Paul Daniels' Ebay Transactions

February 11th

2008-02-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

Yet more ebaytivity from Mr Daniels. I hope he keeps this up.

There were three exciting sales today and the three items were all very different. I'll start with the poster because regular readers will know the form by now.

Paul has cut (Ctrl C) and paste (Ctrl V) his usual intro about how the Public Records Office have treated his posters to ensure they remain in good condition and justify his high starting price... which is fair enough because if this was just a regular poster I can't imagine anyone being prepared to pay quite so much for it.

Then he describes the poster saying, "This is a GREAT French poster with very powerful graphics showing a MONSTER with a child held high and in another scene an Angel about to finish off the monster with a sword. Other colourful characters stand around."

It's fascinating to watch a master ebayer at work here, highlighting the key words, GREAT and MONSTER because Paul knows what sells.

"The signature of what I assume to be the printer or designer is printed in the centre," continues Paul, skilfully selling without committing himself to facts he can't back up, "and full details of the printers and the show are printed also."

"This poster is mounted on a cloth/canvas backing sheet and measures 37" x 50"
If you are a collector and seeking a 'different' look for your collection or display then this is perfect." (I think I might have gone with caps for PERFECT here but I'm quibbling.)

Paul hasn't bothered to translate the French (Le Monstre et le Magicien = The Monster and The Magician) because he knows that's not important. What's important is the colourful monster and the style of the scene.

Paul was charging £15 for postage and packing and had a starting price of £100. He got it as well from a bidder called sms1899 who was making his third ebay purchase having already bought a GPS system for his car and tickets for Sunday In The Park With George at Studio 54 in New York. I'll bet this is his first purchase from a celebrity!

Next we have this "Highly Decorative and Coloured Native Mask.

Paul says, "It is a very attractive talking point and the only fault I can find with it is that the topmost 'spike' is missing a small part from the very top. A dab of gold paint and no one will know."

I like this tactic a lot. Many ebayers would use a dab of gold paint to cover up the imperfection on the grounds that the buyers simply wouldn't know. But not Paul. He tells us about the fault and advises us on how to deal with it. That kind of honesty inspires trust and ebay is built on trust.

And because we trust Paul we then don't mind him adding something like, "This looks much better in real life than it does in the photograph." to the listing. In the hands of a less sincere ebayer that would read as some kind of flim-flam but not from Paul. It simply means that in his honest opinion it does look better in real life.

Paul wanted £17 for the mask (which is 11"(inches) wide) and was charging £5 for postage and packaging. As with the French poster this was a one bid auction and Paul got his £17... this time from rodmedina06. Well done to them both.

But I've saved the best til last.

This leather and wood captain's chair attracted a lot of attention and a lot of bids.

Remember what I said about Paul's honesty and how instead of covering faults he pointed them out and explained how to deal with them? Well he's done it again here.

He starts off by explaining, "I had this hand made at great expense over 20 years ago and although it has been used on and off ever since, it shows remarkably little sign of wear." So we know it's in generally good condition.

But then he adds, "The only 'faults' that I can see are the cloth (canvas?) underside of the chair has come away at the front left (very easily fixed) and the top corners of the wooden arms have tiny pieces missing. Me? I would most likely use a wood plane to trim all the corners to match and that would fix that."

You see. It's perfect ebay behaviour. He really is a credit to the ebay community.

Paul adds that "the height is adjustable and it is a very comfortable chair." and as with the native mask we are now fully prepared to accept his opinion ("very comfortable") as fact. Perfect.

The chair was offered as for collection only Paul started off looking for a very reasonable £30.

Bidder 1 took it to £33 and Bidder 2 must have been consumed by other higher bids because Bidder 3 then stretched it to an improbable £44.44 before (ironically) Bidder 4 came along and made it first £73.76 and then £82.78. This is when Bidder 2 got their name on the board with a bid of £98 but a new bidder, a very determined Bidder 5 came along and dealt a deadly blow to Bidder 2's ambitions making it £100, £110 and then £120. Another new bidder joined in with Bidder 6 making it £125.99 but Bidder 5 wasn't giving up that easily and soon it was £130. Then £135 and then £140 with Bidder 5 still winning the day. Bidder 2 popped back in and made it £149 - a bid soon parried by Bidder 5's £150. Bidder 2 seriously raised the ante making it £192 but still it wasn't enough and jfpowell3 sealed the deal with a winning bid of £197... over 6 times what Paul had set as his starting offer! Crikey, that was exciting ebaying.

I'm sure the winning bidders will be delighted with their poster, mask and chair and I'm sure Paul will enjoy spending the £314 he made out of selling them. Not a lot!

February 7th

2008-02-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

What a busy ebay day this has been for Paul - and therefore for me. While I'm delighted that Paul has recently renewed his interest in the online auction site, I'm struggling to keep up!

Today he sold four items and purchased a fifth. I'll start with the sale that I think exemplifies Paul's appeal. You see, we know he's one of the finest entertainers in the land and we know that he's a rich man because of it but Paul hasn't let that go to his head. He's just like you and me and just like you and me, he's prepared to sell a piece of tat online for just £3.60. Well done Paul. This really shows you haven't lost your common touch.

Paul listed the item as follows, "Be Thankful It's NEW! The PERFECT gift with that Quality Look for the man who has everything.. and wants to scratch it!"

Bearing in mind Paul's acknowledged gift for comedy he also adds, "This looks like an expensive gift, and yet is a really good joke." Now we know that when Paul says something is "really a good joke" it must be a corker and of course he's right because this small item of silverware is a great joke. It looks like it is going to be some kind of quality desk top executive fancy-dan toy but is actually a coarse joke item with a delicate female hand on the end of a nine inch handle. The idea being that men can use it to scratch their testicles! You see, Paul is right. It is a cracking good laugh!

Given Paul's listing I'm surprised to see someone called Ronald asking him a question on ebay about the item. "Hi paul, i realy like this ball scratcher.... but not a lot..!!" writes Ronald, cruelly mocking Paul's catchphrase that he used throughout the heyday of his career as Britain's biggest TV magician. He then continues, "Has it been used, and if so, would this affect the price..? kind regards Ronald" Hasn't he read the listing. Paul has already cracked this gag by saying, "Be thankful it's new!" Ronald is clearly crazy and just trying to weedle his way into Paul's good books. But he gets nowhere. Paul cuts him down to size with a matter-of-fact retort, simply saying, "It is new." Well done Paul.

These items can be bought on ebay for £5.99 elsewhere but Paul undercut them all and started at £3, a price that was met by mbw1962. This was then stretched to £3.40 before thequalityfinish won the day with a bid of £3.60. Paul charged them £2 for postage and packaging.

The next item Paul sold was also made of metal but has a genuine sense of quality about it that the joke ball-scratcher will never have.

It's a brass dish and Paul makes it very clear that he doesn't know very much about it saying, "This is a shallow long dish of very ornate design and the only thing that I can guess is that it was used on a desk to hold pens/pencils. I may be wrong. Approximately 8.75" x 2.5". The underside carries the following marks: RR80324; An eight pointed star over WT&S over 3681. The topside shows four animals/birds amongst ornate shapes."

So we know that it's brass and we know it's dimensions and we know what Paul thinks it may have been used for but we also know that he might be wrong. Is that all the information Paul provides? Not on your nelly. He's been on the internet trying to find more and gives us the results saying, "A search on the internet found the following:

Tonks, William & Sons, (WT&S), Cheapside, then 291 Moseley Street, Birmingham making cast and wrought products. Manufacturer of general, naval, fancy, ecclesiastical metalwork and an early fabricator of decorative patterned tubes. The Tonks surname is in the lists of Birmingham brassfounders before the 1800s. By 1869 Tonks had developed the eight-pointed 'sun' trade mark showing two eyes and a mouth. Later the WTS initials were inserted instead for marks on some items. The name was changed to Tonks (Birmingham) Ltd., then by merger to Newman Tonks, then NT Metals. They are now in the Ingersoll-Rand Group.
And you may care to read more about this old company by going to

http://www.oldcopper.org/tonks.htm"

If that isn't quality ebaymanship I don't know what is. Paul doesn't know much about the item but he's honest and industrious enough to go out of his way to find out on behalf of us his potential bidders.

As with the last item I described Paul was asked a public question by someone, this time it was someone called Luke who asked, "Hello, are you the much respected magician Paul Daniels?" This must be annoying for Paul because he has already answered this question in his ebay About Me page where he says, "Yes, it is me!" He wisely adds, "This probably sounds conceited, but it isn't. It is just that every time I sell an item somebody sends email asking 'are your the real Paul Daniels?' I am putting this here to hopefully save me some work in replying!" Which makes it very clear. I did think it sounded conceited when I first read it but having observed Paul's ebaytivity for some time now I am inclined to agree with him. It isn't. And Luke's question only proves it.

Paul's answer is perfect and manages to get all the information across without a hint of that conceitedness.
"Well, I am a magician and I am Paul Daniels," he says, before adding, "... respect?"

Paul has correctly observed that it is not for him to say whether or not he is respected. It is for others. At the same time he has told Luke that yes, he is THE Paul Daniels. Let me tell you Paul - you are respected. Greatly. Not just as a magician, but as an ebayer too.

If I were Paul I'd have directed Luke to this page of Paul's website where Luke could learn just how 'respected' Paul really is. There he'd see that:

"Paul Daniels is without doubt one of the most accomplished magicians in the World, and certainly one of the most exciting. Add to that a unique comedy style and you have a complete entertainer and one of the funniest men in show business.

His fame and achievements are not confined to the UK where he is a household name. The USA, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Spain, and Japan have all recognised him as a world class entertainer. Amongst his numerous achievements, he has starred in his own hugely successful West End Theatre Show, headlined in Las Vegas and Broadway, as well as performing more unique magic on TV than any other magician in history..

With a reputation as one of the most popular society and show-business entertainers, Paul has entertained The Royal Family including princes William and Harry, The Sultan of Brunei, The Sultan of Oman, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Barry White, John Major (Prime Minister), James Callaghan (Prime Minister), Princess Michael of Kent, The Duke and Duchess of Wessex, and countless others.

In the world of TV no-one has enjoyed more success than Paul Daniels. From the moment he burst onto the ITV network, and later switched to the BBC, his magic shows topped the ratings. A recent book on TV facts calls him the most successful TV magician of the 20th century. His creative genius enabled him to produce consistently stunning shows, never rivalled in spectacle, covering the full range of the world of entertainment magic, from small, ‘close-up’ effects, to enormous outside broadcast illusions.

In 1983 Paul was presented with the prestigious ‘Magician of the Year’ Award by the Hollywood Academy of Magical Arts before a star-studded audience in Los Angeles. It was a tremendous achievement for Paul, and he was the first magician from outside the USA to receive the award."

I think that shows that Paul is more than respected! But Paul understands humility and while that information is presented on his website he doesn't go ramming it down people's throats. Good on you Paul.

Anyway, the dish had a starting price of £10 and one bidder, avis50, snapped it up for that bargain price, paying £5 for postage and packaging on top.

Next up is a poster that Paul failed to sell recently but immediately relisted to good effect. I'm not normally a fan of Paul's relistings but this time he has got the desired result.

He didn't change the wording of his listing so you can see my previous entry about this poster to see what was said.

While there were no bidders last time round this time there was some action with the first bid coming from none other than bassey1937. One is tempted to wonder if it is Shirley herself! Paul started the poster at £28 and bassey1937 bid £30 but was outbid by yearsleyaj who bid first £32 and then £34 before lewy6544 came along and made it £37. yearsleyaj responded with a round £40 but then sacha10000 came in and won the poster with a £41 bid. They paid £8 for postage and packaging.

Now, the final sale. Apparently this morally dubious device is called a 'snooper' and it helps to alert motorists to the presence of speed cameras so they can slow down and avoid getting points on their licence. Probably a valuable commodiy for a travelling performer like Paul but not one that he's decided to take advantage of. This is still boxed and covered in shrinkwrap!

The same item is listed elsewhere on ebay for £74.99 but Paul listed it at a bargain starting price of £25. paegglao started the ball rolling with a bid of £26.89 which was then pushed to £31.98 before sbtrading1uk came in with £32. Was paegglao going to be outdone for just 2p? No sir. They came back with £33 and won the snooper. At that price it will pay for itself. Even with the £4 postage and packaging.

Now it wasn't just ebay selling that Paul did today... he made a purchase too. He bought these "deluxe prism glasses" from the seller mobilityextras who specialise in mobility aids, scooters, wheelchairs and the like.

The idea behind the item is that they allow people to watch TV or read a book while lying flat in bed without having to contort their neck! The listing says, "ideal for people who have to wear a halo or who have limited neck movement." I wonder what Paul has planned for them? It is possible he has bought them for his Mam who lives nearby and who he sees regularly. But when he mentions her in his blog there is no hint that she would need such things.

It is also possible that he has bought them to use in some illusion he is devising. A lot of magic tricks use mirrors and we can only guess at the advantage a magician could make out of being able to see at right angles without moving his head! Paul snapped them up for the Buy-it-now price of £40.80 plus £5.35 postage and packaging.

So he's earned £87.60, got rid of a poster, a ball scratcher, a brass dish and a snooper while spending £46.15 and getting some deluxe prism glasses leaving Paul £41.45 in profit.

I'm sure Paul will enjoy being able to see round corners while he spends his £41.45. Not a lot!

February 6th

2008-02-06T06:16:00.000-08:00

On February 6th, Paul sold this old four drawer wooden filing cabinet. As I mentioned recently, Paul has started to exploit his celebrity status to make more money out of ebay and I say well done him for that. This item was listed as "Vintage Wooden Filing Cabinet property of Paul Daniels." He clearly understands that his ownership of the cabinet makes it more valuable to some... and why not. Just think of the things that will have been kept in this cabinet? Just imagine the stories this cabinet could tell?

"This old filing cabinet was refurbished by my father a long time ago and now has marks and scratches but not so much as to detract from the look," writes Paul with admirable honesty. You might see the other photo and wonder about the mismatched colour. But Paul is aware of this and like the quality ebayer he is he is quick to reassure potential buyers, writing, "Don't be confused by the different colour in the close up photograph of the drawer furniture. It shows lighter in the photo because of the flash. The full image in the photograph is very close to the colour of the cabinet." Thanks Paul. That's why I love your ebaying.

"This is a suspended file system in the drawers and the drawers do open and close smoothly, as they should," he explains, before warning people that "One of the brass handles has been broken at some time and repaired but I think it should be taken off and mended properly by brazing or whatever they do."

Even more excitingly, the item is available for collection only so whoever buys it will not just pick up a cabinet with an exciting showbiz history but will also get to visit the great man's home as well! What a bonus!

As if to really make the most of the showbiz connection, Paul must have carefully selected the third photo. Is it a coincidence that he's chosen to photograph the card which makes mention of his and Debbie's fan club? I doubt it. He's too shrewd for that. And who is Mervyn? Perhaps we'll never know.

Paul's last comment made me quite sad. I don't mind admitting it brought a lump to my throat. He said simply, "I'll miss it."

Then why sell it? That's the sensible question anyone would ask. It obviously has huge sentimental value to the little magic man so how can he bear to part with it. I'll tell you how... because of the cash! The bidding on this item was fast and furious, I can tell you.

When things get pricey on ebay they hide the identity of the bidders so I'm afraid only the winner is a known quantity. Paul set a starting price of just £10 for this item and Bidder 1 soon doubled his earnings with a £20 bid. But that was only the beginning. Bidder 2 stepped in with £27 before Bidders 3 and 4 took it all the way to £45 with some tit-for-tat bidding. Bidder 2 returned fire with £47 but Bidder 3 wasn't giving up easy and put in a cryptic £53.98. A new bidder, (Bidder 5) entered the fray and made it £75. Welcome back our old friend, Bidder 2 and £77. Bidder 5 wasn't a one-time bid Charlie and soon topped it with £85 before another new bidder joined the auction with a bid of £90.09 which was then stretched to £101. but Bidder 2 wasn't shaken off and came back in with £109. Bidder 5 showed just as much tenacity and made new bids of £120, £130, £134 and then £138 before Bidder 6 all but took them out of the game with a £155 bid. Another new bidder turned up offering £179 but they were beaten by Bidder 8 and £183. Bidder 9 must have existed but their bid is unrecorded - no doubt equalled or bettered too soon as Bidder 10 came in at £211. But then, at the last allie1971 popped up with a £216 bid winning the day. And the cabinet!

What a powerhouse of an auction that was! From £10 to £216 in only 22 bids. Amazing ebay action and exactly the kind of thing that I hope will keep you coming back to Paul Daniels' Ebay Transactions. Thanks Paul.

I'm sure he'll be sad to see the back of the cabinet his father refurbished many years ago and that Mervyn used to keep track of his fan-club correspondence... but I'm sure he will enjoy spending the £216 he made out of it! Not a lot!

January 31

2008-01-31T09:30:00.000-08:00

This has been another spectacular day for Paul and his ebaying. There were three auctions and while only two of the items sold, they both went for such high prices that I think it would be unfair to characterise it as a 2-1 result. It was far better than that.

All three of the posters were listed in the same fashion. Paul has got wise to the fact that his own superstar status adds value to his auctions and is exploiting it by adding links to his website and making mention of his name with each of these three listings starting in the same fashion:

"Paul Daniels Posters"

Over a period of 30 years Paul Daniels (for more information visit www.pauldaniels.co.uk) collected posters of anyone and anything to do with magic and magicians. In the vast majority of cases they were then preserved by having all the natural acids taken out of the paper and then they were mounted on either archival paper or cloth. Cloth was normally used on the larger posters. Even some modern posters went through this process as Paul believed that they were the ‘history’ for the future. All this work was carried out by the United Kingdom’s greatest archivists, the Public Records Office (they worked on the Doomsday Book) and therefore the starting price of even the most mundane of posters reflects the fact that you are buying ‘paper’ that will last for a very long time indeed.

