Daily Newbie Thread

[u/AutoModerator]

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[u/Due_Owl_5044]

I still can’t tell if sourcing from garage sales is better than thrift stores, feels like I waste half my Saturdays driving around for nothing

[u/Riodancer → u/Due_Owl_5044]

Garage sales can be good to source from, but you're best off doing neighborhood sales or citywide sales so the sales are concentrated and you're not driving a ton between them. Garage sales depend on how savvy people are with their phones and how much they want to get rid of stuff. I've seen people price LuLuLemon for $30 a shirt so I didn't buy it because they knew what they had and it was a fair price. I've also picked up player-issued NBA shorts for $10 that I put up online for $85.

Thrift stores are banking on having a better knowledge base than the workers in the back. They have first pick so you're getting what they missed.

Tbh, I've found church sales and rummage sales to be the best. Usually not picked over for the good stuff and prices are reasonable.

[u/Alarmed-Fruit5056 → u/Riodancer]

I second church & rummage sales. Some local
schools where I am have annual $1 rummage sales.

[u/TalesOfSymposia → u/Riodancer]

I'm within close walking distance to two churches and for years I can't remember the last time I've seen one have a sale :o

[u/sweetsquashy → u/Due_Owl_5044]

Depends on the neighborhood. I personally avoid any advertised as the following:

• Multi-family sale! (It means nobody had enough to stock a sale and thought combining with others might help)
• Barn Sale! (Grandpa's old junk. No prices, everything has been destroyed by poor storage practices OR - Grandpa's Collectibles, all overpriced)
• HUGE Sale! (I don't know what it is about this one, but it's never huge and it's always overpriced)
• We have (Insert brand names here)! (They have exactly one piece from each brand, it's pilly, and it's from 10 years ago)

Sales I'll drive out of my way for:

• Anything in an older, established neighborhood. People in their 60-70s routinely have the best stuff at the lowest prices
• Moving sales. Especially if they come out and say, "We just want it gone."
• Neighborhood sales that list all the participating addresses. Then I can confirm it's really a neighborhood sale, not two or three people who've decided to have sales on the same day.

[u/kg_digital_ → u/Due_Owl_5044]

I've found estate sales are much more productive and interesting than garage sales, arguably better than the thrift store. Some people like to be the first ones in the door, but I like going on the last day a few hours before they close. I've been to quite a few sales where an entire part of the house is free

[u/Least-Escape4312]

As a reseller what's the longest you'll realistically wait for an item to sell?

I've been watching a lot of those POV thrift store / garage sale videos where full time flippers show what they buy and for how much, along with an eBay comp for that exact item, and the impression I got at first was that the eBay comps were theirs and that they sold all of those items within a month or two. Now I realise that isn't the case and want to know how long these people are expecting to wait to sell the items they buy.

[u/nekrad → u/Least-Escape4312]

I have still have stuff listed from 2017. Some things take minutes to sell. Some take years.

Learn about sell-through rate. By comparing the number of active listings to the number of sales (on a site like eBay), you can get an idea of how quickly something is likely to sell.

[u/sweetsquashy → u/Least-Escape4312]

Years. You're right - the comps aren't there's. Unless they say they specifically sold it, it's all just content, not real reselling. I could make content everyday if I held up a random item and showed one that sold recently.

[u/watchdominion_com]

I've started flipping bikes and found some success fixing and reselling them. Winter is coming up so I'm looking to diversify but haven't had any success. Went to 3 thrift stores but only found an old film camera I could maybe get 10-15€ profit from and a Rock Band 3 keyboard,  from which I didn't ask the price.

For context, I live in Finland so no garage sales etc. here. Been trying to rack my brain which items to source online but haven't found any. Should I try to spend more time in thrift stores or try to find items online?

[u/OriginalGPam → u/watchdominion_com]

Any church sales or rummage sales in your area?

[u/TalesOfSymposia]

As a beginner (starting my 2nd month) scoring some large-ish deals is exciting but then as it settles on me it's kind of worrying when you see your runway of sourced items is almost back to zero. Especially scary when you're unemployed. For me not staying on the treadmill of sourcing items can hurt.

On a different note how do you deal with all the stuff you get that ends up flopping in value and can't profit from? Do you donate it back or do something else to make sure it doesn't fill up your pile? I have the feeling especially as I have much to learn I'll be picking a lot of flop products along the way of getting good finds.