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In Thrifting For Profit Podcast we discuss …
Charlene Anderson is here again with me again today… Charlene Anderson – Purveyor of All Things Creative. What a great help she is trying to keep me on track.
1 – What’s up this past week
* I’m On Ebay again! Thanks to Danni Akerman and the Danni App FB Group for answering the last lingering questions.
* We discuss international shipping – Amazon FBA and eBay. Very helpful information that is relevant right now!
* I’ve been doing more new product pages on Amazon and found a way to streamline the process – much like eBay’s “sell similar”. We discussed how to do it in this podcast AND in the Facebook group Charlene posted the “exact where to go” :
This makes it so much easier to create product pages if you have found things to sell that are similar.
Say you are sourcing a widget – you want to sell widget A – and you also found Widget B which is in the same category and is very similar when you think about it’s description, keywords, title.
Copy Widget A’s listing (Copy to a new product) and all the info is filled in exactly the same – you just change the relevant info… and add the new images. Boom… your done!
2 – Thrifty Flips I’ve Sold This Week:
Visual Dictionary of Animals [Hardcover] [2004]
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0760760063
Paid $2 UVG – Sold “Magic $25″ 6 months to sell
Poker Keno; the Family Poker-Bingo Game
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WPRE66
Paid $2 (Las Vegas Savers) NEW – Sold $35.99 – 10 days to sell.
Listener flips shared during the podcast:
Charlene found some Electrical “whoz-itz-whatisz” (we often find things we don’t know what they are)… and had hubby look them up. These were marked $3 a box… and hubby made a deal with the thrift store manager to buy them all for $1.50 a box. They bought 25 boxes… and they sell for $39 a box. Yippee!
Wilton Easter Cake Pan sold $25 – After Easter!
Captain American Lego – over 4 times what he paid – less than a week.
Red Socks party balloons – paid 50 cents – sold $12.95 – less than a week.
Baby Balboa Sling – $5 Sold for $49.95 in two weeks.
Micky Mouse Crib Set – Paid $17 Sold $99.95.
Blank VHS tapes – paid $2 – Sold $50.
Want to hear about MORE GREAT FLIPS? We share flips often in our free Thrifting for Profit Facebook Group. Come join in the fun!
(note: this is a free group. To sign up just click here, then click on the “join” button and we’ll add you to the group ASAP.)
3 – Thrift Store Scouting Efficiently (Or Not):
We talk about this a lot in the guide – Thrifting For Profit the Amazon Way… Speed Thrifting, Thrifting when you have time, What to look for in each category.
I’m going to go in depth with my thrift store scouting habits… Thrift Stores can be a jungle… or jumble of “stuff”… how do you make the most of your time.
*** I went thrifting this week. I had every intention of thrifting efficiently… knowing that the subject of this podcast would reflect in my shopping habits.
This was a totally different thrifting experience. I shopped for eBay (way out of my comfort zone) and I had two helpers. What I can say is this… it was awesome – and yet not very efficient (which is my normal mode).
I planned on hitting at least 4 thrift stores in one afternoon… and only made it to two.
In the first store… I was piling things into my shopping cart – without much scanning (normal) and then I kept finding things that were “ebayish” and those were in my cart as well. I made it half way through the store and the cart was piled so high things were starting to fall out.
I grabbed another empty cart and started the sorting process.
I took out all the “ebayish” products and looked at them to make sure they were not damaged in a way that made them worthless. I looked for chips, cracks, stains etc. I was doing the plush “sniff test”. LOL
I have yet to look one thing up. I now click on my eBay app and it won’t work. GRRRR. So now I’m guessing at stuff. I’m using the ideas I got from scouting with Danni. And… my son has a solution (keep reading).
Next – I have loaded the bottom of the cart with VHS tapes. I had about 20 in a series that I thought would be really good… Dud.
I looked up the few books I had thrown in the cart… and only ended up with 2. The rest were stained, highlighted, or otherwise not in UVG condition or the rank was in the jillions.
