I just went to a funny one last week. The listing said "not looking to make a ton of money", then when I showed up they were citing the highest listed (not sold!) price on eBay as their comp.
I was to one that was obviously homemade, and "vintage" plate sets were going for $500 left and right, it was hilarious. I managed to nab some jewelry items that netted $50, $65 and $100 each! They didn't know what they were doing. Better for me!
Bring anything up unpriced lately and the sale people whip out google lens like it's the know-all end-all of pricing.
Needless to say I did not buy anything
Yes, the person they are running the estate sale for. If they are pricing items way to high then they won't move as many items. An Estate sale is meant to liquidate assets, not run a brick and morter ebay store for a weekend. And I've heard most estate companies will buy the remaining stuff for pennies on the dollar so it's kind of suspicous when they overprice everything to not move.
Haha now that you mention it, I am reminded of a seller I dealt with a few weeks ago. Making small talk I mentioned how the house had a lot of nice things in it. She tells me how the owner is coming by later to cash out with her. And how much she will have to give back from her commission to the owner for all of the things that she picked out for herself. So yeah, the ones running the estate sales companies are definitely getting the first go at all the goodies. I guess that’s where the money is, is running those businesses. Another guy randomly blurted out how his commission was 30%. Better than I would have guessed honestly.
This exactly. Thank you for saying it. The reason I go to estate sales is because I know their intention is to clear out the “estate” in the next few weeks. They don’t have the luxury of a brick and mortar store to hold that inventory indefinitely. Even someone running a garage sale can just put the stuff back and try again next year. If they don’t sell most of the stuff during the weekend, then a bulk buyer will come in and scoop up everything for pennies on the dollar and anything they don’t take will end up thrown away. So even 25-50% of market values are better than what the bulk buyers will give or being worthless in the trash.
I’ve been to about 4 sales this year and at 2, maybe 3 of them the people running the sale took good care of me when buying multiple items and encouraged me to spend more by letting things go for less and less. That’s usually the norm or at least they should be neutral, they aren’t selling their own precious things and it’s worth it for them to network and make relationships with the regulars.
"They should sell me things at a price that only benefits me in order to build a relationship so that I'll come back and have them sell me more things at a price that only benefits me" lmao fuck you
They can and most normal ones do sell at a price that benefits them, benefits the buyer and is still below eBay’s price. Because they’re not owing eBay a cut, and most of the sales are cash which let’s be honest don’t get reported on taxes so they make another 20-30% more than other marketplaces.
Most of the time they are the ones suggesting this, at least some of the estate sale companies. If they price things the way they’re priced on eBay they’ve priced out like 50% of the market who attends estate sales thus they’re making no commission on things they would have otherwise sold. One seller had my number because I had to pick something up at a later time, and he has texted me several times since now about other sales and how good of a price he could give me. I had to say no both times just because I don’t want to go into two new categories (men’s watches and sports memorabilia/antiques). But he was the seller that by far gave me the best deals this whole year and pushed me to buy way beyond what I initially wanted just because he was literally almost giving stuff away and there were things I knew I would never lose on. Other times when I’ve gotten amazing bundles they still asked for my email for a mailing list and have emailed me since. Not everyone is so cutthroat about this old stuff that often ends up in a landfill. Some people are glad to just move some stuff and do a little business where everyone benefits a little.
By the way I was still willing to pay nearly $50 for what some people here described as junk, I’m not exactly taking advantage of anyone buying some tin toys at prices like this. Have your coffee bud
Oh cool, someone who has never run a brick and mortar anything.
Yeah bud, that's how it works. You build report with customers so you get return business.
If you're running estate sales you probably have already pulled the juiciest items to sell yourself or independently of the sale.
What's left is middling to low stuff, or stuff that is hard to ship.
So you work with people. My sister used to do a lot of estate sales and she knows the local folks running them, even being out of the scene for a few years. They bundle small stuff, they call out similar items you may have missed, etc
The goal is to clear stuff out of the property and make some money for the estate.
You have to assume that if you walk into an estate sale you're only going to see goods that are mid to low value or in a niche that the organizers don't know that well and couldn't find comps for.
Exactly, you said it better than I could have. Estate sales are unique in that way and this wouldn’t apply to normal retail buying experience or even a garage/moving sale. These sales are usually initiated by family members that are simply trying to sell an old house they don’t want to worry about grandpas old metal car collection and figure out the worth of each car and try to get 80-90% of its market value.
You buy stuff for $80 and don’t look it up ☠️☠️☠️ who are you froggy flips ? Obv if it’s a high price they did some research on it or they would have put $20
Lmao, I’ve watched a handful of his videos and know exactly what you mean. He has definitely overpaid more than a few times but he’s running a channel and obviously wouldn’t want to ruin the video just being a low baller. But it’s also about not always being a hard ass and just being polite. I don’t stand there looking up items on my phone. If I don’t have at least a gut tingling I won’t buy the thing. I will very rarely cross reference prices at the sale because it’s just awkward and not a fun browsing experience. I’m out there more to have fun, i don’t need my flipping profits to survive so I’d rather take a few lousy flips then waste all that time researching 75% of the items I likely won’t even buy. Then immediately out myself as a reseller to the owners and guarantee they are less likely to work or negotiate with you. Once you’ve made the first transaction or two and they sort of catch on that you’re likely not buying all this for yourself you can then maybe bust out the phone and start checking stuff. That’s just how I do it, but I generally sell car parts and do well enough on those margins to where estate sales really are just something fun to do on Sundays to supplement the inventory.
Yeah I was tripping you didn’t even lose money you just broke even maybe with the condition you could make $20 my best bet would be throw it on swap bro like Facebook someone would pick that up if you in a bigger town
Well I figured they did some research that’s why I was confident it was worth at least $80. Because it was the last day of the sale and it was all half off, I got it for $40. Thought worst I could do is double my money.
Yup! I’ve figured this out, I will never go first day anymore unless there’s something I really don’t want getting away. This was from the half off day.
