Scavenge of the week May 12-18, 2024

[craig rex]

I added another signed jersey to the pile this past week, an autographed Jack Sanborn Chicago Bears for $20. That will be my second Bears player jersey listed and about the tenth in a small death pile which I’m going to tackle by this weekend. I want to stay patient selling these instead of sending them to auction since I can hang them up in the empty space in my closet where most people keep their work clothes, and I think the ideal buyer for this kind of item is less picky about price than, say, someone who buys hundreds of sports cards a week and operates on tight margins. That’s how I spend the majority of my scavenging time, which sometimes leads to really interesting bargains, but this week was a lot of bread and butter! I’ll win a card for $1.25 on auction, combine shipping from that seller over the week which reduces my COGS far below winning bid + shipping, send a box of cards like this to consignment and in a few weeks or months once they process my box, I’ll list each card for $5 or $10 or $20. Try and keep in line with Terapeak sales, but sometimes I go a little higher or lower based on my own knowledge. Some cards will sell at full price in five minutes. Some might sell in a month or two for a 25% offer. Others might not sell until later this year when I go to 50% off for the site’s popular Black Friday promotion. A few of them might not even sell then.

I used to list all this stuff on eBay and ship it myself. It was a lot of shipping and an even bigger mess. But now I can’t imagine doing this any other way…until, I’m sure, I figure out the next development or step forward, and then I’ll always wonder why I didn’t do things like that sooner.

What did you find this week?

[ChristineR]

I very much enjoyed shopping the community sale in my own neighborhood instead of hosting like I did the last two years.  I went to about 30 sales.  It was a good exercise in quality not quantity.  I sourced maybe about $300-400 of inventory but also bought a pair of supposedly real ruby earrings for $5 for my daughter.  She sold me a suede Coach wristlet for $5.  It’s funny because I drove by that one at first due to their limited inventory, but stopped on my second pass.  I also found this for $3 at the old lady thrift (not my listing).  https://www.ebay.com/itm/203698453013?itmmeta=01HYE85Z74EV8H7S0J9MAXVJSB&hash=item2f6d5fba15:g:becAAOSwgXhhkf9-&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0LAQTUq%2Bn1zjLar2ovjiQE8NKowMmQCXkla3HhGzrE1dS2%2B8K4TpsmBgNIZbtmoqpmCRszp%2BzZawHDJJKyw6rjQy3mklPXgPut9KG7YYSXw%2FCBBnUrRtOT3WP8glo44IGJ7MWuwGkD%2B4Lxnr%2FMCnkhHO2rt8ms2lC8bjpQXxUu8FEtC1KRp4b9%2BiFJvPiwCYfL%2FkJPb9Jyt6Q%2FAC%2FT6%2BJlbQGyid6bYR%2BwDfEq2ebJkBZe54URVyDNo4NmhRFwYPitnT2PihMYBqd418J1P%2F1u4%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9Tzl8jzYw  There are no solds, so hard to price but it’s beautifully made and soft.

 

[Retro Treasures WV]

Nothing earth shattering in the yard sales this past weekend. Yesterday thought I bought WAY too much stuff I did NOT need on whatnot.

So one of the youtubers I follow had a blowout clearout sale on whatnot yesterday. Years ago they did a huge buyout of an entire warehouse of video game stuff. They had a ton of accessories and controllers they knew they’d never get rid of and didn’t fit their current profit margin model, so they wanted the space back for highter dollar inventory. I normally don’t pay attention to their whatnots because people typically WAY overpay on every item. I’m talking at or well above ebay averages. It’s crazy! This one started as I started my lunch break so I figured what the hay – I’ll watch a few minutes while I eat. Things escalated from there after I won a lot I just threw a bid on fully expecting to lose.

This auction they were selling of lots of vintage video game controllers. They’d throw 8-10 controllers or accessories in a box and run it. I ended up buying 16 lots! I paid an average of $47 a box for a total of $756. I’ll make about $1500 profit once everything sells. Not my normal margins, but this is some COOL STUFF I’ve never been able to handle before. Even though I make serious money in this business, it is still just a hobby for fun at heart so I want to sell and play with the fun stuff. In many cases there was one item in the box worth what I paid for the whole box.

I like these youtubers, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t thoroughly entertained at the constrained disappointment they choked back at what alot of items sold for in this auction. They asked for the resellers to show up and they got what they asked for. LOL!

[Antique Frog]

I helped unload a van at the flea market Saturday. There were about thirty-odd record cases- the type that hold forty or so lps- and they were filthy. Also some boxes of 78s and unused packs of blank cds. A couple of the regular record buyers had a look through and didn’t bother buying any. Looked like the lps were mostly light music selections. I guess they’re all going to landfill- I doubt anybody would bother to take off the cardboard sleeves and recycle them.

Did get a mahogany box with reels of Sylko cotton and a nice selection of buttons and scissors for £10. These sewer’s hoards always seem to include a couple of military items- in this case a Royal Marines brass collar tab and a couple of cloth badges- and bits of broken jewellery and the occasional farthing and silver thrupenny bit.

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