1930s Coke ad features an electric permanent wave machine.
A while back I wrote as an eBay power seller and gave a few tips I’d learned along the way from more than 14 years of selling on that the site. At this writing I have a 100% positive feedback rating and I’m pushing my 1,000th customer review; eBay is still my preferred vehicle for communicating with prospective buyers with a taste for books and older paper wares.
Here’s a second list of tips that may help you as an eBay seller.
1. Take those small advantages
The one that comes most quickly to mind is the relatively recent addition of the legal size flat rate envelope. It measures 15 x 9.5” compared with the regular flat rate size of 12 x 9.5.” That might not seem like a big difference, but it holds quite a bit more and it expands the size of books and papers that will fit easily and conveniently and travel rapidly in the mail. You probably won’t find the legal size flat rate envelope at your local post office; they are available free on line from the USPS www.usps.com/ship/priority-mail-flat.htm - then click the “Order Supplies” button. You may not use them often but they do come in very handy.
The international rates for priority mail, even in flat rate boxes and envelopes, have become prohibitive, but the 1st class international package rate, while still stiff, is not nearly as costly as priority and anything up to four pounds can go as a 1st class package. The surprising thing to me is how many people are willing to pay the freight. Even with the huge international rate increases I sold as much or more abroad as in prior years.
It helps to understand that in the eyes of the post office anything that is not a letter—anything stiff -- is a package. The 1st class domestic package is also a good value, but inside the US the weight limit is 13 oz. - ideal for ephemera - but not so great for books.
2. Don’t overlook magazines
Magazines are the seller's friend.I am constantly surprised by how many periodicals are thrown away or sold for next to nothing. There is a market for periodicals with specialized content -- be it trains, doll houses or acoustic guitar music.
Some of my best sales come from magazines and what comes out of magazines. Old or new, whole or in parts, it doesn’t matter - if the image or content is attractive. There seems to be an unlimited interest in bizarre technology of an earlier age. Take this Coke ad from the 1930s showing an electric permanent wave machine. The single sheet brought a better price than an entire issue.
The same was true for a Marilyn Monroe fold out by Richard Avedon. It came from a series of photos he made in the 1950s and later ran as a double gatefold insert in the New Yorker in 1994. It opened to over 15” wide and sold fast.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
