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I’m wondering if anyone uses Reseller Genie? They are integrated with ebay and other platforms. http://www.myresellergenie.com/
Craig-rex,
Thanks for taking a look! But but…that same Jordan/Johnson card is worth upwards of $400 if it is graded as a gem mint 10!!! I see that there are many variables that would play into grading that high, and believe me I am under no illusion that mine will. I may just dip my toe in a bit though and send a few choice cards out for grading and sell some lots of raw. I’m always into learning new niches and appreciate you sharing your knowledge.I am appreciating this discussion and learning a lot. Craig-rex- I know you are replying to Mark, but I thought I’d post photos of the Jordans I have in the stash I’m working through that I mentioned above. I have multiples of these except for the middle one in the bottom row. I have a few other Jordans as well and still more to go through. Sorry for the washed-out photo. Crisper in person. I do definitely see some edge wear in the upper right one, but most look at least to my untrained eye like they might grade well. I’d be interested in hearing your perspective. https://imgur.com/3b7nNxQ
Thank you for this post, it is indeed timely. I too have been watching the market explode. I am presently sorting through approx 7K+ mostly 1989-92 Basketball and Baseball cards that I picked up over the summer for free from someone who was emptying his parent’s home. They were his childhood cards and he just couldn’t deal. I thought I was crazy at the time, but as I delved into them, they all look to be in seemingly pristine condition. About 1/4 are complete sets and are organized, and the rest I am having to sort. There are several multiple sets of the same kind. I’ve pulled out a dozen Jordans so far and am putting in penny sleeves and card savers. I am thinking of having a card shop look at them first before sending them out to grade as I find this whole process daunting. I’m no expert here. I collected as a child (70’s era) and still own and covet some well-worn cards I saved. I have been educating myself about card collecting and found this channel, and particularly this playlist helpful.
I know I know…I am on that slippery slope. I sound like an addict justifying my addiction. 🙂
RetroTreasures: Yes I am working my way towards it! I’ve brought in some more big stuff and now it’s really in the way. I have a very sizable shop/storage area so it’s been easy to build death piles. Sometimes I don’t see death piles as necessarily bad because I can tap that source when I need it. Right now, my other biz has taken a hit due to Covid and so I have more time to work on eBay. Yes, list list list!!!
Yes the oak floors look great and it was very satisfying to reuse! Someday I want to do a light sand and refinish as there are some pieces that have water spots but that means I have to take out all my stuff. Daunting!
Ryanne & Jay – I haven’t weighed in for several years although I am a regular listener & seller. I just finished the podcast and was amused by the Beauty Queen find. I have one in my kitchen and I never knew what it was called until now! It came with my fixer-upper house. It’s in daily use and does have rust around the cabinets. It’s on my to-do list to restore someday.
As for rare crazy high dollar finds. A few years back an elder retired gent put some darkroom equipment up for free. My background is photography so I knew what he had. I scored a Jobo color processor and promptly sold it for $1900 and shipped it off to Hong Kong. This still stands as my best sale ever. I also got from him a large format Beseler dichroic motorized enlarger that I still have not listed. It’s taking up space but I guess I’ve just been too daunted to deal with it as it is huge. It’s worth at least $2-3K and it will take just the right buyer. I need to make time to list it!
Building finds…many. I’ll share one. A house was being recycled locally and I bought the entire oak floor for $300. They pulled it up for me and I transported multiple truckloads of short tongue & groove pieces with nails in it. A friend looked at it and said “Looks like good kindling.” Well, I took out every single one of those nails (using a nail kicker) and it is now my downstairs flooring.
Scavenger to the core! Have a good week everyone!
My week update. I am away from home, in a different part of the country and my main inventory due to helping out my elderly mom. I’m missing out on the xmas sales, but I’m grateful for the flexibility to be here. I have been out to thrift some. I opened up a new ebay account last week, so I could list a few things while here. A few stumbling blocks. I found out that a new account on ebay, will not allow you to post through 3rd party software until you have 10 positive feedback or been on ebay for 90 days. I use Garage Sale for Mac. Oh well, that forced me to use the ebay interface which I hadn’t used in years. Also, forgot about how they freeze your $ too. I wish ebay made it easier for an established seller to open a second account i.e. grandfathered it in. I put 20 items up, sold two. A sweater and a goose down parka for: $184. 99. Cost of items: $6.53. I spent a bunch more on inventory but haven’t added up yet. What I don’t sell while here, I’ll ship home. Funny I am going from Zero feedback on the new account, and just turned 1000 on my main account. I’ll be here a few more weeks.
I use Garage Sale and have for years. I build “master” templates that I then duplicate i.e. vintage mens short sleeve shirt, long sleeve, coat etc… Very useful. Then I just plug in the info. I know you can do that direct on ebay but I like that I can work on things offline in GS and have it reside on my computer and not in the cloud. I watched another resellers video recently who had let his store go dormant for a year. He went to re-open it and all his listings were gone, as they disappear after a certain time. Since they were made direct on ebay there was no way to retrieve them.
Downsides: the photo upload seems slow, it can be buggy when they do new releases. I just opened a second store & found out I can’t use 3rd party software until I’ve received 10 positive feedback and been on ebay for 90 days. That was a bummer as I had already made the templates in GS. Oh well. It has given me a chance to use the new ebay listing interface which I found very slick and fast.
