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My scavenging has become a pretty simple formula at this point. I look through the weekly auctions of a few big consignment sellers (large companies with employees), a handful of smaller consignment sellers (card shops with a staff of one or two, basically) and then run a few targeted searches for certain types of cards I’m looking for. Mostly I’m on the hunt for those $1 to $5 bargains. About half the inventory I buy will get sent to my consignment port where I will eventually flip the cards for $3 to $20. Sometimes I’ll lose a buck or two on a card, but sometimes it’s better to flip now at a slight loss and use that money somewhere else. The rest of the cards get sorted for my curated team lots which I try to sell for a minimum of $2.50 per card. I’ve got a nice setup now with a few labeled boxes. Occasionally I’ll buy cards worth listing individually and very rarely, something more expensive. Sometimes I find some other oddball items. I’d like to sell more of those in 2025, but lately my regular sellers haven’t been listing those items. I’m sure they’ll pick back up in January.
So, for now, I buy stuff like these 1976 Doctor Who Ty-phoo Tea cards for $3, or about 25 cents each, and this Pony Express relic card for $4.50. Nothing crazy, just a few cards from large orders that I think I’ll do well on. Other highlights from the week’s purchases: I ponied up for two more expensive cards which I will likely skip consignment and sell on eBay myself, since I feel comfortable selling $250+ cards because of eBay’s authenticity program.
The first was a $70 purchase, this gem mint BGS 9.5 2020 Bowman Chrome gold refractor of top Yankees prospect Jasson Dominguez which went for about $200 below comps because the title messed up his last name. The second was $80 for this LeBron James high school football card, also BGS 9.5 gem mint. These would each sell in the $150 to $200 range ungraded, but the encapsulation and high grade certainly won’t hurt their value. I am going to price both of these in the $400 to $500 range and give them time. Usually I like to sell fast and take any decent offer. But some things are worth holding for a bit.
What did you find this week?
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I went to goodwill to see if they had any good stuff from last minute donations to make room for all the new toys. Once upon a time, the week before Christmas was an AWESOME time to go to goodwill. They just chucked everything out on the floor as it came in for cheap.
yeah, those days are over it seems.
I did get a few things though – the highlight being these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/176419659063
Mark McGwire Vortex bat
i paid $4 and knew what it was as soon as I saw it.
i also got a vintage Easton Redline baseball bat. Unfortunately this is the little league version but I’ll still list it for $100. I had a Redline when I played baseball in high school. Dang that bat was HOT!!! You didn’t even have to be good to hit home runs – just put the bat on the ball.
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I did some Christmas clearance shopping this week. At some stores the sales are actually better right before Christmas and they still have a pretty good selection. Sold this set already (paid $34 on Monday) https://www.ebay.com/itm/235880218928 I won’t be going in too deep this year on RA clearance since I have so much inventory.
Didn’t buy much this week but did pick up this at the flea market for $10 https://www.ebay.com/itm/335738334243 I actually haven’t done very well with Legos.
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Wishing everybody Merry Christmas and a great scavenging New Year!
This week’s haul- two large volumes on gardening from the 1850s, one book on house maintenance from the 1880s, two hiking maps from the 1930s and a Congolese mask for £20. The mask looks like an Eskimo, which I thought it was until Google Lens corrected me.
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Two new scavenges of the week Christmas style.
USPS dropped the ball HARD in my neck of the woods. The regional hub in Charleston has multiple trucks they’ve never unloaded. I have two packages with presents stuck there since the 18th and 20th, respectively. Didn’t know the grinch worked for the government….
anyways, eBay inventory to the rescue. I was able to sub out toys from my death pile and listed inventory new in box for the missing items.
merry Christmas everyone. I’m going to bed now – been a looong day. It ain’t easy keeping track of and wrapping presents for 7 kids. Excel spreadsheet matrix to the rescue.
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