Cell Phone Find of the Week #7

Cliff Engle Super Bowl Sweater
Purchased for $2.99
Sold for $29.99
Total Profit after fees $21.45 (doubled my goal of $10.00 profit per item) If you are unfamiliar with Cliff Engle, run an eBay search. He is poupular for his vintage sports sweaters that were popular in the 1980s. For all you Bears fans out there Mike Ditka use to wear a Chicago Bears Engle sweater on the sidelines.

So if you find one at a thrift store be sure to pick it up.

Good Luck

John Paul

Reselling Thrift Store A&F / Hollister T-Shirts in Lots

I originally posted a video about this a while back and I have put my idea to the test and had very good results.

Here is a link to the original video:
http://vitaminebay.blogspot.com/2010/01/thrift-store-item-2-sell-abercrombie.html

and now 2 of my recent completed auctions trying this idea out. You will not be able to retire doing this, but it is some extra income and some more items to add to your Thrift Store Shopping List.

Remember all shirts were purchased between .50-$1.99 on half price days at the Thrift Store. So as you can see a nice little profit for T-Shirts, a very under appreciated section of the Thrift Store.

Some tips on pulling this off:

• Bigger sizes tend to do better XL/XXL.


• Do not pass up on shirts with cool graphics and funny sayings.


• Set a budget price of $2.00 per shirt.


• Start auctions at .99

Good Luck

John Paul

*For some items to look for in the T-Shirt section at the Thrift Store check out my eBook* http://www.payloadz.com/go/sip?id=1228147

Cell Phone Find of the Week #6

Duff Beer Simpson's Work Shirt:

-Purchased for $1.99

-Sold for $26.73

-Total Profit after Fees: $21.23 (meets my $10.00 profit per item x2)

I would of def. passed on this shirt if I didn't quickly research using my eBay Android App on my cell phone. Luckily I found 1 completed auction and it sold in the high teens so I purchased it.

Good Luck

John Paul

Vitamin eBay Tip - Listing Items At A Fixed Price

I started doing this last month and it has paid of pretty well so far.
I have said this plenty of times in the past, my goal is to make at least a $10.00 profit on every thrift store item I buy to resell.

Sometimes when I start prepping the thrift store items, I realize that if I put it up as a standard auction I might be risking the $10.00 profit. Or sometimes if the item does not sell the first time around at standard auction then I will use this tip.

Use an eBay calculator to determine your profit and list the item as a fixed price item. This is my personal favorite eBay calculator http://www.rolbe.com/ebay.htm. Let me show you some recent examples. Of course I always use my own completed auctions to show that this can be done. I see some eBay blogs out there that post things that are so misleading as far as completed auctions go, just so you click on there affiliate links in the hope that they will get a commission.

1st Example: Men's 575 Jeans

As you can see below I started these at auction for $4.99 and they received no bids. I then listed them at a fixed price and they sold for $24.99. My profit after all fees including the original listing fee at regular auction is $17.07 (meets my goal of $10.00/per item)

2nd Example: Abercrombie & Fitch Camo Shorts

Here is an example of an item that I listed straight to Buy It Now. It sold within 1 day and I netted a $10.13 Profit (meets my goal)

The key with Buy It Now is not to get greedy. Use the eBay calculator to reach your goal profit and list it at that price.

A pretty long post, so if you are still reading you actually got 4 good tips here.

1. Use Buy It Now for items that you are unsure of to meet your goal.


2. Use the eBay Calculator to figure out your profits.


3. Do Not get too greedy when you set a Buy It Now price.


4. Set an actual goal price that you want to make on each item and take that into consideration before you buy an item while thrifting.

Good Luck

John Paul

My Top 10 thrift Store Items To Resell On eBay eBook

Cell Phone Find of the Week #4 & #5

I didn't post a new Cell Phone Find of the Week last Monday, I was really busy the week of April 29 (cut me some slack i am expecting my first child in May =+0) so I am posting 2 finds for this week. My goal will still be 52 finds for the year, so even if I miss a week I will still get 52 new items out their to my readers which adds up to 1 a week.

If you are unfamiliar with the Cell Phone Find of the Week refer to my first cell phone post for all the details.

First Up: Cell Phone Find #4

Kiton Men's Dress Shirt
Purchased for $3.00
Sold for $69.00
Total Profit after all eBay Fees (spring 2010 updated) $57.72

Kiton shirts are all handmade and some retail for $800.00+ WOW!!

A nice little find for an item that was not on my Thrift Store radar. This will probably be in the running for my Thrift Store Find of the Month for April, but it's still early.

Cell Phone Find of the Week #5

J Press Men's Shirt

Purchased for $2.99

Sold for $14.50

Total Profit after eBay fees (Spring 2010 updated) $9.08

OK, so I fell a little short on my goal which I set for myself of $10.00 profit per item that i purchase at a Thrift Store. But I did learn a new name that if I come across a shirt next time I might list as Buy It Now so i know I will meet my $10.00 profit. Plus I see J Press Blazers are good sellers as well.

Good Luck

John Paul

***For More Thrift Store Finds Check out my first eBook and don't forget to join my twice monthly mailing list to the right.***

My Top 10 Thrift Store Items To Resell on eBay

Thrift Store Item 2 Sell - VTG B3 Bomber Jackets

This item is probably a HTF thrift item, I am not 100% sure yet because I have never really looked for them in the past. I'm looking now. Maybe someone out there has found them in the past. Let me know if you have and how you did?

