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Introducing A Four Letter Word Discerning eBay PowerSellers Swear By!
Date: Wednesday November 19, 2008
That four letter word is ‘topo’, short for ‘topographical’, and it represents the most popular of all product types, but only for PowerSellers favoring one of the most profitable products of all on eBay: Vintage Postcards.
Topographical postcards (sometimes simply called ‘view cards’) depict geographical locations like towns, cities, villages.
There’s a very easy living to be made selling vintage topographical postcards on eBay, especially if focus on buying low cost topographical postcards at flea markets and boot sales, and resell those postcards on eBay.
This does not mean you should ignore other postcard types that crop up inexpensively at auction and flea markets. But I suggest you put those to one side while you learn the simple process of selling their more profitable topographical counterparts.
Look at these wonderful prices for proof of sometimes staggering profits fetched on eBay for view postcards that are not unique and not all that rare:
* 1903 EALING Singapore to Hong Kong & Hainan Postcard - £170.35
* MONTANA Marsh School, Evelyn Cameron c.1910 RP Postcard - £165.34
* RPPC New Salem Kansas Santa Fe Railroad Depot Postcard - $424.95 (at the time of selling approximately £216.18)
Postcards are among the most collectable items and they virtually sell themselves. They rank third most collectable item worldwide, just behind coins and stamps. They’re not the bits of worthless paper many people imagine, in fact some amazing prices can be fetched for postcards, notably on eBay, where items flea market visitors consider overpriced at a few pennies can fetch double figure, sometimes three figure sums.
* In the early days of postcard collecting – called ‘deltiology’ – almost every family had its own album, sometimes several. These heirlooms were cherished and passed through the generations, postcards were rarely destroyed or lost. Consequently many very early postcards remain in undamaged condition today, usually still in their original albums So you can buy hundreds or thousands of postcards in just one day at specialist postcard auctions and non-specialist sales, especially complete household clearances from elderly deceased collectors. You can actually buy hoards of postcards in just a few minutes, where traders in other antiques and collectibles take weeks or months to acquire stock to even contemplate the kind of money you'll soon be making.
* Postcards are usually all the same shape, roughly the same weight, making them extremely easy to pack, very inexpensive to post. You won’t have to waste time looking for boxes of varying size to pack and post your products, as happens to eBayers selling oddly shaped items. All you need are a few cardboard backed envelopes or you could make your own from empty breakfast cereal boxes. Postcards also fit into any local post box so Post Office visits are few as happens for larger more fragile items that need to be individually weighed and postage calculated.
* Because so few listing details vary between postcards – usually just location, age, publisher, postmark - you can create a template to suit every postcard you ever list from now to forever, where only a few details need changing each time.
* People who collect one postcard, typically collect lots of postcards, so you could develop a huge customer base of people who will watch your listings closely and buy from you again.
Avril Harper is a triple eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: Click Here To Read It Now
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