Issue #80

When it comes to visiting thrift stores, garage sales and Facebook Marketplace pick ups, I love to spend money. The more money I spend the happier I am. I leave thrift stores and garage sales often empty handed but when I spend money, I know I’m going to see huge returns. That’s what happened this week. I went to a Facebook Marketplace pickup with the intention of spending just $30. After being invited in, items were being thrown in my face and I couldn’t help myself, I spent $320 in total. If you don’t think Facebook Marketplace is lucrative this Issue will change your mind.

Before we jump into it, did you know Flip Weekly has a podcast? If you’re after more reseller content, give it a listen! Each episode runs at about an hour and I talk in more detail about the items in this Issue and I share hidden secrets about reselling that you can only get in the podcast. Now, let’s get right into it.

In This Issue

• What I Bought

• What I Sold

• Secondhand Opinions

• Win a Free $200 Mystery Box

• Podcast

• Social Media

• 100% Free Resources to Help You

What I Bought

I ticked something off the bucket list this week. I went to a Facebook Marketplace pick-up and got invited inside. It was amazing, everything I hoped it would be. I didn’t plan on spending a lot of money but once I saw what was inside, I couldn’t help myself.

Not like that. Let me explain.

My Facebook Marketplace has been on point lately. Whether it’s pure dumb luck or me attempting to train the algorithm with specific, deliberate clicks on certain listings I don’t know.

This listing popped up and it’s right in my wheelhouse.

Monster in My Pocket is a toy line that originated back in the 1990’s by Matchbox. It consisted of small plastic monster figurines and each was assigned a points value that corresponded to a game you could play with them. The original release figurines weren’t very detailed and didn’t seem to catch on in major markets like the US, they mostly flourished in places like Europe, the UK and Australia.

Time went by and the line faded into relative obscurity, only a handful of people were collecting the older figures and you could chalk it up to a toy that just didn’t catch on. Fast forward to 2006 and a company called MEG decided to give it a reboot. They aimed for more detail on the figurines, more detailed backstories and the hope that they could capitalize on Series 1 popularity with a new generation.

For whatever reason they opted out of distributing in the USA and so the reboot was short-lived. Poor sales, little to no interest, non-existing nostalgia, it all went wrong for them. Funny, they had plans for an animated TV show and everything. Next time they should focus more on creating a toy line people want to buy before stargazing into the future.

I digress. 2006 was close to 20 years ago. That’s a long time in the toy community. Think of Beanie Babies. They were sold as collectibles and are now worth nothing. Now think about a toy line like Monsters in My Pocket. It’s in the horror genre, it’s a short lived product, never touted as the next way to become a millionaire overnight, it dates back to the 90’s… that’s a recipe for success.

Now, the reason I’m vaguely familiar with this franchise is because I’ve sold one of the 2006 playsets before, it was one of the first things I ever resold. Throw back to Issue #11 I found the 2006 Haunted Mountain playset in a thrift store for 50 cents and it sold to a buyer in the UK for $36.00 plus $61.50 for postage and VAT, a total of $97.50. Knowing that, of course I’m going to spend $30 on this Facebook Marketplace deal.

Here’s what I had to say about it in Issue #11:

If we go back to the original Marketplace listing from this week it said:

My ears were pricked, I want this deal. I messaged within a few minutes and moments later I was in the car driving over to the location.

When I arrived the deal was even better than I thought. It consisted of a massive bundle of 2006 Monster in My Pocket items including:

• 2 playsets

• 4 decoder lights (these lights used a UV beam to highlight hidden bonus points on some figures)

• 2 action accessories (think items like catapults, they would throw items across the room and were only released in Australia and South Africa)

• 27 cards (playing cards with the point system)

• 25 figures

I was very, very excited when I saw it in person. The sell through rate of this 2006 series is insanely high simply because people didn’t buy it back in the day. The STR for the Haunted Mountain playset right now is 700%. There’s little to no eBay activity for some of these figures and accessories. Like I said back in Issue #11 the amount of views these items get when they’re listed surpasses other popular IP’s.

Adding everything up with best guesses and some comps… conservatively we’re looking at a value of $500 on eBay… plus cheeky postage.

I was absolutely stoked at this deal, more then happy to pay the $30 asking price.

Then I was asked “are you into Yu-Gi-Oh?“

An opening.

