Hardest part that I didn't think of

So went to my first auction and won my first locker but wasn't expecting how hard it actually is. Spent 125 ( they charge 15% buyers fee and 5% gst) but I think I did really well on it. Found a stack of old spider man comics from the 80s, some decent furniture and the normal garbage and cheap stuff so the
Locker was easily paid off. But there's an old crank telephone and an antique iron some African drum and a few paints/pictures. I thought the hard part was going to be selling the stuff but I've come to realize its harder to figure out what it is and how much it's worth then actually selling it.

Welcome to the 'real' side Buck!

You'll come to find that the researching can be half the fun.  It's a slow day if you only learn one new thing!

Take advantage of ebay and all you can learn there.  Especially focus on COMPLETED listings as that can give a 'true' market value.  Just because somebody is asking $300 doesn't mean that somebody else is willing to pay it~

Congrats on your first purchase!  Best of luck and let the research begin!

Be carefull about researching the value of items. There is a tendacy to go with the "upper end" of the prices we find on things but you just don't know why the item you researched sold for $300 and you can't get $50 for the same item. Sometimes it's about quality, the item that sold was in perfect condition, and yours is not. Sometimes it's scarcity & luck. Someone had that one item for sale, and someone was willing to spend $300. Now there are 10 like items on the market and no other buyers. Sometimes it's location, region of the country, and the marketplace. That $300 Ebay item will never sell at the flea market for $300. So I find this quasi-rare vintage figuriney doo-dad thingy, look it up on Ebay, WOW! there selling for $40-$75, think the smart & easy thing to do is price it for $25 at the yard sale or flea market, and all the customers who come through look at it and me like i'm crazy. Many customers, especially yard sale & flea market, won't have a clue what the going retail price of many items are. Forget about retail new pricing as a guage for pricing things used. Just because it was $1000 new, and the marketeers suckered hundreds if not thousands of people into buying their product, don't think you can flip it used for $500. It can be frustrating trying to get what you think or the research has shown what the item is worth.

Kind of goes back to selling strategy. 1) turn & burn or 2) hold for maximum profit

One trend I've seen in valuing an item, and I'm usually on the wrong end of it.....

I was doing well with the old hand meat grinders.  Universal 1's from early 1900's.
Was getting them at estate sales for $3-$10/ea.  We're very few on eBay, etsy and none on CL.

I was selling them within days for $20-$30.

Month later.....
eBay was full of them, etsy has 20-30 listed and local CL has 2-5 listed a week.

Think everyone saw my listing and said "hey! I have one of those". 
They saturate the market, then they start to lower price....old 'supply & demand' model in effect.

Anyway, I can hardly give away meat grinders now.  But others still have them listed at $30, week-after-week while a million more list at $5 and still not selling.

Sure it happens on other items but in vintage kitchen ware (which is my primary thing right know) I see it happen all the time.  Especially on CL and etsy. 
I've been lucky and got in at start with the grinders and few others (that you'll have to forgive me for not mentioning cause prices haven't totally dropped out yet    ).   But most times I'm selling items for $5-$10 that are listed all over for $30.

And found that no matter how low I go, if there is 30+ of the same item it doesn't sell.  They could all be listed a $100 and mine $1 and nothing.
Some categories people want rare.  If there is a ton listed they either don't want it or figure why now, they can get it anytime so......


And with that I see I totally left the path of what I intended to post....   

Oh well, still a touch on topic....kinda....