Issue #38

Welcome back to another Issue of Flip Weekly, my name is Mat and this week I just couldn’t stop writing, you’re in for a big one.. We have broken items that somehow sold overnight, DVD’s and board games that are bought for dollars and selling for close to $100 plus an appliance so hideous you wouldn’t believe it sells for over $160 on eBay (and I bought it for $4.99.) I also show you what happens when a Facebook Marketplace listing is set upon by trolls - we’re talking 20,000+ clicks. All that and more, but first!

In This Issue

• What I’ve Bought

• What I Sold

• Don’t Feed The Trolls

• Win a Free $200 Mystery Box

• Flip Weekly on Social Media

• 100% Free Resources to Help You

What I’ve Bought

My general rule of thumb is to pick up The Wiggles items if they feature the original members. Books will sell, CD’s will too, but the real money is in accessories and merchandise just like what I found at Savers for $4.99.

This is a 1998 The Wiggles cassette tape player and recorder. On first inspection it looked to be in okay condition, the buttons I tested pushed down, the battery compartment was clean and the only red flag was the plastic missing from the front tape deck compartment and no AC adapter. In a perfect world you put in a tape, record your voice and hear it play back. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world and I couldn’t get it to turn on.

I did a bit of research into the player and here’s what I included in the listing:

As you can see, it wasn’t working. $4.99 down the drain? Nah, I listed it up for $49.99 on eBay + post. Let’s see what happens to it.

I don’t usually buy board games but I’m always looking in the area. My end game is to find hidden gems mistakenly put into the board game area. The main reason I avoid board games is because 90% are open and you can’t trust that they aren’t missing pieces - basically the same reasons I run from away from puzzles. This particular board game isn’t any different, it’s sealed with a rubber band which gives me zero confidence however the artwork looks interesting and upon closer inspection I can see it’s from 1995.

From what I could tell it’s sort of an all-in-one type thing where you open up the box and there’s multiple “creepy“ games and challenges ranging from puzzles to a board game to a few other things involving rubber spiders and bats. I open it up and everything is there except for a rubber spider which in my mind could easily be replaced. I’ve never heard of it but if we check out active listings and sold comps for “Creepy Towers Story Box“ we can see that there are 5 active listings and 7 sold results - a sell through rate of 140%. The active comps for pre-owned are in the $70 - $100 range:

And the sold comps go up to around $60, but again all overseas.

Of the sold listings, I can see one that says in the title “Missing Bat“ which means that it’s sold for $35 (overseas) despite missing a key piece. I decide to take a gamble and buy it for $3.99. Even if it doesn’t sell, this is a board game to keep an eye out for, it looks to be a good way of turning a couple of bucks into $100+.

I’ve written about R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps novels how many times? Not once, but twice. I’m not going to make it a third this week. Instead, let’s take a look at this novel I bought for just $2 at a thrift store and I’ll give you a few pointers as to why I picked it up. It’s R.L. Stine’s Fear Street Sage which is a collection of the 3 books all-in-one. Here’s the front of the book and after that I’ll tell you exactly why I picked it up:

The reason I picked it up was because:

1. R.L. Stine is a very popular author.

2. It was a Collector’s Edition.

3. The front page says “Free pull-out poster of the Fear Family Tree Inside!“

4. Looking inside I could see it was 1st edition.

5. It was in generally good condition with no tears or missing pages.

Okay, so of those 5 reasons above which one do you think is the most important? I’ll give you a hint. It’s not #1. The popularity of an author isn’t that important. Why? Popularity usually means mass manufacturing therefore no scarcity. Was it #4, because it was a 1st edition? Not really. I find a tonne of 1st edition books and majority don’t sell for much more than a regular copy. The main reason I bought this was because of #3, the cover said that the book had a free pull-out poster and when I opened the book it was still there, attached. When these books are made, it was common for readers to tear out the free “gifts“ inside whether it was a bookmark, a map, or most commonly a poster.

Find the book with no poster:

Popular? Yes. Sold? No.

With a poster:

Honestly, I can’t stress enough that if you find a book that says XYZ is included inside, take a look for yourself and if it’s there, look up comps! That’s exactly what I did and it’s why I can find a book for $2 and list it on eBay for $59.95.

Next up is a DVD that sells everyday for close to $80.00.

