She Thrifts

Thrift. Flip. Repeat.

Nickel & Diming ~ Postcards

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Here’s another item I’ve been nickel and diming into a profit.  Last summer I bought a couple bags of postcards at a thrift for a total of $5.58.  It was one of those purchases I knew in my brain I should pass up … but on the other hand, it kinda looked like fun.  I ended up divvying them up into about 30 different lots to list.  So far I have sold those shown above (as well as a lot of Howard Stern postcards that sold immediately that I no longer have a photo of).  I hadn’t realized before starting this post that almost all of the postcard lots that have already sold have been of musicians.  Interesting.  So far my profit has been around $70, and I still have 20+ active postcard listings.  Slow nickels, not ideal, and yet I did have fun sorting and listing them.  So I’ll still call it a win.

Nickel and Diming ~ Build A Bear Clothes

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The clothes above are those that have have already sold – for over $100.

Another item that falls into the “nickel and diming” category for me is Build A Bear clothing.  I have bought a few lots at yard sales in the past, and have separated them out to sell in various smaller lots.  A couple days before Christmas someone listed a lot of BABW clothes on a kids FB group for $25.  From what I could see in the photos there appeared to be a decent variety, and it looked to be in good condition.  But, it was located a-l-l the way across town.  I normally wouldn’t have been motivated to drive all that way to buy it, but both of my boys actually have Build a Bear plush, and it is a tradition that each one gets a new outfit for Christmas.  And just the day before I had realized that I was an outfit short.  I decided it would be worth it to trek over and buy the lot, choose an outfit to give as a Christmas gift, maybe set aside a few more good ones for future year(s), and then sell the rest to make my money back.  When I went to pick up the bag of clothes I was pleasantly surprised.  The bag was MUCH bigger than I expected, and very full.  I looked through a few to make sure they were in good condition, gave them a sniff to make sure they didn’t smell like cigarette smoke, then stuck the $25 under the mat and took my treasures home.

Photographing and listing them didn’t take long.  I ended up listing around 30 lots of clothing, in addition to those I kept to gift to my boys.  It really will be like nickel and diming – no individual  lot will bring in much money, but as the sales trickle in the nickels and dimes will *eventually* end up netting me a couple hundred dollars or so.  Plus, they are so darn easy to list/store/ship.  Sometimes (IMO) just having an easy, brainless day of listing is worth it.

Nickel and Diming ~ Viewmaster Reels

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Oh, the age old question ~ is it worth a seller’s time to list low value items?

When I first started eBaying I liked to sell Viewmaster reels.  There isn’t a lot of money in it though, and I haven’t bought any to resell in years.  We were doing a purge of our playroom recently, and came across some that were a part of my boys’ collection.  I divvied up the best of them into six different lots, and listed them.  I was surprised by how quickly some of them sold.  The following four lots all sold within two weeks of listing:

None were huge money makers, each lot sold for between $10-$20, but they have netted me a total of $53 so far, and I still have 2 lots waiting to sell.  Not bad for something that was just siting around, and is so quick and easy to list, store, and ship.

Do you have item(s) like this that you sell, not because they bring in the big bucks, but just because you enjoy it?  Do share!