Issue #102

I’ve got a treat for you. Never owned or experienced a Street Shark? I’m giving FIVE away this week, exclusively for Flip Weekly readers.

You don’t need to like a post or write an easy, all you have to do is visit the page I’ve linked before and enter your Flip Weekly email address. It’s that easy.

We’ve got a lot to get through so let’s jump straight into it and a reminder you can listen to this weeks podcast on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever hosts podcasts these days.

Enjoy!

Mat

In This Issue

• What I Bought

• What I Sold

• Giveaway - Win 1 of 5 Street Sharks

• Official Flip Weekly Podcast

• Win a Free $200 Mystery Box

• Flip Weekly on Social Media

• 100% Free Resources to Help You

What I Bought

It’s been a big week and I’ve bought some-fin really cool. It’s jawsome. When I saw this Facebook Marketplace listing go up I, along with a lot of other people, smelt blood in the water. And you know what? It took every-fin out of my wallet.

Heh, shark puns.

Enough of that.

You know by now that I hold 2 current Australia records. Owner of the biggest collection of vintage Polly Pockets is the first. Second is biggest collection of old Bratz dolls.

Today, we’re adding a 3rd. Something that I feel less creepy picking up and more in line with what my interests should be.

You’re looking at thousands, and thousands of dollars worth of Street Sharks. A 90’s animated television show that people like me grew up with and couldn’t get enough of the subsequent toy line. I’ve talked about this toy line previously when I found a couple in the thrift so I wont bore you with the details.

When I first saw this listing on a Sunday afternoon it had already been live for over an hour. As we know with Facebook Marketplace, getting in first is absolute key and when a deal is over an hour old, the chances of success diminishes. Not to worry, we shoot our shot.

My initial message is a simple compliment on the collection. It’s legitimately the biggest collection I’ve ever seen on Facebook and it filled me with nostalgia.

Sensible offers is completely fair. He goes on to tell me that his phone hasn’t stopped blowing up over the past hour and follows up asking if I’m a collector.

I tell him that I grew up with Street Sharks, I have home videos of me getting Slammu as a present and that I’m also a content creator who was interested in buying this collection to show off. From there we talk a bit more about our collections and prices come up again.

After a bit more back and forth $500 is the amount we seemingly agree on. I offer to come out there and then and pay cash but he’s out with family. Next is an amateur move from me. I should have locked the price in, mark the listing as pending to stop incoming messages. Instead… because I may have been recovering from the night before, just left it. If the deal goes through, great it’s a good deal, if it doesn’t, even better we can stay in bed.

10 minutes later someone offers him $800, an extra $300 on top of what was (sort of) agreed upon. Look I get it, an extra $300 for a bunch of plastic toys. Who wouldn’t say no? He says if I can match the price I can have it. It takes me 180 seconds to toss it up and finally say yes. We settle at $800.

I drive 25 minutes to pick the deal up. I have $800 in my pocket, because of course a Marketplace deal requires cash. The seller walks out with a 50L storage container… inside… the biggest Street Sharks collection I’ve ever seen. I’d come to find out we have 44 total listings and that excludes the ones I’m giving away this week.

After getting them home we now have the tall task of:

1. Identifying

2. Cleaning

3. Comping

4. Listing

5. Photographing

It’s a lot to do. The “boring“ part of the “job“.

I’ve spent $800 thus far, I need to start identifying and comping the items to see if we’re going to make a profit. So here we go, each photo will represent a listing.

We start off with a line that isn’t actually Street Sharks but an adjacent brand called Extreme Dinosaurs.

8 total figures plus some accessories. When you combine the accessories that are usually lost, that’s what collectors are looking for. The combined total value of these 3 listings is $500 and some have already sold, read on to see which ones.

Next up are the vehicles and items that aren’t the action figures.

We struck it big here. Street Sharks action figures are more common than promotional items and the vehicles. We have the original hand puppet, a complete set of Pizza Hut cup toppers and 2 vehicles. The combined total value of these 4 listings is $1,000 and again some have already sold.

Next up are the villains! (collective boo!)

If there’s 1 thing Street Sharks is known for, its the use of name puns, some of these villains are named Slobster and Killamari. Love it. The collective total listed value for these 6 (there was a double) is $460.

From the make believe bad guys to the real bad guys. Next up… the bootlegs.

It’s inevitable when you have a popular toy line that bootlegs and knockoffs will eventuate. Heck, I remember having a Mighty Shark that mum bought me from Go-Lo. This particular bootleg series was called Ocean Warriors and they were flirting extra hard with Street Sharks intellectual property. From what I’ve seen they existed only as cheaper action figures but in 2026… highly sought after and collectible. We have all 4 in the series and they have a listed value of $400.

Next is the actual Street Shark figures. There’s 10 remaining (minus 5, read the end of the newsletter to find out why I’m leaving 5 out) so they will be shown in 2 separate GIF’s.

Mantaman (the stingray) is the shark I had as a kid. I thought it was sentimental until I had it in my possession and didn’t give a stuff about it. Anyway, the total listed value of all of these listings was $555.00.

