Panasonic CD Player

Bought: $4.51 Sold: $35.00 Fees: $3.37 Profit: $27.12

Chris' 5% Commission: $1.36

Another CD player. While not Sony, Panasonic Shockwave sells pretty well as well. This one is all metal, which I guess makes it more desirable. 

The Great Game of Canada

Bought: $4.51 Sold: $60.00 Fees: $11.49 Profit: $44.00

Chris' 5% Commission: $2.20

Chris picked up this vintage game about Canada at VV. There were none on eBay, but when I searched the game on BoardGameGeek (BGG), a website dedicated to board games, I saw that a number of people had posted saying they were interested in buying it. I messaged the most recent poster, but never heard back. All of the accounts that posted that they wanted to buy it created their account on the same day the posted and never logged in again - so clearly people were looking for the game, couldn't find it, posted there hoping someone would contact them, and then never logged in again to check. I had Chris posted it for me on BGG in the marketplace, since I didn't have an active account at the time, and someone contacted him to buy it. I had it listed for $45 + $15 shipping, but shipping was less, so just combined the total in the price. Overall, not a bad profit, and BGG fees are much lower than eBay. I think in the future I'll try cross-listing my board games on both eBay and BGG.

Flipping Experiment #2: Online Auction

July 31st - Two Mr. Dressup buttons

Sold for: $9.98 Fees: $2.06

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $47.83

In the pin lot was two of these buttons, and I listed them both for $5, and someone bought both. A nice easy $10, and with this sale the pin lot is only a few dollars short of the Royalty trinket lot as the most profitable from this auction. Overall, in this first month I've sold over $200 worth of stuff from this auction, and only paid  $120 for the item, so I'm well into the black in the first month with a lot more to sell. So far this experiment has been pretty successful. 

The Numbers:

Initial Overall Cost: $118.10

Number of items sold in July: 14

Number of items sold overall: 14

Gross Profit for July: $234.85

Fees to eBay: $32.39

Net Profit for July: $202.46

Net Overall Profit: $84.36

This past weekend I went to a friend's cottage in Cornwall, and I found an online auction that had the pickup in Cornwall the same day. Knowing that I was going to be there anyways, I looked to see if anything in the auction caught my interest. I saw a gorgeous barrister's bookcase that I wanted to buy for myself, which I won and now sits in my office, but decided to see if there were any lots I could buy to resell. I ended up buying 5 lots of items. Since the lots all have multiple items in them, I'm going to keep track in one monthly post that I update as necessary.

The five lots are: 

A lot of pins, which I paid $6.22 for.

A lot of vintage perfume bottles, which I paid $31.08 for.

 A lot of Royalty trinkets, which I paid $31.08 for.

A lot of letter openers, which I paid $24.86 for.

A lot of books and magazines, which I paid $24.86 for.

I've sorted all the lots into what I think should sell, and donated the garbage. I've listed almost everything except the lot pins. Now we wait to see what sells.

July 14th - 7 Canadian Junior Red Cross Pins

Sold for: $34.99 Fees: $4.85

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: $24.90

This was 7 Canadian Junior Red Cross pins. These were given out to students in schools in Canada from the 1950's to the 1980's for various activities related to healthy living. It took me a while to figure out what these were, and once I did I couldn't find any on eBay. I listed them for $40, and took a best offer of $35. They sold in an under a day, which may suggest I priced it too low, but I'm with $35, and in the first day of being listed this lot has already made back it's investment and I'm up $25.

July 14th - 1959 Royal Visit Pin

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $2.07

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: -$5.24

Another of the items from the royalty trinket lot sold within 24 hours. This is a vintage pin from the 1959 royal visit of Queen Elizabeth in Cornwall for the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Two items from this lot sold and almost recouped my investment. 

July 14th - Royal Cypher Costume Jewelry Pin

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $2.07

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: -$18.16

This is a vintage lapel pin featuring the Royal Cypher (ER) for Queen Elizabeth with some fake jewels. This sold within 24 hours of posting, so maybe I listed it too much, but there were not a lot of comparables to gauge a listing price off of. That being said, I made back half my investment on this lot with my first sale so I'm happy with it.

July 17 - Three Save the Children Pins

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $1.55

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $10.66

This lot of three pins sold within hours of being posted. These are three pins from the Save the Children campaign. I remember it being much more popular in the 90's, but apparently it's still around.

