Experiment 1: Can buying at auctions make me money?

I've used online auctions like Ebay for years but never really bought much at a real live auction house.

Now to fund my auction experiment I've had to cut out on the little luxuries... no nice craft magazine (£5), no chocolate or sweets (£3), no sandwich shop for lunch (£4) and no using the car when I could bike or walk (probably saved around £4). Altogether I managed to scrape together £20 over a week by just watching every penny I spent and saving what I didn't in a little dog shaped money box.

I bummed a ride with my partner to a local auction where I very carefully picked out a couple of promising lots and decided how much I would be willing to pay (watch out for my lowdown on auctions post).  I bid on one box of miscellaneous bits that I fancied the looks of and ended up paying £4 for it. The other thing I really fell in love with was an old table and 2 chairs and I finally won the auction with a bid of £14... now the wiser readers will know that works out to be £18 before commission so I had to borrow the difference from my other half to cover the final fee of £20.70!

When we got home I couldn't wait to dive into my box to see if there was treasure buried at the bottom and here's what I found...

• A few nasty plates, and a chipped jug (gone to charity shop already)
• A pure wool blanket - a little smelly but a quick wash soon spruced it up nicely
• 6 cups and saucers - I'd usually pay at least £1 each for these so I'm already in 'profit'
• A beautiful coloured bowl/vase thingy that is sitting on my hallway windowsill for now (it may become a Christmas present for someone)
• A gaudy little bowl that turns out to be a Poole Pottery pin dish
• 3 old looking plates that need a bit more research but might end up as car boot stock
• A little bunch of keys for drawers or cabinets
• 2 yellow egg cups
• A rubber Dougal dog
• Another plate with the 'Mondays Child' rhyme on it
• A huge pile of old sheet music - some from circa 1940

My new bowl/vase thingy!

Quite a mixed lot but I see profit in there!

I think most of it is destined for Ebay but I've already managed to sell the bunch of keys to a local furniture restorer for £5 and I listed the pin dish already and have a bid of £4.99! In my head that takes me halfway to getting my original stake money back so I think I'll go again this weekend and try my luck with another mixed box.

The table and chairs will be listed on Ebay once I get a good photograph and they offer me a free listing weekend - no point spending where I don't have to and eating into those pretty profits!!!