The Great British Bargain Hunt


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Well I wish I could tell you that there IS a magic formula to allow you to "Buy and sell at a Profit".   However to be honest, The solution is simple, Buy cheap and sell expensive.  To do this you need to know the market you intend dealing in.

Lets take a very simple way of making a little extra money.  Does you local Newspaper have a column that allows you to advertise Items for sale.  Some newspapers allow this up to a certain limit (£100) and you pay no or little advertising costs.

So lets say you go to an Auction and buy a good condition, But second-hand Lawn Mower for £6.00  (This is not a figure plucked out of the air, this is the actual price I paid for mine only 3 month ago).  You could then advertise this for sale, in your local paper , for £20 ONO.

OR ...Buy a Television at Auction  (A colour Portable with teletext and remote control should set you back around £10-£15).  Advertise it for sale in the Newspaper for £30 ONO

Total outlay £16.00 ... Total income £50 ... Profit £34

Easy or what?  However this is dealing with Household objects as opposed to Antiques or Collectables, But in reality the system is the same.

If you are interested in buying and selling collectables, then you have the worlds greatest information source at hand ... The Internet.

Lets take an example ...Say you are interested in Collectable ceramics from the Royal Worcester factory.  You arrive in the sale room on Viewing day and spot a piece, You inspect it and are happy with its condition, The catalogue estimate is £20 -£30.

Write down all the details you can regarding the figure, Name - Maker - Designer etc.  Then upon returning home Check Ebay to see what sort of price similar objects are fetching, You might be mildly surprised, The piece you inspected could fetch up to £50- £70 by selling it over the Internet.

Now if you are confident that You can sell this Piece online for at least £50 (You would make this your reserve price), Now all you have to do is bid at Auction, However if you want to make a profit, You have to ensure you bid no higher that £30.  Learn your limit and stick to it.

Why sell over the Internet?  Well experience has shown me that certain items that are not judged collectable in the UK, are however highly sought after in other countries like America or Australia.  This means that you can buy it in this country and sell it abroad, Buyer pays the Postage cost plus insurance, You make a healthy profit.

Want an example? :- Some time ago at auction I spotted a box of misc crockery priced at £10-£15.  This box contained various pieces of Crockery including a Myott Coffee Pot, Two Myott oval platters, and a badly chipped Copland Spode Vase.

The Myott pieces are transfer printed with Hunting scenes, unfashionable in the UK but collectable abroad.  The Copeland spode Vase was beautiful but badly damaged.

At auction I bought the complete box of ceramics for £6.00.  I sold the Myott coffee pot for £24 +P&P.   The Two Myott Plates for £10 each +P&P and after doing some research on the Copeland Spode vase, I realised that it was early Nineteenth century and even in its chipped and crazed condition sold for £12.

Paid £6.00... Sold £56.00 ..Profit £50.00

But ... What about all the other pieces in the Box, Worth nothing, what do you do with them.  Well if you can't find a use for them yourself  (Under flower pots etc.),  Then store them all away somewhere until you have a sizeable collection, Then one weekend take them all to a Car Boot sale and sell them off at 50p each.  You will be surprised how many people will actually buy them.

Truth be known,  Making money by buying and selling at auction is reasonably easy, however it does take time and you must be prepared to be patient and wait for the right buyer to come along.



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