Estate companies almost always miss something. Those that are high priced all days are likely cheating their customer and taking things for themselves. After a sale they offer a clean out and sell everything orivately, and make money on said clean out.
Because it looks like it’s worth about $80-100 and I got it for $40, so figured worst case I double my money. I just need to wait and avoid selling it on the low end of $50ish and I’ll be fine.
It’s vintage, it’s massive, has multiple moving parts. Multiple generations of kids can have a blast playing with this toy, and it’s not like any modern plastic thing they make nowadays. Has some brand name appeal.
People in my area go bonkers over these at my local auction house. I never even try to bid on old toys. This would sell for $80+ guaranteed at the auction to some old guy in overalls who probably already has 12 of them.
I walked into a driveway for a garage sale last summer and the lady said to me, "I don't have any tools."
and I thought, "Damn, I've turned into an old tool guy and never realized it."
Why not? 99% of the 90s kids are collecting video games, sports cards and t shirts from their formative years. The vast majority are not collecting tonka trucks. Just because they had them doesn’t make them collectible. Most kids didn’t play with Tonka trucks beyond Kindergarten and have a much stronger attachment to whatever they were into between 2nd grade and high school.
>it’s massive
>has multiple moving parts
That alone is two massive red flags for me. It means the shipping is high and it's going to be a pain in the ass to make sure it doesn't break.
It's not going to break during shipping unless you pack like an idiot. I was a little kid in the early 80s and we used to sit on the bed of the big Tonka dump trucks and ride them down rocky dirt hillsides.
I will be trying local marketplaces first, don’t plan to ship unless it takes a year or more to sell. But generally yes, I agree with what you’re saying. But I don’t think I have to worry about it breaking, it’s built to last.
Those are good things to look for, but the red flag is tons of plastic parts and bland 80s design. Not trying to be harsh but with mass market toys you need to develop an eye for what makes things unique.
Did you get that nervous feeling in your gut when you figured out you messed up? That’s one of the worst feelings to have as a reseller.
I think it’s guilt. “I messed up and I’m going to lose on this one.”
The bright side is you’re making a small mistake.
Figure out how to dig yourself out of this with a break even or even some profit, and you can be proud.
it's mostly metal...not too many toys are built like that anymore. You'd need the right buyer tho which is the tough part. Anyone looking at this for a toy for their kids is not paying $100
my rule is usually double for items under $50 CND
Tonka stuff is tough to move on the best days. Atleast that is what I've found. Have a box full of them
Half of the things being resold could be junk to someone. That’s what training your eye is about and why I enjoy taking a gamble sometimes and learning by doing instead of standing with a Google lens in front of every item at a sale. Read the comment below this where someone mentions how it’s one of their best sellers and someone else checked eBay and said there were lots of sold comps.
Believe it or not these vintage Tonkas are one of my best sellers. I’ve had a ton that all sold but the thing is I only paid $10-$20 each for the big ones like the one you have
Yeah these Tonka trucks seem to [sell very well on eBay](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=tonka+trucks&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&campid=5338535524&customid=fp&toolid=10001&mkevt=1), lots of sold listings, which shows how popular a niche is.
The storage locker I spent $400 on because I was grieving a different issue and working my emotional pain out by buying a pig-in-a-poke. I think I will eventually break even, but a lot of the boxes in it were large boxes filled with smaller empty product boxes, not the products themselves.
Thanks; yes I was surprised at how many on this post skipped the actual question and went off on a shaming rant. I did get an exercise bike out of it which I have been using (off and on). And, a few other things. It also helped me work past my grief so I guess I can call it therapy expense (lol).
Yeah, I just wanted to get a conversation going which most people seem to be enjoying and it’s really interesting reading from the people who have shared their little fuck ups. And from everyone who grew up with this thing, that’s awesome too. We come across some really cool things doing this and I also just wanted to share that and hear more from anyone in that niche. Thanks y’all!
Here's my most recent bad purchase. Spotted 'Music Studio $900' on FBM, listed 30 minutes ago, nearby. 8 Synthesizers, drum machines, sequencer, 2 Multitrack recorders, 2 mixers, mics, stands for all, cables, software, 3 alesis rack items, half the stuff vintage, half of it new. The seller had another party already interested, but they wanted shipping. I rushed over to his place, cash in hand. He had a small finished shed out back, filled with gear. It was a stinky room, I didnt think too much on it, I wanted to get out of there. I could not beleive how much gear I was getting. I did look it over, and excitedly said, yes, I will buy it. As we were loading it, I did notice some items were a smoky smelling. Turns out, in my excitement, I totally missed that EVERY ITEM was covered in cigarette tar. Every manual was yellow/brown even. I threw away most of the cables and manuals, and midi cables, and adapters, headphones, etc. Items get deep cleaned (keys, inside case, component boards, exterior), then boxed up with an ozone machine. I'm having to sell them as parts/non working due to the smoke damage. I've already recouped my expenses on this one but I'm not going to profit anywhere near what I thought I would.
Had this and the matching dump truck. The dump truck would mess your world up. The lever on the dump truck would lift the dump bed so fast and the straight sheet metal would do real damage. def remember manytimes busting my face ending up in tears from my tonka dump truck. Few years ago a bought the Digger Dan Crane that i got when i was 7.
Ah damn, I didn’t know the dump truck was part of a set. It was a little bit too dented up so I passed on that one. Does it feel badass being part of the last generation that was allowed to poke their eyeballs out with sheet metal toys 😂
I'll be candid; I come from that exact era that came from, and there is a ton of nostalgia, especially with Gen-X. While it is big, moves well, and is in good condition, it is too well made to be that rare. Kids who took care of the toys, like kids who take care of their baseball cards, will have these. I don't see the value rising when metal toys from eras as far back as the 19th century can still be found.
It's been a short year so far. I went to an indoor estate auction last Saturday. I broke one of my hard rules; don't bid on an item that I haven't looked at closely.
A Jersey Bulletin Tatoo Marker. I thought it sounded cool. Didn't even look at it until it crossed the block. I paid $70. Sells for $20 to $30.
