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I have been team floor for years, but I just bought a mannequin myself this weekend for $5! – I sell a lot of sports jerseys and found laying them on the floor was difficult to show the sleeve details and the sides of the jersey (various stripes/piping/number details). The few items I put up this weekend I tried it and it was much faster to setup and do the photos.
None of the items were T-shirts this weekend that I listed – a couple hockey and basketball jerseys – I will probably still use the floor for T-shirts that have just simple graphics or basic designs that can be seen entirely when flat.
Even if they can’t print the label at home, they have several options.
They can bring there device, or save the label file on a USB stick and bring it to a library, or copy store and they will print it.
My local post office (I’m in Canada) also can re-print labels with a tracking number provided as long as it hasn’t been used.
I’m dealing with the same issue now – a buyer who can’t print a label provided. I’m not sure if I believe them as they can’t seem to get anyone to print it for them…
It would be a good concept for a TV show where someone only shops at thrift stores to fill their home/wardrobe. The only money they could spend elsewhere is on food/utilities.
I watch a lot of British shows where they stick families in situations where they can only live like it is 1920, on social assistance, etc. and this could be a good concept.
You could have various families compete – one that is a full fledged scavenger and some that are diva/princesss types to see how they fare.
I’m sure TLC would pick it up if someone produced it.
I find that Savers/Value Village is hit or miss. Sometimes they are expensive, sometimes they are cheap, or in some cases one section of the store will be cheap, while other sections are expensive.
I’ve been to a few in New England and Eastern NY (mostly small cities/suburbs) and found them to be good experiences – always worth stopping in just to check. I wouldn’t go very far (<15 minutes) out of the way to get to one, but if it is on route or near a hotel I stop in.
Also, if you are a member of their loyalty program, it is easy to get rewards constantly such as 30% off (up to $100), 50% off days (certain departments, or on your birthday), $2 off $5 promos, and if you have junk to donate, they will give you a card for up to 30% off.
Strictly charity thrifts are my favs – but Savers/Value Village stores are good.
You mentioned earlier that you paid $5 for this fabric – I know I use to get frustrated with buyers like this and spend hours on the line with eBay trying to sort things out, stressing out, thinking about it, losing sleep, etc.
At the end of the day, you sometimes just need to take a deep breath, accept the loss of $5 and any shipping, and move on. You’ll feel a lot better with buyers like this just moving on quickly and taking it as a cost of doing business on eBay.
I use to get so mad at buyers like this, but it’s a lot easier on yourself to take a loss sometimes and let it go. It’s not the best outcome, but sometimes the least stressful.
Sorry about the frustration you are having!
If you have Siri on an Apple Device, it will use Shazam on foreign music and give you some information.
Another thing I do with foreign items is look at other eBay websites for information – it may not be on eBay.com, but maybe show up on eBay.co.uk or eBay.com.au etc. to help figure out what you have.
Then there is always what I call a “Hail Mary” where I have something cool, don’t know about it completely, but still list it with a guess at the value. My problem is these items either sell in 5 minutes, or never at the price I set.
I just scan through them until I see something that interests me or that I see often that I don’t buy to learn about it – however, I do not watch the entire video often.
Here is an example of an email I get everyday. This is for a $200 item with $15 shipping:
“Greetings From Russia! My friend, would you accept $10 and free shipping on this item to me in Russia? Very appreciate your kindness”
Always from Eastern Europe, and weird lowball offers…never respond.
The only thing I feel I waste money on is food when I’m out picking/scavenging for the day. I could bring my own meals, but stop in the morning for a bagel/donut and usually for a burger or other fast food item at lunch or supper if I am out very late scavenging.
I do bring my own drinks and have a stack of fast food coupons to save a few dollars, but I could always bring my own sandwich to eat to save money.
Nice video – your setup is very similar to mine, but mine is in a scary basement…
Very clean and organized!
