Bag sales

I don't buy or sell bags (though I must admit I did succumb once - for the must-have 20-strong Virgin Atlantic Design for Chunks Limited Edition bags). All my other bags some from three sources:

	I steal them myself.
	Other people steal them for me.
	Other people steal them, then barter them for bags that I've stolen.

See my Swaps page for a list of surplus stolen goods currently in stock.

But many baggists do buy and sell bags. EBay is the place to go if you want to indulge in this tawdry (and expensive) game. This page is devoted to watching the bags-for-cash trade.

November 2005

"Just before 2005 ends I would like you to inform about the bids for barf bags during November", says veteran bagwatcher Gerd Clemens. Here is his report:

It was really a very moderate month. I just could find 21 auctions where bids surpassed €10, and the highest offer at €36.89 was also not spectacular.

	Number one during November was a bag from Egypt, Kairo Airlines, at this price. Surprisingly, this was a direct sale, so no other offers where made.
	Runner up was an Iranian bag from Aria Air at a price of US$ 34.53, which is equal to €29.40.
	Hawaiian , an airline from the USA, appeared twice this month at rank #3 at €28.03 and at rank #12 again at a price of €15.65.
	At #4 was a bag from Thailand offered by an airline with no good reputation Phuket Airlines at a final bid of €26.60.
	It continues exotic as Airblue, the Pakistani airline, came in at #5 at €26.58. Seven different bidders tried to secure the bag; 12 bids were necessary to get it.
	Hello Kitty - what a nice name for a barf bag - only available on EVA Airline's flights from Taiwan to Fukuoka in Japan, was the bag of the month. Auction prices rose to US$ 26.10= €22.23; then this bag was offered to the runners-up, who took the opportunity of paying €21.17 and €16.94. In the meantime this bag is offered as a direct sale at US$ 9.99.
	A strange-looking sickness bag from SAL Leipzig came in at #6 at a price of €21.50.
	As usual a bag from China is in the top 10, at #9. The bag from China United Airlines cuA was worth £14.50 equal to €21.15.
	Another bag from Egypt, Scorpio Airways, was #10 at a price of €18.40.
	At rank #13 a bag from Privilege style at €15.50. Does anybody know where this airline comes from?
	Again a bag from China, namely China South West Airline CSWA came in as #14 at a price of €15.32.
	On the following places 3 bags from Europe namely Aegean Flying Dolphins, the new one from Air Dolomiti and Linjeflyg at prices between €13.05 and €12.51.
	A plastic bag from Air Maldives at a price of €11.61 came in at #18.
	At rank #19 there is a bag from an airline I do not know where is from - Grandair - at a price of €10.80.
	An old British Airways sickness bag from the 50s came in as #20 at a price of €10.59.
	And last but not least, Hapag Lloyd Express hlx is going on with their yellow bags with funny and good slogans. This time: Übergeben ist seeliger als nehmen. The slogan plays with the German saying: "One who gives is more blessed than the one who just takes", and it is a pun using the fact that Übergeben in German has a double meaning: to give or hand over, and to vomit. I am not prepared to give further explanations other than that last bid was at €10.50.

For bidders on eBay it was almost a boring month. But I can assure you December becomes far more better.

All the best to all of you and a prosperous New Year for 2006.

October 2005

Here's German bagwatcher Gerd Clemens's account of October trading on eBay:

With a short delay here are the highest bids at eBay for October 2005 (as far as I could monitor them).

