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As we approach the new year, I’m sorting through a couple of postal bins full of odds and ends. I might want to do some reverse scavenging soon and clear some space that way. For now, I still have some good items to get listed at the top of these bins, and some lot listings to create. Not sure if they will get done before the end of the year, but I enjoy little projects like this. It’s really gratifying when they sell.
I didn’t add much to the odds and ends piles last week. In fact, the only pickup I had in secondary categories was this 2021 Tampa Bay Rays game used baseball with the MLB holo for a mere $6. I sold a few of these game used baseballs with the matching hologram this year, so this will be an easy profit of $20 to $40.
On the card side of the business, my favorite single that I bought this week was this jersey card with four Yankees greats #2/3 for $17.50. One of the most interesting things about modern cards is how companies have developed monopolies on producing cards for each sport. Makes sense when there are billions of dollars being paid out to athletes. If a company doesn’t have the license for a sport, they can still make cards — but team logos can’t appear anywhere on the card. The quality of unlicensed cards varies widely and their resale values are usually poor. This would be a $200+ card easily if it were a Topps card with the same old-school jersey pieces, a better card design and the Yankees logos on the card. I am very confident I can make a quick flip of $50 on this card with a good title, but I’d be surprised if it sold for more than that.
My card lot purchase of the week was the complete 64 card set of 2005 Futera F1 racing cards for basically $50 even. The consignment company that I use for the majority of my card business has made it so easy to grade cards, just send it to them and click a few buttons and, of course, pay the fees. So that’s become a part of my business model this year, though it’s still a small part of the overall wheeling and dealing. But that seems like an easy way to add value if (and it’s a big if) these cards are in very sharp condition. If not, this set is rare enough and (relatively) old enough that I should triple my money (or more) just by selling singles. The vast majority of the cards in this set will sell for less than $1, but the key rookies and champions cards of some very old school drivers who have little to no cardboard will net me a nice profit. As I was writing this post, I did a little more research on the set and now I think that tripling my money might even be a very low-end estimate. There are a good number of $10 to $40 singles in this set. Pretty rare with modern sets, but sometimes these niche sets from the 1990s and early 2000s are highly sought after.
What did you find this week?
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I made one last run through the Christmas at the two larger stores and bought and listed a couple of thingshttps://www.ebay.com/itm/235873682300 https://www.ebay.com/itm/335732774287, plus this stocking holder (bought last summer). https://www.ebay.com/itm/235873710514 Notable since I sold two of these last year without the box and got my only negative feedback ever which is finally about to fall off. It’s my first time handling one of these since the buyer accused me of selling a fake as Pottery Barn. This one has no mark on bottom and a subtle made in China sticker, which I bet made her think it wasn’t PB. I feel like writing to her again but it’s probably too late for her to remove the feedback. Too bad Ebay did not stand by me.
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I filled another bag of “reverse scavenging” items this weekend too! Just a couple incredibly low STR items that aren’t worth listing and clogging up my space. Took them to Goodwill at lunch and decided to check out the store since I haven’t shopped there in many months. I needed some gym shorts for my son for basketball season and this store has a 50% off color code. I was able to get a few decent pair for $2 each. Walmart is $15+ even for the cheap gym shorts now.
Still not a great store, but I did pick up a few items to resell that had excellent STR. I also picked up a Ninja blender to replace the one that is starting to fail in our kitchen.
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Auction house clears out stock and tools of a cycle shop, then employs a house-clearance firm to remove the left-over junk. That firm sells off anything of value, puts the rest into boxes and takes it to the Saturday flea market. Which is how I ended up with the bike shop’s vintage credit card imprinter. Also a kitchen bin half-full of 19th and early 20th-century postage stamps, someone’s prized collection of British Empire philately, that some vandal chucked into the bin. I think the latter must come from a defunct stamp shop, as the auctions have had quite a few somewhat damp-stained collections go through lately.
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no estate sales for me last week. I’ve been doing my scavenging from my own garage. I keep coming across things I bought and tucked away and forgot about. plus still listing these model airplanes. about to list some old books and hopefully this afternoon do more planes.
I try to list at least 5 things at a time. always hoping it will add to the efficiency of it all 🙂
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Today I got to go to my local surplus honey hole after running my wife to a dr appt. And boy what a trip!
first off, I got a Sony HVR S270u hd camcorder for $150. I had to order a power supply for $20 to test it and unfortunately it doesn’t have the recorder unit. Still will sell for $500+ even untested. I can also part it out and make at least $500. Fingers crossed it works well once the power supply arrives!
next I got a champion ct-475 aviation spark plug cleaner. Run that through terapeak. It’s worth the look-see. Paid $25 for this grand slam!
I also got a voice dictation machine for $10 that sells for $200+, two film cameras with high STR that sells for $75 each – paid up at $25 each since the STR was good.
The toner section still had the dregs and sadly hasn’t been replenished much. I did get a Lexmark toner set for $10 that will sell for $110-150.
There is sooo much more stuff there that just didn’t have a good enough STR or was just too big for me. If I had a liftgate truck and a warehouse I could have made some moooonnnaaaayyy!
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