July 17 - OPP Canine Unit Pin

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $1.55

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $2.22

One of the lots I purchased was a large lot of pins for $5 (plus tax). I knew that if even one pin in there sold for a good price I would break even. I listed about 20 pins last night, and this was the first one to sell, and in my opinion was the best pin in the lot - a nice OPP Canine Unit pin. It sold in less than three hours. I guess I could have asked a bit more, but I'm happy that the first pin sold paid for the whole lot and gave me a profit. The rest now is all gravy.

July 18th - Holland America Westerdam Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $14.61

This is a pin from a cruise ship, the Westerdam, of the Holland America line. I've actually been on this ship, and I'm sure I have a copy of this pin somewhere. My uncle is a captain for Holland America, and my aunt used to work for them too. I didn't realise people actually want these pins. Anyways, this was a quick sale, and the pin lot is starting to look like it might be the most profitable.

July 19 - Rotary International Montreal Convention Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $18.56

The collection had a number of Rotary International pins, the owner must have been a relativity active member. This was a pin for a convention that was held in Montreal in 2010. It sold to someone in Georgia. So far the pin lot is selling the most items, but has yet to make the profit of the Royalty lot.

July 20th - Lot of 62 Issues of Scotiabank Hockey College News

Sold for: $74.99 Fees: $9.05

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $24.86 Profit on this lot to date: $41.08

One of the reasons I bought the book lot, aside from it only being $20, was that there was a stack of magazines but I couldn't tell what they were and I was curious. It turned out they were a contract bridge magazine and worthless, but there was this stack of magazines that I couldn't see in the photos. It was 6 volumes (1977-1982) of issues of this hockey news magazine. It was in great shape and had every issue in those 6 years except for one. 3 of the covers featured Wayne Gretzky early in his career. I did an auction for this hoping that there would be more than one person interested, but it only got one bid in the last 30 seconds. That being said, it sold in a week for a very good price. I made back my investment on this lot and made a profit on it with this one sale. I didn't find much else in the book lot, just some ephemera, so this will be the biggest sale from this lot but I'm fine with that. Also, I've made back my entire investment and am at a profit for this auction. In just over a week with only 8 sales I've back in the black, and still have a lot of stuff to sell. I'm glad I made this investment, it already paid off, and I'm hoping it will continue to make me money.

July 23rd - Two Rotary International State Pins

Sold for: $19.98 Fees: $2.58

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $35.96

The lot had a number of Rotary International pins, she was clearly a member. I knew these two would sell, both of them are in the shape of states and are District pins. Someone bought them both This pin lot continues to be quite profitable, and I am confident it will end up making the most money.

July 24th - 1993 £5 Coin Queen Elizabeth II Coronation

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $0.90

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: $33.99

This was one of the items in the Royalty trinket lot - a commemorative £5 coin celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Queen's coronation. This is legal tender and I considered just getting a bank to exchange it, but since £5 is worth around $8.15 CDN right now, I figured I would see if I could sell it for more, and I did! It sold for $9.09 after fees, so made almost a dollar more!

July 25th - Souvenir Pin

Sold for: $4.99 Fees: $1.04

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $6.22 Profit on this lot to date: $39.91

Another of the pins from the pin lot sold, this one a souvenir pin from a tourist trap in New York. It's a nice looking pin, but not one I would have thought would sell so quickly. The pin lot is only one sale away from being the most profitable lot I got at this auction.

July 28th - Royal Visit 1984 Bottle Opener

Sold for: $19.99 Fees: $2.59

Initial Cost for this item's lot: $31.08 Profit on this lot to date: $51.39

Another Royalty trinket, this one is a bottle opener from the 1984 Royal Visit. This lot is so far leading as the most profitable, but I still expect the pin lot to eventually take over.

Clue Museum Caper

Bought: $9.03 Sold: $30.00 Fees: $0.00 Profit: $20.97

This is a board game that tends to sell well. This one was almost complete, but was missing a few pieces. I am not sure why I paid so much for this, it doesn't leave a lot of meat on the bone. Thankfully I was contacted by someone who lived close and wanted to do local pickup, and so avoided eBay fees which provided me with a bit more profit.