This 3 disc DVD set was marked at $3 at Vinnies. For those unfamiliar, H.R.Pufnstuff aired in the 60’s and it was this live action children’s television show featuring puppets which were either super cute and lovable or nightmare fuel - depending on your taste. I think with resellers this show gets lumped in as something to keep an eye out for on VHS however I don’t think that’s good advice as the DVD appears to be better.

For example, The Complete Series on DVD has a 67% sell through rate and an average sales price of around $65.00.

For VHS, we have a sell through rate of 3.95% and an average sales price of $49.95. It seems close but compare the postage. The DVD can go as a large letter which is like $6.00 whereas if you were to sell The Complete Series on VHS, this is what you have to mail:

That’s a lot of postage fees and I don’t see how you make any money on that. So if in your mind you’ve thought you’ll pick up the H.R Pufnstuff VHS that has the googly eyes on it, just stop. It’s not worth it unless it’s for your personal collection.

Behold… a vintage snack maker so strange, so hideous, so unsettling that it defies explanation. It’s part appliance, part conversation starter and 100% questionable style. I’m now the unfortunate owner of this $4.99 appliance due to the sale in Issue #35 with which I sold a 1960’s - 1970’s Russell Hobbs coffee peculator in just 10 days. This is what I said then:

It did sell and now I’m keeping an eye out for these old appliances. The good news, when I searched for comps I saw this:

I couldn’t actually find this comp when I was in the thrift store, the only thing I could find was a single Reddit thread.

Despite only having 2 upvotes, this is the sort of social proof I like to look for when I find an item that doesn’t have any active or sold listings. If people are talking about, it means they’re looking for it, or at least aware of it. That was enough for me to take a gamble at $4.99 and only once I got back did I see the sold comp for $160. I decided to list mine up for the exact same price and see what happens.

Australia is a country that absolutely loves sports. We love playing them, watching them, and celebrating teams both local and international. Aussie sports predominantly take up most of the air time, but American sports also have a devoted fan base here. But when it comes to importing U.S. merchandise? Another story. For example, I'm a huge San Antonio Spurs fan. That's an NBA team (American basketball). A few years ago you'd walk into an Aussie sports store and all you'd find were the big market teams like the Lakers and Chicago Bulls. Finding a Spurs jersey meant ordering from the US and paying over $200 + shipping (just like my sister did for the Spurs 'Fiesta' City Edition jersey back in 2020-2021 as a Christmas gift).

Knowing this, I picked up the Rawlings NY Mets collectible baseball for just $4, knowing I could likely resell it for $20 - $40 on Marketplace. A quick eBay search showed comps going for $49.95 + shipping. With the MLB season wrapping up, I listed it at $49.95 with free shipping to catch the last minute buyers. I’m confident someone will pick it up before Christmas.

Next up is a follow on from last weeks Issue of Flip Weekly.

I saw this in the kids section of the Salvos and was shocked to see a $7 price tag on a box set that had 26 individual smaller books inside. How did they get their pricing? $0.25 per book? Take a look at the comps:

If you ever find something like this in the wild, take 60 seconds to open it up and count the individual books, you really don’t want to be missing anything. Luckily all 26 copies were in the box so I was able to list up for over $100!

What I Sold

In Issue #31, I stumbled across a garage sale that was selling $5 video games and accessories. I pushed aside Singstar, I said no to Buzz, and I went direct to the video games I knew were worth ten times what I was paying. How did I know? Thanks to Flip Vidya. For just $10 I bought The Simpsons Hit & Run and The Simpsons Road Rage and they came complete with the manuals. I decided to lot them up together on eBay for $129.95 free post and they sold this week - full price. If you’re wondering which one is worth the most, here’s a quick cheatsheet:

The sell through rates on these games are absolutely insane. I remember rocking up to this sale and seeing these 2 older guys talking among themselves about the tub, asking if it was worth it and they said no not at $5/game. Goes to show that if you know what you’re looking for, it’s 100% worth it to spend $5 per game.

Despite not turning on, despite no AC adaptor and despite the record button not able to be pressed down, this Wiggles cassette recorder has gone on to sell in just over 12 hours. Not only did the Buyer pay $49.95 for the machine, but they also paid $41.15 in postage fees and $5.12 in sales tax! Now can you imagine if this was working how much I could have asked? This could have been a $4.99 buy into $100-$200!