It's a classy listing for sure. He mentions his name, shows you where you can find out more about him in order to underline his status and then explains quite why his posters are listed at the high prices they are. Following this 'standard' opening he then describes the specific poster.

Let's deal with the disappointing non-sale first of all. It's for a cabaret starring none other than Shirley Bassey and Tommy Cooper! As Paul says, "What a show this must have been. Shirley Bassey, one of the UK's greatest ever singing stars AND Tommy Cooper, the most famous of the UK's comedy magic clowns!" When he puts it like that you can't really argue. What a show! Paul goes on to explain, "This show ran for a VERY long season at the Prince of Wales Theatre and Tommy's act in this show was the basis for the recent play about him." which is a fascinating snippet of extra information but he also pointedly adds, "The show is described as being 'Gay'. How times change." with all the wit and aplomb you'd expect from the great man. He's pointing out how the word 'gay' has taken on a new meaning in recent times. Now it is used almost exclusively to refer to homosexuality. This cabaret wasn't 'gay' in that sense, it was 'gay' in the 'light-hearted and carefree' sense of the word. Paul's right, times do change! He doesn't say whether he thinks it has changed for better or worse - and that's Paul's genius. He doesn't need to explain!

Oddly this was one of Paul's more reasonably priced posters with Paul listing it at £30 (+£10 p&p) and yet it still hasn't sold. Perhaps Paul should have given details on the poster's dimensions. In recent times he's been very good about this but this time he seems to be content to just show the poster photographed next to a ruler. Oh well.

He did rather better with this poster for Vernon Cellsus; "The White Wizard, Magician of Excellence" As Paul puts it, "If this poster is anything to go by, he truly must have been a magician of excellence. This is one of the most powerful images I have ever owned on a poster. It is large and makes an incredible display on a large wall." Imagine that! Having only just learned of Paul's huge poster collection we now discover that this is "one of the most powerful" he has ever owned. If you ask me, this makes this poster one of the most powerful magic-related posters ever!

This time Paul explains the dimensions telling us it is "Approximately 88" x 40""(inches)

However, ever the honest ebayer Paul does explain the flaws of the item saying, "Note that since this poster was processed it was stored in a warehouse and sadly got some rainwater on it. This is hardly noticeable on the front but the mounting cloth on the back is marked. It may well be possible to remove the stain but I have not tried." But having given us fair warning Paul then instantly transforms into the perfect salesman and adds, "Look at the photo and you will see how little this matters."

Paul was asking for a starting bid of £350 plus £20 for p&p - although he was offering to send the poster by postal tube to anywhere in the world for that. I'll be honest, £350 seems like a huge amount to spend on a poster no matter how large or how well its been treated. But that didn't stop londonpaul from bidding and winning! £350! For a poster! Well done Paul.

But it gets better still with this poster for the "Incomparable Vonetta."

Paul hints at something very intriguing here without explaining the whole story. Writing about himself in the third person he says, "The poster featured here is very rare and purely by chance Paul found a Vonetta collection in the loft of her house in Glasgow as it was being demolished." Who was Vonetta? How did Paul know her? Why was he in her Glasgow home when it was demolished? Perhaps we will never know. Still, at least having gone through the attic of a now dead magician's house his find hasn't gone to waste and he is able to financially gain by selling it on through ebay. Well done Paul.

Again Paul explains the potential flaws explaining that when he found it the "corners of the folded poster were torn and this shows on the photograph" but also adding, "Of course, now it is mounted, those tears cannot 'crumble' away any more."

Again Paul tells us about the posters dimensions, saying, "This is a large poster and looks powerful when displayed on a wall" and then explaining that it is "Approximately 89" x 41""

Its size means that it exceeds the British Postal System's maximum size.(I didn't know they had one!) But that's okay because Paul was prepared to send it out by courier.

Paul was looking for a £500 starting bid and charging £20 for the p&p. And he found a bidder in the shape of sjpsets.

What a great day. I'm sure Paul won't mind holding on to his £30 Bassey/Cooper poster when he has just made £850 on his other two posters! I'm sure londonpaul and sjpsets will be very happy owning their well preserved but slightly damaged posters and I'm sure Paul will be happy spending his £850. Not a lot!

January 30

2008-01-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

This has been a very successful bit of ebaytivity for Paul, very successful indeed.

This was a simple listing for a quality product that was quickly dispatched with the minimum of fuss. Perfect ebaying.

It's a Dyson Root 6, DC16, bagless, handheld vacuum cleaner that Paul originally listed for just £10 (+£10 p&P)

Apart from listing the product's features (it has 36 air watts of suction, 5 filtration levels and weighs in at only 3.3lbs) all Paul added was this:
"The only reason for selling this hardly used vacuum cleaner is that we received another one for Christmas! As you can see in the photograph, this even comes in the original box!" which raises the tantalising question as to who would buy Paul and Debbie a handheld vacuum cleaner for Christmas!

Anyway... the auction was scheduled to end on February 6th but it ended early because mehitabel stormed straight in and snapped it up for the 'Buy It Now!' price of £60.

Well done Mehitabel. I reckon these things are going to cost at least £80 new. And well done Paul.

I'm sure Paul will enjoy owning only one handheld vacuum cleaner for a while and I am sure he will enjoy spending his £60 too. Not a lot!

January 21

2008-01-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

When an item goes unsold Paul often returns and relists. It rarely gets the desired result but it's worked this time!

His listing was identical to that which he left for his Janury 9 auction but the bidding was a relative frenzy.

The asking price was £100. The first bidder (anonymous) went to £122.85 only to be beaten by a bid of £124.85 from oldeandintheway. Well done oldeandintheway.

I'm sure Paul will enjoy spending his £122.85. Not a lot!

January 13

2008-01-13T16:41:00.000-08:00

On January 13th Paul Daniels failed to win an auction for a refurbished HP Deskjet 1120C A3/A4 colour inkjet printer.

It was being sold by a professional company with the appropriate ebay name 'printer-trader-limited' who are an ebay power seller!

Their listing tells us that the printer has been "fully refurbished" by their "experienced HP engineers" and that it offers "fantastic colour printing" producing up to "7 pages per minute." They rightly assess that it would be suitable for "home and office use" - which sounds right up Paul's street because he no doubt wants it for his home office. (I wonder if it's something his new p.a. Kiersti has demanded?)

Their listing also says, "low low price of £59 +VAT" and lists their 0161 Manchester phone number... which makes what transpired a bit of an odd auction. It looks to me like they're offering these printers for £59.

It can't be their starting price on the auction because this auction started with a bid of £46 from funtington46, a bid that was soon overtaken by yonny_uk who took it first to £50 and then £57 before Paul stepped in and bid £61.

Which confuses me because surely that's more than they're telling people they will sell it for!

Not that it mattered because yonny_uk came back and won the day with a bid of £63 which won the day.

I'm sure yonny_uk will enjoy owning the Hewlett Packard Deskjet Printer and I'm sure Paul won't mind missing out. Not a lot!

January 12

2008-01-12T15:58:00.000-08:00

My first thought when I saw this auction was that Paul was making the same mistake all over again.

It's another great looking poster. It's colourful and magic related and would look great if displayed well but there was the same lack of historical detail as we witnessed with the unsold OMO poster and it was, I thought, similarly over priced.

It is 5'(feet) x 4'(feet) in size and as with all of Paul's recently offered posters it has had the acid removed from the paper by the team at the Public Records Office!

It is for a magician called Harold but Paul doesn't offer any information about him, only saying, "the language on the poster is French."

I don't speak French but I could make a passable attempt at translating it so why doesn't Paul? Harold presents the most terrifying of experiences: The Chopper of Heads. Real reincarnation of the Torturer of Paris. It's not hard to do. Come on Paul, make an ebay-effort!

Paul was asking £100 for the poster and a whopping £15 for postage and packaging... although he does say it "will have to go by courier as the Post Office here will not accept a postal tube of this size."

Anyway... to my surprise there were two bidders. The first has remained anonymous but he came in at £101. The second has the very magical ebay screen name of roberthoudin. (Any magic fan will know of the French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin who many regard as the father of modern conjuring. Houdini - who surely even non-magic aficionados have heard of named himself in honour of Robert-Houdin.)

The ebay-user roberthoudin is clearly a big magic fan and has bought many other magic related items. Which explains why he was prepared to pay £103 for Paul's poster.

I'm sure Paul will enjoy spending his £103. Not a lot!

January 9th

2008-01-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

I thought Paul was on to a surefire winner when I saw this item. It's colourful, it had a great description and it relates to magic so Paul Daniels' fans were sure to snap it up.

Sadly I was wrong. I'm afraid it looks like Paul has priced himself out of a buyer here.

The poster is 5' x 4' (feet) and has been preserved by having the natural acids removed and then mounted on cloth!

It is for a magician called OMO, who Paul describes as French although he is obviously not sure about that because he then adds (Belgian?)

Paul describes it as having "drawings of various effects from his stage show" and adds that it is "a good example of the period" but he neglects to say what that period is! A schoolboy error from the master ebayer.

Paul's starting price was £100 +£5 for postage and packing. There were, sadly, no bidders.

Oh well. I'm sure Paul will enjoy his continuing ownership of his OMO poster. Not a lot!

December 8th

2007-12-08T03:01:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, when will Paul learn. We've been here before with the books he tried to shift in September. When things don't sell the first time it's rarely worth putting them back on. Especially if you're Paul Daniels... I mean, let's assume that the items you're selling do have an audience.

So people have seen them... and rejected them. I know it's hard to take, but listing them on ebay again costs money and it just seems unlikely that they'll sell a second time... unless you change something.

Paul didn't change a thing with these three posters. (There were actually two identical Tommy Cooper posters and one two-sided Kio poster) He was looking for the same expensive starting prices that the ebay community had shunned first time round and guess what... they shunned him again. The posters remain unsold.

Let's hope that our favourite magical ebayer learns his lesson this time.

Oh well, I'm sure Paul will enjoy continuing to own two posters advertising a Tommy Cooper video and one two sided poster advertising the Russian illusionist Kio. Not a lot!

November 28th

2007-11-28T01:49:00.000-08:00

After a little ebay inactivity I'm here to tell you that Paul is back with a vengeance. What a day! Paul has been selling off magic posters from his collection. (By which I mean posters that relate to magic and not posters that possess magic properties!!) (Mind you, where Paul is concerned, you never know!)

There were 8 auctions in total - count them - 8! As every listing was set out in the same way I think it's best that I first lay out the template as it were.

The title for each listing is "Paul Daniels Posters" and then the name of the magician/illusionist featured. This is very crafty of Paul. He knows that he is as big a draw in the world of magic as anyone and so when someone is searching ebay for him, they are the kind of person who is likely to be interested in David Nixon, Doug Henning et al.

The listing then states:
"From the Paul Daniels Collection.
This poster, X"(inches) by Y"(inches) is in good condition. It has had the acid removed from the paper by the team at the Public Records Office who preserve the valuable historical paper documents of the British Isles and they mounted it on archival paper using a paste/glue that can be easily removed should a better method of preservation be discovered in the future."

Wow! That sounds like science fiction to me! Do the Public Records Office offer this service to anyone? If not, how did Paul get them to treat his magic posters with the same treatment as they would use for our nations history!! I mean, wow!

The listing then continued with a description of the posters, details of the act featured etc. and each listing ended with the words: "The poster will be sent to the successful buyer in a postal tube." On each occasion Paul was charging £4 or £5 for postage and packaging.

Right... let's get down to the nitty gritty. I'll start with the posters that didn't sell so that we can end on a high.

There were two Tommy Cooper posters (pictured once) and one Kio poster (pictured twice.) Why two pictures of one poster? Because, "This rare and unusual poster is odd in that it is double sided." Very odd indeed! It would probably work though if it was blutac-ed to a window somewhere that people are likely to congregate on either side. Say a bar or launderette.

I expect most people in Britain will be familiar with the work of Tommy Cooper who was more of a comedian than a magician. Perhaps that's why the two posters advertising one of his videos didn't sell. They were 23"(inches) x 16.5"(inches) and Paul was asking £20 for each of them with £5 for the postage and postal tube.

I doubt many people are familiar with Kio. I'm certainly not! Paul's listing states: "This is a poster advertising the great Russian illusionist Kio (senior). It would make a great talking point in any collection or on display in your magic den." This posters is 22.5"(inches) x 32.75"(inches) and Paul was looking for a £25 starting bid and charging £5 for p&p.

Now... that's the unsold items out of the way... let's get to the good stuff.

"This poster, 20" x 30", is in as new condition," says Paul, before adding "The corner of the backing paper has been torn but the poster is undamaged." He then goes on to describe the poster saying "This is a colourful poster advertising the most popular magician of the 1960s to 70s, David Nixon, who made his 'fame' on television. Like most summer season posters it also lists the supporting acts: Alan Randall; Lee Wilson; Tony Venner; The Anderson Sisters, and they were all appearing at the Britannia Pier, Great Yarmouth (One of Britain's top resorts)"

I'm not sure why Paul puts the word fame in inverted commas like that. David Nixon's fame was very real. (Although he was not averse to using the odd camera trick which I imagine would be frowned upon today!) Note that he was the most popular magician of the 60s and 70s. I wonder who came along to steal his crown? It was Paul of course. And then, undoubtedly, David Blaine. Paul was looking for a starting bid of £30 and charging £4 for p&p and he received one bid. The lucky bidder was magicnewshop who lives in Australia. I don't know if the £4 charged for postage covered such a journey or whether the two of them had to come to some other arrangement.

Paul commented in this listing that "There have been some comments online that my starting prices are just a little high but that reflects the preservation of these posters in a professional manner." God, some people can be so snooty! Relax a little. When you get the Public Records Office to preserve your posters in such a professional manner maybe you'll start to appreciate why Paul is charging so much. This isn't any old rubbish he's selling.

This poster is 20"(inches) by 14"(inches). It is a poster advertising one of America's most popular magicians, Doug Henning and his wife Debby. (Are all great magicians married to beautiful Debbies?)

The show was called 'A New Evening of Magic and Wonder.'

This poster had rarity value because, sadly, Doug Henning passed away in 2000. There'll never be another goofy illusionist quite like him that's for sure. Anyway, Paul was asking for a starting bid of £30. frejasse started the bidding and probably thought he'd pitched it right at £50 but he wasn't accounting secretsbl's cheeky £51 bid that won the day. Well done secretsbl.

And now we're approaching the headline act in Paul's poster extravaganza. This next pair would be a worthy closing act, but good as they are, there's more to come. He was selling two copies of this Silvan poster. They were both 39.2"(inches) x 27.25"(inches) and Paul was charging £5 p&p for each.

With one of them he was looking for a starting bid of just £50 and with the other he had a starting price of £100! Why the difference I hear you cry... what makes one of them so unique? Well, "What makes this poster so unique is that Silvan, the great Italian manipulator and illusionist, has written a signed message on it to Robert Harbin, the wonderful British inventor of such illusions as the Zig Zag girl." (The Zig Zag Girl illusion is the one where a girl gets into a cabinet with three sections and is apparently divided into three parts. It is one of the greatest illusions ever invented.)

Well the unsigned poster was snapped up with just one £50 bid coming from marco_p68. It's well worth it. (Especially if you consider the way the posters have been preserved you internet whiners.)

So how did the signed one do? Well two bidders got locked in a ding dong battle. Anything you can do, I can do better? No, anything you can bid I can bid higher is more like it. It went from £100 to £111 then £120 then a cheeky £123 before leaping to £166 and then finally £171. There was a mysterious unnamed bidder involved but the winner was the appropriately named magic_collector_2007. What an auction, Paul must have been delighted.

And now the closer.
Isn't it a beaut!

"This poster advertises the Professor's appearance at the New National Standard Theatre in Shoreditch and is rare," says Paul, before adding, "It describes the show in the wonderfully ornate language of the time." which indeed it does, as anyone with an eagle eye can confirm by staring closely at the poster!

The poster is 20"(inches) by 30"(inches) and in "as new condition, despite being antique."!! For those who don't know, Paul explains that, "Professor Anderson was known as the Great Wizard of the North and lived from 1814 to 1874 and is a major part of magic history in the UK." Well if you ask me, Paul is the modern day wizard of the north and he's certainly a major part of magic history not just in the UK, but in the world having gone down a storm in Vegas and has been presented with an award by the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood!

Anyway... the bidding for the Professor Anderson poster really was something. Ebay has a policy of not revealing the bidders identities when things go for large amounts and when I tell you that bidders 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were all anonymous, you'll understand that this one played a blinder!

Paul's starting price was £50 (with £5 for p&p) and magiphile came straight in with the opening bid. (magi = magic, phile = lover, get it?!!) a second bidder came in but Bidder3 was soon leading the way with £105.27 but not for long because Bidder2 came straight back in with £204! Bidders 4 and 5 entered the fray. Bidder5 might have thought that £311.88 would win the day Bidder4 knew different wth a cool £550. They must have been furious when Bidder6 came in with a whopping £1226 but even so, magiphile came back at the last to seal the deal with a magical bid of £1246. What an amazing auction. I think it must be the largest single sale Paul has had since I've been monitoring his ebaytivity, taking the crown from the Bolex Film Camera he sold on March 13th 2006 for £1015!!

I'm sure Paul won't mind the fact that he's still got two Tommy Cooper posters and a double sided Kio (senior) in his collection. What's more, I'm sure he'll enjoy the £1548 he's made from selling the others. Not a lot!

Debbie becomes an ebayer!

2007-10-18T03:53:00.000-07:00

Great news! Debbie McGee has joined ebay and has completed her first sale. To commemorate, I have set up a sister blog which I'm calling, Debbie McGee's Ebay Transactions.

I hope to see you there! I'm sure you'll like it. Not a lot!

September 15th

2007-09-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been yet another disappointing day on ebay for Paul with 8 auctions and only 2 sales!

This is especially surprising given some of what I have learned about Paul and his ebay expertise lately - but more on that later.

First up was The Complete Guide To Airbrushing Techniques And Materials by Judy Martin.

