Magic Cards

Bought: $13.56 Sold: $33.55 Fees: $0.00 Profit: $19.99

I haven't bought Magic Cards (MTG) in well over 15 years, but I am aware that they are still collectible and can have value. Normally  I would never buy them. There is simply too much unknown when blind buying them, and so few cards have any real value. I was at VV, however, when I saw four bags of about 150 cards each, and I could see a couple cards in them that I knew had some value, and figured they all came from the same collection. I took a risk and bought them.

I went home, and there is a store in Ottawa that will buy certain cards they want, and they put their list online with the price they will pay. I entered the name of all 600 cards, which took way too long, and found 75 that they would pay for. The total came to just over $50, but that was assuming they were all in mint condition. That is another thing about MTC cards - they lose value quickly if they have been played with. I dropped them off at the store, and they were assessed and the pay was $33. 

I got lucky and made some money on this flip, but it was far too much work, and there is too much blind luck in this. I wouldn't do this again. 

Hawaii Bound!

Bought: $15.00 Sold: $73.72 Fees: $8.40 Profit: $50.32

This was another of the four Avalon Hill Bookcase games I bought off some guy on Kijiji. This was the game that caught my eye from the original ad, and I knew I would be able to make back the cost of all four games just by selling this one. It sat on my shelf for over a month, but I knew I just had to find the right buyer - who apparently is in Hawaii! 

Title Bout is one of the more rare Avalon Hill games, and one of the very few board games with a boxing theme. The boxing cards in the game use stats of actual boxers, and updated them each year. Unfortunately this game only had the original 1979 player cards - the yearly expansions increase the value significantly - but it was still a great flip. I am even more excited by this flip because this past weekend I found another copy of this game at VV in even better condition! 

Harry Potter Action Figure

Bought: $11.29 Sold: $53.39 Fees: $6.40 Profit: $35.70

On Saturday, my brother and I spent the day hitting up all 5 VVs in Ottawa, starting in Orleans and working our way to Kanata. I managed to grab something at each store, and should, hopefully, net at least $50 profit from each store, which isn't bad for an afternoon. This was the last item I picked up in the last store. I walked by this shelf of random children's toys four times before I noticed it - it is always worth double and triple checking shelves. I figured that a mint NIB (new in box) Harry Potter Action figure had to be worth something, even if VV was asking $9.99. A quick search showed none listed on eBay at the moment, but two recent sales. It was posted and bought in less than 12 hours - suggesting the price was probably lower than it should have been - but it had a good ROI and a quick sale never hurts.

ViewMaster Reels

Bought: $2.25 Sold: $33.32 Fees: $4.24 Profit: $26.83

During my research on what vintage toys sell, I stumbled upon a number of blogs mentioning that ViewMasters and their reels were collectible. The older the better. The red Viewmaster you had in the 80's or 90's isn't worth much, but the viewer from the 60's or 70's is. That being said, when I came upon four sets of reels still in box for $1.99 at VV, I knew it was an instant flip. I debated between listing them individually or as a lot, but since none of these four appeared to be any more collectible than the others, I made it a lot - mainly to save on shipping. It was up for about a week before it sold, which isn't too bad for a collectible item that needs to find the right buyer.

I managed to snag another ViewMaster lot yesterday at VV, that I am going to have posted to eBay in the next few days, and after this sale it has me even more hopeful for a good ROI.

Old crafts

Bought: $4.50 Sold: $26.66 Fees: $3.70 Profit: $18.46

This is a Holly Hobbie Craft Kit from the 1970's. Apparently these were popular - I'm not quite sure why. This is a "Farm house Hutch Kit" - essentially it contained all the pieces needed to make a cutout of a dollhouse that you could put things in. I found this at VV, and knowing that vintage "craft" things sell, I took a chance. The kit, thankfully, happened to be complete - including the glue and stain packets that after 40 years had turned rock hard. There were no sold versions of this item in eBay's recent history, but there were too listed. One was partially finished at BIN of $30US, and one was complete and unassembled for $20US but they indicated that they weren't sure if it was 100% complete. I listed mine for $20US, and indicated that it was complete. That being said, the other $20US auction was in fact complete - or every item was in his photos. When mine sold I checked the other listings, and both were still active. I am guessing that despite being the same price, mine sold because I took the time to ensure it was complete and indicated as such in the description. This is pure speculation, but it makes sense.

