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I find myself at an interesting scavenging crossroads this week. There are two library sales near me on the same day at the same time…normally I would have a healthy debate with myself. Do I go to the one that’s closer and hit or miss (but often really good!) or the one that’s further away but next to a record store that I love and in a town that I like? I could maybe swing both if I hit the preview sale for one and then hustle to the other…but that’s a lot of driving and paying attention to the clock. Not my favorite way to do things, even if it’s sometimes necessary.
Maybe I am growing as a scavenger because I might choose…neither one. I have lots of inventory to process this week and don’t really need to piddle around searching for $2 items which might sell for $20. I have half a thought to work “really hard” Monday through Thursday and hit one (or both!) sales as a reward. When I stop to appreciate all of this, it’s really a nice life no matter what I choose.
I had a really fun scavenging order last week from one of the biggest consignment trading card sellers, big enough that they are an easily Googleable company who runs thousands of auctions every week and dabble in lots of niches beyond cards. Almost everything in my store that’s not cards or stuff you’d find at a library sale comes from this seller. eBay invoices cap at 40 items and I ended up with 36 items from this seller last week. I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried.
My favorite goodies:
certified autograph hockey pucks with players faces
I won a few of these LA Kings autographed player pucks for a buck or two each, and I can’t decide if they’re cool or terrifying, but I am confident they will (eventually) probably sell for $10 to $20 each. If not, they’ll be easy to lot up in a flat rate box with a $50 price tag.
Jim Brown Panini Absolute glass case hit
One of the quirks which has kept modern card collecting fresh and interesting has been the case hit, a card inserted once every few boxes (however many boxes is in a case of that particular set) with a unique design. These glass case hits from the Absolute set were only available through redemption on the Panini set, and there are maybe 20 of each player? Jim Brown was a legendary running back in the 50s and 60s, and someone consigned a huge collection of his cards including five of these glass cards. You’ll notice if you click on the link that glass appears nowhere in the title. A big whoops on the consignment seller’s part. But that’s the risk you take sending your items to be sold on consignment. I was really hoping to win all of these cards, but was outbid on four of the five. Strangely I won this one for twenty bucks less than my max bid. Should be a fairly quick sale somewhere between $100 and $200.
Ted Williams famous fabrics jersey card
One of the other quirks of modern collecting has been that for the last 10-15 years, only one manufacturer has held the license to produce cards for each sport. But other manufacturers still want to make cards (since cards = $$$$), so this Ted Williams card is a good example of how they skirt the rules. Ted does not appear on the card. The logo of his team the Boston Red Sox is nowhere to be found. But there is a big old hunk of one of his jerseys in the card, which means a Red Sox fanatic will be happy to add this to their collection. I will probably need to wait a few months for the right deep-pocketed buyer to come along. But I’ve done well with cards like this in the past, so I think I can turn my $35 investment into a $100 sale without too much sweat equity.
8 card lot of 1900 Lever Brothers soap cards
I might be the card guy in this forum, and a card expert compared to 99.5% of people in the world, but I have a lot of knowledge gaps compared to others in that 0.5%. Vintage cards is one area where I am constantly trying to educate myself. These cards will go straight to my consignment port, so my total cost on them will be about $2 each. How does the condition compare to other early 20th century cards? How many collectors are out there for early 1900s non sports cards? Not really sure. But it will be an education, and likely a small profit thanks to the Queen Victoria card. Long live the queen.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain 1973 press photo
One of the biggest shifts in my store this year has been expanding into the sports memorabilia world beyond cards. I’m very comfortable selling certified autographs now and have a pretty good knowledge base as far as value. I’m definitely still in the learning process in terms of the value of vintage photographs, which has been a new (or maybe just new to me) area of collecting/flipping/”investing” which has picked up in the last few years. This photograph features two all-time basketball greats and has all the relevant info which indicates (I think) that it’s the most desirable type of photo, a type 1. Does this mean I will turn my $40 investment into a $100 (or more) profit if I get the photo authenticated and wait patiently for the right buyer to find my listing? Stay tuned over the next few months (or years) and we’ll see!
What did you find this week?
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No yard sales this weekend as we had alot of family things to do. My oldest kids do an anime convention every year near us. It has grown to be pretty big.
