Making money sitting on the beaches of Cuba

Robin and I took a much-needed vacation from January 2-9, but thankfully my brother volunteered to manage my eBay store while I was away - essentially coming to get any boxes that sold, labeling them and dropping them at the post office. The hardest part is finding the right box - I really need to work out a better method to my organizational madness. Anyways, it was awfully nice of him, and allowed me to not shut down my store and keeping making sales. And did I ever have a good week! My first sale of 2016 I was sitting in the Ottawa airport waiting for our flight, and throughout the week as I checked my email from Cuba once a day I couldn't believe how much I sold. I think this was my best single week to date. Chris really saved me. So, what did I sell?

Bought: $6.77 Sold: $70.74 Fees: $7.22 Profit: $56.75

The first sale of the year was an Avalon Hill game! These things are such good profit earners, I am almost out of them. I got this one in a VV in Kingston, and it was almost complete - only missing one token. Thankfully it was the 2nd edition of this game, which is rarer and harder to find. So despite the missing piece, I still managed to sell it for a decent amount. I had considered trying to buy the piece online and selling it as complete, I was worried the incompleteness was preventing it from selling, but apparently not. 

Bought: $11.29 Sold: $49.51 Fees: $5.53 Profit: $32.69

This was something I had never heard of it. It is a toy, or rather play set, made by Schleich. Much like Playmobil, the sets are assigned numbers as opposed to names so that it is understood in any language. This one was #42034. and called "Oracle". As far as I can tell it is a mystical play set. I had never heard of this company before, but when I saw this new in box, I looked it up and couldn't believe how much this was selling for. If this was still sealed in box, it would sell for $80-90. This one was completed, but the box had been opened. Chris actually managed to buy another one of these this past week for me at VV, complete but with no box, for only $4. So that should sell, and have a nice profit. Chris did well!

Bought: $7.90 Sold: $212.24 Fees: $20.13 Profit: $184.21

I happened to be in Kanata recently for part of a trial, and at the end of the day I stopped by the Kanata VV, which I rarely get to. I was walking along and I saw a mother pushing a cart with this in it, and the photo doesn't do it justice, but this box was about 3' by 1'. It was massive! I was upset that this mother had beat me to this, but then the child started having a tantrum, and the mom put it back to punish him! I couldn't believe my luck. I quickly grabbed it and got out of the store before she had a chance to look for it again. Thank you children's tantrum! So, while this is Mega Bloks, and not Lego, which would normally have no value. Lego collectors hate any other types of building blocks, and Mega Bloks typically has no resell value, but being Pirates of the Carribbean licensed, this one thankfully did. Not only that, but this set was actually a collection of the three largest sets from this line - there were a number of Pirate of the Carribbean sets. It was about 95% complete. So while it took time to sort through an identify the parts, I knew it would be worth it, and boy was it ever. This was my highest sale to date.

Bought: $3.38 Sold: $38.20 Fees: $4.35 Profit: $30.47

I got this at the same Kanata VV as the last item, and I didn't even look this one up. I saw that it was a board game made by TSR, which was all I had to know to buy it. TSR is the company that made/makes Dungeons and Dragons, and I knew that any board game made by them from the 70's had to be worth money. Sadly, it wasn't complete, but nonetheless it sold for a good price. It would fetch an even higher price had it been complete. I will be on a look out for this again for sure.

Bought: $3.94 Sold: $14.14 Fees: $2.45 Profit: $7.75

This is a Dungeons and Dragon type game called Sword & Sorcery handbook. It was a small price to pay, and while only a small ROI, books are easy to store, and there is value in these. Nothing to exciting here, just an easy sale. 

Bought: $5.00 Sold: $56.59 Fees: $5.97 Profit: $45.62

Diplomacy is an awesome board game - one of my favourite. It is actually now released by Avalon Hill, but this was a really early edition - the 2nd edition - and is quite large (the box is about 2' long) and had wooden pieces. Later versions of the game the box got much smaller and had plastic pieces. Newer versions of this game sell for less, but I knew that someone would pay this price for this set. I got it off someone on Kijiji. They originally were asking for $10, but when I went to get it, they released one piece was missing so only charged me $5. That made it sell for less, for sure, but was still a great profit. 

Bought: $10.00 Sold: $127.34 Fees: $12.08 Profit: $106.26

A woman posted on Kijiji selling three K'nex sets, all unopened. I quickly looked at the pictures, and while two were basic sets that sell for nothing, I noticed this one and knew it sold for a lot. She was asking for $10 for all three, but I really only wanted this one. It sold to someone in Belgium! They paid almost as much for shipping as for the item. Fingers crossed it arrives with no problem. This is my second sale to Belgium - and both have been expensive items. Fingers crossed it all works out.

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $16.98 Fees: $2.48 Profit: $14.50

This is a trade paperback (graphic novel) collecting 6 comics from a Star Wars comic. I have sold a bunch of these last month, and got them all from VV. I already made my money back last month, so this one was pure profit. 

Bought: $4.56 Sold: $35.36 Fees: $3.96 Profit: $26.84

Settlers of Catan is a very popular board game. This is a card game version of it, for travelling. It is out of print, and hard to find. The hard part about selling this is that I don't think people know it exists, and simply searching Settlers of Catan brings up 100s of search results, but it finally sold. 

Bought: $4.73 Sold: $21.21 Fees: $2.74 Profit: $13.74

This is a foot pedal for a Singer sewing machine. I have no way to test it out, but I'm hoping it works. It is a pretty basic item, so not sure how it could not work. I often see Singer sewing stuff at VV, and usually get it. They have a good resale value. This is the first Singer thing I've sold, but I have a number of other things to list.

Bought: $3.15 Sold: $21.21 Fees: $2.77 Profit: $15.29

This is a mouse, nothing fancy about it. It is not a gaming mouse, but has some extra buttons and a bit more specific than a normal mouse. It has a good name, Logitech, and was in good condition. Was likely purchased by someone who had the same mouse and liked it. Mice are always something to keep an eye out for. They sell cheaply and some, whether gaming or just fancy, do resell well.

So, at the end of the week...

I made a profit of $534.12. Which is by far my best week to date. I am paying Chris 10% of that for his hard work and help. Even are reducing that, it was a great week. Just another reason why I love this hobby. I made money sitting on the beach in Cuba. What more could you want?