Paul described the book well saying, "Although this book is used it is in excellent as new condition. Approx 11"(inches) x 8"(inches) in size and containing many photographic examples of this art. Over 250 illustrations and 20 step by step examples."

This is the second book on the subject that Paul has recently tried to shift. He failed to sell The Advanced Airbrush Book on two separate occasions (Sept2,Sept9) which left me doubtful on this book but amazingly ebay user martin2843 stumped up the £5 (£3 p+p) he was asking.

Next up was No Room For Secrets the autobiography of sexy lady actress Joanna Lumley. Paul probably had good reason to expect a sale here as his copy of Joanna's Absolutely Fabulous co-star, June Whitfield's biography sold recently (Sept2)

Paul was asking only £5 for June's book (which had been read twice) but went up to £6 (+£3 p+p) for Joanna's. While he went to great lengths to "sell" June's with an extensive write-up of her talents in his listing with Joanna's he simply says, "9.5"(inches) x 6.5"(inches) in as new condition."

I think Paul might have priced himself out of the market here. Some simple research has revealed that, according to amazon.co.uk, there are 62 copies of the hardback edition available used and new through their "marketplace" for as little as 1p! Perhaps if Paul had set no lowest bid in place he might have attracted some bidding and in the heat of an auction who knows where things will go... but when the book is £5.99 more than can be found elsewhere, what chance have you got? (None)

Next came Close To The Edge, the autobiography of cheeky comedian Jim Davidson.

Paul obviously felt that Jim didn't have the same appeal as Joanna Lumley and priced the book at £5 (+£3 p+p) but this book (for which he used exactly the same description; "9.5"(inches) x 6.5"(inches) in as new condition.") has also gone unsold.

(On amazon, there were 41 used and new copies going for a penny. Crikey!)

Yet another showbiz biography next. This one from Tim Rice (he wrote musicals and is a "Grumpy Old Man" (in the TV show, "Grumpy Old Men".)

His book is called Oh, What A Circus and is described by Paul as, guess what, yes; "9.5"(inches) x 6.5"(inches) in as new condition." There is some insight into how highly Paul regards some other celebrities here as this book was priced up at the same level as Joanna Lumley's book (£6 (+£3p+p))

Obviously Paul rates Joanna Lumley and Time Rice rather more than he does Jim Davidson! But the public didn't agree and it went unsold. (35 used and new copies available on amazon from £1.96)

The next item moves away from showbiz and into the world of motor cruising. It's Motor Cruising by Peter Cumberlidge.

"This book, 9.5"(inches) x 8"(inches) is in very good condition and covers types of boats, financial aspects, choosing equipment, handling, basic navigation, weather and sea conditions and much more" wrote Paul, who lives besides the Thames and has owned several boats in his time. (Including a 1930 mahogany and elm canoe! It is 7.5 metres long and seats 7 adults and can run for 8 hours on its electric batteries. The boat is called The Lovely Debbie McGee! (like his wife.)) Paul recently (Sept9) tried to sell The Encyclopedia of Yachting and found nobody was interested and it seems this maritime tome has now met the same fate. No bidders came in at Paul's asking price of £4 (+ £3p+p)

I would have expected the next book to do well as it is related to a hugely successful television series.

Planet Earth - The Making Of An Epic Series by David Nicholson-Lord is exactly what it says. "This 10"(inches) x 7.5"(inches) book is what I call a stiff paper back and was produced at the time the BBC launched the amazing series of the same name." says Paul, before going on to say, "The book is in 'As New' condition and contains many photographs of the crew and animals."

Paul was asking £4 (+£3p+p) for this one. Nobody bit. (82 used and new copies available on amazon for 55p!)

The Art of Heraldry - Origins, Symbols and Designs by Peter Gwynn-Jones came next.

"This 11"(inches) x 9"(inches) book is in very good conition BUT the very first sheet (before the title pages) has been torn out," said Paul with impressive honesty.Well his honesty paid off and wenianner came in with Paul's asking price (a whopping £4 (+£3p+p))

The final title - and a genuine surprise of a non-seller - is Guild of Erotic Artists, Volume 1. This was printed in 2005 so it's pretty recent erotica and yet still nobody wanted to snap it up. I would have thought it was pretty difficult to fail when it came to selling erotic art on ebay. I'm obviously wrong. "This 11"(inches) x 8.25"(inches) stiff paper back book is a catalogue of the work of both photographers and artists who work in the world of erotic art. The contact details of each artist are included," say Paul who was asking for £4 (+2.50 p+p) The guild of erotic artists is based in St. Albans, Hertfordshire and there are now over 90 members. This book is over 160 pages and was published as a limited edition of only 5,000 copies. Unlike the celebrity biographys and TV tie-ins I've mentioned above they were not churned out in huge numbers. A new copy would cost you £22.99 while the cheapest used copy on amazon comes in at £13.50 so for once Paul's asking price was a genuine bargain. Of course it doesn't matter as it went unsold.

What a terrible ebay day.

Now, earlier, I hinted that I had learned something about Paul and his ebay expertise... and I have. Thanks to an anonymous e-mail tip off from someone who signed their e-mail simply "DM" (surely not Debbie Mcgee?) I have recently discovered that Paul is a director of a company that specialise in teaching other people how to sell on ebay!

On June 7th, Paul wrote the following on his very own blog:

"Of course that day meant another very late night and getting up at 7am the next morning really hurt. ‘Come on legs, get out of this bed’ and I was on the road to the NEC in Birmingham by 7.30.
This was for a Retail Exhibition. I am a director of a company that helps people to sell on the internet, either through eBay or Amazon or any other site. If you want to find the company it is called Improving Futures and we have an average increase in sales of 35% when we help people. Not bad eh? AND, out of the top 25 sellers on eBay, we have 10 of them on our books."

I've always instinctively known that Paul was an ebay expert but I didn't know that it was an area of actual professional expertise. I've looked into it and can tell you that the company started off being called Empty Your Loft in early 2004. They started providing eBay training under the name Improving Futures in September 2004 and Paul became a shareholder in October 2004. They used his celebrity status to front a media campaign that led to coverage on Central News and BBC Radio. In May 2005 they presented with Paul at the National Space Centre to an audience of 500 local businesses who were all interested in finding out more about e-commerce. In December 2005 they launched CreativeBay - an eBay design business and by June 2006 they were signing up all sorts of major brands who wanted to take advantage of their e-commerce expertise. (WH Smiths, Butlins and many more.) In September 2006 they abandoned the name Improving Futures in favour of Frooition. They have a website here.

While I'm interested to learn that Paul is a director of a company that advises others on how to sell on eBay, it does make his recent run of eBay failures more than a little embarrassing! It seems to me that while they're happy to abuse Paul's fame and magic to get themselves a mention on a local TV news spot they clearly aren't giving Paul the same advice they give their customers. There's no 35% increase in Paul's sales! Sort it out Frooition and improve Paul's future!

With no thanks to Paul's business partners he has missed out on £29 of book sales. Oh well... I'm sure Paul will enjoy spending the £9 he has made from his two sellers. Not a lot!

September 9th

2007-09-09T08:47:00.001-07:00

Oh dear. What can I say? This has to be one of the least successful days of Paul's ebay life so far as he had several auctions ending today and found not one buyer.

You might be forgiven for thinking I am repeating myself but I'm afraid it is Paul who is repeating himself by relisting the items that he failed to sell on September 2nd. The books were:
The Advanced Airbrush Book by Cecil Misstear with Helen Scott-Harman, Saucy Seaside Postcards by Alan Wykes, The Encyclopedia of Yachting by Peter Johnson and Design and Sell Toys Games & Crafts by Filis Frederick.

Paul did originally have two copies of the Saucy Seaside Postcard book and he listed them both on the same day. One sold, the other didn't.

The other three books were all left on the shelf (as it were) when Paul listed them the first time so I really don't think he should be surprised that they failed to sell this time - especially when he did nothing to "jazz up" the listings or change things in any way.

Come on Paul! You're an expert ebayer and I'm sure you can do better than that.

There's simply no point in me listing any of the details as they are all identical to those given on September 2 when these items were first listed so I hope you'll forgive me for aggregating the information. All the books were listed for either £4 or £5 (the book about games and toys was the cheaper one, all of the others were a fiver) and the postage costs were either £3 or £3.50 (the yachting book was £3.50, all the others were £3) so it would have cost someone £19 + £12.50 to get hold of all the books.

Will Paul relist the books. Will he continue to chase this £19 profit or will he admit defeat and move on? I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

In the mean time I'm sure Paul will enjoy owning his books for just a little longer. Not a lot!

September 4

2007-09-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

It's another day of mixed ebay fortunes for the magic man Paul Daniels. Yet more books; some sold, others less so. In other words, not.

First up is Monty Python's Big Red Book (Special Harback Edition) which is, as Paul notes in his ebay listing, not red and not a hardback. Paul rightly notes that these are clues to the "madness and silliness inside" and adds, "apparently all the Python team contributed to these pages that will lead you into a world of utter loonacy."(sic) and also gives us the all-important dimensions saying, "Approximately 11"(inches) x 9.75"(inches) and about 1/4"(inch) thick, the book has faded somewhat, but not the humour."

Paul was asking only £3 (+ £3 p+p) for this classic title and I am amazed to see that it did not sell.

As Monty Python might say, "This is a dead auction! It is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone on to meet it's maker!"

He had better luck with this book from another lunatic comedy team of yesteryear; The Goodies!

The Goodies Book of Criminal Records is described by Paul as having "one of those stiffish soft covers" and he notes that it is "full of the same idiocy as the Goons and the Python teams came up with."

He seems keen not to mislead people about the literary merits of the book, although anyone familiar with the Goodies will hardly need telling that "it is a great book to dip into, have a laugh, and move on. This is not War and Peace!"

Dimensions-wise Paul tells us the book is "Approximately 11"(inches) x 9.75"(inches) and about 1/4"(inch) thick" and he adds that "the book has faded somewhat, but not the humour"

He was asking £3 (plus £3 p+p) for this one as well and this time he made his money with ebay user dave9g84 snapping up the tome as the only bidder. Goodie for him. Goodie, goodie gum drop!

Paul's final auction of the day was this item which had been relisted after failing to sell on August 27. Paul obviously didn't think there was anything wrong with the listing as he left it unchanged for this second attempt - unfortunately keeping his mistake in mis-spelling the author's name. Once again, anyone searching ebay for works by Gordon Cruickshank won't have found this book which was, according to Paul, by Gordon Cruikshank! As Homer Simpson from The Simpsons might put it, "Doh!"

Three auctions and one sale! Oh dear. Come on Paul, pull your ebay socks up!

Still, I'm sure he will enjoy spending the £3 earned out of his Goodies sale. Not a lot!

September 2

2007-09-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

On reflection I think this will go down as a bad day for Paul Daniels and his ebay transactions.

I mentioned in my last post that he had listed some more books and indeed in total he had six auctions set to end today. Sadly, 4 of the items have gone unsold while the 2 that have been bought have gone to the sole bidders. It's not what I'd call "classic ebay action."

The first item is Saucy Seaside Postcards by Alan Wykes. Paul listed it in his usual way, wisely ignoring the rules of grammar, to giving the book's dimensions (in inches) as well as a good, fair description of the contents: "this 10" x 7.5" hardback book, 132 pages, is in Very Good Condition shows a multitude of postcard illustrations whilst at the same time discussing their history and development."

Paul went on to explain the original publisher and cover price of the book when it was published in 1977 although to be honest I can't work out who the publisher was.

"Original price, when published by Dolphin was £12.95. Originally published in 1977 by Jupiter books."

Which one was it Paul? Dolphin or Jupiter. I'm confused. Luckily ebay user pmmunitt wasn't confused and he paid £5 plus £3 postage costs for the saucy seaside postcard book.

Peculiarly, the second item Paul had up for sale was also a copy of Saucy Seaside Postcards by Alan Wykes. My initial feeling was that Paul must have made a mistake and listed the same item twice but that appears not to be the case.

Everything about the listing was identical. I'm guessing Paul did it as a "cut and paste" job - a phrase that anyone familiar with computers will recognise.

To me this is a schoolboy error in ebay terms. What if there were two ebayers keen to get hold of the Saucy Seaside Postcard book? If there were only one available Paul might have been able to get them into a bidding war, pushing up the sale price. Then he could have listed the second book. Price is related to supply and demand and in listing two identical items at the same time Paul was upping the supply - which any economist knows lowers the price.

As it happens it had no ill-effect because there was only one bidder and this second copy went unsold. We are left to wonder why it is that Paul has two copies of such an esoteric book? Maybe he was given them as presents? We will probably never know. Paul's running total: a profit of £5.

Next up - and I will save you the intrigue, it didn't sell - is Design and Sell Toys, Games and Crafts by the strangely named Filis Frederick.

Like the Saucy Seaside Postcard books this was first published in 1977.

Paul was very keen that potential buyers were not put off by the cover saying: "This book, 10"(inches) x 7"(inches), suffers from having quite a childish dustcover, whereas it is a really useful book of advice on the 'business' behind Toys and Games and Crafts. It has chapters on What makes a Good Game; a Good Toy; a Good Craft, how to get new ideas, how to make good models and write good directions and instructions, how to test the product and how to protect your ideas and so on. This is a gold mine of the business of creativity.The book is in good condition with some fading of the dustcover"
Believe me, when someone as creative as Paul Daniels says that this is a goldmine of "the business of creativity" it must be one hell of a book.

Paul's running total: £5.

Next up is The Advanced Airbrush Book by Cecil Misstear and Helen Scott-Harman.

It seems likely that Paul has been quite a serious photographer in his day as we know that on March 20, 2006 he sold two Mamiya cameras, turning a profit of £328.80 in the process. (Those were halcyon days!) Perhaps this interest in photography explains why he once treasured this book about airbrushing. In his ebay listing he describes it saying, "This superb book, although listed here as 'used' is in very good 'as new' condition and is packed with 'how to' instructions and examples of airbrushing applied to different types of media.

If you are interested in, or work at, airbrushing then this is an essential guide and assistant.

Approx 11"(inches) x 9"(inches)"

It would be fascinating to see some examples of airbrushing that Paul himself has taken on. One can only imagine how a master magician could use such techniques to help make one of his illusions work. I can't believe he's ever had to airbrush any pictures of his lovely wife Debbie McGee - she's too lovely to ever need such treatment. (I have met her.)

I suspect that the world of airbrushing has moved on since this book was published in 1984 which might explain why this title also remains unsold.

Paul's running total: £5.

Aahhh... June Whitfield. I think I can say without fear of contradiction that June is one of Britain's best loved actresses. For many years she was the funny lady in Roy Hudd's Huddlines on the radio, she starred as June in TV's Terry and June which ran for many years and more recently she has been a star all over again in TV's Absolutely Fabulous. What a career! This is her autobiography which is wittily titled, ... and June Whitfield.

Paul's listing says:
"This is the Autobiography of one of the most respected and loved actresses, whose work covers every aspect of showbusiness: Theatre, Radio, TV, drama to comedy. This is the story of a truly nice lady with incredible talents." and it is, Paul tells us 9.5"(inches) x 6"(inches)

What follows is, I think, Paul at his ebay best; factual and humorous at the same time. "the book... not June Whitfield, is listed here as 'used'" Geddit? It's not June that is used - (although I'm sure she wouldn't mind me saying that her age she is a bit) - but it's the book. However Paul goes on to make it clear that the book "is in very good condition, having only been read twice."
I can't help thinking that two such showbiz luminaries as Paul and June are bound to know each other. They'll almost certainly have worked together at some time. I wonder if Paul bought his copy of the book or was given it by June at some point. In which case one wonders what she would think to find Paul listing it on ebay for £5 (plus £3 p+p)? Maybe that's why Paul has made it clear that the book has been read twice? Because he wants June to know that both he and Debbie have read the book.

Someone else who'll be reading the book soon is ebay user magic-for-you who was the sole bidder and lucky winner of the auction. With a user name like that I bet they pay a lot of attention to Paul's auctions and they must be delighted to snap up a bargain like this. They get a showbiz biography that has been sprinkled with two doses of showbiz glitter! Well done magic-for-you.

Paul's running total: £10

The Encyclopedia of Yachting by Peter Johnson is a large book and so Paul opts to describe all three of its dimensions. It is 10"(inches) x 8.5"(inches) x 1.5"(inches)

According to the listing it "covers very many aspects of the art and history of yachting." It is, he says, "Full of great pictures and advice on this great sport" and "in reasonable condition." although I have to say from examining the photograph the cover does look a bit yellowed and perhaps stained to me.

The original cover price was £25 when it was published in 1989 but Paul was only asking £5 for it plus £3.50 p+p but still it hasn't appealed to the ebay community and has remained unsold.

Paul's running total: £10.

So there we have it. Paul has listed 6 items and only sold 2 making himself £10 in the process. Not a sterling performance.

Still, while he isn't quite hitting the ebay highs of yesteryear Paul is definitely paying ebay a lot more attention than in recent months. Not only does he have another batch of books on sale at the moment and due to finish soon but all of the four titles that went unsold today have been relisted. That's an example of the never-say-die attitude that took Paul to the top of the showbiz tree. Never give up Paul. Go get'em!

But for now, I'm sure Paul will enjoy the £10 he has made from selling 2 out of the 6 books. Not a lot!

August 29th

2007-08-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

On the 29th August, Paul Daniels successfully bid for an erotic mermaid wood netsuke. "What's a netsuke?" I hear you cry. I asked that question myself. Luckily the seller, ebay user mokrat4, explains exactly what one is in his listing for the item.

"Netsuke's originated in Japan and came into being over 300 years ago. The Kimono (traditional Japanese dress) had no pockets so the people carried a small hanging object - AN INRO- to keep all their possessions in. The INRO had drawstrings to keep it closed and to attach it to the wearers waist. The toggle which secured the drawstrings to the waist was known as the NETSUKE and was both functional and aesthetically pleasing.The OJIME (sliding bead) was strung to the cord between the netsuke and the INRO to tighten or loosen the opening of the INRO.... NETSUKES were made from wood / bone or ivory and were probably always delicately carved. This required enormous skill and craftmanship from the carver. As time went on the carvers became famous for their originality and imagination and often they signed their work in respect to this."

