moves very slowly through boxes and boxes of mostly junk, so sometimes the items you want to bid on take hours to reach. Also, it smells bad there, and their bathroom is the most God-forsaken stink hole in Oregon. Then there is the hassle of selling all the junk on Ebay. For awhile I thought sets of plates were the way to go, but it is very, very hard and expensive to pack plates so they don't break.

I came to realize the Woodburn auction will never be a part time job for me.  Still, it's fun to go.

Yesterday I went with only $25 bucks in my pocket, and bought four paintings for $2 each. The auction remains an interesting mix of young and old, white, Mexican and Russian, all brought together by the love of junk.  I saw random pieces of splintered wood their yesterday. I also saw this disturbing thing, so vile that I have to blotch most of the picture out to keep the blog kid friendly. Worst of all, it was used.  On second thought, I won't show that. Instead, here are two of the nice paintings I got.

Ahhh, water colors. 

Part Time Summer Job Results: Auction and Ebay

Lazy summer day here.  Got up early and took Winston to Butte Lake and then to Butte Creek Falls.  The water drags in mid-August. Butte Lake appeared more a murky marsh than Cascade Lake.  The Falls tinkle along, shadows of their spring selves.  It's hot.

I did a little accounting today, seeing how much I actually made attending the Woodburn Auction and selling the stuff I bought on Ebay and elsewhere.

Totallng up my Paypal transfers this summer, I transferred in almost exactly $1,550.  This is after the 15% cut that Ebay and Paypal combine to take.

Add a few random sales on Craigslist, Amazon, and from a small and largely unsuccessful yard sale, and that number is more like $1,650.

I probably spent about $700 purchase the items, leaving me with a profit of $850.

Really, it wasn't a bad part time summer job.  The auction is a ton of fun, and I scored a few treasures.  The biggest find easily was a $10 box of Rage: The Collectible Card Game trading cards.  For those of you unfamiliar with Rage, you probably were the unpopular kid in school and for that I'm sorry. It is much like Magic the Gathering or the Pokemon card games.  You build a deck, and play opponents.  Only this game deals with Werewolves that get really angry apparently.  Hence the name, Rage.  That $10 box ended up netting nearly $700, including 1 card that sold for upwards of $100.

The downside?  I collected a lot of stuff I don't need.  I've made three trips to Goodwill last week trying to reclaim my garage.  Two of the weeks I bought a ton of stuff thinking I could turn it all for a profit, when that wasn't the case.  That involved hours of sorting, listing, and packaging for ship.  My girlfriend deserves a huge award for helping me.  Collectible plates?  Turns out they aren't collectible.  Purses?  Only if you want to work full time selling purses and making about $2 a purse.

I've become a lot more selective in what I buy, only getting items I'm sure I can flip for more than $25 gain.  I bought nothing last week, and only spent $5 the week before.   My most consistent money maker?  China sets.

All in all it took up a few hours of my life each Tuesday, but they were fun, social hours.  I brought friends.  We got lunch afterwards.  I'd like to think it was time well spent.  Probably a difficult way to make a living, but not a bad way to make some money on the side.

Purses, Plates and Broken Ebay Dreams

I have about 30 purses sitting in my garage.  Clutches, Shoulder Bags, Travellers, Hobo Bags, you name it.

Awhile ago I wrote about the auction I went too.  On my second trip there, I decided to try to make some money.  I bought a few things I thought I could resell on Ebay.  A box of old music magazines from the 20's.  An odd piece of Japanese art.  And a box of Rage cards for $10.

I'll assume you don't know about Rage cards, because I didn't. Rage is a collectible card game like Magic the Gathering or Pokemon.  Except you play werewolves.  The cards are gruesome:

Turns out, they're also worth a fortune.  The game is discontinued but still has an avid following.  While little else sold, I was able to get about $600 for the cards.  Not a bad day's work.  I figured I would plan on making about $500 or so every Tuesday from now until the end of summer.

The next two weeks I rummaged through the boxes, smart phone in hand.  I scanned bar codes and looked at what had sold on Ebay.  Eyebrows raised when I snagged not one, but eight purses out of a lot.  There was tuttering over a box of china I snagged.