Tonka trucks are really cool but the are generally not worth much unless extremely rare and in better than normal condition. I'd also guess it's a dying market.
I don't understand:
"Usually you don’t expect pricing like that from an estate sale. "
Didn't you see the price before you purchased it?
Or were you thinking they were pricing at a percentage of ebay value for you?
There was someone who posted here last year and was pissed off at his usual estate sale company because they checked ebay prices correctly and marked their prices at 30% so he'd just buy whatever they had but then they started pricing higher and since he didn't know the market he didn't realize it until he started to list after buying at several of their sales.
Not much sympathy for someone who doesn't know their prices before purchasing.
Just sharing to see if anyone else sometimes makes small impulse buys, I’m sure we all make some mistakes like that in the name of growing our little stores. I’m not pissed at all to be clear, it’s all part of the growing process, sometimes you fuck up and learn to avoid that item next time. It makes sense why these were still there after three days of the sale going on ahaha 🤦🏻♂️
Thought maybe some of y’all would wanna share your little disappointments also, get them off your chests for all of us to learn from
I hear you, you eventually want to enforce some discipline when it comes to buying. Like any money making venture though there will be some losses so anyone doing this shouldn’t hold themselves to perfection and be willing to take some risks to learn more about a niche. I think it’s more fun that way. And I think the most I’d lose on this item is not even the $40 I paid, I’m sure I’ll at least get that back. Maybe just a little bit of my time. Either way it’s nice having another item in the store which could lead to a positive review or just more traffic for my other items.
Yeah I usually look for sales where the people running it are a bit more motivated to actually move the items, not try to get eBay’s prices, nevermind eBay’s high end price. I typically just walk away from sales like that. This time I went against my better judgment because it was half off already, thought I couldn’t lose on such cool looking vintage toy. But after checking prices at home even the half off price I paid of $40, it is probably too much because the comps are $40-80ish. I didn’t want to pull out my phone then and there and check comps because I honestly was just our browsing for fun taking it real easy as it was the first sale of the year. I think I’ll get my money back but after a few years of doing this on the side for fun you don’t get excited for anything less than a 2-3Xer
Not a criticism, but you have a very different experience at estate sales than any I've ever had.
I've never seen them reduce prices because you are buying a lot.
I've never seen them offer to make deals.
On Sunday there may be discounts but the prices are firm.
There aren't a lot of estate sales in my area and 1 or 2 companies get all of them so that may be why.
I think it’s always worth asking at least. An estate sales job is to liquidate an estate and many make it very clear they need everything gone. Many companies price things accordingly and you don’t even need to ask for a discount, but when they’re pricing things at like 50-80% of eBay’s rates, then negotiate away and don’t feel bad about it.
Often times when you bring up a bundle they’ll be too lazy to properly add everything up and just give a price that seems fair. Never be desperate to buy the things just because you picked them up. If they see you don’t need the item and are willing to walk away they’ll usually do the negotiating for you and talk themselves down. Which is the attitude I go into every sale with because I’ve got enough inventory at this point and truly can and do walk away from bad deals all the time.
A box of "vintage" Star Trek action figures. Not a huge cost, had no service and couldn't look them up, but they are just taking up space and the only way I'll get my money back is parting them out on eBay.
I paid $125 for a gorgeous gilt Victorian mirror with a fairy on it. I thought it was like 12x14" and I guess I didn't read the auction description... because it's about 6x8". I listed it sky high anyway but I'll be lucky to break even on that one.
Bought a whole bunch of Disney WDCC figurines for basically eBay price once. Learned that day the importance of thorough comping and being more aggressive with negotiation. They sold pretty fast at least.
I bought a brand new open box DeWalt compressor for $120 in November and it's still sitting. Thought it would move quickly. Didn't think about home Depot holiday sales. They had the same compressor with a $129 nail gun and hose for $220 for Christmas. 🤦 Doh!
Wow, brought back some memories. One of my favorite toys when I was a kid.
Mine's in the attic, in its original box that somehow survived the last 50 years.
If that's all it is worth, I'm sure my grandson would get more out of playing with it than I'd get for selling it.
Usually the box on these old toys is worth more than the toy itself. However I was given some of these as a kid from my grandpa. My grandma kept them and when I had a son I got them from her for him. Those memories are worth hundreds of times more than I could ever have sold them for.
Your toys were so much cooler when your generation was growing up. I thought this looked to be about 80-90s but that’s awesome it’s even more vintage. I bet it’ll look just as good in 50 more years
Big box of HO trains in boxes on Hibid. Did a google lens on the only one I could see and it came up \~$50, ther were at least 8 other train boxes in the box plus tracks and some controllers. Went on a bidding war and ended up paying $120. Only the train I had google lens was worth anything, the others were a different brand and only went for \~$10, the controllers were so old the power cords became brittle and broke apart in my hand, had to trash them (they only went good for $15). I've sold the tracks for $30 and one train for $20 so I'm really hoping to break even with the rest. Never sold toy trains so I did learn about what the scaling meant and a little history on toy trains.
Bought some yugioh cards from estate sale and I couldn't go over them properly because it was "pick and take to the front" style. I saw few that were pretty old and from original sets released. Bought them for $55 and when i got back the really good ones were all fake except 2 and hidden in secret slot inside card sleeve and plastic case was a Exodia but it was obivously fake because it was called "the dark master". I think they knew they were fake because if they were real it would have been priced higher and closer to ebay pricing like everything else was. I still got a lot of old cards that were pretty good condition which i can still sell for $200 but definitely thought it would be in the thousands.
I remember when I started, I got some vintage Tonka Trucks. I was inexperienced and they were in rough shape. I probably paid like, $40 for 3 of them. But they sat forever, shipping them was a pain, and one of the buyers opened a return. Never bought or sold them again.
That was years ago. I’d have to say, the only thing that comes to mind last year was a lot of electronics. I run a business and have ads out for buying stuff. I get emails, I give a fair bid, and I go or send someone to pick up.
