Item of the Day: EICO Sound System

Today's item is what started it all...for us at least. We moved to Nashville in May 2009. I had an idea for a business and we started that business up in September 2009. Things were going well and business was beginning to pickup and ..... well.... to make a long story short we closed. The City of Nashville decided they didn't want us doing what we were doing. So, after several $1000 dollars and several hundred hours of hard work we were Out of Business. They even posted a cool sign, that I still have, that says that we were to "Cease and Assist" all business activity.

So, I really didn't have a backup plan. That WAS the plan. I still plan on revisiting that business one day. For the time being though God wanted me to go a different direction. I had no idea what that direction was or what it looked like but I knew he had something.

I had always heard stories of people doing stuff on eBay and I have always been involved with computers since I was very young. I always thought I would always be a programmer growing up. Somewhere along the line though I lost my desire for that and didn't want to be inside at a desk all day.

I have always loved business and have for most of my young life run some type of business or organization. And now, thanks to the city of Nashville, my opportunities were WIDE open. That idea is pretty nice to think about in theory but once you are there it is a little bit intimidating.

I kept thinking about the eBay idea. I heard a story on the radio about a man that bought and resold old used golf clubs several months earlier. The story I heard was that he grossed over a million dollars last year. I figured if some retired old guy could do something than I sure could as well.

So within a week or two of the failed business Stacy and I decided we would go to a few yard sales. In the mean time I did a lot of reading, online and in the bookstore, about people that did similar things. I had all the two questions everyone else has, "What do I buy?" and "Where do I by it?".

I found a few reputable authors online and read everything they had written. Some were good and some were just trash. One of the authors mentioned Vintage Electronics as one of the items that he looked for. Old 8 Track player, Record Player & anything with a Tube in it. He gave a few brand names and gave me a pretty good idea what to look for.

Now, I don't remember if it was the first or second sale weekend we were out going to yard sales but we happened upon one sale. And we found this item:



ITEM: VINTAGE SOUND SYSTEM

WE PAID: $5

SOLD FOR: $350

It cost us $5. It is a EICO Tuner, AMP & Multiplexer. It was made back in the 60's and was a kit. You bought the kit, brought it home & put it together.

I plugged it in and a few of the power lights came on, so I figured I might have something and boy was I right!

After some quick eBay research I found this was a fairly rare piece.

After a 5 day auction it sold for right at $350!

And that was the beginning...



(Unfortunately eBay only keeps a record of items up to 90days old. So, I cant link you to the auction)

And I was sold!