Hmmm... so, without wishing to be disrespectful to any Japanese readers it seems that a netsuke is a... erm... toggle!

The seller has written a long and forceful description and really gone on the hard sell but I have to take issue with him/her over one thing. They describe the Netsuke as being a "beautifully carved and erotic wood netsuke of a half naked erotic mermaid posing with her long fin." Now, let's ignore the double use of the word "erotic" and instead focus on the description? Is she really "half naked?" I don't think so. She is a mermaid. She is half-human and half-fish but both halves are fully naked.

Anyway, the seller really went to work providing practical details, ("the piece on offer here is 5.5cm in length"/"the netsuke is signed by the artist") as well as pure salesmanship, ("the detailed work on both the mermaids body, face and tail is exceptional"/"these pieces will probably increase in value over time so there is an investment opportunity")

Hmm... well, I suppose one has to admire the seller's listing technique. Whether Paul bought it as an investment or because of the carving's erotic appeal we can only guess at. What I can tell you is that he was the only bidder and that he paid £4.99 for the item plus £2.75 for postage and packaging.

I'm sure Paul will enjoy his 5.5cm long, Japanese carving of a completely naked mermaid. Not a lot!

August 27

2007-08-27T03:40:00.000-07:00

Well Paul has been a busy little ebayer. I knew it was coming because on August 11 Paul wrote on his very own blog "The problem with books is when you unpack them (I haven't seen these for 10 years) you HAVE to look through them. I sorted them into Keep; Charity Shop; eBay; and so on."

I'm sure you can imagine how that whetted my whistle. I couldn't wait for the magic man's next bout of ebay action.

I didn't have to wait long and he soon had some of those books up for sale.
The first is called Empires, Hippodromes and Palaces. It is written by Jack Read (surely, he should be called Jack Write!) and has a foreword from radio funnyman Roy Hudd. It is 9.5"(inches) x 6.5" and Paul proudly declared that it is in excellent condition with only a slight curling of the dustcover. The book tells the story of Frank Matcham, who Paul says was the greatest theatre designer and architect of all time. As you'd expect it contains many photos of his creations but Paul was also keen to point out that there are many photos of the artists who worked in them. A great find for a theatre buff that's for sure. Paul had what I thought was a steep asking price of £5 and £3.50 p+p but I suppose he must feel like he got burned over the recent glass-bowl-with-swirling-design-sold-for-99p debacle.
It was sold to the one and only bidder; tattyratty who must be delighted to be buying a theatrical book from one of the countries leading practitioners of the theatrical arts!

Next up was a book with the racy title, The Ultimate Seduction by Charlotte Chandler. Don't worry, it isn't Paul revealing the secret methods he used to woo the magical beauty Debbie McGee, it's actually a selection of celebrity interviews.

Paul makes it clear that in this book the celebrities are people who've really earned the title and are not what he dismisses as "TV 15 minute wonders." And he's not wrong, Woody Allen, Charlie Chaplin, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Alfred Hitchcock, Henry Moore, Laurence Olivier, Pablo Picasso, King Vidor, Mae West and Tennessee Williams are all in there. (To be honest, I have no idea who King Vidor is or what he has done to "earn" his celebrity, but that's just splitting hairs.) Here's a top tip for any ebayer - use a bit of wit. Paul certainly does. "The dustcover paper sleeve is slightly... dusty... so it has done its job." See what I mean... by using a gag he has turned the negative (a dusty dust cover) into a positive (it's done its job.) Well done Paul.
I'm amazed this item didn't start a bidding war, but no, it sold to its one and only bidder for the princely sum of £5 (+£3.50 p+p) but this time the lucky reader was thebubba666. 666! Yikes! Still, that sets Paul up with a running total of £10.

The next book was called For Millionaires Only so maybe it wasn't bought because people assumed that unless they were millionaires it wasn't really for them. You don't get many millionaires hanging about on ebay after all! (Except Paul Daniels, of course!) But actually this book by Gordon Cruickshank is all about the world's most glamorous cars. It shows you the history and lifestyle that goes with the most expensive cars and features many beautiful photographs. It is 9"(inches) x 11.5" and Paul adds "apart from some curling and dust on the dustcover, is just about as new."

Why Paul chose not to do the dustcover gag on this listing is a mystery and might go some way towards explaining why the book didn't sell. Maybe it's because the book was published in 1993 and the world of millionaire's cars has moved on significantly since then. Maybe it's because Paul misspelled the author's name wrong in the listing. Anyone looking for a book by Gordon Cruickshank won't have found this listing, as Paul missed out the vital middle 'c.' Paul was offering the book for £4 (+£3.50 p+p) but is still the proud owner of a book about expensive cars. Oh well. Running total... still £10.

Finally for this batch (there are more coming in a few days!) we get to It Ends With Magic. One can imagine Paul - the nation's favourite conjuror snapping this up purely because it has the word "magic" in the title. If that was the case he would have been disappointed to discover that it is actually a memoir by the late great Spike Milligan.

In Paul's listing he says, "this is quite a large, heavy, book and it is the story of the Milligan family. Filled not only with wonderful reminisces of a bygone age, Spike also inserted a lot of photographs and his own drawings."

He also quotes Spike's words from the rear of the book;
"This story is in essence true. I have written in my own whymsical style, which I inherited from both sides of my family, it has been gleaned from my mother's and father's diaries, letters, notebooks and stories passed down by word of mouth. Fortunately, since the age of four, I have remembered very clearly any stories, recollecitons I've heard from the adults of my family. I've never written a book like this before; it is an atempt to collate a history of the Milligans and Kettlebands for my descendants to read." Spike Milligan.

The book is 10"(inches) x 7" x 1" (this is the first time Paul has felt the need to describe a book in 3 dimensions so you can see that it is clearly quite a chunky volume.) Paul was asking for £8 (+ £4p+p) which I thought was a bit steep given that so many copies were available secondhand on amazon.co.uk for under a pound but Paul worked his ebay magic and suckered someone into paying for it. The one and only bidder was thebubba666 once more. I wonder which book they will read first?

thebubba666 was clearly delighted with both of his purchases and has now left identical feedback for both purchases saying, "Great Packaging. Totally Fab books....all good.....many thanks" and the buyer of Empires, Hippodromes and Palaces, tattyratty, agreed, saying "Excellent item. Excellent service. Many thanks." Paul has given both buyers positive feedback, quite possibly using a cut-and-paste technique as it is identical each time: "Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended."

Paul has more books for sale and the auctions end in less than a week so check back soon to find out how they go.

But for now, I'm sure Paul will enjoy the £18 he has made from selling 3 out of the 4 books. Not a lot!

August 26th

2007-08-26T02:14:00.000-07:00

On August 26th, Paul Daniels bid for, but did not win, a remote control for a Nintendo Wii.

I think the seller !etty1978 did very well here. They know they have a highly desirable item and they know how to market it. They put this up for a one day auction and at a starting price of 99p! Within 24 hours it had gone up to £18.25! That's top quality ebaying.

Their listing gave all the vital information telling us that it was a "brand new and sealed Wii remote" and a "PAL - UK version" that "has never been used or taken out of the packet." They added that it "comes with 2 new batteries so is ready to play immediately" but also alerted people to the fact that it "does not inlcude the wii Play Game as they are being sold in another auction."

I like this listing. There's no room for confusion. No one who has a non PAL console can complain that it's the wrong remote. Nobody can complain that they thought it was the game they were buying. It is what it is and it says what it is. And it paid off.

The starting price was 99p but pearson081701 came in with a bid of £2.21. Paul was having none of that and upped it to £12.25, a bid that was later pushed to £14.75 before being usurped by adturb's bid of £16. Paul retaliated with £16.25 but he was fighting a losing battle an with only minutes to go, laurawilliams21 came in with £17.25 and then, ten seconds before the auction's end, lissigibson won the day with a bid of £18.25.

Five bidders, seven bids... it really was top ebay action. !etty1978 gave lissigibson great feedback saying, "Fast payment, a pleasure to sell to! Please call again" but I'll bet that what makes lissigibson really happy is the knowledge that she beat Britain's best magician in an ebay auction.

I'm sure Paul will enjoy the knowledge that lissigibson now owns a Wii Remote Control and he doesn't. Not a lot!

20th August

2007-08-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

If you ever see Paul perform live there's a very strong chance that you will see him do something pretty remarkable with a lemon and an orange - it is, I believe, one of his strongest illusions. But I was unaware that he had any particular interest in fruit.

Well he obviously has. Hence his latest ebay purchase: The Fruit Expert by Dr. D. G. Hessayon. The book claims that it is the world's best selling book on fruit.

It was sold by bonzopepi who I think could learn a lesson or two from Paul about how to sell on ebay. His simple listing said simply: Brand new book. All you need to know on fruit. Any questions, please contact me!! Please see my other listings!!

Is it illustrated? Are there photos? Does it concentrate on any particular fruits? What about the more exotic fruits? He doesn't say. Still this didn't deter cannersforever from opening the bidding on August 14 with a cheeky £2.01. But Paul was a wily bidder (would we expect anything else?) and he managed to sneak in as the auction ended with a winning £2.21. With £1.99 postage and packing, Paul has managed to spend a total of £4.20 to secure his copy of the world's best selling book on fruit!

The seller was clearly delighted with Paul's ebaying and gave him great feedback saying, "100% great buyer !! fully reccomend!!!" Paul has returned the compliment with "Great service, thank you."

I'm sure Paul will enjoy learning everything he needs to know about fruit. Not a lot!

August 5

2007-08-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

There has been a long period of inactivity from Paul not just when it comes to ebay, but with all of his online existence. It seems from his blog that he has been suffering from a thyroid complaint. I was worried for a while when Debbie (his wife) posted an update on his site to reveal that, at one point he had even become a nightwalker on the cruise ship they were on. The image of little Paul wandering forlornly around a boat at night still haunts me. But I'm glad to say that he appears to be on the mend. Believe me, everyone here at Paul Daniels Ebay Transactions (it's only me!) wishes you well, Paul. Get well soon.

Well, there is evidence of his improvement with the placing of another item on ebay. It's a glass bowl with swirling design. Paul doesn't know too much about the item but wisely says, "The photographs say it all." - and I think he's right. I mean, just look:

Paul adds, "This is a beautiful 12 inch diameter shallow bowl (2.5 inches high) having a swirling design. I know that it is quite old as it used to belong to my wife's grandmother. I am afraid that I know nothing more."

In the posting options Paul decided to not post the item at all saying instead that it was available for local pick-up only. This seems to me to be a mistake from such an experienced ebayer as Paul. Maybe this is the night-walker ebaying and not the sharp as tacks magic man. It makes sense when it's an item like the cast iron lamp post, street light that he sold last August... it would be impossible to post. But with a 12 inch diameter glass bowl, while postage might have been prohibitively expensive to some it has surely reduced the potential buyers. While I would expect some people would consider the chance to visit Paul's Wargrave home would be an added bonus to the purchase there will be others who would like to buy the bowl but are just not prepared to drive to Berkshire to collect it. Hmmm. An odd choice to be sure.

And no doubt this is responsible for the poor performance of what is a lovely item. There has been only one bid, from a user called numpty07 who has snapped up the bowl for a measly 99p. Imagine that! For less than a pound numpty07 has bought a lovely glass bowl with swirling design that was formerly owned by Debbie McGee's grandparents and secured a visit to Paul Daniel's lovely riverside house. (Incidentally, you'll be glad to know that his house has been undamaged by the recent floods. The garden was soaked but the house was fine. Paul also came up with the novel idea of leaving his valuables in small inflatable boats which proved invaluable in the garage where water did land.)

It is too early to know if and when the bowl will be collected by numpty07 but I will do my best to keep you up to date with any information that reaches the public domain regarding this sale. I can tell you that while numpty07 has yet to leave feedback for Paul, Paul appears to be a bit unhappy with his 99p and has lashed out rather using the ebay tactic of neutral feedback saying, "An ordinary low price transaction, no comments either way." Oh Paul... I'm sure most ebayers agree, feedback shouldn't have anything to do with the price paid... it's all about how numpty07 conducted him or herself.

Oh well, I'm sure Paul will enjoy spending the 99p he has earned from selling this glass bowl with swirling design. Not a lot!

April 15

2007-04-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

On April 15 2007, Paul Daniels sold a DVD of his children's TV show, Wizbit, about the magical character Wizbit from the planet WOW. The episode in question came from series two and was titled Punchinello.

Unfortunately I cannot illustrate this entry to my blog with a picture of the DVD because Paul didn't illustrate his ebay listing with a photo saying, "There is no point in putting a photograph because we have all seen what a DVD looks like." Quite right Paul, we do.

The listing is short and sweet but holds some real interest for regular visitors to this blog. It starts, unusually, with an introduction. Most people wouldn't start an ebay listing with the words, "Hello, I'm Paul Daniels" but then most people aren't selling things that relate so directly to themselves and their renown as an international entertainer.

Paul's listing continues, "...I recently acquired all rights to Wizbit, the magical character from the planet of WOW. Amongst the assets were some original recordings on the old 1" tapes and I have had them copied onto DVD by a professional company. The DVD is in the UK format of DVD PAL. Each programme runs just under 10 minutes and there is one programme on each DVD. This is the first one I am releasing and dependant (sic) upon interest I may be releasing the others [...] Let me know if you have any questions - they play in a DVD player, of course. All the programmes incorporate magic and puzzles and some great characters. I think I am in all of them and Debbie is in some of them."

There you go. What more could you ask? Everything is there... any bidder knows they are bidding for one DVD with one ten minute episode of Paul's great kids TV show starring himself and possibly his wife Debbie.

It's interesting also to see the entrepreneurial side of Paul emerge... he has acquired the rights to his own TV show and it is he himself who has had them transferred on to the modern DVD format (albeit using a professional company.) Will future episodes be released... well, that will depend on the interest generated by this sale! How fantastic is that! Paul is a shrewd businessman indeed! Three cheers for that.

So by now you are probably dying to know how the bidding went. Well, evanselec made several bids, first £3, then £4 and then £5 but never managed to wrest control away from skip-e76 who had made an earlier £5 offer. skip-e76 probably thought the item was theirs for the taking and must have been frustrated when cpellington1 swooped in with a £5.50 offer to steal it at the last.

cpellington was clearly delighted by the purchase and left the feedback to prove it saying, "fast delivery, great condition, would recommend A*****" Yup, that's a whole 5 stars there!

It will be interesting to see if this is enough to convince Paul to release the shows as whole series or just to release further 10 minute episodes on DVD. Perhaps a commercial distributor will swoop in and buy the series from him and save Paul the hassle of duplicating the DVDs himself.

Of course, while I'm sure Paul is truthful when he says that he used a professional company to transfer the shows from tape to DVD a quick glance at my post titled March 14 tells us that he is more than equipped to duplicate copies for any other interested parties. For what it's worth, I think a whole series would probably sell for £10 or more but that £5.50 for one ten minute episode is probably a bit steep. But that is just my opinion and that is the wonderful thing about ebay. It allows sellers to find what the market will stand and in this instance, two people were prepared to buy the episode for a fiver and one buyer was prepared to go that extra 50p.

Right now I am worried about these Wizbit related transactions and fear it might not prove to be a Wiz bit of "Biz" for Paul. He does not say how he acquired the rights to the series but it is safe to assume that some money must have changed hands. Add to that the cost of the duplicator he e-bought on March 14 (£199.95 + £29.95 p&p) and you can see he is down a fair bit on the deal. He so far has one sale at £5.50 so there is a long way to go before this deal makes a profit for Paul - at least in this, the ebay arena. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, financial worries aside, I'm sure Paul will enjoy the £5.50 he received from the sale of his Wizbit DVD and I'm sure he will also enjoy the knowledge that once again a child's mind is being entertained by his magical ways. Not a lot!

March 14

2007-03-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

On March 14, Paul Daniels purchased a EdgeDupe 1 to 3 Pioneer 18X DVD & CD Duplicator Copier on ebay from hossam2. There were no bids as such for this item as it was bought for the "Buy it now" price of £199.95 and £29.95 postage costs for Parcelforce48.hossam2 is a registered business seller and appears to represent a business called Computer Wize.

This technical looking bit of jiggery-pokery, is a standalone CD/DVD Duplicator which is said to be incredibly simple to use. It allows the user to duplicate huge quantities of DVD or CD at
speed without requiring a computer or any previous experience. The Edgedupe
simply creates exact mirror images of the data on the source disc.
With the EdgeDupe, users can now duplicate on demand with no minimum
quantity and retain 100% confidentiality by producing in house rather than risking
using an outsourced duplication company.

It is operated by following a simple 5 step procedure:

* 1. TURN THE DUPLICATOR ON
* 2. INSERT THE SOURCE DISC IN THE READER (TOP) DRIVE
* 3. INSERT BLANK MEDIA INTO WRITER (BOTTOM) DRIVE(S)
* 4. CLOSE THE TRAYS AND PRESS COPY
* 5. COMPLETED DUPLICATIONS WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE EJECTED

It is obvious that Paul is more than capable of following these instructions and he must be happy with his DVD duplicator purchase because he has given the seller positive feedback saying "Hope to deal with you again. Thank you." Most of Paul's transactions seem to pass without him bothering to give feedback these days so hossam2/Computer Wize can be justifiably proud of this one.

If you only follow this blog you might be wondering whether Paul is going to start duplicating his many horror DVDs (as backups only, he wouldn't dare to sell counterfeit goods obviously!) but if you also follow Paul's very own blog over at pauldaniels.co.uk you'll know that he has recently bought the rights to his children's telly series Wizbit and has been watching the DVDs and duplicating them.

