In my local pickup eBay listings I say in the payment section.

Payment is made upon pickup in a manner used thousands of years before PayPal was ever invented.
I also might say something like "payment is made in U.S. currency upon local pickup"

As I said in my original post, taking photos would require some finesse. Customer relations is important of course.

We've all read multiple posts about these two shows and their affect on our business, but here's a topic to post anything ELSE you think about those shows (OK, you can vent on the affect too !).

To start it off, here's what I know about their future.
Auction Hunters started with 8 episodes and has signed for 20 more with no date on the new season starting.
Storage Wars still running (as of Jan, 2011) new episodes, so they may have started with a traditional 13 epidodes and already running on another 13 new ones or so.

One possible topic here is your feelings on which show is more "real" (if that's possible).

And for the producers, how about a match between the two shows main characters...the two guys take on the four guys !

Been selling at fleas for 7 years now. My town has 4 and 3 I have sold at.

One is the best of the three and has a higher income buyer base. Other two are better for getting rid of lower end items if you have the ability to have different loads for different crowds.

My question here is not how much (in dollars) you actually sell (or net) at fleas, but what the trend has been for you the last few years if you are an old-timer.

I found that in 2010 my sales were down about $200 a month over 2009, but my record-keeping mixes both flea and ebay, craig sales, so it's not totally categorized.

Of course, so much depends on WHAT you have to sell at any given time too.  Any thoughts ?

Coins...here are the two I remember....others made money too, but not as memorable.

One 1816 50 cent piece with strangely worn outer edge...still went for $25. I kept it for awhile considering its history as being minted just 4 years after the war of 1812.

The other good coin was a silver dollar minted in Carson City, NV. Forget the year, but not the $72 I got for it.

Oh man, talk about a let down!

The most cash I've ever found would be in the $40 to $50 range, often in jars of pennies, dimes, qtrs, etc and of course some bills now and again.

Collectible coins another story with my best being two coins in 2 different lockers. One 1816 50 cent piece with strangely worn outer edge...still went for $25. I kept it for awhile considering its history as being minted just 4 years after the war of 1812.

The other good coin was a silver dollar minted in Carson City, NV. Forget the year, but not the $72 I got for it.

If you have anything that is obviously of value but you are having trouble selling online, take it to a pawn shop and ask for $100... they might offer you $20 bucks or something...take it and be glad you sold the item.

That's a great idea and it works for me at places like Play It Again Sports (national ?) and Music Go Round. It gives me some bucks I wouldn't get and sometimes the test of a piece of electronic equipement (amps, etc) that I might not be able to get from a friend who is out of town at the time.

Frankly I haven't had that experience and hope I never do, but you could do this.

Photograph the exchange of cash taking place for the item at pickup time. You could even photograph the license plate of the person picking it up. Naturally some tact would be necessary in this taking place. You don't want to alienate this person in the process.

That's a new one on me, but sounds interesting. Let us know how one of those turns out.