Issue #72

What’s going on, Mat here with another issue of Flip Weekly, and this week… I’m confused. I genuinely don’t know where the ethical line is for thrift stores anymore.

I get why some label electronics as “tested and working” just because they powered on. I’m fine with puzzles missing pieces, even game cases with no discs inside. That stuff’s frustrating (and worth a laugh), but it’s legal and expected.

But what happens when it starts to get murky? This week, I came across a find at Salvos that left me questioning the whole thing. We’ll get into that plus plenty more flips.

Let’s jump in. And don’t forget to check out the podcast.

What I Bought

Morals and ethics are seemingly brought up in every conversation online between resellers and thrift store customers. We hear comparisons to scalpers, that we’re ruining the “thrifting experience” or the one I like the best, we’re taking items away from people who really need it - who really needs a Montblanc pen?

What happens though when we shine the light on the thrift store? Over the weekend I bombed out at garage sales and so I hit a Salvo’s up in the area I was in. The Salvo’s was full of absolute crap, enough imported junk items that I was tempted to film a video pointing out the stuff that wouldn’t even sell in a $1 store. That’s when I came across this.

Hundreds and hundreds of sealed Pokemon booster packs. I have to admit when I saw them there was a fleeting second I thought I hit the jackpot, but it didn’t take me long to realize that these are without a doubt, 100% fake. Every single person that walked past this container of Pokemon stopped and stared, couples even talking amongst them questioning the authenticity of the packs. I couldn’t see any prices on these so I decided I’d buy one of each pack and check out.

The following I was able to film and I’ll post the video on social media once this newsletter goes live, but I asked the people at the counter for both the price and if they were fake. The prices were $3 for the small, $5 for the large. On the question of legitimacy, I got the response of “I’ve no idea, I’m not a Pokemon person so I don’t know“ and “we guess yes, but we don’t know, we’re not sure“.

These ladies were very friendly and obviously didn’t claim the packs were real, but I don’t know, something about it doesn’t sit right with me. There’s no sign or information near the container and I can totally see an unsuspecting person buying these thinking they were real. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission specifically state under their False or misleading claims document that “Silence can be misleading“ and that “In some circumstances, failure to disclose information can be misleading.“

Now look, I get that the thrift store can’t check every single item that comes in for authenticity, I mean the amount of NBA jerseys that are obviously bootlegged shows that. When you’re putting out what amounts to a pallet of fake Pokemon cards whereby if they all sell, hundreds of people would have spent money on them, it seems a bit dodgy.

Anyway, we aren’t trying to shut down a charity shop so let’s move on to a plush toy that was bought for $5 and will sell for $100 - something you should definitely look out for.

This is Maisy, the main character from Lucy Cousin’s UK animated children’s television show which was based on the books series, both called Maisy. The TV show only aired for 1 season back in 1999 but with re-runs, DVD and VHS releases, it became a staple on a lot of television screens across the world, including here in Australia.

I don’t necessarily remember watching the show or reading the books, however the logo and illustration style is what sticks with me. Whether or not I was a fan, seeing the plush with the original tag featuring the logo and illustration activated the nostalgia part in my brain.

While there doesn’t appear to be much value in the physical media, the plush do really well both in terms of sell through rate (over 50%) and average sale price (upwards of $50). This particular plush, of which I paid $5, has a sold comp of $79.90 + $10.95 post, total of $90.85.

There doesn’t appear to be any active listings, and with the original tag still on it I didn’t hesitate to list it up for $99.95. A reminder to you that the plush category is made up primarily of low hanging fruit, items that sit for months and sell for under $30, so make sure you’re doing your comp research when you’re out and about.

On Saturday I visited Savers Auburn for the very first time. It’s a new location in Sydney, around half an hour from the City Centre and less of a trek for us who can’t be bothered going all the way out to Savers Prestons. We still only have 5 Savers stores in NSW (there’s around 9 in Victoria) so when a new one pops up I’ll eventually make my way out to it. The thing is though, I find Savers just a bit too good at their jobs. I can’t remember the last time I had a home run and the drive has never been worth it; I’d just stop in on the way back from visiting family.

Does that change now with Savers Auburn? Eh, not really. There were a few things that caught my eye but nothing worth buying or taking a photo. I was about to leave empty handed and by pure coincidence I walked down the ladies clothing aisle. What do I see hiding on the rack?

The human brain is something else - subconsciously I must have spotted what appeared to be sporting colors within this rack which made me stop and do a double take. This is a Rugby Union jersey for a New Zealand team called Otago. The jersey is from 2014 and has sold online previously for £79.99 which is over $150.

The cynic in me thinks that the jersey was put in the women’s shirt section on purpose, it’s a spot most rugby fans wouldn’t think of looking. Chuck it in a spot where it wont sell, come back at the end of your shift and pick it up. That said, maybe it’s just because of the shape of the neckline. Yeah, it’s probably that. Even so, keep an eye out for sporting colors and be sure to look up the jersey to confirm it’s a part of a large sporting organization, not your kids club down the street. I’ll be turning this $6.49 jersey into $100 in no time.