On April 17th Paul wrote about a chaotic day when there were lots of housecallers, saying:
"Then the gardeners arrived. Normally there is only one but today there are two because there is a large bed to be cleared and a fence to be repaired. Speedy Iron came next, and went away just before Speedy Cleaners Team arrived.
The post man came and he just beat Tesco delivery to the door.
Of course I had to show them all my self parking car and all the gizmos it has on board. In between all this mayhem I was copying Wizbit DVDs and Debbie was making tea for everyone. I would have done that if only I could remember the recipe."

You see! He's been copying Wizbit DVDs... and now we know what he's been duplicating them on!!

Both hossam2 and Paul left positive feedback for each other with hossam2 politely saying, "hope to deal with you again. Thank you" and Paul being more effusive; "Great seller - really cares about his customers."

I'm sure Paul will enjoy his Pioneer DVD duplicator. Not a lot!

March 8th

2007-03-08T04:52:00.001-08:00

On March 8th, Paul Daniels made a very surprising ebay purchase, snapping up seven books about magic!

You might think there is nothing odd about a magician buying some magic books but bear in mind that Paul is one of the world's most well known and skilled conjurers and these are books aimed mainly at children. There is nothing in these books that Paul doesn't already know.

And to make it even weirder, two of the books are Wizbit books... the character that Paul himself created for children's television!!

The seven books were: Mickey Mouse Magic Tricks, The Usborne Complete Book of Magic, Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic, Book of Magic, The Magic Book, Wizbit Magic Games and Wizbit Instant Magic.

Why Paul was buying books that he can learn absolutely nothing from is something we can only guess at. My guess is that he is doing a shrewd bit of business. He was the second bidder and nipped in at the last to secure the books for only £3.21 and even with the heavy £9 paid for postage and packing it doesn't add up to much per book.

Now imagine if Paul was to list the items again? As a famous magician, he might attract more bidders and people might be fooled into thinking he learned his skills from the Usborne Complete Book of Magic! Suddenly the book is worth a lot more than he paid for it. Just by signing the Wizbit books they would increase in value. While he has spent only £12.21 to buy these titles, he could easily shift them for nearer £50 and you can't argue with a profit of £37.79, even if you are a TV millionaire. Now that's magic!

Of course maybe Paul was just buying them in order to get hold of copies of some Wizbit merchandise that he had perhaps lost in amongst the whirl of his showbiz heyday. That's two guesses from me now. What's your guess? Why do you think Paul Daniels bought these books? I'd love to know.

In the meantime, I'm sure Paul will enjoy his books about rudimentary magical techniques. Not a lot!

March 3

2007-03-03T02:06:00.000-08:00

There has been a long period of inactivity here at 'Paul Daniels Ebay Transactions' but that's because it's been a long time since Paul Daniels bought or sold anything on ebay. However, I'm delighted to tell you that he's got back on the ebay horse in style by purchasing this spectacular item... an unrestored, 50s vintage MOBO toy bronco tin horse!

This is quite an item that Paul has snapped up because this toy horse actually walks. It works by depressing the stirrups (see picture, right) and then releasing which makes the legs move! I bet Pauls grandkids are going to love this... or will the diminutive magician be able to use it himself? Or maybe it will form part of an illusion, who knows? Paul Daniels, that's who!

You'll be glad to know that this rare genuine 50s Vintage Tinplate Bronco Mobo Walking Horse that now belongs to Britain's fave illusionist is in good working condition.

That said, it is unrestored so there are quite a few scrathes to the paint work and some surface rust to it. The seller, heellbound (two 'L's!!) included lots of photos with his listing which is great because then Paul and the other bidders were able to assess the state of the toy in advance and therefore make an informed decision about how much they were prepared to offer.

It still has its original paintwork but it is missing the reins. It is some 30 inches high, 26.5 inches long and 20 inches in height from the ground to the saddle. The words “Made in England” are on the Saddle strap and the “MOBO” decal is on the chest & stirrups

The listing went to great pains to point out that "IT IS ON WHEELS AND THE HORSE BRONCO’S WHEN IT IS SAT ON (BY A YOUNGSTER) & THE PEDALS ARE PUSHED. It Still works beautifully."

Heellbound very wisely gave some history to the item telling us that it has been in his family for some time. It was given to his aunt, a lady who has recently celebrated her 50th birthday, many years ago when she was a small child and it was second hand even then. He'll no doubt be delighted to learn that it is in the hands of a more important family now.

The postage/courier costs for the item were really quite high - £50 - but that is an inevitable function of its size and weight. However the seller did suggest that alternative arrangements could be made if the buyer wanted to collect the item in person. Alternatively he was prepared to drive it to anywhere within 50 miles of Milton Keynes for the cost of his petrol. Unfortunately for Paul, his home in Wargrave is 70.48 miles from Milton Keynes so that wouldn't have been an option.

But then again, if I was the seller and I realised that if I delivered the item in person I'd get to visit Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee, I don't think I'd be quibbling over an extra 20.48 miles or the petrol costs!

I think it is most likely that Paul will decide to drive over himself and collect it as I know from his blog of February 28 that he has recently taken a new car for a test drive and decided to order one. He doesn't say which model it was, just that "This car seems to fit all my needs - my act goes in the back of it; on the test drive it did 51mpg; it is half electric and very quiet with zero emissions when it is at traffic lights or in jams, and so on. Sadly, the governments have not subsidised the hydrogen cell system yet, and this seems the next best bet, so I think I will order one."

Obviously I'm disappointed that Paul didn't decide to purchase a car on ebay but that is his right after all. He doesn't have to help me with this blog, he can be as selfish as he likes with his purchasing choices.

Anyway... back to the item. It was made by
D. SEBEL & CO., ERITH, KENT, ENGLAND between 1947 and 1950 (which means the listing describing it as 50s vintage was cautious at best!)

David Sebel had emigrated from Russia around 1912 and set up in partnership as a Wheelwright in East London some 9 years later.

The name 'Mobo' came from a brain-storming session when 'Mobile Toys' had been rejected.

The most well known toy they made was the BRONCO, the ride-on horse.

So, I expect by now you're wondering how the bidding went! Well, Paul really has demonstrated his ebay-mastery once more. The first bid of £20 came from creme2007 (clearly a beginner!) but that was soon pipped by catmary444 who came in with £21.05. creme2007 had another go with £23 but they soon fell by the wayside when catmary444 upped the ante with a £30 bid. This was then pushed to £35, £40 and then £44 which proved to be their limit because Paul then snapped it up for just one extra pound. (£45)

Naturally Paul received positive feedback from heellbound saying, "very fast payment, pleasure to do business with, many thanks" although Paul has disappointed us all slightly by not leaving reciprocal feedback for the seller. Maybe that will come.

It's great to think that maybe one of Paul's grandkids will soon be scooching about on the back of an old tin horse instead of sitting around playing computer games like so many yobs these days! More importantly, from an ebay-observer's perspective, it's great to have Paul back and whoever gets to ride around on the walking tin horse I'm sure it will be something they truly enjoy. Not a lot!

October 25

2006-10-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

Well Paul has been very quiet of late but I always knew that his horror film obsession would kick in again and indeed it has with the purchase of this Region 2(Europe) DVD of Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (the sequel to Godzilla vs Biollante)

In this film, time-travellers from the future warn that Japan will ultimately be destroyed if the monster Godzilla can't be neutralized. They reveal the circumstances of Godzilla's origin: a dinosaur who survived into the 20th Century (and who inadvertently saved a group of Japanese soldiers from American forces during World War II), only to be mutated by atomic testing on his island home. The future people have an audacious plan: to remove the pre-Godzilla dinosaur from his timestream and prevent his mutation. However, things take an unexpected turn, resulting in the creation of a new horror--the three- headed dragon King Ghidrah.

Paul bid £3.45 for the item at 11.03am on October 24, more than enough to see off the £3.25 bid made by evil_ler a day later. There was a 99p charge for postage and packaging.

These days Paul lives in a huge mansion by the river in Berkshire but many moons ago when he was working the clubs as well as running a mobile shop and being married to a woman who was not Debbie McGee (they are, I believe all friendly) he was living in his home town of Middlesbrough, Cleveland which is, coincidentally, where this item was. It must have been pretty exciting for the seller, godthathurt (funny name!), to sell a DVD to one of his home-cities most famous sons.

I must say that after months of ebay inactivity, it's great to have Paul back in the ebay saddle and I'm sure he will enjoy watching his Godzilla DVD. Not a lot!

Is this Paul Daniels too?

2006-08-25T04:24:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... I offer today's post as something of an oddity as I have no way of confirming whether or not it is related to the Paul Daniels.

As well as ebay.co.uk there is, of course, ebay.com and also, an Irish variation, ebay.ie

As far as I am aware they are all connected and there is no reason for anyone to have specific accounts on more than one version... although I may be wrong about this. Anyway, while researching my blog I discovered a recent item sold on ebay.ie that was bought by a user with the name pauldaniels.bt. Normally I wouldn't give this much thought... after all it must be quite a common name and on the internet where you can call yourself anything you want to, there is no way of knowing whether or not someone is using their real name. Maybe it was a Paul Daniels fan who was responsible, who knows.

However, something about the transaction aroused my suspicion. The item was sold on June 22. It was listed as a "SUPERB 1930's CIRCULAR BRASS FRONT DOOR BELL PUSH", it had been professionally polished and was in very good condition and the seller was the rather inappropriately named bell-pull. So far, so ordinary. The item was based in Reading - close to Paul's Wargrave mansion. Okay, so that's probably a coincidence. There were 5 bids, starting with bigbadbex666 who offered £14 before thurgo made it £16. rowlandoffice2000 upped the ante to £21, bigbadbex666 re-entered the fray and came in with £23.43 and then the mysterious is-it-or-isn't-it-him pauldaniels.bt stole the item with a £24.43 bid at the last. (Approximately EUR36.15)

The seller had jazzed up their listing with some background graphics. Here's a small version of what a part of their page looked like:

Now any keen observer of Paul Daniels' ebaytivity - and I count myself amongst them - would instantly recognise that graphic from Paul's listing for a lamp post that I described in the post dated August 21. I know a lot of you won't have seen the original ebay page so I have taken the liberty of grabbing a version and here it is:

It is instantly recognisable as the same graphic. So on June 22, someone with the user name pauldaniels.bt buys a 1930s door-bell-push that is advertised using a particular background graphic and almost exactly one month later the Paul Daniels sells a victorian lamp post and advertises it using exactly the same background graphic!! It could be a coincidence I'm sure, but it's certainly possible that a shrewd seller such as Paul saw and liked the graphic and realised it had been useful in attracting his attention and so decided to use the same for his own 'victoriana.' As I said at the top of this post;'hmmm.'

Is it possible that Paul Daniels has more than one active ebay account? If it's true then it opens up a whole world of possibilities for this blog and a whole host of other transactions that should be included... such as a shock-mount for a microphone (the kind of thing someone planning to record some podcasts might want?) an insect screen for a window (the kind of thing someone who lives by a river might want?) and a mains charger for an ipod... (does Paul own an iPod... if he's planning podcasts (which he is) he probably does...)

I wonder if it was the real Paul Daniels. If so, I'm sure he will enjoy his 1930s door-bell-push. Not a lot!

August 21

2006-08-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

These are exciting times at Paul Daniels' Ebay Transactions. Not only has there been some media coverage of the blog with The Independent, The Guardian and Richard & Judy all giving it a plug but it has coincided with a resurgence of ebay activity - or ebaytivity - from the man himself.

Anyway... on August 21st, Paul Daniels completed three sales, selling first a cast iron lamp post streetlight with an ornate top and then the technologically more advanced item - a hologram of Sir Clive Sinclair before finally selling the set of golf clubs that he had failed to sell on August 18th!

First, the lamp. The winning bidder (kopots) is a very lucky bidder indeed because they will get to visit the Daniels/McGee abode as Paul made it very clear that the winning bidder would have to collect. This is more evidence of Paul as a shrewd operator because he must know that doing so only makes the item more attractive to his fans.

Paul provided a lot of photos so that buyers could see exactly what they were buying and what state it was in and he was at pains to explain that the photos had not been retouched in any way.

He then described the item as follows:

VERY Old Street Light - Cast Iron Post

This is NOT a modern copy. This is the REAL THING.

If you are the successful bidder be prepared to come and pick this item up because the cast iron post is very heavy.

The height of the post is 12 feet and the lamp part is another 3 feet 6 inches on top of that! This makes for a magnificent garden feature.

The post has a cross piece near the top (hanging baskets?) and at some time someone has run an electric cable into the top of the lamp. Note to the bidders: re-wire it just to be safe. It looks OK but you never know.

The ornate scroll work around the top is of some soft metal and may be lead. As it has been painted green I have no idea whether this is a copper lamp or not.

As always I'm impressed with Paul's attention to detail. He makes suggestions, regarding the item as a garden feature and the possibility of making use of the cross posts for hanging baskets but never suggests that that is all it is capable of. He mentions the wiring but is safety conscious enough to make sure that the buyers know they have a responsibility to check these things out. A famous person like Paul doesn't need the bad publicity that would come with an electrocuted ebay buyer!!

This was an unusual item and it was always going to raise questions with potential buyers. Of course Paul was always on hand to answer them as best he could. The first question came from someone called Rob, who asked, "How much do you think this item weighs as I have a transit pickup that carries 1 ton in weight. Anything over this weight would overload me and i would be taking a chance driving back up the motorway. Cheers Rob"

Paul reply was as honest as normal: "I have no means of weighing it. The top part is very light and I can lift that very easily. The post is the heavy bit. I can lift one end if I do the job properly and bend my knees! To get it into a van is a three man lift to prevent an accident."

Let's not forget that Paul is no spring chicken. While he might appear exceedingly vibrant and energised on stage, in real life he is nearly 70 so if he is able to lift one end of the pole one can surmise that it isn't too heavy. But does Paul promise them that the pole weighs less that 1 ton just to encourage them to bid? Of course not. He lets them make their own judgement - caveat emptor: buyer beware. Fair play.

The next question comes from someone called Bub who frankly appears not to have read the first question. "You say the post is very heavy??...I have Arthritis & my Husband,Bertie is awaiting a Hernia operation...my question is:-if we were to be successful in winning this lampost...who would be available to load it onto our pick-up???...do you have the strength or means to load it for us??...many thanks,Bub"

Paul doesn't lose his temper with this question, he just replies cryptically, "There's always a way..." and indeed he's right. If you have a heavy pole on a pick-up, you're going to need help when you get it back home... if that can be arranged I'm sure Paul is capable of rustling up some Wargravian help from a few chaps prepared to bend their knees.

Now... the bidding. This started with an amazingly low bid of £1.04 from Samantha4223 which was rapidly overtaken by mistywood29's £1.90 bid. A fifth bid came in at £5 frin chameleon_trading_international (who regular readers will recall was also bidding for both sets of golf clubs recently.) aimeepeers then came in with a devilish £6.66 before twomo29 made what might be the first remotely serious offer of £20.

aimeepeers showed that he/she was actually a serious bidder and came back with £51.13 which was then pushed to another 6-centric bid of £66.66. Then a truly serious bidder made his presence felt when eddierocket0 turned up. His bids rapidly rose from £73 to £120 stopping at £80, £85, £95, £99, £105, £110 and £115 along the way although he was pipped by a £127.05 bid from griss2006.

griss2006 probably thought the lamp post was his/hers for good but right at the last minute kopots stole in with a £129.05 bid and the lamp was theirs. I wonder what they made of Paul's luxurious Wargrave home when they went to collect it? Did they have a cup of tea with him and admire the river views? There isn't room in the ebay feedback section to make this clear but kopots did say "Excellant (sic) Ebayer,Excellant(sic) Service,Thankyou!!!!!!!"

Now... Paul's second sale of the day... the Clive Sinclair hologram. A great curiosity... is it art? is it science? Those aren't my words but the words of Paul Daniels himself as written in his description of the item. The answer, as I'm sure Paul well knows, is that the item is both art and science.

The item was produced by a man called Rob Munday in 1990, a time when Paul claims it was impossible to make a hologram of a living person. This seems like a crazy claim because we know that Clive Sinclair (now Sir Clive Sinclair) is a living person but Paul says that he believes this hologram was made of a sculpture. What a holographer has to do to make a hologram that a statue can withstand but a human can't is not explained. Maybe it involves bombarding the subject with radiation! Maybe it just involves being perfectly still for a long time. That is something I suppose you would have to ask Rob Munday about!

Paul explains how life like the item is (although any fool can see as much from the amazing photograph (are those Debbie's hands?)) and that it is best lit by a normal halogen lamp, the sort that he rightly says, "most people now have set into their ceilings."

The bidding started with the mysteriously named hotv8aw(private) offering £1.04 although this bid soon became £3 and then £5. £5 is also where the now familiar chameleon_trading_international joined the fray although it wasn't long before bigpostie72 came in with £6. (You'd think bigpostie76 would be bidding for the big post that was sold earlier today!) hotv8aw(private) reentered the game with a £10 bid but a new bidder v.i.n.t.a.g.e came in with £11.01 and then £12.01 before frodo_baggins_uk came in with £13. Those extra pennies looked to be the making of v.i.n.t.a.g.e who pipped them with £13.01 but chameleon_trading_international stepped in once more with £15. vanfan2000 raised the stakes with a £21.77 offer, frodo_baggins_uk tried again with £26 but was gazumped by vanfan2000 once more with a huge increase and a statement-bid of £51.77. It wasn't enough though and as is often the way, a new bidder stole it at the last with 3692roy making the item theirs with a £52.77 winning bid. Well done 3692roy.

On August 18th I explained how Paul had failed to sell a set of golf clubs that were made from the propellor of the cruise liner, the QEII. Well Paul obviously doesn't take failure lightly and he has transformed it into a successful sale. The highest bid for the clubs had been £410.01 and they had not met their reserve price. They had a buy-it-now price of £1500 on their first listing. Well Paul obviously realised that he wanted that £410.01 more than he wanted the clubs as today the listing appears to have magically changed... the clubs now have a buy-it-now price of £410.01 and so l7net's bid has secured the clubs. No wonder he/she left feedback for Paul saying "MAGIC - everything - can't be faulted, thank you."