Over the weekend I was asked what items I’ve recently sold. I said a CD player / FM radio for $119.95 that I bought at a garage sale for $5.00. “A CD player for $120?! Who is buying CD players these days?!“ It’s an honest question, and I don’t really have the answer. In Issue #36 I bought this Sony System for just $5. I had very limited cash in my wallet and needed to choose between 8 different pieces of electronics. I chose this Sony system mainly because of the fact it was Sony and it came with a remote. In my mind I thought CD player with remote = money. I guessed correctly because that $5 purchase just 2 weeks ago has turned into $120 today. When you see a CD or cassette player don’t think “ugh, that’s old technology that nobody uses anymore“, instead think “Mat made $120 from a $5 CD player so I can too“.

I took a Best Offer on R.L. Stine’s Fear Street Saga Collector’s Edition. The offer was an even $50.00 and I thought that turning $2 into $50 was good enough, I’m not going to haggle over the remaining $9.95. I was surprised at the amount of attention this received. 42 views in a week versus 78 views for a huge collection of Goosebumps books I listed back in early September. I’m sure there’s a ton of variables involved here but this is the chance to say that Goosebumps aren’t the only R.L. Stine work that can make you money.

It didn’t take long, this baseball has gone on to sell for $40.00 in just 24 hours and 12 minutes. This just shows that Aussies are starving for good quality American Sports merchandise. I’m not sure if you remember but back in Issue #21 I found an NHL Official Game Puck for $30 and sold it pretty much instantly for $50. This sort of stuff would sit on shelves in the US for weeks but here in Australia it flies off.

I didn’t pick this Game Boy up at a garage sale or thrift store, it was actually a part of my personal collection. I don’t use it, it’s not nostalgic and I don’t want it displayed so I figured I’d sell it. I put it up on October 26th at 6pm and it sold on October 29th 6:16pm - 72 hours later. The reason I’m writing about it here is just to give you a guide on what these Game Boy Advances can sell for and how quickly they can sell. Basically if you come across them in the wild assume they sell extremely quickly and for $100 on eBay.

Don’t Feed The Trolls

If you’re new to the internet, you may not have heard this phrase before, but for veterans it’s second nature: “Don’t Feed The Trolls.“ If you do anything publicly on the internet you’re bound to attract trolls sooner or later. These are people who exist to try and get a laugh among themselves, a rise out of you, to say shocking things, cause mischief and overall be a nuisance. Think of them like an invasive Kyle and Jackie O’.

For the past 2 weeks a bunch of really funny trolls have set their eyes on one of my Facebook Marketplace listings. The listing is this:

It’s a Garfield The Movie tumbler that was given away at cinema screenings of the movie. I wrote about the find in Issue #26 when I picked him up in the thrift for $2. These were the comps at the time.

With this data I listed him on Marketplace for $80.00. What has come to develop is that some trolls have found the listing, disagree with price, are absolutely enamored with the holes on the cup and have decided to bombard the listing with messages. Like, just take a look at these figures.

That’s just for the past 7 days. Let’s do 30 days for the people at the back…

Honestly, those numbers are so big that I should be putting ads on the listing. 20,000 views in 30 days is worthy of some ad revenue. They’re big numbers so what does that look in terms of messages? Well… 20 messages in the past week, around 3 a day.

To reiterate, if this is happening to you, don’t feed the trolls. Don’t reply, just block. They’ll get bored and move on. The absolute worst thing you can do is reply. If you reply and get mad you’ll just egg them on further. The messages will quadruple, they’ll get more crass and the trolls will say the most outlandish stuff to take screenshots and share with their online friends. Don’t do that.

However… I don’t really care. I decided to mess with pretty much every single one until they either get bored and moved on or threatened to fight me at a local petrol station. I thought it was funny to see some buckle when I said I’d contact their parents or waste their time role playing a robot that could only respond yes or no to their inane questions.

Prepare yourself for some screenshots showcasing the finest in amateur trolling: young, inexperienced, about as funny as wet cardboard and twice as bland. Check out their valiant, if uncreative, efforts below.

Again if this is happening to you, just block the users or remove the listing. Their entire aim is to get a rise out of you which is why they don’t bother to reply to “Yes“ or “No“, they want you to get upset or angry because that’s their fuel. I decided to keep the listing up out of sheer curiosity and I know that I could be more persistent than they could.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week, stay tuned for next weeks Issue of Flip Weekly because I’ve just broken my personal best selling time of an item! It was previously held by an item in Issue #21 at 16 minutes and today it’s clocked in faster than that! Don’t forget to follow Flip Weekly on Instagram if you want mid-week flipping content! Thanks again for reading, see ya next week!

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