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Thanks totommyto for all the cool Barbie stuff. I usually dodge this stuff because people typically have high asking prices, but it never occurred to me that I might be able to sell bits and pieces of Barbie kit with most research invested.
I looked through a lot that had a couple older Barbie items in it and noted that many of the clothing items had no black and white tag. Is the B&W Barbie tag always present on big pieces of Barbie clothes (dresses, jackets etc)? I suspect that this lot had a few Barbie items that were peppered in, but that mostly it was clothing from another doll or hand-made Barbie clothes from the period. Any hints on how to sort out what is Barbie and what is look-alike? Thanks in advance, this is a valuable thread. Best wishes, Daniel.
Sorry it is slow. I do not have enough experience to make a determination of what is normal as I am just growing my store (150 items to 350 items in last month). I sold mostly small $ stuff, but I have 10 packages waiting for USPS pickup this morning, so I would call it a busy weekend. I did put all my old stuff on a 15% off sale about 2 weeks ago and have had some bites on older inventory that has been helpful. Hope you have a fruitful week, Daniel
Insane that anyone would throw this carpet away. If it is hand tied. it represents hundereds of hours of work. People are idiots.
I believe the correct way to roll a carpet is with the pile (side you walk on) on the outside. I would fold it this way too. Suggest you fold it down its length, roll it and then use a heavy duty tarp to wrap it (get one at a box hardware store). When I did this, I wrapped the folded/rolled carpet in about half of a tarp (like the kind you would use for camping) and used Gorilla brand tape (super strong duct tape) to tape around, and all seams. I took it to FedEx and shipped it by ground.
Good luck, Daniel.
I had a good week last week and am hoping that things will be picking up again as we head towards the holidays (fingers crossed). Thanks Steve for putting the video together (and to all you who post links). I look at it all and learn new stuff all the time.
I picked up this Browning Waxed Canvas Jacket at a garage sale two weeks ago with a couple back packs for $20. One of the backpacks went a week ago for $40 and this jacket went this past week for a best offer of $80. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192657008192
One of my favorite sales of the year so far was this 1970s era butane stove made by Gerry. I could not find any comprable sales but found some old stoves from Europe that were going for big money. I listed this one and sold it overnight for my asking price of $75 https://www.ebay.com/itm/192664390574
I had a pair of glasses frames break recently and searched everywhere to see if I could replace them without having to buy all new glasses. I have so far struck out, but the experience made me realize how valuable it is to have someone offer a frame in good working order. That led me to go ahead and list these and they sold for a best offer of $30: https://www.ebay.com/itm/192656975967
I was striking out at a thrift store recently when I came across five car and plane models still in their factory sealed boxes. I picked them up for $3 each and this was one of the last ones: https://www.ebay.com/itm/192635542566
In a separate thread, early last week I was asking about pencils and how to price them. I got some good advice from Jay and went ahead and took a shot. I learned that these red/blue grading pencils may be valued more highly then just regular graphite or colored pencils. I sold this and two other packs to a collector in Europe for $42. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192662329400
I have been going through my store and through my unlisted pile and discarding (donating) the stuff that I am no longer happy with. My end game is to have a store with ~500 items without any dogs (I am looking at you, broken Spode, and bicentennial toothpicks). I have been throwing small old objects into a pile to sell as a “junk drawer”. Will let you know what becomes of it (if remarkable).
Best wishes, Daniel
The only observation I would make is that the style of lettering suggests to me that this is from before WW2. It has an Art Deco sensibility that was absent in most of design after the second World War.
My process for canvas shoes like this are (1) pull the laces off (2) laces and shoes go to the washing machine (may be soaked in oxyclean first if there are stains) (3) rubber bumpers get hit with magic eraser until they are as close to 100% white as possible (4) Lace shoes up fancy to make them stand out in photos (5) Put wadded paper down into the toe (just like they arrive new in the box) to make them plump in the photo and to make sure they hold their shape in storage.
I just picked up a free box full of extra laces at a garage sale, so I will replace laces that are badly stained – in the past I just pull the laces and threw them out and photograph and sell shoes without laces.
Anyone do something different/better? Also, I wonder what folks o with leather sneakers? I have less experience with those. TIA, Daniel
I think you just have to accept the return and move on. It is remotely possible that the one shoe is smaller or has some not-obvious defect of manufacture, or that the the buyer has a foot problem revealed by this shoe. Either way, unhappy customer.
I had a pair or western boots that I sold and returned and sold again and both customers had similar complaints about fit. They were very expensive boots, but they just did not fit for some reason. I took them out of my store and donated them. (I probably should have just told customer #2 to keep or donate them, but I agonized over the shoes and ate the second return shipping).
Best wishes, Daniel
@Jay, compared to my peers in retirement, I am 10 years younger, I play ZERO golf and spend 1/5 as much money on stuff like new cars, new furniture, kitchen remodel, high cost gardening (I plant seeds or get starter plants). When we travel, it is always cheaper than my peers (I built a camper out of a 2009 Kia Sedona minivan and I always have the cheapest rig at any campground I have ever visited).
What I do that is similar to other retirees: I walk 2 miles per day as my baseline and try to add one hard thing (hike with altitude gain or bike ride) every day. I go to the library a lot. I get all my chores done during the day when everyone else is at work (love this). I garden. I watch TV about 2 hours per day with my wife and kids if we can find stuff we all like. (I suspect that I watch les than others, but who knows what people do in their own homes).
