What do you personally look for in thrift stores/garage sales?

[clovis97]

Also, like I've shared before, sit and study the completed listings of categories that interest you. Study them until you are sick of reading, or when your eyes fall out of your head, which ever comes first.

You are never going to know it all, but the study will make you a better buyer.

 

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[Iron Patch]

I think the key is getting the items that you know for a fact will sell and sell fast. Go volume over a single big kill.

And when you do that you will probably hit some good scores too. Volume is part of my over all strategy for the obvious reasons, but also I know from experience the more I do, the greater the number or bonus scores that will fall in my lap by pure luck. The feeling is almost equal to the rush of a great detecting find, in fact, I'd say it is equal. But the beauty of it not being a find is there's no debate whether to keep or sell, it's all about figuring out how much you can get.

 

[redtailvision]

Garage sales are best with the last day deals and giveaways. Brand name baby cloths are fast sellers. Thrift stores not so good anymore, but if I'm close I do stop in. Found some old (1904) books yesterday. I look for anything old or collectible to sell on my auction site. I seem to keep more than I get rid of !!

 

[bethnbijoux]

Garage sales are best with the last day deals and giveaways. Brand name baby cloths are fast sellers. Thrift stores not so good anymore, but if I'm close I do stop in. Found some old (1904) books yesterday. I look for anything old or collectible to sell on my auction site. I seem to keep more than I get rid of !!

Seems like there are more pickers in the thrift stores now than there are other shopper and employees combined! And they are rude, too.... have actually pushed me out of the way!

 

[redtailvision]

Agreed! Seems to be more and more rude people everywhere, pickers or not. But there is always some it's a honor to have met. And welcome to TN!

 

[biggmike]

Dumbells.... I buy dumbells (hand weights) and sell them on Craigslist. I got: 2 - 75 pound dumbells, 2 - 30 pound dumbells and 2 - kettlebells one 15 pound and one 20 pound all for $10.

Sold the 2 Kettlebells on eBay for $45 cost me about $10 to ship, 3.50 for the product and about $4.50 in fees = $27 profit

Sold the 2 30 pounders on Craigslist for $30, -$3.50 product = 26.50 profit

Have the two 75 pounders on Craigslist for $80 -$3.50 for a potential profit of $76.50

51.50 so far in profit with another $76.50 soon = potential $128 profit for $10

 

[Iron Patch]

It has been a long time since I bought weights, but I do recall a dollar a pound being a pretty fair price, and retail for the nicer stuff quite a bit higher. It makes sense they would be a good thing to flip because most people just look at them as heavy junk that has sat around for too long.

 

[Ultimacloud123]

I went to a garage sale a got a 1882 Shield Nickel for 8 bucks. That was Awesome!

 

[ronh4]

There are some good tips here.

 

[diggummup]

You gotta keep an open mind when your in the thrift stores and first have a basic understanding and knowledge (from
A to Z) of what people are buying to begin with if you want to have a chance at making a profit from thrifts nowadays. By that, I mean knowing the difference between some worthless p.o.s. made in China, and a worthy collectible or whatever. Another very important factor is knowing when to be at the thrift store. If you know when they bring stuff out from the back room and your there when they do it, then you have a much better chance of finding something worth flipping. I've found everything from clothes and toys to books, pottery/ glass and even jewelry at thrift stores. I even found a metal detector once that I made a good profit on. A smart phone can help the novice buyer.

 

[randazzo1]

You gotta keep an open mind when your in the thrift stores and first have a basic understanding and knowledge (from
A to Z) of what people are buying to begin with if you want to have a chance at making a profit from thrifts nowadays. By that, I mean knowing the difference between some worthless p.o.s. made in China, and a worthy collectible or whatever. Another very important factor is knowing when to be at the thrift store. If you know when they bring stuff out from the back room and your there when they do it, then you have a much better chance of finding something worth flipping. I've found everything from clothes and toys to books, pottery/ glass and even jewelry at thrift stores. I even found a metal detector once that I made a good profit on. A smart phone can help the novice buyer.