Anyways, vintage craft stuff does appear to sell, and from my research it appears that Holly Hobbie is a good brand to look out for.

Pocket Flix - Toy Camera

Bought: $5.00 Sold: $33.40 Fees: $4.25 Profit: $24.15

I went to a community garage sale last weekend, and while I didn't find much, I did find this sitting in a box of seemingly random things. Despite knowing nothing about it, it immediately caught my attention for a few reasons: it looks vintage, it appears to be a camera, and the reel says Scooby Doo. I walk away, quickly search eBay and decide to see what they want for it. He says $5 and I get him to throw in an ipod nano that I found in the same box as part of the $5. 

Pocket Flix appears to be a kid's toy from the 1970's that allowed you to watch short segments of cartoons or shows before the invention of the VCR. If you had missed this episode of Scooby Doo you could watch a really grainy 30 second snippet of it on this handheld device. I can understand why it wasn't very popular, but it just screams collectible. This is exactly the type of thing that will sell. The camera was missing the battery cover and was a bit finicky, and so asked less than I would have otherwise. The reels are pretty unique looking and appear to sell quite well on their own, so I will be keeping an eye on them for sure.

Comic Speculation

Bought: $4.00 Sold: $19.98 Fees: $2,65 Profit: $13.33

So, Wednesday is new comic book day, so every Wednesday either I or my brother goes to the comic book store to buy our new comics. Comics can be valuable and collectible, but it really hit or miss, and it involves a lot of luck and knowledge. A lot of people speculate in comics - trying to guess which ones will be big, and you can make a lot of money doing it. It is really not my thing. I've bought a few comics here and there solely in hopes that the value increases, and my personal collection has some worth (not that I'd ever sell it), but comic speculation is a thing. Not something I'd recommend anyone jumping into to without knowledge and research. Thankfully for me my brother is an avid fan of comic speculation blogs, and he dabbles in it himself. He tipped me off to this one. This comic came out today, and it is a Children's comic about Scooby-Doo, but it also features two of DC's more popular female villains - Harley Quinn and Poision Ivy, who were not released as being part of this issue until very recently. The appearance of two major DC characters in a normally not sought after comic made it likely to be valuable: people who like the DC characters will want it for their collection and most likely aren't buy Scooby-Doo. Here you have an increased demand for a single issue of a normally not high selling comic book - high demand, low supply. Exactly what you want for comic speculation.

I picked up two copies today when it came out - one for me and one for my brother - and listed them both immediately on eBay. Within a few hours I had turned a $4 investment into a $20 sale. 

More Nightmares!

Bought: $7.90 Sold: $25.00 Fees: $0.00 Profit: $17.10

My second Nightmare VHS Board game sold this month. This one was a bit more pricey at VV, but still made a nice profit. I sold this one on the Facebook Ottawa Boardgame Buy/Sell/Trade group. Always a good idea to look into Facebook groups for items, you'd be surprised how active some of these groups are for buying and selling.

I have since picked up two more copies of this game, both for under $5 at VV. I am hoping I'll be able to flip them soon - ideally before Halloween since I tend to think the market is better now. I know I won't lose money on them, but I'd like to flip them fast.

Another Avalon Hill Bookcase game

Bought: $15.00 Sold: $26.41 Fees: $3.76 Profit: $7.65

This was one of the four Avalon Hill Bookcase games that I bought off the guy on Kijiji for $60 for four games. I've now sold 2 of the four, both at a profit, but they were the two I was least interested in as they had/have the lowest ROI. That being said, I've made money on both, and the two more expensive ones are still listed. They will sell eventually.

