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This $10 Plastic Bag Had Over $700 Worth of Toys
I don't know how this slipped past the thrift store staff, but it was my lucky day.
Issue #33
What is up Flippers, Mat here and I’ve got a killer Issue of Flip Weekly for you this week. You would have read the headline, this week we had some insane luck and picked up a bag of toys for $10 that has listed value of over $700 - closer to $800 in fact (with some already selling!) We also have 10 garage sales over the weekend to get through, some items that sold within hours of listing plus some product that I have zero idea about but I bought to learn a thing or two - so learn with me! All that and more, but first!
In This Issue
What I’ve Bought
Bratz 2003 "Slumber Party" Pillow / Cushion
Lifeline, a thrift store notorious for pricing according to eBay Active Listing prices dropped the ball on this one.
Average sales price for these cushions look to be around $50 - there is an $85 purchase!
If you’re unfamiliar with the Bratz brand, they started in 2001 as plastic dolls, made famous by the fact they had no feet. Since then they’ve gone on to expand to films, TV shows, video games, clothes and more. The brand is collectible, especially for items made in the first few years of production, around 2001 - 2005. I picked this cushion up for just $2 and have listed it for $49.95. Given there’s sold comps all the way up to $85.75, I’m confident this will sell soon. Keep an eye out for Bratz!
Garage sales this week weren’t the best. Do you ever get the feeling that you’re 10 minutes too late at every sale? I took a buddy with me and that was the feeling we got after leaving each of the 10 sales we rocked up to. Either that, or the pricing was exhorbiant. I mean, take a look at the prices on these board games…
Cool games, insane prices.
These prices are over eBay sold comps. It’s cut off, but the K-Tel Superstar game was priced at $120 and there’s an active listing right now for just $40. When we were about to leave we heard the person hosting the sale say that they had made $7 the entire day… no wonder with prices like this. On another note, I picked up an item from a different sale that I didn’t know too much about but took a flyer on it.
Mimco Super-Cycle Backpack 33cm
This is a Mimco Super-Cycle Backpack that is in relatively good condition. The only thing I know about Mimco is that when I purchased a Mimco coin purse for my sister as a gift it shocked me that something so small could cost so much money. It was one of my first introductions to “luxury” brand pricing so for $20, I thought it would be worth picking up.
On David Jones’ website, these things are sold brand new for $150.
Would you pay $150 for this?
One thing I like about these types of brands, you know the ones that are “luxury“ or at least have a higher than normal price point but they aren’t the “ultra luxury“ is that they have less chance of being faked. If you find a Gucci or a Louis Vuitton bag out in the wild, what are the chances it’s real? But something like Mimco? Highly doubt these are being faked as much as the others. In terms of pricing, I took a more conservative approach and decided to list on Marketplace for $50 and given the analytics it also should sell relatively soon.
175 clicks, 9 saves, no buyers just yet.
Continuing on with my attempt at expanding my knowledge, I came across what looked to be a really old looking kettle at the thrift store.
What on Earth is this colour?
The giveaway that it was old wasn’t that it was completely out of fashion, but the power plug. It looked like if it was plugged into a modern day outlet it would explode. Showcasing my extreme lack of knowledge when it comes to older appliances, this was actually an automatic coffee percolator. If you’re not a coffee drinker like me, you’d have no idea what that means so let’s have Google explain.
When the water starts to boil in the pot, it will travel up the tube in the center of the percolator. At the top of the brewer there is a basket filled with coarse ground coffee. As the water reaches the top of the tube it will spurt out the top. The hot water showers down and runs through the ground coffee.
I checked all over for a brand name and on the bottom it says it’s a Russell Hobbs, which may sound familiar as they’re still around today making $100 toasters. It was marked at $10 and I was 50/50 on whether or not I could be bothered shipping this thing off somewhere but I decided to bite the bullet. Checking comps a bit later I couldn’t see any active listings but there was 1 sold overseas for $42 and if you search for “vintage Russell Hobbs“ you get a decent number of $50 - $100 sales. I decided to put mine up for $79.99 with free post so if it sells, I should pick up around $40 profit plus a new category to potentially look out for… unaesthetic, old kitchen appliances.
Do you prefer the patterns or the plain brown one that I picked up? 😂
This next item is really cool, something that hip hop fans would be able to appreciate.
I paid $3.99, listed for $49.99.
Always be checking out the VHS and look for anything unusual, especially the old school clamshells and slip covers as a lot of people collect those. I personally collect sealed copies of VHS, both graded and ungraded and if you find the right one, you could sell it for hundreds or even thousands. This particular VHS isn’t going to make us a whole heap of money, but the old 90’s rap / hip hop music videos are collectible. Of the 4 active listings for this VHS, all are overseas, there’s 16 watchers combined so I decided to throw my hat into the ring and offer it to the Aussie market. Prices range from $30 - $70 so I think the sweet spot of $49.99 is perfect and it’s already gotten some interest with views and watchers.
A few other things I picked up this week:
A brand new Daffy Duck apron. Picked up because it looked very old. Paid $1, listed for $20.