My girlfriend blushed with embarrassment when I showed her my haul of plates and purses.  Werewolf cards she could understand, but she suggested I stay away from handbags.

Still, I was unashamed.  I figured I made about $30 an hour for the work I put into the box of Rage cards.  Not a bad rate.  Plus I had done my homework, everything I bought had sold on Ebay previously, for lots more than I paid.  Easy money!

I spent hours doing the listings, sweating amidst faux leather in my garage.  Somehow, I talked the girl into helping me.  The auctions started and I waited.

Then a few things didn't sell.

Then many things didn't sell.

And when my auctions ended, most things didn't sell.

Apparently, I am a terrible Ebayer.

Now, one corner of my garage holds:

30 purses
10 bobble heads
16 old magazines
5 pieces of vintage Samsonite Luggage
1 antique chocolate box
1 very creepy doll.
1 clock shaped like a cat
18 various books
3 framed paintings
12 collectible plates that no one wants to collect
8 different sets of china.
1 broken dream.

If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

The Woodburn Auction Yard: The Old West Meets Arabian Bazaar

A fellow teacher invited me to check out the Woodburn Auction Yard, which opens every Tuesday.  Here the old west meets Arabian bazaar.  Auctioneers sing.  Cows bellow.  People herd. 

People bidding on... junk.

Everything from the exotic to the mundane can be bought here.  And possibly the you'll find the exotic disguised as the mundane.  The vague sense you might strike it rich combines with cowboy hats, dust and animals to makes you feel like a prospector in the Old West.  That box here an oil well, that lot here a gold seam.  Is that signed picture of P. Diddy authentic or a print?  It's in a box with 10 other pictures and you can buy them all for $5.

Five or more auctions happen simultaneously.  Livestock, nursery plants, outdoor equipment, and the general auction.  Two auctioneers, miked up on movable ladders, work separate ends of a large warehouse filled with everything our capitalist, consumer society produces.  Paintings. Stuffed animals.  Shotgun shells.  A Βowflex system (went for $20).   Boxes of books.  Boxes of wires.  Chairs.  Sofas.  Clothes.  Trinkets.  Knicknacks.

This child riding a tricycle was subject to a fierce bidding war.

The bidding goes by "lot", typically nine or so boxes lumped together.  The auctioneer starts at $5 for "choice" first pick of the boxes.  Up the bidding goes, until supply meets demand and the box is sold.  First choice went anywhere from $10 to $25.  Then the bidding begins again.   By the end you can snag a box for $2 to $3.  When no one wants to buy the remaining boxes, they lump what's left into one big lot.  One gentlemen, for purposes unknown but presumably creepy, walked away with four boxes of stuffed animals for $2.

All this could be yours for just $5

Most interestingly, the place is a veritable melting pot of the peoples who populate the Mid-Willamette valley.   The Rancher Grandpa predominates.  Old men with sun beaten faces wearing blue jeans, plaid shirts, and lots of suspenders, gather around farm gear.  They bear an uncanny resemblance to my own grandpa who ranches cattle in Washington.  I resist the urge to hug them. 

There are Russian Old Believers, distinguished by their beards or long, silky dresses. Outside a tall German Apostolic woman, head covered, speaks in Spanish to her Ηispanic husband.  Two kids in Carhart gear, make a mess all over themselves with their chew while peacocking by some fishing gear.  

My friend loses a box of old Nintendo gear to a young man who only speaks Spanish.  I bid to $5 on three sealed cigar boxes, but lose to a farmer who goes $6.  A crowd gathers as he opens the boxes: empty.

I end up buying three hanging baskets of flowers for $23.  I paid $10 each for the first two, then got wise and snagged the last one for $3.  I get a brand new Topsy Turvy to hang a tomato plant in for $4, and an old Pendleton Woolen Mills blanket for $2.  My last purchase is  a box of board games for $6.  I wanted the Trivial Pursuit inside, but I get numerous about ten other games also, including two "adult" games that I'm afraid to touch.

All said and done I spent $35.  And it was a lot of fun.  A great way to spend a few hours on a Tuesday.  I'm definitely going back.