Issue #20

Ladies and gentleman, we are back! Moving is done, I’m settled in to my new place and we are hitting up the thrift and the garage sales like there’s no tomorrow. There’s literally too much to post about this week so some of this week will run on to next, but wow, we are back with a bang. Read on to see exactly what I’m talking about.

In This Issue

• What I’ve Bought

• What I Sold

• Hidden Treasures in Tattered Boxes: How I Flipped …

• What’s To Come

• Win a Free $200 Mystery Box

What I’ve Bought

If you’ve been buying and selling for a while you’ll know that when you source you go through ebbs and flows. One week you’ll visit a whole host of garage sales and thrift stores and leave empty handed. It’s discouraging and demoralizing and if you’re anything like me, you’ll start to have those intrusive thoughts that question everything. Other times, you’ll walk out with a car full of inventory and think how easy all of this is. The latter was my experience this week.

Let’s start with a visit to an independent thrift store on a miserable, rainy day.

From afar it looks like every other thrift store but once we get inside, the grab bags catch my attention straight away. Take a look below.

I initially spotted the bright pink and red and recognized the characters from Fairly Odd Parents. Over the past 12 months visiting thrift stores and garage sales I hadn’t come across anything from this massively popular show before so I was immediately intrigued and at a price tag of just $2 per bag, I thought I’d definitely make money.

However, fiddling with the bag produced something I definitely wasn’t expecting (and I’m sure you’ve spotted it by now).

Inside the bags marked $2 was a Star Wars 1980 Princess Leia and an 1980 R2-D2. This wasn’t the first time I found vintage Star Wars action figures (check out Issue #2) so I knew that it was going to sell fast and sell for more than the $4 the bags cost.

What isn’t pictured is another item with a $3 sticker that I knew was collectible thanks to Issue #7.

I had the chance of buying the world’s biggest M&M collection earlier this year and if I knew what I knew now, maybe I would have looked at the items a bit closer because this thing has been listed on eBay for barely a day and I’ve already turned down low-ball offers.

Now, not all grab bags are created equal. Take a look at this $4 Vinnies bag that I picked up that turned out to be a dud.

I couldn’t find any comps in realtime for this Shrek viewmaster-like item so I picked it up for a cheeky $4. Turns out it’s a “Shrek the Third Storybook and Viewer”.

If it’s complete with the book it’s a $30 item, without it it’s probably <$5. A very mediogre purchase which should have been left behind.

The buys just keep on coming and if you remember last week I was able to pick up a sweet Goosebumps bundle for just $6 that went on to sell within 24 hours for $100. I went back to this same thrift store and found 2 more bundles that I just had to buy.

The thrift store had done all of the hard work for me. The books were numbered and sequential: 1 to 20 of The Magic School Bus and 1 to 30 of The Boxcar Children. I was familiar with the former, had never heard of the latter however if you ever come across old series like this, all sequential and for less than 50 cents a book, in most cases you’re going to make money.

Lastly, this is your reminder to buy anything vintage Pokemon.

I didn’t even really know what this was until I got home, but it’s a Pokemon water bottle from the late 90’s for just $3. When it comes to vintage Pokemon, I’ll always pick it up and put aside my lax 10 times return rule because it’s going to sell fast. You can tell that it’s an old item based off of the copyright. That should be one of the first things you look for on these sort of things.

What I Sold

The sell through rate I’m getting on items lately is insanely good.

The Fairly Odd Parents figures that I bought this week lasted less than a few hours on Marketplace. It only took 6 clicks for someone to pay full price with $10.60 post. That $2 spent on the bag of action figures is now worth $20. By the way, I didn’t even get a chance to list this on eBay, it sold so quickly. Speaking of selling quickly…

This was the first thing to sell over the weekend. Listed at 5:56pm I received the first message at 8pm and payment was made at 8:12pm. $10.00 into $50.00 within just a few hours. I’d recommend keeping an eye out for The Boxcar Children series especially at thrift stores where you can get paperbacks cheap or you can fill a bag for $5.00.

This next item sold in 66 days:

I was drawn to this book as it was sealed in plastic, had a hard cover and was only listed for $5. I picked it up, listed for $54.95 and its sold for full price 2 months later.

