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Not alot of scavenging for me right now. I did stop by an estate sale at a real nice house on the way home from an event. Their prices on hard goods were laughable – $200 for a lamp that had a $14.99 TJ Max sticker still on the bottom. LOL!
I did buy two items though – a Christian Dior Women’s blouse and an old instamatic camera still in the original box. Both items worth about $40 each and I paid $2 each.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266824190799
SEGA GENESIS Controller – Standard 3 Trigger USB Brand New MK-16500
I got this at a yard sale for $1. Nice!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266328716359
Vintage Ralph Lauren Polo Chino Pleated Pants Trousers 36 X 32 USA MADE
This is why I love Polo Ralph Lauren. These are NOT a premium hoarder item. I got them at Goodwill. Sold on offer for $50. Always look for Ralph Lauren. The Treasure to junk ratio is quite good on this brand and there are plenty of unicorns out there in this brand as well.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/267045960204
Oakley Radar Pace Prizm Lens Sunglasses Bluetooth Connect Missing 1 Earpiece
This was from the recent lot of hoarder sunglasses I got. Sadly one of the earpieces was missing and I missed it…or I dropped it when I went through the contents. Either way, it impacted the sales price pretty hard – sold on offer for $100.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266932022328
Manolo Blahnik Men’s Mario Blue Raffia Loafers Leather Trim UK 10 US 11
Another pair of shoes from the hoarder collection. If you look at the photos you’ll see this pair had the receipt – that played a big part in my pricing. If I didn’t have the receipt I would seriously question the authenticity. They’re cool shoes and all, but I’ve felt better made shoes in the Thom McCann selection at K-Mart back in the day!
Alot of these designer brands are just selling a name. Most of them just aren’t well made. Louis Vuitton stuff is pretty awesome though and some of the Gucci. High end Ralph Lauren is almost always better in quality across the board.
Sell less items for more money – that is a goal we should all be striving for!
Currently I just have a few:
- Roller Coaster Tycoon Pinball (My wife’s machine.)
- Slugfest Pinball (The “dream machine” I always wanted to own as a kid)
- Arcade shooting cabinet (It is a generic cabinet with a pull out drawer so I can swap out multiple arcade shooting game boards. I have Police Trainer, Sharpshooter, Area 51, and Maximum Force – all the best 90’s arcade shooters)
- Arcade1up Tron
I do still have a multicade cocktail Ms Pacman I’ve never finished. Someday I suppose!
At my old house (and with FAR fewer kids!) the entire basement and garage was a big arcade & entertainment space. I started collecting in 2006/07. I enclosed the garage at one point to make it a fully functional space. I had so many games that I kept an AutoCAD layout of my space so I could rearrange the games into the most efficient layout without actually moving anything if I got something new. At max capacity I had 6 pinballs and 24 video games. I kept everything full coin op and kept a tub of arcade tokens in the room to play with. I was constantly buying, fixing, and selling games. Before I did ebay reselling the way I do now, I did arcade reselling. Buy a broken game for $50, fix it and resell for $500+ depending on game. I’d buy parts lots and break up/resell the parts. I’d buy big lots of coin mechs, fix them or mod them and resell individually. I would even fix games for other people at my house or at their house/business and charge by the hour. I was “cheap” at $40 an hour. Seriously, that was cheap for a skilled arcade tech! So many games I wish I still had but money and space was finite so no single game or pinball stayed for too long.
Then eventually games got too sparse and expensive, and I had more and more kids so I just didn’t have the time or passion for it anymore. We rarely even turn the ones we have on. I keep the tron in the living room so the kids do play it somewhat regularly.
At the house we currently live in the most I had in the gameroom was 4 pinballs and 5 video games.
The real Tron and Paperboy I had I do wish I still had but…they are SUPER heavy and hard to move around. I also lived in constant fear that they would break – parts are SUPER expensive and in some cases unobtanium. I was also concerned that my kids would leave them on without me there and something would break in a way that caused a fire. I’ve always had a rule that the games can’t be on if I’m not there in case something goes wrong. These are after all very old commercial machines not meant for home use. It takes alot of specialized knowledge to fix and maintain them.
That’s the best aspect of the arcade1up machines or even a MAME machine – they are meant for home use. The Tron one is extremely nice and a very comparable experience to a real machine. I’ve played some of the other ones and they’re all well made.
Oh did I mention MAME? If you’ve never heard of MAME, you are in for a google treat!
