Profitable eBay Items ~ Broken Dishes

As you are aware, I have a TON of china, porcelain, pottery, ceramic, tiles…

Basically if you can eat off of it, serve on it, place it on a shelf and enjoy it, cook in it or save leftovers in it… I GOT it!

Unfortunately, I’ve ALSO got a TON of “rejected” items that Replacements just won’t buy… EVER!

Some of this is REALLY nice… old, quality, sought after… plates they are PAYING $10, $15, $25, even $40 EACH… but not to me…

So, I got to thinking…
I’m a crafty gal, I’m creative, I’ve got a TON of this in inventory.

Should I dump it at a live auction?
NO, it depresses me to have multiple sets of china go for a combined $1 bid
(YES, it HAS happened!)

Should I sell it at a flea market?
Been there, done that… ended up with a really nice sunburn….

How about sell it on Craig’s List?
Nope, all the other Craig’s List china buyers are Replacements Dealers TOO!!

Okay… so NOW WHAT??

Well, guess what I CAN do!!!

I can break the scratched, crazed, chipped, hairline-cracked, utensil marked china into little 1″ squares (give or take a 1/2 inch) and SELL it for WAY more than I could get for it any other way!

Really!!!  I can!

 

I could also just sell the plates as-is or make it into some REALLY neat jewelry, findings, etc., etc.

All you need is a bit of creativity, a good quality tile cutter and some inspiration… and viola! A GREAT niche!

I want to issue a word of warning regarding the preparation of the plates…

This can be a bit “dangerous” for those of us that are more inclined to be klutzes
(a GOOD reason to stick with the WHOLE plate idea…)

A true story….

Me & my best friend Vicki had traveled down to Replacements together. We share the expenses and a vehicle. I drive my car, we split the gas and lodging and she feeds me! Since “I only have a kitchen because it came with the house” her wonderful homemade cooking is da bomb! It’s like a mini girls vacation.

Anyway, I was on this kick that I was going to start selling my rejected plates and stuff and “ALL I had to do” was figure out how to cut the plates up into those little rectangles.

Vicki excused herself to the bathroom, and I made a fleeting remark that I was going to try to cut up a plate… something I had been babbling about during our 6 hour ride down.

“Be careful”, she said. Famous last words….

So, I pull out a Pier One plate that has a hairline crack across the middle (mistake number one). I then proceed to use my super-special plate/tile cutter and score the top of the plate multiple times (mistake number 2). Next, I take the plate and grab it with the tile cutter flat areas that apply the pressure to “snap” the plate. Since I was NOT wearing goggles (mistake number three), I turned my head, closed my eyes (mistake number four) and squeezed as hard as I possibly could (mistake number five).

At this point TWO very bad things occurred…

The entire plate shattered.. well exploded actually and ALL the sharp SHARDS flew into the air and rained down on the ground…. a couple of these pieces hit the top of my foot… my BARE foot. (Mistake Number SIX).

Ouch… I’m now bleeding, profusely
(nothing that a few well placed band-aids couldn’t handle)…
I guess I should have been wearing shoes… duh.

Was that the end of the story? Of course not!

I then began picking up all the sharp pieces from the floor…
Was I wearing gloves? Of course not!

So NOW I’ve got cuts all over my hands!!!
(Mistake Number SEVEN!!!)

Let me tell you that this entire scene happened while Vicki was in the bathroom.

She was gone less than 5 minutes.

The bathroom door opens up, and there I am… broken plate shards EVERYWHERE.

I’m covered in blood and laughing my ass off!!!

Vicki is stunned… WHAT HAPPENED???

“Okay Deb, no more playing with plates until you buy goggles and BODY ARMOR!”

I haven’t really gotten back into the actual sourcing and selling…

I learned (the hard way) how NOT to prepare plates for sale.

If you aren’t a complete idiot like me.. and take the proper precautions… well you know “kids, don’t try this at home…”

At least not the way I did it the first time! Then YOU are good!

So, I did do a TON of research for YOU!

And I found a bunch of people that DO know how to do this correctly, and you know what?

They make decent money selling in this niche on eBay…

You can check out this NOaH Guide to add to our growing list on our new & soon to be re-vamped What To Sell For Money site.

Remember EVERYTHING on there is just $5.00 -
Really a no-brainer in my opinion!

Check it out here ==>> NOaH Broken Dishes & Tiles

 

Happy Smashing!

Best ~Deb