A Candle Snuffer“. Been wanting to get into vintage Christmas for a while. Listed for $30, paid $1.
Australian comedians Lano & Woodley signed novel. Listed for $50, paid $4.
Bootleg 90’s 101 Dalmatians All Over Print T-shirt. Really cool, 1 active comp on Depop for $100.
A couple of vintage sports t-shirts. All bought for $10 or under, each listed around the $50 mark.
What I Sold
This comic book, created by a now defunct Australian metal band had a sell through rate of just 3 weeks. It was bought for $3 and sold as of time of writing for $125 + post. You’ll remember in Issue #30 that I couldn’t find a single active or sold comp but picked it up based off of a single Reddit thread. The thread that was over 7 months old was where a person was asking if anybody had a copy of the comic and they talked about being scammed previously.
I ended up contacting that person and we struck a private deal after 15 days of back and forth. The final sale price was $125 + post and I was happy that this person now finally gets a copy of the comic after previously losing money on the scam.
Bought for $1, sold for $20 + post.
Who would have guessed that this apron would go on to sell in just 7 hours? Definitely not me. I got it this week at a garage sale for $1 just because the graphic on the cardboard looked old. I couldn’t find a date on the packaging so I took it out and looked over the apron and the only thing I could see was a Looney Tunes tag… no date. By the way this was really fun to put back in.
To be honest with you, I don’t know exactly why it sold so quickly. I couldn’t find a single comp on the apron so maybe that’s why? Perhaps Looney Tunes fans were on the hunt for something like this because the brand doesn’t seem like it was the thing that put it over the edge. If anybody knows feel free to hit me up.
Paid $0.50, sold for $45.
Another quick sale, this time taking just 6 days. I got this at last weeks garage sale for $0.50 and I wrote about them in Issue #32 which you can read here. Here’s a reminder that if you can grab anything Sony branded for $0.50, you’d be silly not too.
This horse looks quite old.
On a very quiet day at a Vinnies outside of the city, lay this old looking horse on the toy shelf. Any sort of action figure is going to catch my eye because they’re so rare to find at a thrift store and I’m glad I took a second to look this figure over (and you should too). On the underside of the horse was © Mattel Inc 1983. Vintage action figure? Immediately pick it up especially as it was priced at just $3.
Now when you find an item like this your first thought should be: where’s the rest of the collection? If there’s 1, there may be more. I kept looking among the children’s games and loose Ooshies and came across 2 plastic bags that looked to be completely filled with action figures.
2 completely full bags of action figures, priced at $6 each.
The issue with these sealed plastic bags is that it’s difficult to see exactly what you’re buying. Yes, you could rip them open and take a look but I’m not going to do that. Instead I clumsily navigate the figures around inside the bag until I can find a copyright or insignia. I see another © 1983 and that’s it, I’ve seen enough - these are coming home with me for $6 a bag plus the horse. When I got home that night I pulled out all of the figures. I’m going to show you them all layed up, but let me show you the very first one I pulled out and scanned. Just imagine my excitement.
The very first figure I pull and scan has sold comps for over $100 and there’s like 15 of these figures! This is the type of thrift store find you only dream about.
Missing a couple of figures that have already sold.
Figure | Listed Price |
|---|---|
Bravestarr Tex Hex Action Figure 1986 | $49.95 |
MOTU Stridor War Horse Mattel 1983 | $49.95 |
She-ra Princess of Power Figure Bow 1984 | $34.95 |
1998 ReSaurus Quake 2 Marine Major | $29.95 |
Stinkor 1983 MOTU Masters Of The Universe | $49.95 |
1975 Batman Lion Rock Action Figure | $99.95 |
Battle Armor He Man Figure Soft Head MOTU 1981 - 1983 | $39.99 |
Marshall Bravestarr from BraveStarr 1986 | $50.00 |
1985 Chuck Norris Lanard Toys Dragon Force | $39.95 |
Galaxy Heroes Warriors Thor MOTU KO Muscle Action Figure Bootleg | $49.95 |
X-Changers: X-Troopers - SERGEANT SKARR Figure (1986, Acamas Toys) | $99.95 |
Galaxy Rangers Galoob 1986 - Zachary Foxx | $99.95 |
1986 Centurions ACE McCLOUD | SOLD FOR $20.00 |
1984 He-Man Masters Of The Universe Moss Man | SOLD FOR $20.00 |
1982 Remco Galaxy Warriors Red Dragon Figure Bootleg Motu Hong Kong Stamp | SOLD FOR $49.95 |
Total Listed Value | $784.44 |
This would have to be one of my biggest individual scores in a thrift store or garage sale in a long time. In the past 6 months, every single action figure I’ve come across in a thrift store is up near the counter and priced individually, in most cases over eBay sold comps. For this to be just laying on the shelf in a plastic bag? Completely outrageous. If anybody ever says to you that the thrift is dead, show them this score.
A few other items I sold:
Sold in 11 days. I’ve found a thrift store that has had a VHS every time I’ve visited. They always sell fast for me and always over $100.
Couple of dollars for this camera from Issue #30. Didn’t work but they still sell fast for parts. Peep my balcony planter with thriving Rosemary.
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