Smart phone is super important in my opinion. I never even walk into a thrift without one. They are especially helpful for unfamiliar flatware patterns and vintage noritake. Two identical looking sets can have very different values, making one a bargain and one a total loss. Fort he flatware -- you can use ebay - just search the maker and metal -- e.g. "Oneida Stainless Fork" -- there will be thousands of active listings, but its pretty easy to get through them just looking at the pictures. Also, while I'm at it -- for the Oneida -- generally the cube marked patterns are older and better ($4-$40.00 per spoon/fork/knife etc).

 

[SilverForBrains]

I scored a killer pair of cowboy boots at a major thrift shop for $25 bucks, brand new. they sell on ebay for $125, but I can't force myself to get rid of them. They fit me perfectly and the ladies love 'em, so now they're my dancing shoes. Anyways, now that I have a pair I'm always looking out for more cowboy boots to sell!

I recently picked up a Stetston 5x fedora, unfortunately there's a stain on the very top, that while it doesn't hurt the wearability (can't see it, especially since I'm tall), I can't really sell it. Still, now I am always looking out for high quality hats. The 5x is a lower end, if you see a 50x or 100x it can be worth big bucks! they are beautiful hats.

While I didn't make money off either one, dang I'll be looking good wearing that hat and my boots

 

[cheese]

Just dye the fedora black and forget the stain.

 

[clovis97]

Boots can be great items to resell, and they are commonly seen at thrift stores.

The trick is knowing the brand names, and finding boots without much wear.

This past week, I bought a pair of women's Dingo boots for $2, and sold them the next day for $15 at the flea market. I'm not getting rich with sales like that, but it was a super easy and fast flip. I wish I could do that deal 20 times a day!

I also bought a pair of Lacrosse rubber boots for $4 that should easily bring $45 on ebay. They look so new that they still have the rubber flashing on the soles. As you know, Lacrosse is a top name for rubber work boots.

Again, it is all about the quality, brand name, and the condition of the boots.

 

[diggummup]

Speaking of boots and thrift stores, I recently picked up a nice pair of Red Wing Irish Setter cold weather hunting boots for $10. They will clean up really nice. First time trying to sell boots. Haven't listed them yet though.

 

[Alan1967]

Every time I go into a thrift store I always check the books, pictures, baskets, boxes, and the golf clubs. You'd be amazed at what some people consider junk. Old vintage golf clubs are hot to the right buyers, they make excellent decorative pieces. It hadn't crossed my mind to consider old jerseys or sports cloths...my bad. I did make a terrible mistake just a couple weeks ago. My wife and I live in an area that has a large Amish community and we had gone into one of the local thrift stores just on a quick look around. While making my normal rounds I found a beautiful brand new black Amish style hat, the kind the men wear. The unfortunate thing was I didn't have enough money on me to buy it (something like $10) so I left it behind. A few days later we were back in the same store so I looked and.....it was gone. Probably could have easily made a hundred bucks.

 

[Minrelica]

An app for your brain because what you said doesn't help him unless he can read your mind.

Hmmm.. I read the title of the thread and answered it honestly without specifics because I don't pigeonhole my buying and selling to any specific products. I stated what I personally look for in thrift stores or at garage sales.

Also, on occasion I may make a post or two that is sponsored by Johnny Walker

 

[SilverForBrains]

Hmmm.. I read the title of the thread and answered it honestly without specifics because I don't pigeonhole my buying and selling to any specific products. I stated what I personally look for in thrift stores or at garage sales.

Also, on occasion I may make a post or two that is sponsored by Johnny Walker

Jose is my biggest sponsor!

 

[SilverForBrains]

diggummup I'd be interested to hear how you do on the boots, those are in pretty good shape, just a little dusty

Alan1967, thanks for the tip on the golf clubs, I have two old golf bags full of clubs, with balls, tees and all, that I picked up from a craigslist free curb alert a year ago. At the time I thought for sure I'd be able to get $5 a club and $10 for each bag, but come to find out, it seems that there's a ton of old golf clubs and bags around that people are selling for ridiculously cheap or just giving away. How do you separate the good from the bad, and if you have the bad, get rid of 'em while still getting a few bucks? this is one I'm still trying to solve

 

[skeeterd]

Be careful when looking at the number of xx's on felt hats. Originally, the x's represented the percentage of beaver fur in the felt with x being the lowest and 20x being 100%. This is still true with most custom hat makers. But any time you see the x number higher than 20, the hat maker has set their own standard and 50x may be 100% or 10%.