Hello, YouTube!

It was another hot month, as expected. With the holidays rapidly approaching, the eBay items are flying off the shelves. And with that, I managed to get a lot done!

By the numbers

Profit this month: $928
Profit last month: $1,101.89

Spend: $276.63
Listed on eBay: 77/250
eBay rating: 99.1%

What sold:

Other highlights:

I've been talking about it for so long, but I finally did it - I made some YouTube videos. And they turned out pretty well! My brother lent me some lighting and I found the single sliver of a decent background in my apartment. Then, I just did what I do - gabbed about the cool stuff I found.

The hardest part is done. It's not scary anymore and every time I upload, it should only get better. That's the goal. 1% better each time. I need to learn to talk without um's and uh's. I need a better camera and mic than my iPhone. I need an animated intro and some sound effects. But I have faith it will all come in time if I'm consistently pushing myself to upload.

I turned up the gas a bit this month with buying and listing and I think it can attribute to the solid sales. After all, if it's not listed, it's not for sale. It also didn't hurt that my buddy Dan has commissioned me to sell off some of his less-than-sentimental childhood toys. No shopping needed. Plus, I've been finding time to hit the thrift store before work so I've been able to bring more goods home.

I took a chance and drove down to the Englishtown Flea Market one weekend this month. Once I was there and walking around I remembered I had been there once (or more) before. I was only able to find a few toys. Unfortunately, it probably wasn't enough profit to justify the time and gas, but I was glad to take the drive and the experience. Maybe some consistency will unlock the potential.

A few smaller wins

Even though Facebook Marketplace has ruined the local Lego market by expanding their shipping possibilities, I still keep an eye out for sets. At some point, I found a Lego City set of mostly minifigures in the thrift store. The sad part, as you might expect, is that 3-4 pieces were missing. Not wanting to sell it as an incomplete set on eBay, I decided to break them up because I saw that some pieces, like a Lego baby, can be valuable as a replacement on their own. And sure enough I've already made two separate tiny sales of that set, each tons of profit with ease.

Another exciting win came from an Instagram stranger - shelf_warmers. His actual name is Noah and he is a reseller based in California. One week this past month, while sharing my regular haul on Instagram, Noah helped me identify an orange action figure as Crystar Lava Monster. He said he'd buy it if it was for sale and even shared an eBay listing to show how valuable it was. I didn't waste any time. If I could help him out and earn back the price of the bag of toys Crystar came in, it's a win-win.

Failures:

I hate to say it, but mistakes happen. Luckily, this month only had a few small ones.

I don't know how I did it, but, for some reason, eBay defaulted to Priority shipping for a Halo toy this month. I bought it with the quickness, not realizing I could have saved myself a few bucks and shipped it first class. Oh well, hopefully the buyer appreciated the speed!

Checking DVDs is Thrift 101 and even I still forget. There have been plenty of times I remember to check and I'm glad I did, but this month had a few flubs. I brought home a 2-disc Aquabats set to find that one of the discs wasn't even in there. Doh!

My buddy Marianne at the Porta restaurant asked me if I'd like to sell again at their Holiday Pop-Up market. And while I absolutely would love to do that, this pandemic is kicking into high gear, and this pop-up would be exactly one week before Christmas. While they have high ceilings and ventilation systems and even a rooftop space, I just couldn't commit to standing still for hours just to sell some of the things I haven't sold in a few times prior. I've slowly shifted my focus from home decor and local flea markets to building a YouTube audience with the fun of flipping toys, so that's just the way it goes. Plus, I want to do everything I can to stay healthy so I can be near my family guilt-free on Christmas.

Going forward:

I've said it before and I'll say it again (so I learn the lesson myself) - flipping from the thrift store is not going to make a full-time income.

I'm not a mathematician but my current salary is way too comfortable and there are not enough hours in the day to drive around to every thrift store, find gold, bring it home to photograph, weigh, clean, and list it before shipping it out to someone who hopefully likes it.

YouTube is the answer. I follow a number of resellers on YouTube and they've been honest enough to say that reselling is not their only avenue of revenue. People watch their videos. They sell ads, either through Amazon affiliate links or YouTube monetization.

That's the big idea. I want to build a YouTube audience by offering thrifting videos that aren't currently out there. A handful of resellers share some action figure finds here and there, but none I can find make a concentrated effort to teach people what toys they should buy and sell. My bet is there is an audience out there that would appreciate the information and I'm willing to try.

With that being said, what am I doing with home decor? Nothing. Honestly, in the past few months, I've spent less and less time scanning the thrift store shelves for glassware and artwork. They've made me some good money, here and there, but it's just not my focus any more. I did develop an eye for something people might find valuable, and I won't shy away from buying something if it catches my attention, but it doesn't help anymore to shatter my attention. Plus, I wonder what a day thrifting would look like if I could hit more stores and just focus on the toy aisle.

One last little idea with some big potential is a partnership with my friends at Secret Formula. Nell and Michael host a regular (currently virtual) show called Spoons, Toons & Booze, where they screen cartoons of all eras. The Spoons and Booze refer to the Before Times when we were able to go to the Nighthawk Theater in Brooklyn and watch cartoons on the big screen, complete with alcoholic drinks and an endless cereal bar. It's even more fun than you can imagine. And, honestly, it feels like a no-brainer to propose some kind of collaboration. I thought it might be fun to offer some of my finds up for free when people win trivia contests throughout the shows. All I would need to front is a few dollars in the thrift store and a bit of postage. It might be exactly the audience that would be buying from my eBay store anyway!

Well, that's about it for this month and almost the end for this year. December should be a pretty interesting month, so if you want to follow along and you're not already, check Flipshark out on YouTube or Instagram.

Take it easy!