Reporting back from the Black Friday trenches: Spent just under my $30 budget at Goodwill. 21 clothing items @ $1.23 each for a grand total of $27.83. Very small crowd. A couple other obvious resellers with stacked carts. I was picky, very picky. Could of got more. One can always get more, right!?! Some NWT items, cashmere sweater, designer dress, jeans etc. Rough estimate on resale value: $400 – 500+. I’m at my mom’s through xmas. Just opened a second “traveling” ebay account & will list from that account. This is an experiment for me. Whatever I don’t sell I’ll bring back and add to my main ebay store.
Onward to record store day. I was late to the opening by a few minutes. If you’re not familiar with record store day, it’s held twice yearly. Limited edition vinyl, Eps etc distributed only to participating stores. Collectors, music lovers, and yes resellers attend. The RSD 2016 bins were already picked over and there was nothing I wanted. There was already a long line of folks waiting to purchase. I heard one guy remark that he had come for such and such an album but didn’t get it. A guy further up the line overheard and said “Hey – I have it here. You can have it.” The next I know a few of the people in line start chatting and trading with each other! I must say it was a beautiful thing! I’m sure some had picked up that extra one to resell or whatever, instead they traded it to someone who really wanted it. I kept thinking, wow – people are at the malls running over each other for TVs, and here is this very civil line of music lovers trading records with each other! Very cool!
After that I went back to my moms. I inherited my dads motorcycle many years ago. At one time I had great plans to bring it home, learn to ride, restore it etc. Well, it’s not gonna happen. Every time I visit, it weighs on me that I need to deal with it. It’s a project bike. Not running, a little rusty, but collectible vintage 70s Honda. Listed to move it on Craigslist for $500. Took $300 from the first guy. Maybe I could have gotten more but I was fine with that… YEAH!!! Productive day!
Great sales Steve! I love that you are scavenging from old consoles. I’ve taken turntables out but never the amps and speakers. Will do so next time I come across one! Nother great idea on the cat house with the speaker boxes! Reduce>Reuse>Recycle! It is the way of the Scavenger!
I’m visiting my mom in the outer burbs of Chicagoland. There is a Goodwill right around the corner. Black Friday they have all clothes for $1.23 except for shoes, coats. I did this a couple years ago and did well. I had the store virtually to myself the first hour. They had newly opened that year, so I’m not sure what to expect in the way of crowds this year. Prices are already much cheaper here than they are in WA state where I live, so I gather some more inventory, save some $ and it gets me out of the house. After that I may hit up a local record store for their Black Friday Record Store day deals, which I’ve also done in the past. Where these places are located isn’t too stressful. I hate malls in general, so I’d never ever enter that madness!
Hi Jay & all ~ As to my story… I’m PT. I run another small biz, working from my computer with lots of flexibility & independence built in. eBay is increasingly becoming more of my income. I’ve sold on and off since 2000. Finally got serious a couple years ago & put more effort forth. I have death bins. Boy do i have death bins…yikes! Years of scavenging, DIY rural lifestyle, and a very large house & shop etc. The more space you have, the more you fill! I tend to sell vintage electronics, clothes (especially vintage t shirts), anything weird, obscure. I have a background in photography and love old cameras and darkroom equipment. It wouldn’t take much for me to make the jump to FT. I feel myself moving away from my other biz in the next 1-2 years and will probably make the leap then. I am going to miss most of the Xmas sales this year, as I am going cross-country for an extended stay to be with my elderly mom. I’m thankful for the flexibility I have in my life to be able to spend this precious time with her. Not sure when I’ll be back, so my store will be on vacation. Thinking I may start another account while there as I do go out and thrift. Usually send things back, but thinking I would try to sell as I go. Anyhews, that’s a little about me.
My parents went by this mantra “If you make $10, save $2.” I’ve always followed that and even as a single parent was able to work and save and eventually buy a house. Also, any major item we wanted for as a child i.e. new bicycle etc..my parents put up half and the other half we worked for. I did chores, babysat, had a paper route, sold xmas cards door to door, etc to save money. I am so thankful for the work ethic and money smarts they passed onto me. In turn I passed that onto my daughter, who as a very young child sold her handmade crafts at art fairs etc and continues to have a deep work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit.
Week of: 11/6 – 11/12
Total Items in Store: 440
Items Sold: 16
Total Sales: $707.42
Highest price: $200 Filson Cruiser Jacket
Average Price Sold: $44.21
Returns: 1 (t shirt. My mistake. Wrote wrong size in description)
Cost of Items Sold: $76
Money spent on new inventory this week: 0Great week! Highest priced item sold was a Filson jacket for $200 I bought for $20. Took a year to sell as it was a small size. This week I just happened to list a Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley record the day before Leonard Cohen died. When his death was announced, it sold immediately. I realized I had another one, so put that up and it sold quickly as well. These were new sealed 7” vinyl limited releases I bought 4 years ago on Record Store Day. I spent $20 on them and total they sold for $120. Not the first time I’ve had sales when celebrities died. Sold a vintage Eagles shirt that I had listed for over a year when Glenn Frey died.
