Thrift Store Finds 7/24/13

Greetings!

Decided to swing by a thrift store today on my lunch break to see what I could scrounge up.  Normally thrift stores around here are pretty hip to the whole flipping industry, so any time they get something that looks remotely good, old, or of high quality, they jack up the price and have it in like a special 'antique' corner ... those bastards.  We are the only ones who should be making money off of your quality goods damn it!

Anyway - there is one store in town that still has fair prices.  I hit it up and came away with a few decent items.

Found a vintage pair of sports goggles with it's original box. $1

A collector plate (can't think of the brand) $1

An antique French Doll $1

A pair of wing tip Florsheim men's dress shoes - $2

3 new in package Adventures of Galaxy Rangers stories on cassette tape $6

I bought 1 other item for a $1 but can't think of it right now ...

And the pick of the day was something that I don't normally look for, but it caught my eye.  An early 1900's miniature billiards table with a full set of balls. The brand is Burrowes Corporation and I don't see a whole lot of them for sale.  The ones I do see for sale range from $50 - $400 depending on item condition and what all is included. I've seen the balls alone go for $30-$40.  So even if I don't feel like selling the full table and shipping it, I could make a little coin off of the balls.  I do think, that since the table folds up nicely I will try to sell it all together as a package and just figure out the shipping if it sells. Paid $7 for this table and balls ... also 1 cue but it is rough shape.

Total spent today - $19

If things go my way I'd like to make somewhere in the ballpark of $175 - $250.

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

theebayfreshman@gmail.com

The Haunted House Garage Sale Finds - 7/23/13

Greetings!

Today I took a look at Craigslist to see if I could find any useful 'freebies' or garage sales in my area.  No freebies of interest but to my surprise I found one sale (it's Tuesday and sales are slim).  I punched the sale into my GPS app on my phone and headed out on my lunch break armed with plenty of singles and an open mind.

On my way to the address I passed a house that was very uninviting.  It had not tresspassing signs up on every side of the house, plenty of lawn owls perched on the rickety fence and junk everywhere in the yard.  The house looked pretty much completely haunted and I was anxious to keep moving ... when I realized that this was the house having the sale.  I saw in the front lawn a sign that said 'garage sale inside' and pulled around the side of the house and parked.

Hesitantly I walked up the steps and walked in the front porch screen door.  Their were boxes to my left and boxes to my right.  Then an older, slightly overweight gentleman who was not wearing a shirt and looked in need of a shower walked up the stairs and greeted me as he set down another box.  He said the stuff on the porch was for sale and to start looking through the boxes.

Nothing was marked and I started digging.  My only competition was an elderly couple who seemed to be 'picking' just like me.  They were there first and had first grab on a lot of the items.  I skimmed over what was left and here is what I came away with:

1 Unopened Myrtle Beach Canvas Floating Device
2 Vintage Bear Candles
1 Vintage Rooster Candle that appears to be a Gurly
1 Porcelain Lion Statue
1 Porcelain Lion fighting a Tiger statue (made in Japan) - looks like Dee Bee Co Import From Japan but it is cracked and chipped in several spots.

I paid $2 for these items in total.

I also swung by a local thrift store to kill the rest of my lunch hour.  Came away with a pair of vintage Lazy Bones Wing Tip golf cleats. Paid $2.60 (shoes were half off at this store today).

If things go my way I hope to bring in around $100 - $180 off of these items.

Oh - and the guy was very nice at this sale - so don't judge a sale by the appearance of the house or yard ... never know what you might find and who you might meet!

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

PS:  I would love to get to know other bloggers that are doing similar things with their eBay stores.  Let's swap stories and follow each other!  Don't be shy - you can email me here - theebayfreshman@gmail.com

Garage Sale Finds 7/19/13

Hit up 5 garage sales on my lunch break today.  I only bought items from 1 sale - the rest were bogus!

Items purchased

2 pairs of Dr. Martin boots in nice shape - $4
1 vintage Arvin portable radio - $1 (not tested - needs batteries)
1 vintage Realistic portable radio - $2 - works
1 vintage Taylor Instrument Company barometer - guy gave it to me for free since I bought the radios

Total cost - $7

My estimated resale value if I get full asking price - $200
(this is just a rough estimate of what I think the items might be worth compared to other eBay sales - will need wife to approve all sale prices first!)

This was a pretty successful lunch break!  Beats wasting $8 at Burger King!  I would recommend to anyone who is interested in doing this to always take advantage of your free time whenever you can.  I usually will hit up at least 2 or 3 garage sales on my lunch break every day that I can find one.  If there are no sales, I might go to a thrift store on my lunch break to test my luck there ... but garage sales are almost ALWAYS better than thrift stores when it comes to prices.

Good Hunting!

The eBay Freshman

The eBay Freshman - One Seller's Journey

Greetings Blogosphere!

This is a blog dedicated to discussing the goings-on in my personal eBay store.  My wife and I have just opened up our first eBay store together about 1 month ago.  I am here to discuss some hurdles and failures that we have had, learning experiences and of course our success stories as they are happening!

I would like to discuss some of my methods of how to pick up great items for cheap to resell on eBay and update you with how much these items might sell for as well as shipping methods that have worked (and not worked), feedback from customers, and other interesting and random tidbits.

Basically I wanted to create a blog that I could post the happenings in my store and life to share with other like minded individuals, sellers or potential sellers. One of my reasons for starting this blog was from listening to the eBay Scavengers podcast (check it out on iTunes) and blog - Ebay Scavengers - if you are just beginning selling or if you are interested in becoming an eBay seller - these guys are a GREAT resource!

Stay tuned for updates on our store happenings and life.

The eBay Freshman