I stumbled across this one because 1 of the the Salvation Army Thrift Stores in my area was having a sale on all their winter coats and sweaters. $2.00 for coats and $1.00 for sweaters. I picked up a 3 coats and a bunch of wool and cashmere sweaters. What a deal!!!!

Here's my auction:



I do admit I was a little disappointed with the sale, I was hoping for $150.00+ but still a nice profit for a $2.00 purchase with the Jacket selling for $50.99. So this might be something you want to add to your Thrift Store Shopping List, because if you research eBay some sell for $200.00+

*TIP*
If you do come across a B-3 Bomber Jacket make sure you pack and weigh it before you list it. They are very heavy and will need a bigger box (probably 18x12x12) and chances are it will sell internationally. So you don't want to under estimate the weight, because their is a good shot you will be shipping this Priority Mail International.

Good Luck

John Paul

eBay Shipping & Handling Charges DSRs

I think we should start a petition and get the shipping & handling charges DSR rating removed from eBay. Not that eBay will listen to it's buyers but something needs to be done.

Buyers are AWARE of the shipping charges before they bid. If they think they are too high then Do Not Bid. I don't get it. I always charge exact shipping costs based on the weight and using the eBay shipping calculator. How is my shipping & handling DSR 4.7 which is keeping me from being a top rated seller. I need that 20% discount with these new eBay Final Value Fees.

Also the postage amount is hidden on the packages I send out. Are these buyers who give me a low shipping & handling DSR weighing the package when they get it and checking the rates out.

John Paul

OUCH!!!!!!!!! These New eBay Fees Really Hurt

These new eBay fees are outrageous. For some reason I did not keep up with the news of the new fees until recently. Probably because they are so confusing to understand at first and I didn't think they would be this bad. I now realize this might be the worst move eBay has ever made and they have made a lot of bad moves in the last few years.

I sold a thrift store shirt for $69.00 last night.
The final value fee for the $69.00 shirt that I sold is $6.21. WHAT?
Before the fee change the final value fee would have been $3.73
If I subscribe to the basic store my final value fee would still be $5.16 after paying $15.95 up front.

What really annoys me is if you go to the eBay Spring 2010 Fee Update page this is what is written in bold


OUR LOWEST FEES EVER COMING THIS SPRING: FREE AUCTION-STYLE LISTINGS, FIXED PRICE AS LOW AS 3¢.

That might be the most misleading headline that I have read in years and I read a lot of junk online.

Something has to give here. My eBay business has grown every year since I started it full time in 2007, and I have been working hard to have my best year ever, but if eBay keeps killing us sellers who are really loyal to eBay then I might have to move on. I mean what will they do next. eBay fees will only go up, shipping rates will only go up. It will only make it harder for a 1 man operation like myself to make a living selling on eBay. I feel like I have to sell an extra item or 2 a day just to cover the fees. I am really upset and pissed off. I need to go have a beer and watch the Mets game.

John Paul

My Top 10 Thrift Store Items To Resell on eBay

eBook UPDATED on Feb. 7th 2011


Reselling thrift store items on eBay has become my specialty. I sell thousands of thrift store items annually to buyers all over the world. If you are looking to make extra money and take your eBay selling to the next level then you should consider reselling thrift store items.

This clothing only guide will help you get started in the right direction. I typically go thrift store shopping about 2 days a week. Every time I step foot into a thrift store I know there are hundreds of potential items that are there for the taking. This e-book lists my top 10 thrift store brands to look for. These are items that I find on a regular basis and are very good sellers on eBay. They are not necessarily my highest profit items, but based on availability and average profit per item they made the list of my top 10.

At the end of this e-book is also a list of my 10 thrift store shopping tips that I believe will really help you if you plan on becoming successful at reselling thrift store items on eBay. I hope you enjoy this e-book and find the information worthwhile.

This eBook is $14.99 and will pay for itself with your first sale of one of the items in my Top 10 list. Click the button below to buy it.

Thank you for your support, it keeps me motivated to work hard on this blog.

John Paul

Original Muppet Created & Signed by Jim Henson

I know the main focus of my blog is mostly Thrift Store finds and finding new ways to make money selling on eBay, but my main form of eBay income is my New york City eBay consignment business.
Auctions, Shipping and Packing LLC.
http://www.asapsellsit.com/

I get some interesting items to sell, but this one tops the list.

Original Muppet Created & Signed by Jim Henson

So if you know any Muppet collectors out there, let them know about my auction. They will probably never see anything like it again.

John Paul

New eBay Fees

I have a couple of eBay user ids and after looking at the new eBay fee structure for about an hour I am still pretty confused. How many times can you change something. I am waiting for eBay to start their own shipping company that you MUST use to ship your items. So they will get the eBay fees, PayPal fees, and then shipping costs.

They thing that annoys me about the new fees that I don't quite get is if you do not pay for a store subscription and you sell an item for a high price (say $10,000) you will be charged a max final value fee of $50.00. But is you own say a basic store the final value fee would be around $222. The eBay fee illustrator will help you break down the best options for your eBay selling needs. GOOD LUCK!!!

I would like to write more about the new fees, but honestly I would confuse both of us. What are your thoughts on the new fees? Will you go with an eBay store subscription?

Good Luck

John Paul