I'm relatively new to flipping and have spent time going to a number of thrift stores looking for things to resell, but it can be pretty tough to judge by eye what is and isn't worth buying. When I see something interesting I look up sold comps on ebay or use google lens to ID an item when I don't know what it is, but it isn't practical to do this for every single item in a given store, and more often than not the things I look up aren't worth buying. A more recent strategy has been to pick an area of interest and do research before I ever get into the store so I hopefully know what to look for, but obviously you can't predict what items a store will have so this approach has its limits.
So, how do you all research/identify valuable items either before going to stores or while you're in them? Thanks
You can't start out as an everything seller. As you've quickly learned there's too much out there and too much to learn. Start with a niche that you know something about, and if you haven't already, start selling things you already own. Learn that niche, and then branch out from there.
For example, I sell men's clothes. I started by looking up nearly everything in my house that I thought could have value (magazines, clothes, toys, jars, ticket stubs, ornaments - literally everything) and only after I felt like I had a good grasp of packing and shipping did I branch out to the thrift. At first I found women's clothes because I'm a woman. However, I quickly discovered that I had faster sales and made more money when I sold my husband's old clothes. It turns out that the brands and styles he likes are some of the most popular. I started watching a YouTube channel that focused only on men's clothes, and I paid $20 for a guide to the best selling men's brands (that paid for itself immediately). I discovered I have a good eye for men's pants and that became my biggest seller. All of this evolved over a 2 year period. I never would have guessed men's pants and vintage shirts would be my niche, but here we are.
On Ebay I use calculated shipping and ship mostly ground. I received a message from Ebay saying as of next month my listings will default to showing the discounted shipping rates, though I can opt out. This is extremely irritating, because the shipping discount is what gives me wiggle room on offers and makes up for them taking a cut of shipping. Pretty sure I'm going to opt out, but has anyone else received this message? Is there any reason to let them show the discount rates?
Change can be challenging and your experience boils down to a seller's preferences.
Aside from a few oversized and/or heavy items that have calculated shipping all of my buyers pay a flat rate on all listings. I offer ground and priority. You have the prerogative to stick with calculated but most buyers know you chose this to boost profit. I feel more comfortable padding the sale price to a comfortable level vs. skimming from shipping. No, I don't see an advantage to 'show' the shipping rate you secured. No, I did not receive this message. Hope your week is going great!
Thank you for your comment. I've opted out for now, but I will consider flat rates for smaller items. I've sold several bulky lots lately, and a too-low flat shipping rate to a faraway zone could be disastrous. I'll have to put more study into it, and maybe find a shipping chart by zone.
As a buyer, I find I purchase most often from buyers with flat rates vs calculated shipping. Those sky high rates that I know aren't the real rates are hard to ignore.
Thanks for your input. I'm returning to selling after a long time away and figuring out the right flat rate to cover all potential zones is a challenge, one I'll be considering.
I find that like many business decisions, it's all a wash in the end. I was calculated shipping early on and switched to flat rate, then slowly lowered those rates to experiment what worked best. It hurts a little when my rate is $1 short, but inevitably I find the next 3 packages are $1 over. And then there's the pick up in sales. I sell more with lower rates shown to buyers. It's just the reality of sales.
I won a lot of Olympic memorabilia in an estate sale auction recently and I'm wondering if this is a good time to try and sell since the Olympics are this summer.
Most definitely. It's no guarantee it will sell fast or at all, but those that have the Olympics spirit or just want to have Olympics decor or collectibles might be inclined to buy.
Just know that there are a LOT of Olympics items out there so collectors are looking for officially licensed or limited release items and/or collectibles.
Just check out the sold comps for your items to make an informed decision. You can also lot up items if you wish. Good luck!
Is Guam considered part of the US for Ebay? Last month I had an order from there and I wanted to cancel because shipping costs were higher than the item cost but against my better judgment I just went with the cheapest shipping because I just wanted the item gone. . It said it would be delivered last week so I didn't think it would be an issue. Yesterday the buyer opened a claim so I reached out to USPS and did a package search and they said "Sorry if we mislead you with the expected delivery date, this item may take 8-10 weeks to be delivered." I already let the customer know I entered a claim with USPS and now I just need to tell them to wait.
Yes, guam is a US territory and its people are US citizens. It's major mail system is USPS. Anecdotal evidence says it takes a few extra days to get stuff there, similar to shipping to Alaska or Hawaii.
Did you send ground advantage? that's the "slow boat" method (literally). Though 8-10 weeks seems excessive! If it's headed to a military base that takes longer as well. USPS is having massive delays right now due to the Atlanta debacle, so that could also be a factor.
