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This $15 Vinnies Board Game Sold for $350
The best part? It only took 5 days!
Issue #118
I hope you’ve had a great week with plenty of killer finds!
We started off with a bit of press for our Goosebumps sale. You can check it out here - it’s only a 3 minute read.
The week was going well until I logged onto eBay and saw: 1 Negative. I’m instantly awake and go on to check who has left it. Of course, it’s a cheap item that would have been included in my cull had it not sold. A $20 t-shirt.
I’m not going to bother blurring the username out. I feel like if you act dumb online you aren’t entitled to privacy.
The shirt wasn’t an XL? I’m a bit concerned thinking the tag might have been worn or removed and I guessed the size. No, that’s not it. It clearly shows XL. This idiot has left negative feedback because they’ve put on weight since last checking their shirt sizes.
Here’s a tip if you want to get this type of feedback removed. Before you put the buyer in their place, send a polite message confirming with them what size they received.
I wanted to say a lot more than this.
They confirmed the shirt was XL. Great, I jump onto eBay, show the agent the shirt was listed as XL and they received an XL and what do you know…
Thanks eBay.
eBay made the process really easy. I think this is one of the issues when selling low value items or your business model is volume. It only takes 1 or 2 customers to leave negative feedback or request a return or refund to leave you completely in the red.
It’s the same with my experience running a company where you can sometimes attract cheaper clients versus the high net worth individuals. Very rarely, if ever, do I have a problem with a client that as a lot of money. The cheap ones though? All the bloody time.
Anyway, apart from that little mishap, we had a successful week buying and selling. Check it all out below and lets get right into it.
Mat.
What I Bought
I have a rule when it comes to board games: if it looks nerdy, complicated and like I wouldn’t be able to follow along with the instructions, comp it up.
That’s what happened this week when I went into Vinnies and came across 2 board games.
Talisman The Magical Quest Game for $12.
This is an expansion pack of Talisman called The Dungeon for $15.
These games look nerdy, the 1st one looks old and when I open them up on the floor of the shop, they look complete. I open up the rule book and it’s legit 24 pages long. I can barely focus long enough to follow along with The Sims board game instructions, let alone a game that has an instruction manual with a table of contents.
The object of the game is to reach the Crown of Command in the centre of the board and then, by casting Command Spells, force the other characters out of the game.
The most difficult aspect about buying board games to resell is making sure all the pieces are accounted for. It’s a risk as just 1 missing piece can drastically alter your sell through rate, but luckily, after about an hour of putting everything together I can confirm that both board games are 100% complete.
I’ve said in the past, I’ve found a lot of these types of games are well looked after by their owners. If you’re going to spend an eternity learning the rules, you’re going to take care of the pieces.
The older looking board game comps up for a decent amount on eBay Australia:
Only 6 available within the country.
However the value lies in the expansion pack, The Dungeon and specifically the 4th edition.
There’s a dedicated subreddit for Talisman and when The Dungeon is brought up, the conversation makes me think big money.
In response to a question about where to find a copy of The Dungeon.
This expansion pack seems difficult to find and we’ve just got a copy that’s 100% complete.
Just a note, board game editions aren’t the same as books. You’re not always wanting to find a 1st edition. For example in the 1st edition Talisman, your token was represented by a paper character. It wasn’t until the 4th edition that the paper was replaced by 3rd printed characters and this is what modern day players want to use.
The absolute cheapest you can get The Dungeon on eBay right now is $337.61 and the Sold Listings back up the pricing.
These sales aren’t anomalies, this game is valuable.
I’ve listed my copy up on eBay for $349.95 and $250 on Marketplace. I have somebody from Facebook coming around on Sunday to pick it up unless it sells on eBay first.
The total listed value from spending $27 at Vinnies on board games is $449.90.
Fortunately, our luck didn’t end at Vinnies. We head over to Savers and find a rare ice hockey jersey that Savers seemed to be on the fence about.
$24.99 at Savers.
The reason I say that Savers was on the fence is because they’ve priced it at $24.99. I’ve seen t-shirts priced higher so I know we haven’t hit their limit. I’m guessing they weren’t entirely sure what this was. Yes it says Melbourne Ice Hockey Club on the sleeve but they might be thinking it’s a small local club, and good luck selling that in Sydney.
You would have heard of the NRL, the AFL, even the NBA, but a lot of people haven’t heard of the AIHL; the Australian Ice Hockey League.
Whilst ice hockey doesn’t rank anywhere close to the most popular sport in Australia, they do have a dedicated and devoted group of fans. The jerseys are impossible to miss with their embroidery, long sleeves and patch work. Just by feeling this piece I could tell it was well made. It didn’t have an official tag, just a standard “L” but I know this is genuine.
There aren’t many places to buy ice hockey jerseys in Australia so when comes up, they’re usually snatched up pretty quick.
A similar comp out of the United States.
I paid $20.00 for it (I had a 20% discount from another small cull) and I don’t think it’s going to be long before someone pulls the trigger.
Even if you don’t know anything about sports, when you’re going through the racks, you see and feel the absolute cheapest material known to man. When something like this comes up, it stands out and you’re destined to look it up.
In terms of my cull… Savers got multiple bags of donations.
I’m getting rid of all of my low valued items (providing I can find them). My store is sitting at 225 items with an average listed value of $145.82 and I still have a ways to go.
