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I’ve been pretty happy with my scavenging lately for my card business, staying disciplined and sticking to sub $5 pickups (and less buying in general) with occasional exceptions when they really make sense. A bulk buy of 100 modern autographed cards for around $90 was my one big ticket pickup this past week. The wholesale rate for random autographs and jerseys cards is around $1, so this was a “value” buy. While this lot has plenty of common players who will never sell for much more than $1, somewhere between 25 to 50% of the lot will create more value for me through my consignment port or as one of the cards in the team lots I make which I price to sell for about $2.50/card after fees. I don’t necessarily seek out bulk buys like this, but I’ve had a lot of success with them lately and they are probably something to hunt for a little more purposefully in 2025.
I won about 20 certified autographed 8×10 photos from the same consignment seller, mostly old Dodgers players like Tommy Davis, for $1 to $2 winning bids. The shipping says $14.95 on each listing, which is why no one else really bid — certified signed photos of most former players generally sell for around $15 total, plus or minus a few bucks depending on who the player is and what type of authenticity sticker. But this is one of my favorite big consignment sellers because their friendly customer service always combines shipping at a good rate. 8×10 photos are easy to store and ship, but since most of these are Dodgers players I might just a team lot so I can throw them all in one flat rate box.
All those cheap photos allowed me to bid a little higher on some cards which will also get shipped to me in the same order. I’m being very choosy on what I bid on, so I still lost most of the auctions I bid on, but my favorite win from this week was this relic card of all-time Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh. I’m only listing 5-10 individual cards per week in my eBay store these days, but this one will probably make the cut for the next Saturday scanning party I have after I receive this package and sort through it. Either this upcoming Saturday, or next week.
This past weekend, I had a rare scavenging trip out in the wild, too. My favorite local library had its semi-annual sale of nicer books, all priced at $5, not advertised online like the regular book sale. I arrived a few minutes before the library opened and there was already a crowd of the usual faces outside. I was maybe the tenth person into the room, but by that time a few scanner dorks had piled up at least 50 books under tables and in corners. How are they so fast? None of what they had in the piles (believe me, I checked) looked all that valuable, but looks can be deceiving as far as book values. Madness. I still found two books worth buying, a 19th century copy of William Blake’s XVII Designs to Thornton’s Virgil and a 1960s Picasso hardcover Variations on Diego Velazquez works with nice woodblocks. Probably something close to $100 net profit when both sell, but they might be very longtail. With the new year approaching, I am thinking I will try and take three scavenging trips every month. I have been thinking a lot about how I spend my time lately. There is a new thrift store not too far from me and a couple spots in Philly that I’d like to try and hit more regularly to see if they are consistently profitable trips.
What did you find this week?
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Left a £40 bid on a large quantity of assorted books but got outbid by a couple of other bidders. I wasn’t able to inspect the lot in person, but seems to be mostly 1970s and 1980s non-fiction.
Took some books into the local thrift bookshop, including the two volumes of “With The Flag To Victoria” (after I removed all the dried wildflowers from its pages) and left with the first edition of this shoe-machinery catalogue. Cost £10; I think that was a good swap!
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Yesterday I went to 3 estate sales. 2 were run by the same company that is notorious for overpricing so I always wait until the last day which is 75% off. I got the complete Lenox Spice Garden and Rack for $65, it routinely sells on Ebay for $475. The kicker is when I was cleaning it I found a goodwill sticker on it. The prior owner only paid $4.94 for it! I can’t imagine finding that entire set at goodwill for less than $5. These days they would sell each piece separately.
I also found the Lenox Village coffee pot for $10. It sells on eBay for $120. Replacements.com sells it for $249.
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@Craig good for you. I have not stopped scavenging but I’m getting pretty picky. There is so much here. I also will be needing to limit my trips while I try to clear some piles. I do enjoy the flea market and many times do not pick up too much there.
On the Virtual Antique Marketplace (District.net) I bought one of the cooler items I’ve found https://district.net/product/mid-century-flame-red-ceramic-as-e13 I did pay up for this a bit from an online buddy so I need to list it, preferably with a hanger if I can find one. They usually go for $140-150
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