Dig This Treasure!

A few weeks ago, my dad (AKA ZZ Popps) mentioned that he had a bunch of things he wanted to sell on eBay, and that if I did that for him, he’d split the profits with me. Of course, I jumped on this opportunity. It was a win-win for me: he has a bunch of things to sell that I know nothing about, and I like learning about new things to look out for at sales. And more importantly, as my brother would say is my motto, “If it’s free, it’s for me!” Especially free money.

So I went over my parents’ house to take a look at the stuff he has that he wants me to try to sell, and one of the first things he showed me was this box of vintage “slot cars” that were his toys in the ‘60s. Out of all the stuff he had, I told him, without knowing anything at all, that I thought that the cars were probably going to bring in the most money. Later that night, I took a look and sure enough, lots of slot cars from this time period sell for quite a bit of money. His lot also included lots of loose parts, rather than just the car bodies themselves, which seemed to make things more desirable. Here’s a picture of the whole lot:

So first off, I want to say that I was reluctant to sell these because they seem so sentimental. I feel bad selling my dad’s old toys. But my dad was having none of that–he said he wanted cash money! So I listed the lot on a Saturday afternoon and less than five minutes after they went up, someone bid on them. Over the course of the week, I got progressively more excited because the number of people watching these cars was insane. Yes, I have been accused on more than one occasion of “counting my chickens before they hatch”–and I was most definitely doing that in this case too. Some lots of this stuff seemed to go for $400 or $500 and I was convinced that my dad’s lot would sell for that much since people were already bidding each other up on it.

But then, on Thursday night, my dreams were crushed. I received this question about the lot:

Q: hi can you tell me if the wheel wells on the green car w/black top, the 2 vettes and the blue firebird or camaro are cut or altered. sometimes guys would enlarge the wheel wells to add large back wheels. many thanks for your time.

I took a look at the cars and sure enough, about half of them had enlarged wheel wells. GOOD JOB, DAD! Way to go and ruin all your old cars in the 1960s so that your future daughter selling them 50 years later would make less money! Just kidding. (Sort of.)

Anyway, in the back of my mind I knew this was a sign that they would not sell for as much as I had expected. It also made me really nervous that other watchers would not notice this (even though I posted the question and answer in the listing) and then get mad when they received the lot.

Despite that realization, though, by the following Saturday afternoon, there were SIXTY watchers on those cars:

I still figured that with that many watchers, they were surely going to sell for a few hundred dollars. However, they ended and sold for the price you see in that screen shot: $103.50. That left me with a profit of $50, which is not too shabby.

I’ve since learned that when sales have slot cars listed, there are usually a line of old men waiting during the first day to purchase them, so it would be unlikely that you’d find these at a sale. But if you do, and they’re decently priced, snatch them up! For example, look at the insane amount of money old guys are willing to pay for a single piece of plastic:

-Sarah