Crokinole Board

Bought: $21.29 Sold: $55.00 Fees: $7.81 Profit: $25.90

Chris told me that Crokinole board apparently sells pretty well, especially to the US since it is a Canadian game. I've been keeping my eye out and found this one on Kijiji for $10, although with no pieces. I bought a bag of new pieces for $10 to complete it. I was hoping to get $75, but this guy keep making offers and finally just decided to take the sale. It's only off to Toronto, not even the US. This was a really basic board, and was a bit beaten up. I think in the future I will stick with more high-end boards, as the shipping to the US is so expensive the price of the board needs to justify it.

Replacement Cards for Up The Creek

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $9.99 Fees: $2.56 Profit: $7.43

I had a copy of the board game Up the Creek that sold last year sometime. When I was counting the cards in the game I realized there was nearly two complete sets of cards. I took out the extra and listed them separately. I honestly never expected them to sell, but they were free and there was no reason not to try. I am shocked they sold, but it's free money so I'm not complaining.  

Flipping Experiment #1: Comic and Anime statues, comics and posters - Month #15

July 27th - Danger Girl Dangerous Collection 1-3

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $4.32

This collection of the first three volumes of the Danger Girl trade paperbacks sold. This series is not very popular, and these trades only collect 2 issues each, so they are not that collectible. That being said, it was better to sell all three together for $15 as opposed to trying to sell each for $5. A few more books out of storage.

The Numbers:

Initial Cost: $2,000 

Number of items sold in July: 9

Number of items sold overall: 107

Gross Profit for July: $344.95

Fees to eBay: $67.72

Net Profit for June: $277.23

Net Overall Profit: $3154.88

Chris and I have recouped our initial investment, and each made a profit of $1577.44

July 7th - X-Men Poster

Sold for: $49.99 Fees: $9.65

Another Marvel poster sold, and for a good price. I really wish I had more of these to sell, they have a great ROI.

July 8th - Wildstorm Universe Poster

Sold for: $14.99 Fees: $3.99

This is a massive poster (28" x 87") featuring every character in the Wildstorm comic universe, and signed by every creator. Wildstorm was a indie comic publisher in the 90's that didn't become big, but there must be some fans of it out there. This was our 100th sale from this lot of stuff, and still a lot more to sell. This investment continues to pay off.

July 8th - Lady Death Poster

Sold for: $15.00 Fees: $4.61

This is a poster of Lady Death from Chaos comics. There is a fan base for her comics, although not a large one. I was worried this poster might never sell, so glad to see that it did.

July 9th - Marvel X-men Poster

Sold for: $70.00 Fees: $11.94

Our fourth poster in three days, not bad. This was my favorite poster of the lot we had - Emma Frost, the White Queen. I couldn't find this poster anywhere online, so posted it high at $100, and took best offer of $70.

July 16 - Witchblade Figure

Sold for: $99.99 Fees: $15.51

We finally sold another figure, and a $100 one at that! This one features Witchblade, a figure from an independent press and while not necessarily mainstream, she has her fans.

July 17 - Spawn & Angela Poster

Sold for: $25.00 Fees: $5.61

July has been popular for posters, and I'm glad to see them go! This is a poster of Spawn and Angela from Image Comics. Angela has an interesting history, and was the subject of a lengthy legal battle which ended last year and the creator got full rights to her and moved her from Image comics to Marvel comics where she is now the long-lost sister of Thor of Loki. That being said, this poster is from the 90's back when she was still under Image's creative control.

July 23rd - Bleach Anime Wall Scroll

Sold for: $45.00 Fees: $8.74

In addition to all the posters, there were four wall scrolls. These are quite common for anime shows and movies - I'm not quite sure why. These are quite large (42" x 31"), and are expensive to ship. They are all over a decade old, and so the patterns are all retired. The problem with wall scrolls is that China produces 100s for all anime and sells them really cheap, so these will take a long time to sell. I listed them high and was intending to take offers. This was the first offer I got on this one and it was a reasonable offer, and I am just glad to get one of these out of storage!

July 24th - Avengers Disassembled Trade

Sold for: $9.99 Fees: $3.35

Finally one of the trade paperbacks sold. We only have a few of these, but they will take forever to sell. The problem with trade paperbacks is that they are produced en mass and usually sell for $15-20 new, so there isn't much of a secondary market. Also they tend to collect only 5 or 6 issues, so people often want larger collections. I'm very glad to see one sell.

