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A couple of years ago I stopped by my parent's house and they were having a garage sale.
Among the items for sale was this old Hamm's beer sign.  It belonged to my grandpa for years.  I remember as a boy asking him to turn it on so I could watch it.  It was made sometime in the early 60's.  My grandpa bought it and kept it over the bar in the basement of his home for over 40 years.

My mother had marked the price tag for it at $20.00.
I quickly snatched the sign up and told her that I could get a much higher price on ebay!
She agreed to let me take it home, clean it up, photograph it and post it for sale online.

(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/522/dsc002431mr7.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

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Here's the description I provided to potential buyers on ebay:

"This is an authentic vintage Hamm's Starry Night's motion beer sign.  Sign # 782

It is in excellent condition and has been well taken care of over the years. 
When plugged in, the stars twinkle and then the word "Hamm's" appears from left to right. 
Then it disappears, the stars twinkle some more and then four glasses of beer appear. 
The word Hamm's on the left side of the sign also lights up.

The cord has been repaired with electrical tape...other than that, this great looking sign has no damage at all.  The bricks and chimney are made of plastic. 
All of the lamps inside work well.
The sign dimension are 22"wide, 16" high, and 5 1/2" deep

If you're looking for a great collectible beer sign, this is the one for you!

PLEASE NOTE THAT PAYPAL PAYMENTS ARE ACCEPTED FROM CONFIRMED ADDRESS PAYPAL USERS ONLY

MONEY ORDERS ARE ALSO ACCEPTED"

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(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1286/dsc002471wt1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/6443/dsc002551la5.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4906/dsc002521ta6.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)


How much do you think this sign sold for?
You're probably thinking $50.  Maybe a hundred dollars, right?
You'd be WAY OFF.



This sign sold for $750.00!

The bidding was furious.  I'd never watched an item be fought for so hard like I did with this sign.  At least 15-20 people were bidding on it.
Apparently, there's an entire subculture of people who specifically collect beer signs.  And a sign like this...one this old that had been well taken care of and still worked was solid gold to them.
Some guy in Temecula California was the winning bidder.  He promptly payed and we shipped it immediately.
I had the last laugh at my mother.  She was absolutely floored when she learned how much I'd sold it for.  And to think she was going to sell it for $20!

How about you?
Ever sold something for $$ on ebay?

I once sold a three CD set of Bernard Herrmann's opera Wuthering Heights on Ebay.

The final price? $350.00!

It's been out-of-print for years and is something of a Holy Grail for some.

I have another copy.

Wanna buy it?  :teddyr:

About a year ago I bought a old camera at a regular go to auction, I paid $5 for it and really didn't want it as I have enough crap setting around so I put it on eBay and sold it for $680.00 on eBay.

I don't buy or sale on ebay as much as I use too.

I recently sold a spiderman doll (still boxed) from the 70's for about $100 and I've just sold two tickets to a comedy show for $100, which means I can now pay all my bills off for the end of the year. Been on Ebay about 2 years, but I only started selling a month or two ago. I've sold about 10 items so far and have 100% feedback.

Ash, that's awesome. That was good thinking to grab that and sell it on ebay...who would've guessed it would be worth so much?

I've sold things on ebay as well but never anything so high priced as that. For a while, I was selling all kinds of stuff from used clothes to used motorcycle parts and I was doing quite well with it. At some point it became too much like work and I just stopped doing it.

I sell Indian artifacts on EBay from time to  time (and safari hats).  Sellername Indianasmith1.  However, with artifacts, I have found I can get better prices for top end pieces at shows than I can online.  However, the common field grade points can sometimes go for more, sometimes for less, on EBay.  I got 24.99 for a Gary point that would have fetched maybe $10 at a relic show.

My mother had a fountain pen that belonged to my grandfather.  We weren't exactly sure how much to list it for so we started it for around twenty bucks.  One week later the bidding closed at $600 and change. 

I used to sell action figures back in the day.  A lot of the stuff we had extra on the east coast they didn't have in other parts of the country so I did well. 

I tried selling an autographed, mint-condition, leather bound copy of "A Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy" but I don't have proof of its authenticity. I bought it at Goodwill for a $1.
If its authentic its worth over $200.00.

I've sold a few things on Ebay before but noting that brought in a lot of money.  I think the only things I sold were a Playstation game called Bushido Blade, all of the Resident Evil games released for the Gamecube and A nightmare on Elm Street 1 thru 5. 

Right now I'm selling a good bit of things on Amazon.com and usually end up selling at least 1 to 2 items a day.

I've sold several things on eBay, but haven't done as much as I used to.  There was a point in time I kind of wished I could sell on eBay fulltime, but I don't really have the capital (or space) to "warehouse" (ie, keep a bunch of stuff lying around just for selling.)

I've had ups and downs, some stuff I thought for SURE would sell for a profit going for very little (and me having to eat it with when the shipping was more than I thought it'd be.)  They've been a few times I've bought stuff at Yard Sales thinking "This is sure to be big!", only to go on eBay and find it selling for just a few bucks.  Recent examples: IN BOX Star Trek The Next Generation figure of Q and Star Trek DS9 figure of Odo I bought for only two bucks each (there were more, was planning on running back to the sale with more money after some research.)  Turns out I they were being sold for a starting bid of $1.00 each (and the completed auctions section wasn't too encouraging.)

Seven years ago I could make out like a bandit at yard sales, but nowadays too many people already know about eBay and do their research before selling anything.

I did have a few success stories, although nothing like yours... for instance, I found an old Star Wars VHS tape at a pawn shop, that had two "Making Of" features for the original Star Wars film and Empire Strikes Back.  They originally aired on TV shortly after the respective films were released.  Bought the tape for a mere three dollars and it sold for about thirty-three.

Lately though, unless I have something big to sell, I don't do much.  Somehow, all the work just to sell something to make a three, four, five dollar (or less) profit, just doesn't seem worth it.