Issue #81

What's up guys, I'm going to blow your mind with another insane find this week. While every other reseller is competing over video games, we're going to turn around and take a look down another aisle for something just as fun and even more profitable. I've also picked up a collection on Facebook Marketplace from a Seller who was "terrified of it” and we talk about the recent Australia Post ban to the US. We'll get into that, plus my thoughts on banning a specific minority from op shops. But first!

Listen to this weeks podcast here.

In This Issue

• What I Bought

• What I Sold

• Australia Posts Halts USA Parcel Delivery

• Secondhand Opinions

• Win a Free $200 Mystery Box

• Podcast

• Social Media

• 100% Free Resources to Help You

What I Bought

A fact that surprised me this week when looking at my 2025’s eBay sales data is that my #1 category is Books. Books, Comics & Magazines make up 12.87% of my overall sales and I guess it makes sense when we’re finding items like this in the thrift store.

This is a book called The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants and it’s not only extremely rare, but it’s popular and very valuable. If the title alone doesn’t give it away, this is a fully illustrated paperback book showcasing photos and illustrations of the classic video game Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. Released in 1997 for the PlayStation 1, it was an instant hit and one of the first video games I ever played, despite being extremely young and having no idea what I was doing.

The game follows the protagonist Abe as he attempts to escape a meat processing factory where he and his friends are enslaved and on the chopping block. It’s a 2D game that involves puzzle solving, avoiding enemies and getting through somewhat complex levels.

I’ve told you many, many times that books like this, game guides and art of video games and movies can be worth a lot of money. You’ll remember back to Issue #71 when I found The Art of Zootopia, a hardcover behind the scenes journey through the research and artistry of making the motion picture. In Issue #78 that $5 book sold for $230 (including post).

At the time of purchasing The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants, we have 1 Active Listing and 5 Sold Listings. I’ll let the images do the talking for me:

I paid $5.49. You should feel the wave of adrenaline when you look up the title on eBay, see a copy for $1,000 and then go to Sold Listings to see if any have actually sold. You’re hoping and praying in that split second that you have at least 1 sale, but when you see multiple it feels like you’ve hit the jackpot. In terms of what I’ve listed the book up for… I’m not asking for much, just a ONE HUNDRED TIMES RETURN. $5.49 into $500 is what I’m aiming for.

Read on to see how we went.

With the surge of physical media prices, it’s silly to ignore DVD’s, Blu-Ray’s and VHS. Take a look at this weeks box set that was picked up for $5.99.

Outrageous Fortune was a New Zealand comedy show that ran for 6 seasons from 2005-2010.

I’d never seen this show before in the wild - do New Zealand shows make it across the Tasman often? I know the Kiwis love to consume our content, is it reciprocal? Either way, when you see an unknown show in a box set that’s the Complete Collection it’s worth looking up.

Outrageous Fortune is sitting at a 90% sell through rate which means if you list it competitively, it’ll sell quick. The Sold Listings are high, we’re talking pretty much a minimum $100 with some people asking for (and getting) in excess of $150. In order to not press my luck, I’ve asked for $109.95.

Now I’ve gone ahead and watched the most viewed Outrageous Fortune clip on YouTube, this Series 3 Promo. Without any other context, I’m going to describe the show as a bogan Home and Away moved back a time slot. The promo is in stark contrast to Home and Away. Lovers aren’t holding hands in the diner, they’re fooling around in it. Whilst Alf Stewart is screaming “Why you listen to me you little carpet fluff“ the characters on Outrageous Fortune are threatening “See how funny they think it is when a fucking hammer comes whistling out the dark at them“.

The production values are almost identical and the ensemble casts could be intertwined, so if this sounds like your type of show give it a watch.

I can never tell if people are joking when they say they’re terrified of clowns or in this case Teletubbies. I have to think it’s an act right?

I’m fine to admit I’m terrified of sharks… my hands get clammy when I see them in movies and I refuse to go into the ocean in video games, but if someone bought me a shark figurine… first of all it’s a gigantic waste of money because like… why… but second of all, that isn’t scary. I can toss a shark off my balcony into a cockatoo’s mouth, it aint going to kill me.

I don’t want to shame someone for their fears but c’mon… the thing you should be scared of are the plastic pieces of junk that Pop Mart are selling going to zero faster than you can offload them.

That’s my real fear.

I bought this full box of Teletubbies figurines for $50 knowing full well the fad might die out before I can sell them. At the time of purchase a single Tinky Winky figure was selling for close to $60 with a 300% sell through rate. The box itself around $200.

I did receive a message from a buyer wanting to purchase this specific figure. I declined as I’m wanting to sell the lot but I’m thinking… did they want to buy it because they liked the design or is this just like Pokemon cards and LaBubu’s where it’s seen as a commodity to trade? I suspect the latter. It’s all just plastic junk.