Items in Store: 3068
Items Sold: 40
Total Sales: $1,430.00
COGS: $203.00
Total Profit: $1,227.00
Average profit: $30.68
Average sales price: $35.75
New Listings: 8
Items scavenged: 0
2024 weekly new listings Avg: 37
2024 avg gross weekly sales $1,603.16
2024 Avg weekly Items Sold 35
2024 ASP $46.10
2024 projected total sales $83,254.09It was a short week for me. I traveled for my day job Tuesday through Friday to Louisville KY. I always bring my family on business trips and it was …interesting to use the big new van in a bigger city downtown. I had time away turned on from Monday afternoon to Thursday afternoon and still had a tremendous amount of sales!
Well I didn’t expect ebay to take a backburner in Q4 but here we are. I’ve barely listed anything since the end of September. I have been away from home for 14 total days in Q4 so far and I may travel more at the holidays. That time away takes away all that listing time but it also effectively kills several more days of productivity catching up on shipping. And now we’re in the dreaded time change era so my sleep schedule and productivity is all messed up.
So that $90k goal – yeah that’s pretty much dead. $80k is still well within my grasp. If I end up at $81-82k in sales that is still $10k higher than last year which was a major step change in performance! As of this week I’ve already exceeded last years sales so I’m in the gravy no matter what!
So, I’m gonna get done what I can the rest of the year and not sweat things. If I can, I’ll get my two oldest kids listing clothes for me as that is time neutral for me. They are capable of doing 100% complete listings I just review and make live. I will be taking some time off from my day job around the holidays and I’d like to start organizing and prepping for a more ORGANIZED 2025. I don’t have any plans to bring in much new inventory – I’m far more interested in listing death piles and moving stuff out the door. I need to desperately contract my storage space to gain more functional space. Once I start to dread photographing, listing, or shipping because I’m tripping over things it’s time to clean and organize.
Premium Hoarder update:
Sold 4 items for $426.
I cancelled a pair of Gucci sandals I sold. When I listed them I thought to myself “these are rough but someone will want them. ” They sold for $100. Then when I pulled them to ship I thought ” eesh, no way am I shipping these out for $100. ” I didn’t think my photos well represented the actual condition. and I was concerned the footbed was dry rotted. The buyer was understanding and was fine with the cancel. I may wear them myself until they fall apart – rock me some Gucci baby!
I bought a MASSIVE haul of vintage toys and electronics from a guy who used to run a toy/hobby shop locally.
the McDonald’s toys were in strawberry “flat” boxes if you’ve ever seen those. 5 of them overflowing for $20. But it was likely less than that as I did a bulk price for a pile. I was hoping for more of the desirable toys, but it ended up a lot of them were less desirable. I’ve already sold several of the bigger bulk lots along with some singles and smaller premium lots. I think I’m just over $150 on the McDonald’s toys and I have a TON left.
Koosh balls were da bomb when I was a kid. All the cool teachers used a koosh ball to call on kids for questions in school back then.I had a surprising amount of sales this week considering I was on time away for a few days for a business trip.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266925935327
SEVENDUST 2000 Tour T-SHIRT Size XL Metal Rock Band
Sold on offer for $70- paid $1 at a yard sale.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266884837713
Gucci Leather Sandals Slingback Mens Size 11
Sold on offer for $95. Hoarder item.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266420776776
Vintage Sklar Chrome Sterile Medical Caliper
Slow sellers but the vintage medical equipment haul from 2 years ago really pays off over time.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266960902806
Hugo Boss Mens Black Wool Striped Suit Set 40R USA
Will I ever buy suits again? Probably not. Do the right ones sell well? Yes! This was one of the items my kids listed 100%. They get a 10% commission on this sale, so $7 on top of the $2 they got for listing it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/267002811568
Saxon Homeschool Math 6/5, Student Text Book
A surprisingly high dollar sale for a book from a free lot my wife picked up at the library one day.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266743629989
Nike CTR360 Libretto II FG Soccer Cleats 454344-104 Women’s Sz 9.5 Men’s Sz 8
Sold on offer for $75. Paid $8 at Goodwill. Loves me some cleats sales. I sold 3 pair of wrestling shoes this week too.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266471309564
Paperboy Arcade Original Manual with Schematics
This was from my personal collection. I used to have a Paperboy arcade but I sold it about 6 years ago. I bought the original machine non-working for $50. The fix was stupid easy – one connector was bad. Of course, knowing how to identify that one connector is the trick. I sold this rare machine for $2500! It’s worth even more than that now. I hope Arcade1up does a paperboy some day. I love our Tron arcade 1up – another machine I used to own and sold for a stupid amount of money.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266560752226
Banana Republic Brown Chunky Lug Sole Leather Wingtip Lace-Up Shoes Sz 11 D
Quality shoes sell for good money. These are some really well made shoes and they sold on offer for $65. Paid $5. I am forever indebted to Jay for turning me on to used shoes so many years ago when I stumbled onto Scavengerlife. It was a game changer! I have around 1000 active shoe listings now!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266299669293
Another pair of shoes I paid $5 for and sold on offer for $70. Paid $5 at Goodwill.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/267046845632
Sega Smash Pack 1 & 2 Twin Pack PC Windows Sega Activision – Sonic Shining Force
I keep an eye out for games at Goodwill but they rarely turn up. This one was decent. Sold on offer for $18 and sold quickly. Paid $3.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266894184374
My Little Pony MLP Toy G3 Lot of 20 2002 2004
I got this big bag of My Little pony at Goodwill for $8. I did a quick search to check for any rares or standouts, and decided to list it as one big lot. Took an offer of $70.
