Issue #68

Welcome back to regularly scheduled programming.

Last time you heard from me I made you suffer through a story from the past, this Issue is all about this week and what a week its been.

When it comes to the items I buy, I believe thrifting is all about luck, perseverance and good timing (plus a little bit of FOMO).

The biggest find this week was in a teeny tiny op shop that I can get done looking through in less than 5 minutes. It’s right near a huge Vinnies and at times I’m 50/50 whether or not to even go in.

FOMO usually kicks in and I’m glad it did because this find was huge.

By the way if you need more reseller and thrifting content, listen to the Flip Weekly podcast here. It comes out every Thursday morning and is the perfect listen just before you hit up garage sales on a weekend. Last week I even told an eBay story about (almost) getting sued by the biggest company in the world!

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 might have to ease up on thrift stores after this week. Maybe not all, but at least Save The Children’s Op Shop. This week I found an item that the staff knew was worth a lot of money, yet put it up for sale for just $35.

This is a Montblanc pen which I initially left behind. As I was walking away I used Google Lens. More information came to light, specifically that this is a Montblanc Ingrid Bergman La Donna Special Edition Rollerball pen that has a design that honors one of Hollywood’s finest, Ingrid Bergman. You might know Ingrid, or at least her name, from roles in movies like Casablanca.

I’m not much of a pen guy, I’m happy with my ultra reliable BIC ballpoint however I can’t deny that this pen is absolutely gorgeous. 

Exclusive and expensive pens, much like watches, tend to sell for more money on the aftermarket if they have the original box and papers proving the authenticity. This pen had both. Let’s take a look at the Sold Comps.

It gets crazier, take a look at the cheapest Active Listings, of which there are only 8.

That’s right, this is a $1,000 pen. I couldn’t believe it. Seeing this as I’m walking away from the Op Shop stopped me in my tracks, literally. I immediately went back and took it out of the counter and paid for it. The manager told me that they looked up the price and knew this was a $1,000 pen. She went on, and I quote, “but no-one around here really knows anything about pens…“ and so they put a $35 price tag on it.

I’ve bought and sold a few pens in the past, mainly as a way to learn which brands are worth money and I think it’s starting to pay off. Brand name pens are often undervalued and overlooked, simply because, well… they’re just pens. Most people don’t look at a single pen and hear KACHING, but now you will. Many high-end pens contain 18K gold, and while everyone else is busy digging through the jewelry section for gold markings, you might be able to quietly score big with a pen.

That said, 1 regret… the manager told me the person that donated this item also donated a bunch of jewelry. Maybe I should have went back and dug through their jewelry section. Nevertheless, that quick thrift trip should turn $35 into $800.

Disney fans will love the next item I found this week.

Nestled in amongst what I call the “junk section“ of Vinnies was this boxed Aladdin Musical Snowglobe. My first reaction, given the placement of the box, was that this was a knockoff. I could see the “Play’s the song A Whole New World“ sticker on the front but nothing else showing it was an official Disney product. Nevertheless, I picked it up and could see markings on the bottom and after looking it up… yes it’s real Disney and for just $15. Knowing that, let’s take a look at it.

$15 for this lamp was a steal! It’s really well made, you can tell it’s high quality and the bloody thing weighs like 1.5kg. I can’t imagine a kid trying to hold this in 1 hand to rub it and make a wish. It reminds me of getting a coffee or tea from a cafe and it’s one of those cups where you can’t fit your finger through the tiny handle. The entire meal you’re balancing this cup of boiling hot water on the tip of your finger. Exactly like that.

Sold Comps with just the lamp, no box are pretty good…

And Active Listings are around the same, ranging from $90 - $140 and up from there.

So I’m thinking $199.95 is a good listing price, that includes our premium for the box plus our Australia tax. I think accepting a best offer of anything over $100 would be awesome.

Next up is a board game that stood out to me amongst the unpopular titles that have sat on the shelf for weeks, if not months.

This is a very old board game called Divine Right. Created in 1979 by a company called TSR. It may not sound familiar to everyday folks, but TSR was the company responsible for creating Dungeons and Dragons. TSR faced financial difficulties and was later bought by another huge company in the space which you might have heard of, Wizards of the Coast. WotC are the face behind popular trading card games like Magic: The Gathering and held the original license for publishing Pokemon cards.