This Football Strategy game from Avalon Hill had a number of versions - they kept updating it with new players and stats (based on real players). This was the 5th edition. When I bought it, the seller had found another version of it in his basement and offered it to me as well for $15. I had previously looked and found not much difference in price between versions, and was unwary on how fast I'd be able to sell one of these, let alone two. This is a game I'd pick up again, it didn't take long to sell, but ideally for less than $15. Not a lot of meat left on the bone after that initial investment. 

Killer Rabbits

Bought: $6.77 Sold: $132.00 Fees: $11.41 Profit: $113.82

So, board games. I'm not talking about board games like Monopoly, or Life, or even Risk. Board games are a huge thing now - and they are complex, and expensive! I've always been an avid board game player, and my brother collects and plays a lot, and I hear about them from him. I am always on the lookout for modern board games. Most modern board games run $50-70 new, so finding them used would be a steal. Even if not complete, most involved unique pieces or cards that make the game impossible to play without, so buying an incomplete game to sell the parts would likely still turn a profit. Something else about modern board games - expansion or boosters. 

Essentially people want more, and so companies realized "updates" to the games, whether by new versions of the game, or more commonly, expansions. Now expansions usually require the original game to play, it is just more cards or pieces to create a different/longer/better game. For some reason, game publishers often create expansions in limited runs, meaning if you miss out, you are out of luck, unless you can find it used somewhere or online like eBay. This means it can often get expensive if you join the game late (pardon the pun) and want to catch up on back expansions. I know my brother has bid online for expansions that were only made available included in subscription to a German board game magazine, meaning anyone else who wanted one had to buy them online.

All to be said, when I saw a expansion pack, I grabbed it right away. It was still factory sealed! That was awesome. I had never heard of the game before - Killer Bunnies - but I knew that it had to be somewhat modern, along the lines of Cards Against Humanity. A quick eBay search in the store showed sales over $100. I was shocked, and made sure not to let it out of my sight as I wandered the rest of the store. Once I got home I did some research into why this expansion was so valuable. It turns out that it was for a number of reasons: 1) it was out of print (or OOP), which is not surprising for board game expansions, 2) it was published in 2003 (so it is 12 years old and still factory sealed), and 3) Killer Bunnies expansions are stupid. Why are they stupid? Well, it turns out that if you want to use the 10th expansion, for example sake, you need expansions 1-9 to do so. Meaning even if you had every expansion but one, any after that one would be unplayable. And this one? The red booster set? It is number 3. So, a lot of people would need it to play later expansions. 

Long story short, there are people out there who will pay $100 for pieces of paper. What a world we live in. 

People still use radios?

Bought: $2.25 Sold: $19.82 Fees: $2.77 Profit: $14.80

I found this Transistor Radio at VV among the random cords and plugs. I saw that it said transistor on it, so I knew what it was, and for that price figured I couldn't go wrong. I got home, put a battery into it, and it worked. I listed it for $15USD and it sold within 5 minutes! I couldn't believe it. Not only do people still use radios, apparently I listed it for really cheap? Not sure what the actual value for this is, but clearly more than $15 if it sold that fast. I am going to be on the lookout for these again in the future.

Third time's a charm

Bought: $1.1 Sold: $13.21 Fees: $2.19 Profit: $9.91

So, I picked this CD up at VV early on. I was with Robin, and she asked me why I was buying a CD. Now, while normally CDs are pretty hit-or-miss to resell - you really need to know what to look for - and while I am not only NOT an expert on what CDs sell well, but this one was lying in between books, only cost $1 and it was a live event recording. A quick eBay search showed that it sold for about $10 US, and so I figured it was worth a shot. I clearly made the correct guess, because not only did it sell, with a nice small profit, but it sold three times!