Paul once owned a big cast iron lamp post street lamp, a bizarre hologram representation of a technology entrepreneur and a set of clubs made from a luxury cruise-liner's propellor... but I'm sure he will enjoy spending the £591.83 he has made by selling them. Not a lot!

August 18

2006-08-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

On August 18, Paul Daniels failed to sell this spectacular set of golf clubs.
Despite offers reaching over £410, the reserve was not met and the clubs remain unsold.

However, three other golf clubs were successfully sold for £22. I will describe the failed auction first:

They are an astonishing set of golf clubs manufactured in 1988 by the company Swilken of St Andrews and they are made out of the metal from the propellor from the cruise liner the QEII!!

They must have been very large propellors as they made 7500 sets of clubs out them! The set Paul was selling was number 334. I can't think why Paul had bought them as according to the listing on ebay, the clubs are still in the wrapping, in the original foam and in the original crate.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more interest in these as they would be a great souvenir for someone who loves their golf and would make a great wall display on a club house wall. More importantly, Paul, aware of how attractive a set of clubs they were was offering to show them to any prospective buyers who wanted to drop in on his Berkshire home. I would have thought the chance to meet Paul alone would have aroused some interest but sadly not enough.

Clearly aware that this was an item deserving a high price Paul was concerned that buyers might not trust him - after all, buying online can feel a bit risky at times. Paul has an advantage here though as he has a reputation that cannot be beaten as a much-loved entertainer. Which is why he added to the product listing: If you are outside the UK and don't know whether to trust me, well, you can just about ask anyone from the UK to vouch for me. Look at pauldaniels.co.uk to find out what I mean!

I wonder if any potential buyers from America did ask their English buddies to explain who Paul Daniels was and if they did... I wonder what answer they got? Whatever people think of Paul as a magician, I cannot imagine anyone thinking he was a dishonest man and any potential buyer would have been sure to trust him.

The auction started with several mistaken bids which were withdrawn. On August 12, the first incorrect bid came from a mrozinski5 whose £25.01 was then withdrawn. That was at 11.32 am, but at 21.51 that evening harleysoflittleport made an incorrect bid of £444 and not long after teb44947 made an incorrect bid of £66 at 22.18.

The incorrect bids continued the next day with artyffects making a £450 bid at 20.57 and chameleon trading international making a £100 bid at 03.13. Oh dear... this was a very inauspicious start.

Never mind... on August 15 worldwideaudiobooks made a serious offer of £100 which was later topped by a bid of £250 from 17net. 17net's bid was stretched to £270 and then £300 before worldwideaudiobooks seized control with a cheekt £300.03. 17net took back the initiative with a £350 offer but it swung back to worlwideaudiobooks with £400.01 which was then outdone with an extra tenner and a £410.01 bid from 17net.

Sadly this wasn't enough and the clubs, which had a 'buy it now' price of £1500 !! remained unsold having not reached their reserve.

Now... the successfully sold clubs were rather different and had no QEII connection.
They were wooden shafted clubs and Paul described them as being in good condition although he did say that one of the clubs had a rivet holding the shaft to the head of the club.

Paul described the three clubs as follows:

Club 1: Warranted Hand Forged; MID-IRON; Special

Club 2: Made in Scotland; Hand Forged; Special; H Donegan Hanging Heaton; H Logans; The GENII Model Mashie-Niblick (please note the head on this club is slightly loose)

Club 3: Warranted Hand Forged; Jack White Autograph; Driving Iron (there is also a small circular logo on the head of this club)

Paul doesn't say which 'Jack White' has autographed the third club, but I doubt it is the one out of The White Stripes. (A popular band)

The bidding for this item started with a cheeky £1.55 offer from roialt. This was followed with a bid of £5 from chameleon trading international (which explains their incorrect big for the other clubs somewhat.) This bid was pushed to £10 before magicmayo came in with a £14.99 offer. This was pipped by chameleon trading international with a £15 bid but they weren't in the game for long. fatbig1 came in with a £17 bid, then £20 before magicmayo came back once more with a £21.21 offer. But fatbig1 would not be denied and took the item with a £22 bid. Well done fatbig1.

I imagine Paul will enjoy looking at the golf clubs he still owns and knowing that even though he was ready to part with them he is still has the 334th set of clubs to be made from the QEII propellor as well as the £22 he made by shifting the three wooden shafted clubs. Not a lot!

July 10

2006-07-10T02:56:00.000-07:00

On July 10 Paul Daniels purchased yet another horror film on DVD.

The House That Would Not Die was made for TV in 1970 and stars Barbara Stanwyck and Richard Egan. Being made-for-TV means it is something of a rarity - in fact the ebay listing described it as "SUPER RARE" - and surely something that Paul will be very happy to add to his burgeoning horror-DVD collection.

In the film Stanwyck and her niece inherit a Revolutionary war house filled with ghosts, murder and a terrible secret. At some point a voice from the grave calls out “Amy, Come Home" and at another point there is a complete dream sequence!

The DVD includes a full menu, selected theatrical trailers (although why a made for TV movie had theatrical trailer is not explained), features and scene access. It comes in a clamshell case with a 3 panel Color insert. The seller went out of their way to explain that they "strictly abide by all Ebay listing policies!"

Paul paid $13.45 for this particular disc of horror (approx £7.11) beating bids of $9.95 from fozzcorp and $12.95 from tallcoolone1967. However, as the disc was being sent from the American midwest, Paul will have had to pay a whopping $8 to cover the post and packaging.

The seller says in the listing "We will leave feedback within a short time after having feedback left for us. As with all Ebay buyers, and sellers, we are looking forward to a pleasant transaction!" which makes the distressing news I bring you next all the more interesting.

In the entire time I have been monitoring Paul's ebay activity I have never seen him receive bad feedback, nor have I seen him leave any for anyone else. Until now.

If there is any criticism to make of Paul and his ebay activity it is to say that he is not very good at leaving feedback. Maybe he has decided that it is not essential to the smooth running of ebay. Prior to writing this Paul had last left feedback on March 6, when, at 7.55pm, he left the comment "very good thank you" on 13 separate transactions, that had been made much earlier ... some of them predating this blog. Since then, nada. When he does leave feedback, I always work back through the blog and update the relevant entry so that the feedback is noted in the same post as the original transaction is noted. It seems to make sense. Anyway... this purchase was made on July 10 and on August 12, Paul made what I believe is his first ever negative comment in the feedback section.

"This was the longest that I have ever had to wait for a delivery of any product"

Oh dear. Be warned. DO NOT PURCHASE FROM theassociates1. THEY HAVE DISAPPOINTED PAUL DANIELS AND THAT MEANS THEY HAVE DISAPPOINTED ME.

Even though Paul clearly feels very let down by the slow delivery of this item (over one month!) I am sure he will greatly enjoy watching the horror flick about a house that would not die. Not a lot!

June 14

2006-06-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

On June 14, Paul Daniels sold an old polo shirt for a whopping £92! "How can a shirt owned by the magician be worth so much?" you ask. Well it was signed by the truly world famous Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne and their fellow X Factor judge, Louis Walsh and all of the contestants on a recent series of X Factor - Battle of the Stars which, as the name suggests was a celebrity version of the ITV1 singing talent contest. What's more the money wasn't going into Paul's pocket - the shirt was being sold for the READING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SUPPORT CENTRE.

Paul Daniels and his wife, Debbie McGee, were recently contestants on the X Factor - Battle of the Stars series. Like all of the other 'celebrities' taking part they were doing so for charity. Paul and Debbie were booted off the show on the first night so through no fault of their own, less money was raised for their charity than it would have been had they had the voices to hang around for a while. So, when the final night came and all of the 'celebrities' returned to the show Paul grabbed an old shirt from a charity golf day and asked them all to sign it. And they did.

The list of autographs on the shirt is as follows:
Simon Cowell, (Mr Nasty but really a nice guy); Sharon Osborne (Earth Mother to all contestants); Louis Walsh (If your Irish you are in with a chance); Paul Daniels (International Sex Symbol and Body Builder); Debbie McGee (known as the Lovely!); The Four Singing Chefs (much better at cooking!!!); Michelle Marsh (Steady lads); Matt Stevens (runner up and England Rugby prop); Rebecca Loos (signed this in VERY high heels); James Hewitt (Attention!!!! Very military this lad); Dr Gillian McKeith (Ye canna eat THAT!); Lucy Benjamin (THE WINNER); Nikki Sanderson (Stunning); Chris Moyles (Radio 1 presenter, contestant, and will he EVER be serious?); Kate Thornton (X Factor presenter); Ben Shepherd (ITV2 aftershow presenter); John and Cece ('Invisible voice coaches and a good act in their own right); Yvie (Voice coach, great singer and damn good looking woman); AND the Incredible, the Wonderful, the Best Dressed Man in Town - Mark Hudson.

As you can probably tell, the comments in brackets aren't mine, they are the comments of Paul Daniels himself who included them as part of the ebay listing.

There were 23 bids in total - what an exciting auction - and I'll do my best to describe the ebay action:
tucsonelpres and caz1285 both started with bids of £5. caz1285 must have got in first but tucsonelpres was having none of it and immediately raised it to £6. Then thebubba666 came in with a devilish offer of £15 which was pushed up to £20 not long after. caz1285 showed how keen he/she was with a new bid of £25 before tucsonelpres returned to the fray with a bid of £30. This revealed an already existing £30 from thebubba666 so tucsonelpres upped the ante with a £34 bid that was later pushed to £35. caz1285 then took the reins once more with a £40 and then a £50 offer which again was matched by thebubba666. thebubba666 was then raised to £60 but a cheeky £60.01 from caz1285 took the initiative. caz1285 was pushed up to £70 but was matched by thebubba666 so caz1285 went in with an extra tenner and made it £80. You probably thought that tucsonelpres was no longer in the running but he came back with £84. A new bidder - markcwhu - then came in with £86 but tucsonelpres clung on with another slight increase, this time to £88. Another new bidder - gowj11 -came in on the final day with a £90 bid and probably thought they'd nabbed the shirt before a late bid from secretsbl won the day with £92. They will have paid a further £4 for the postage and packaging.

secretsbl is clearly delighted with the purchase and took time with his/her feedback to praise not only Paul's ebay-selling but also his magic ability saying: Exactly as you would expect. FANTASTIC. A1 Magician A1 Seller. Many thanks. A++

All in all this is a wonderful story and I am very happy that Paul has put his ebay magic to work not for fun and profit but for charity. If you would like to make a donation to the Reading Multiple Sclerosis Centre you can do so by visiting their justgiving.com page here.

I'm sure Paul will enjoy the warm glow of knowing that he has done such a wonderful thing for a good cause. Not a lot!

June 9

2006-06-09T05:20:00.000-07:00

On June 9, Paul Daniels snapped up another horror film bargain paying $10.99 (approx £5.80) for a DVD featuring a Del Tenney double bill. That means he paid about $5.495 (approx £2.90) for each of the two films.

The films were "The Horror of Party Beach" and "The Curse of the Living Corpse." These are cult, low-budget horror flicks from the 1960s but this DVD was only released in March 2006 and I'm impressed that Paul has already secured himself a cheap and cheerful copy even though he has had to pay almost the same again ($10.50) to have the DVD shipped to his Berkshire home from Canada.

Paul was the only bidder and ended the auction early by paying the asking price to the seller, lhobo who was clearly delighted with the transaction declaring that Paul was a "pleasure to do business with, highly recommended."

I'm sure Paul will greatly enjoy watching this double bill DVD. Not a lot!

May 7

2006-05-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

On May 7th, Paul Daniels purchased a DVD of the 1999 slasher horror film Tower of Evil. It was directed by James O'Connolly and stars Anna Palk, Bryant Haliday, Jack Watson and Jill Haworth.

The film is also known as Beyond The Fog and Horror On Snape Island. It is about some archaeologists who are searching for Phoenician gold. They journey to a small and seemingly innocuous island off the coast of England. There they become the hapless victims of a murderous onslaught.

Paul paid US $10.11 for the DVD (approximately £5.44) and he ended the auction early by taking the 'Buy It Now' option at 9.18 am.

The seller (digitaldogpound) left great feedback for Paul, saying "Thank You! Come back again to the DigitalDogPound" and I'm sure Paul will respond with good feedback as and when he receives the DVD.

I think Paul will enjoy watching his slasher horror film on DVD. Not a lot!

May 6

2006-05-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

On May 6th, Paul Daniels purchased a 5 DVD box set. This purchase proves that Paul is not just into horror films, he is also into Westerns.

Paul has purchased the first season of the classic, vintage Western TV programme, The Big Valley. It was made in the mid-1960s but set in the 1870s. It stars Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley, the widowed matriarch of a clan of wealthy California ranchers. Ove the season the family is visited by an array of characters both benevolent and otherwise, from horse thieves to revolutionaries, while facing their own heartaches, loves, and personal triumphs. Richard Long, Lee Majors, and Linda Evans co-star.

Paul paid $27.99 for the item plus $15.99 for postage from Santa Monica to his home in Wargrave, Berkshire. This item was nearly a May 5th purchase but Paul completed the transaction at 43 minutes past midnight on May 6th.

The DVD hasn't even been officially released yet but the seller, seymorb, makes it clear that while it might be despatched pre-release, no one will actually receive the item until the official release date of May 16th. This is perfectly right and fair and in accordance with ebay's rules.

Seymorb left Paul positive feedback saying, "A++ experience, highly recommend. Thanks for a positive transaction!" That's two pluses and an exclamation mark to emphasise just how positive the transaction really was. As yet, Paul has not left feedback in return.

I think Paul will enjoy watching his classic Western TV series on DVD. Not a lot!

May 3

2006-05-03T17:12:00.000-07:00

On April 26th 2006, Paul Daniels purchased a book for only 22p!

This has got to be one of Paul's best ebay experiences ever. So, he paid 88p for postage taking the total to £1.10 and the book looks pretty ropey... it's a 1964 pot boiler called Jealousy published by Monarch Books.

The seller provides this bit of teasing information in order to tempt you:
A compelling novel of a woman trapped by one man's obsessive mistrust.

Jim Venters reminded himself that he still had no first-hand evidence of his wife's infidelity. Could it be his imaqination — as Marna claimed? Was he being unfair to Marna? Nonsense! It was her way of putting him off the track. He suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. The thought that many men knew her body intimately, were aware of her love mannerisms, her ardor, the passionate animalism of her love-making, was too much for Jim. He walked down the street, looking at this man, that man, wondering: Is it he? Could it be that dark one? Or that dapper, sophisticated character over there? He groaned. For all he knew it could be ALL OF THEM.

But I don't think that's what persuaded Paul to part with his £1.10. No, I think it was because the book was written by... wait for it... Paul Daniels!

It is unlikely to be him, Paul was working hard in the working men's clubs at that time but that's what makes it such a great purchase. Paul has paid almost nothing for a great talking piece. He will have actual conversations with people about it and they will all smile at the oddness of finding something written by someone with the same name as him.

The seller has let the world know how great an ebayer Paul is with his great feedback: "Prompt Payment, Thanks for Sale, Good ebayer - Item on its way." No doubt when the item arrives Paul will leave feedback for the seller (bobs_and_bit) too.

I think Paul is going to enjoy owning 'his' book. Not a lot!

April 26

2006-04-26T04:26:00.000-07:00

On April 26th 2006, Paul Daniels purchased an 18 DVD Box Set of Boris Karloff presents THRILLER. You don't have to be a magician to work out that this is completely up Paul's street... it contains all 67 episodes in their original airing order and each DVD gas a main menu screen allowing you to go to any episode you like at the touch of a button. Exactly as you'd expect from this collector's edition box set.

