Sale of the week May 14-20, 2023

[craig rex]

I sold a nice assortment of weird stuff this past week, if it’s a preview of what my eBay life will look like once I move on from the trading cards niche, it seems like a nice life.

This $40 graffiti DVD was a recent scavenge of the week. It sold in a day so I may have underpriced it, but there were no comps anywhere and I have a hard time justifying a price higher than $50 on a plain DVD. I’d much rather take the $40 sale now than wait a month or a year (or more) for $80, if that buyer even exists.

Don’t sleep on obscure exercise DVDs — I made $40 total profit ($20 each) from gyrokinesis and basketball training DVDs.

This $34 lot of magazines was a scavenge of the week many months ago. My pictures were not great and I didn’t even bother messing around with removing the tape residue. Didn’t matter, still sold in a few days.

But my favorite sale was this flat rate box of poetry books for $65. Not a huge profit (maybe $20 or $30?) but I love clearing out a big box of inventory. Best part is that the buyer sent a nice message about why they bought from me (high school teacher) and expressed interest in buying another box in a few weeks. So the books potentially end up in the hands of young people and I might have a repeat customer. It’s a win-win. I have an interest in poetry so this is a fun way to make a few extra bucks on books that I’ve also read.

What did you sell this week?

[Retro Treasures WV]

I had a couple real nice sales this week.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265706322149

Affliction Blake Mens Jeans Size 31 R Black Premium Live Fast Distressed Biker

These aren’t the hot cake sellers they once more, but Men’s embellished jeans still sell pretty well. Women moved on to yoga pants…with pockets!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266240905611

Ten-Point HCA-20318 Stag Hard Crossbow Case

The last of my Field n Stream store closing Retail Arbitrage. My profit on this item was $100.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266145649173

Simac Il Gelataio Magnum Ice Cream Gelato Sorbet Maker TESTED

Well this was my favorite all time item to test the functionality! It was a sad day in my house when I took it back out to the photography table. Paid $7 at a thrift store. It is so easy to use. Flip on the compressor power for 5 mins, gather ingredients and dump them in, flip on paddle and come back 20 minutes later to perfect ice cream.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265772710737

Smartwool Women’s Jovian Stripe Black SW0SW599 Merino Wool Socks Size M

These sock sales are so much more satisfying when someone buys in quantity. In this case the buyer bought 4 pair. Definitely my favorite all-in pipeline sourcing of all time – over 200 pair. Paid $2 a pair and sell for $20 a pair.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266047279108

Star TSP100 futurePRNT USB Receipt Printer Black TESTED with cables

I bought this at a bowling alley that was closing down for $2. That was a fun picking day. Getting to wonder through the seedy bowels of a run down bowling alley looking at all kinds of interesting stuff. It felt like I was in a horror movie most of the time.

[craig rex]

I had been envying that gelato maker since you first posted about it. Glad you got to test it out before sending it on its way. I love to cook and have been getting into desserts a little, but I wouldn’t be able to pass up that profit either.

Haunted bowling alley sounds like a fun low stakes trip or a terrible premise for a youtube hustle video, take your pick. It’s a strange world either way when you can buy a nice item like that for all of $2.

Smartwool socks are one of my earliest memories from this podcast where I thought, these seem like my kind of people. They really are great socks.

[Retro Treasures WV]

Speaking of haunted bowling alleys, this is a paranormal investigation of the place.

https://apris.weebly.com/colonial-lanes.html

The restaurant area was SUPER dark and creepy. Very run down. It blows my mind that this was THE place for prom dinners when I was in school in the 90’s.

Nothing was off limits when I was there. Everything was for sale. There were old locker rooms that were all busted up and still have stuff in them. I assume at some point some kids got in there and tore stuff up after it closed.

Other things I got that day – a pair of bowling shoes I sold for $150. Another receipt printer I sold for $100, and a pepsi letter sign from their concession window along with a big bin of those sign letters.

Here is the FB marketplace listing for the sign. I’ve never put it on ebay (though I should)

Marketplace (facebook.com)

 

[craig rex]

I have never been on a scavenging trip where everything is for sale, everything must go, but now that’s on my bucket list if you will. Sounds like a lot of fun as long as the place has some character.

The pictures of your old bowling alley did give me the heebie jeebies a bit. Particularly the back area with the pins. I did find it kind of funny that they did their “investigation” with the managers hanging out in their offices. Would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

[Retro Treasures WV]

The back area photo in that listing makes it look like a NASA clean room compared to what it was when I went through it. I was mainly looking at motors in a storage room back there, but nothing turned up with a good enough sales history to make it worth my while to get them.

I just remembered I did get a box of pins, but they were beat up badly. My wife wanted them, they sat around a long time, then I sold them on FBMP for $40.

I originally went to get a set of those sweet restaurant chairs with the leather arm rests. I couldn’t put together a nice enough set of 6 to go with our dining table unfortunately.

 

I have a vintage booth from another Huntington landmark in my gameroom I got about 10 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntington_station_(Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad)

I couldn’t find a picture, but I wanted one of the booths that were in the restaurant for years. Lo and behold when they shut it down all contents were auctioned at an auctionhouse 5 minutes from my house. Heritage Station is an amazing old time facility that has been turned into quite the hip shopping center.

I spent many childhood days playing on those trains – so have my kids.

 

[craig rex]

The town I live in has a little coffee shop which was converted from an old train station. You would never know it from the set up if it weren’t for the plaque on the outside.

I don’t remember if we have ever discussed this but how do you store your inventory? You get some cool stuff and a lot of is decent sized. Do you have a shed like J&R?

[Retro Treasures WV]

My garage is my office and some storage.
I have a 12×20 barn style shed for inventory storage.
I also have a 14’ enclosed trailer that I converted to a storage shed. The trailer is all unlisted inventory. The main shed is all listed inventory except for the lofts.

[craig rex]

I can see why you set up your scavenging rules now. It must be easy to fill all that space up with good items…but sometimes good items take quite a long time to sell.

You are basically living my dream once I get a few more years of city and city-adjacent living out of my system. But the eventual goal is something like what you described. Particularly the barn style shed and having a garage/separate area as my main office and workspace. Now, back to my one bedroom office, inventory and storage station to finish up with today’s outgoing packages…

[ChristineR]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334724913825  Euro cross stitch kids for the win.  Paid $4.  I recommend again watching https://www.youtube.com/@ThePaperCastle a Jersey rummage sale queen.  I really learned a lot and have posted about her before.  She just started posting videos again after a break.

[Author]

Posts