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chrisinhouston · 01-23-2015, 12:14 PM

I just sold something on Ebay for $2000!

For some time now I've been wanting to upgrade some of my camera gear and have been leaning towards a Sony a7R, a fantastic mirrorless camera with 36MP sensor and a host of other features. But my wife and I have an agreement that my addiction to camera gear should be a cost neutral as possible. I can get a used one in LN condition for around $1400 and I would probably get a few other things like the Canon lens adapter and the battery grip. Maybe eventually some Sony/Zeiss lenses.

So I made a difficult decision to sell an old family heirloom. My grandfather went out to China and I inherited many of the beautiful things he and my grandmother (she was born in China) had. One of them was a Mandarin robe worn by a civil servant, the robe is called a Pufu. The robe is polished black silk and has a rank badge on the front and back, the 5th level Silver Pheasant. You see these badges all the time on Ebay, some are real antiques and usually showing their age and others are complete knock offs from China claiming to be genuine. Sometimes you see real court style robes but I've only once seen a Pufu like mine.

So I put it up for auction on Wednesday night with a starting bid of $100 and a "buy it now" price of $2000. I set a reserve of $1200 hoping that if it got bit up to there it might reach $1500 or so by the end. So yesterday an Ebay user contacts me saying they will pay $1500 if I am interested. I responded in a nice way that I already set a "buy it now" price and he was welcome to bid on it anytime if that was too high. With in 20 minutes I got an email from Paypal saying I had just received $2000 a guy in Los Angeles with a confirmed Paypal account. He had a 100% + feedback score of 58 which isn't a lot but good enough and no negatives.

So today I packed it up carefully and sent it off. I hope my grandfather won't be saddened by my selling it. I had no way to display it and it has been stored in an old Chinese camphor wood chest to keep it safe for all these years since he got it in 1905.

Here are 2 pictures of it:

01-23-2015, 12:14 PM	#10544
chrisinhouston Professor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Houston TX Posts: 1,857	I just sold something on Ebay for $2000! For some time now I've been wanting to upgrade some of my camera gear and have been leaning towards a Sony a7R, a fantastic mirrorless camera with 36MP sensor and a host of other features. But my wife and I have an agreement that my addiction to camera gear should be a cost neutral as possible. I can get a used one in LN condition for around $1400 and I would probably get a few other things like the Canon lens adapter and the battery grip. Maybe eventually some Sony/Zeiss lenses. So I made a difficult decision to sell an old family heirloom. My grandfather went out to China and I inherited many of the beautiful things he and my grandmother (she was born in China) had. One of them was a Mandarin robe worn by a civil servant, the robe is called a Pufu. The robe is polished black silk and has a rank badge on the front and back, the 5th level Silver Pheasant. You see these badges all the time on Ebay, some are real antiques and usually showing their age and others are complete knock offs from China claiming to be genuine. Sometimes you see real court style robes but I've only once seen a Pufu like mine. So I put it up for auction on Wednesday night with a starting bid of $100 and a "buy it now" price of $2000. I set a reserve of $1200 hoping that if it got bit up to there it might reach $1500 or so by the end. So yesterday an Ebay user contacts me saying they will pay $1500 if I am interested. I responded in a nice way that I already set a "buy it now" price and he was welcome to bid on it anytime if that was too high. With in 20 minutes I got an email from Paypal saying I had just received $2000 a guy in Los Angeles with a confirmed Paypal account. He had a 100% + feedback score of 58 which isn't a lot but good enough and no negatives. So today I packed it up carefully and sent it off. I hope my grandfather won't be saddened by my selling it. I had no way to display it and it has been stored in an old Chinese camphor wood chest to keep it safe for all these years since he got it in 1905. Here are 2 pictures of it: Attached Images