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- Please Steal This Category: $250 into $2,888.75
Please Steal This Category: $250 into $2,888.75
I've got enough of these, it's your turn to make some money.
Issue #83
What’s up guys, Mat here. I hope you’ve been killing it reselling over the past week. I’ve had a busy few days with personal stuff so this newsletter is a bit shorter than usual. I’ve also had to delay the podcast with the next one coming out same time next Thursday (sorry about that!) Enjoy this shorter than usual Issue!
Mat
In This Issue
What I Bought
You know what? I’ve had enough of dominating this niche, I really need you to step up.
I’ve done it again, I’ve picked up a huge bundle, directly off of Facebook Marketplace, and if your algorithm was similar to mine you could have gotten it first.
I’ve talked about them before in Issue #76 and if you’ve ignored them until now, I guarantee you’ll re-evaluate. Take a look at what I bought and stick around for the insane total value.
Yes, I’ve talked about them before, but wait until you see the value.
I saw this deal on Facebook Marketplace, a whole bundle of vintage Polly Pockets from the 90’s and just knew, I knew, it was going to be worth more than $250. When I see a deal like this, with a whole bunch of minifigures included, I immediately assume its been well taken care of so we have some complete sets.
Complete = GOLD.
Let’s take a look at the photos a bit closer.
If you wanted to use Google Lens you could identify some pieces, but you’re at risk of losing the deal with someone else who just bites the bullet and takes a gamble (like me).
I’ve told you before what I’ve done to my Facebook Marketplace algorithm. You can do the exact same and carve out your own niche… or steal this one, I don’t mind.
You might say “but Mat, those types of deals don’t come across my Marketplace feed“ - yeah, well they don’t come up on mine all the time either. Half the time I refresh Facebook Marketplace it’s junk, or other resellers with eBay prices. Yet with Facebook knowing the types of item I’m after, they’re going to show me the cool stuff when people eventually list them.
This listing? I was able to message after just 3 minutes.
You have to act fast, even though I messaged within just a few minutes, I still had competition.
I messaged and said SOLD so quickly SHE asked ME if I wanted to see more photos.
I was 100% invested, sent through the money and you know the crazy part? She was based over 6 hours away from me and posted all of them to Sydney for free.
It takes a few days to arrive, and I’m surprised when I get to the post office and they’re packed inside one of those huge Australia Post boxes, the ones with the built in handles. That’s right, she paid $40 to ship these to me. I really don’t think she valued these old toys.
I get the package home and start the arduous task of matching up the minifigures to the playsets and compacts. I say arduous but really it’s quite fun. I know in the back of my head that the more complete sets I have, the more money I’m going to make.
I use Google Lens to see what each compact looks like complete, and then look for those minifigures in the bag of loose dolls. From there I write the name of the playset onto a post-it note and then look up the value on eBay.
I’m not kidding, the very first 2 that I match are fully complete with a listed value of $350. If I sold these 2 I would be in pretty much instant profit. I get really excited because there’s like… 23 sets left to go.
So from here I’m about to show you each individual set along with its value. The value however, keep note, that it’s Facebook Marketplace discounted pricing. I’ll tell you the full eBay value just after these images. Be warned, you might have to scroll for awhile because there’s 25 sets in total.
That said just think if this was your deal, for every new image is a new KA-CHING! Keep an eye on those numbers and mentally add those up. This is HUGE.
Image 1 of 3.
Image 2 of 3.
Image 3 of 3.
Congratulations, you’ve scrolled past $2,888.75 worth of Polly Pocket listings.
A bit less with Facebook Marketplace, but still, almost $3,000 worth of listings from this $250 deal and the most impressive feat is that the average listed price is $115.55. Buying this humongous bundle will keep my average sale price above $100. This is a legit home run.
Let’s move on to another home run.
Do you recognize this character?
It was hard not to notice this bear plush toy. It’s the iconic Bear from The Bear in the Big Blue House, an early 90’s kids television show that was produced by Jim Henson’s (creator of The Muppets and GOAT puppeteer) company.
7 foot tall Bear lives in the Big Blue House where he is a caregiver for his friends Ojo, a bear cub; Tutter, a mouse; Treelo, a lemur; otters Pip and Pop; and storyteller Shadow. He and his friends have many adventures together. Those normally include solving problems, sharing, cooperating with each other, and developing social/life skills.
The television show ran for 4 seasons and as of 2025, is extremely collectible and most importantly, valuable. It’s not unusual to find copies of it on DVD & VHS in op shops, but the value lies elsewhere. Essentially, if you find anything Bear in the Big Blue House that isn’t a DVD or VHS (unless it’s a huge bundle you can get cheap) than you should buy it.
