Issue #109

I’ve had such an exciting week. I’ve picked up a Facebook Marketplace item which I’m unable to talk to you about, but I can say that it’s going to blow away all of my previous top finds. Not only that, think of all of the reseller content you consume. It’s bigger than anything they’ve found. This is without a doubt going to be my #1 flip of all time and it’s so frustrating that I can’t talk to you more about it. I have to keep it under wraps until August. Don’t worry, I’ll be documenting everything.

Nevertheless, this week we did pick up multiple $100+ items, we discovered there’s a Japanese Walt Disney, plus we found something that could sell for anywhere between $300-$2,000. Oh, and I ran my first ever eBay sale with all of the results documented below. Let’s get right into it.

Mat.

P.S. listen to this weeks podcast episode for a deep dive into everything mentioned in this newsletter, including the forbidden Facebook Marketplace pickup.

In This Issue

• What I Bought

• What I Sold

• Official Flip Weekly Podcast

• Win a Free $200 Mystery Box

• Flip Weekly on Social Media

• 100% Free Resources to Help You

What I Bought

Let’s start with (at the moment) the find of the week.

Osamu Tezuka.

Remember this name.

Use your own memory tricks. As bad as it sounds, and this shows my ignorance and lack of brain capacity, “Japanese Osama“ is what will get this to stick. No disrespect intended.

If you’re a manga lover or know anything about animation and cartoons, you’ll already know who I’m talking about.

He’s been described as “one of the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time”.

“the father of manga“, “the godfather of manga“ and “the God of manga“.

Dude sounds like he’s an evolving Pokemon.

I think the most accessible description would be the Japanese equivalent of Walt Disney.

I had never heard of him but I did recognize his character, Astro Boy. Tezuka created Astro Boy back in 1952 and made him pretty famous. 20 odd years later he created Black Jack, a manga series about an unlicensed surgeon who takes on extreme medical cases for tons of money. For real, I read the synopsis and thought this shouldn’t be a 70’s series, recreate it in modern day America and the dude would fit right in.

I don’t know much about the series, only what I’ve summarized. He might teach them a lesson at the end of the book, or take their money and run. Who knows. Here’s what I do know. There’s 17 volumes in the English version and in Savers this week I found volume 9 and volume 10 for $5.49 each. Both 1st editions.

Fans of the series want the books. Many are priced out. It’s like modern day housing.

Like any volume based series, earlier volumes are easier to find, cheaper to buy. As the series goes on, the later volumes are purchased by less people meaning supply is limited.

On Reddit people show off their collection and they leave fans with mouths agape.

In a manga collectors thread titled “Finally! After 5 years I completed my Black Jack Manga by Osamu Tezuka“ you can see the very top conversation between two fans that sums up the series.

Here’s what this brief conversation tells us:

1. Users are expecting the series to be very expensive.

2. The user confirmed it did wreck their bank account.

3. They bought multiple volumes at once because of the scarcity.

Okay, so what do these comp up for? We have 2 manga books, they can’t sell for that much money?

These prices are 100% real and the subreddit backs it up. Hardcore fans are talking about never being able to afford the volumes, that 1-4 are still in circulation but everything after that is out of print and the higher the volume the more you pay. Heck, the user that posted his collection said he paid $400USD ($560AUD) for volume 15 and it was the cheapest he could find.

Again, this feels a bit surreal because these are peoples Grail items and we’re finding them for $5 in a thrift store and listing them for hundreds of dollars… but this is all real. This isn’t an obscure text book that a university student may be forced into overpaying for in 3 years time. This is a popular series, that’s out of print, with people that are (somewhat) happy to be paying hundreds of dollars to add their favorite book into their collection.

I encourage you and I’ll always encourage you to look up Active and Sold Listings for everything I talk about. Would you leave these behind? Buy them? After doing more research since buying I’d never leave this behind, in fact I’m thinking of going back tomorrow to see if any more copies are put out for sale.

EDIT: I went back, couldn’t find any more.

Either way, I paid $10 for both and they’re listed up for a combined $600.

Let’s move over to Savers Knick Knacks. Usually it’s junk, sometimes you score.

Look what we’ve got! A goddamn cruse ship resin model. Maybe thrift stores have learnt these are valuable, this was priced at $14.49. I can’t look at this without thinking of Triangle of Sadness.