I found a pile (like 40 or 50) pattern booklets – 75cents each. I didn’t look any of these up. I put back any that were plastic canvas (different than cross stitch etc. ) because I’m not up to speed on those. These will sell on Amazon OR eBay.
I cruised through the games section, and pulled out any game/puzzle new in package. I eyeballed the other “collectibles” and didn’t see but 2 to pull of and check. I only buy collectibles if the hassle factor is outweighed by a high price.
I DID pick up a scrabble game… ordinary for $1. For the pieces. I sell these (full set original) for $19.95 – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B4L83C
Sitting right on top of the games – a rolled up furry thing that looked like a weird bamboo shade. Unrolled it… Southwest style pelt thing… that should sell on ebay for a nice chunk. I know this because I live in the Southwest and I am familiar with what decorators want. The only thing that concerns me is “shipping a pelt”… I am NOT familiar with any laws/rules for this.
I ran (slow jog) up and down the electronics and kitchen aisle. I’m looking for NEW stuff… I found one Dead Tech thing.
Cruise over to patterns, stitchery kits etc. Found two pair of shoulder pads, new in package. Beth mentioned a few weeks ago that she sold some for $25… so I grabbed these for 50 cents each.
Paid – and THEN looked in the glass case.
I see a leather carved/stamped laced(vintage looking) scrap or photo album book. It looks brand new, but vintage. My son looks it up and sees that it is a pricey book. I walk away thinking that’s all we will find. He is still standing at the counter and asks to see this (what I think is generic looking ) photo album. OMG… It’s a hand made leather covered album. Unused. Numbered by someone famous. In fact her wallets were given at the Oscars a few years ago. I’m tempted to keep it.
On to the next store…
Hubby is now scouting as well and finds and old GE alarm clock (wood) – checks it and it works fully functional.
My son is looking things up on his phone. Not on Amazon or Ebay… just looking up things from the markings, or any other information we have. Duh…. sometimes the obvious escapes me!
We spent way tooo much time in the “collectibles” – Fun Fun Fun… I love this stuff. Reminds me of shopping with mom and dad for their Antique Store.
Normally – I would scout in books, and media. Not a bit. never made it to games/ puzzles. I was sooo distracted.
Normally – I can scout these two GW stores in under an hour each… if I don’t spend too much time in Media.
I spent 2 hours in each store. Yikes. But we all had a blast! It was a family event… LOL
Here is How To Scout Quickly And Efficiently:
The quickest/easiest products to find are new in package products. Stay away from the media area… this takes extra time. (You can take a peek… see if anything pops out that looks “New – still wrapped”.)
Run through the games section… look for brand new boxes (games and puzzles). Grab all that you see and dump into your shopping cart. At the end of all the games (usually one or two rows of shelves… move off to the side and scan each one looking for your profit target products.
Replace any games you are not buying on the game shelves… neatly!
Off to the household section – breeze through, up and down the aisles. Look for anything in a box… check for box condition and a bar code. Scan – check for profit targets and make a decision.
When you are power shopping… you might pick up a few things that are not GREAT buys. That’s okay… give yourself a break and allow for a few mistakes. The profit margins are so high for most of your products… you can afford to make a few mistakes.
Now – run for the cashier (and cross your fingers for a short line)… you know you scored!
That’s my story… and I’m sticking to it…
Next week’s show….
Episode # 34 ( May 24, 2013) – Online Sourcing Efficiency – We all know that if we want to up our game – selling things in qty… online sourcing will help us get to that point.
But – what, where, how should we be sourcing online? The answer may surprise you…. be sure to join us next week.
Listen live to the show Fridays, 2pm ET at http://thriftingforprofit.com/listen
Do you have a question about Amazon FBA, Thrifting or any of the topics discussed in this podcast?
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- Freebies & Guides from Debra to help you with your Amazon FBA business! http://thriftingforprofit.com/freebies-guides/
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