“What have you got?“

This sparked a walk into the garage where I was either going to get robbed or offered a great deal on random early 2000’s toys. Fortunately it was the latter.

I was shown a huge range of collectible miniature toy figurines in Tupperware containers that have just been sitting in the garage for the past 15 years. Yu-Gi-Oh, Gormiti, Fistful of Power… all niche stuff and not something I really know anything about (maybe I missed out).

Then I heard “Ben 10“. My experience with Ben 10 has been positive. Plush toys for over $100, sealed action figures from a garage sale that were bought for $5 selling for $150, it’s always been good to me.

“Yeah, I’ll take a look.“

I know it looks like garage sale pricing but that’s because the family held one years back, didn’t sell some of these items and just left them sitting in the garage. I guess waiting for someone like me to come round and rid them of their toys. I paid $30 for everything in the photo (I should have left the base behind, it’s incomplete and bulky) but I’m not worried about paying up. Once it’s all laid out and priced, we’re looking at a huge $150 pay day just for the figures.

At this point I’m not even joking, items were being brought out to me to buy. Item after item until the dad thought it would be a good idea to sell his sons toys. He called out his son and we got chatting for a bit. Turns out he was back home for a bit until he went away on holiday the very next day and in that time he was clearing out his old bedroom, getting rid of anything he didn’t want in an attempt to make some money for the trip.

These are the situations we love. How often do we go to garage sales after seeing toys advertised only for it to be 2 or 3 cheap knockoff Marvel figures or some baby rattles. After a bit of back and forth he said to me “I still have my Pokemon cards“ and my jaw almost dropped.

“Can I see them?“

The guy went outside and brought out 3 folders full of vintage 90’s Pokemon cards. I couldn’t believe he kept them in the sleeves this entire time. I went through each folder seeing what looked to be the entire Base Set, Jungle and Fossil collection. I legit said out loud I can’t believe I’m holding these and not filming. I literally didn’t even get a photo.

I could see Holographic Mewtwo, Venosaur, everything but the Charizard but it didn’t matter, this collection was insane. We started talking about grading the cards and even though it goes against my reseller instincts, I told him to hang on to them for another 30 years and avoid selling the entire collection to someone like me for pennies on the dollar.

As we’re standing outside next came the Bionicles, a discontinued line of LEGO toys that ended in 2010. Boy was their a lot.

We had an entire bag full of the original plastic storage tubes that the figures came in, an entire bag full of the actual figures — all of which I passed on as it looked to be just way too much work for me. Plus with the amount of dust and dirt on the figures I might as well inject some black lung into my body. What did interest me though was the brand new and sealed LEGO Bionicles set sitting in the boot of the car.

This set was from 2007 and was huge. Over 600 pieces in total and kept in really great condition given its age. We agreed on $60.00 after nothing really showed up on eBay for both Active and Sold and after doing a deep dive I think I’m going to make a lot of money. Turns out PriceCharting.com has a market for LEGO sets and this particular set, #8927, has 6 sales in the past 24 months averaging close to $500.

Not all of those listings are fully sealed either. Now that I’m writing this I can see that 1 has popped up on eBay for $1,000 and to be a cheeky undercutter I’ve listed mine up for $750. That would be $60 into $750 - insane!

The deals don’t stop there though.

After all of the garage sale deals I was invited inside. The son had old PlayStation 1 and 2 games that he wanted to get rid of.

I had to pinch myself, am I dreaming? This is the kind of plot you see on YouTube, not in real life. I walk inside this house that had a downstairs rumpus room that was bigger than my entire apartment.

Out come the games.

Before I show you the games, this is like when training meets reality. You know that I created flash card based game called FlipVidya.com - the idea is to memorize video game prices so you know what games to buy and what not to buy. Look at the following stack of PlayStation 1 and 2 games and tell me what you would have bought.

What stands out to you? We talked over the games and I was repeating that I only wanted to do a deal if he was going to be happy with the outcome. I don’t want to snipe any games that he wanted to keep. I’m there to make money and find interesting and unique items but at the same time I don’t want to offer peanuts.

Counting it all up we had 39 games. I’d already spent $120 (after thinking I was just getting 1 thing for $30) and was honestly a bit hesitant to buy even more stuff. When we agreed on $5/game the hesitancy went away, this was an awesome deal.