We all know thrift stores very rarely put out video games worth picking up. Take a drink each time you walk into a thrift and see a Wii Fit or FIFA video game on the shelf and you’ll be passed out before noon. Sometimes though you can get lucky. I found this Soul Caliber IV Xbox 360 game on the shelf with a $5 pricetag. I speculate that the reason it was put out was because it’s not worth much money…

…pre-owned. I am always looking in the media section for any video game that is still sealed. It can turn a game that is usually sold for less than $10 into…

…something worth picking up. Just like any other category, there can be a huge difference in pricing when it comes to brand new versus pre-owned and yet the thrift still hasn’t caught on. This is how we make some money and score a video game for $5 that I’ll list up for $69.99.

A couple of other cool items I bought this week:

What I Sold

I want to share something positive before we get into sales. It was last week that I sold the Mr Squiggle plush toy. It was a great flip turning $35 into $200 in less than a week. The buyer sent me through a message and I don’t know about you, but whenever I receive a message notification from a previous buyer I get a flurry of butterflies in my stomach, it usually means something is wrong. However, in this case, I received the below which really made my day.

Enough of that, let’s get into it.

In terms of thrift store DVD prices, I paid up for this. $12 for 3 DVD’s is a bit out of the ordinary so if you come across The Lost World in your thrift store you’re pretty much guaranteed to get it cheaper. This is a television series based loosely on a novel written back in 1912 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. If the name sounds familiar, the dude created Sherlock Holmes.

The Lost World only ran for 3 seasons but has a good sell through rate (60%) and you can ask for a $100 sale price if you have all 3 with all of the discs. I’m not the biggest fan of selling DVD’s but I am a fan of turning $12 into $100.

By the way, upon first glance at the artwork for this show, you can’t convince me they weren’t going for some sort of wacko 90’s prehistoric “adults only” look…

VHS players continue to be a source of basically free money. I picked this one up for just $6 and despite having no active or sold comps, I chucked it up for $150 knowing that the right buyer will come along and pick it up. It’s funny, you can get other Samsung VCR players which come with the remote for like $99 yet for some reason this sold for $50 more. I didn’t even have to wait long, this was listed on the 14th of May and sold a month later.

A few other cool things (and not so cool things) I sold this week:

I could have asked for more for these 1995 Johnson and Friends dominoes but the box was pretty beat up despite the dominoes themselves being in great shape. I kept them during my cull for the nostalgia and the fact that not much Johnson and Friends merchandise comes out on eBay. It’s such a classic TV show. Did you know they weren’t puppets? Humans wore the costumes and the set was built around them to look like a kids bedroom. Pretty cool.

As I’ve always said, Looney Tunes is constantly teetering on the edge of a category to never buy again, but just as soon as it’s about to fall off a sale comes in. Not a big sale, but a sale none-the-less.

Look, here’s a tip if you aren’t into sports but still want to make some money. Ask a friend, colleague or family member who the most popular sports team is closest to you. Get to a computer and Google the teams colors and logo. Memorize that information and in your next thrift store visit keep an eye out for jerseys that belong to the team. For example, the jersey above is for a NRL team called the Parramatta Eels. The thrift store I found the jersey? Vinnies North Parramatta. And remember, thrift store stuff is usually old and old jerseys are worth a lot of money. Last year I sold a Canberra Raiders jersey from 1997 for $550 that cost me only $15!

I’m only including this to say to you not to buy Falling Skies. Low sell through rate, low sales price. Why bother?

Secondhand Opinions

The concept is simple, we’ll throw up a controversial, or at least spicy reselling topic, I’ll present my argument whether it’s poorly thought out or not and you’ll provide your own.

Last week I asked you “You find money inside a book at the thrift. Do you: leave the book and pocket the cash, buy the book and keep it, or hand it in to staff?” and here are the results:

Yet again we differ on what we would do. 72% of you would buy the book and keep the cash. I wonder why that is? To avoid pocketing the money within the store? What happens if you buy it and the money slips out during check out? Do you then give it up to the worker? For me I’m 100% just pocketing the money.

This weeks topic is: Should thrift stores be responsible for checking if items are fake?

You saw what happened this week with the Pokemon cards. There was so many packets that surely they came in on a pallet or truck. Are any questions being asked about them? We know how strict thrift stores have become with donations - you take a couple of bags in and you’re turned away, it happens every single day.

Resellers get accused of being unethical all the time but what happens when the thrift store is the one selling fakes? Should they be held responsible for selling fake items? Where does one draw the line? Is it okay to sell them if they were donated but not okay if they imported them themselves? Is it okay to not ask questions about items that are being donated, especially in bulk? I find it hard to believe that these would have made it to the floor if they were real, like that would be worth tens of thousands of dollars, right? Where do you stand on this issue?

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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