We have 2 Active Listings that are in the $60 range (1’s on auction) but 6 Sold Listings that gave me enough confidence to list up for $99.95.

At the risk of boring you with books, I felt like a kid in a candy store last Thursday. I went into Savers, first time since renewing my car registration so the local staff hadn’t seen my stupid ugly face in about a week. I could tell they missed me by the fact no-one rolled their eyes when I walked in.

I crawl through the store and get to the Fantasy / Sci-Fi book section. I’m presented with, and I’m not kidding, at least 50 hardcover books, all limited edition, some signed, some OwlCrate exclusives. I didn’t know what to do. This is my Augustus Gloop seeing a chocolate river moment.

I went through the majority and bought the one that looked like it had the most promise.

The sell through rate isn’t the best but after getting so hyped by the collection and then realizing most were sub-$100 items I felt like I needed to leave with at least one.

With only 1 signed copy available in Australia at $279 I decide to list up for the $100 mark. It’s not heavily sort after, it’s not exceedingly rare, I don’t see a reason why I need to match or slightly undercut the $279 listing. If I get $100 I’ll be satisfied. As for the rest of the books on the shelf… OwlCrate exclusives, Waterstone editions, signed limited edition fantasy… I’m disappointed in you. I thought the value was going to be higher.

I did take a video of all of the books in anticipation of a huge payday, I might post it on social media for you to check out. Maybe I missed something?

Moving on, we’re doing okay throughout the week. Some good finds. It’s been a while since I’ve found a solid, high value single DVD. Enter… Camp Lazlo.

This is Season 1 of Cartoon Networks Camp Lazlo. It’s an animated show that ran for 5 seasons from 2005-2008.

These early 2000 animated shows can do really well and the Cartoon Network logo combined with Madman is an eye catcher. This copy was brand new and sealed and after looking on eBay, there’s only 5 copies of this show on DVD on all of eBay. Not just eBay Australia, everywhere.

We have a Sold Listing that’s close to $80 but with no competition, there’s no reason we can’t ask for a tiny bit more.

What’s crazy though is that if you can find Camp Lazlo’s 1 hour movie, it sells for crazy money.

Add this to your “MUST FIND, MUST BUY“ list.

One more item before we get to something really, really cool.

We’ve got an LG VHS player with the remote along with a Panasonic DVD/VHS combo. Believe it or not, the VHS player was comping up for more than the combo unit. That’s a bit weird, but I guess LG is a better brand than Panasonic.

I mulled it over and thought well the VHS player has the remote, it’s a lot smaller, we only need 1 thing to work (and I’ve had bad luck recently with either the DVD or VHS side not working while the other does) and the comps are better. Okay that’s easy, we leave the combo unit behind. Probably still there. Maybe not.

The unit itself was cosmetically in great condition, it looked almost brand new. Getting it home I tested it all up and everything was working including the remote. With only 1 Active Listing in the $300 range and 5 Sold, we know this is a quick seller. I priced it up at $200 free post and should hopefully have it out the door by this time next week. Don’t be afraid to leave things behind!

Finally, something that I think is really, really cool.

I was in Vinnies near the DVD rack. This particular store always seems to have cool posters and paintings, lots of framed stuff. On top of the DVD’s I notice this meter long promo artwork for Quentin' Tarantino’s movie The Hateful Eight.

I love me some unique movie promo items - this corflute board must have been hanging in a cinema or somewhere public to promote the 2015 movie (one of Tarantino’s best in my opinion). Looking a bit a closer, I could see a bit of scribble right in the middle of the board. What is that?

A single signature. I’m thinking… is that Tarantino’s autograph in marker? Wow, that explains the $50 sticker price. Some might suggest it’s fake, and trust me I want to find a reason to not have to fork out $50.

First things first, let’s see what his signature actually looks like.

Compare it to what we have.

His signature resembles a 2 and a Z. We’ve got that - at least it’s not some poor attempt at signing Quentin Tarantino in full cursive. On the Wikipedia page the 1st initial doesn’t go through the 2nd. Let’s see if we can find any authenticated examples of the pen running further on the 1st initial.

On this example the 2nd initial doesn’t have the hook on the end of it.

This last example is almost identical to the marker on the board.

