So, you broke that nice glass turntable in your microwave. What to do? Go to eBay! That's what LOTS of people are doing and it's meant some pretty nice profits for me. I rarely leave a thrift store without at least one microwave glass turntable for around $1. Sometimes, I get "lucky" and they'll be accompanied by some indication of the exact make/model microwave they came out of. Most of the time, they do NOT.
The listing to the right is one that I sold just minutes before writing today's blog. I actually found it at the Goodwill Clearance Store (aka "the bins"), where you have to dig through big blue bins where they've thrown all kinds of STUFF. But, there are treasures in those bins! This particular one came out of a beat up Sunbeam microwave and the turntable was still enclosed in the original Styrofoam packing with the user's manual included. I removed it from the oven (you're allowed to!) and paid $1.19/lb for it. It probably cost me a couple of dollars. Listing it was super easy! After I took the photos, I measured the diameter of the turntable, the outside diameter of the track on back and included that info. along with the make/model.
When, as is usually the case, all I have is the turntable and a measuring tape, here's what I do. Measure the diameter of the turntable and the outside diameter of that track on the back. Indicate any letters/numbers that are stamped in the glass. SOMETIMES, you can do a little research with the information you have and find out what make/model it fits... but, not often. Below is a turntable that I recently sold. You can see that I could not indicate the exact microwave(s) that it fit, but it sold, anyway! It included the support with wheels (the wheels that fit into the track on back).
I have been taking my turntable photos on a white background, but I plan to start using a black background because I think it will show all the details much clearer. Good, clear photos are very important to the success of any eBay business!
These turntables are VERY costly if purchased new from the manufacturer. And, quite often, the needed turntable is out of production, so they CAN'T be purchased new. As far as shipping goes, you have a couple of options. You can take a larger box and cut it down to make sort of a "pizza box" to ship it in. Here's my friend, Jessie's, pattern for doing so:
Make a Pizza Box!
Or, you can purchase some 16" X 16" boxes from eBay, which is what I eventually did. Make sure you wrap the turntables in bubble wrap and pack them in packing peanuts to prevent any breakage during shipping. The US Post Office is quite rough with packages!
That's pretty much it! So, never pass up a ROUND microwave glass turntable for resale. Leave the square ones... they don't sell. Here are the ones I currently have listed:
Microwave Glass Turntables
I'd love it if you'd share with me some of your success stories with the turntables!