Funny that Trapper Keeper was mentioned – I bought a bunch of similar ones in the summer, as well as the other similar 1980’s ones like “Note Tote” and “Finder Binder” and all sold like crazy (I was only asking $10 each). They were only 25 cents at a local thrift store. My wife thought I was nuts buying them, but two sold within 30 minutes of listing…
I think they are a good back to school item to stock up on for next year – not sure what they would sell like after back to school is over…but a good BOLO item to start listing in June/July next year if you find them
Being a long time scavenger for eBay, I remember a day when you couldn’t give away 8-tracks, or anything to do with records/LPs. In fact local thrift stores wouldn’t even accept them in the 1990’s through the early 2000’s. It’s funny how times change – they are now some of by easier to sell items.
If I could have only had to foresight to get a warehouse of these items when they were plentiful and people would pay you to take them in the 1990s!
The Panasonic remote is a good example of an item that is often overlooked – remotes tend to sell often for me, especially known brand names for stereo equipment. Avoid TV remotes unless they are modern or very vintage (pre 1980’s). Once you know what remotes sell, they are an easy $1 to $2 find at most stores that pull in $10-$15 easily, if not higher (some remotes I have sold have pulled in just under $100). To test remotes, I bought an infrared sensor that lights up an LED when infrared signals are picked up – it will let you know if any of the buttons don’t work. Even if a button doesn’t work, be honest and someone will still buy it.
I’ve had luck with oddball big & tall sized items that I find at TJ Maxx, Ross, Burlington Coat Factory or Marshalls in the clearance section for a few dollars.
Since I’m very tall, I know how difficult it is to find something you like in your size that normal retailers don’t carry. Any oversized shirts, pants, and even shoes you can get cheap (under $5 on clearance) at one of these stores is always worth it.
Just a tip for those in-store silent auctions that Goodwill and other stores run.
I’ve had tremendous luck with some of them being an early bidder. My most recent example was a lot of 1990’s Sega Genesis games that had over 30 games. I was the first bidder at $5. Over the month, it went up to $330 the last time I looked in the auction book. About a week after the auction ended, I got a call from the store saying that I won the auction – for $5. I couldn’t believe it. When I got to the store, they told me they couldn’t get a hold of the bidders above me, or they didn’t come in to buy the items, therefore, it goes to the next bidder which after a week turned out to be me. I’ve easily sold most of the games already for well over $500.
I’ve had this happen numerous times now – I’m not sure if all stores are the same, but it has happened to me at my local Goodwill, Salvation Army, and a religious thrift store where my lowball bid won a nice item/lot.
Just a tip if you are there at the beginning of an auction and the store uses similar rules and the starting bid is low enough to make a good profit.
We’ve put together a plan for our holiday sales gear-up this year.
My wife and I are going to be taking a vacation week next week (stores are closed Labor day so we have 4 full extra days) to do all the scavenging we can and build some piles of inventory. Instead of trying to hit a listing number, we’ve set a budget of $1000 (not including gas/meals) for inventory. We’ve mapped out a route of over 50 thrift stores we are familiar with (some we only get to once or twice a year when we are in the area) and will hit them until our budget or brain goes.
We’ve also put together a strategy for our listings – we will create 4 piles to work on:
1 – immediate / high value items that sell quickly
1B – holiday items (Christmas décor) – list after the immediate items
2 – intermediate items – list by mid-October
3 – smalls / gambles – list by mid-NovemberWe also have a few items that have lingered for over 12 months – some can be consolidated in lots of similar items to try and move them to make space in our storage areas.
One of the challenges we will have is that a lot of the item I buy are old electronics that I strip down, clean, repair, etc. that take some time.
My wife focuses on women’s accessories and she also has a lot of time with some items cleaning, polishing, etc.
For the last few years we’ve had fun putting up lots of items this time of year and using the proceeds for our holiday spending – our family has had a few good Christmas’ the last couple years and we hope to get everything on our wish lists!
