Issue #44

Welcome to another Issue of Flip Weekly, the first one ever coming at you on the 2nd last Friday before Christmas. I don’t know about you, but my sales have been going insane. Multiple times per day I’m getting the eBay ka-ching injected into my veins. This helps offset the barrage of “Hi, is this available?“ messages that Marketplace like to send our way. If you haven’t done your Christmas shopping yet I feel for you, so in the meantime take a read below at what others have been buying for their family this year. Thanks again for reading! - Mat.

In This Issue

• What I’ve Bought

• What I Sold

• Win a Free $200 Mystery Box

• Flip Weekly on Social Media

• 100% Free Resources to Help You

What I’ve Bought

I love looking in forgotten thrift store areas for things that stand out and are unusual and quirky. I don’t like to pigeon hole myself into any one niche which is why you would have spotted me looking in the picture frame and poster area. Next to an abundance of Live, Laugh, Love signs and corny Bless This Mess posters I came across this dope wooden Saloon sign.

From the moment I saw it I knew this would do great numbers on Marketplace. It appeals to the same sort of person that bought the Bundaberg Rum bottle holder back in Issue #27 which sold pretty much instantly. Once I picked up the Saloon sign I saw a $3.99 sticker on the back plus some information about where and when it was made.

This is one of those items where you don’t really have exact comparisons online so you have to either take a wild guess as to what you think it’s worth or use similar sort of items to work out a price. I looked up the company on eBay and could see a couple of listings I could use to gauge the price:

With that in mind, I thought $50 would be the perfect price point for Marketplace, I wont even bother with eBay. When it comes to these sort of items, I think what helps them sell is using an AI app like Photoroom to place the item in its natural environment. Below is the image I used and despite not being perfect (and if you look closely doesn’t make a ton of sense) it really makes the item pop on Marketplace and helps the buyer visualize it in their space.

If I’m using AI to place the image on a background, it’s important not to go too crazy. You don’t want your item looking like it’s legit in Buckingham Palace, it needs to still be realistic. You’ll see in the What I Sold section the types of backgrounds I usually use - they’re just clean and simple but a lot better than a bench or floor.

Almost 12 months into documenting my flipping adventures I’m still constantly surprised by the value some items have. Take for instance this alarm clock that was haphazardly placed on a Salvos shelf for $10.

It would be so easy to dismiss and walk straight past this clock. It doesn’t really stand out to the naked eye. It’s got this faux wood type outer shell and with a $10 price tag you don’t really think it would be anything great. However… not only have I come to find out that alarm clocks with the little flipping numbers are great sellers, but this Japanese brand is highly sought after with comps for similar types of alarm clocks in the hundreds of dollars, just go on eBay and search “copal alarm clock“:

This has opened my eyes and I’m 100% going to keep an eye out for this brand and also for the alarm clocks that flip numbers. In terms of an exact comp, nothing in the past 90 days but we do have 2 active listings, both overseas:

$200! Are you kidding?! I ended up testing the clock and it appeared to work perfectly except for the alarm portion. A bit of a bugger but considering the closest comp is $197.88 overseas, I should be able to list for just over the $100 mark and still be able to make a decent profit. Avoid alarm clocks at your own peril.

I’m about to convince you that you need to look at board games. No, not because of board games, but because of what gets put there by accident.

Inbetween a copy of The Block Monopoly and the cleverly titled Bouncing Ball Game we have a Special Edition Playstation 3 game called Buzz! Quiz TV. It’s not just the video game, if we open it up we can see that it comes complete with 4 fully wireless controllers, the wireless dongle plus batteries for each and every controller. In a world where every valuable video game is either sent off to the thrift stores eCommerce department or locked behind a glass cabinet, this is a rare find even if it’s just Buzz (Buzz is a gameshow / quizshow type video game).

Now in terms of comps I figured something out and we really have 2 sets of widely different prices - something I’ve never really seen before. 1 is when the seller photographs the very front box as the main picture and the 2nd is when the seller photographs the box open displaying everything inside. Take a look at the price difference below. They’re the exact same thing.

I’ve decided to try something. As you can see from the image above the open box looks much better whereas the picture of the front cover can easily be confused with just the single game and buyers might think it’s just an absurdly priced version of the game. As of writing this there’s 1 comp listed in Australia and their main image is the front of the box and it’s $89 with free post and 4 watchers. I’ve decided to photograph mine with an open box and list it for $149.00 - already I have 2 watchers. It will be interesting to see which one sells first and if it’s mine it will be a huge testament to product photography and how your main image should look. I’ll keep you updated.

Next up is something that was too cute to leave behind. It’s from 1999 and cost me just a single fiver.

This is a 1999 Bradford Exchange limited edition Winnie The Pooh 3D plate. It’s incredibly detailed, has a unique number on the back and can also be hung through an attached tab on the back. All of those cool features and it was sitting in the kids section for $5 just waiting to get smashed or broken. I couldn’t leave it behind knowing that and just by looking at it you can tell it’s a $25 - $50 item that would sell quickly on Marketplace.

Speaking of Marketplace, it was exactly what I was thinking for this next item, which was a pricey $50 from a Vinnies on Friday.

