A few years ago, Nike created  one of their most memorable commercials entitled “Chicks Dig the Long Ball” which featured Mark McGwire, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux.  This is one of my favorite Nike commercials and, instead of trying to describe it, I thought I would just let you watch the sheer comedic awesomeness of this ad:

Obviously, this commercial aired before the current steroid scandal in baseball and it’s ironic that Glavine and Maddux will probably enter the Hall of Fame before McGwire does, but I mentioned this commercial because Nike does bring up a good point:  people (not just girls) dig the long ball!  The single or double is just as effective as getting runners to home base but let’s be honest, those plays just aren’t as exciting as a ball getting hit over 400 feet.  It’s the same in football, the 5-yard slant just can’t compete with a 50-yard bomb in ESPN’s Top 10 (unless that slant wins the Super Bowl of course, but you get my point).

The funny thing is that I find this to be true when it comes to reselling as well.  When my friends ask if I’ve found anything good recently, they’re slightly interested when I mention a modest sale (aka, a single)  but their ears perk up as soon as I mention a $100 or $200 item (aka, a homerun).  Honestly, these sales are rare for me and the majority of my items sell between the $20-$40 range, but they are definitely fun to talk about!

I’ve had a good run recently with these home run items and it doesn’t happen too often (and so close to each other also) so I thought I’d share some of my higher-ticket sales from the past week.  Hope you enjoy!

The Long Ball

Salvatore Ferragamo Shoes

Item cost:  $6.99

Winning:  $122.50

Patagonia Jacket

Item Cost:  $8.99

Buy-it-Now:  $124.99

Patagonia Jacket

Item Cost:  $8.99

Buy-it-Now:  $124.99

Polo Ralph Lauren Sweater

Item Cost:  $6.99

Winning Bid:  $215.00

The timeline for this Ralph Lauren sweater was amazing and I basically made over $200 in about of 10 minutes.  Here’s how:

• 0 minutes:  Item listed
• 2 minutes:  3 watchers
• 4 minutes:  Buyer asking for a Buy-it Now price (I didn’t have one so I asked her to make an offer)
• 5 minutes:  Another buyer offers $100 to end the auction early (tempting but I passed; up to 10 watchers)
• 6 minutes:  Buyer from 4 minutes asked me to make the first offer claiming she didn’t want to offend me (I didn’t answer immediately)
• 7 minutes:  Another buyer offers $200 to end the auction early (I’m listening…)
• 8 minutes:  I responded to the buyer from 4 minutes stating that someone offered me $200 and she can have it for $215 if she’s interested.
• 10 minutes:  Buyer accepts $215 offer, payment sent immediately through Paypal.

I really had no idea how much this jacket was worth so it would’ve been interesting to see how much it would have sold for had I left the auction continue (my guess is that it would’ve ended around $300-$350).  But I was happy to make the $215 and the buyer had decent feedback so I decided to end it early.

With stories like this, is it any wonder why Polo is one of my favorite brands to look for at the thrift stores?  My Reseller Guide has an entire section dedicated to Polo Ralph Lauren to help you find items just like this.  And here’s a hint:  if you’re looking for Ralph Lauren items with the small Pony logo, you’re looking for the wrong stuff!

I hope you’re having a great week so far and, as always, good luck at the thrift stores!

-Meinard

Hi and welcome to the May 11, 2013  edition of Thrift Store Items You Can Resell on eBay!

Each week I’ll post several pics of thrift store items that I’ve recently sold on eBay, as well as share with you the profits that I’ve made for that item.

Finds of the Week

Nike Kobe Basketball Shoes

Item Cost:  $6.99

Buy-It-Now:  $39.99

This particular pair is a great example of how well some basketball shoes retain their value.  This shoe is missing its shoelaces, has some separation in the midsole, has the usual scuffs and creases, and the logo on the tongue is missing some pieces…and yet it still sold for $39.99!