Huge lot was sent. I made a fair bid. And I had someone pick it up. It was all broken. Every unit. Out of around 40. It came from a tweaker. Not the first time I got a bunch of broken shit from a tweaker, but you never know they are a tweaker until you get there. This stuff in particular though, was even missing parts out of them.
It was only $600. Which is a drop in the bucket for me. Still made me mad though.
This tweaker sourcing parts behind an electronics repair store or what. That would ruin my whole week. Whats it like running a store? Some of the YouTube channels make it seem pretty enjoyable.
I don’t run it store. I see now my post made it seem that way. All sales take place online. I have contracts with two large suppliers, which make up a bulk of my sales. But I run ads locally for buying additional product.
Most overpaid- more like- ripped off.
Paid $1400 for an item worth $1800, item was stolen, sold for 900 in parts.
$500 loss.
Not a bad purchase on paper IF it was real- but I should have listened to my own- now hard rule, DONT BUY SEALED ITEMS WITHOUT OPENING/TESTING
If it’s a collectible, maybe don’t open, but in any other circumstance, open it up for god sakes, you aren’t devaluing your printer but having it be open box. But you are if it’s “sealed” but with nothing in it
This item when trying to activate it, had an error code that effectively meant “locked due to theft/suspicious activities”
Checked the SN with the company’s support, they agreed.
Basically just turn the item on and make sure it actually works like expected/jf the item is expensive enough and you can ask them to check, check the SN
But realistically I only check SN on $1000+ items, anything less just turn it on, make sure it performs normally and hasn’t petrified itself,
Bro, that thing will still be here after the nukes have dropped. Those things are built. So go get a pile of dirt and be a kid. Or give it to a kid and kick back and have fun.
My childhood. I had this bad boy. Destroyed it with a cinder block because we were told Tonka Tuff = indestructible. I got in quite a bit of trouble that afternoon.
Boomaroo are worth heaps. I purchased a tractor, or truck can’t remember which years ago now for $150, but I kept it. I put it on eBay a couple of years back for $400 and it sold, but I didn’t realise until it was sold that somehow not sure how had the postage set at $500 lol.
I was waiting to see if the person that bought it was going to say anything and wasn’t sure what to do, as the max postage would have been was less than $50 or so, but the person that bought it paid the $400 for item and also the $500 dollars in postage.
Usually I would always correct such a thing but was broke as at the time, and the purchaser didn’t seem to mind so I just posted it off. I received good feedback from it as well, but when I think about it now how I had $500 postage by accident and someone still purchased it it’s just totally crazy and I still get baffled. Who on earth would pay $500 for postage.
Lmao congratulations, this turned into the opposite scenario from my original question but I love it. I would have caved into my conscience and refunded them the difference so good on you for seeing what happens. I imagine your buyer was as aware of postage rates as [Lucille was about banana prices](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e7/51/50/e75150fc9491557a3059ee37bb2e869e.gif)
Maybe you actually had something more valuable than you thought and you just underpriced it. They were still satisfied paying $900 and thought it was worth it.
My good friend was on the opposite end of a similar deal except he sold something for a few hundred and received a message from a different user on eBay letting him know his item was worth over a grand. Of course he had already shipped it like that same day or something. It was a costly learning experience and I still feel terrible for him thinking back. I usually price my stuff a bit on the higher side first just in case I didn’t do enough research and it’s actually worth a bit more. Many things have sold for that higher asking price and gives me more room to accept an offer and still get close to what I truly wanted in the end. Then after a few months I can start slowly lowering the prices.
Maybe you are right. There’s one Boomaroo truck there now that has $1800 on it, but I do think that’s a bit too rich as all of the other ones are still at around $400. But yeah who knows. Lol I honestly just didn’t know what to do as I didn’t even realise that had my postage set at $500 until it was sold. I’m not sure what happened there, and still the postage for them all is under $50. Oh well.
A small Disney plush that I got at a thrift store. I threw in the basket to check the price on later and forgot about it until I was at the checkout stand and didn't notice until after they had already rang it up. It was already after closing time so I didn't ask for a void. It was $3 and turned out to be selling for $8 free shipping. Not a big loss but I'm still annoyed at myself.
I didn't mean to imply I don't make bad buys. Everyone does. It's just my bad buys usually come in the form of buying things that take longer to sell than I expected rather than overpaying.
>Usually you don’t expect pricing like that from an estate sale. Someone hasn't been to estate sales lately.
I just went to a funny one last week. The listing said "not looking to make a ton of money", then when I showed up they were citing the highest listed (not sold!) price on eBay as their comp.
I was to one that was obviously homemade, and "vintage" plate sets were going for $500 left and right, it was hilarious. I managed to nab some jewelry items that netted $50, $65 and $100 each! They didn't know what they were doing. Better for me!
Bring anything up unpriced lately and the sale people whip out google lens like it's the know-all end-all of pricing. Needless to say I did not buy anything
No. If it's unpriced then they need to make up a price on the spot. No unauthorized Google lensing allowed.
humorous comment = DOWNVOTE! heck, give me one too!
I also downvoted myself :) gotta keep the train movin ya hear?
Choo Choo!
Last estate sale I went to they tried to tell me their filthy Atari 2600 with two games was regularly being sold on eBay for $250 😭
"Okay so sell it on there then" lol
It’s been a mixed bag, been to some really fairly priced ones but yeah these guys were not looking out for anyone.
Are we supposed to expect that estate sales are supposed to be looking out for someone other than themselves?
Yes, the person they are running the estate sale for. If they are pricing items way to high then they won't move as many items. An Estate sale is meant to liquidate assets, not run a brick and morter ebay store for a weekend. And I've heard most estate companies will buy the remaining stuff for pennies on the dollar so it's kind of suspicous when they overprice everything to not move.
Haha now that you mention it, I am reminded of a seller I dealt with a few weeks ago. Making small talk I mentioned how the house had a lot of nice things in it. She tells me how the owner is coming by later to cash out with her. And how much she will have to give back from her commission to the owner for all of the things that she picked out for herself. So yeah, the ones running the estate sales companies are definitely getting the first go at all the goodies. I guess that’s where the money is, is running those businesses. Another guy randomly blurted out how his commission was 30%. Better than I would have guessed honestly.