A couple sales from the last week in October
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266464424243
Lindahl Bellows Hood Vignetter System Double Slot 3″ 4.5″ filters lens adapters
This was part of a big lot of photography equipment I got a few years back. Sold on offer for $35. It was basically a freebie in the lot that I didn’t factor in when I bought it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266992704741
Polo Ralph Lauren New York Rugby Jacket Skull Crossbones Men’s XXL Black Zip
Sold on offer for $150. One of the cooler sweaters I sold this week. My COGS on this one would be $10.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266698422302
RAICHLE Boots Hiking Mountaineering Heavy Duty Leather Mens US 6.5-7.5 Vintage
Heavy duty is an understatement on these boots. I think you could run them over with a tank and they’d be fine. Sold on offer for $80. My COGS is $5.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266932839473
McDonald’s McDonaldland Circus Parade Happy Meal Toys Lot of 27 1989
Took a $15 offer and I’m happy to part with it! This was part of my overall strategy when I listed a HUGE lot of vintage McDonalds’s toys. I didn’t want to sit on these forever and sell them for $3 each and take years to sell, if ever!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266595323213
Koosh Catchers Game With Looped Ball Complete 1997 Vintage 2 Catching Mitts
The key to this awesome sale is the ball. Noone ever has the ball. I got this at Goodwill for $3.
Items in Store: 3100
Items Sold: 32
Total Sales: $1,938.00
COGS: $208.00
Total Profit: $1,730.00
Average profit: $54.06
Average sales price: $60.56
New Listings: 41
Items scavenged: 52
2024 weekly new listings Avg: 38
2024 avg gross weekly sales $1,607.09
2024 Avg weekly Items Sold 35
2024 ASP $46.37
2024 projected total sales $83,568.73I sold stuff. Yay! I sold a pair of sunglasses for $600 but the buyer flaked and never paid or responded to messages. Boo.
Halloween week was super busy at home as we did a haunted house. Normally we only get up to 5 trick or treaters at our house as we are in the VERY back of a pretty spread out subdivision with big lots. This year we had 75-100 trick or treaters who made the trek out to see the haunted house. Here’s a link to a walkthrough of what we did this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9eH6WRjN8o
Please drop a positive comment if you watch the video. That’s my kids youtube channel and they really get a kick out of getting comments.
I’m the Among Us character. I had a remote inside my costume to control some special lighting all around the room that didn’t come through very well in the video. It was like 87 degrees on halloween – I sweated my butt off in that costume!
It was alot of hard work as we expanded from a single room and a walking graveyard to add another 10×10 shelter AND a 10×20 shelter this year! Next year we’ll keep the same footprint but change out some rooms and (hopefully) have the last 2 rooms actually complete.
Premium Hoarder update:
Sold 11 items for $1384.
I sold alot of premium sweaters this week. Hopefully they keep selling as winter moves in!
I went out yard to yard sales this week and there were surprisingly more than a few. I quit after 3 though as I bought a lot at the third. At the first the coolest item was 4 sealed posters from original Star Wars movies. I haven’t researched them yet.