Polo Ralph Lauren Shirt

Item Cost:  $6.99

Buy-It-Now:  $39.99

Birki’s Sandals

Item Cost:  $4.99

Winning Bid:  $37.77

Thrift Store Tip:  It’s the summer season and the weather is getting hotter so be sure to check out the shorts and sandals section at your thrift store.  I always have a good selection of these types of sandals in my area and they’re a steady, consistent seller.  Check out my Reseller Guide to discover all the brands of shoes and sandals that I target!!

Patagonia Jacket

Item cost:  $8.99

Buy-It-Now:  $124.99

I’m talking about the one’s that stand shirtless in the middle of winter during an NFL game or the one with those unusual rituals that they swear have an effect on the outcome of the game. Yes, I’m talking about those guys.  Who knows, you might actually be one of them!  These fans will do anything to support their team and that includes getting their hands on the latest team gear.

NBA Playoffs

The NBA Playoffs have officially started so now is the perfect time to get your basketball items posted and in front millions of fans.  As I write this, the following teams are still alive in the playoffs:

• Golden State Warriors
• Denver Nuggets
• Memphis Grizzlies
• LA Clippers
• Boston Celtics
• New York Knicks
• Atlanta Hawks
• Indiana Paces
• Houston Rockets
• Oklahoma City
• Brooklyn Nets
• Chicago Bulls
• Miami Heat
• San Antonio Spurs

These are the teams that you should be looking for at the thrift stores.  Unfortunately my Lakers were dispatched – rather easily I might add – by the San Antonio Spurs so they’re no longer in the hunt for the championship.  I guess there’s always next year – a phrase that I’ve been saying far too much recently.  But I digress…

In addition to team-related gear, you should also be on the lookout for individual apparel.  Lebron, Kobe, Durant, and Carmelo are all marquee names in the NBA and they have the corresponding shoe deals to back that up.  The shoe rack at the thrift stores is one of the first areas that I visit because, unlike jackets or shirts, these items are usually spaced out very well and it’s easy to spot the valuable ones.  Always examine the shoes for any rips or separation but don’t be afraid of a little dirt on the uppers or the soles, they can easily be cleaned off.

See related post:  How to Clean Thrift Store Shoes

Here’s some recent NBA gear that I’ve sold

Air Jordan Jacket

Item Cost:  $6.99

Buy It Now:  $24.99

Nike Lebron James

Item Cost:  $7.99

Buy It Now Price:  $69.99

Nike Lebron James Youth

Item cost:  $3.49

Buy It Now:  $69.99

Thrift Store Reselling Tip:  Don’t forget to visit the kids section, some youth shoes are just as valuable as the adult version.  Unsure if the Nike’s at your thrift store are valuable?  Check out my Thrift Store Reseller Guide for my step-by-step guide to finding valuable Nike’s and Air Jordan’s!

Vintage Nike Shorts

Item cost:  $3.99

Buy It Now:  $49.99

Hi and welcome to the April 22, 2013  edition of Thrift Store Items You Can Resell on eBay!

Each week I’ll post several pics of thrift store items that I’ve recently sold on eBay, as well as share with you the profits that I’ve made for that item.

Finds of the Week

Jambu Clogs

Item Cost:  $4.99

Winning Bid:  $31.00

I still have a few auction-style listings

Vintage 2007 Nike Basketball Shoes

Item Cost:  $6.99

Buy-It-Now Price:  $59.99

Thrift Store Reseller Tip:  The NBA Playoffs started yesterday so now is the perfect time to list your basketball-related items.  Oh, and Go Lakers!! (sorry, I had to sneak that in there.)

New With Tags Tommy Hilfiger Coat

Item Cost:  $6.99

Buy-It-Now Price:  $39.99

Hi and welcome to the April 10, 2013  edition of Thrift Store Items You Can Resell on eBay!

Each week I’ll post several pics of thrift store items that I’ve recently sold on eBay, as well as share with you the profits that I’ve made for that item.