Let’s take a look at plush.
Plush. Worth. Money.
I can’t show you Sold Listings for the exact plush I picked up, but we do have Active Listings, all of which are overseas.
Love seeing an average listing price of $100.
Of those 3 Active Listings we have 17 watchers in total. It’s impossible to know just how many are Australians (if any) however I think if I list up for $99.95 with free shipping we should be able to have a successful sale.
If you’re familiar with the show, reminisce with the opening theme song followed by the outro. Comments are turned off on the outro. I wonder why? I listen to that song and I’m like this is a sweet song, I could totally see it being played at a funeral. You’d just have to cut out the psychosis conversation with the moon and the invitation to kids to come and play at your house.
Speaking of shows you might be familiar with, ever heard of Adventure Time? A seriously popular animated show that ran for 10 seasons.
Recognize these characters? It’s Finn & Jake.
Over time you will come across Adventure Time merchandise at op shops and garage sales. It leans 30/70 towards whether or not the stuff is valuable. Huge collectors market but also huge supply. I’m used to seeing Adventure Time books in the wild, especially the encyclopedia which is a big bulky book, that at first glance looks valuable, but it’s worthless.
Looks valuable, worth nothing.
Because of this info, the first glance at this next item made me not pick it up until I realized it was completely different.
Similar design, but completely difference.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the publishers behind Adventure Time used the exact same book manufacturers because this resembles the encyclopedia to a t. This book is called The Enchiridion & Marcy’s Super Secret Scrapbook and look at me when I tell you… I have no idea what any of this means.
All I know is that Adventure Time has a huge collectors market, leans towards 70% being worthless but there’s still that 30% that can make us money. Where does this fall?
I paid $4.
We lean towards this book being close to $200! I’m trying to think how this can benefit you and what I can gather is this:
Larger, hardcover books in the kid section can be worth looking up.
Animation or detailed graphics in a big book indicate a lot of time has gone into it. More time, in some cases can mean more money.
TV shows as books are worth comp researching.
Expensive items aren’t always behind the counter. Ignore that stuff, look for where the regular items are stocked.
Lifeline is still a good op shop.
What I Sold
Last week on Flip Weekly’s podcast I told eBay sellers who are having slow sales weeks to look inward. No more blaming eBay, you are responsible for your own sales. Before the conspiracy theories that eBay is suppressing your views and has it out for you, look at your listings: are they priced correctly? Are the photos decent? Have you put enough time into each?
Welp, this week… for the first time ever… I was thinking I wouldn’t have a single sale to talk about. I can usually count on buyers jumping onto eBay on the weekend and filling my pockets with some beer money. This weekend? Nothing. Whilst I usually average around $1,000/week in sales, my past 7 days doesn’t even crack 2 bills: $184.80. How sad!
Fortunately I was saved by a sale on Monday but it alone isn’t going to bring me up to $1,000 for the week. What do we have?
OMG a VHS player, how exciting!
Wow, something you don’t see everyday! A goddamn VHS player that I bought for $15 and sold for $125. We’re going to make a decent profit once all fees and shipping have been paid but still, not very exciting for you.
A sale on Wednesday boost my 7 day, but still pretty bad.
I didn’t write about this jersey as it was a Facebook Marketplace pick-up gone bad. This is a 1980’s Rugby jersey that I thought might have been issued to a player and worth close to $1,000. In the rush to be the first to buy it, I didn’t do enough research and missed the characteristics of what a player issue for this particular jersey looks like which included backgrounds on the player numbers on the back.
I knew straight away it was a fail when the Seller opened the door, talked about the item and specifically said, without prompt, not a player issue. I paid $150, listed for $399.95 in the middle of August and I’ve just accepted a Best Offer of $225. After eBay fees I’m left with $187.12 and after posting I’ll make about $20 in profit. The week just keeps getting better and better!
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 “How badly will the suspension of shipments to the USA affect your business?” and here are the results:
I’m surprised more people don’t sell to the US.
It’s good to see that no-one is going to be declaring bankruptcy anytime soon. If you’re within Australia and an Aus Post member you should have received an email stating that they’re re-opening shipments to America “on or before, Thursday 25 September 2025.”
Aus Post will be working with a 3rd party to help collect all of the customs and fees so I’ll let you know soon enough how I go with registering with them.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week I’m afraid. Not enough time in the day to run my company, attend to personal stuff, write a full newsletter and record and edit a podcast. Don’t worry, it’s back to regular scheduled programming next week. Enjoy your week!
Mat.
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