Anyway, the game was created in 1979, a few years after the companies inception in ‘73 and because of this history the game still holds value and is well sought after. Take a look at the Sold Comps on eBay:

Even crazier are the prices people are asking for in the Active Listings:

This is a piece of board game history so close to $1,000 could seem justified… I guess? It’s not like people aren’t interested, they’ve got 5 people watching the $678 listing.

With all that said, if I look at the Sold Comps again, the sales that stick out are ones where the game is almost new, where the pieces are unpunched or the box is in mint condition. I painstakingly went through the game to make sure everything was included and luckily for me it was. I really don’t want to ask for anything upwards of $200 so I’ve decided to list it for $150 hoping for a quick sale.

Sometimes I pick up items that I think are cool and would do well on Facebook Marketplace. Not necessarily for huge amounts of money, but here’s a few from this week:

This was immediate nostalgia for me. I remember playing with this Matchbox Play Boot when I was a kid. Shaped like a boot (duh) it opened up into a house and with a bunch of accessories and figures it made for some imaginative play as a kid. It was only $4 and was worth the conversation it sparked with family. It sells for around $25 + post on eBay so I put it on Marketplace for $25 and had someone ask to pick it up on Friday already.

This is a Star Wars Episode 1 board game from 1999 featuring everybody’s favorite character Jar Jar Binks. As a recent Star Wars convert, I understand the feelings surrounding Jar Jar. However, on eBay there’s not a single listing of this game within Australia, the cheapest you can get it here is $60 so I figured it should be a quickish flip on Marketplace for $30. If it doesn’t sell, it would be worth the buy price just to take it to my Star Wars buddies house for a laugh.

What I Sold

You know I’m a fan of old school portable media players so this week was tough to see this one go.

We have a Sony Walkman that took less than 60 days to sell and we’ve turned $25 into $150. These old school portable media players are highly sought after and if you have one in its original box you can ask for a premium price. This player had an LCD screen which didn’t actually work but somebody still wanted it - very collectible and if you’ll have your most luck at garage sales.

I’m trying to keep my average sale price over $100, and so far this quarter I’ve been doing well. For the quarter I’m at $112.03 and for this month I’m sitting at $104.80. Unfortunately this month I’ve had a few embarrassing sales and that’s brought down the average. I mean, check these out…

A few embarrassing things here.

1. These DVD’s are from over a year ago. If this is the type of thing you see in a thrift store and are thinking of reselling it, you’re in for a longggg sell through rate. Do not recommend.

2. I had no idea what I was doing in 2023 and for some reason thought these were good buys.

3. I didn’t set up postage right, so the buyer expects both in parcels with tracking. That’s like minimum $10 so I’d lose money on both sales.

Very embarrassing but it shows how far we’ve come. It also tells me that I’m in need of a culling of cheap stock.

Next item keeps us above the $100 ASP and is something I always pick up whenever I see them. I’ll tell you why.

I actually sold this exact VHS/DVD combo back in March, but the buyer had trouble getting both functions to work, so I had to take the return and relist it. When it came back to me, I tested it and had no issues at all, it sold a month later.

One thing I like about selling these combo units is that they fit perfectly into Australia Post’s flat rate boxes, and you can usually ask for a solid price. When I first listed this one, there were active listings of the same model (with a remote) for as low as $115. I still priced mine at $152 without the remote and it sold.

You could jump on eBay right now and find this model cheaper than what I sold mine for. It just goes to show that not every buyer does their research. Many are happy to buy the first decent looking listing they see, which is exactly why you sometimes see wild prices for items that comp for way less, because it can actually work.

I also always include photos showing the unit playing both a VHS and DVD, which probably helps with sell through by giving buyers a bit more confidence. These combo units still turn up at thrift stores and garage sales, and personally, I wouldn’t list one for less than $100. I actually found a Samsung VHS player in a thrift store last week for $5.99!

To prove my point I listed it up for $149.95 despite being able to find a comparable model with the remote for $75.00. Let’s see how long it takes to sell.

