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Your rule #3 is a great rule – I’ve seen so many people spend too much “free time” wasted on getting drunk instead of being productive. It’s a dark road to go down, especially when you make your own schedule.
Not many good decisions are made when intoxicated either. Time is precious!
Lego mini-figures don’t usually have facial features that stick out…I would say this isn’t Lego.
As a Canadian, I was forced to read this book not once, but twice in school. I don’t think I could watch any TV show/movie based on books by Margaret Atwood or Farley Mowat…
Thanks for the list – the researching on the phone is one of the “newer” tools that all us scavengers have. I’m sure 10% of my purchases prior to smartphones were bad ideas I could have avoided with a little on the spot research!
Also agree with the condition description – nothing makes me more furious then buying something with an obvious flaw, and my least favorite sellers are those who have very easy items to test and list them as “untested”. All “untested” means to me is that it is not working and you are hoping to sucker someone to buy your item if all it takes is plugging it in or other less than 1 minute setup to make sure the item works.
I do know that some legit cheap food items that I can easily get in Canada have had runs up to $100. For example, last year McDonald’s Big Mac Sauce was a big thing in the U.S. – it was a limited deal in the U.S. that McDonald’s had and the bottles were going for $100 or so. In Canada, you can buy Big Mac sauce in any grocery store. I myself sold a few $3 bottles for $50+ last summer until dozens of other Canadian sellers caught on.
I’ve sold a few other products that I can easily get at any store in Canada to U.S. addresses in the past – things like Star Wars promotional Pepsi cans, Kraft Peanut Butter, Shreddies Cereal, Lay’s Ketchup or All-Dressed potato chips, Coffee Crisp chocolate bars, and other Canadian products that are not sold in the U.S.
However, I’ve never sold anything for $100 or $1000+ that is a common item here in Canada.
On the flip side, I do buy common American items that are not available in Canada often – silly things like Kool-Aid powder mix aren’t available here. I love my Sharkleberry Fin…
I sell (or try to sell in some cases) items for friends/family/co-workers etc. when they have something worthwhile.
I clearly let them know it takes time, and a lot of fees to sell an item on eBay – all the stuff we all know – and then tell them I would take 50% of the sale price (excluding shipping) to cover fees and pay myself a bit for my time.
The problem I have with people asking me to list/sell on eBay for them is that they have an inflated idea of what their item is worth. They will see someone asking $200 for something that really only sells for $20 and think they will be getting $200 for there item (which may be in worse condition).
In my opinion, some people are appreciative when you sell on their behalf and have reasonable expectations. Others are a pain in the … and it does cause some friction in the relationship.
To add to your comments @T-Satt, it’s not only items you have for sale how they are stored, but also your workstation, mailing supplies and other tools.
I’m curious how others store their packaging materials, scissors, labels, tape, etc. and keep it organized and how they replenish inventory when they get low.
For myself, I have lots of systems for inventory – incoming items, items that have been “processed” or listed, items that need to ship, and items that are ready to ship all have a place, and each step has a process to maintain order.
I agree – I like to be open about what I’m doing with people’s items.
In being an openly out there eBay seller, I probably source half my items from co-workers, friends, and family that want to get rid of something that I can make some money on.
Last summer I had a similar story – an older guy in my neighborhood had some old McDonalds uniforms for sale (70’s and 80’s). He only wanted a few dollars for them all. I told him I was going to buy them and re-sell them on eBay to collectors – he was excited that someone who would appreciate them would be getting them eventually. He then went inside, and gave me a large box of vintage McDonald’s stuff – buttons, hats, toys, coupons, Monopoly stuff from the 80s/90s, and other items he picked up during his career working for McDonald’s corporate. I only had a $20 bill on me so I gave it to him and he was happy with it. I made about $1000 on the stuff, but run into the guy often and he likes to hear where his stuff ended up across the world and that people who wanted it have it.
A few weeks ago, I ran into him again, told me to pop by his place, and he had another oddball item that I listed:
Just my recent example of how being open to a stranger can open up some sourcing opportunities, and free quality items.
My feeling is that the number is exaggerated – for example, I have dozens of boxes of screws and nails in my garage (lets say 20).
If each box has 500 screws/nails in it, do I have 20 items, or 10,000?
Other items can be crazier – do I have a box of rice, or 10,000 grains of rice in my cupboard?
I assume they extrapolated the number as far as they could to get the 300,000 number.
It would be more beneficial if the number was based on real items – for example, how many shirts does someone in the U.S. have compared to other countries, or other hard numbers that give a better scope.
CBS Sunday Morning just this past Sunday had a story about storage units and the amount of “junk” Americans are collecting for no reason.
They had the stat that there are more storage unit locations in the U.S. than McDonalds, Subway, and Dunkin Donuts combined.
Oh well, I’m sure some storage unit owners are my best customers!
If this is not going to be a category you sell in often, and you believe it is valuable, I would encourage you to get a proper appraisal.
I just had several done for insurance purposes, and they were about $60 each. For that, they tested the metal content, diamond grading, and the weights of each element (gold, diamond, other) in the rings/necklaces we had.
If it is as reputable or certified (think it was GIA or something) appraiser, you will get a very detailed report of what you have.
Just as a tip I would recommend if you can find the manual online, and it isn’t 100’s of pages long, print it off and include it as part of the listing.
I’ve had many buyers thankful for the extra service – even though it isn’t original, it helps them out. It also prevents issues or “dumb questions” on how to use an item.
For larger manuals, I usually print 2 or 4 pages of the PDF on one side of a piece of paper if it is legible.
For the price of a few pieces of paper, and some toner, you can make a few extra dollars and separate yourself from your competition.
The only time I find they look at the options is when they select a priority or overnight option – other then that, everyone wants the cheapest.
Out of my sales last year, I only had two “RUSH RUSH RUSH” items for buyers.
I’ve been tinkering in my mind with the thought of going to “included shipping” (I hate the term “free shipping” as well) and have an option or two for rush or international shipping costs as additional options.
04/18/2018 at 10:34 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 355: We Catch Up w/ Maria & Ryan from Passport Vintage Austin, TX #37915AWESOME!!! My favorite KISS song! Would have loved to find that myself! Good Luck on the price – hope you get it!
There is an annual book sale where I live that I get shopping carts full of books (mostly for personal use) that I look forward to. Most books are 25 or 50 cents. It’s a charity event for a local women’s shelter.
It takes over an old Big Box store, and it is stacked full of books in banana boxes. It is well organized into categories, but they have so many books you have to dig through box after box.
It goes over a weekend from Friday to Sunday, but they have a $10 pre-sale entry fee on Thursday for hardcore book, music, movie, and board game collectors. I may pay the $10 this year to see if it is worth it. Admission is free on other days.
I never thought about sourcing (I usually buy books for a few dollars on eBay – therefore didn’t think of the market for rare books) but since I’m not a category expert, I may pick up a few strange looking or older books and look them up on my phone.
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