	Let me start not with an auction for one bag but for 5 bags from the 80s, as they got the highest bid at US$ 91.20 (about €77). The airlines involved were Balkan Bulgarian, Antillean Airlines, American Airlines and 2 from JES Air.
	Not very spectacular in price but the second time very high in ranking and in October # 1 a bag from Aero Galapagos at €46.50.
	Not far away at rank #2 was Air Liberte from Tunisia at €41.60.
	Third place goes to a bag from Egypt, namely Cairo Aviation at €37.39. This bag is still around and if somebody is lucky he will get the bag at a price far below €10 within a short time.
	The same is happening with the bag which has rank #4: Deccan Air from India, which came up to £20 (about €29). In November some of us bought it at about €10 but one of us was lucky to get it at £0.99 (€1.50), because the others missed it for some reason. Well done!
	British Jet.com was #5 at a price of £19.53 = €29.
	Omni Air International is also a bag which was offered very often during the last few months and it is still on sale. In September you had to bid $45.44 to win the auction. Now in October it is not as high but still very costly at $30.00 = €25.43. In November you can get it in a direct sale at $19.95. If this decline in price follows a mathematical formula I will wait for February 2006, then I will get it for €5!
	Rank #7 went to a bag with an unknown airline. BUEN VIAJE is written on it, but nevertheless price was €21.60.
	A bag from World Airways came up at #8 for $20.50 (about €17.38).
	Not from a real airline but a bag more for promotional purposes was Darkness Airlines at a price of GBP 10 (about €15).
	The next two ranks #10 and #11 went to India for a red bag from Air India. 11 bids were given and at the end $16.01 = €14 were necessary to get this bag. In a direct sale the second bidder got the chance to gain this bag at $15.51 = €13.15.
	Surprisingly a bag from Netherlands Transavia at a price of $15.50 = €13.14 came in at #12, followed by a good old friend Livingston Energy from Italy? at a price of €13 at rank #13.
	Also Fly Niki is a very new bag which went over the counter at a relatively high price of $12.62 = €10.70. Also here we can expect a sharp decline in price within a short time.
	And now we come to 2 bags where the seller has made a fortune for quite a long time: Viking Airlines from Sweden and Dubrovnik Airlines from Croatia. This month 2 Vikings at €10.51 and 3 Dubrovniks, two for €10.51 and one for €10.25. I do not want to add up all the auctions which took place with these 2 bags which are offered by the same seller, but I would guess that earnings are far higher than travel expenses to get the bags.
	In terms of prices one bag is among these Viking and Dubrovnik bags namely an older bag from KLM at a price of €10.50.
	The list of bags with a higher price than €10 is closed by 2 bags sold at a price of exactly €10 namely BH Air from Bulgaria and a fake from Germanwings which never saw an aeroplane but a lot of beer and wine. A bag which was a supplement to a newspaper in Stuttgart making promotion for Germanwing and a funfair in Stuttgart called Stuttgarter Wasen. But as it looks like an air sickness bag we seem to collect it, because 12 bids, the highest number this month, were made. In the meantime I suppose every collector has a specimen. If not I have some spares at a price far below €10 if necessary.

This was all what I could find during October. I can tell you in November we are on course for a high level of activity.

Gerd Clemens

September 2005

Here's German bagwatcher Gerd Clemens's account of September trading on eBay:

As I mentioned it at the end of my last report, September was another good month for auctions of barf bags at eBay. More than 20 auctions took place at which the final bid was higher than 10 Euros.

It really started with a bang: ROYAL SWAZI was the highest bid in September. 20 bids of 8 different bidders brought the price up to Euro 86,10. This is quite a remarkable value for a small bag.

Runner up was SONAIR from Angola, the seller made a question mark to the country, anyhow price was Euro 62,10.

Bag of the month was OMNI AIR with 3 bids this month and some more will follow during October. The highest price for this bag reached US$ 45,44 = Euro 37,80, next auction came up to US$ 32,31 = Euro 26,73 and the last one in September was a direct sale for US$ 16,50 = Euro 13,73.

But back to the ranking NIGERIA AIRWAYS came up to 4th with Euro 37,10, about 40% less than in August, but still a good price.

Also CITY EXPRESS was on auction again. This month with Euro 35,51 again about 40% lower in price than in August.

CASPIAN AIRLINES from Iran did quite well. Just at the beginning of September price was Euro 32,91, later it was sold directly at Euro 21,83 and finally in another round of direct sales at a price of Euro 7,50. About 8 other collectors took advantage of this special offer.

