With millions of people making music for thousands of years, non-repetitive, unsafe, uncategorized, top notch music should be the norm.
I’m all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
— Joe Strummer and Mick Jones
Made some good buys, some bad buys but should be able to break even after 3 days of estate sales, garage sales and thrift stores. It’s a lot harder than it appears on YouTube. I’m luckier than a lot of flippers that are starting out as I already have a huge collection of DVDs, CDs and Cassettes pretty much ready to sell so I can take my time as I learn and not feel pressured to buy.
With Google Lens and the eBay app. everything has changed, sellers are able to look up things by picture so they’re searching the listings and unfortunately pricing things by what people are asking for. They don’t realize or just don’t care that the items people are trying to sale are generally priced higher than the ones that have actually sold.
I also see a lot of buyers walking around with their phones and looking everything up, I’m one of them but it’s not as easy as it looks. Besides the “sold for” prices, you need to check for the sell through rate (how many sold over a specific period compared to how many are currently listed), and be really specific on the item you’re looking up (size, model number, color etc). It’s hard to do in a crowded area and even harder to do it quickly. It’s exciting to find something new in box for $2 that retails for $20. Then you get home and see only 1 has sold in the last 90 days. Not exactly a high demand item.
As I mentioned before, I’ve been scouring reddit for reselling information and watching a lot of YouTube videos. A lot of information conflicts – YouTube resellers are into clothing while the reddit posters are saying it’s oversaturated and has too much competition. And the reddit people still hate on all the people I follow on YouTube.
You do need to pick some categories and learn them. Learn them well. I was at an estate sale this weekend that had a table full of ties for $1 each and women’s clothing for 50¢. I had to pass on everything because I don’t know anything about clothing. While there’s a good chance everything good had been picked over already (and don’t discount the estate sale people involved in shenanigans) there’s also a decent chance that they missed something.
I’m finding I’m doing best on things that aren’t priced and having to ask “how much do you want for this”.
Similar to the table of ties and closet of clothes oftentimes books, DVDs, VHS etc. are priced the same instead of individually so if you know what you are doing you might be able get some good deals. I am finding the quality of a lot of these things are on the lower side though so even if it’s a good title it still might not be worth picking up.
I haven’t listed anything I bought yet on eBay, that’s the least fun and most important step.
We’ve got 6 estate sales on our list, from local to Dallas. I don’t expect to be able to hit them all but we’ll see.
Will update as time permits.
First stop – everyone including the people holding the sale had their phones out looking up prices, talked to the sellers, they were using Google Lens and using the “for sale” prices not “sold” prices. Asking too much. I didn’t buy anything.
2nd stop – was better, still didn’t buy anything. Learning that I need to learn about – digital cameras, kitchenware, books – lots I don’t know.
3rd stop – almost bought something. Artsy coffee mug. Was selling for $2, retails $15-20 online used but it was damaged.
4th stop, another no go. Nothing today for me. If I knew more about buying certain things I’d probably have more to show for my efforts. I’ll add a bit for context when I get home.
3:00 pm – Lunchtime – We’re done
Going over the day:
A couple things – I was trying to update the website off my phone and so was posting “live”. I was able to do that but looking at it now it was just unnecessary and got in the way.
The $2 cup, part of an experiment – Was trying to see if I could do and what I could with just $20 for the day. A $2 cup would have fit in great. As far as the experiment, the $20 unexpectedly lasted all day and went home with me.
It’s becoming more and more apparent that there has to be some specialization. Lots of things have possibilities but the more informed you can be in specific areas is crucial, no exaggeration – small details make huge differences. Clothes, electronics and artwork stand out as areas where there are a lot of opportunities, there is so much out there. I’m hesitant to go into those areas for various reasons but from looking at the “successful sellers” that are on YouTube – it looks to me that they all sell clothes, other things too but lotsa clothes.
While it’s not always the case, many of the professionally run estate sales out here follow a three-day pattern:
Friday – everything is full price (and overpriced)
Saturday – 25% off
Sunday – from 50-75% off depending on time – the later it gets, the better the deals.
— David
I was going through reddit, (if you’re not familiar with reddit, I consider it sort of the bowels of the internet – filled with lots of people that don’t know anything all the while pretending to be experts). I was looking at the eBay and Flipping subreddits trying to find resources and see what they had to say about the YouTube people I was following. For the most part they hate the people I’ve been following.
Basically they say most of the YouTubers with big followings are scammers trying to build their YouTube channels, sell courses etc. and aren’t really that knowledgable. That’s where the drama comes in… they really feel strongly – over the top and then there’s the disgruntled anonymous employees, theories about sourcing, theft and so on (if it was interesting I’d post links but it’s basically unverified accusations).
It does give me some pause for thought. I still believe the advice I’ve been getting and following is good but where I’m new to this I’m going to hold off on recommending anyone to follow.
I do have a pro-tip though. If you have an eBay store, you have access to Terapeak Research which is a 3 year listing of sold items. The thing is, if you’re out hunting it’s a pain to get to Terapeak Research through the app. I watched a video on it and I’m like “ain’t nobody got time for that”.
Here’s the tip: You can just save the link to your phone: Terapeak product research
On an iPhone, go to the link then click on the share button 
scroll down and save it to your Home Screen. I presume an android is similar.
For those without stores there is a 90 day sold listing if you use the filters on the regular eBay app – still a bit of a pain. There is some good news about the app though, if you weren’t aware you can search the regular listings by image or barcode on your phone. The Amazon app allows you to do this too.
— David
I’m just beginning to see how huge the flipping industry is. We’ve been involved with antiques and vintage things for years but I always thought of myself as a collector.
Thinking out loud: I see the move to flipping from being a collector as – not when you begin buying things to resell, but rather when you start purchasing items that you have no personal interest in, solely with the intention to resell them at a profit.
While previously I would look through albums, stereo equipment and tools at estate sales, now I might be looking up some Hello Kitty shit.
A flipper is a hunter, a collector is a gatherer – I suppose that’s a bit exaggerated – for the most part we’re all hunter-gatherers. Like crows attracted to shiny objects, there’s an instinctive urge to posses what we see as desirable.
I’ve been watching a lot of videos about selling on eBay, some really good ones and mixed in there are some scary stories too. If you’re reliant on one source and things go south it can be devastating. It doesn’t matter if you’re working for someone or doing something else.
— David