I’m now 100% convinced that if you see a puppet or some sort of ventriloquist item in the wild, you should buy it. You’ll remember in Issue #13 I picked up a Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist doll for $20 which went on to sell for $120 within 3 hours. Then, in Issue #18 which came out earlier this month I found a new puppet for $10 in the thrift:

This puppet has gone on to sell this week for $30 on Marketplace. I accepted a low offer for him because 1) I was moving and 2) the buyer was coming from the Coast which is over an hour away. This guy traveled 90 minutes for the doll… crazy. I can’t speak for all puppets and ventriloquist dolls, however I know that if I see them again I’m going to pick them up, they’ve always made me money and sold quickly.

The next 2 items were also purchased this week. The first I’m not surprised about:

Priced fair these Star Wars figures had a lot of different potential buyer messages and ended up selling for $30 to a local fellow. That brings the grab bags from $4 into $50 with a few smaller, less impressive action figures remaining. I honestly don’t know how I’m able to find these vintage Star Wars figures not once, but twice. I think this week I’ve just gotten extremely lucky.

With this sale, pretty much everything I bought this week has gone on to sell. If you’re wondering whether or not picking up M&M items are worth it, let me tell you that this little figure here sold for full price PLUS is going international, all the way to Poland which brings the total order value up to $102.39! From $3 at a little old op shop to a $100+ purchase going to Poland.

Hidden Treasures in Tattered Boxes: How I Flipped an $8 Find for $100 in a Day

In late October, I experienced one of the most exciting and transformative moments of my life - I became an uncle for the first time. Watching my niece blossom over the past 8 months, from a delicate newborn into the spirited, soon-to-be tall girl she's becoming, has been a memorable experience.

I've picked up some unexpected lessons from having a newborn in the family. I've learnt about the price of diapers, how much childcare really costs and the value of some children’s toys (bad segue, sorry!)

It was early June when I visited my sister and I could see this humongous item sitting on her dining room table. My mum was also down and she said that a co-worker gifted my sister this old Fisher Price dollhouse. I thought that was really sweet and I also thought… you know… let’s see what this thing was worth. I picked the dollhouse up looking for the copyright. © Fisher Price, late 90’s. Huh, that must be worth something. Under barrages of “we’re not selling it!“ I looked up comps on eBay to see that this thing sold for $100+ and the accessories were hot commodities, they were selling every day of the week.

If I couldn’t sell it, I’ll just have to keep an eye out when I’m hunting at garage sales and thrift stores. It didn’t take long.

With an $8 price tag, I came across this old Fisher Price play set. I like the fact that it had its original box which looked quite old and it was protruding from the sides which usually indicates that we have some accessories or extra items inside the box. I couldn’t say no so I picked it up, brought it home and this is what it looked like:

So what exactly is it?

Let me start off by saying that if I lotted this thing out individually it would have netted me over $300.00. The accessories go nuts, do you see that pop-up trailer in the front there? Currently listed on eBay, without the tent for $40.00 and has sold comps to back it up. If you want to see what I’m looking at, search “fisher price loving family” into eBay.

Immediate interest came in when I posted it for sale on Marketplace for $100. In hindsight I know it’s because I under-priced it however I’m all about moving things quickly and I really can’t complain about turning an $8 purchase into $100. What surprised me was that people were offering full price for just certain parts. Like this buyer:

If I wanted to be stuck with just the house I would have taken this offer however the inquiries kept coming. I think it was live for less than 24 hours and these are the numbers:

It wasn’t going to take long until I found a buyer, and that buyer was someone that wanted to pay half upfront and half upon collection.

Honestly, what an incredibly fast way to turn $8 into $100. This flipping game is sick, who can complain about this? From now I’m going to be keeping an eye out for doll houses and play sets and especially for their accessories.

What’s To Come

As soon as I published last weeks issue of Flip Weekly where I said that I had an interview ready to go, the interviewee changed their mind and said not to publish. Regardless, I’m still on the hunt. Besides that, I already have some massive purchases this week that will have hopefully sold by next issue. Next weeks goal is to pay off my $400 electricity bill in 1 day of thrifting and I legit think that’s going to be accomplished. Stay tuned and if you see the next newsletter mentioning power bills, you’ll know I’ve achieved my goal. Thanks for reading the entire newsletter, you’re the best.

Mat

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