More Re-Sellers Out There?

From my limited perspective as a collector who attends estate auctions and goes to thrift shops, book sales, and church rummage sales fairly often I've been noticing an noticeable increase in the number of flippers out there with their scanners and smartphones checking everything with a barcode. Is it the poor economy that is causing this or is their a new reality show out there causing hoards of newbie flippers to get into the thrifting and retail arbitrage game? I've heard that the thrift shops in town are hiking their prices and sending all the good stuff to be sold online due to these hoards of re-sellers who seem to be everywhere now, I guess the thrifts think that if anybody is going to be profiting on the items that are donated to them, that it should be them not the flippers. I don't have anything against people that are using their knowledge to make an easy buck, heck I might even join them if I thought I could make it in such an oversaturated market.

Your thoughts?
Joe2007

 

I'm not a re-seller myself, but the whole business fascinates me. Looking forward to seeing responses. Good idea for a thread!

 

I think you hit the nail on the head , Joe . With technology so available and easy to use , its nothing to see older folks ( who usually have more discretionary income) to be standing there surfing the net . Every single thrift I go to has hordes of them , and yes , the prices have gone up and up . But like you said , that's just the way it is now . Just keep plugging away and hope you find an overlooked treasure is about all we can do at this point . The days of $5 Tiffany lamps are over . Im not a re-seller in that since of the word , but ive occasionally sold things Ive bought for nothing at a nice profit . Then I regret it ! Every single time !

 

Not sure what you mean by this. The things I and most other antique sellers buy for resale certainly do not have a barcode on them. There is more competition out there but the kinds of things people look for differ. Quite often your specialized knowledge will give you the one-up on newbies. They usually don't have the specialized knowledge to even know what to call something to be able to look it up.

Besides, at the thrifts, it has always been a numbers game. Those that hit them early, often, or are lucky usually get the goods. It has been that way a whole lot longer than the internet and hand-held devices have been around.

 

verybrad - Sorry for the confusion, the flippers that I mentioned largely are going after newer items such as books, dvds, video games, and electronics. Not antiques. Thankfully most of them don't yet seem to know antiques and there are still some crumbs to be had in those areas, but I think it is only a matter of time before some of them diversify. I'm 27 and I rarely saw people my age at auctions and yard sales but now I'm seeing a lot more regulars in that age group with online stores.

 

I can only speak for myself but I do that, I look things up on my phone all the time. Sometimes it's because I want to know what they are currently selling for because the market changes and sometimes I just want to know what something is without buying it.

I "re-sell" but why not? I go to thrifts, auctions, antique stores etc and am always on the look out for things I want but at the same time I find things that I think others might want and I can make enough on to cover some costs. Win win! I even opened a little retirement account with some of the proceeds.

I don't look for bar coded things or search by bar code but do sometimes end up with some fairly new things.

I always wonder why anyone cares if someone is looking things up. You either buy it and make the store some money or you don't. If stores raise their prices it's because people will buy at those prices (or the get stuck with things they can't move). Supply and demand.

I see a lot of people looking things up that look like they're doing it for more than recreation or for fun. I think the economic stress many have felt probably has a lot to do with it and people just need to find a way to make a little money.

 

Hi,
I do not use anything but my own senses when buying. I resent some people that do insane things like run through a sale grabbing everything. Making a huge pile and sitting down and start looking everything up to see what brings the most money. In the meanwhile someone who is looking for one thing just looks and does not see anything but some grubber with a huge pile taking hours to go through. It was one of the most irritating things I used to have to deal with when I sold. I love to browse and look at everything but not grab and run. I guess I am too old for the new order of things.
greg

 

The thrifts get a lot of good liquidation items these days - there are people who only buy new items and ship it directly to Amazon to be sold - basically, they're buyers who don't have to store anything.

That's why they're looking for barcoded items. Books, tapes and toys are big.

I met someone a couple years ago with stars in his eyes about joining "it," whatever it was.