This selection is really cool, we have Jab with his Jetpack plus a Mecho Shark that is fully complete. Total listed value… $660.

Now when we add that all up we have a total value of $3,515. We spent $800 in total. Take away 10% for shipping, 15% for eBay fees, that leaves us with just under $2,000 in profit, providing everything sells. I’m pretty sure we’ve made our money back already though, keep reading and you’ll see.

I’m about to teach you a lesson in the power of collaborations. When brands come together, it’s always for a limited time. Audiences are temporarily connected and demand skyrockets. I’ve talked briefly about this before when I sold a dusk x Streets Paddle Pop candle for $100! By the way, I’m still undecided on the smell of that candle.

Introducing a collaboration I found this week which sells for even more than that unusual smelling candle.

An unusual collaboration, we have Disney Pixar’s Toy Story and Vans. When I think of Vans I’m reminded of the many noughties emo phases that people went to at high school. You know what I’m talking about, side swept fringe, My Chemical Romance on the iPod and a skateboard tucked under the arm. You might be thinking… Mat, what about ditching school to attend a mock Snape funeral? No, you’re mistaken, those are the goths, not the emos.

Now that we’ve defined the Vans target market, it seems a bit unusual, yeah? That’s what piqued my interest. Woody for all intents and purposes doesn’t seem emo. He doesn’t present himself that way. But let’s be real, there are signs. Here’s the 3 reasons why Woody is emo and why this collaboration works perfectly:

1. He’s sporting a tattoo of the person he loves.

2. He tried to end his friends life.

3. He’s constantly angry at the world.

Irrefutable proof right there.

Anyway, like I said above when brands collab it’s for a limited time and the demand can outpace the expected supply. That’s where we can make money.

In 2016 the two brands decided to work together. They created shoes, hats, all different types of merchandise and it was insanely popular.

So popular that today in 2026 the price of these items has skyrocketed. It’s gone up so high. Almost… to infinity and beyond.

Ugh, I hate myself.

Let’s take a look at some comps.

I start to think this can’t be real, but then the ultimate litmus test. An Alien x Vans backpack on bid. 5 days, 1 hour to go in the US. Bidding is up to $89.55. Safe to assume that minimum this backpack is worth $100.

It blows my mind, what about the Woody backpack? What’s the most recent Sold Listing?

Stop it. Just stop it. $172.41?! It’s a backpack! Now this definitely reminds me of high school, begging my mum to buy me a Billabong, Quicksilver or “surf shop“ backpack and ending up with a Go-Lo “Quicksand“. Ain’t nobody should be spending that much money on a bag… except this once where I want it to sell for $150.

You know that I prefer to buy items in op shops that will sell for at least $100. Sometimes those items can come in unusual shapes and sizes.

A classic movie, and a staple in some households during Christmas and Halloween, this is an item from The Nightmare before Christmas. Specifically, it’s a 2023 popcorn bucket from Disney Parks that was really only available at select rides and venues during Halloween and they sold out quickly. Companies are getting more brazen with their popcorn buckets, you see a lot of them and you think where is all the space for popcorn? You’d get like barely a handful of popcorn.

EDIT: now after doing a bit of research it holds a box of popcorn, not loose kernels.

I think nowadays companies know that collectors will buy these up, less so people wanting to use them to hold their snacks. I mean, it’s a “popcorn bucket” that has rotatable heads and a battery area for lights. Overkill, yeah?

Roll your eyes all you want when you hear popcorn bucket but these things can sell for a lot of money and the sell through rates are surprisingly high, especially when it’s “complete“ with the strap and working lights.

On eBay right now we have 18 Active Listings and 12 Sold Listings giving us a 66.67% sell through rate. It’s pretty high to be honest, and with none available within Australia we may be able to get ourselves a good sale of $150. The tip here is the lanyard shows us it was for an event or attraction which usually means it’s limited in supply. The second is that Disney and The Nightmare before Christmas are huge markets, regardless of the item. Third… popcorn buckets. Enough said.

A few other things I bought this week:

A staple of my thrifting runs… bloody jerseys.

I paid $18 for this 2014 alternate Bulldogs (NRL) jersey. When it comes to sporting jerseys, there’s a few different kinds that the team wear throughout the year. the most common are the regular home jersey which features the primary colors, the away jersey which is usually different shades of their home jersey. Then there’s a whole host of one-offs, like an Indigenous, a Pride (depending on how homophobic the sport is), special events like Centenary of the club or in this case, the alternate.

It’s not often worn, it’s not often bought, and in a lot of cases fans don’t like the look of the design because it’s created to avoid color clashes and things like that with the opposing team. This all works in our favor. The 2014 home jersey can be bought on eBay right now for $50, but this alternate? Hard to find and commands a premium.

With no Active Listings I’ve listed it up for $200 and have so far turned down offers in the $150 range. Let’s see if we can get close to full price.