First of all, I apologize for the lack of updates recently.  I try to update the blog at least once or twice a week and my Twitter account daily but sometimes things and task and ideas spring up all of a sudden and unfortunately I get sidetracked.  I’m still very active treasure-hunting at the thrift stores and with listing items on eBay.  In fact, I’ve actually had some of my most successful thrifting days in recent memory and – with eBay’s recent free-listing promotion – it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The funny thing is that, even though eBay is running this amazing promotion right now, I still find myself using (and paying extra for) Buy-It-Now (BIN) auction.  I’ve just been having so much success with them and it’s been fun tinkering with different prices and strategies.  I have about 3 weeks before I open my store and hopefully by then I’ll figure how to maximize my auctions.  Prior to this, I’ve relied almost completely on auction sales so I understand that it may take some time to get  used to the new format.  But, in the meantime, I’m having success with it so I at least know that I’m moving in the right direction and, most importantly, I’m  having a great time in the process!

BIN Success

Nike Women’s Running Shoes

Item cost:  $6.99

BIN Price:  $49.99

Air Jordan

Item Cost:  $6.99

BIN Price:  $49.99

Thrift Store Tip:  Don’t forget to check out my Thrift Store Reselling Guide if you need help with identifying Nike’s and Air Jordan’s!

NHL Hockey Jersey

Item Cost:  $8.99

BIN Price:  $99.99 or Best Offer

Best Offer Accepted:  $65.00

Air Jordan

Item Cost:  $6.99

BIN Price:  $79.99

As you may recall, I opened up an eBay store a few months ago.  I knew a lot of other sellers who were having great success with it and I was curious to see how it could benefit my sales.  And although there were a lot of features that I liked at that time, I ultimately cancelled my eBay store subscription for one reason:  no more free-listings!

Opening an eBay store meant that you forfeited your 50 free auction-style listings per month – I have 2 eBay seller accounts which means that I would now be losing 100 free-listings per month.  This was something that I couldn’t give up and eventually became a deal-breaker for me.  Opening a store did entitle you to a nice discount on fixed-price listings but at that time I was concentrating heavily on auction-style listings so I felt that this benefit wasn’t really a benefit at all to me.

Change of Plans

Several things have transpired since then that have caused me to change my stance on opening an eBay store.

More Success With Fixed-Price Listings

In recent months, I’ve noticed that I’ve started to utilize more and more Buy-it-Now listings in my auctions.  This wasn’t some experiment I was trying to do; rather it was a strategy to avoid dealing with those pesky non-paying bidders.  You see, I started to notice that I experienced higher instances of unpaid items with certain items, such as Air Jordan’s and vintage Polo Ralph Lauren.  In some cases, I would have to re-list an item several times before finally having a successful auction and there’s nothing worse to me that wasting time.

So with these higher-ticket items, I’ve been doing a better job of pricing my items and using more Fixed-Price listings (with immediate payment required).   My auctions are now a good mix of auctions and fixed priced listings and this strategy has been really amazing for me so far.  With my use of fixed-priced listings getting higher and higher, that nice eBay store discount is starting to more and more tempting.

Here are some Fixed-Priced items that I recently sold

Ecco Sandals

Item cost:  $6.99

Sold for $39.99

Brooks Running Shoes

Item Cost:  $6.99

Winning Bid:  $59.99

Harley Davidson Boots

Item Cost:  $9.99

Winning Bid:  $89.99

Seller Update

By far, the Seller Update that’s set to roll out has had the biggest impact on me in regards to opening an eBay store.  Of course, there are the standard benefits of cheaper fixed-priced listings and lower final value fees but there’s also some exciting changes that make opening an store practically a no-brainer (well, for me anyway).

The first update (starting on April 16^th) is that eBay is now giving sellers the option of using auction or Fixed-Priced listings as part of their 50-free listings per month.  I love this update and it fits perfectly with my new auction strategy.  And if that got me excited, the next update pretty much crushed any hesitations I had about opening a store:  Starting on May 1^st, you can now get anywhere from 150-2,500 free listings per month.  (It all depends on the type of store you open of course and you can click here for a more detailed breakdown of the benefits.)