These aren’t toys you used to play with as a kid, these are designs created and sold this year. Call me a hypocrite for getting in on the action but it just seems so depressing. It’s like a toy line kept afloat by resellers like us. To be completely honest with you, since starting Flip Weekly it’s 100% changed the way I view collecting. In other words, I don’t do it.

Anyway, the fad for these might die out soon and I’ll be left holding the bag. If that’s the case, oh well, at least I’ll keep the local birds fed.

What I Sold

Sometimes I have good weeks at thrift stores, garage sales and Marketplace and certain deals don’t make the cut for Flip Weekly. In the middle of August I came across a Facebook Marketplace deal that I couldn’t pass up.

For just $50, we had an entire box full of what appeared to be early 2000’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys and accessories. It didn’t take me long to do some mental math and work out that there was much more than $50 worth of value. While it’s not the ultra rare and valuable vintage TMNT from the 80’s, it is still worth looking into and buying when it’s offered at such a cheap price just because of that huge collectors market.

So what do we have here? How many listings? What’s the value?

We made out like a bandit. I basically listed anything worthwhile by itself, lotted up any figures in the same collection and bundled loose stuff together. I did film the deal but to be honest wasn’t happy with the footage or my set-up back at home and decided to park it for now. Regardless, it was an awesome deal and from that purchase we have multiple sales this week and they’re all included below. Considering there were 8 listings I’ve wrote a $6 purchase price per item.

Within a couple of weeks the deal has paid out $289.95 with plenty remaining. When I brought it all home there was a lunch bag filled with weapons. It was exciting as I know from experience that action figures with their original weapons command a lot more money (any old toy with small pieces that can go missing command more money, see the Polly Pockets in Issue #76). It took me a solid amount of time to match up figures with their weapons and even after I had Google Lens each and every weapon I had leftovers. When I saw full on assault rifles I had to stop and think… wait, did this kids show have full on guns? No, no they didn’t.

That said, if you see a huge bulk lot this in the future, especially with the action figures laid out, I’m always looking for the unusual figures. Yeah it’s cool to see the actual turtles… Raphael, Donatello, etc but what I’m really after are the evil villains that weren’t mass manufactured.

So when I see this…

I’m ignoring all of the generic looking figures and seeing what the unusual ones are selling for. When I say unusual, I’m referring to these…

Any sort of variation of a figure is worth looking into and so far are the villains. It turns out 3 out of 4 are pretty standard but the 4th… that’s the Dark Leonardo figure above that sold for $90 on Facebook Marketplace within an hour. As you can see from the eBay comps, if it’s complete it sells for more money.

Sold in less than 24 hours. We don’t get the satisfaction of saying $5 into $500, but when an offer comes in on a Friday afternoon for $450 + postage to Italy, it’s hard to say no. Game guides, The Art of _____ are 100% worth picking up and I don’t even know if this stuff has gone mainstream yet. You and I may be the only people looking for these items. Get in on it before it’s saturated.

Picked up from last weeks huge Facebook Marketplace haul, we have Dragon Ball Z Budoaki Tenkaichi 1 and 2 selling on a best offer of $76. Always remember that when you see Dragon Ball Z video games and a subtitle that looks difficult to pronounce, you’re going to want to buy them, regardless of console.

Not my average sale price but something to at least talk about. DVD’s that are bigger than usual are worth looking up, this was a 7 movie collection of The Muppets that had a really high sell through rate and would turn $4 into $50 in less than 30 days. I have so many deals like this but the most important thing isn’t the title of the DVD, it’s the awareness to look up the sell through rate.

$12 into $80 in 2 months is okay, but I don’t think I’ll be personally buying this sort of stuff again. I think I was excited to find a Teddy Fresh piece in the wild and since then I’ve found a pair of shorts but the novelty wore off and I left it behind. Clothes just don’t do it for me unless it’s super rare, valuable, unique or quirky. Not to mention I feel like Ricky Bobby when it comes to positioning the sleeves (what do I do with the arms?!)

It’s funny, $35 into $100 is one of my worst deals yet it feels like the best. I was able to fix up this Sony Walkman and once it was listed it was sold pretty much instantly. I could have gotten $200 via eBay but once again we can’t turn down fee free money.

It’s not exactly a $500 Beenleigh Rum sale, but you can’t complain about a $3.50 coffee mug selling in only a few days for $50. The sale was via Facebook Marketplace so we don’t get hit by those nasty eBay fees and it’s a reminder to you that you can sell cross list your items over to Facebook. If you don’t want to meet up with people, just tell people you can only post. What’s there to lose?

It still shocks me what people spend money on. I found this vintage Maisy Mouse plush in a Lifeline thrift store for $5 and less than 60 days later somebody has picked it up for $100. Vintage Maisy appears to be a good thing to find, the sell through rate is strong and you can expect pretty good money if you find one in the wild.

