Old Magazines

[mattl]

Planning on getting new carpet in my bedroom and closet so I was cleaning out the closet today for the measure.  I have a massive amount of old magazines in the closet, on the original blue prints it was labeled as the suitcase closet, it's 12'x6' and I put in a lot of shelves.  I'm tossing a lot of junk magazines like Home, Consumer Reports and such, but have many years of specialty mags plus a lot of Better Homes and Gardens.

 

For the heck of it I looked on ebay and found there is a market for the old stuff.  I have a lot of Audio, Stereo Review, and Sound and Vision magazines and I saw a number had sold in the $8.00 range - very surprising.  I have not looked at any of these for a decade or more so I guess i can part with them.  Selling is better that filling the landfill I guess.

 

So, what do you do with old magazines?

 

[norgeway]

Consumer reports!!

Are the hardest to find of anything!! I hunt the pre 1970s.

 

[pulltostart]

I collect BH&G, mostly from Ebay, and have all issues from Jan. 1952 through Dec. 1963.  I did have more at one time, but decided to cut back and focus on these years.  I also have a growing collection of BH&G "Kitchen Ideas", "Building Ideas", and "Improvement Ideas", although I believe the kitchen and improvement issues need to be cleaned out due to a lot of duplication of information and articles and a shortage of space.

 

I would love to collect House + Home, but copies are really scarce and so is space here, so for now it isn't happening.

 

Lawrence

 

[norgeway]

I collect!

ANY 50s-60s home making magazines, especially Good Housekeeping, BH@G , American Home and Living for Young Homemakers.

 

[supersuds]

Saturday Evening Post for me...early Thirties through mid-Fifties.

You used to be able to get them pretty cheap on "Fleabay" (TM Launderess) but they seem to mostly have expensive Buy It Now options now...I dunno if they actually sell any at those inflated prices, though.

 

[launderess]

Used To Collect/Save Certian Magazines

Consumer Reports, Vouge, and a few others one felt had things in them of value, but to paraphrase the song "I haven't got time for the clutter". *LOL*

Every now and then go on a cleaning binge and throw the lot away or pare things down. After the mouse scares a few years ago really went into over drive as the exterminator said they love paper for building nests and such. Ditto with roaches and certain other bugs but they like to eat the stuff as well.

Have a few older CR annual buying guides, but on balance don't feel the recent magazines give enough value worth the bother of storage.

 

[blackstone]

Radio, TV, and Electronics

I have saved all the old radio, TV, and electronics magazines from our family store. Some of them go back to the 1930s; others are more recent. By "more recent" I mean the 1970s. Interesting to see just how far electronics have progressed from the time when radio was a novel and exciting field to be in. Most of these magazines relate to the repair of TVs, radios, etc.; something that is not done too much nowadays.

But, in answer to the question, no, I don't actively collect them; nor would I try to sell them on FleaBay.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Saturday Evening Post, for some reason, was a treasure trove of Westinghouse advertising. That was where I first found an ad for the 40" range with the full width oven.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Hey Matt,

I don't know if you've sold on eBay before, but be sure you know about the fees before you start listing. eBay is gonna take about 9% then PayPal another 3%. Plus remember that eBay also takes the same percentage of the shipping that the buyer is charged. Then factor in the time to take pix and list (soon you won't be able to list without a pic- a new change), then pack (cost of good envelopes) and get them to the PO.

However, magazines are relatively easy to pack, so in volume.....

Chuck

 

[launderess]

Magazines & Other Material Can Be Sent Via Media Mail

Which is the cheapest way USPS offers. It can also be the slowest but I've gotten things quickly enough.

As for eBay and PayPal fees they are one of the reasons one really no longer bothers. You really have to price your item correctly or there is a good chance you'll take a loss or barely break even.

Remember as well with eBay/PayPal just because the transaction is done, shipped and received you are not off the hook. If a buyer has a *problem* and contacts Paypal or eBay you could have banking and other account problems for months.

Anyone going to use PayPal for eBay transactions should have a separate small account linked to it and not their main banking.

 

[lordkenmore]

"Anyone going to use PayPal for eBay transactions should have a separate small account linked to it and not their main banking."

After the PayPal horror stories I've heard, I'd go further, and say: anyone who has PayPal, period, should have it linked to it's own bank account. At the very least, have it connected to a bank account that, if compromised, won't cause problems, or lost sleep. In other words, DON'T use an account that holds your life savings. DON'T use an account that you use to write checks to pay bills.

 

[lordkenmore]

Another sales option MIGHT be Amazon. Technically, I think they say one can't sell magazines, but I'm not sure if they are thinking of ANY magazine, or if their thinking is magazine subscriptions. I'm guessing the latter; I see many people selling old magazines, and they seem to be considered old paperbacks or something like that.

I have sold on Amazon. When discarding a book or something, that is my first way of getting rid of it. No fees until the item sells. But they do charge fees when it sells--basically, the item has to sell for about three dollars minimum for me to break even on the fees. Shipping charge (to buyer) is not hit with fees, but evaporates mighty fast at the post office.

 

[mattl]

Chuck, thanks.

 

Got a bunch of stuff accumulating I've always intended to put on ebay but never have.  I know they take a cut, that is one of the reasons I've been dragging my feet.  The stuff I have would not sell well on CL so Ebay is about the only option other than the dump.  I checked out the sold listings and the stuff i have sold for about $8 with a  listing of $16.99 or best offer, shipping was $3.95.  Even if I gave up 10-15% I'd guess I'd still be ahead.  I'm a big time procrastinator so the stuff may sit another 10 years...

 

[perc-o-prince]

I usually make about $20 the cut-off for stuff I'm going to sell on eBay. It's unusual for me to sell anything that I value less than that. My time is worth something and I do take the time to make sure people can see what they're getting then pack it to make sure that it (hopefully) arrives in only the number of pieces they've paid for.

We DO use eBay for a lot of selling and haven't had any of the aforementioned PayPal issues... yet. Oh, I'm sure we're overdue, but we take precautions with our listings to lessen the chance.

If you do list, I would humbly suggest that you up the $8 price a little and drop the $3.95 shipping you've seen. As long as none of the ads in the mags are current, I believe you can ship Media Mail, as Launderess suggested, for most mags. I know I'd rather pay a little more for an item and less for shipping, than pay the same total and have more go to the post office. If you pack the mag in a cheap plastic storage bag (50 for $1 at Dollar Tree) then with a piece of stiff cardboard in a manilla envelope, it's not that bad. I've heard that you can cut the flap and an end off of a Priority Mail flat and use that inside the envelope.

Good luck!

Chuck

 

[mattl]

Thanks for the tips!