That’s right, what was once my biggest objection to opening a store has been eliminated and I couldn’t be more excited.  Normally I list anywhere from 90-175 items per month so the basic store plan which gives me 150 free listings per month should work just fine for me.  The additional cost to open a basic store ($15.95 for a yearly commitment, $19.95 for a monthly subscription) is well worth it considering I already pay more than that per month in additional insertion fees after I’ve exhausted my free listings.

I’m planning on opening a store for just one of my seller accounts and see how it goes from there.  I would still be getting 50-free listings for the other account so the 200 free listings per month should be more than enough for my current pace.  But regardless, it feels great not having to worry about rationing my free-listings and I can’t wait to get started on my eBay store.

Is it May 1^st yet?!?!

I hope you and your family are having a great Easter and good luck at the thrift stores!

-Meinard

Diamond Supply Co.

One of the best ways to increase your sales – and make this whole thrift store reselling thing much more fun in general – is to constantly search for new brands and items at the thrift stores.  I have a rather wide range of brands and styles that I look for but I am always looking for new and profitable brands to add, and recently I’ve been having a lot of success with this one:  Diamond Supply Co.

Some of you may already be familiar with this brand, but for the uninitiated like myself:  Diamond Supply Co. is a skateboard and clothing brand based in California.  They manufacture a wide range of products including hoodies, jackets, shirts, and hats.  Recently, several hip-hop artists such as Lil Wayne and Jay-Z have been seen wearing this brand so the appeal has branched out into the hip-hop community as well.

I haven’t found any shirts or hats but I have had success with their hoodies and jackets.  The easiest way to spot them is by their diamond logo but they’ve also been known to use a lower case “d” in several of these items.  Be sure to check for it next time you’re in the jacket or sweater area of your thrift stores.

Good luck finding your own diamond in the rough!

-Meinard

Diamond Supply Co.

Item cost:  $6.99

Winning Bid:  $39.99

Item Cost:  $6.99

Winning Bid:  $49.99

Item cost:  $6.99

Winning Bid:  $49.99

Item Cost:  $6.99

Winning Bid:  $49.99

Hi and welcome to the March 14, 2013  edition of Thrift Store Items You Can Resell on eBay!

Each week I’ll post several pics of thrift store items that I’ve recently sold on eBay, as well as share with you the profits that I’ve made for that item.

Did I Really Just Mess THAT Up?!

A few months ago I took the plunge and I am now listing 100% of my auctions using eBay Mobile.  The eBay app still has several bugs to fix but for the most part the experience has been positive one for me - I especially like the fact that I’m not tied to a computer when listing items.  Although the positives far outweighs the negatives, there are still one thing that I can never get used to:  the small keyboard!

Until a week ago, it was a minor nuisance since I’m able to catch most of my mistakes and make the immediate correction.  But recently I messed up while typing my Paypal address – the one where the buyers send their payments to – and it just caused a whole bunch of problems for me.  Basically, if you input an incorrect Paypal address and the winner of the auction sends a payment, the funds become stuck in a state of limbo where it’s just waiting to be claimed.  To make matters worse, I used the “Sell One Like This” option to list several other items and all the information from that one auction was transferred to the rest, including (yes,  you guessed it!) the incorrect Paypal address.

So what was just 1 problem auction turned into several.  Since then, I’ve already had several buyers asking to cancel transactions and several others that I had to send “inconvenience refunds” so that they wouldn’t have to cancel the transaction.

Did I just really mess up the fun, getting-paid part of the process?!

Oh well, that was definitely not a fun thing to go through but I did learn a lot from this experience.  Hopefully you won’t have to go through this but, if you do, here’s the steps to correct the mistake and receive your payment:

1) Prevention is the best way to avoid this so double-check your auctions to make sure the Paypal address you inputted is correct.  If you find an incorrect one, simply revise the auction and correct your spelling.

2)  If the auction has ended and the buyer has already sent their payment to the incorrect Paypal address, you need a) go to your auction and find the misspelled Paypal address, b) set up a new, official email account for the misspelled Paypal address that you inputted, and c) include this email in your Paypal account ( you can do this by logging into your account, clicking “Profile”, then “Email”, and then “Add”).