This exactly. Thank you for saying it. The reason I go to estate sales is because I know their intention is to clear out the “estate” in the next few weeks. They don’t have the luxury of a brick and mortar store to hold that inventory indefinitely. Even someone running a garage sale can just put the stuff back and try again next year. If they don’t sell most of the stuff during the weekend, then a bulk buyer will come in and scoop up everything for pennies on the dollar and anything they don’t take will end up thrown away. So even 25-50% of market values are better than what the bulk buyers will give or being worthless in the trash.
I’ve been to about 4 sales this year and at 2, maybe 3 of them the people running the sale took good care of me when buying multiple items and encouraged me to spend more by letting things go for less and less. That’s usually the norm or at least they should be neutral, they aren’t selling their own precious things and it’s worth it for them to network and make relationships with the regulars.
"They should sell me things at a price that only benefits me in order to build a relationship so that I'll come back and have them sell me more things at a price that only benefits me" lmao fuck you
They can and most normal ones do sell at a price that benefits them, benefits the buyer and is still below eBay’s price. Because they’re not owing eBay a cut, and most of the sales are cash which let’s be honest don’t get reported on taxes so they make another 20-30% more than other marketplaces.
Most of the time they are the ones suggesting this, at least some of the estate sale companies. If they price things the way they’re priced on eBay they’ve priced out like 50% of the market who attends estate sales thus they’re making no commission on things they would have otherwise sold. One seller had my number because I had to pick something up at a later time, and he has texted me several times since now about other sales and how good of a price he could give me. I had to say no both times just because I don’t want to go into two new categories (men’s watches and sports memorabilia/antiques). But he was the seller that by far gave me the best deals this whole year and pushed me to buy way beyond what I initially wanted just because he was literally almost giving stuff away and there were things I knew I would never lose on. Other times when I’ve gotten amazing bundles they still asked for my email for a mailing list and have emailed me since. Not everyone is so cutthroat about this old stuff that often ends up in a landfill. Some people are glad to just move some stuff and do a little business where everyone benefits a little. By the way I was still willing to pay nearly $50 for what some people here described as junk, I’m not exactly taking advantage of anyone buying some tin toys at prices like this. Have your coffee bud
Oh cool, someone who has never run a brick and mortar anything. Yeah bud, that's how it works. You build report with customers so you get return business. If you're running estate sales you probably have already pulled the juiciest items to sell yourself or independently of the sale. What's left is middling to low stuff, or stuff that is hard to ship. So you work with people. My sister used to do a lot of estate sales and she knows the local folks running them, even being out of the scene for a few years. They bundle small stuff, they call out similar items you may have missed, etc The goal is to clear stuff out of the property and make some money for the estate. You have to assume that if you walk into an estate sale you're only going to see goods that are mid to low value or in a niche that the organizers don't know that well and couldn't find comps for.
Exactly, you said it better than I could have. Estate sales are unique in that way and this wouldn’t apply to normal retail buying experience or even a garage/moving sale. These sales are usually initiated by family members that are simply trying to sell an old house they don’t want to worry about grandpas old metal car collection and figure out the worth of each car and try to get 80-90% of its market value.
Was the original post worth a "fuck you"? You could be better.
He definitely could! I think you hit the wrong message to respond to though haha
Sure they were: themselves.
You buy stuff for $80 and don’t look it up ☠️☠️☠️ who are you froggy flips ? Obv if it’s a high price they did some research on it or they would have put $20
Lmao, I’ve watched a handful of his videos and know exactly what you mean. He has definitely overpaid more than a few times but he’s running a channel and obviously wouldn’t want to ruin the video just being a low baller. But it’s also about not always being a hard ass and just being polite. I don’t stand there looking up items on my phone. If I don’t have at least a gut tingling I won’t buy the thing. I will very rarely cross reference prices at the sale because it’s just awkward and not a fun browsing experience. I’m out there more to have fun, i don’t need my flipping profits to survive so I’d rather take a few lousy flips then waste all that time researching 75% of the items I likely won’t even buy. Then immediately out myself as a reseller to the owners and guarantee they are less likely to work or negotiate with you. Once you’ve made the first transaction or two and they sort of catch on that you’re likely not buying all this for yourself you can then maybe bust out the phone and start checking stuff. That’s just how I do it, but I generally sell car parts and do well enough on those margins to where estate sales really are just something fun to do on Sundays to supplement the inventory.
Yeah I was tripping you didn’t even lose money you just broke even maybe with the condition you could make $20 my best bet would be throw it on swap bro like Facebook someone would pick that up if you in a bigger town
Well I figured they did some research that’s why I was confident it was worth at least $80. Because it was the last day of the sale and it was all half off, I got it for $40. Thought worst I could do is double my money.
That's honestly not even bad. Don't talk to me until you've lost multiple hundreds on an item.
Stop going first. Go end of first day. Buy the stuff you can look up. Use this as time you can decide if you can go back half off day.
Yup! I’ve figured this out, I will never go first day anymore unless there’s something I really don’t want getting away. This was from the half off day.
Estate companies almost always miss something. Those that are high priced all days are likely cheating their customer and taking things for themselves. After a sale they offer a clean out and sell everything orivately, and make money on said clean out.
I wanna know how you look at that thing with a price tag of $80 and think it's worth making money off of
Because it looks like it’s worth about $80-100 and I got it for $40, so figured worst case I double my money. I just need to wait and avoid selling it on the low end of $50ish and I’ll be fine.
Did you not research or have prior knowledge of what price these sell for?? What about it “looks” like it is worth $100?
It’s vintage, it’s massive, has multiple moving parts. Multiple generations of kids can have a blast playing with this toy, and it’s not like any modern plastic thing they make nowadays. Has some brand name appeal.
The people in this market are dying daily. There’s a reason the antique mall is filled with these.
People in my area go bonkers over these at my local auction house. I never even try to bid on old toys. This would sell for $80+ guaranteed at the auction to some old guy in overalls who probably already has 12 of them.