Here's what he bought:
VOLUME 1 Episode # 1 The Twisted Image (September 13, 1960) A pair of deranged temporary employees seek permanent positions. George Grizzard is excellent as the psychopathic mail clerk, as is Leslie Nielsen as the smug yuppie precursor who finds out corporate society isn’t always buttoned down to reality.
Episode #2 Childs Play (September 20, 1960) A young boy with an unhappy home life gets dangerously absorbed in his imagination.
Episode #3 Worse Than Murder (September 27, 1960) An embittered widow seeks revenge on her mother-in-law, using her dead husband’s diary as the motive for blackmail. A gutsy, hard-boiled performance by Constance Ford; Cleveland Amory panned this segment as being “worse than murder” in hit TV Guide column back in 1960.
Episode #4 Mark of the Hand (October 4, 1960) An eight-year-old girl is accused of murdering a man, and then trying to kill him again after she failed the first time. This episode required two directors – something almost unheard of in television filming.
VOLUME 2
Episode #5 Rose’s Last Summer (October 11, 1960) When an aging film actress dies under mysterious circumstances, a friend and her former husband try to unlock the secret to her death. Mary Astor stars in the role of Rose French.
Episode #6 The Guilty Men (October 18, 1960) Everett Sloane gives a fine performance as a former mobster who tries to go straight. Again, no horror story but Hubbel Robinson had said that the writers’ strike was the main reason the early scripts weren’t living up to the name of the series.
Episode #7 The Purple Room (October 25, 1960) This is the first episode of the series to criss-cross suspense with the supernatural. The audience is left guessing as to whether or not there had been an actual haunting. Rip Torn gives a great cynical performance as an heir to a fortune if he spends the night in a haunted house. Believing his cousins are after the house themselves, he is determined not to be frightened out of his inheritance….But is the house really haunted? The setting, incidentally, was the original house used in Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO, which even today, still resides on the Universal lot.
Episode #8 The Watcher (November 1, 1960) This was the first directorial effort by John Brahm, who would helm many episodes of the series. Some nice kids are bugged by a born-again homicidal maniac. Watch for the infamous scene with the man squeezed to death by a car lift. Stephen King once recalled with fondness in a recent issue of TV Guide he described as “what happy memories!”
VOLUME 3
Episode #9 Girl With A Secret (November, 15, 1960) Espionage involving covert arms sales seems almost out of place for a program of this sorts, but count on Charles Beaumont to bring us an enjoyable romp. Beaumont also wrote teleplays for THE TWILIGHT ZONE, including some of the show’s most memorable episodes.
Episode #10 The Prediction (November 22, 1960) Boris Karloff doesn’t just host, he actually has the starring role in this episodes, the first of five Karloff would do for the sake of clever scripts. For this episode, Karloff is a stage act mentalist who discovers that he really can see the future. For special effects, keep an eye on KaRloff’s face as it dissolves when his ESP acts up.
Episode #11 The Fatal Impulse (November 29, 1960) Elisha Cook is a mad bomber loose in the city during election time. A young Mary Tyler Moore co-stars in this episode.
Episode #12 The Big Blackout (December, 6, 1960) Talk about hangovers – this episode isn’t even worth talking about. Regrettably, the worst episode of the series – but thankfully, they get better from here on in.
VOLUME 4
Episode #13 Knock Three-Two-One (December 13, 1960) A well crafted crime/suspense episode with Warren Oates as a would-be psycho killer. A compulsive gambler in debt to the mob attempts a bizarre scheme to raise the cash.
Episode #14 Man In The Middle Werner Klemperer (Col. Klink of HOGANS’ HEROES) plays a ruthless kidnapper in this thriller. Comedian Mort Sahl is in good form as an unlikely hero caught up in a kidnap scheme.
Episode #15 The Cheaters (December 27, 1960) Antique spectacles posses the peculiar power of revealing the odd things on people’s minds – but their use leads to madness. Henry Daniel’s all-too-brief appearance as the Alchemist in the beginning was his first of many brief appearances of other THRILLER episodes. It features the single most horrific make-up job in the entire series, courtesy of Jack Barron. This episode is considered one of the top ten episodes of the series.
Episode #16 The Hungry Glass (January 3, 1961) A haunted cliff house almost makes the house in episode four look inviting! Undead souls lurk in mirrors with scary special effects. William Shatner gives an excellent performance, and Karloff makes a grand entrance dressed in Edwardian clothing.
VOLUME 5
Episode #17 The Poisoner (January 10, 1961) This is a late 1800’s period piece about an art collector tortured by others’ lack of good taste. To alleviate his frustrations, he poisons them in a most efficacious manner and defaces a painting of his wife with crossed lines similar to the THRILLER titles.
Episode #18 Man In A Cage (January 17, 1961) Diana Millay, a Dark Shadows regular, co-stars in this odd tale of intrigue involving heroin in distant Tangiers. If you are expecting any horror from this episode, don’t count on it.
Episode #19 Choose A Victim (January 24, 1961) Susan Oliver is a slumming heiress, and fast talking Larry Blyden is an unwardly mobile beach bum. But watch out for someone tampering with another’s automobile and Billy Barty as that tough little Carnie Barker.
Episode #20 Hay-Fork And Bill-Hook (February 7, 1961) Ancient Druidic goings-on in backwoods England. An especially atmospheric and chilling opening teaser.
VOLUME 6
Episode #21 The Meriwether File (February 14, 1961) Betrayed wife allows husband to die for her crime. Very good direction by John Braham in the German expressionist/film-noir style.
Episode #22 The Fingers of Fear (February 21, 1961) Child murderer lures little girls with a talking doll. Yearh that still goes on today but this episode goes down as one the sickest psycho/crime episodes. Thankfully the onscreen violence is committed on a doll.
Episode #23 Well Of Doom (February 28, 1961) Tour de force performance given by Henry Daniell wearing over-the-top make up similar to Chaney’s LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT. Check out the scenes of the fog enshrouded moors where a demonic duo menace and murder their hapless prey.
Episode #24 The Ordeal of Dr. Cordell (March 7, 1961) Brilliant scientist goes into a frenzy whenever bells ring. Stars pre-Napoleon Solo Robert Vaughn as the psycho killer.
VOLUME 7
Episode #25 Trio For Terror (March 14, 1961) Three tales of suspense. The first is the weirdest starring terrence de Marney as a Magi who returns from the dead. The other two tales are comical in one aspect, but still chilling to the bone. Episode #26 Papa Benjamin (March 21, 1961) Voodoo curse brings a down-beat ending for a talented musician. Jazzy and atmospheric. One of a handful of episodes based on a Cornell Woolrich story. Episode #27 Fighting against them, a fast-thinking man sweats bullets trying desperately to prevent the older brother from being caught for a justifiable homicide. Episode #28 Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper (April 11, 1961) The infamous Ripper maintains his youth into the twentieth century by ritual killing. Noteworthy music by Jerry Goldsmith, similar to his List of Adrian Messenger (1963) score.
VOLUME 8
Episode #29 The Devil’s Ticket (April 18, 1961) A wry twist on the deal-with-the-devil theme. No exaggerated make up job here, as they did on THE TWILIGHT ZONE. John Emery’s voice and gestures alone are suitable satanic. The story is lightened by Robert Bloch’s tongue-in-cheek dialogue.
Episode #30 Parasite Mansion (April 25, 1961) A woman is imprisoned in a ramshackle manor where evil prevails. Her tenuous escape route leads up creaky, spider web-covered stairs to another prisoner in a far worse predicament.
Episode #31 A Good Imagination (May 2, 1961) Edward Andrews is thoroughly amusing as a cheated on husband who cleverly punishes his wife and her two lovers. If it wasn’t for the fact that this script was form the typewriter of Robert Bloch, we might otherwise think this as a droll episode.
Episode #32 Mr. George (May 9, 1961) A guardian from beyond saves a child from her wicked relatives. A macabre fairy tale that strikes a universal chord, especially the ending.
VOLUME 9
Episode #33 Terror In Teakwood (May 16, 1961) An Egocentric musician steals the hands from the corpse of his arch rival. What he chooses to do with the hands isn’t half as gruesome as what the hands choose to do with him! Interesting trivia: After shooting the teaser, an appreciative crew broke into applause, inspired by Reggie Nalder’s climatic scene.
Episode #34 Prisoner In The Mirror (May 23, 1961) An evil sorcerer hypnotizes woman, borrows bodies, kills them, then retreats to a bewitched mirror. An exceptionally immortal tale of what happens when innocence uncovers this mirror, how it affects them, and their attempts to destroy the sorcerer once and for all.
Episode #35 Dark Legacy (May 30, 1961) A magician leaves his nephew an accursed book on the black arts. A superb music score by Jerry Goldsmith, and an on target performance by Harry Townes and Henry Silva.
Episode #36 Pigeons From Hell (June 6, 1961) Two young brothers seeking shelter for the night find death behind their footsteps. Perhaps the single most remembered episode from the series. Even the daylight looks ominously dark in their weird, primal tale. One of the many spooky moments includes the lantern that keeps going dim whenever it’s carried into the strange house. “The stories on THRILLER were really scary, and amazingly graphic. I still have fond memories of guy staggering down the stairs of a haunted house, and a hatchet in his head,” recalled Stephen King just a few years ago.
VOLUME 10
Episode #37 The Grim Reaper (June 13, 1961) Gruesome legend about a painting so evil that whoever owns it will meet the fate of the reaper. William Shatner gives a fine performance as the nephew who warns his Aunt to sell the painting before it’s too late. Of course, the legend proves to be true. Thriller’s first season closed not with a bang, but with a whimper: one caught in the throat of a terrified William Shatner.
Episode #38 What Beckoning Ghost? (September 18, 1961) The premiere episode of the 2nd season finds a woman so cleverly frightened to death by her cheating spouse, that only THRILLER fans know that the dead rarely rest peacefully. This was the first of five episodes directed by Ida Lupino.
Episode #39 Guillotine (September 25, 1961) Poisoned pancakes are consumed by a nevertheless punctual executioner. Quick cuts between the events provide ironic twists throughout. A fine adaptation of a story by Cornell Woolrich. This was also directed by Ida Lupino.
Episode #40 The Premature Burial (October 2, 1961) The classic tale by Edgar Allan Poe is adapted for this THRILLER production which also takes a few cues from Clark Ashton Smith’s WEIRD TALES entry “The Second Internment.” Boris Karloff isn’t just the host, he also stars (one of five episodes in which Karloff would act as well as host) as the wise doctor who plays on the hysterical fears of a gold digger and her lover.
VOLUME 11
Episode # 41 The Weird Taylor (October 16, 1961) Bereaved father attempts to resurrect his son by the use of the Mysteries of the Worm, a rare book said to have been burned with its owners years ago! Written by Robert Block, who later reused this same story in the all-Bloch anthology film ASYLUM (1972). This version is better!
Episode #42 God Grant That She Lye Still (October 23, 1961) Ghost of a vampire witch possesses the body of a living descendant. Henry Daniell plays the vicar whose ancestor long ago burned the witch at the stake. Victor Buono has a brief part. For those who love horror tales, take pleasure in knowing that not everyone lives happily ever after!
Episodes #43 Masquerade (October 30, 1961) A honeymooning young couple takes refuge at an old hotel when caught in a storm. An old woman is heard laughing insanely in the attic though the raggedy clothed innkeeper (John Carradine) denies anything is amiss. The solution to the old dark house mystery? Possibly vampire bats. Originally aired on October 30, 1961, the Halloween-eve debut of this segment was more than appropriate.
Episode #44 The Last Of The Summervilles (November 6, 1961) Murder and treachery hasten an inheritance. Karloff is alright as the clever Dr. Farnum, and Marita Hunt (from BRIDES OF DRACULA) as the eccentric aunt has the best scene when she’s electrocuted in the bathtub. This was Karloff’s third episode in which he acted a role.
VOLUME 12
Episode #45 Letter To A Lover (November 13, 1961) When a doctor is murdered two of the chief suspects, a husband and wife, seem to be auucsing each other of insanity – which one of them is correct?
Episode #46 A Third For Pinochle (November 20, 1961) A man plans to murder his wife using his noey neighbors for an alibi – but the eccentric ladies across the street may have a trick or two up there sleeves.
Episode #47 The Closed Cabinet (November 27, 1961) A ghost wanders the halls with a knife in hand, and only by solving a 300 year old riddle can the curse be lifted and peace be restored. This was the third of five episodes directed by Ida Lupino.
Episode #48 Dialogues With Death (December 4, 1961) Two thrilling short stories involving the dead or dying who are quite communicative. Boris Karloff stars in both segments, his fourth episode in which he acted a role.
VOLUME 13
Episode #49 The Return of Andrew Bentley (December 11, 1961) Demonic spirits return from the grave. John Newland, the host of ONE STEP BEYOND, directs and stars in this episode, as the heir to a haunted mansion. Terrence De Marney plays Bently’s arch-rival in the black arts. Don’t miss the wild solo on pipe organ that ends on a rather sour note!
Episode #50 The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk (December 18, 1961) A mysterious, lonely woman who raises prize hogs on her farm is in truth the ancient goddess Circe. John Carradine co-stars with Jo Van Fleet, and the tortured screams of Bruce Dern being turned in to a pig start off this delightful segment.
Episode #51 Portrait Without A Face (December 18, 1961) A murderer is gradually revealed by a rather unusual method: an artist complete his final painting posthumously, gradually revealing his killer’s identity.
Episode # 52 An Attractive Family (January 1, 1962) Need money? Try killing off insured relatives. This black comedy was one of THRILLER’s strongest assets, unlike most of TWILIGHT ZONE’s humor. The eerie prologue to this episode gives a little hint of the hilarity to follow.
VOLUME 14
Episode #53 Waxworks (January 8, 1962) Wax figures coming to life in order to kill is an oft used theme, yet here is a fresh treatment by Robert Bloch, combined with great over the top acting by Oscar Homolka and Martin Kosleck. Peter Lorre was even considered for the lead role, but turned the offer down.
Episode #54 La Strega (January 15, 1962) Our favorite old witch Jeanette Nolan is back at her old haunt of fear, stirring up a ghastly brew. Ursula Andress, in top physical form, rounds out this romantic tale of lovers fleeing from a terrifying corpse.
Episode #55 The Storm (January 22, 1962) Alone in a remote house, a woman attempts to escape from a sick killer. One of the better non-supernatural episodes of the series.
Episode #56 A Wig For Miss Devore (January 29, 1962) A witch’s wig made from the hairs of victims transforms frumpy has-beens into ravishing beauties in seconds. Of course, the reverse is also true – in spades! Masterful macabre make up by Jack Barron tops it off.
VOLUME 15
Episode #57 The Hollow Watcher (February 12, 1962) Scarecrow comes to life to exact revenge on adulterers deserving punishment. Backwoods legends are always a great source for spooky stories, and this is no exception.
Episode #58 Cousin Tundifer (February 19, 1962) Another segment that might have been at home in the TWILIGHT ZONE. A time warp into a checkered past opens for a family of eccentrics, but only the greedy nephew knows it exists. The perfect punishment fit’s the perfect crime, all in due time (no pun intended).
Episode #59 The Incredible Doktor Markesan (February 26, 1962) Karloff did not just host the series, he also acted in 5 of the episodes. This was his fifth and final acting performance and it’s a tour-de-force role as the undead professor who secretly reanimates deceased rival colleagues for after midnight interrogations. Possibly the most gruesome of all the terror segments, Boris nevertheless has some rather dry one liners and seems to be enjoying himself thoroughly.
Episode #60 Flowers Of Evil (March 5, 1962) Take a class in Murder 101 at the Academy of Arvonne. Beaudelaire is required reading. A rather dreary period piece, but worth watching for THRILLER FANS.
VOLUME 16
Episode #61 Till Death Do Us Part (March 12, 1962) Go West young undertaker! Henry Jones gets his turn at droll humor in this Robert Block yarn.
Episode #62 The Bride Who Died Twice (March 19, 1962) Poetic tale of a fatal romance. Desperate to escape an evil despot and his henchmen, a young woman deigns suicide. She flees with her lover only to have to repeat the experience in earnest. Effective torture scenes are assured by director Ida Lupono. This was the final episode produced for THRILLER, but aired in a different sequence from the production numbers.
Episode #63 Kill My Love (March 26, 1962) Here’s one for those who enjoy crime/suspense segments. A neurotic family man kills anyone who threatens his family relations, including his family itself! Morality goes in and out the window. Richard Carlson hams it up for this episode. Donald Sanford, who wrote the episode “The Cheaters,” scripted this one.
Episode #64 Man Of Mystery (April 2, 1962) A ruthless tycoon hides behind fictitious corporate identity in order to savor beautiful women vicariously, until the inevitable when he steps out form behind the curtain. Mary Tyler Moore even sings!
VOLUME 17
Episode #65 The Innocent Bystanders (April 9, 1962) Loosely based on the infamous Buke and Hare grave robbing case history. Watch out for George Kennedy playing his meanest-ever role as an impromptu corpse deliverer.
Episode #66 The Lethal Ladies (April 16, 1962) Two short horror stories, both directed by Ida Lupono, the first lady of film-noir.
Episode #67 The Specialists (April 30, 1962) This was an unannounced pilot for an unnamed discarded series years ahead of its time (a pre-cursor to MISSION IMPOSSIBLE). Since the producers could not air it as a pilot, they used the film as an episode of THRILLER. Though not truly a thriller in the sense of the word, a violent bombing made the show go out with a bang, not a whimper.
VOLUME 18
BONUS DVD (Several very nice Karloff Television Gems)

Paul paid a wopping $119.99 (approximately £64.24) for this bumper pack of Boris Karloff related TV thrillers ending the auction early by using the 'Buy It Now' button at 9.47 am.

Yet again we accrue more evidence for Paul's excellence as an ebayer as the seller eskelton1 left feedback for Paul saying "GREAT EBAYER A++++" (note the capitalisation and the four pluses!) Paul has not yet left feedback for the seller.

We all know by now that Paul is a big fan of the horror/thriller genre and I'm sure that he will enjoy watching all 18 of the DVDs contained in this Thriller box set. Not a lot!

April 23

2006-04-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

On April 23rd 2006, Paul Daniels purchased a vhs tape of the 1944 thriller classic Film Noir film 'The Suspect' starring Ella Raines, Charles Laughton and Henry Daniell.

The byline on the film is Hers was a strange love, his was a strange secret.' In the film, Laughton plays a hen pecked shopkeeper who kills his wife. The detective suspects foul play and allows the suspect (Laughton) to trip himself up. It is full of suspense and was directed by Robert Siodmark. The seller, aequiles had also purchased it on ebay and had only viewed it once.

Paul paid $15.50 for it (approximately £8.40)

It is obvious to everyone by now that Paul is an excellent ebayer and the feedback from aequiles once again confirms this: "Excellent buyer. Very fast payment, and smooth transaction. AAA+++" (That's 3 As and 3 pluses!) Paul has not yet left feedback for the seller.

I think Paul will very much enjoy watching his vhs tape. Not a lot!

March 20

2006-03-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

On March 20th 2006 Paul Daniels sold two different Mamiya cameras on ebay making £328.80 in the process. Well done Paul!

I'll do what I can to describe the two auctions with as much detail as possible although it might get complicated because they both had multiple bidders involved.

So... his Mamiya C330 Professional F Twin Lens Reflex Camera in a padded camera bag went for £157.80.
It had with it a 46mm Mamiya-Sekor lens with UV filters and a 135mm Mamiya-Sekor lens with Skylight (1B) filters and lens caps (front and back) and a Courtenay Light Meter in Belt Carrying Case (as new) [needs a standard 'oblong' 9v battery]and Paul declared the condition of the camera and all the parts to be very good.

Paul had wrongly identified the lens as 46mm (that was to do with the screw in filter size, d'oh... the lenses are actually 80mm and 135mm) but even so it didn't put bidders off. pandapoops kicked proceedings off with a derisory bid of 99p. philiplloyd2006 then took control with a £2 bid rising to £10 and £11. He was seen off by a bid of £20 by juanito6cars who hung on for a while with bids of £24, £26.50, £35.45 and £40 but then it was robbagley0's turn. His £75 bid wasn't good enough for long and he was soon up to £85 and then £90 before losing his grip to rentadora who also had a 3 bid tenure. First £94 was enough, then £100 and £105 but rentadora was unwilling or unable to best 1117shelteredtree's bid of £115. mikkyblue took the lead with bids of first £120 then £125 but oligh spoiled his party with £131 and then £141. rasibuz bid £152.80 which looked like it would do the job but ianf4 managed to offer up a further fiver and £157.80 was enough to make it his. Well done ianf4. Well done Paul.