This year they dressed up as Five Nights at Freddie’s characters because there was an in-character FNAF panel discussion. 2 HOURS of adults (and a few kids) pretending to be video game characters and doing Q&A. It was a packed, standing room only large conference room and I assure you they could have all kept going for many more hours. Man, it was…an experience! Not my cup of tea but my kids absolutely loved it so that makes me happy!
Scavenge of the week was 121 more pair of boxed shoes from the premium hoarder collection.
Paid $25 a pair and I think my ASP on shoes will be over $200.
I bought one of these for $25. (not my item – just a comp on ebay)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/355004963382
I posted my photos of the premium hoarder hard goods in another post. I stuck with the shoes as I was the only buyer for them so I could get a great deal. The hard goods I knew I wouldn’t be getting any amazing deals at this point. I also did NOT want any large heavy items.
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/235244274493 paid $2. https://www.ebay.com/itm/335057048869 Paid $10. Vintage and discontinued bedding for the win this week. I was pleasantly surprised at the Shabby Chic Target comps.
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Technically I did not scavenge these this week, but I did pull them out of an 18x18x24 box and had forgot about them from 2-3 weeks ago. Yes, items like these are BURIED in boxes and bags in my ebay office. That’s just how many of these amazing items I have!!!
How I typically do these premium hoarder hauls is I go through the clothes on big racks quickly. I take down and hand the items I happily pay sticker price for to the sisters selling things. Anything I’m hesitant on I set aside for either research or to negotiate on price.
They are adding up my items and folding/boxing/bagging them as I go. I don’t know which boxes/bags each item is put into. I try to have to whole process done in 30 minutes or so.
Then at the end of this specific sale I went back to my pile of questionable items and said “I can do more research on these items and pick/choose or I’ll just give you 60% of your asking price and take all of them”.
So I saw these items so fast and threw them on my buy pile that I didn’t know just how good they were!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266453558673
Nike Aqua Gear Wet Suit windbreaker 3 piece Set NEW VINTAGE Men’s L/XL
This is probably my favorite item out of the whole hoarder lot. So RAD!!! I’m a sucker for 80’s/90’s color block stuff as that’s my era. I had absolutely no clue how to price it as this kind of set in this condition simply doesn’t come around. I considered an auction, but decided to just “moon it out”.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266453556784
Polo Ralph Lauren Leather Jacket Motorcycle Driving SOFT Men’s Size XXL NWT
I remember seeing this item, letting out a light chortle at the absurdity of the items I was going through and thinking to myself “Why of COURSE I’m going to take a NWT Polo Ralph Lauren Leather Jacket for $30.” I never looked at the price tag as I knew it was a Home run. Then this morning I saw the price tag, did a comp search, and gave myself a self-high five!
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Those prices are ridiculous, but this stuff is so rare that I believe you’ll get something like those prices. I’ve said this a bunch of times in the last few months, but we are all lucky to follow along with this in real time. This is like a scavenger’s dream haul. It’s inspiring to see your progress and all the little tidbits and anecdotes you’re sharing with us. It gives me so much to think about as far as what to do when considering a large purchase and what steps to take from start to finish. And of course there’s so much to learn from seeing your listings and which items sell and for how much. Great stuff. Thanks for all the time you take to write about it.
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I stopped by the house in my neighborhood where all the bins of clothes were brought today. I counted 27 bins of clothes, some linens, some misc stuff like hats, and 4 large bins of loose shoes.
the clothes bins that I looked in had 20-25 items each as I suspected they would.next week I’ll be able to get a better look at everything. The main lady I buy from will be back in town in about 2 weeks. I will try to make an offer on everything left at that point. I’m thinking of offering $7500 for everything left. That’ll put me right at $20k and that feels about right. It is more stuff than I can currently take on, but I’m going to have another 8×10 shed placed next to my main ebay shed hopefully before then that I can pack full.
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If they accept your $7500 offer, would this be your largest purchase ever? Or have you already crossed that point a long time ago?
Offering on any quantity of items is an interesting process. Since you’ve already bought so many items and have a rapport with them, I feel like you could take any hypothetical offer and shave a few bucks off because you have so much leverage, what the hell else would they do with all this stuff and why wouldn’t they give you a bit of a deal at this point. But there’s a sweet spot between getting a good deal and lowballing, and I think you’ve struck that perfect balance with this haul.
I also hate the hustle culture mentality of always negotiating even when you’re already getting a good deal. Take the deal, Youtube bros! Quit trying to shave a few bucks off when you’re already going to make easy money. But I think it’s an ego thing for some people.
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