The start of garage sale season is this
nerd’s paradise. If you’re a collector of anything geek related
then it’s probably a paradise for you too.
Most of us collector geeks share a
common thread. That common thread is a life long knowledge of
multiple facets of fandom. I’m an 80’s kid, which means
everything I know about life came from TV, movies, video games,
cartoons, and comic books. I’ve collected just about everything,
which really helps when looking for the diamond in the rough at
garage sales. The odds are strong that you also have this same
experience if you’re currently reading this.
You might not really need another 100
Grenadier Dungeons & Dragons minis but are you gonna pass them up
for $10? Hell no you aren’t!
Do you really need to drop $4 for
another Optimal Optimus when you already have 2? Hell yes you do!
Found an Original Trilogy Star Wars
Risk game for $3 but don’t really want it for your own game
collection? Buy it anyway because somebody wants it!
Maybe you don’t need or even want
this stuff for your personal collection but I personally could never
pass it up. I’ve already got plenty of this stuff in my personal
collection but I’ll always grab it when I see it. I’ve been an
active eBay reseller for a few years now and this is exactly the kind
of stuff that geeks will always buy.
Those $10 D&D minis would probably
sell for around $80. The Optimal Optimus is good for around $25 and
the Star Wars risk will likely sell for at least $35. If you suck at
math (I suck at math) then that’s a net profit of $123. With that
amount of cash you can either go buy more junk next weekend or you
can spend it on something nice for your personal collection. Your
inherent lifetime knowledge of fandom just bought you that 18”
Striker Eureka Jaeger for a meager $15 investment.
Maybe you have larger aspirations than
a Pacific Rim toy. Do you have a major convention coming up over
Labor Day weekend and need some quick cash to help pay for that major
expense? I certainly do, which is why I recently started a project
called Flipping Dragoncon. I’ve seen other people do flip
challenges where they start with a small sum of cash and buy, sell,
and trade their way up to something of much higher value. I’ve
always wanted to do my own flip challenge, which is what Flipping
Dragoncon is. My personal goal is to buy and sell enough nerd related
stuff to pay for a week at a Dragoncon host hotel and round-trip
airfare for 2 people.
The rules are simple. I started with
only $20 and had only 133 days to meet my goal before the actual
convention begins. I could buy any amount of items from anywhere with
that initial $20 and then resell them to get more cash to buy more
stuff. The challenge is now 35 days old with 98 days left to go.
Spring was in full force 35 days ago
however garage sales were just starting to pop up. Garage sale
season might come sooner for you depending on your location but if
you live somewhere with snowy weather then it’s only a month old
and we have at least another 5 months to go. I’ve personally had
around 2 weekends of good garage sale weather over the past month and
have already found some great stuff for dramatically discounted
prices. Some people will say that thrift stores are the best place to
find stuff while others say the swap meet. THIS nerd knows that
garage sales produce the best quality stuff. I think the reason is
that folks want to get rid of stuff to make space and they just want
to make a few bucks before they haul their junk to the Goodwill. You
get the first pick before the thrift store shoppers can get their
mitts on the loot.
Neighborhood garage sales are the most
joyful part of spring for me. Sure the grass is green, the flowers
are blooming, and the birds are chirping but the neighborhood garage
sale is spring’s true gift! It’s the only time of the year when
you can hit up 20 houses in a single neighborhood in under an hour
and then find another 20 houses in an adjacent neighborhood
immediately following. Get there early in the morning for the best
picks but not too early because sellers will think you’re a jerk.
Now you have some background on my
mission and know that I’m 35 days into the challenge. You know that
I love the neighborhood garage sale and that I’ll always buy D&D
stuff and Optimal Primus. But what else have I found 35 days in? I
started off with $20 and turned that into $50 on the second week, and
then turned that into $290 on the third week. That brings us up to
date with last week. I was particularly lucky last weekend when I got
that Star Wars Original Trilogy Risk game for $3, which I promptly
sold for $35.
I then found a Dungeon Twister game in
unused condition for $2. It hasn’t sold yet but I’m expecting
around $30 profit.
Do you remember the original Laser Tag
game put out by Worlds of Wonder in the 80’s? If you remember that
then you probably would have bought the same pair of star sensors
that I bought for $3.
I never had a Crossbows & Catapults
set as a kid but I always wanted one. I found a nice big set for $6
just last week.
I went to a garage sale where the dude
had a big collection of Starting Lineup toys on display. Sports toys
never really did it for me but where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
He had a box full of Revenge of the Sith Clone Trooper type figures
hidden under his table. This was an assortment of 35 carded figures
and 3 Evolutions gift packs containing 3 figures each. I was able to
buy his entire collection for $55, which was a steal. I hate Revenge
of the Sith but I love Dragoncon so you do what you gotta do for the
thing you love. The entire collection of troopers just sold last
night for $216.
I’m not a fan of the mobile home park
garage sales but I still sometimes get sucked in like flies on shit.
I found a woman selling some older children’s wristwatches that had
never been worn and still had their original packaging. I’m not
really a Disney or Looney Tunes guy but I got around 15 Mickey Mouse,
Tigger, Pooh Bear, Grinch, Tweety Bird, Marvin Martian, and Snoopy
watches for $55. It’s not my particular fandom but it’s
somebody’s and that’s good enough for me. So far I sold 1 of
those watches for $65 so I’m already ahead.
There are still 98 days left of the
Flipping DragonCon challenge but things are progressing nicely. I’ve
currently got around $295 cash and a fairly large inventory with some
promising stuff. I think I can reach my goal in 98 days provided I
don’t run into the obvious pitfall of buying something fairly
expensive for my personal collection. That’s the real risk of
selling on eBay. It’s very difficult to not spend that PayPal
money.
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