Issue #110

Welcome back to another Issue of Flip Weekly - a newsletter dedicated to cryptically talking about a Marketplace find that’s worth a lot of money but at the same time not being able to divulge it. This week I had multiple meetings about an item I picked up last week but couldn’t say anything else. I received a contract, disputed terms in the contract, then signed the contract once those terms were fixed. It’s been a big week.

It’s really an exciting time in Flip Weekly’s life and it will all unfold in August but like I’ve said before, I’m documenting everything. I can’t wait to post about this, I’m already at 3,000 words and we’re not even close to half way through. I’ll hype it up for as long as I can because you’re going to want to see this.

Enough about that, we’ve got some huge sales this week, pick ups worth over $100 plus a lot more. Let’s get into it!

Mat.

P.S. if you want to be teased even more, listen to the podcast.

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 off this week with a general tip. The primary way I figure out what’s worth a lot of money and worthy of picking up is by looking at eBay categories and sorting highest to lowest. It sounds primitive but it works for me. I realized quite quickly that I spend a lot of time in front of gardening books so we might as well learn what sells.

What I learnt was that the big money seems to be in berries / edible foods in the bush along with anything to do with cannabis and marijuana. I memorized this information because I’d never made any money with the gardening books category.

Jackpot when I come across this series at Savers.

Bush Medicine was sitting at a 60% sell through rate and Bush Tucker at 86%. Basically if you list them up at a reasonable price, they’ll sell. Especially if you combine them together.

It’s important to remember that when it comes to the gardening book category, you’re looking for edible plants because that’s what sells. I encourage you to follow this formula for any thrift store category you look over. Never look at cook books in op shops? Search the category on eBay by highest to lowest and work out what you should be hoping to find. Maybe one day you’ll find Heston Blumenthal’s Big Fat Duck (about a $300 cookbook).

We move from gardening to sci-fi and we have a type of book that I encourage you every single week to pick up.

I don’t know if you can see the logo in the bottom right corner but it says “Fighting Fantasy“. These are a series of role playing game books - basically a mix of choose your own adventure and dice based role playing. You open up the books and you see rules and regulations for worlds created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.

If you’re one of the people that always look out for complete series of Animorphs or Goosebumps, here’s your next series which sells for just as much.

I paid $2.49 each for the first 3 and I think I can get close to $150 for them.

Apparently the ones that I picked up have the authors name in gold foil which makes them more valuable than the regular copies. Sell through rate is good so there’s plenty of buyers.

For over a year I’ve been trying to make money with Little Golden Books. You know the books, right? They’re in every thrift store and recognized by their golden spine and child-focused stories. Most that you find are a mix of modern and vintage with some people assuming just because they’re old, they’re worth money. Not true, majority are worthless.

Using the bush tucker method above, I had learnt that the only Little Golden Books that are worth picking up are either the Little Golden Activity Books or The Little Golden Book Library.

The Little Golden Activity books feature paper characters or objects that can be cut out and played with. If you find one of these books with in-tact objects, you can ask for over $100.

I’m always flicking through these books hoping to spot “Activity“ on the front cover. No luck thus far.

The other money maker is the library. That’s a collection of 4 books in a slipcase, that are essentially an omnibus of all of the different stories. Fortunately, I found it this week in Vinnies for $5.

It was released in 1969 and comparing it to other listings, it’s actually in really good condition. It has the slipcase, all 4 books covered in plastic covering plus the original pull ribbon.

If you’re able to find this set, you’re in for a decent payday. Sell through rate is okay, they’ll always sell so I’d recommend buying.

I still want to find one of the Little Golden Activity Books. My luck the paper cutouts will be missing. Either way, keep this piece of information in your back pocket.

We end our pickups on Facebook Marketplace. A mid-week find that’s a bit of gamble.

I saw a really old Matchbox playset, with its original box selling for $30. I’m not a Matchbox / Diecast / Hot Wheels dude. Never bought or sold them before. My instincts for this item were that it has the potential to be worth more than $30.

I look it up on eBay and we don’t have a single Active or Sold Listing. Could be a good sign. I jump over to Google and type in the name of the set and model number, Matchbox Streak-A-Round S-900.

We can see it was released in the 70’s and every single search result is either an independent auction companies website or a Worthpoint link. I refuse to pay for Worthpoint so we use the free alternative.

We’ve got 3 results.