Commissioned Sale: McDonald's Pin

Sale Price: $14.99 Fees:$3.91 Profit: $11.08

My 30% cut of the Profit: $3.32

This was a really interesting McDonald's pin. It is from Germany and reads "I will do my best" in German. I was surprised it hadn't sold before now, since I think it is one of the more interesting ones I have for sale. 

Vintage Air Canada Playing Card

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $7.49 Fees: $1.66 Profit: $5.83

This was the last vintage Air Canada Playing car set that I had. These sold relatively well, and were easy to store, list and mail. 

Nerf Zombie Strike Kit

Bought: $3.15 Sold: $38.99 Fees: $5.31 Profit: $30.53

This is a new in box Nerf Zombie Strike kit. I purchased this in the fall of 2015 and it just sold - it took almost 2 years. It wasn't very expensive, I knew that Nerf sells, and this is part of the "list it and forget it" mentality that I try to use - everything will sell eventually if you wait long enough. This took up very little space in my storage, and sold for a good price. 

Junk Bag Find - Canadian Ski Patrol Key Chain

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $1.04 Profit: $3.95

This was another find in a junk bag. It is a key chain from 1991 celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Sky Patrol. the key chain had a lot of wear, it had clearly been used for years, but it still sold in less than a week. When I pay a toonie for a junk bag and find a handful of things to sell it's a pretty good deal. This bag so far gave me this key chain and the three Redblacks pins, so I'm already up $20. It's not a huge profit, but they are easy to list, store and mail, and it increases the size of my store thereby helping increase the visibility of my other items. 

Commissioned Sale: 3 McDonald's Pins

Sale Price: $19.97 Fees:$7.63 Profit: $12.34

My 30% cut of the Profit: $3.70

The same buyer purchased all three of the McDonald's pins. Always nice to be able to sell a number of pins together, makes it easier to mail. 

1981 Ottawa Rough Riders Grey Cup Ribbon

Bought: $4.51 Sold: $25.00 Fees: $3.93 Profit: $16.56

Chris' 5% Commission: $0.82

This is a button and ribbon from the 1981 Grey Cup. I figured there had to be a CFL collector out there who wanted this, but it said for months with no interest. Today was the first offer I'd received on it, and while lower than I expected, I was glad to make the sale.

Two Small Harry Potter Games

Bought: $4.51 Sold: $19.99 Fees: $3.25 Profit: $12.23

Chris picked these two Harry Potter games up in a hanging baggie at VV, which also included some Harry Potter TCG cards that he wanted and kept. While Harry Potter stuff can often sell well, neither of these are apparently in high demand, so I listed them together to try and entice a sale. Not a huge profit, but Chris is happy because he got his cards for free and I still made a small profit. 

Vintage Irish Pony Club pin

Bought: $2.36 Sold: $9.99 Fees: $1.34 Profit: $6.29

This pin came from a baggie of pins at VV, and the sale of this one pin paid for the whole bag and still made a profit. I love how easy pins are to list, store, ship and the fact that they sell pretty consistently. If only I could find a cheap place to buy vintage pins in large amounts, I'd be content to sell nothing else. 

Why I have the best Fiancee

I'm currently on vacation in Vermont with my family, but unfortunately Robin was unable to come. She was graciously agreed to ship packages for me, and is only taking 40% of my profits as her commission, which she says is quite reasonable. So while I am saddened that she is not with me for the week, I am grateful for her help in ensuring that I don't need to close my eBay store.

Robin's profits to date: $63.94

The Big Game Book

Bought: $3.38 Sold: $44.99 Fees: $6.48 Profit: $35.13

Chris' 5% Commission: $1.76

This is a GIANT book of games, or more accurately, it is a book that forms multiple game boards that can be played with a dice and some tokens. The book measures 2 feet by 1 foot. It is massive. Chris bought it without asking me, which is unusual for him. He was sure it would sell. He thinks we had it as children, but I have no memory of it. There were none on eBay, and I was considered the cost of shipping something this large would be astronomical - well, it would be to the states. I listed it for a high price I thought, but someone bought it at full asking and it is off to BC - across the country! I hope it makes there without getting bent. 

