Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask of your unexpected high value items on eBay

77 replies

ChristmasCrumpet · 29/10/2023 15:37

So, DH and I are looking to raise several thousand in the next few months for an upcoming purchase.

I sell regularly on eBay, more as a hobby, and can make around £1k p/mth if I really try. Mainly clothes. Mine. Kids. Sometimes the odd toy. Everything sells for between £5 and £20 really. It all adds up, but it's high volume of low value items.

Something that recently surprised me, is that I listed a 7/8yr old BT router thing, and it sold for like £70. I was about to chuck it, and I don't know what made me think to see what they went for on eBay, but I couldn't believe it. Proper old plastic junk to me.

So, on the basis I'm trying to raise a chunk, fast... What items have you sold and been astonished they have reached that price.

Thank you x

OP posts:
mouse70 · 29/10/2023 19:16

30 year old Plastic Lakeland Carrier Bag £18!!!!!!!

maximist · 29/10/2023 19:17

Lorrymum · 29/10/2023 18:45

I was asked to throw school reading books into a skip. Just out of curiosity I looked on Ebay and found Sheila McCullagh books were selling for £50.00 plus. We managed to raise over £1000 for school funds.

I found a pile of those at a charity shop years ago, I paid a couple of pounds for them and like you was amazed at how much I sold them for! Some went for £40+!

readsalotgirl63 · 29/10/2023 19:19

We switched from an oil boiler to gas and DH listed the oil boiler - it was ancient but there were several bids and offers - sold for a couple of hundred pounds to a guy who drove from the midland to NE Scotland to collect.

BitOutOfPractice · 29/10/2023 19:20

Sylvanian families. I made £200+

Astonishing · 29/10/2023 19:24

Bluebird Polly Pockets, some of them are worth a fortune.

IWasFunBeforeMum · 29/10/2023 19:29

Bamboo coat/umbrella stand - paid £10 sold for £160

husbandcallsmepickle · 29/10/2023 19:30

I've made a good profit on Sheila McCullagh books too. However my best sale was one of my first. I had a set of Union Jack fake stick-on nails. Listed for 99p, sold for over £20.

TheSpikySpinosaurus · 29/10/2023 19:31

A plastic kids garden playhouse. We got more for our old, sun-bleached version on eBay than we paid for it new!!

And a random pair of vintage Ray-Bans...

TheSpikySpinosaurus · 29/10/2023 19:32

mouse70 · 29/10/2023 19:16

30 year old Plastic Lakeland Carrier Bag £18!!!!!!!

What prompted you to list that on eBay?!

ChiaraRimini · 29/10/2023 19:32

Sold all the kids Lego as a job lot ( once they'd grown out of it!) for about £750. I'd looked on eBay thinking I might get a few quid from selling complete sets with instructions but it worked out better to just put it all together.
We probably paid 3-4 times that for it new but I was amazed to get that much for it.

GremlinDolphin4 · 29/10/2023 19:52

An original postcard from the 1930s of a football player went for £68!

The man who bought it was so delighted with it and we communicated for ages afterwards because my grandpa was chairman of the club at the time of the postcard and we were both interested in each others information.

2010Aussie · 29/10/2023 21:22

leccybill · 29/10/2023 16:37

I sold a set of Mr Tumble PECS-style cards that came free with a Cbeebies magazine for £25.

Old games consoles go for a decent amount. Retro toys. Out of print books.

Out of print books. Definitely. Particularly rare children's books which go to collectors. I sold a first edition hardback with a dust jacket which I had bought for 50p. Good condition. I had no idea how much it was worth. It went for £525.

SaturdayGiraffe · 29/10/2023 21:27

Took all the old locks off our house when renovating. Keys and locks sold for over £25.

2010Aussie · 29/10/2023 21:29

Lorrymum · 29/10/2023 18:45

I was asked to throw school reading books into a skip. Just out of curiosity I looked on Ebay and found Sheila McCullagh books were selling for £50.00 plus. We managed to raise over £1000 for school funds.

Sheila McCullagh books do well - particularly the Pirate series. Puddle Lane also sell, particularly the higher level ones or if you make a set up.

StarDolphins · 29/10/2023 21:31

I sold a £2.50 Tesco comforter 5 years later for £39!

Carsarelife · 29/10/2023 21:31

A small A6 size Cath Kidston diary. I was going to throw it but thought I'd put on eBay. I got 2 for Xmas and this was 3 months into the year. I sold it in March for £30. Diary was around £12 to begin with

moggle · 29/10/2023 21:33

this reminds me of when our school revamped its after school club and threw away half a skip load of Quadro climbing frame parts. I tried to tell them that it was still probably worth 100s if not 1000s of pounds even though it was probably 10-20 years old but couldn’t get anyone to bother with it :(

I sold a Brother label printer for £40 even though I’d been using it for several years and it was still available on Amazon for £30.
An official program available in London on the day Prince William got married, plus a copy of that days evening standard, for £50 within a couple of weeks of the big day. I still have the second one I bought (think they were £5 at the time).
the first ever edition of Mollie Makes craft magazine for almost £50, and a selection of 4-5 or so other copies from the first year for £30 to someone in the states.
Good luck!!

DeliahSmilah · 29/10/2023 21:34

We had a house competition to see who could sell the most random things for the most. Used pistachio shells were a good seller as were loo roll middles. Also sold various nuts collected on a walk for fish tanks. People really will buy anything.

shardash · 29/10/2023 21:37

nopenotplaying · 29/10/2023 17:14

Watch your tax if you are making that much per month

That only applies if you are buying things to sell again (trading, in effect), so there is no tax implication if you are just selling your own belongings.

Thejackrussellsrule · 29/10/2023 21:39

I sold some old quarry tiles for £500, DH thought they were rubbish! Also, our trampoline got mangled in a storm, I sold the springs on ebay in packs of 10, got half the value back!

moggle · 29/10/2023 21:39

Oh I also had good luck with pushchairs - the only 2 I bought new. The baby jogger city mini GT we bought for my daughter 9 years ago and had been used for 5 years total, I sold a couple of years ago and made almost as much as it cost new. Turned out they had changed the design and the new one wasn’t as good as the old one so people were willing to pay well for the old ones.

I also had a britax double travel buggy for our twins which folded up ingeniously tiny and could go in overhead locker on a plane. Again, it got discontinued and was highly sought after. I sold it the first week of March 2020 to a man who wanted it for a holiday in April… I presume the holiday never happened… always felt a little bad about that!

GettingOldWithoutStyle · 29/10/2023 21:45

I sold unused body shop body butters on eBay. Ones I'd had in my cupboard for bloody ages from Christmas/ birthday gift sets. Noted that they were older i.e. not this year's stock and got back way what they were worth. I guess people like certain scents or something that have been discontinued?! Certainly opened my eyes as I would've just chucked them.

Vintage baby toys including a fisher price activity table from the 80s. Ones without buzzing lights and electrics are trendy now it seems!

Cherrysoup · 29/10/2023 21:47

Old cassettes. Sold a Smiths tape for £40, I think because it was a funny colour bought in France.

Velvet jackets, one sold for £40 second hand.

Sensibleandboring · 29/10/2023 21:59

A canvas beige camera bag - sold for about £100. Think they became hipster

PinkCyclamen · 29/10/2023 22:27

Full set of Bear Yoyo country flag cards for £50 and another £50 for a full set of super heros from Kinder eggs. I also sold a porch for a tent which we'd got free with our tent but never used for £200. I would have been pleased with £50. I was embarrassed when the guy collected it.