Here’s a quick 24 hour flip that I didn’t tell you about that happened this week. I found this grab bag in a Salvos for $5 and it stood out for these little fellas:

No, not the Thomas. Not the sheep. The soldiers. I could see this on the base after a bit of reshuffling:

1971 diecast toy soldiers? Instant buy. After opening the bag at home I identified everything that was worth selling together:

Anything military and old and not just like… cheap plastic I’ve found to be worth picking up. This DEETAIL brand has held its value, look up eBay Sold Comps for “deetail 1971“ and you’ll see individual figures selling for anywhere from $25 and up.

The BATCOPTER alone is worth $15-$20 and I didn’t even see it in the grab bag.

Anyway, I’m not really wanting to list everything up individually so I put the lot up on Marketplace for $30 and someone bought within 24 hours. $5 into $30 isn’t a big deal but learning about the brands is definitely worth it.

By the way…

They were in Kinder Surprises. They’re metal… inside chocolate… that you eat. That can’t be good for you right?

Gone in less than 24 hours. Priced too low? Yeah, maybe, but we love a 24 hour sale. Wizards, fantasy, mythological creatures on board games are always worth looking up, you might just hit the jackpot.

Secondhand Opinions

The concept is simple, we’ll throw up a controversial, or at least spicy reselling topic, I’ll present my argument whether it’s poorly thought out or not and you’ll provide your own.

Last week I asked you “Is showing up early to garage sales smart strategy or just plain rude?” and here are the results:

I saw this poll result before the weekends garage sales and I made sure not to rock up early. I didn’t want to be plain rude.

Reader Jenny chimed in with 1st hand experience:

I was surprised that 78% agreed it was rude. How about something that might not be as one-sided?

This weeks topic: Do thrift stores have a responsibility to keep prices low?

This one’s tough.

Every week I find myself grumbling about thrift store prices, even though, ironically, I’m making great money from them. I’ll admit I’m greedy, I’m contradictory, and at times, downright hypocritical. I watch people on social media rant about rising prices and catch myself nodding along. I get it. People have always gone to thrift stores expecting bargains, it’s secondhand stuff after all.

But here’s the question: are those expectations the responsibility of the thrift store? Are they out there promising 50% off retail in their ads? Not really. So if the public expects low prices, does that mean thrift stores owe them? Personally, I don’t think so.

Sure, I’d love it if they ditched Google Lens, tore up the “Brands to Put Aside” cheat sheets, and priced everything at a flat rate. That would work out great… for me. But would it come at the expense of the support and advocacy they provide elsewhere?

Take Vinnies, for example. They deliver millions in support for Australians dealing with housing stress and other challenges every year. How? By selling the stuff that everyday people donate. And it's working, I dug into their financials and last year they raised $85 million, up 8% from the year before. You can argue they should go for high volume, accept all donations, and price everything low but that’s not the point of this week’s topic.

You could counter that thrift stores should keep prices low because some people genuinely can’t afford retail. And yes, that’s valid, sometimes prices do creep into retail territory. But if someone’s truly struggling, Vinnies can and does help. Last year alone, they supported over 100,000 people with clothing assistance.

I know this is starting to sound like a Vinnies ad but I’m just being real about what I think would happen if they went all-in on cheap, volume-based pricing. You’d see fewer racks, more bins. Quality control would tank. High-value items would get lumped in with junk. And who would that benefit most? People like me, a reseller.

Say a Nintendo 64 with 30 games comes in. They price each game at $1, the console at $5, $35 total. Who gets it? Someone facing homelessness? Probably not. It’s me, scooping it up to flip on eBay. Could it go to a single mum trying to find a Christmas gift? Sure. But selling it for $35 when it could’ve brought in $1,000? That could very well reduce Vinnies’ ability to fund its programs.

You might say, “Alright Mat, return all your flips and tell them to charge more.” But I’m paying sticker price for obscure items most of the time. And if the store believes that selling to me at that price helps them hit their targets, I’m okay with that.

So here’s where I land: I don’t think thrift stores have a responsibility to keep prices low. I think their responsibility is to use the money they raise to support the community.

But 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.

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100% Free Resources to Help You

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