Thrifts: Buying non-video game stuff to sell for video games

[Anthony1]

Somebody on these boards told me a long time ago, that they have learned that when they go to thrift stores, to not only look for the video game bargains, but to also look for non video game related items that they knew would fetch good money on Ebay, and then they could use that money for games that they wanted to get.

My question is for those of you that use this technique, "What items do you look for at the thrifts, that you can sell on Ebay for good money"?

Comic Books? Baseball Cards? Pokemon Cards? Board Games? Hardback Books? Vinyl Records? VHS tapes? etc, etc.

Basically, I would like to use this same technique, but I'm not sure what to really look for. I have seen Comic Books at the thrifts, but I'm guessing that Comic Book geeks go to all the thrifts looking for that rare comic in the wild that is worth a small fortune, so I would imagine that any of the really valuable comics have already been snagged. So, I never buy the comics that I see. As for Baseball Cards, you really need to know all about that stuff, because some baseball cards aren't worth nuthin, while other ones are really valuable, and I really don't know that much about it. As for Pokemon Cards, I have seen some at thrifts, but I thought that they were probably overpriced, or maybe fairly priced. As for Board Games, I'm sure there are certain board games that are worth some good money on Ebay, but I don't know which ones they would be. And then you get into the whole issue of whether they have all the pieces and stuff that come with them. As for Hardback Books, I actually think this could be a really good idea. I see alot of Hardback Books there for pretty cheap, that I would think are worth some good money, but I don't really know for sure if they are or not. Vinyl Records, I see tons of these at thrifts, and I always see people looking over the entire collection. I'm sure that they are looking for specific records, that might fetch good money on Ebay. As for VHS tapes, not to many are really worth much, and you would have to buy them for a really low price, but I'm sure some of them can be somewhat valuable. I have seen some Anime VHS tapes at Thrifts and I thought about buying them to re-sale, but I didn't know if it would be a good deal or not.

Basically, what I'm asking, is if there are any super experts in terms of going to thrift stores and knowing what items will fetch money on Ebay, and which items don't, if they could share some of the specific items to keep an eye on.

This way, when I go to a thrift that doesn't have anything video game related, I can at least look for some other stuff that I might be able to throw up on Ebay and get some good money for, that I could then use on Ebay to get what I really want.

[maxlords]

Yep, I do that. I look for home electronics, books, comics, computer equipment, antiques, board games (which are rarely money makers), DVDs (which I rarely find), medical equipment, and anything else I recognize that I know I can sell. That's how I make money to buy games usually....buying stuff to resell. Being unemployed for over 2 years sucks, but you find ways around the steady paycheck to afford your habits

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm.

I don't resell stuff I find in thrifts, but I do like finding the old Time Life series of books (Planets, Machines, Early Man and Energy to name a few -- the Planets one was co-written by Carl Sagan, and this is pre-1969!). In the last few trips to Goodwill I've managed to find a number of copies of books I didn't have in basically new condition, only one duplicate and only one I've discovered has had parts of a few pages cut out. I've bought some other books, but it's important not to go apes and start buying random dumb things (hehe).

I always look at the PC hardware type things. I never would buy a joystick unless something was clearly foreign or otherwise very special looking, because joysticks are easily broken. Dur.

[Vroomfunkel]

I don't go for much other than video games ... but I have been known to pick up the odd board game. I saw a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons stuff for a coupla quid each in a charity shop ( = thrift store in Amerispeak!) I knew that was a guarunteed winner ... sold them for £30 altogether!

I do keep my eyes open for other things I know of, but never found any of them yet -

Ulysses 31 videos.
A few random books that I know are worth a fat sum ..

That sorta thing

Vroomfunkel

[AB Positive]

I occasionally go for non-VG items but very rarely as I don't really know what will sell. I still have two pretty-good condition Batman LPs that I haven't tried to sell yet.

Action figures still in the box are usually ok, but I tend to stick to video games. Even if I don't collect or want whatever is there, if it's a good price I can at the very least trade it in to my store for credit, or sell on eBay for more than I paid.

-AG

[Sylentwulf]

I found an old singer featherweight sewing machine at goodwill for $5.00. Picked it up on a hunch, sold it for $300

[Keir]

medical equipment

I once found a speculum at a flea market.

[sisko]

A good rule of thumb is to stick with what you know.

In my case (and most people here), its video games and video game related memorablila.

Every once in a while I'll deal with computer stuff, but its not often.

[Flack]

On baseball cards and the like, good luck. If you're not already a collector you are at a serious advantage. I have a friend who is into sports cards big time, and everytime I find some cards and point them out he's like "those are shit." I bought him a pack of 100 cards one time and he said the whole thing was worth less than a buck.

Stick with what you know and you'll do fine. Of course, even the best of us get took from time to time. A few years back I bought a Snappy -- it's a video capture device that plugs into your parallel port and allows you to capture still pictures from VCRs, camcorders, etc. I think I paid $169 for mine. I saw one in a thrift the other day for $5 and picked it up, thinking it was a great deal. A quick check on ebay at home found that I had paid about $3 too much.

A great system if you can work it is to have someone who's going to be home stay near a phone. Often when I go thrift store shopping I'll use my cell phone to call my wife at home. "Hey honey, look these things up on eBay real quick."