Does the value roll over into Maisy Mouse DVD or VHS? No. Books? Nope. It really only applies to the plush and in some cases the old kids clothing which to be honest… is pretty cute. I’m not usually in the kids clothing section but if you are, add this to your memory bank - you can get around $100 or more for each set.

We also sold 4 more Polly Pockets this week, all to the same buyer via Facebook Marketplace. She originally wanted just 2, but after she paid I told her if she wanted more I can give her a good deal. Saying that made her buy 2 more. Never be afraid to upsell and also don’t be afraid to join relevant Facebook Groups and post your ad there. I’m a proud member of the Polly Pocket Australia Buy Sell & Swap page which is where this lead came from.

Australia Posts Halts USA Parcel Delivery

Australia Post just dropped a bombshell. As of Tuesday this week Australia Post has made the decision to temporarily suspend parcel deliveries to the USA. For those of us who ship internationally, the US is a huge market and can make up a bulk of our sales.

For me, in 2025 alone I’ve sold and shipped 27 items to the United States. That’s around 1 item per week with an average sales price of $147.08. Extrapolating to the entire year, that’s $7,648.16 worth of revenue. Having that removed for the foreseeable future is a blow and I can see this temporary halt significantly affecting small businesses that ship reguarly to the States.

So why is this happening and what does it mean? The United States Government announced in an Executive Order (super fun read!) that they’re slapping a tariff on virtually every country. The explanation has been either: the US has a “trade deficit“ with the country, or the country isn’t doing enough to stop outgoing drugs, or bad actors are writing low values on goods going into the country to circumvent duties, taxes and fees.

What that means is that if a person from the US buys an item outside of the country, they must pay an additional fee.

Before: only a fee on items over $800USD.

Now: a flat $80USD fee on any item.

So the US wants a fee for any item being sent to the country and they want it before it even arrives in the country, but Australia Post isn’t set up to handle that. Logistically it’s tricky. So in the meantime they’ve halted shipments.

Australia Post has sent out an email explaining these changes and they’ve also included information on what will happen in the future. The updated process for sending to the US will be through a website called Zonos.com. Aus Post says future US parcels will have to go through Zonos.com, a third-party platform that collects import duties upfront. I tried signing up but it was buggy and frustrating. Hopefully they stabilise soon.

With that all said… if you rely on US buyers you’re in for a tough few months. If you’re in the US, be prepared to pay a lot more if you buy from Australia (if you even can).

I have to think what’s the end game? In the Executive Order Canada and Mexico are explicitly named for not doing enough to stop drugs going into the US. Okay, fine, you might be able to make a case for that who knows. But for us Australian’s its because we have a trade deficit with the USA.

So because Australia, a country of 27 million people buy less from the USA, a country with a population of 340 million, US citizens must now be charged $80 per item to make up the difference. The idea, I guess, is that this will discourage people from buying offshore and keep the money within the country. Obviously the issue is nuanced and I really don’t want to get into politics but I honestly don’t see this working and I think the people it will negatively affect the most are the US population. What do you think?

If you wish to exclude the United States from your international shipping options, you can do so at this direct link. If you receive an order before you exclude the US, simply contact eBay and they’ll direct you to try an alternative courier such as FedEx. I tried this out but a simple 24×19×12 500g package that would usually cost around $29 to send to the US legit had a postage fee of $4,700. eBay will instruct you to offer that option to the buyer, they’ll obviously turn it down and then you can cancel the order and protect your account from any negative feedback.

Secondhand Opinions

The concept is simple, we’ll throw up a reselling question, I’ll present my poorly thought out opinion and you’ll provide your own.

Last week I asked you “Do you ever attempt to repair items that don’t work?” and here are the results:

62% of readers aren’t useless with repairs. The remaining 38% can join me in getting picked last if the world ever ends and they need people that can help rebuild.

This weeks topic is: What should we do about kids in thrift stores making a mess of the toy section?

I’m in Savers and a few very observant kids had come up to their mum to enthusiastically tell her that the items on the end of the shelves were arranged by color.

To which the mum replied “Yes, I know, now go back to the toys.“

The kids ran back and did what all kids do… made a huge mess.

Despite signs saying that children should be observed and looked after, I’m noticing more and more parents letting their kids treat the thrift store toys as their own. I mean, kids aren’t gentle, they’re ripping open grab bags, riding on anything that has wheels, touching absolutely everything that isn’t put up high.

Most of the time when I get to the toy section it looks like a tornado ripped through a toy shop and only targeted the $2 bin. Shit is everywhere and the parents are either at the front of the store looking at cheese boards or standing directly over them scrolling on their phone.

Have you experienced this before? Am I taking crazy pills? A kid wanders off in any other store and the parents freak out, but apparently in thrift stores the kids can’t get into any trouble. Anyway, I pose the question…

What do you think?

You can vote, you can email in, submit a form on the website or even get in touch via social media with your own thoughts.

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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

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• 100+ Nostalgic 90s Kids Shows Ranked by eBay Value

• Reseller Terms and Acronyms You Should Know