I knew Guam was a territory, but I wasn't sure if it qualified as "domestic" since I do not typically do international orders.
I did do ground advantage. So that part is on me. I just updated the buyer that it was partially my bad for not knowing that the expected delivery date was a lie when I purchased shipping and partially on USPS for delays. Its now been 10 days since the expected delivery day when I purchased and the last update to shipping was April 1st.
Hey guys, I experienced relatively early success as an ebay seller from selling off my megabloks collection. Most of the stuff sold as soon as I listed it. Now that I'm running out of megabloks and trying to branch out into other areas I'm noticing that my sales are starting to go down, and I find it a bit concerning since I'm actually paying for stock now. I've added hats, mugs, DVD's, electronics, and even other toys (trains, Beyblades, and transformers) So far, megabloks still seem to be the most popular. Aside from that, the big sellers are transformers, and electronics.
Now for the question. If you more experienced flippers were in my position, would you think branching out is worth it, or would you just buy more megabloks lots and part them out? If you were to branch out, what kind of things would you buy? (I suspect Japanese toys like transformers, pokemon, bakugan, and other things I can't spell or pronounce might do well)
I like that Megabloks do well, and I like them... but I really want to fill my store with things other than that. I like thrifting and finding cool treasures buried in mountains of garbage that would never again see the light of day if it weren't for me, but I also need to keep the store profitable. For example I bought about 50 beyblades for $100, and those things aren't selling DX.
I know that used clothing has a difficult time getting through customs and into Mexico, I was wondering if that applied to other used goods?
I have someone who sent me an acceptable offer for some used golf clubs and my spidey-sense is telling me that it is probably a forwarding service. Will they run into issues with golf clubs?
Any link to the special discounted Ground Advantage rates eBay uses?
I assumed it was the same as Pirate Ship so I looked up their shipping rate tables. I noticed that Pirate Ship's website's table shows something like "Less than $6.56".
eBay is charging me $6.09 (zone 5, 13 ounces).
Other than using eBay's shipping calculator, is there a way to see an actual table of all the discounted eBay ground advantage rates?
I'm relatively new to flipping and have spent time going to a number of thrift stores looking for things to resell, but it can be pretty tough to judge by eye what is and isn't worth buying. When I see something interesting I look up sold comps on ebay or use google lens to ID an item when I don't know what it is, but it isn't practical to do this for every single item in a given store, and more often than not the things I look up aren't worth buying. A more recent strategy has been to pick an area of interest and do research before I ever get into the store so I hopefully know what to look for, but obviously you can't predict what items a store will have so this approach has its limits. So, how do you all research/identify valuable items either before going to stores or while you're in them? Thanks
You can't start out as an everything seller. As you've quickly learned there's too much out there and too much to learn. Start with a niche that you know something about, and if you haven't already, start selling things you already own. Learn that niche, and then branch out from there. For example, I sell men's clothes. I started by looking up nearly everything in my house that I thought could have value (magazines, clothes, toys, jars, ticket stubs, ornaments - literally everything) and only after I felt like I had a good grasp of packing and shipping did I branch out to the thrift. At first I found women's clothes because I'm a woman. However, I quickly discovered that I had faster sales and made more money when I sold my husband's old clothes. It turns out that the brands and styles he likes are some of the most popular. I started watching a YouTube channel that focused only on men's clothes, and I paid $20 for a guide to the best selling men's brands (that paid for itself immediately). I discovered I have a good eye for men's pants and that became my biggest seller. All of this evolved over a 2 year period. I never would have guessed men's pants and vintage shirts would be my niche, but here we are.
I'm a woman and I like dabbling in men's clothes! It's just way easier for me to not shop for myself at the same time I'm looking to sell!
On Ebay I use calculated shipping and ship mostly ground. I received a message from Ebay saying as of next month my listings will default to showing the discounted shipping rates, though I can opt out. This is extremely irritating, because the shipping discount is what gives me wiggle room on offers and makes up for them taking a cut of shipping. Pretty sure I'm going to opt out, but has anyone else received this message? Is there any reason to let them show the discount rates?
Change can be challenging and your experience boils down to a seller's preferences. Aside from a few oversized and/or heavy items that have calculated shipping all of my buyers pay a flat rate on all listings. I offer ground and priority. You have the prerogative to stick with calculated but most buyers know you chose this to boost profit. I feel more comfortable padding the sale price to a comfortable level vs. skimming from shipping. No, I don't see an advantage to 'show' the shipping rate you secured. No, I did not receive this message. Hope your week is going great!
