Vintage Postcard - A Bit of Worthless Paper or eBay Best Seller?

Vintage postcards are among the most popular and profitable of all items selling on eBay where immense profits are possible especially to the experienced postcard seller. These tips will help you maximise profits for your postcards on eBay.

* Very often the message on the back of the postcard can tell a tale much more interesting than the picture itself. A good example was a postcard I sold recently on eBay, depicting a house and cottage, and the caption: 'Smalls, Salcombe'. It was an ordinary view and the stamp was missing yet cards like this can often make a few dollars on eBay But study the message and you'll sometimes find something to lift the value of your card, as on mine which said: 'The cottage on the other side was burnt down yesterday'. Great message, it means the view disappeared many years ago and also helps date the postcard for anyone inclined to do a little research. Not forgetting: the view that previously looked quite ordinary, is now a rarity, and can entice hot bidding on eBay.

* You should avoid ex-dealers' stock when buying postcards to resell on eBay, or elsewhere for that matter. If those postcards did not sell for another dealer, there's little chance of you selling them either. It can sometimes be difficult to recognise someone else's unsold stock, but a major giveaway of a dealer's cast off can be found on postcards priced on the back in pencil or inked on labels fixed to the item. The same applies to labels on plastic covers containing coins, stamps, philatelic covers. Check the writing very carefully. Similar writing throughout indicates a dealers' stock. A genuine collection would comprise items from lots of different dealers and lots of different handwriting styles on prices on postcards and covers.

* Old fashioned albums designed for inserting postcard corners into cut-out hinges can present a major and very unexpected problem for novice postcard buyers. The problem can be caused innocently by past owners or deliberately by recent sellers. Many years ago newly acquired postcards were often manoeuvred and sometimes manhandled as they were placed beneath hinges and corners often got cracked or creased in the process. So today hundreds of cards may look in spectacular condition in an album that has not been touched for decades but in fact many cracked corners lie hidden and sometimes torn beneath hinges. Today these very old albums are popular with resellers who pack an empty album with unwanted postcards, sometimes to increase the perceived value of high value cards, more often to make the album look to be original while in fact it is packed with worthless rubbish. Very often rogue sellers will used the album to house postcards with badly creased corners or no corners at all. Be very careful when buying vintage albums at auction but do not remove postcards to check the corners, that would result in corners breaking which were previously quite acceptable. Instead view postcards from the back of their appropriate album page where you will usually be able to better see the flaws.

Avril Harper is an eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.sellpostcardsonebay.com and MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.magstoriches.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at www.avrilharper.com

eBay! The Answer to a Vintage Postcard Seller's Prayers

My own fascination with vintage postcards began about forty years ago when my grandmother gave me her own small collection of cards sent to her by my grandfather from Active Service in World War One. I knew nothing about postcards then, but from that small bundle began one of the most exciting areas of my life, as a collector and dealer in these popular collectibles.

Postcards, in the early 1900s ranking as THE most popular collectible, today rank third, behind coins and stamps. They're not the bits of worthless paper many people imagine, in fact some amazing prices can be fetched for postcards, notably on eBay, where items typically catalogued £1 tops can fetch double figure, sometimes three figure sums.

Years ago, before eBay opened a global market for dealers of all manner of goods and services, most postcards were sold at collectors' fairs and specialist postcard events, flea markets and antiques fairs, through postcard collectors' magazines, sometimes on approval, in the same way that stamps and coins have been sold for decades.

It's history now but, believe me, in pre-eBay times, a seller knew almost exactly how much to charge for a postcard, topographical or non-topographical. You'd consult the catalogue, pencil the price on the back of the card, amend it upwards or down depending on condition and other special factors.

For several reasons, some topographical postcards (sometimes called 'view cards' and depicting places as opposed to subjects) fetched higher prices in one geographical area than in another, such as a street scene of Horden Colliery in County Durham which will invariably attract far more eager buyers at events in the north of England than elsewhere in the UK and certainly more so than in other countries. So a great business was enjoyed by many, myself included, who travelled the country looking for vintage view postcards gathering dust outside their area of origin which sold like hot cakes when they arrived back home.

Today things are very, very different. On the down side, it's more difficult now to find cards gathering the proverbial dust the way they once did; on the plus side those of us who once earned a few pounds on every postcard sold are oftentimes reaching profits of $10, $50, $60, one hundred dollars each, or more.

In my eBay experience THE best money makers look very ordinary, they may even be damaged, stamp removed, but what makes these cards potentially the most collectable and pricey of all is merely that two or more people want the card and they are ready to bid high to win it.

Think about it this way, when cards were sold at local fairs where just a few hundred people attended each time, you never faced a fight over cards, it just didn't happen, the visitors were too few and specialist collectors were extremely rare.