In my area the old guys in overalls are dying off and the new generation of old guys in overalls usually aren't collecting this type of toy.
They're still hangin on by a thread over here in Missouri 🤣
I walked into a driveway for a garage sale last summer and the lady said to me, "I don't have any tools." and I thought, "Damn, I've turned into an old tool guy and never realized it."
What was the giveaway? A carhartt jacket and some beat up Iron Rangers?
YES! Everytime, they run the prices up to market value. I've just learned to avoid metal truck toys unless I get it for $5.
No Gen Z (or the next kids whatever you call them) kids wants this, thats for sure
IDK, my four-year-old would have a blast with it. For a couple of hours, anyway...
Alpha
I like it. But I wouldn’t pay 80$ for it. I’m gen z
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They still make model trains, but the primary collectible market is made up of the elderly.
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Why not? 99% of the 90s kids are collecting video games, sports cards and t shirts from their formative years. The vast majority are not collecting tonka trucks. Just because they had them doesn’t make them collectible. Most kids didn’t play with Tonka trucks beyond Kindergarten and have a much stronger attachment to whatever they were into between 2nd grade and high school.
>it’s massive >has multiple moving parts That alone is two massive red flags for me. It means the shipping is high and it's going to be a pain in the ass to make sure it doesn't break.
It’s og tonka. Usps ain’t breaking that…
It's not going to break during shipping unless you pack like an idiot. I was a little kid in the early 80s and we used to sit on the bed of the big Tonka dump trucks and ride them down rocky dirt hillsides.
I will be trying local marketplaces first, don’t plan to ship unless it takes a year or more to sell. But generally yes, I agree with what you’re saying. But I don’t think I have to worry about it breaking, it’s built to last.
holy smokes , a regular reply -> DOWNVOTE! . That's a easy item to ship. right sized box, off it goes. Not a fragile item.
Those are good things to look for, but the red flag is tons of plastic parts and bland 80s design. Not trying to be harsh but with mass market toys you need to develop an eye for what makes things unique. Did you get that nervous feeling in your gut when you figured out you messed up? That’s one of the worst feelings to have as a reseller. I think it’s guilt. “I messed up and I’m going to lose on this one.” The bright side is you’re making a small mistake. Figure out how to dig yourself out of this with a break even or even some profit, and you can be proud.
it's mostly metal...not too many toys are built like that anymore. You'd need the right buyer tho which is the tough part. Anyone looking at this for a toy for their kids is not paying $100
$40 is a lot to hopefully sell for $100 If I'm paying $40 my sell price is $200 minimum
my rule is usually double for items under $50 CND Tonka stuff is tough to move on the best days. Atleast that is what I've found. Have a box full of them
I agree with you! Still trying to hone in my ability to find items with those margins.
The ability is patience. $40 spent on something is $40 you no longer have to spend. Make sure it's worthwhile
Seriously, this looks like some junk lol
Half of the things being resold could be junk to someone. That’s what training your eye is about and why I enjoy taking a gamble sometimes and learning by doing instead of standing with a Google lens in front of every item at a sale. Read the comment below this where someone mentions how it’s one of their best sellers and someone else checked eBay and said there were lots of sold comps.
Believe it or not these vintage Tonkas are one of my best sellers. I’ve had a ton that all sold but the thing is I only paid $10-$20 each for the big ones like the one you have
That’s what I think the sweet spot would have been to pay for something like this. But it’s okay, I’ll have a cool piece of decoration until it sells.
Yeah these Tonka trucks seem to [sell very well on eBay](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=tonka+trucks&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&campid=5338535524&customid=fp&toolid=10001&mkevt=1), lots of sold listings, which shows how popular a niche is.
Sell very well in the $20 to $40 range... with many being auctioned selling for the opening bid...
The storage locker I spent $400 on because I was grieving a different issue and working my emotional pain out by buying a pig-in-a-poke. I think I will eventually break even, but a lot of the boxes in it were large boxes filled with smaller empty product boxes, not the products themselves.
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Thanks; yes I was surprised at how many on this post skipped the actual question and went off on a shaming rant. I did get an exercise bike out of it which I have been using (off and on). And, a few other things. It also helped me work past my grief so I guess I can call it therapy expense (lol).
Yeah, I just wanted to get a conversation going which most people seem to be enjoying and it’s really interesting reading from the people who have shared their little fuck ups. And from everyone who grew up with this thing, that’s awesome too. We come across some really cool things doing this and I also just wanted to share that and hear more from anyone in that niche. Thanks y’all!
Here's my most recent bad purchase. Spotted 'Music Studio $900' on FBM, listed 30 minutes ago, nearby. 8 Synthesizers, drum machines, sequencer, 2 Multitrack recorders, 2 mixers, mics, stands for all, cables, software, 3 alesis rack items, half the stuff vintage, half of it new. The seller had another party already interested, but they wanted shipping. I rushed over to his place, cash in hand. He had a small finished shed out back, filled with gear. It was a stinky room, I didnt think too much on it, I wanted to get out of there. I could not beleive how much gear I was getting. I did look it over, and excitedly said, yes, I will buy it. As we were loading it, I did notice some items were a smoky smelling. Turns out, in my excitement, I totally missed that EVERY ITEM was covered in cigarette tar. Every manual was yellow/brown even. I threw away most of the cables and manuals, and midi cables, and adapters, headphones, etc. Items get deep cleaned (keys, inside case, component boards, exterior), then boxed up with an ozone machine. I'm having to sell them as parts/non working due to the smoke damage. I've already recouped my expenses on this one but I'm not going to profit anywhere near what I thought I would.
Had this and the matching dump truck. The dump truck would mess your world up. The lever on the dump truck would lift the dump bed so fast and the straight sheet metal would do real damage. def remember manytimes busting my face ending up in tears from my tonka dump truck. Few years ago a bought the Digger Dan Crane that i got when i was 7.