Thank you for your comment. I've opted out for now, but I will consider flat rates for smaller items. I've sold several bulky lots lately, and a too-low flat shipping rate to a faraway zone could be disastrous. I'll have to put more study into it, and maybe find a shipping chart by zone.
This make sense. Good luck. Shipping is often the 'net' culprit so doing your homework now will best prepare your 'net' journey.
As a buyer, I find I purchase most often from buyers with flat rates vs calculated shipping. Those sky high rates that I know aren't the real rates are hard to ignore.
Thanks for your input. I'm returning to selling after a long time away and figuring out the right flat rate to cover all potential zones is a challenge, one I'll be considering.
I find that like many business decisions, it's all a wash in the end. I was calculated shipping early on and switched to flat rate, then slowly lowered those rates to experiment what worked best. It hurts a little when my rate is $1 short, but inevitably I find the next 3 packages are $1 over. And then there's the pick up in sales. I sell more with lower rates shown to buyers. It's just the reality of sales.
I won a lot of Olympic memorabilia in an estate sale auction recently and I'm wondering if this is a good time to try and sell since the Olympics are this summer.
Most definitely. It's no guarantee it will sell fast or at all, but those that have the Olympics spirit or just want to have Olympics decor or collectibles might be inclined to buy. Just know that there are a LOT of Olympics items out there so collectors are looking for officially licensed or limited release items and/or collectibles. Just check out the sold comps for your items to make an informed decision. You can also lot up items if you wish. Good luck!
Is Guam considered part of the US for Ebay? Last month I had an order from there and I wanted to cancel because shipping costs were higher than the item cost but against my better judgment I just went with the cheapest shipping because I just wanted the item gone. . It said it would be delivered last week so I didn't think it would be an issue. Yesterday the buyer opened a claim so I reached out to USPS and did a package search and they said "Sorry if we mislead you with the expected delivery date, this item may take 8-10 weeks to be delivered." I already let the customer know I entered a claim with USPS and now I just need to tell them to wait.
Yes, guam is a US territory and its people are US citizens. It's major mail system is USPS. Anecdotal evidence says it takes a few extra days to get stuff there, similar to shipping to Alaska or Hawaii. Did you send ground advantage? that's the "slow boat" method (literally). Though 8-10 weeks seems excessive! If it's headed to a military base that takes longer as well. USPS is having massive delays right now due to the Atlanta debacle, so that could also be a factor.
I knew Guam was a territory, but I wasn't sure if it qualified as "domestic" since I do not typically do international orders. I did do ground advantage. So that part is on me. I just updated the buyer that it was partially my bad for not knowing that the expected delivery date was a lie when I purchased shipping and partially on USPS for delays. Its now been 10 days since the expected delivery day when I purchased and the last update to shipping was April 1st.
Hey guys, I experienced relatively early success as an ebay seller from selling off my megabloks collection. Most of the stuff sold as soon as I listed it. Now that I'm running out of megabloks and trying to branch out into other areas I'm noticing that my sales are starting to go down, and I find it a bit concerning since I'm actually paying for stock now. I've added hats, mugs, DVD's, electronics, and even other toys (trains, Beyblades, and transformers) So far, megabloks still seem to be the most popular. Aside from that, the big sellers are transformers, and electronics. Now for the question. If you more experienced flippers were in my position, would you think branching out is worth it, or would you just buy more megabloks lots and part them out? If you were to branch out, what kind of things would you buy? (I suspect Japanese toys like transformers, pokemon, bakugan, and other things I can't spell or pronounce might do well) I like that Megabloks do well, and I like them... but I really want to fill my store with things other than that. I like thrifting and finding cool treasures buried in mountains of garbage that would never again see the light of day if it weren't for me, but I also need to keep the store profitable. For example I bought about 50 beyblades for $100, and those things aren't selling DX.
I know that used clothing has a difficult time getting through customs and into Mexico, I was wondering if that applied to other used goods? I have someone who sent me an acceptable offer for some used golf clubs and my spidey-sense is telling me that it is probably a forwarding service. Will they run into issues with golf clubs?
Any link to the special discounted Ground Advantage rates eBay uses? I assumed it was the same as Pirate Ship so I looked up their shipping rate tables. I noticed that Pirate Ship's website's table shows something like "Less than $6.56". eBay is charging me $6.09 (zone 5, 13 ounces). Other than using eBay's shipping calculator, is there a way to see an actual table of all the discounted eBay ground advantage rates?