In one of my best thrift store finds ever, I found Barbarian Queen I and II on DVD for .99 each -- staring Lana Clarkson, the lady that Phil Spector is now accused of murdering. Sold them on eBay as a two pack and got over $40 for them.

[christianscott27]

i never sell anything on ebay, it goes against my junk collector edict but, i do go out shopping with those who do and these are the items they scoop up

-avalon hill strategy board games
-fisher price little people (old ones)
-records, of course you need to know which ones
-vintage plates such as jadite, melmac and blue heaven ( i collect these)

[Reverend JagDiesel]

I dont resell on ebay either, but I've been known to pick up stereo components and other electronics if the price is right. I've always been good at fixing electronics so it feeds 2 hobbies: thrifting and fixing stuff.

2 weeks ago I picked up a Marantz gold series Receiver, Cd player, and Dual cassette deck for $50. On ebay that'd easily bring a coupla hundred if I were to resell it. Instead, it is now my garage/work area system (thanx to the father in law's donation of some good speakers). Best part of this bargain is that all 3 components worked perfectly with only a basic cleaning off of gunk.

[chadtower]

A great system if you can work it is to have someone who's going to be home stay near a phone. Often when I go thrift store shopping I'll use my cell phone to call my wife at home. "Hey honey, look these things up on eBay real quick.".

No offense to you, but I always want to smack those people. Those are the people who grab everything they think may be of value, drag it into a corner, then wait while the other person looks stuff up one by one. While you're trying to shop in the same area. God forbid you try to go near their stuff or they start threatening to flash you with their dirty ass. This tactic is even worse when flea market sellers do it. I mean, either do your research ahead of time or don't do it, but don't try to do it and get in everybody else's way at the same time.

BTW, there are always the rather obvious things you can find. Recently I found a box of Time magazines from 1978-1979. They wanted $6 for the lot of about 70 magazines in excellent condition. Obviously this is something you can make some bucks on. Most of the time with thrift items you're not going to make 5-10x what you paid. If you can find things that you can sell for a few bucks each item, but have enough of them, that works too.

[ianoid]

I'm sometimes on the phone and I ask my friend Roagie to look stuff up. If I don't I'll buy tons of losers to try to sell.

I would highly discourage all of ye to avoid classic collectibles like Disneyana, Elvis, Beatles, ceramics, Baseball cards, or Comic Books.

Everyone and their dog thinks those things are collectible and is wrong. Only certain items from those categories are of real interest to collectors given that most of the serious dumbasses spent to their hearts overpriced content during eBay's first years, or bought them in the crap antique shop round the corner because everyone has that crap.

The only thing you need to know is everything- knowledge is power and you can get it just by spending some time looking around eBay and looking up stuff that catches your eye when you're out shopping. Games are reasonable sales if you do that (I try to sell non-game stuff, aside from commons, but I plan to liquidate my tradelist, so that attitude won't last.) So look around eBay. If you learn about a certain money maker (watches, jewelry, ceramics (all of which are really tough to get into selling because of the enormous proportion of valueless crap) whatever) you'll be able to start looking more closely at stuff you see.

Funny thing, my brother's girlfriend was bragging about an eBay score- a T-shirt from an Archies themed Bar Mitzvah. She spent like $25 on it (yes, multiple bids.) That was a revelation to me that people are really into unique random items, particularly if super kooky. It's worth trying to sell stuff that tickles your fancy, but realize that you may not make enough to bother with packing and shipping, but you could make $5 or $20. It's just a matter of deciding what your bottom line will be. I try not to sell much that won't have a $4-$5 profit, but often stuff just has to go.

Do your research (on eBay) and you'll find something to buy and sell... Just stay away from the cliched collectibles unless you really know what you're doing.

ian

[ianoid]

I'm sometimes on the phone and I ask my friend Roagie to look stuff up. If I don't I'll buy tons of losers to try to sell.

I would highly discourage all of ye to avoid classic collectibles like Disneyana, Elvis, Beatles, ceramics, Baseball cards, or Comic Books.

Everyone and their dog thinks those things are collectible and is wrong. Only certain items from those categories are of real interest to collectors given that most of the serious dumbasses spent to their hearts overpriced content during eBay's first years, or bought them in the crap antique shop round the corner because everyone has that crap.

The only thing you need to know is everything- knowledge is power and you can get it just by spending some time looking around eBay and looking up stuff that catches your eye when you're out shopping. Games are reasonable sales if you do that (I try to sell non-game stuff, aside from commons, but I plan to liquidate my tradelist, so that attitude won't last.) So look around eBay. If you learn about a certain money maker (watches, jewelry, ceramics (all of which are really tough to get into selling because of the enormous proportion of valueless crap) whatever) you'll be able to start looking more closely at stuff you see.

Funny thing, my brother's girlfriend was bragging about an eBay score- a T-shirt from an Archies themed Bar Mitzvah. She spent like $25 on it (yes, multiple bids.) That was a revelation to me that people are really into unique random items, particularly if super kooky. It's worth trying to sell stuff that tickles your fancy, but realize that you may not make enough to bother with packing and shipping, but you could make $5 or $20. It's just a matter of deciding what your bottom line will be. I try not to sell much that won't have a $4-$5 profit, but often stuff just has to go.

Do your research (on eBay) and you'll find something to buy and sell... Just stay away from the cliched collectibles unless you really know what you're doing.

ian