Today, on eBay, millions of people worldwide will see your postcards, bidding wars are frequent, even for what seem to be common and all but worthless postcards.

Avril Harper is an eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.sellpostcardsonebay.com and MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.magstoriches.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at www.avrilharper.com

Great Ways to Turn a Postcard Costing Ten Cents Into Another Worth Hundreds of Dollars

People all over the world collect postcards and they are often prepared to pay very high prices for new items for their collection. Just recently I've seen postcards catalogued about 30 cents fetch hundreds of dollars on eBay.

Not every postcard offers such spectacular mark-ups but with careful planning you can guarantee that every postcard you buy will sell at a profit, sometimes just a few dollars, and once in a while they'll make hundreds of dollars.

These tips will help you get a head start in this profitable market:

* Of a great many different collecting themes within the overall postcard collecting hobby - called 'deltiology' - it's far easier for newcomers to make money selling topographical postcards, namely views of geographical locations, large and small.

Most high price postcards view cards, preferably pre-1939, of small towns and villages. The smaller the place, the fewer people visited those places so the fewer cards were created of the area, and the rarer those cards are likely to be compared to postcards depicting larger towns and cities with high tourist traffic. So a postcard of a tiny village in County Durham is likely to fetch much more on eBay than an everyday view of London, Glasgow, Edinburgh.

* Two words guarantee everyone interested in buying your postcard will find you through eBay's search engine. Those words are 'Postcard' and the name of the area depicted. Miss either from your title and you rely on potential bidders picking you out from amongst potentially thousands of postcards in any eBay sub-category. Because sub-categories contain so many items, most people search by keyword, using eBay's search engine, especially for topographical postcards. Without their collecting area in the title, potential bidders are faced with thousands of descriptions to open and read which few if anyone will actually do!

* Apart from place name, collectors also like to know about age, whether card is postally used, publisher name, condition, production process such as photographic or artist drawn. If space permits in the title, after 'Postcard' and place name, the date is the next most important feature.

* You should avoid buying 'unknown location' postcards, that is without place name clearly indicated, unless some other clue exists to the location, such as shop and street names, publisher address, message from the sender, postmark area. Many cards long ago were posted locally so the place on the postmark is often also the location of the view. Much the same goes for publishers who were usually local.

* Carry a magnifying glass with you to auctions and flea markets, often the sides of a photograph blur a little or margins become stained and place names are invisible to the naked eye but can be clearly seen through a magnifying glass.

Avril Harper is an eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.sellpostcardsonebay.com and MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.magstoriches.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at www.avrilharper.com

Introducing A Four Letter Word eBay Postcard Sellers Swear By!

That four letter word is 'topo', short for 'topographical', and it represents the most popular of all postcard collecting types.

Topographical postcards (sometimes simply called 'view cards') depict geographical locations like towns, cities, villages.

There's a very easy living to be made selling vintage topographical postcards on eBay, especially if focus on buying low cost topographical postcards at flea markets and boot sales, and resell those postcards on eBay.

This does not mean you should ignore other postcard types that crop up inexpensively at auction and flea markets. But I suggest you put those to one side while you learn the simple process of selling their more profitable topographical counterparts.

Look at these wonderful prices for proof of sometimes staggering profits fetched on eBay for view postcards that are not unique and not all that rare:

* 1903 EALING Singapore to Hong Kong & Hainan Postcard - £170.35.

* MONTANA Marsh School, Evelyn Cameron c.1910 RP Postcard - £165.34.

* RPPC New Salem Kansas Santa Fe Railroad Depot Postcard - $424.95 (at the time of selling approximately £216.18).

RP and RPPC in two of those listings stand for 'Real Photographic' and 'Real Photographic Postcard / Post Card'. Real photographic postcards are among the most collectable and expensive of all, in fact some collectors seek purely RPPC cards. Real photographic postcards are much rarer than their printed counterparts and were created individually and required constant attention during the development process, unlike most printed postcards that emerged from machines and required little physical attention.

I always spell out 'Real Photographic' in my listing for people unused to the many abbreviations used for the phrase, including R/P, RP, RPP, R.P. and, of course RPPC.

Avril Harper is a triple eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.sellpostcardsonebay.com and MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.magstoriches.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at www.avrilharper.com

Know a Postcard Is a Potential Best Seller on eBay Before You Even Buy It

Ask this question before you buy any postcard to resell on eBay!