If you’ve played FlipVidya.com you’ll know just how good this deal was. If you sell video games and can’t see the value, you need to learn your niche better. Before I paid the man he asked if he could pull out 2 titles for sentimental reasons and of course I said yes, they were a couple of Kingdom Hearts games for PS2.

Of this entire collection, the most valuable game is:

This is Harry Potter #1, #2 and #3 on PlayStation 2. These early Harry Potter games are crazy and this all-in-one collection is certainly a BOLO. Here’s a table of how I listed everything up including values:

I paid $5 per game and the entire lot had a listed value of almost $1,000 with some very desirable titles that I know will sell fast. So if we look at the entire deal I ended up spending $320 and my conservative estimated value looks like this:

$320 into $2,389.49… who would have thought it would devolve into this when I went out for a $30 item? What’s the lesson here? Marketplace is unpredictable? If you’re buying old toys ask if they have more? Always accept an offer to go into a strangers house? Stranger danger was old propaganda to discourage Marketplace deals? You tell me.

Let’s move away from Facebook Marketplace and head back into a thrift store. This next find is from a familiar brand yet is quite rare as the graphic on it was banned throughout Australia.

The mug features a design by Australian artist Richard Allen from 1986. The graphic is of an image of a mouse on a cross with the caption "Forgive them, father, they know not what to wear." Back when it was released in 1986 it sparked controversy and when it was re-released in department stores in 2010… surprise, the same issues were raised.

Mambo as a company is well known for platforming Australian designers, sometimes controversial, and their designs, especially on t-shirts are still sort after to this day. Those exact same designs on a mug? Especially ones that have been banned? All I hear is KA-CHING.

I’m putting this up for $50 + postage and I don’t see why I wouldn’t get it. I wouldn’t even be mad if it doesn’t sell, it’s one of the few items I’ve ever thrifted where I could see it becoming my own. You also best bet when I found this I went straight to the button up shirts to look for any vintage Mambo loud shirts. I’ve talked about them before, as has every other reseller but just to reiterate if you find one, you can easily sell it for hundreds of dollars. Alas, there were none for me this week.

In terms of the controversy of the design… I’m not religious so I don’t have any issues with it. If I was a designer and knew this piece was going to be put into stores? I would 100% know in advance this would either a) get pulled or b) create controversy and boost sales. What do you think? Disgusting offensive art or edgy humor that doesn’t hurt anyone?

We go from a Savers to a Lifeline and no way… did we seriously just find another Sony Walkman?! 2 in 2 weeks in thrift stores?!

This is a level up from last weeks Sony Walkman Cassette Tape Player. We went from cassettes, jumped over CD’s to now digital media. Can you imagine back in the cassette tape player days telling people you have a compact media player that can hold 20GB of music? They’d be in disbelief… mostly because they’d have no idea what 20GB is. I mean, you’ve seen the photos, data storage back in the day was hauled around on trucks, 20GB means nothing.

This Sony Walkman is a NW-A3000 and seems to be revered for its sick purple aesthetic. It’s very compact, feels well made but compared to an early iPod the user interface and button control is quite poor. Scrolling down songs and artists is non-intuitive and takes forever. After looking online I’ve read other users complaining about this feature, some even saying that they ended up listening to artists at the beginning of the alphabet because scrolling wasn’t worth it.

Nevertheless, comps are really good, supply is low (1 Active Listing has 126 watchers!) and the sell through rate indicates people are actively looking out for, and buying these players.

What I Sold

We have a whole bunch of video game sales to get through today. The bundle pickup from last week paid off and it paid off quickly. We were so close to having a new record of fastest sale of all time (which belongs to my sister with a 4 minute sale price back in Issue #40) but unfortunately this one came in 2 minutes too late… an 8 minute sale price.

Listed at 5:19pm, Sold at 5:27pm.

Always remember that of the two Simpsons games on PlayStation 2, Hit and Run is the most valuable. In Australia you can get close to $100 for Hit and Run, whereas Road Rage struggles to hit $50. Another thing to remember is that there are different variations of PS2 games. You can see in the image above it says Platinum on the cover. This means that it hit a certain milestone number of sales therefore it was re-released as platinum. If you can find the original “black label“ which is the original cover, you can ask for more money. You can see the difference below, with 2 of the most recent sales.