Next, was the man even in Australia around this time? The answer is yes. Easy to find that out via Google. Finally, the actual item. It’s a promo board. The only people, you would think, that have access to this item is some sort of staff member or employee. Could they have gotten close enough to Quentin to get his autograph? Sure.

I’m confident now this is real.

1. Autograph matches up.

2. It’s obviously not a printed signature, it’s written in marker.

3. Quentin was in Sydney for the premiere of The Hateful Eight.

4. The promo board must have belonged to someone associated with the film in some capacity.

In terms of comps, it’s anyone’s guess. You can ask for more money if you get the autograph authenticated. Here in Australia, a bit tricky. The more respected companies are based in the US and whilst the actual fee is cheap, shipping is not and they don’t accept just photographs.

At the same time, a Certificate of Authenticity isn’t a legally binding contract, it’s literally just a certificate to say a company has looked at an item and deems it to be real or fake. Heck, I could create my own Flip Weekly Certificate of Authenticity.

Anyway, let’s do the fun part. Looking at some Sold Listings.

First some toys…

Next some scripts…

Then some photos…

Finally some posters…

As you can see it’s not entirely consistent. If I had to pick one of the above items to give it a comparison, it has to be the presale poster of Death Proof. That said, it’s a printed signature and a movie that isn’t exactly in the same league as The Hateful Eight.

I only got this item on Tuesday so I’m a bit unsure as to what to do just yet. It exceeds Australia Post’s 105cm max length and ideally needs to be authenticated so we’ve got 2 barriers… although I’m fine selling without authentication whilst telling the buyer if it doesn’t pass I’ll provide a refund.

I don’t know, what do you think? Real or fake? Value? The way I’m seeing listings it has to be at least $300-$500.

What I Sold

For the first time in my reselling career, I had a weekend eBay sale.

Why had I not done this before? I didn’t have an eBay store. For real, everything was done on my own account. Several times over the past 24 months I did the math’s and worked out I’d basically break even on final sale fees. It didn’t really make financial sense to pay $24.95/month for a store.

That, plus when you’re trying to buy one-off items like I am, why should I give people a discount? I do my research, I comp up anything that I think needs comping, I have my finger on the pulse of what’s valuable and what’s not (I mean, I think I do). The price I list up for is what I think it’s worth.

However, this week I wanted to prompt a few sales. I wanted some weekend sales. This is an extremely expensive month and I don’t want eBay to cheapen out on me now.

I started the $24.95/month subscription and scheduled a 10% off sale that started on Friday and ended on Sunday. Here’s how we went.

I’ve been wanting to sell this PlayStation 2 game for months.

I paid $5 for this game. It’s Harry Potter 1-3 on PS2. I was invited inside when I was picking up a Marketplace order. I’ll never forget this deal, read more about it here.

Always buy these resin models.

Have op shops caught on? The last cruise shop resin model was bought for $2 at Lifeline. I walked into Savers and saw the Pacific Jewel and almost spat out my Pâté of roasted indigenous legumes, paired with a compote of seasonal berries, served on hearty sprouted wheat bread when I saw the $15 price tag on the bottom.

Somebody has bought this for $85 + $80.39 in VAT and post. Insane.

These are always worth picking up if you can get them cheap. I guess the bar to buy them is now less than $15.

Can’t go past a sports jersey that looks a bit different. This is a Sydney Kings x Space Jam crossover from the 2021-2022 season.

If you know the regular colours and features of a teams jersey and spot one that looks completely different, whether it’s alternate colours or prints of Looney Tunes characters, always check them out. They might have been on sale for a very short period of time making them worth more today. $9 into $80 on Marketplace.

Oh look, you can make money selling Law and Order on DVD.

Law and Order was the 1st item that sold after I started the eBay sale. People didn’t want to pay $99.95 but are happy with $89.96? Fair enough. If you’re wanting to get your average sale price up, Law & Order UK will help you do that. There’s only 4 seasons and you can get close to $100. Unfortunately for me it pulls my ASP in the wrong direction.

This next item was picked up in November 2024.

A fully sealed big box PC game called Forsaken. I’ve actually found more big box PC games in op shops and thrift stores lately but have been leaving them behind. Unless they’re sealed or really good titles, they sort of sit for a bit. Maybe the market has cooled down? There’s a few titles you’re wanting to find, things like Diablo, Starcraft, Duke Nukem, if they’re sealed you’ll get paid and could even grade them.