The other camera was a MAMIYA 645 1000S. Paul declared it to be in really good condition. It was also in a padded Camera Bag and came with a HOVE PRO-GUIDE Mamiya Book on Medium Format Systems, a Mamiya Sekor C 80mm Lens and a 220 Roll film adapter in original case. Paul added that it was fitted with a Cokin Filter Holder.

There were even more bids for this one. Again it started with a 99p bid, this time from snifferhann. kang123456 made it £12, annt15 made it £15 and both donnelly109uk and mart007uk put in bids of £20. As donnelly109uk had got in there first the pressure was on mart007uk to up the ante and he/she did with a bid of £25. That was soon doubled by rcdrake but eleganceglassware stole a march on them with bids of £55, £59 and £63 before dewdropn announced a presence with a £70 bid. mahluf was in the lead with an almost unbelievable £70.03 but surat19 made a more sensible offer of £75. dewdropn reentered the game by also bidding £75 and so surat19 went to £77. dewdropn had one last try with £79 but soon got out of the way when ross9635 stormed in with £90. rodrigoqbo bid first £94 then £98, £102, £106, £110, £114 and £118 and then mikkyblue popped up with £120. Do you remember mikkyblue from the other Mamiya camera auction? He must have really wanted to win one of them. rodrigoqbo was having none of it and came back with £122 and then £126. mikkyblue came back again this time with £131 and then £135. ross9635 who we'd last seen back at the £90 mark came in with £140 but half an hour later noahstephenson's £150 snatched it away. If you thought we'd seen the last of rodrigoqbo you were wrong. His £150 must have got in just before noahstephenson and so was technically winning the auction. So noahstephenson steps in with £155. mikkyblue returns with £160, noahstephenson parries with £161. rodrigoqbo just won't give it up and makes a last ditch effort with £166 but then right at the last noahstephenson puts up £171 and steals the day by buying the camera. Wow. What an auction.

Both the buyers were delighted. ianf4 gave Paul top marks with his feedback saying, "Very good ebay deal, excellent camera and safe delivery. Top marks!!!" while noahstephenson who was making his first ebay purchase said, "my first buy on ebay and paul made it a very pleasant one. no problems at all." At present Paul hasn't given either of them any feedback so it's impossible to know what he thinks of it all. But I'll bet he's happy.

I think Paul will enjoy spending his £328.80. Not a lot!

March 13

2006-03-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

On March 13th 2006, Paul Daniels sold a film camera for a wopping £1015! That's more than a grand!

It must be a pretty serious bit of kit. It went under the title "BOLEX H16EL 400ft magazine KERN Vario-Switar lens etc" which doesn't mean a great deal to me... but the picture of it looks like an old-fashioned movie camera. I'm guessing it actually shoots film and not video or anything like that.

Paul goes into further description of the item telling potential buyers that they were bidding for a Bolex H16 EL (presumably the camera) plus a 400ft magazine (presumably that's the length of film it can take?) plus a KERN Vario-Switar 1:2/12,5-100mm multicoated lens (?) and Many Accessories which he then lists as: Four Gelatin Filters, Lens Back-Cap, Three Bolex Lens fittings, 12-24v Input for Bolex Cameras, Remote cable, 2 extender cables, empty spool, Ni CD Power Pack adapted for fast charging in leather shoulder strapped carrying case, large round lens hood, Bolex Battery Charger, larger Bolex Rapid Battery Charger, Bolex Accessories Brochure, small booklet of tables of focal lengths of lens, instruction manual for the 400ft magazine and a manual on the camera itself explaining its capabilities.

All of it is in a FITTED Carrying Case approximately 24" x 20" x 8" (Paul added the emphasis on FITTED, not me)

The only thing that could put potential bidders off would be the fact that the tripod pictured was not included in the auction - Paul was very clear about pointing that out so as to best avoid confusion.

There was a lot of bidding for the item starting at a frankly ridiculous £2 which was offered by both ima120 and daryl3585. photo_cine77 then entered the fray and bid £50 before releafer came on the scene. His initial leading bid of £100 was pushed up to £120 then £130 before maclexsteam briefly took the lead with £151. silviobonomi was leading the pack with £250 but £255 from malik78692 was enough to wrest that from him. But silviobonomi wasn't in any mood to be defeated so he came back with £300. He was defeated though when his old foe malik78692 stepped back in with £315. He was then pushed to £375 and then beaten by a £400 bid from ramonbust. ask.dr.nick then charged in with £410 but ramonbust stole it back with £450. This bid was then stretched first to £500 then £600 before barnfold34 was allowed to briefly dream of owning with Bolex with a cheeky £602.99 bid. ramonbust clearly didn't like that kind of messing around as he then came in with a big leap and £800. His bid rose to £900, £950 and even £955 before right at the end destined212 stole it away with that massive £1015 bid. Well done destined212. Well done Paul Daniels. ebay watchers might be interested to observe that ramonbust is no longer registered with ebay. Hmmm... it would be wrong to speculate but often that hints at some kind of wrong-doing. Like I say though, it would be wrong to speculate.

Anyway, this is a huge result for little Paul Daniels and I'm sure he was absolutely delighted to make over a thousand pounds on ebay.

destined212 was certainly delighted with the whole thing... his feedback says, "This guy is excellent! Great communication and a great purchase!" I can't find Paul's feedback so right now I can't say what he thinks of it all. I will update this page as and when it becomes clearer.

I'm sure Paul will enjoy spending his £1015. Not a lot!

February 25

2006-02-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

On February 25th 2006 Paul Daniels purchased a tin of half tone gramophone needles for only £6.50. He first bid £3.10 but was outbid by radiochiti who raised the game with a £6 bid. Paul was keen though and sealed the deal with his £6.50 bid... he will also have paid £1.50 for postage costs.

The seller, lovedaylemon was clearly impressed with Paul as he/she left great feedback saying, "Lightning fast payment. Happy to trade again. Thank you" and Paul was obviously impressed by the service also as he left positive feedback stating, "Very good. Thank you."

Also on February 25th 2006, Paul Daniels purchased some 78rpm records. These were won in four separate auctions although they were bought from only two sellers; cricketrosie26 and katrinavonita.

From cricketrosie26 he bought Pat Boone's 'It's Too Soon To Know' (1958, London) and The Platter's 'Only You'/'Great Pretender' (1956, Mercury) and only paid 99p each with no other bidders. Both discs were described as having scuffed shellac but good condition paper sleeves.

From katrinavonita he bought Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' and the Saint's Jazz Band's recording of 'Savoy Blues'/'When The Saints Go Marching.' Again each of these were purchased for only 99p each with no other bidders. Paul must have been like a kiddy in a sweet shop!
All of these items are clearly companion pieces to the HMV soundbox that Paul purchased on February 12th. I wonder if he regularly uses an old fashioned gramophone? Or maybe he is planning some kind of gramophone related illusion?

cricketrosie26 was obviously happy to deal with Paul and left him good but not overly effusive feedback. For both transactions she left the words, "good payer". katrinavonita was more upbeat in her praise although it was similarly themed as for both her transactions she left the words, "Fast Payment Very Good Ebayer". Paul was clearly impressed with both sellers as for all four transactions he left the positive feedback, "Very good. Thank you."

I think Paul will enjoy listening to his 78rpm records as they are played by the needles in his tin. Not a lot!

February 22

2006-02-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

On February 22 2006, Paul Daniels sold some photos of Winifred Atwell, Frankie Lane and Johnny Ray. (The picture here is of Winifred Atwell but I do not know if one like it was sold by Paul, I found it elsewhere and am using it for illustrative purposes.)

He made a wapping £14.06 on the deal and charged £3 for post and packing. There were 11 bids in total.

The bidding started with nickiespicks trying to get a steal of a deal and bidding only 99p. 8453davidw beat that with a bid of £1.50. His bid was raised by others to £1.99, then £3.00 and then £3.99 before nickiespicks got serious and offered £10. However pedroblues beat that with a bid of £10.55. That bid was then beaten by trykkleif who came in at £13 and it was trykkleif and pedroblues who would contest the item from there on in. pedroblues bid £13.56 but was finally pipped by trykkleif's £14 and change.

I bet Paul enjoyed watching that kind of ebay action.

The photos were in an album which also contained some sheet music. Paul writes, "A stage manager in a theatre collected, into a photo album, a VERY comprehensive set of publicity photographs of the most famous variety pianist of her day, Winifred Atwell.

There are a couple of small pictures of her with Frankie Lane and three with Johnnie Ray and some postcard sized pics of Winifred Atwell.

Some of the pictures are signed by Winifred Atwell.

There are 16 10" x 8" black and white photos and one coloured signed picture on a pseudo canvas finish.

Also in this album: Sheet music for Charleston; Coronation Rag; and a souvenir album of Winifred Album that contains the story of her rise to fame, 13 photographs and five of her best known compostitions.

All photos and sheet music are in good condition, having been stored in the album."

Paul doesn't say how this album came into his possession. Did he buy it? Was it a gift from the theatre-stage-manager? Maybe he received it in part payment for a show in a theatre.

Both parties are delighted by the transaction if their feedback is anything to go by. trykkleif said, "A great collector's item from a great seller - fast delivery, well packed, +++++" (that's 5 pluses) while Paul said, "A very prompt payment, thank you." You can't get fairer than that.

I think Paul will enjoy spending his £14.06. Not a lot!

February 18

2006-02-18T12:06:00.000-08:00

On February 18th 2006, Paul Daniels purchased some kinky leather-look boots. They have 5 inch high, solid steel spikey stiletto heels and a red oriental woven pattern on the side of each boot.

Thanks to a hidden stretchy panel inside the thigh they have a figure hugging fit.

Paul used the 'Buy It Now' button to pay £59.95 for the boots and a further £6.15 for postage.

They were size 6 - so let's hope that's Debbie's size.

Paul was clearly delighted with the seller and left them some great feedback saying, "Brilliant delivery and product was good. Thank you." while they (skyhighshoes) were also pleased with the transaction saying, "Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended!" Yes; highly!

I think Paul will enjoy seeing Debbie wearing her newly purchased erotic footwear. Not a lot!

February 15

2006-02-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

On February 15th 2006, Paul Daniels purchased a vhs video of the 1941 black and white horror film The Black Cat.

He paid $7.99 for the tape which, while it does star Bela Lugosi, is not to be confused with the 1930s film of the same name starring... yup, Bela Lugosi.

This one has never been released on DVD which is no doubt why Paul was happy to buy it on vhs. The film that Paul has bought also stars Basil Rathbone.

Paul used the 'Buy It Now' button to make his purchase which was sent to him from Tacoma which is near Seattle in the US.

The seller, dandylion_records obviously enjoyed the transaction saying, "Thank you for an easy, pleasant transaction.Excellent buyer. A++++++." That's an A and six pluses! Paul was similarly impressed with the good people at dandylion_records as his feedback reads, "Very good. Thank you."

I think Paul will enjoy watching this vhs tape. Not a lot!

February 12

2006-02-12T10:55:00.000-08:00

On February 12th 2006, Paul Daniels purchased an HMV Sound Box for £32 beating off four other bidders into the bargain. Well done Paul.

The first bid came from jprzygrodzki who came in at £10 before gramophones-worcs beat that with £12. lacambracolecciones then made a crafy bid of £15.05 but gramophones-worcs came back with £20. Sadly for gramophones-worcs slapscat took it out of their reach with a bid of £31 but sadly for all of them - but not for Paul - he then slipped in at the end and nabbed it.

So what is an HMV Soundbox? Well, I'm not sure... but it looks likely that it is part of an old fashioned gramophone... maybe it helped to magnify the sound of an old fashioned record. What I do know is that the one Paul has bought is described as follows:

Circa 1924, Model No. 2, manufactured by The Gramophone Co. Ltd., Hayes, Middlesex. In original black box with HMV logo embossed on lid. Good working order complete with locating screw and needle retaining screw. So now you know.

In his feedback for Paul the seller, joethsills says, "Excellent communication and very fast payment. Thank you A*******" while Paul also leaves positive feedback saying, "Very good. Thank you."

I think Paul is going to enjoy owning his soundbox. Not a lot!

February 11

2006-02-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

On February 11 2006, Paul Daniels purchased a flyer for the 1971 film Revenge starring Joan Collins.

I confess I am confused as to what pleasure he will get from owning this flyer even if it does feature a picture of Joan Collins in a bikini.

As well as Joan the film stars James Booth, Ray Barrett and Sinead Cusack. The film is from the Rank organisation and the flyer contains a plot synopsis, the cast and, on the reverse, some black and white shots from the film. I wonder if Paul has already got a copy of the film and just wanted some of the promotional material to really 'set it off' so to speak.

keiron2006 was the first bidder coming in with £3.19. This rose to £3.59 and then £3.99 before Paul found the right limit and pipped him with £4.19.

The seller, jamesbarker was certainly happy with the deal saying, "payment received promptly, Thank You" while Paul said of the seller, "Very good. Thank you."

I think Paul will enjoy reading his 1971 movie flyer. Not a lot!

February 10

2006-02-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

On February 10th 2006 Paul Daniels purchased a DVD of an old who-dunnit? film called Murder in the Blue Room. Paul paid $18.45 for the DVD which was sold by the appropriately named oldtimeentertainment!

The film is more than a who-dunnit? it is a musical mystery that chronicles the endeavors of a young couple(Nan and Steve) who attempt to solve a mysterious murder that occurred in a brooding old home.

The story is intriguing; in this old mansion there is a mysterious bedroom, the blue room, where a man died several years earlier, and now, anyone who spends the night in the room disappears!

After the murder, the house was abandoned and rumours abound that the place was haunted. The couple are determined to quell the rumors and solve the mystery themselves while holding a housewarming party. The victim was the father of the new bride Nan (Anne Gwynne). The groom Steve, (Donald Cook)was the victim's best friend. Grace Mcdonald , Betty Kean ,and June Preisser, as The 3 Jazzy-Belles, steal the movie with their comic antics, jive dance routines, and songs(Boogie Woogie Boogie Man)

All in all it is described as a great murder-mystery-comedy-musical combination that is truly enjoyable.

The seller left positive feedback for Paul saying, "Quick payment. Great eBayer.Smooth transaction. thank you~~~~~~~~~" and Paul left positive feedback for them also saying, "Very good. Thank you."

I think Paul will enjoy this movie. Not a lot!

February 7

2006-02-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

On February 7th 2006, Paul Daniels purchased a vhs tape of the 1930s Boris Karloff film Invisible Menace. The film also stars Eddie Craven and Marie Wilson. The auction ended early because Paul used the 'Buy It Now' button to secure the tape for his viewing pleasure. He paid $13.99 (approximately £7.58) for it.

In a separate auction from the same seller he also bought a vhs tape of the horror film Flying Serpent starring George Zucco. Paul clearly likes old horror films! This film is from 1946 and is described by the seller as PRC's best horror film next to Bela Lugosi's Devil Bat. It co-stars Henry Hall and Terry Frost. Confusingly it then says that it is an unofficial remake of the Bela Lugosi film Devil Bat albeit one in which the monster is now a scaly flying serpent!

In any case Paul paid $9.99 for it and again did so using the 'Buy It Now' button.

Paul was clearly happy with the transactions because he left identical feedback for both of them: "Very good. Thank you." The seller, moonman1702, was obviously equally thrilled as he too left identical feedback for both transactions saying, "Valued Repeat Customer! Fast Pay! Good Communication! Smooth Transaction! AAAA++" (That's 4 As and 2 pluses!)

On the same day Paul won another auction from another seller. It was another horror film but this time on DVD.

It is a DVD about a 200 foot, fire eating turtle of all things! It is called Gammera the Invincible.
It stars Brian Donlevy and Albert Dekker and was directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Paul ended the auction early by utilising the 'Buy It Now' option once more and at only $4.75 (approx £2.58) I'm not surprised. You can't argue with that.

"When a plane carrying an atomic bomb crashes over the Arctic Ocean, the explosion unleashes Gamera, a 200 foot fire-eating turtle. He is hungry for a city and not about to be stopped."

Paul left positive ebay feedback saying: 'Very good. Thank you.'
The seller, moviemarz left positive feedback for Paul also saying: 'Thank you for an easy, pleasant transaction. Excellent buyer. A++++++.' (That's 1 A and 6 pluses)

I think Paul is going to enjoy watching his vhs tapes and his DVD. Not a lot!

January 26

2006-01-26T10:22:00.000-08:00

On January 26, 2006, Paul Daniels purchased a DVD of the 1944 black and white horror film, Voodoo Man starring Bela Lugosi.

It also stars John Carradine, George Zucco, Wanda McKay, Louise Currie, Tod Andrews, Ellen Hall and Terry Walker. In the film Bela Lugosi stars as Dr. Marlowe, who wears a goatee and a robe covered with mysterious voodoo symbols. He kidnaps girls with the aid of Zucco and Carradine so that he can use voodoo rituals on them in hope of saving his wife, who is in a perpetual trance. All the victims end up as hopeless zombies and are sent to the basement to be tortured by John Carradine. Zucco is a gas station owner who tricks the victims into driving over to Bela's house. It is described as a rare Monogram horror classic!

Paul paid only $10.50 (approximately £5.69) + postage which might have been quite a lot because it came from Woodstock, Georgia USA. To win the item Paul outbid thevoice70 who had bid $10 on January 23.

Paul left positive ebay feedback for the seller, saying, "That was very good especially considering this was an international order." The seller, marscollective left positive feedback for Paul too saying, "Hope to deal with you again. I wish more Earthlings were like you. Thank you." !!

I think Paul is going to like this movie. Not a lot!