Volitility of vintage soap costs.

Has anyone else noticed how crazy vintage soap prices have been lately? I've seen bowls of Yardley finish at $30 and $90 in the past two months with no real difference between them. And there's a bowl of C&I almost at $100 with 4 days to go... I've got a half dozen of the things (my favorite soap) in my cupboard, don't think I paid over $30 for any of them. I let one go for around $25 or so a few weeks back. I wanna say an unused OS mug I was watching out of curiosity didn't even break $40 in June. Those things started around $50-75 back when people couldn't even sell vintage Williams.

I sold all the gold in my IRA and reinvested in a Vintage Soap Indexed Fund.

I haven't been watching eBay for vintage soaps lately but since you mentioned it, I'll have a look. One item I distinctly remember fetching a high price was an Old Spice mug set that included the soap and complete with a red lid. It seems to me it was advertised as NOS that even included the original box.

It's pretty wild on the bay right now. Virtually the same item ranging from $15-$100. I have more than enough vintage soap in the house right now, plus I'm in the restraint, so I'll wait till the market cools off before putting any bids in for vintage soaps.

Exactly. I could have a stockpile of 50 pucks of vintage williams right now for a pittance compared to what they typically go for... but when I have 20ish pucks already, I have to start wondering how long I'm gonna actually live. Then I see a bowl pushing $100, when the same bowl in same condition went under $20 a few months back... and I'm at a loss for what drives the differences. Does one bowl of yardley go for $100 because the seller mentions offhandedly that it "smells nice"? Does anyone actually think that means they're getting a 60 y/o soap bowl that isn't wrapped that still has original scent? And Old Spice seems to be at a low now, you can get boxed mugs under $60... but every once in awhile one spikes well over that. Who know why?

I don't pretend to understand eBay but I might have a better idea if I ever sold anything on there. So far, I've only bought a few things with success and I'm either lucky (nothing I've purchased has been misrepresented and always arrived timely and in good condition) or it's a decent source for nearly everything under the sun.

Yeah it's pretty solid on a lot of stuff... basically anything old/second hand/vintage/whatever. Horrible source for new products that aren't cheap direct-from-china stuff though in my experience. For example electronics. It's usually more expensive than you can get products for if you shop around at online vendors, and the warranty may or may not be valid, and I'd venture there's a far higher risk of getting a damaged, dead, etc product and having to deal with eBay/CC fraud resolution. I did buy 100 pipettes shipped to me from China for <$3 though... can't beat that with a stick.

With regards to vintage stuff, someone else put it best in another thread here somewhere, but approaching it from the sellers standpoint. You can sell elsewhere, pay less in fee's, but you won't reach a fraction of the market. Likewise, you can buy elsewhere, likely pay far less as there's less competition, but 99% of what you're looking for is likely getting listed on eBay.

There are still deals to be had out there. I just landed 4 pucks of Colgate Cup Soap and a tube of vintage US made Palmolive SC for under $20.00. Just gotta look around and be patient.

Perhaps my luckiest find was NOS Houbigant Fougere Royale, absolutely pristine. A seller must not have known what he had, and I nabbed it for the $50 BIN price within about an hour of it being posted. That said, I agree. There appears to be no rhyme nor reason to the prices these days.