Batman Statue

Bought: $6.78 Sold: $25.00 Fees: $3.81 Profit: $14.41

Chris' 5% Commission: $0.72

This is a Batman Statue that came with the special edition release of the PS3 Game Arkham City. It's a nice statue on it's own right. I was asking for more, but got a best offer and it was late at night and I felt generous. It's still a sale and moving inventory is always good.

Commissioned Sale: McDonald's Pin

Sale Price: $9.99 Fees:$3.21 Profit: $6.78

My 30% cut of the Profit: $2.03

Another McDonald's pin sold, this one just featuring the golden arches. 

Junk Bag Find - The Last Redblacks Rnation pin

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $14.99 Fees: $2.07 Profit: $12.92

After the first two sold so quickly yesterday I increased the price on this last one to $15 and it still sold overnight. All three sold in less than 12 hours! Clearly I listed them too cheaply. That being said, I got them for next to nothing in a bag of junk so it's all profit, but I could have made so much more. I'll be keeping an eye out for Redblacks stuff in the future!

Junk Bag Find - Another Redblacks RNation Pin

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $1.04 Profit: $3.95

A second of these pins sold within an hour of the other one. I guess I priced them too low. I didn't think they were that unique. To be fair, I can't find them online anywhere, but I really didn't think they were anything special. I'm guessing these were given out for free to fans - maybe even at the Grey Cup. There are probably 1000s of these across Ottawa, but I guess people outside of Ottawa want them? Anyways, this one is off to Regina. I've increased the price on the last one, hopefully it sells for the higher price.

Junk Bag Find - Redblacks RNation Pin

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $1.04 Profit: $3.95

Value Village often has these hanging bags at the front of their stores for $1.99. They are giant baggies just stuffed with junk. Oftentimes they have VV price tags on the items, because they sat for sale for weeks and when no one bought them they threw them in a bag. I've recently started buying these bags as long as I can see one thing in it worth reselling. Robin hates me buying these, because she thinks it's all junk and I throw 99% of the bag's contents away. But it's fun to see what it will contain, and so far I have always found enough to resell to make back my profit. I bought three bags this week, and one of them contained three of these Redblacks RNation pins. This first one sold within 2 hours of posting and easily paid for the bag. These aren't huge sales, but they increase my number of listings, increase my sales, take up little room, are easy to ship and are not a big investment risk to buy. 

Dinosaur Stamps

Bought: $0.00 Sold: $4.99 Fees: $0.77 Profit: $4.22

I picked up a stamp album to sell, and inside it was an envelope with some stamps including this package of dinosaur stamps from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It was free, so figured I'd list it, and was a bit shocked to see that collectible stamps don't all sell for that much. That being said, it sold and it's all free money so I'll take it.

Heye 2000 Piece Puzzle

Bought: $5.64 Sold: $29.99 Fees: $4.67 Profit: $19.68

This is a Heye Puzzle (the puzzle that comes in a triangular box), which I've read sell well. I know I've said I'll never buy puzzles again, but this one had all the pieces still sealed in their plastic bag so I knew it was complete. Sold pretty quickly. Not a huge profit, still not sure puzzles are worth it even if sealed.

Colonial Diplomacy Board Game

Bought: $4.51 Sold: $115.00 Fees: $13.13 Profit: $97.36

Chris' 10% Commission: $9.74

This is a board game that Chris picked up at VV. It is a variation of a classic board game called "Diplomacy," providing a new setting. It was not overly popular at the time, especially not compared to the original, and did not sell well. That being said, it's desirable now to fans of the original as something different. There were none on eBay so I listed it at $150, and got a reasonable offer of $115, which I took. I could help probably held out for more,but the number of people looking for this game is probably quite low, and I need as much money as I can to pay for the wedding, so I'll take what I can get. It's still a great ROI.

Swatch Friandise GE159

Bought: $11.29 Sold: $37.00 Fees: $5.18 Profit: $20.53

Chris' 5% Commission: $1.03

It's been a while since a Swatch sold, but always glad to see when they do. I didn't make a huge profit on this one. It is often hard to find a specific Swatch and determine its price online when looking in store, so often have to take a risk and hope you'll make a profit. This one cost me a lot for what it was worth, and had I known it would only sell for $37 I likely wouldn't have bough it, but still made a profit.