After the new email address has been inputted, the buyers’ payment will automatically be sent to your account.

I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks and good luck at the thrift stores!!

Finds of the Week

Gucci Women’s Slide Sandals

Item Cost:  $6.99

Winning Bid:  $33.00

Ugg Black Boots

Item Cost:  $6.99

Winning Bid:  $43.00

Diamond Supply Co. Sweater

Item Cost:  $3.99

Winning Bid:  $49.99

Hi and welcome to the March 6, 2013  edition of Thrift Store Items You Can Resell on eBay!

Each week I’ll post several pics of thrift store items that I’ve recently sold on eBay, as well as share with you the profits that I’ve made for that item.

It’s been a really exciting past few weeks!  After a self-imposed “thrift break” after the Super Bowl (to get rid of some non-performing items), I finally started to aggressively visit the thrift stores again and I was so glad I did!  Not only did I find many of my steady, consistent items such as Under Armour and Air Jordan, but I was also fortunate to find many new and interesting items that I’ve definitely added to my list of things to look for (see below).  So it’s been going really well recently – I was able to find some great shirts and jackets, and I was also able to clear my inventory of some unwanted items.

I hope you’re having a great week so far.  Tomorrow, I’m on my way to a Salvation Army that I haven’t visited in over 5-6 months (it’s on the other side of the island) so I’m hoping it just overflowing with great stuff.  Well, that’s how I envisioned it in my head anyway lol!

Take care and, as always, please let me know if you have any questions or if there’s any way I can help.  Cheers!

-Meinard

Finds of the Week

Nike Youth Air Jordan

Item cost:  $2.99

Winning Bid:  $39.99

Vintage Reyn Spooner Disney Shirt

Yes, you read it right!  In addition to thrift items that you can resell for profit, I learned – just yesterday, in fact – that you can also return thrift store items for profit as well!

Let me explain:

I was at one of my favorite thrift stores (Savers in Kalihi) and I came across a Ralph Lauren Denim & Supply Long-Sleeve shirt in the men’s section.  I immediately recognized this brand and I knew it was a steal for only $6.99.

As I scooped the shirt off the rack I also noticed that it still had all the Macy’s tags –  including the return label – still attached.  Having shopped their many times with my girlfriend, I know that they have a pretty decent return policy and as long as the return label is still attached then you should be able to return an item for merchandise credit.

However, because I didn’t have a receipt, I would only receive the lowest price available for that item.  So if it was on the sale rack for $9.99, then that’s how much credit I would receive .  Oh well, I figured I only bought it for $6.99 and there was a Macy’s store about 10 minutes away in the Ala Moana shopping center so why not give it a shot right?!

I get to Macy’s, head straight to the men’s department, and I was shocked to learn that the merchandise credit available for this shirt was $58.22!!  (It was $55.60 and I was also credited an extra $2.62 return tax for a total of $58.22)

I had to muster every last of measure of control to keep a straight face and not laugh hysterically at just how amazing this was.  In my ebook, one of the advice I mention is to look for sales tags that are still attached to the thrift store item.  These tags have helped me tremendously in the past at discerning the value of an item, but now these sales can also help you profit from an item in a matter of minutes.  I mean, I was able to make over $50.00 in 10 minutes.  That’s pretty incredible!

I forgot to take a picture of the shirt but you can check it out on the Macy’s website. 

Oh yeah, and one last thing:  If you do find an item and you’re going to try to return it for credit, please don’t forget to take off the thrift store tags!  I was so excited and was so busy making up a reason for the return (“It was a gift from visiting relatives, but it doesn’t fit.” LOL) that I completely forgot that the thrift store tags were still attached.  Thank goodness there was a small line at the register.  Can you imagine what would’ve happened if they found the Savers tag still attached?  That would’ve been embarrassing hahaha

I hope you’re having an amazing week and good luck at the thrift stores!

-Meinard