Result 1

Missing 1 piece. Sold in 2019 for 62GBP (roughly $116.50AUD)

Result 2

Unassembled and untested. Sold in 2020 for 60EURO (roughly $97.39AUD)

Result 3

“Looks complete“. Sold in 2021 for 86USD (roughly $120AUD)

As I said above, this free alternative website isn’t as reliable as Worthpoint. It doesn’t seem to store every single Sold Listing. Worthpoint shows 16 results. No matter, the photos in the listing look like it’s possibly complete minus the car. We’ll see, I’ll commit.

After just getting back from the peak hour traffic trip, I can see that it’s fully complete except for the car. I don’t think that’s going to be too big of a problem. Postage will be quite expensive, especially for an overseas sale, so I’m going to list up for $150 and I’m going to guess that someone in the UK buys it which will mean they’ll need to fork out close to $200+ with VAT and post.

What I Sold

It took less than 3 days to sell our first item, turning $8 into $200.

It was literally last weeks newsletter that I showed you this $7.99 VHS player at Savers. It was sitting on top of a DVD/VHS combo which I left behind because this just comped up for insane money. It’s either the brand or model, I don’t know, but buyers bloody love this VHS player. It’s super slim, had the remote, was tested, maybe that has something to do with it. Don’t assume that all VHS players can be sold for $80-$100, the better brands, the more desirable ones can sell for $200 and sell quickly.

One of the longest video game sales coming up.

In 2025’s Garage Sale Trail I paid $50 for this Xbox bundle on a Sunday. I was prematurely excited given that these people had virtually no buyers come round and a few of the games were sealed. This was the exact same day I found the Game Boy bundle and the Wii bundle. A huge video game day.

We started at a BIN price of around $300 and eventually got down to $225. A profit was made, not as much as I thought, but it’s still worth picking up these bundles at garage sales.

Get ready for a lesson in supply versus demand.

When I first listed this CD box set up on February 26th we had multiple Active Listings around the $50 mark. I have previously sold this box set for $100 and so I opted to double the Active Listing price. Since that date, people have bought out all of the listings. For real, they’re all gone. Here’s how it went:

I’m that final listing. Remember the historical value of your items. We’re driving the price back up. As of today, 1 new Active Listing and it’s for $99.00. The other thing is that majority of the listings have photos of the front of the box set. To be a bit different, I had my main photo be of the entire box set laid out. Makes it look like a lot. You need to stand out one way, so get creative.

Thrift stores see these next Barbie items as random accessories, but if you keep your wits you’ll know that they’re valuable.

How did I know they’re valuable? Mainly the packaging. In 2026, packaging has turned away from “this looks cool“ to “what can make us the most money and be ultra efficient“. Think of your local McDonalds. 20 years ago they looked so fun, they had character statues, play equipment, its own unique vibe. Nowadays it’s clean and corporate. Boring.

Creative packaging is a relic of the past, or at least reserved for creatives. Sealed Barbie clothes in this shape? It’s not done by people in 2026. I looked closer and I could see the copyright date of 2002. Over 20 years old, all brand new and sealed. $5.99 for the entire grab bag - hell yeah I’m going to get it.

Listed on eBay for $99.95, a bit less on Marketplace I had a woman send through an offer of $65 plus $10 postage. Good enough for me, let’s do it.

I completely forgot about my Bratz bundle after selling that one doll for like $500.

We still have some left, and this one, Style It! Jade, has sold for $80.96 and is off to the UK. These Bratz dolls are easy to ship, if they can’t fit in a small padded mailer just rip off their feet and try harder.

Sometimes you find stuff that’s just too nostalgic and cool to leave behind.

The Ferals was something every kid who grew up in the 90’s saw on TV at one point in time. It only aired from 1994-1995 on the ABC but it left a lasting memory to us 90’s kids. A whole bunch of puppets are running a television station, we had Rattus, Modigliana, Derryn and Mixy along with some human characters that interact with the puppets.

I found the VHS for $2.50 and unfortunately the tape had mold on it. I didn’t have enough time to take it apart and attempt to clean it, so I chucked it up for $50. The supply of these tapes is limited. So much in fact some people are asking for over $100.

I must have priced too low as it was sold in less than 6 hours. That’s fine, it’s still one of the coolest things I’ve found recently in an op shop.

I picked this camera up from Marketplace and had to buy a new battery for it. I know I’m in for more than $50, but it’s still plenty of profit. Facebook Marketplace on a weekend, with cameras priced at $20/$50/$100 are usually good money makers (if they’re working).

That’s all I’ve got for you this week, check out the podcast for more reseller content. I’ll see you next week.

Mat.

Flip Weekly Podcast

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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

• 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