You have 2 options for finding the next item.

Buy in a huge bundle and get them cheap or hope a seller equates small with cheap. I’ve done both. This was picked up in a huge bundle where I bought out somebodies entire Pokemon video game collection at the very end of last year. Read about it here.

I almost walked straight past this glass mug until I noticed the logo on the front.

The logo is Starbucks and for years I’ve heard that Starbucks items are collectible. I’d never really looked into the category because it was mostly US sellers I was hearing this from, but when I saw this cool looking gradient type glass mug in Vinnies for $8 I figured why not. It comped up around the $100 mark and surprisingly sold in just over 30 days for $80.

For those who say they don’t buy this stuff because it’s fragile and shipping glass is a pain. You’re right, but really all you have to do is cover the entire thing in an ungodly amount of bubble wrap, chuck it inside a box with some butchers paper to stop it from moving and you’re set. Easy.

We’ve got something really old, specifically made for children yet I can’t envision any child in 2026 wanting to use this.

This is a 1983 Crayola Designer Kit for Interiors. Brand new and sealed, found in Vinnies for $5. Pretty hard to ignore considering the creepy girl on the front who couldn’t look more 80’s if she tried.

Essentially it’s a “craft set” where kids can design their own rooms and houses using stencils, colored pencils, tracing sheets, protractors, that sort of thing. It’s essentially like playing The Sims with pen and paper. I refuse to believe this is a gift for a child, it has to be a nostalgic pickup. Either way, $5 into $180 and it’s off to the UK where they also paid an additional $113.52 in postage and VAT bringing the total order total to a whopping $293.52.

I had a couple of $100 offers for this next item over the past month but rejected them all and somebody has paid, almost full price, $134.96 after my recent sale.

Treehouse of Horror Monopoly selling in just over 30 days. Now that I know a bit more about the rarer editions of this game I’m going to keep my eye out. I’ll try and score the elusive Franklin Mint copy that sells for close to $500.

Next, shout out to YouTuber Diary of a Flipper who I remember hearing from that some tarot cards are worth picking up.

It’s true, some old sets, some that are sealed have sold for thousands of dollars. Everytime I see an old looking deck, or even one that’s sealed, I make sure to comp it up. For this particular set it was found at a garage sale in November and I paid $5. No comping at the time but it seemed to sell for close to $100 when its brand new and sealed.

This next jersey pickup was rare, but not because of the sale price.

It’s rare in the sense that this isn’t a professional teams jersey. This is a Sunshine Coast Falcons player issue jersey. The Falcons are what you’d call semi-professional meaning these guys aren’t getting paid a ton of money, they’re a feeder club for the pro’s. If you play well enough, you might get a call up, but in most cases you’re playing for fun (although you still are a really good player).

I don’t buy small local team jerseys, the market isn’t there, however this team is a feeder club for the professional NRL team Melbourne Storm. I figured a Storm supporter or collector might value a player issue. I paid $12 and it’s sold for $50.

I probably shouldn’t out this source, but a lot of these lower level teams sell their jerseys on their websites. When I did comp research later that evening I found a page on their website where they were selling player issued jerseys cheaper than what I paid at Savers. They’re all gone, but you can see the old webpage here.

Keep an eye out on the lower level clubs websites and you might be able to snag a bargain and resell it on eBay.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week, make sure you listen to this weeks podcast for a deep dive on everything mentioned here today. Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next week.

Mat.

Flip Weekly Podcast

The Flip Weekly podcast is for people who want even more reseller content. You can find the podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms or you can listen directly on the Flip Weekly website here.

Win a Free $200 Mystery Box

What’s this? Click here for more information on how you can score a whole bunch of free prizes including a $200 Mystery Box!

Flip Weekly on Social Media

If you want more Flip Weekly content, don’t forget to follow us on social media.

• Flip Weekly on Facebook.

• Flip Weekly on Instagram.

• Flip Weekly on YouTube.

• Flip Weekly on TikTok.

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

• Google Sheets Reseller Spreadsheet

• Memorize Video Game Prices with Flip Vidya

• eBay Sell Through Rate Calculator

• How To Tell If A Book Is 1st Edition

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

• Reseller Terms and Acronyms You Should Know