My goal is basically if I make a sale, it needs to be at least $100. I don’t want to have to pack and travel to and from the post office for anything less than that.
It needs to be worth our time. You add up the time it takes to travel to thrift stores plus the sourcing, the listing, the posting, we need to be making actual money.
Otherwise what’s the point? Chuck in an hour of overtime in your 9-5 job and make the same amount if not more without the hassle.
Quick update on last weeks poll about The Simpsons DVD’s.
You’ll remember I bought 13 seasons of The Simpsons via Facebook Marketplace for $50. The seasons were 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.
Seasons 18 and 19 are the most valuable and because we didn’t have a complete 1-20 set I asked you what you thought I should do. The results are below.
Acquire the remaining 7 seasons wins.
So the result shows that most recommend to acquire the remaining 7 seasons. I could do that instantly via eBay at a cost of $200 or I could hunt them in thrift stores. I heard your advice but alas, I’ve decided to bundle as is. I’ve put all of them up for sale for $399.95.
We’re leaving a bit of money on the table, especially if we were to aim for a $799.95 sale price, but this is going to be the quickest (and laziest) method.
What I Sold
First off, a sale that came through so quickly I didn’t get a chance to list it up on eBay. In Lifeline on Monday I found these 2 really cool TinTin t-shirts.
$26 for both t-shirts, sized XL
TinTin is extremely collectible and if you can’t find the books, any other sort of merchandise seems to sell quickly. I couldn’t find too much about them online, but what I found really cool is that the countries TinTin travels to on the t-shirt is actually the country where the shirt was made. TinTin in Istanbul? Shirt was made in Turkey. Cambodia? Same deal.
The most common one I’ve seen around has been TinTin in Vietnam, which seems to have too much supply and not enough demand. I listed the t-shirts up on Marketplace, with my really poor photography work as soon as I got home and within 30 minutes somebody had bought both.
$26 into $80 in a matter of minutes.
Next, this sale proves that we don’t have anything cool in Australia.
$100 into $350 via eBay.
These outdated Meta Quest 2 units have incredible demand yet basically non-existent supply on eBay. I’m looking at this exact version right now… barely 8 available. Sold Listings aren’t double, they’re not even triple, they’re more than that.
I told you last week I see these on Marketplace occassionally for $100. You need to be snapping them up, I was able to turn $100 into $350 with a 4 day sell through rate.
Plus you get to give VR a go - it can be a lot of fun with the right people.
Speaking of selling things quickly…
$100 into $400 via eBay.
$100 into $400 in just 6 days.
Just like VR, that gives you 6 days to play some Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros with your friends and family. It’s like renting a retro console except there’s no late fees, instead you’re paid back 4 times your money.
The universe heard me talking about my disdain for Thomas & Friends that it’s rewarded me with another quick sale, this time via Facebook Marketplace.
$5 into $50 via Marketplace.
5 days for this hard to find set to sell. I continue to list items for significant discounts on Facebook Marketplace. Why? I love the instant gratification of the funds going directly into my account along with paying zero fees to eBay. It’s just quick, clean and easy.
Now for something that wasn’t quick, wasn’t clean and wasn’t easy.
$15 into $50 via Marketplace.
I found these jeans in Vinnies back in September 2024! The first and hopefully last time I’ve ever bought and sold jeans. They had these really cool NBA patches sewn onto them and I think I originally listed them on eBay for $150. Welp, 2 years later they’ve sold on Facebook for $50.
$15 into $120 via eBay.
A bit weird that the week I find a new ice hockey jeresey the one that I currently have for sale is out the door. I picked this up in December for just $15 and its sold for $120. It was brand new and from the NHL, the professional ice hockey league in the States. If you look at the make of this jersey as well as the Melbourne one further up you’ll be able to see that the ice hockey uniforms are pretty consistent worldwide.
I’ve had to deliver bad news to the Marketplace buyer.
$15 into $350 in 5 days via eBay.
Somebody has come through and purchased The Dungeon expansion!
$15 into $350 in 5 days.
This is what the Marketplace buyer originally said to me.
I guess they don’t sit on the market for very long. Pretty crazy to think a board game can sell for $350 in less than a week. Get out to your local op shop, you never know what you’re going to find.
We’ve got a couple more sales that weren’t as exciting. The first 2 were from a bundle buy which is always going to be tricky when it comes to listing items over $100. You have a choice when getting the deal… do you list ‘em or do you donate them? For the below items, I chose to list them.
Bought in a huge bundle.
I’m not going to get rid of a $85 Nintendo 64 game. I know it’ll sell and $85 is close enough to $100.
I think this next Polly Pocket was saved because it was in a separate storage area than the rest of my inventory.
Another huge bundle.
Much like Nintendo 64 games, complete Polly Pocket’s from the 90’s will always sell.
I’ve got a new rule for big box PC games.
$1 into $40 but it took forever.
If they aren’t incredibly popular games, only buy them if they’re sealed. I’ve bought less and less big box PC games. Some move fast, but I’ve found the less popular titles sit for a long time. I think I got this back in 2024. Not worth the storage space and high postage cost.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week. Make sure to check out the podcast for more reseller content and follow us on social media for videos and mid-week updates. Thanks again for reading, I’ll see you next week!
Mat.
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