Garage sale finds 01/30/2016

Some highlights from picking garage sales.  First up is Johnny Cash live from Folsom Prison album cover puzzle.  New and still shrink wrapped.

Next is an unopened Kinetics longstich kit of a tiger.  New and unopened.  Also a unopened wooden stagecoach kit.

Picked up a Countess Mara necktie.

Then a little bit of beer advertising.  A Heineken wooden shoe.

Some old camera equipment.  A Heiland Strobonar and another piece of one.  

A Wilton warming trivet.

Then the big item of the day.  A 30" Craftsman carpenters toolbox.  This I may keep myself.

These are the highlights.  I am still learning but am making progress.  These will all make at minimum double what o paid for them, some more than 10x.

Packaging Star Wars action figures for shipment

This is part two of my Star Wars action figure post.  Photographing and selling them is one part but most important is getting them through the USPS intact.   For boxes I use a 11 3/4" x 8" x 4 3/4" and two pieces of 24" x 24" packing paper.  So first tape the box bottom.

Next take one piece of the packing paper and loosely crumple it in the bottom of the box.

Now take the other piece of paper and place it in the box as shown below.

Next the carded action figure goes in.  Be careful to not damage the card.

Kinda crumple while folding the paper over the action figure.  Be gentle.

Fold the box closed and shake it.  If you did it right you should not hear it move.  Tape it shut, this is the last time you should see it.  It is time to weigh it.

All the ones I have done so far have come in under 13 ounces.  Under 13 ounces means you can ship it USPS first class.  That is huge savings over the Priority Mail.  Make sure to make your box with the name of the figure and weight.  

Easy as pie.

Selling Star Wars action figures on eBay.

As I have a really large collection of these I have decided to sell them.  This will be a two part blog entry.  The first will focus on photo graphing and researching.  The second will be on packaging the action figure for shipping.

For taking photographs I am using a a Photo Studio In-A-Box made by American Recorder.  It has a shade, reversible background and two lights.  One light in my kit is burned out.  I am using a 8.5" clamp light with a cfl bulb instead.  It works good for small items.

I am using a stack of hockey pucks for the carded figure to lean against.  A front and rear photo is taken. 

If there are any defects on the card photograph it.  Don't try to hide it.  A collector will notice it and possible leave negative feedback.  Avoid that at all costs.

Next research your item by scanning the products barcode in the eBay app, type it in if using a desktop or laptop.  Click on refine in the upper right hand corner.   Click he competed auctions and look at the listings.  Look at several of them.  Notice the date listed and ended.  Also view the thighest price ones and see what that person did to command a high price.  Mimic that auction and you should do well.

Part 2 coming soon.

Thrift store items I have found

These are some of the thrift store items I have found so far.

Big Ben 1000 piece puzzle.  This was found at a Kiwanis thrift store.  Never been opened and not a ding on the box. Paid 53 cents with tax for it.  On Amazon it is going for $20-25.  Great profit if I can get that.  

Now this is from another Kiwanis thrift store.  I looked at it, walked away then returned.  As a fan of science fiction it was familiar to me.  It looked like a Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper.  So for $1.59 I bought it.  Kiwanis does not allow scanners and frowns on people researching on their phones.  When I got it home I found it was indeed a BSG cake pan.  It is marked 1979 Wilton.  The only one I found online went for $8.99.  Still not bad.

Various other puzzles.  I am amazed at the amount of donated puzzles that are unopened.  Most are going for 99 cents to $2.99.  Of all that I have researched they go for over $10.  

A sealed counted cross stitch kit.  Was $3.99 but was half off at the Goodwill.  These go on eBay for $15-20.

Following the advice of other online pickers, always pick up unopened VHS tapes, especially Disney.  So I found this one at Kiwanis for $2.  It is shrink wrapped and sealed.  I may not go after VHS as this may only bring $6-7.  We shall see.

This is not all of it but some of what I have found.  It is definitely interesting starting this journey.  Really interesting people of all walks, amazed at what people buy and then don't use.  Once I have my business license I will start listing.

eBay week one

This will be a short update.  My first week of eBay sales will be personal items to gain cash for my actual business.  My goal is start slowly and build a routine.  Start off with five items and then five more each week.  Five day auctions are the goal.  Start on Tuesday and end on Sunday.  

These are he first five.  Whole bunch of unrelated random items.  Research was don on completed items to see what they sold for.  I feel a couple are a bit high but worst case is I will have to resist and lower the price.

As you may have noticed a few were accidentally set for 7 day auctions.  You really have to watch it if you use your iPhone to post auctions.  It can be a little more tricky than using a regular computer.  So far two are going to sell.  That will be just short of $40.  Then there will also be the listing fees, final value fee and PayPal fees.  I am on my way.

In the beginning...

So after a couple months watching YouTube videos by "Bonafide Hustler", "Raiken Profit" and several others, I have taken the decision to start my own flipping empire.  Here is a little bit about myself.  I have been employed by the same company for 21 years.  It has paid well but left me with basically no life.  I have debts and need to pay them off so I can move on.  I need a change.

This is my board.  It was necessary after we had a recent schedule change at my day job.  Our work week used to start Monday and end on Sunday.  It was really easy to see if I could make plans for the weekend.  But due to what I believe was the result of a lawsuit it changed to a Saturday thru Friday work week.  I needed a board to visualize it.  Blue are the hours of my work day when I am not on 24 hour on-call.  Red is the days I am on-call and the hours I am scheduled.  Green is for things I am doing for the flipping empire.  Orange is for personal things.  Purple is used to check off goals and days.

This is my list of things I want to get done in the first quarter of 2016.  It ranges from personal to business goals.  Guess number eight needs to be checked off!

"Learn to walk before you run."  

My plan in January is go slow and get into selling on eBay.  I will start with 5 items and increase by 5 items every week.  This is just to build a routine.  I have sold things on eBay before in the past and will be using my personal account.  Proceeds from these sales will go to fund my flipping empire.  In February there will be a second eBay account created.  Initially this account will be used to purchase supplies needed for selling.  Things such as an iPhone shutter remote, photography light umbrellas and background, etc...  Also a business tax receipt, DBA, EIN and business banking account will be obtained.  Once a total of 10 ten positive feedbacks are received I will start selling thru this account. March will add an Amazon FBA account.  A couple new tools will also be needed.  A Bluetooth barcode scanner and thermal laser printer.

Items for sale will be acquired thru garage sale and thrift sales.  Maybe even craigslist, eBay and Amazon.

So that is it, this is the beginning.  Either it works and I can make a bit of profit or it will be an epic fail.  Hopefully not.