I look things up like say-it-slowly, just out of curiosity. I'll ever remember exactly what it was that interested me when I get home, so it's waaaaay better than popping for endless $2 experiments.

I'm glad to have a little "tech support" saving me money!

 

Such tech support is often akin to putting eBay items on one's watch list. One wants to know IF it sold, and what the price was, and were more than just one or two people interested.

 

Thanks Scout. I didn't realize that shipping directly to amazon was the way this was done.

(..And then Amazon makes the listing, or they do?)

Does anyone know how Amazon is able to keep up with such a large inventory coming directly from their warehouse(s) and keep it undamaged and clean?

 

WOW SIS THAT'S AMAZING! THANKS!!

 

Makes you understand how such a place can consider delivering packages with drones (almost )

 

I haven't been doing my estate sale thing or thrift store runs for awhile since not feeling that great, but in the past, I can say what goes on locally here.

Most people have smart phones here and check the current price if an item sold and/or if the item is worth buying at all to sell.

I don't have a smart phone or mobile device so I can't do that, I have to go by my gut instincts. One day I hope to get a smart phone so I can have that added ability to do research on the run.

The thrift stores near here were already hiking their prices so high (even for junk stuff that one could buy at a dollar store) that I was becoming disgusted.

I hope to soon start going out again to estate sales and hopefully garage sales as well when the weather gets better.

 

I hope you're feeling up to it soon too! Sometimes I think getting out in the sunshine and wandering about is as rewarding as anything I find.

I haven't been selling much recently for family medical reasons. I am back to visiting thrifts though as I drive and drop at endless doctor visits, it's how I entertain and distract myself. I've got quite a lot of stuff building up.....uh oh.

 

Hope you feel better...yesterday!...so you can go saleing Pearls!

 

Thanks SIS and King of Things.

SIS you are smart to distract and entertain yourself by doing some thrift store runs. I will keep your family in my thoughts and prayers.

I had to put my shop on Etsy on Vacation mode since about the end of Dec or early Jan due to my being ill plus my computer went kaput around the same time and I also had some family medical issues to deal with that were weighing heavily on me.

I hope to be back selling real soon and to enjoy finding new treasures.

 

HOPE SO!

 

Seems to be more than one way to do this - obviously a lot of books and music come from smaller vendors who sell through Amazon - I found out about this the hard was, bc they don't have the same policies and I was on my own when I needed to return something.

So I was interested to hear about that guy's plans, but I have no idea if he was successful at it. I only remember he was happiest about the fact that he wouldn't have to store it himself, which sounds like heaven to me!

Hope you're feeling better soon Pearls! I just realized yesterday I haven't been to a flea in several years and I might enjoy getting back out into the wilds of our local drive-in theaters and school parking lots .

 

Scouts! What!!! WOW!!! I'd be in some kind of trauma if I hadn't been to a flea in a while.
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You'll get your chance to buy new socks, dig through unrestrained piles of new reading and sun glasses for unscratched ones, experience unknown - and now unforgettable, smells and wonder why something that's heaved directly upon the filthy ground is 'worth' so very much.
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BUT....there are gems out there.
You simply have to be 'intrepid'. (<that's for Gila)
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You will meet some fun people and likely a few who are wasting oxygen.
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Bring cash. There may or may not be an ATM and if so, will it work?
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Bring heavy bags with handles, Ziplocs of various sizes, and / or a cart or wagon with bungees. These help stuff to stay where you put it and make it harder for someone to snatch something from you. Little bells on them help too.
Non-clear bins with secure lids are helpful for this as they can't be seen into and you can add, but also restrain them, above 'normal' height.
Then you are all packed when you get back to your vehicle as well.
A little wagon with sides is great for all this.
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Bring lots of hand wipes, hand disinfectant gel and such. DON'T put your hands near your face! Don't eat anything without a good cleaning of your hands first.
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Find out where the 'restrooms' are before you need use of them.
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And........HAVE FUN and show us your treasures!