Regional Items + Online Auctions = Big Profits An item purchased for two dollars that sells for hundreds! That is the dream of every online auctioneer. We all dream of being the next person that finds the original copy of Declaration of Independence hidden behind the dirty old print we just bought at the local flea market. Well, you may not find anything as valuable as the Declaration of Independence, but there are rare and hard to find items out there just waiting for you to buy, bring home, list online and make a tidy profit. However, you will find there are many fairly common items that will accomplish the same purpose. All it takes is doing your homework and being aware of your surroundings.

First, spend some time online at auction sites such as eBay searching through the completed auctions. Start with the categories about which you have some knowledge. If you are a pottery collector or a glass collector, look at those categories first. Structure your search to sort the items by price, because you want to see which items are bringing the "big bucks." After a few weeks of searching and making copious notes, you will see a pattern developing. In every collectible area, there are regional anomalies, items that sell well in one part of the country but just do so-so in another. These items are the object of your search. In the past, unless you physically traveled from one part of the country to another, this knowledge would not have helped you very much. But with the popularity of online auctions, you are now able to sit in your nice warm old Kentucky home and attract buyers who are at home on the range in Texas.

In my area, Blenko Glass is a good example of this principle. I have always liked the brilliant glass with amazing clarity and unusual form made by Blenko during the 1950s and 1960s. I would buy it because I liked it only to find it sat in my booth collecting dust because there just aren't many Blenko collectors here. Not long after I discovered eBay, I began to look at the Blenko auctions online. I found that the large bottles (decanters) routinely sold for $100 - $1000+. Other pieces also brought good prices. I also discovered that since Blenko only used the acid etched mark around 1959 - 1960, pieces bearing this mark brought premium prices. Whenever Blenko bottles show up at the local auctions they seldom bring more than $25 to $30, and guess who is the high bidder! I recently won one for the grand total of $3. At the end of the online auction, these wonderful bottles usually are on their way to the west coast, where they are highly prized.

Where an item is made may have a great deal of influence on its regional appeal. We recently were fortunate enough to acquire a bowl marked "John Bell, Waynesboro" for a very small price. I could not find anybody in this area that had any knowledge about it at all. An eBay search revealed that it was sure to be a winner. John Bell was selling for hundreds of dollars, mostly to collectors in the Pennsylvania area where the pottery was located during the 19th century.

I have mentioned glass and pottery items as examples simply because that is where my personal interests lie. However, every collectible category has items that have strong regional appeal. If you simply take time to find what items sell well in areas outside your region, you will no longer be butting heads with the other dealers and collectors trying to buy the items that have strong appeal in your area. Let them pay top dollar and settle for small margins on those items. You buy the things they don't want. Just smile sweetly as you hear them comment, "Why did they buy that? You can't give that junk away!" Just don't let them know you are taking profits of ten, twenty or even a hundred times your purchase price!