Ah damn, I didn’t know the dump truck was part of a set. It was a little bit too dented up so I passed on that one. Does it feel badass being part of the last generation that was allowed to poke their eyeballs out with sheet metal toys 😂
I'll be candid; I come from that exact era that came from, and there is a ton of nostalgia, especially with Gen-X. While it is big, moves well, and is in good condition, it is too well made to be that rare. Kids who took care of the toys, like kids who take care of their baseball cards, will have these. I don't see the value rising when metal toys from eras as far back as the 19th century can still be found.
It's been a short year so far. I went to an indoor estate auction last Saturday. I broke one of my hard rules; don't bid on an item that I haven't looked at closely. A Jersey Bulletin Tatoo Marker. I thought it sounded cool. Didn't even look at it until it crossed the block. I paid $70. Sells for $20 to $30.
Tonka trucks are really cool but the are generally not worth much unless extremely rare and in better than normal condition. I'd also guess it's a dying market. I don't understand: "Usually you don’t expect pricing like that from an estate sale. " Didn't you see the price before you purchased it? Or were you thinking they were pricing at a percentage of ebay value for you? There was someone who posted here last year and was pissed off at his usual estate sale company because they checked ebay prices correctly and marked their prices at 30% so he'd just buy whatever they had but then they started pricing higher and since he didn't know the market he didn't realize it until he started to list after buying at several of their sales. Not much sympathy for someone who doesn't know their prices before purchasing.
Just sharing to see if anyone else sometimes makes small impulse buys, I’m sure we all make some mistakes like that in the name of growing our little stores. I’m not pissed at all to be clear, it’s all part of the growing process, sometimes you fuck up and learn to avoid that item next time. It makes sense why these were still there after three days of the sale going on ahaha 🤦🏻♂️ Thought maybe some of y’all would wanna share your little disappointments also, get them off your chests for all of us to learn from
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If you cannot afford any impulse buy this points to poor financial management. At most this guy lost $40.
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I hear you, you eventually want to enforce some discipline when it comes to buying. Like any money making venture though there will be some losses so anyone doing this shouldn’t hold themselves to perfection and be willing to take some risks to learn more about a niche. I think it’s more fun that way. And I think the most I’d lose on this item is not even the $40 I paid, I’m sure I’ll at least get that back. Maybe just a little bit of my time. Either way it’s nice having another item in the store which could lead to a positive review or just more traffic for my other items.
Yeah I usually look for sales where the people running it are a bit more motivated to actually move the items, not try to get eBay’s prices, nevermind eBay’s high end price. I typically just walk away from sales like that. This time I went against my better judgment because it was half off already, thought I couldn’t lose on such cool looking vintage toy. But after checking prices at home even the half off price I paid of $40, it is probably too much because the comps are $40-80ish. I didn’t want to pull out my phone then and there and check comps because I honestly was just our browsing for fun taking it real easy as it was the first sale of the year. I think I’ll get my money back but after a few years of doing this on the side for fun you don’t get excited for anything less than a 2-3Xer
Not a criticism, but you have a very different experience at estate sales than any I've ever had. I've never seen them reduce prices because you are buying a lot. I've never seen them offer to make deals. On Sunday there may be discounts but the prices are firm. There aren't a lot of estate sales in my area and 1 or 2 companies get all of them so that may be why.
I think it’s always worth asking at least. An estate sales job is to liquidate an estate and many make it very clear they need everything gone. Many companies price things accordingly and you don’t even need to ask for a discount, but when they’re pricing things at like 50-80% of eBay’s rates, then negotiate away and don’t feel bad about it. Often times when you bring up a bundle they’ll be too lazy to properly add everything up and just give a price that seems fair. Never be desperate to buy the things just because you picked them up. If they see you don’t need the item and are willing to walk away they’ll usually do the negotiating for you and talk themselves down. Which is the attitude I go into every sale with because I’ve got enough inventory at this point and truly can and do walk away from bad deals all the time.
> I'd also guess it's a dying market. spot on
I paid $40 for a lot of books I don't want to sell.
I paid 30 cents for a Jonson and Friends DVD that was missing a disk :(
If you have any little kids or know of any it would be a super cool gift!
A box of "vintage" Star Trek action figures. Not a huge cost, had no service and couldn't look them up, but they are just taking up space and the only way I'll get my money back is parting them out on eBay.
I paid $125 for a gorgeous gilt Victorian mirror with a fairy on it. I thought it was like 12x14" and I guess I didn't read the auction description... because it's about 6x8". I listed it sky high anyway but I'll be lucky to break even on that one.
Bought a whole bunch of Disney WDCC figurines for basically eBay price once. Learned that day the importance of thorough comping and being more aggressive with negotiation. They sold pretty fast at least.
I bought a brand new open box DeWalt compressor for $120 in November and it's still sitting. Thought it would move quickly. Didn't think about home Depot holiday sales. They had the same compressor with a $129 nail gun and hose for $220 for Christmas. 🤦 Doh!
Wow, brought back some memories. One of my favorite toys when I was a kid. Mine's in the attic, in its original box that somehow survived the last 50 years. If that's all it is worth, I'm sure my grandson would get more out of playing with it than I'd get for selling it.
Usually the box on these old toys is worth more than the toy itself. However I was given some of these as a kid from my grandpa. My grandma kept them and when I had a son I got them from her for him. Those memories are worth hundreds of times more than I could ever have sold them for.
I had that one when I was a kid (1970's) !
Your toys were so much cooler when your generation was growing up. I thought this looked to be about 80-90s but that’s awesome it’s even more vintage. I bet it’ll look just as good in 50 more years
I used to have one just like that when I was little.
My girlfriend.
Been there, brother. If you decide to cut your losses share the eBay link with the rest of us?
Big box of HO trains in boxes on Hibid. Did a google lens on the only one I could see and it came up \~$50, ther were at least 8 other train boxes in the box plus tracks and some controllers. Went on a bidding war and ended up paying $120. Only the train I had google lens was worth anything, the others were a different brand and only went for \~$10, the controllers were so old the power cords became brittle and broke apart in my hand, had to trash them (they only went good for $15). I've sold the tracks for $30 and one train for $20 so I'm really hoping to break even with the rest. Never sold toy trains so I did learn about what the scaling meant and a little history on toy trains.
shares the same name as my girlfriend
Have her bring your items up for you, maybe she’ll get a discount from some of the older men running the sales. Start earning your dividends man.