Another semi-valuable title is an animation made by Matt Groening:

Here’s a tip with Futurama and it’s the difference between it selling for $50 or $500. I’m not kidding.

If you find Futurama you’re either going to list it up for $49.95 or $499.95. I’m not sure how lucky I’ll be in Australia, but you’re wanting to find the NTSC version. Just like with DVD’s, video games can be region locked and these early PlayStation games had 2 versions: NTSC for the America’s and some of Asia and PAL for everywhere else. For this particular game they released a lot more copies for PAL regions and thus the demand now for NTSC Futurama is high.

You can tell the difference in the covers by looking at a few specific features. The most prominent is the game rating in the bottom left hand corner. PAL had a PG rating whereas NTSC had T. The NTSC version also had a white stroke around the main characters which solidifies it as the American version. Will we ever find an NTSC version in Australia? I don’t know, but I’m definitely keeping my eyes open.

Captain Planet, he’s my hero, gonna take my $15 and turn it into $189.95.

This is just 1 television show from the 90’s you should be keeping an eye out for. Check out my list here for over 100 of the most nostalgic 90’s shows to resell ranked by value.

I’ve explained in detail to you before that iPods are a great item to sell. You can find these smaller iPod shuffles at garage sales or Facebook Marketplace. I bought this one for $5, untested without any cables but I was quietly confident it was going to work, they’re tough little things. From there I ordered a new charging cable of eBay (cost like $3) and found a spare pair of unbranded generic earphones to pair with it. As I had a couple of accessories it’s much more attractive for buyers and instead of listing up for $49.95 like everyone else, I asked for $59.95 and got it within 24 hours of pushing the listing live. If you find any iPod in the wild for $5, buy it!

Scale model assembly kits can sell for a decent amount of money but man oh man do they sit. I picked up this 1:24 Lewis Hamilton kit and at the time I thought I was getting a good deal. The op shop had a whole bunch of these kits, but this was the only one that was actually sealed and came with the paints. In hindsight… not the best pickup. I paid $40 (yeah, I paid up) and after eBay fees and post I’ll be lucky to make $50.

A really quick turnaround time for an awesome piece of portable media history. It didn’t sell as fast as the iPod, but you’ll be wanting to pick these up regardless.

Secondhand Opinions

The concept is simple, we’ll throw up a reselling question, I’ll present my poorly thought out opinion and you’ll provide your own.

Last week I asked you “When selling locally, where do you usually meet the buyer?” and here are the results:

I’m surprised that a large portion of voters don’t sell locally. Assuming it’s just because you don’t want to, let me tell you exactly why I sell locally. Instant cash. I have my eBay payouts set for daily because I need a constant stream of money to fund my frivolous lifestyle. If I sell an item on Friday morning, I’m not getting paid until Monday midday at the earliest. If I need spending money over the weekend, what am I supposed to do? Get a real job and use that money? Not happening. Marketplace, providing the buyer isn’t window shopping, is instant and it’s cash in your hand or money in your bank.

Yes, my Marketplace prices are cheaper. Yes, I might be missing out on a few dollars. For me though I’m in love with that income explosion over weekends - traditionally the most expensive days of my week. For better or worse. Mostly worse. That said, if you don’t sell locally for safety reasons I totally get it. I’ve had some unusual encounters with people rocking up to my home and I’ve been left thinking that I should definitely lock my doors tonight. Anyway…

This weeks topic is: Do you ever attempt to repair items that don’t work?

I’m asking this question as it’s an opportunity for me to gloat. A week or so ago I found a Sony Walkman cassette player in a Savers for $12.99. To no-one’s surprise, the cassette function didn’t work. I decided to pull it apart and try my hand at repairing it because if I was successful I’d be able to list it up for close to $200. I watched a few YouTube videos and the common cause was a worn out belt.

I ordered a new one which cost around $22.00, installed it today which was incredibly easy and it’s now working good as new! The feeling of accomplishment is immense to the point where I have to remind myself that this is entry level tech repair stuff. Regardless, happy days and I’ll take every little win. I pass the mic over to you, do you ever attempt to repair items that aren’t working? Whether it be a VHS player, old phone or like me, a cassette player.

What do you think?

You can vote, you can email in, submit a form on the website or even get in touch via social media with your own thoughts.

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 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.

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