How often could this view have been created since postcards first appeared about 1870 and up to 1939? (At the advent of the Second World War postcard collecting fell into decline and only in the past thirty years has it regained popularity). Most collectors consider 1939 the deadline between what should be called 'old' or 'vintage' and what is better called 'modern'. In time that 1939 deadline will shift, to the 1960s, or 1970s, but with a wealth of really fabulous postcards still existing from the late 1800s and early 1900s I recommend you stick to that 1939 deadline at least until pre-1939 cards run dry. If they ever run dry which is very unlikely!

Here's that question again:

How often could this view have been created since postcards first appeared about 1870 and up to 1939?

And here's the answer:

* If the view could be captured hundreds of times, even thousands, the postcard is not rare and could even be worthless. So churches, parks and beaches that look almost exactly as they did in the late 1800s will not fetch high prices unless some other profitable factor exists alongside.

It's an altogether different matter if the view could be captured just once, because this picture depicts the day the church caught fire, or it shows the Royal Family who visited there once, or it shows police arresting an infamous criminal or an eminent suffragette being released from prison. In reality a really rare view may have existed for minutes or seconds only and few artists and photographers were likely to be present to record the event. On occasion you'll find the card is very rare, even unique, as where something unusual and very unexpected happened which only photographers close to the scene may learn about and record the event. Good examples are railway accidents, colliery disasters, tram crashes.

Avril Harper is a triple eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.sellpostcardsonebay.com and MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: www.magstoriches.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at www.avrilharper.com

Learn About Postcard Ephemera

Postcards

Looking for something interesting and fun to collect? Try postcards. They're perfect for someone who wants to get "into" ephemera but doesn't know where to begin. The goal, of course, is to become a deltiologist. That's the name of someone who collects and studies postcards. But you can just enjoy your collection without knowing any of the particulars of vintage printing. Maybe you just like photos of Main Streets or travel cards from National Parks.

A brief history of postcards

The postcard was patented in 1861 by Philadelphian John P. Charlton. Charlton sold his patent. The US Postal Service, in 1873, started selling postcards printed with stamps. This gave patrons a quick way to send a short message. These were the only legal postcards made until 1898 when Congress passed a bill allowing private companies to print the cards. Within ten years of their introduction in the US, European printers began creating and marketing postcards.

It could be said that the picture postcard (PPC) was born with the passage of the Private Mailing Card Act. The PPC market expanded and the public demanded a diverse range of subjects. In fact, PPCs were so popular from 1898-1918 that many deltiologists call this the "Golden Age of Postcards". PPCs can be "dated" by various means from the most obvious (the send date), whether or not the back is divided, the presence of borders, and of course, the type of paper and ink.

Why collect postcards?

Postcards do not require very much storage space. A couple shoeboxes will hold hundreds. In the United States, the postal service requires postcards be 3.5" - 4.25" high and 5" - 6" long and no more than .016" thick. Or course, once you're hooked on collecting them, the cards may fill up your spare room and attic. It's cheap to begin a collection. Chances are, you already have a few either on your refrigerator door or in a desk drawer. No doubt your friends, family, and people at work have postcards. Odds are, unless the message is risque or too personal, they'll be more than happy to give them to you. Most homes in the Victorian Era had an album full of postcards in the parlor. Maybe you'll luck out and your MeMaw has one tucked away in a box in her attic. Also, when someone you know goes on vacation, ask them to send you postcards of their destination. See? You already need a shoebox to hold the cards, don't you? Vintage postcards are relatively inexpensive when compared to other items. Think of the cost of Rookwood pottery versus postcards. Or autographs of famous 18th century politicians... Vintage postcards can sell for hundreds of dollars, though. The most popular ones are holiday related, especially Halloween and Christmas cards from the early 20th century. Cards are frequently reprinted so it pays to learn about what's vintage and what's not from online sources or books about postcards. Price guides are available. You can learn something from your collection. Postcards are historical documents as well as present day chronicles. Trace the evolution of handwriting through the messages, check out interesting stamps (you might even become a philatelist), or compare photos of towns in 1915 to those of 2008. Document urban sprawl. You can tailor your collection to fit other interests. If you're also a Trekkie, there are Star Trek postcards. For those who collect military memorabilia, there are numerous possibilities from personal cards sent home from the troops to picture postcards of towns in which they served. How about postcards of landmark buildings? Or of your hometown? Frame postcards for an instant art gallery.

Go ahead. Start your search. Check your home for postcards. Tomorrow, at work, ask around and see if anyone there will bring you some cards. Call your Mom or your MeMaw and ask if they have an album from yesteryear. Shuffle through some collectibles websites and see if any particular topic interests you. Holiday postcards? Cats? Dogs? Airplanes? Chances are, there's a postcard for just about everything.

Val MacEwan, perhaps best known for helping folks buy ephemera, is also an administrator of the Ephemera Network, a leading forum covering the subject of Ephemera.