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Profits Selling Vintage Pot Lids on eBay
Pot lids as the name suggests were caps placed on pots containing
foods and preserves, sometimes cosmetics. They were immensely
popular in Victorian and earlier times when they were often valued
more for their decorative qualities than for whatever they
contained. They are also among the most collectable items on eBay
and are not that difficult to find at local auctions and collectors’
events, sometimes with their pots, sometimes separate.
This is one of those times when you really can reap a relative
fortune from very little knowledge and experience. That is because
so many pot lids were produced and so many remain today that most
sellers take the view that ‘A pot is a pot’ and believe there’s
little to differentiate between them on value. I’m speaking from
experience here, from a time I sold at flea markets in Newcastle and
Northumberland, when I traded alongside treasure hunters who
searched rubbish tips and parks for bottles and often found the odd
very valuable pot lid alongside. Those people I met knew lots about
treasure hunting, and lots about bottles, but very little about pot
lids. And because many were moonlighting and keen to turn their
finds into quick cash you’d find them displaying lids in piles or
spread across the table at flea markets with nothing to distinguish
one from the other and very often all selling at £20 or £30 across
the board. Very few of those people studied price catalogues and
few ever researched values of most things they found. Many fabulous
bargains were available to anyone who knew much about pot lids.
I no longer sell at flea markets but I visit quite a few and I still
find plenty of pot lids priced low with plenty of profit potential
on eBay.
The trick to buying the best lids inexpensively is to take a pot lid
or collectibles price catalogue with you to flea markets and
collectors’ fairs and auctions, you’ll find several good guides by
searching ‘Pot Lid’ at amazon.co.uk). You should also study
completed auctions on eBay before buying anything to resell.
Do an Advanced Search on eBay, as I just have, and you’ll find many
pots fetch upwards of £30 for plain types to several hundred for
special event types.
Now do a search on eBay’s Pulse pages where you’ll find the terms
most commonly used by people seeking pot lids tie in very closely to
those items recently fetching the highest prices on eBay. For the
record the most popular search terms are: bear grease, prattware,
pratt, ointment, halloways, Lincolns. (Remember to put these words
in the title for any similar items you list on eBay).
It’s also a good idea to list items recently sold on eBay, with
description, and value, and take this with you on buying
expeditions.
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