That is right - I sold this item three times! The problem is that the first two bidders never paid! The first person who bid said she was having trouble with shipping, eBay's shipping calculator wasn't working. So I sent her an invoice with what shipping would be. This took me less than a day, and within 30 minutes of her telling me the issue, which she didn't raise until I asked why she hadn't paid. She then informed me that she had bought another copy, and wasn't going to pay for mine because it had been too complicated to figure out. She didn't even ask me why it wasn't work! I wish buyers would communicate more with sellers. Anyways, when a buyer doesn't pay, you have to wait four days, then open a ticket with eBay, they then contact the buyer and they have another four days to pay. So that is 8 days you don't have your listing up. I listed it again, and this time put in a pre-determined amount for shipping to the states. This meant I may lose money on shipping to some states, but I didn't want that problem to arise again. Within a day of putting it back up, someone made an offer of $8US and I accepted, being glad it was going to finally sell. Despite making the offer, which is a promise to pay, she never paid either! Never responded to any of my messages either. Another 8 days later, I listed it again. This time it was bought for the listing price and from a guy named PearlJamMann, so surely this guy was going to pay right? It took him 4 days to pay! I'm glad he finally paid and it is finally leaving my house. This item has been my most difficult flip yet! I think I am going to avoid CDs, too much hassle.

Lost Dongles

Bought: $4.51 Sold: $9.30 Fees: $1.73 Profit: $3.06

Various flipping blogs have mentioned how certain video game parts are worth picking up because they sell well and can often be found cheap. This is one of those items. It is a USB wireless dongle that allows players playing DJ Hero to connect their turntable wirelessly to the video game system. The reason that they sell is quite simple: lose this one small piece, and you can't play the game. It's obviously cheaper to buy just the missing part as opposed to the game all over again. VV has a section where they sell random wires, chargers and the like. I found this there, and while I would have liked to have gotten it cheaper - VV clearly knows these are popular items - I still made a small profit of it. I don't feel so bad making a small profit off something like this. It is a small item with a small target sale price. If I see these for under $5, it is likely worth the purchase as it is almost a guaranteed sale. 

It is all a Rat Race

Bought: $6.77 Sold: $10.61 Fees: $2.38 Profit: $1.46

This is a vintage board game from 1967 - Rat Race - that I had never heard of. I know that board games are something that people collect, and older ones are often sought after. I checked this one in the store and it appeared to have all the pieces, and this version is the first version from 1967. In hindsight, I'm not actually sure why I bought it seeing how little profit I made on it. At least I didn't lose money, but just barely. Even if old board games make money, I am going to stick to really obscure ones, or modern ones that I know I can flip easily. Board games have two main issues: 1) they are big and awkward to ship, and 2) it is so easy to lose pieces. Lesson learned: some board games are worth it, but old doesn't necessarily mean profit.

Speed Circuit - Avalon Hill bookcase game

Bought: $15.00 Sold: $27.95 Fees: $3.94 Profit: $9.01

This is one of the four Avalon Hill bookcase games I bought off someone on Kijiji for $15 each. This one, Speed Circuit, is a driving themed game. This was the game that I expected to bring in the least amount of profit, but I predicated that I would be able to sell all four and make money on each. This is the first to sell, so it is still to be told if I will make money overall on the purchase, but so far so good.

Like I mentioned in an early post very few of the Avalon Hill bookcase games are sought after now - it is the 3M bookcase games that are much more desired. That being said, this one is one of the Avalon Hill ones that has some interest among collectors. One of the things to note about this game, besides looking to see if it has the score pad, is to ensure that all the 6 cars are there. The cars are made of metal, painted different colours, and very small. One of the smallest game pieces I've ever seen. As such they were often lost. While it is not detrimental to game play - they can be substituted with pretty much anything - it does drastically effect their value. 

Old game parts

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $6.60 Fees: $1.46 Profit: $5.14

A few weeks ago I bought four Avalon Hill Bookcase games off someone on Kijiji for $15 each. These games are from the 1970s and were an attempt to compete with the more popular 3M Bookcase games, and while not as popular, some of them are collectible today. I expect to get between $30-$60 for each of those four games. They won't move fast - they are collectible to a small group of people - but I'll easily make back my initial $60 investment. 