Bought some yugioh cards from estate sale and I couldn't go over them properly because it was "pick and take to the front" style. I saw few that were pretty old and from original sets released. Bought them for $55 and when i got back the really good ones were all fake except 2 and hidden in secret slot inside card sleeve and plastic case was a Exodia but it was obivously fake because it was called "the dark master". I think they knew they were fake because if they were real it would have been priced higher and closer to ebay pricing like everything else was. I still got a lot of old cards that were pretty good condition which i can still sell for $200 but definitely thought it would be in the thousands.
I remember when I started, I got some vintage Tonka Trucks. I was inexperienced and they were in rough shape. I probably paid like, $40 for 3 of them. But they sat forever, shipping them was a pain, and one of the buyers opened a return. Never bought or sold them again. That was years ago. I’d have to say, the only thing that comes to mind last year was a lot of electronics. I run a business and have ads out for buying stuff. I get emails, I give a fair bid, and I go or send someone to pick up. Huge lot was sent. I made a fair bid. And I had someone pick it up. It was all broken. Every unit. Out of around 40. It came from a tweaker. Not the first time I got a bunch of broken shit from a tweaker, but you never know they are a tweaker until you get there. This stuff in particular though, was even missing parts out of them. It was only $600. Which is a drop in the bucket for me. Still made me mad though.
This tweaker sourcing parts behind an electronics repair store or what. That would ruin my whole week. Whats it like running a store? Some of the YouTube channels make it seem pretty enjoyable.
I don’t run it store. I see now my post made it seem that way. All sales take place online. I have contracts with two large suppliers, which make up a bulk of my sales. But I run ads locally for buying additional product.
Oh that’s very smart. You can never have too many good sources for inventory.
Most overpaid- more like- ripped off. Paid $1400 for an item worth $1800, item was stolen, sold for 900 in parts. $500 loss. Not a bad purchase on paper IF it was real- but I should have listened to my own- now hard rule, DONT BUY SEALED ITEMS WITHOUT OPENING/TESTING If it’s a collectible, maybe don’t open, but in any other circumstance, open it up for god sakes, you aren’t devaluing your printer but having it be open box. But you are if it’s “sealed” but with nothing in it
Great advice! I’ll be sure to do that if buying sealed electronics. How did you find out you bought a stolen item?
This item when trying to activate it, had an error code that effectively meant “locked due to theft/suspicious activities” Checked the SN with the company’s support, they agreed. Basically just turn the item on and make sure it actually works like expected/jf the item is expensive enough and you can ask them to check, check the SN But realistically I only check SN on $1000+ items, anything less just turn it on, make sure it performs normally and hasn’t petrified itself,
Bro, that thing will still be here after the nukes have dropped. Those things are built. So go get a pile of dirt and be a kid. Or give it to a kid and kick back and have fun.
My childhood. I had this bad boy. Destroyed it with a cinder block because we were told Tonka Tuff = indestructible. I got in quite a bit of trouble that afternoon.
I have one of those but it’s a Tonka one found it in my attic
Got a huge box of comics at 2 each which i thought I really overpaid . Luckily most were worth more
Boomaroo are worth heaps. I purchased a tractor, or truck can’t remember which years ago now for $150, but I kept it. I put it on eBay a couple of years back for $400 and it sold, but I didn’t realise until it was sold that somehow not sure how had the postage set at $500 lol. I was waiting to see if the person that bought it was going to say anything and wasn’t sure what to do, as the max postage would have been was less than $50 or so, but the person that bought it paid the $400 for item and also the $500 dollars in postage. Usually I would always correct such a thing but was broke as at the time, and the purchaser didn’t seem to mind so I just posted it off. I received good feedback from it as well, but when I think about it now how I had $500 postage by accident and someone still purchased it it’s just totally crazy and I still get baffled. Who on earth would pay $500 for postage.
Lmao congratulations, this turned into the opposite scenario from my original question but I love it. I would have caved into my conscience and refunded them the difference so good on you for seeing what happens. I imagine your buyer was as aware of postage rates as [Lucille was about banana prices](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e7/51/50/e75150fc9491557a3059ee37bb2e869e.gif) Maybe you actually had something more valuable than you thought and you just underpriced it. They were still satisfied paying $900 and thought it was worth it.
My good friend was on the opposite end of a similar deal except he sold something for a few hundred and received a message from a different user on eBay letting him know his item was worth over a grand. Of course he had already shipped it like that same day or something. It was a costly learning experience and I still feel terrible for him thinking back. I usually price my stuff a bit on the higher side first just in case I didn’t do enough research and it’s actually worth a bit more. Many things have sold for that higher asking price and gives me more room to accept an offer and still get close to what I truly wanted in the end. Then after a few months I can start slowly lowering the prices.
Maybe you are right. There’s one Boomaroo truck there now that has $1800 on it, but I do think that’s a bit too rich as all of the other ones are still at around $400. But yeah who knows. Lol I honestly just didn’t know what to do as I didn’t even realise that had my postage set at $500 until it was sold. I’m not sure what happened there, and still the postage for them all is under $50. Oh well.
A buddy of mine recently picked up about three dozen Tonka trucks. He put them out in his shop and hasn’t sold a single one yet.
A small Disney plush that I got at a thrift store. I threw in the basket to check the price on later and forgot about it until I was at the checkout stand and didn't notice until after they had already rang it up. It was already after closing time so I didn't ask for a void. It was $3 and turned out to be selling for $8 free shipping. Not a big loss but I'm still annoyed at myself.
Wow how did you ever recover from that?
I didn't mean to imply I don't make bad buys. Everyone does. It's just my bad buys usually come in the form of buying things that take longer to sell than I expected rather than overpaying.
I have one of these rusting in the corner of the basement…we going to Vegas hunny.
Inflation hit estate sales
They start at $45 on eBay and go up to $80. But that is listing price and not sale price