Really, I only know a handful of retired people because almost all my peers are still working and I have not been retired long enough to find out what pickleball is.
Best wishes, Daniel.
Awesome episode. I loved hearing Troy contrast the factors and choices that lead to different selling models for Jay/Ryanne vs Troy/Veronica. I look forward to someday implementing more detailed tracking of my business (maybe), but I am still working on just learning and growing this business. I am putting off attending to detailed spreadsheets in part because I just retired from doing spreadsheets (literally) and in part because it still feels like investing time into something that will not give me much return yet. I know there will come a time and I am glad I have this episode to put back on the player when I am ready to dive deeper. Thanks so much Troy and Jay for such awesome content.
I had the best eBay week/month ever! Sunday I went with a friend to help set up a garage sale for an elder couple that had been wealthy hoarders in their home since 1961. For almost no labor, I got first pick of a garage whose main function for the last 60 years has been repository of every unwanted gift, mostly still new in the original package. I walked away with a van load for $150 and have watched things sell as fast as I can list them!
I retired at the end of June this year and took a month long trip with my daughter. I did wonder whether eBay would continue to hold my interest/attention in retirement. My experience is that my interest has grown since retiring. I love finding old stuff, buffing it up, photographing it and listing. Of course the sales are a huge pay off too. I retired with some big potential expenses partially unaccounted for (kid’s college, unknown health care costs) or at least accounted for but in a bare bones way. (aside: I am a big believer that you have to take risks in life. When the pay off is that you can have one more year of life in a healthy body free to do whatever you want, having a $20,000/year expense in 2 to 4 years that you could meet in one of several ways, none of which include eating cat food is a risk I am willing to take). My great happiness is that my eBay chops are getting better – I am sourcing better, listing better and seeing higher income as a result. Anyway here are my numbers:
Total items listed: 290
Items sold last week: 14
Gross: $342.77
COGS: $28
Highest Price Sold: $199 (Vintage Atari T-shirt)
Average Price Sold (Gross): $24.48
Returns: 0
Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $150Thanks Jay. I searched about and found some pencil blogs:
https://fredspencils.wordpress.com/
https://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/
http://www.joespencilpages.com/
http://www.pencilpages.com/main.htmMost were not very helpful. The last blog has a classified page where people are seeking and offering pencils, but I did not see details on price. This did help me appreciate that people are interested in complete sets of unused pencils.
What I decided to do is this: I am listing all pencils of a kind as a single listing. I search for past solds that are remotely in the neighborhood (e.g. same pencil, different hardness) and price higher than that past sold with make an offer turned on. I have gotten a few listings up already and got an offer on one set that I accepted. Mostly I would like to just move on this stuff, so I may end up with the fast nickel as you say rather then the slow dime. I have winter coats and halloween costumes to get listed, so I can’t spend too much time on these.
Thanks for your help as always. Good luck on next steps with remodeling the downtown structure, Daniel.
T-Satt, I got there 15 minutes after opening and the parking lot was already full. I had never been, so I walked around to just scope it out.
I stayed long enough to make same observations as you and to realize that no matter how good the 50% senior discount is, I will not be returning on a Wednesday morning.
Have a great day, and good luck with your 5-day hike. Best wishes, Daniel.
Glad you are feeling better Ryanne. Strep throat is not a fun illness. I remember having it in my 20s and getting delirium from high fever. My gf at the time nursed me back to health with Diet Dr. Pepper.
Well on September 1, I thought it would be a good idea to have a no-source September with the goal of getting all my accumulated stuff listed. I started working on it and got a bunch of stuff organized and some of it listed or in drafts. Then someone mentioned that now is when the thrift stores put out their halloween costumes and there is good money to make on high quality and vintage halloween costumes. I went to two of my favorite places yesterday and sure enough – came home with three giant bags stuffed.
Today I thought I would hit up a thrift store T-Satt mentioned in a prior thread. It was senior day and such a zoo. I left pretty quick, and hit one more place next to the grocery store and found 15 packs of Hoyle playing cards for $0.49 each and three games new in the sealed box from 1968 for $1.99 each. Anyway, I am now set for a no-sourcing September. At least until I pass another garage sale with someone pulling their grandparents stuff out of storage and selling for a song.
BEst wishes to you all, Daniel.
The day I saw Steve’s video about selling a pink Samsonite Train case, I found one at a garage sale and picked it up for $2. Sold this week for best offer of $24 https://www.ebay.com/itm/192631669683
These Birkenstocks were a thrift store find. I paid $6 for them and listed them as “Vegan”. Turns out wool felt is an animal product and definitely not VEGAN!. I switched Vegan to Hipster and sold for full price of $55. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192508569738
This 36 page newsprint flyer came in a stack of WW2 newspapers that I picked up for $5. I was on the edge of throwing it away when I decided to list instead. My ambivalence about it is why I took the first offer of $12 for it instead of holding out for more. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192630043129
My biggest sale was this espresso maker that I got at a garage sale for $2 and sold for $96.50. https://www.ebay.com/itm/192579815617
Glad to be getting back into the swing of scavenging + flipping. In retirement now, the balance I try to strike is to do only as much as makes me happy and not spend my life listing in front of a computer screen. Same as everyone else, but now I am not working for the MAN, so I get to do fun stuff like ride my bike any time I want to.
I love all the tips about what sells and what not to buy. Adios, Daniel