When you find a DVD like this in an op shop you just know you’re going to be in there for the next 30 minutes hunting for more. This is Volume 2 of Neighbours - From The Beginning. It’s basically episodes 57-112 of the long running (now cancelled) Australian soap opera Neighbours. Vinnies wanted $7 for it which I was more than happy to pay. It’s Volume 2 so of course I’m thinking, let’s find Volume 1 and the rest. Why look so hard?

It’s worth a lot of money. Despite looking over the shelves several times, convinced my eyes were playing tricks on me, I couldn’t find it. Convinced it was just waiting to get put out, I went back the next day. Same thing, no luck. I guess somebody, somewhere, had just Volume 2 of Neighbours. Weird.

What I Sold

Being the biggest collector of Polly Pockets in Australia has its benefits. Exhibit 1.

In one of the huge Polly Pocket bundles I bought in 2025 was a loose Fairy Winkles Twinkle Time Nursery Clock. It had a few loose figures and the value was pretty tame, about $70. It had yet to sell and so when I ventured into Vinnies and found the exact same piece, in the original box I had to get it. I brought it home, opened it up and saw that it was maybe 90% complete, just missing a figure or two.

Guess what? To complete it all I had to do was borrow from the set I found earlier. We turned an incomplete, boxed set into a complete in box and made a lot of money from it. $4 into $150 in fact. The loose one is still for sale in my store, I think we redued the price just a bit as it was now a figure down. This is why all of your favorite collectors are stockpiling accessories and parts.

We were able to get a nice little cash injection this week when a Facebook Marketplace buyer picked up 3 different Pokemon games.

All 3 were bought in a Marketplace deal not too long ago when I spent $800 on some dudes entire Pokemon and video game collection. Since then a lot has sold and we’re in the profit with plenty left to come. This is why a lot of video game resellers are okay with thin margins, the stuff sells quickly and usually at full asking price.

We’ve got some Street Sharks out the door, all surprisingly sent overseas, nothing yet in Australia.

The first is priced at a premium because he has his original teeth.

These next 3 were priced cheap as they were in pretty poor condition. You can see the middle figure below is the exact same one as above, but he’s missing teeth. Take care of your teeth people.

These next Extreme Dinosaurs didn’t have a very high sell through rate individually but when we bundle them together and price competitively they sold in 41 minutes.

Here’s the deal with “broken“ video game consoles and handhelds.

In a lot of cases all they need is a new battery. Replacing batteries is super easy, requires essentially just a screwdriver and you can get the battery off eBay or Amazon. I got this for free because the Seller said it was beat up and broken. Nope, just needed a $20 battery.

PS Vita’s are hard to come by and when they’re put up for sale usually go quickly. I think I priced mine up just a tad too high. $399.95 on eBay with 33 views and 0 watchers over 3 weeks. Marketplace was an even $300 but I accepted an offer of $270.

I’d always recommend when obtain a huge collection to join your local Facebook buy, swap and sell groups for that particular niche. Some of these individuals wouldn’t see your posts on Facebook Marketplace, especially if they have their distance to 15km or less. Without this Street Sharks group, I wouldn’t have sold these 3 Pizza Hut cup lids for $200 to a guy in Netherlands avoiding eBay fees and ultimately making more money.

Look, I still enjoy picking up jerseys because of how quickly they sell but I think I’m genuinely getting sick of talking about them.

If this was a rare, vintage t-shirt, maybe with a cool print? Very cool! This is just a sports pattern that has turned $18 into $170. It’s not that exciting. Huge moneymaker for us, yes. Worthy of an entire paragraph? I mean, to other resellers on social media it’s their best find all month. They’re used to $20 into $50, $5 into $25. For us? $18 into $170? Less than a paragraph.

Giveaway - Win 1 of 5 Street Sharks

After acquiring the biggest Street Sharks collection I’ve ever seen, it’s only fitting that I keep a few behind. Why? To give away to you. If you follow a lot of similar YouTube channels and social media personalities that I do, Street Sharks pops up a lot. Despite its many appearances, very few of us would have actually found in thrifting or stalking Facebook Marketplace.

That’s why this week I’m giving away not 1, not 2, but 5 Street Sharks exclusively to Flip Weekly newsletter readers. This isn’t a giveaway that’s open to people who like an Instagram photo or leave a comment on a YouTube video, this is exclusively for you, the readers.

All you have to do to enter to win 1 of the 5 Street Sharks is head on over to www.flipweekly.com/streetsharks and enter your email address. This should be the email address you used to sign up to Flip Weekly. That’s it. It doesn’t subscribe you to anything else, I mean, you’re already subbed to the newsletter, it’s literally just to say “Hey, this is my email, if I win please contact me there“.

I don’t care if you keep, gift or resell, it’s just sharing the love a little bit.

In terms of who they are…

Back, left to right: Rox, Pool Shark Ripster, Turbo Jab

Front, left to right: Super Slammu, Streex

If you were going to resell, I’d recommend chucking them up for $50 + free post. You’ll see some higher comps, some lower comps, but eventually someone will pick them up.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week, listen to this weeks podcast for more thrifting content and I’ll see you again next week.

Mat.

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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

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• 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