One of those games was King Maker. Now when I was sorting through the game, I noticed that one of the two decks needed to play the game had a duplicate of every card! I have no idea how this happened - maybe they accidentally shipped two sets by accident, or maybe the previous owner had two copies and combined the cards by accident? Anyway, all to say that I had a complete set of one of the decks for the game at no additional cost! Now, everyone knows that once a game loses a part it is often difficult, if not impossible, to play and this is one such game. I figured that being an old game, someone is likely looking for a replacement deck of these cards as opposed to buying a whole new version of the game. I listed it for $5 USD, and it sold in a few weeks. It is a small profit, but one made from no investment and was an easy sale.

Always something to keep in mind. If you can find an old collectible game for sale for cheap, even if it is missing some pieces, it may be worth buying just to flip certain parts of the game that people are looking for.

Who wants used shoes?

Bought: $14.68 Sold: $26.54 Fees: $3.66 Profit: $8.20

When I saw these shoes at VV they jumped out at me - neon yellow Nike running shoes. They looked in pretty good condition, and they had a tag which had the model number and year on it. The price tag was a bit steep, but I figured it was worth a shot. I took them up, cleaned them up a bit, and listed them before heading out to dinner on Friday night. When I came back from dinner they had sold.

So, on the one hand I was glad that they sold, and so fast, but on the other I realized that I had priced them too low. No one needs a used pair of running shoes so badly on a Friday night that they are sitting on eBay looking for them. Someone clearly found these are realized that they were a bargain. So, my mistake is someone else's gain. To be fair, I had no idea what they would sell for, and so it was a learning experience for me. I'll be keeping my eye out for good condition Nikes in the future, and I still made a small profit off it. A lot about this experience is trial and error, and if I can learn from my mistakes and still make money then it's not too bad.

Fisher Price Toy

Bought: $4.50 Sold: $13.15 Fees: $2.31 Profit: $6.34

I didn't have these as a kid, so I was not sure what it was. It is a Fisher Price Music Box Pocket Radio. Essentially it is a wooden box with a plastic cover and a knob. When you turn the knob, it winds up and plays chimes in the tune of the song. Each music box had a different song. This one was Raindrops Keep falling on my Head. It is a pretty basic concept. It is from 1972 though, so it is vintage. 

When I found this, I saw that they sold relatively well on eBay, and figured I would take a chance on it. It was in good condition for its age, and it still worked. I managed to sell it quickly - it was listed for only 3 days, and got my asking price. I didn't make a huge profit, but there isn't a large profit to be made here. At the end of the day, I'm aware of them, know they can sell, and if I can find them again cheap enough I'll for sure grab them. 

My first model car...

Bought: $11.29 Sold: $46.10 Fees: $6.75 Profit: $28.06

This was the first thing I bought with an intention to flip once I decided to try it out (so, after the Meccano sale). I knew that models can be good to flip, but it depends on a lot of things: name brand, scarcity, condition, completeness, and desirability. I, of course, knew none of these. All I had was a box. A BIG box. This box was about a foot by two feet. It was a big model. I figured big had to be better. It was also dated, appeared to be late 80s to me, and it was of a classic car. It seemed like a risk at $9.99 (plus our horrible HST).

Of course there was a fair amount of risk in this. The box was beat up badly, and when I bought it I had no idea if all the pieces were there. I got it home, and while all the instructions were there and what appeared to be all the pieces, I had no way to confirm everything was there. I listed it as such. Worse still - someone had started to build it. By my comparison to the instructions, it looked like they had gotten to step 3 of over a 100. So here I had a BIG box, which was beat to shit, with maybe all the parts, and a started model. I was less than hopeful. I listed it for $45US BIN/OBO, and waited. 

It got the most views of any of my items, and the most watchers. I even got a question asking about shipping cost to France - I guess at the cheapest rate of $75 they were no longer interested. Someone finally made an offer of $35 USD, and I took it. I made a small profit, and got this giant box out of my house. I think I will continue looking out for models, they seem to have some potential. 

August 2015 Recap - First Month!

So it is the end of my first month flipping. Let's see how I did...

I sold 7 items.

I spent $39.29 on those items.
I sold those items for $183.96.
I paid $21.64 in fees to eBay.

I made a profit of $122.03.

Not a bad start. Here is hoping that I can double that in month 2!