Auction Finds: 1953 Atomic Itallian Espresso Machine

A few days ago I told you about a recent auction I visited where I picked up two different espresso machines. Today I'll show you the second of the two. Upon first glance it looks like some space aged coffee maker from the 50's. Turns out it is a somewhat rare and highly collectible piece.

 After posting it on eBay I started receiving inquiries about it. Usually when that happens I know I have stumbled upon something good. I was receiving some very odd request though. Instead of getting questions about the machine itself, I was getting questions about the leaflet / manual that was with it. 

Two different people in particular kept asking me to take good pictures of it and send it to them for their collection. This seemed like a very odd request and I thought, "If they want it bad enough they can just buy it." So I ignored their emails and kept the auction going. 

After 5-10 more emails from these people and an unsuccessful first eBay auction for the item, I decided I would take a picture or two and send over to them. After doing so I got a very nice email in return. In the email the individual put a link to a blog that they have been writing for the past several years.

This person is on a quest to hunt down every Atomic Espresso machien that was ever made and to learn all about the history of these machines and their makers. Its a very cool story. If you have some extra time go on over to his blog (http://tinyurl.com/3akdatt) and read a little bit.

Anyways, like I said, the first time through at auction it did not sell. So, I decided instead of lowering my auction price down, I would put it in our store and make it a 'Buy it Now' item with a "Best Offer" option. Normally I would not do this, but since there seems to a community of collectors out there I will wait a few weeks and see if I get any bites on it.

Curious what it will sell for? Here is the completed listings report:

 

  

Based on these numbers and digging into a little more than normal research I have estimated we can get around $350 on eBay. Here is the rest of the breakdown on this cool vintage coffee machine.

We Paid: $150

Estimated Sell Price: $350

Margin: 57%

 

Best Yard sale find ever?

When I woke up this morning I took my morning pilgrimage to Yahoo.com and the first news article that poped up was one about a man who bought a few Ansel Adams negatives at a yard sale in the Southwest. This is a must read and a awesome story. 

• 
  
• Ansel Adams glass negatives bought ten years ago at a garage sale for $45 were found by appraisers to be worth $200 million at a minimum, according to several reports published on Tuesday.
  
  These particular negatives, which have never been appraised before, were purchased by Fresno, Calif. painter Rick Norsigan in 2000. He thought that the photos could have possibly been taken by Ansel Adams, reported CNN.
  
  Experts say that the negatives have never been developed and printed, but some appear nearly identical to published works of Adams.
  
  After buying them, Norsigan spent the next ten years getting the 65 negatives, which depict the natural wonders of California such as Yosemite and Fisherman's Wharf, examined, to find out if the photographs were early photographs taken by Adams.
  
  During his quest to determine the authenticity of the negatives, he utilized the services of a curator of the Boston Museum of Art, CBS reported.
  
  Art appraisers in Beverly Hills, Calif. came to the conclusion that the negatives were taken in the early part of Adams' career. Adams is believed to have had 5,000 plates during his early career but they were destroyed in a darkroom fire in 1937.   (continue reading)

Auction Finds: Espresso Machines Abound

Have you ever wondered how to make money on eBay?

Recently, we attended a local auction and came away with two unlikely items. Well, a few months ago they would have been unlikely. In the past few weeks Espresso Machines have become a common staple in our inventory. These two espresso machines were especially unusual, to me at least, so I thought I would show one of them with you and see what you thought.

The first of the two is an Olympia Express Cremina machine. It is a fairly small one spot espresso machine. It is made in Italy and apparently is a very high end and expensive machine. Click here for some info on it.

I was surprised at how expensive it was, mainly because of another espresso machine that we sold a while back. It was a 3 spot machine. It was much bigger, much heavier and sold for right around $1,500. This machine on the other hand is relatively small and light. However, it is projected to sale at around $1,000.

Kinda weird how it works out sometimes.

We Paid: $320
Projected Sell: $1,000
Margin: 68%

Yardsale Finds: The $4000 yard sale find!

I have gone through quite a few different categories of products over the last few months. Everything from Golf Bags to Motorcycle Helmets and Restaurant Equipment. Just last weekend Stacy and I went yard selling and it was a really lousy day of yard selling. Maybe the worse we have ever had. I finally broke down and picked up a few items just to break the monotony of the day.

I didn't buy anything major at all, just a few $5 items. However, at one of the church sales we went to I ran across an item that really caught my interest. It was a very large Sound Mixing machine. If you don't know what that is think of that big board with all the slides and knobs on it that you see in a recording studio (or just scroll down and look at the picture).

The guy at the church sale had a pretty hefty price tag of $3,500 on it. Being that the most expensive item I have ever purchased was less than $1000, I was a little turned off by the price tag. After all I didn't want to have that much money tide up in anyone thing. But, after sleeping on it and doing some eBay research I decided I would buy it.

So, I hunted it down on Craigslist and negotiated the price down to $2,650. That is $850 lower than his asking price. After all, the old saying is true, "You make your money when you buy, not when you sell." So, I still somewhat hesitantly turned over the $2,650 and headed home to list it.

After my research I determined that I probably could get between $4-6000 for the board. It sells new for $11,000 and usually a used item goes for 35-50% of the original retail price. My strategy was to list it at a 7 day auction on eBay at a lower price and if it didn't sell the first time through I would relist it in my store at a higher price with a OBO (or best offer) option.

So, now that you have all the back story on it, check out the board and its current status below:

Paid: $2,650
Current Bid: $4,000
Current Margin: 34%

Craigslist Finds: Camera Lens

In my last post I talked about my future posting habits and how you would see a flurry of post. I then went on in the previous days to hurt my back and disappear completely from the blog. After a lot of bed time, ibuprofen and my first ever chiropractor visit I am feeling...somewhat, better.

I finally dragged myself back over here to type up a post for your viewing pleasure. I have had a load of really good deals lately and will show you some of them in the following days. Note: I'll try not to completely go AWOL on you again.

Up today is one of our latest Craigslist finds. Remember our goal in using Craigslist as a product source is to at least make a gross profit of 20-30%. So here is the breakdown.

Description: Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 II APO DG EX Lens

We Paid: $450
Sold: $600
Profit Margin: 25%

What is that? Pie Making Machine...

The last 2 weeks have been pretty quiet around this blog. Stacy and I have been traveling for the past 6 weekends and it has taken its toll, mostly on this blog and our overall mental well being. Since we have been out of town so much we have not been yard selling as normal and being that yard selling is the main topic of this blog I have been lacking fresh material to talk about.

However, that is about to change. We have taken a vow to go on a 'travel' fast for the month of July. So, starting this week we will be back to our regular daily blog post. So, for the 30-40 of you that read regularly be sure to check back early and often.

As for today, I am continuing the theme of the past few weeks of Restaurant Equipment. This is one of the last pieces I have from the auction that I won back in June. It is a really cool piece but it had to be serviced in order to get it up and operational.

It is a Pie Making Machine. Any idea what that is? I didn't either. Check out the video below to see it in action. Once you see the video, check out what it is currently getting on eBay (below the video):




We Paid: $425
Projected: $1,500