This is a Batman articulated figurine wearing the 1970’s outfit. To me it looked like it was worth $50 so with Christmas just around the corner my criteria for buying this had to be met. It was basically:

1. Was it brand new and sealed?

2. Was there any demand for it?

Pretty basic and straightforward so let’s see what I found. Yes it was brand new and sealed - I don’t think I would have picked it up if it wasn’t, not at $50 anyway. In terms of demand, searching for “Play Arts Kai Batman Arkham City No.7“ produces just 7 results with 2 sold listings. It’s not exactly a great sell through rate however all of the listings are from the US.

This can be a bit of gamble because the reasoning is either 1 of 2 things. It’s only selling in the US because it’s culturally relevant over there and no-one wants it here in Australia. Or it just never made it to Australia so by selling it you’d be offering a unique item that collectors will potentially gravitate towards. Basically a shiny new object. For a Batman figure I hypothesized that it would be the latter so I spent $50 on it. Hoping for a quick Facebook Marketplace flip I put it up for $100 and didn’t even bother with eBay. Let’s see how it goes.

A few other items I picked up this week:

What I Sold

This is the most money I’ve ever made selling VHS - we have Volumes 1-13 of Sailor Moon plus the movie. I picked these up in a Facebook Marketplace deal for what was around $150 and it originally came with the VHS player too. I sold the VHS player for $100 so I was almost immediately breaking even and now the VHS have sold for $500 + $120 post to the UK. $150 into $600. You can find VHS at garage sales as well as Savers or you can jump onto Marketplace and try and get lucky. Most people think they’re junk so you can get away with picking them up for very little money.

Speaking of VHS, this player sold in less than 24 hours. In my experience, I usually list the players for $99.95 + free post. If you’re within Australia, most of these players can fit in an Australia Post Large Box and that includes room for bubble wrap. Shipping will run you around $20 which means that after eBay fees and the postage cost, you’re left with around $60 to play with. I got this player for $4 so the profit will be approximately $56. As I’ve said before, increase your sale price if you have the remote, manual or really good brand, otherwise you’ll sell eventually for $99.95 providing it’s tested and working.

Gone in a matter of hours! Don’t even bother listing on eBay because this Saloon sign sold on Marketplace at 12:05am after being up since 7:29pm. I was surprised with the amount of attention it received on a Friday night - 80 views and 8 saves in just 5 hours.

This should have been a quick $50 sale in less than 5 hours from a $3.99 sign however the buyer sent me through this message…

This guy ended up buying 4 other items bringing his total to a discounted $140. This sort of awoke something in me. When I work with eCommerce brands we’re always trying to increase their ASP (average sale price) and the easiest way to do this is to introduce bundles and add-ons. I mean how often do you visit an eCommerce website and when you’re checking out you’re recommended a bunch of other products and related items?Pretty much every time, yeah? Why don’t we do that with Marketplace? If someone is interested obviously interested in X, we should let them know we also sell Y. I think in Q1 2025 I’ll run a test with upsell messages to Marketplace users and just see how it goes. I’ll of course report back the results.

Speaking of being surprised about Marketplace numbers, this next item did even better than the saloon sign.

That’s right, the alarm clock that was purchased for $10 went absolutely nuts on Marketplace. 574 clicks, 56 saves and a 48 hour turnaround time. I can’t remember the last time I saw an item of mine go this crazy on Facebook - all for an alarm clock with an alarm that doesn’t work. Alarm clocks with numbers that flip are on my to buy list from here on out.

I had a feeling this would sell quickly. I outlaid $50 and listed for $100 on Marketplace hoping for a quick flip and that’s exactly what I got. This sort of sale gives me a lot of confidence going forward and I’m starting to realize I can differentiate between what will sell well on eBay and Marketplace.

In Issue #42 just 2 weeks ago I showed you this Cinderella musical snow globe. It had no water in the globe and no sound and therefore was marked "broken" with a $5 tag. I told you that common sense dictated that this is going to end up on someones shelf and not used as a primary source of music. With that in mind, it doesn't really matter if it doesn't play music, it still looks cool and Disney people are sure to pick it up. Fortunately I was right, it's gone on to sell for $59.95 just 2 weeks later. So much for "broken".

If your primary niche is DVD's I have a title for you that sells for $100 every day of the week. I introduced you to The Milton The Monster Show back in Issue #41 where I found it marked at $2 in a thrift store. It's a DVD that's out of print so it should only go up in price providing they don't have any reissues in the future. The sell through rate on this is great, it's currently sitting at 220% and since listing and selling mine the market seems to have shifted considerably, with the cheapest copy currently sitting at $170!

I found 2 of these cruise ship models just last week for a combined $7.00. 1 week later both have sold for a combined $295.89 (including post). These cruise shop models seem to fall in my lap and I’m slowly getting sick of seeing them so feel free to pick them up if you come across a couple.

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100% Free Resources to Help You

Flip Weekly have created the following resources to help you become a better reseller.

• Ultimate List of YouTube Reseller Channels

• Google Sheets Reseller Spreadsheet

• Memorize Video Game Prices with Flip Vidya

• eBay Sell Through Rate Calculator