Position 7 went to AERO GALAPAGOS at a price of Euro 31,60.

SUN COUNTRY AIRLINE was on the next position. Two auctions took place, one at US$ 32,89 the other one at US$ 26,00 which is Euro 27,37 and Euro 21,51 respectively.

Rank 9 was LOTUS AIR at Euro 20,49.

Also DUBROVNIK AIRLINES is still around, this month at prices of Euro 18 and Euro 17,50 but no more at Euro 35 what it used to be the months before.

On position 11 a bag from Bolivia namely LAB at a price of US$ 20,49 = Euro 16,95.

Again a bag from the Philippines and their Airline was top, this month at Euro 16,10.

And on the next positions we find:

	UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS at Euro 15,50
	SABENA at Euro 13,03
	TAAG from Angola at Euro 12,50
	2 times FLY NIKI at Euro 10,44 and Euro 10,03
	AEROGAVIOTA from Cuba at 10 Euro and finally the promotion bag from Germanwíngs at Euro 10.

That all what I could find for September a quite busy month for barf bag collectors. It seems that October will be not as turbulent. But we will see.

Kind regards Gerd Clemens

August 2005

Special correspondent Gerd Clemens reports:

Despite holiday season a lot of activities for barf bags took place during August. I noticed 19 auctions with final prices higher than 10 Euro. For these auctions in total more than 25 bidders made their bids "helping to bring prices up".

Auction of the month was for a barf bag from NIGERIA AIRWAYS with a final price of â‚¬ 61,50.

Runner up was a CITY EXPRESS air sickness bag, probably from Canada. The auction was closed at a highest bid of US$ 73 = Euro 59.

It was not just a rare barf bag but, as the seller described it, a "very rare" barf bag which came on rank 3 namely a bag from DUBROVNIK AIRLINE in Croatia with a final bid of Euro 35,60.

At # 4 a bag of which the supplier could not tell whether if it comes from China or from Japan. Despite this last offer was made at Euro 34,03.

On 5th place a bag from Italy? namely from LIVINGSTON ENERGIE FLIGHT at a price of Euro 29,03.

Thanks to a lot of variations barf bags from the Philippines seems to be much in demand.
A price of Euro 23,33 "For Motion Discomfort" in blue from ISLAND TRANSVOYAGER INC. is a proof of this.

Very close behind an Egyptian barf bag of P.A.S. which stands for Petroleum Air Service at a price of GBP 16 equal to Euro 23,04.

Like the Philippines another country in South East Asia namely Indonesia is always of interest for our group of barf bag collectors. Not too much because of variations but due to a lot of different airlines connecting the huge number of islands there. For a FREE BIRD AIRLINES bag a fierce competition took place. 18 bids were made and 9 different bidders made their offer. Finally price came up to Euro 22,50.

For me bag of the month was from another Indonesian airline WINGS AIR. In a very smart course of actions the seller of this red bag is offering them since beginning of August in at least 5 auctions. In course of August 3 auctions were finalized at prices of Euro 21,30; Euro 20,91 and Euro 11,50. This bag is still offered, but prices in September do not exceed 10 Euros anymore. Sometimes we should not be too greedy.

In August the further ranking was dominated by European barf bags.

	Air Pullmantur from Spain at Euro 16,55
	An old Sabena bag at Euro 14,75
	Another Spanish bag from Buquebus at Euro 13,60
	Just one from South America, Brazil to be more precisely namely Southern Winds at Euro 13,27
	Isle of Man airline?, but the supplier was not really sure, whether this bag was from an airplane or a ship at Euro 13,20
	Conti-Flug, a no more existing German airline at Euro 11,60

and finally 2 airlines from SE Asia again

	A.Soriano Aviation Inc. from the Philippines at Euro 11,25 and
	Indonesian Celebes Airlines at Euro 10,80.

I hope that I did not miss too much auctions of this calibre.

September auctions started with a bang. Hence September seems to become another good month for the sellers of barf bags.

I will keep you informed.

Kind regards

Gerd Clemens