The third sale was a big church sale where multiple folks set up in the parking lot. There was a guy who runs a paddle board class business in the area selling. He had a TON of cool surfer/skate clothing and shoes. I explained what I do and he was cool with it. I bought two huge bags worth of stuff for $200 and he’ll likely reach out to me to sell other stuff as well, wet suits and stuff like that.
the “non” scavenge of the week was an HD DVD player. For years I’ve wanted to find an HD DVD player. I’m just fascinated by obsolete AV technology. I’ve found HD DVD’s but didn’t buy them because they are worthless. So today I FINALLY found that player. It wasn’t really worth much so I just took a moment and practiced “catch & release”. LOL!
160 Purple label items. JEALOUS!!! You ever get tired of that consignor make sure to send them my way!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266956356167
Axis and Allies Revised Edition 2004 Avalon Hill Board Game
Picked this up for $2 at a yard sale this summer. Sold for $25 on offer. Note that this actually was an easy to list item as the previous owner had everything well organized. I didn’t count anything – just laid it all out there and took photos.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266926779853
Metallica Ninja Star Stripe Hat 90’s Giant Baseball Cap Snapback
Sold on offer for $45. Paid $1 at the yard sale where I got all the vintage Metallica concert tees. Now if I could just start selling the T-shirts too! I have them priced VERY high though, so just waiting on decent offers.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266436523180
Polo Ralph Lauren Fireman Clasp Canvas Barn Chore Horseman Jacket Coat Red Sz XL
Sold on offer for $180. This is one of my favorite premium hoarder items. I’m shocked it took a year to sell, and not nearly for as much as I wanted to sell it for. I REALLY wanted at least 200, but a sale’s a sale, espcially since I only paid $7 for it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266390193862
Wilson Electronics 801201 3G Wireless Cellular/PCS Dual Band Booster Kit
Sold for full price. I paid $2 at a yard sale this summer. My gut says this one will come back to me on a return. We’ll see. I hope I’m wrong!
Items in Store: 3091
Items Sold: 24
Total Sales: $1,045.00
COGS: $147.00
Total Profit: $898.00
Average profit: $37.42
Average sales price: $43.54
New Listings: 0
Items scavenged: 0
2024 weekly new listings Avg: 38
2024 avg gross weekly sales $1,599.40
2024 Avg weekly Items Sold 35
2024 ASP $46.06
2024 projected total sales $83,168.56I was on time away until Friday of this week. Ugh…I have alot of shipping to do this evening. I’m actually quite happy with these sales! We were at the beach in SC and the weather was absolutely PERFECT all week last week. Beautiful blue sunny skies, 78 degrees, and picturesque sunrise and sunsets all week. Booking vacations in hurricane season can be risky but when it works out there is no better way to go to the beach. Hardly any people so you can do whatever you want whenever you want with no wait. Sit in whatever chair you want, and sit wherever you want on the beach. If you’re staying at a place with alot of amenities, you basically get them all to yourself. In our case, lazy river, pools, gas fire pit, etc. There are typically a few Canadian families there this time of year that our kids play with in the pools and on the beach. If you’re a dog person you can even bring your dog on the beach after labor day.
This week we have our haunted house to finish. After that is done my two oldest kids will be helping me list a bunch of commodity clothes. I’m wanting to go BIG on listings goal for the remainder of the year. I’m talking 1000 new listings in the last 9 weeks of the year – mainly clothes. Is it doable…meh, probably not. Especially with my kids track record of sticking with a task. But even if I’m 50-75% successful of that goal that will be a huge increase in business.
Premium Hoarder update:
Sold 7 items for $635.
I had one cancellation because a person didn’t understand that Louis Vuitton shoes are always in UK sizing so they bought the wrong size. $150 sale vaporized. Ow…
Items in Store: 3116
Items Sold: 31
Total Sales: $1,133.00
COGS: $189.00
Total Profit: $944.00
Average profit: $30.45
Average sales price: $36.55
New Listings: 0
Items scavenged: 0
2024 weekly new listings Avg: 39
2024 avg gross weekly sales $1,609.02
2024 Avg weekly Items Sold 35
2024 ASP $46.03
2024 projected total sales $83,669.24I turned on my time away Thursday to go on vacation and it definitely turned off the faucet. Something felt awful familiar about how sales took a nose dive this october. I went back and revisted my numbers from 2022. October ’22 had the worst sales of my entire history on ebay. This same week in 2022 I had 12 sales for $212. I see minor app changes and minor changes on the website and I think the same thing every year – why in the WORLD would ebay be tinkering in Q4? They do it every year. Blows my mind. Who knows that changes that we can’t see.
Premium Hoarder update:
Sold 8 items for $510.
