eBay Scavengers Episode 87: Our Experiences Buying and Selling Military Surplus on eBay

We have been experimenting with selling vintage and modern military surplus on eBay for a couple years now. Sites like Government Liquidation are filled with cool stuff in bulk quantities, but often take a large initial investment to get started. You might also need a big old truck, a trailer and some serious storage. We have also approached individual sellers to help them cull their insane surplus hoarding and have had good luck. Do you have experience buying and selling surplus items? We'd love to hear your stories in the comments.

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eBay Scavengers VIDEO: How To Pack Delicate Artwork (Framed with Glass) For Shipping On eBay

ITEMS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO INCLUDE:
biodegradable bubble wrap
regular bubble wrap
fragile stickers
USPS ebay printing labels
USPS roll of 1000 Priority stickers

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eBay Scavengers Episode 86: What's Happening In Your eBay Store This Week?

Hey y'all! As you can see above, we have made a new video about how to pack and ship delicate artwork for ebay. We get that question about once a week, so we decided to show you how. Other things mentioned in this episode: Thrift Hunters aired on Spike TV with the dudes from Thrifting With The Boys. We enjoyed it and you can too- they have the full episodes streaming on the Spike website. We have a new FAQ page to answer frequent questions faster than an email could. Check out this cool video on Laughing Squid where Michael Pollan explains how cooking at home is much healthier than eating out.

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We've included our weekly Ebay numbers below. In the comments, go ahead and post what you've done this week. And let us know if there are other numbers you want us to share.

The Weekly Scavenger Numbers

Jay and Ryanne’s Store Week Jan 19-25, 2014

• Total Items in Store: 3105
• Items Sold: 60
• International Sales: 15
• Total Sales: $2435.17
• Highest Price Sold: $150.00 (Mid-century framed prints)
• Average Price Sold: $40.58
• Returns: 1
• Positive Feedback: 34
• Neutral Feedback: 0
• Negative Feedback: 0

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eBay Scavengers Episode 85: We check in with Adam from The Mysterious Caravan

About 6 months ago, we interviewed new ebay seller, Adam, from The Mysterious Caravan store. Since then, he's built up his store from under 100 items to 500 items. All while him and his wife, Emma, have full time jobs and a baby to tend to. Pretty amazing work! We check back in with Adam to see what has changed since he started and see if their on track to getting one of this ambitious couple to work full time doing ebay. Thanks for chatting with us Adam!

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eBay Scavengers Episode 84: What's Happening In Your eBay Store This Week?

Cool sparkle vest that we re-photographed and it finally sold (for a mere 5.99). Fire King cup sold to an international buying company for $30. Pair of bench made English riding boots was a nice high end sale this week for $175.

 We talk about what's up this week in our eBay store. We have been cheating on eBay and listing on Amazon using Profit Bandit app on our iphones and ipad. But we have no idea if we'll be successful selling books without doing FBA. We've had a few very nice sales to international buying sites like the Japanese Sekaimon. Jay mentions one of his favorite blogs Mr. Money Mustache where extreme early retirement, paying off debt and investing wisely are the main topics. We mention using USPS Pickup as the best method for beginner shippers. Also try the USPS Flat Rate Variety Pack of boxes for free. Don't forget to stock up on our recommended shipping supplies as listed on our Resources page. Also check out Pixelmator for the Mac for simple photo editing.

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We've included our weekly eBay numbers below. In the comments, go ahead and post what you've done this week. And let us know if there are other numbers you want us to share.

The Weekly Scavenger Numbers

Jay and Ryanne’s Store Week Jan 12-18, 2014

• Total Items in Store: 3063
• Items Sold: 46
• Total Sales: $1799.72
• Highest Price Sold: $175.00 (Benchmade leather riding boots)
• Average Price Sold: $39.10
• Returns: 1
• Positive Feedback: 30
• Neutral Feedback: 0
• Negative Feedback: 0

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eBay Scavengers Episode 83: What If It All Disappears? Conquering Your eBay Fears

I'm not the only one who has 80's flashbacks when I see this image. Bought for about 5 cents, sold for $25.

When we first started selling on eBay, it never seemed like something we could do full-time. Make a living selling items we scavenged? No way. Then, as we began to consistently list and fill our store, it just became a numbers game. The more we listed, the more we sold. The more we sold, the more realistic it became that selling on eBay could become a full-time job.

But then we had a curious fear: what if we ran out of things to sell? What if the thrift stores stopped putting out items of incredible quality? What if everyone else found out about the treasures just lying around, waiting to be sold? What if people stopped donating and just sold the stuff themselves? I mean, there are now multiple TV shows detailing how to "pick & flip". Do a search for "selling on eBay" on Youtube and there's no mystery. Even Goodwill now has their own eBay clone where they sell millions of dollars of items a year themselves instead of putting them out on the floor.

In this episode we talk about how we stopped worrying, knowing that there will always be waste to find. We share our strategies on how we make sure we have plenty of different sources to scavenge at anytime of the year.

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eBay Scavengers Episode 82: What's Happening In Your eBay Store This Week?

An example of our Panasonic GH1 and 20mm Pancake lens with a shallow depth of field.

Jay and Ryanne talk about what's happening in their store this week. A $1000 day, while rare, was a welcome deluge. We start doing our taxes with the help of GoDaddy Bookkeeping. Jay mentioned the New York Times article You Can’t Take It With You, but You Still Want More. Suzanne Wells gives us a great tip on how to see eBay Best Offer prices. Check out this variety of polymailers on Amazon. I pretty much get every size to be honest. We also mention our Panasonic GH series camera and 20mm lens that we love. We also love the Canon PowerShot cameras for a simpler point and shoot.

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We've included our weekly Ebay numbers below. In the comments, go ahead and post what you've done this week. And let us know if there are other numbers you want us to share.

The Weekly Scavenger Numbers

Jay and Ryanne’s Store Week Jan 5-11, 2014

• Total Items in Store: 3025
• Items Sold: 71
• Total Sales: $2566.54
• Highest Price Sold: $150.00 (King Size Goose Down Duvet)
• Average Price Sold: $36.14
• Returns: 3
• Positive Feedback: 35
• Neutral Feedback: 0
• Negative Feedback: 0

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eBay Scavengers Episode 81: What's Happening In Your eBay Store This Week?

Sold the $1 Danish Modern Office chair for $90, and packed the sh*t out of it in a huge recycled box!

Happy New Year, Scavengers. This week we play a musical intro created for us by Adam from Skrap-Ill in Philly. He says he started selling on eBay to help fund his music. Smart.

So with the New Year, there's always new changes. Mikey and Wendy have decided to leave the podcast to work on other projects. They've always been an inspiration for us so we're excited to see what they do next. You can follow their projects and adventures at The Holy Scrap Hot Springs Blog. And check out Wendy's book The Good Life Lab. If you're a scavenger, you should read it. You can still hear them throughout the first 80 episodes.

In this episode we talk about how January has been great so far, more evidence that the "General Store" theory works. And of course we answer all your questions. We also talk about what we hope to accomplish this year. What will your 2014 be like? Tell us in the comments.

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We've included our weekly Ebay numbers below. In the comments, go ahead and post what you've done this week. And let us know if there are other numbers you want us to share.

The Weekly Scavenger Numbers

Jay and Ryanne’s Store Week Dec 29, 2013 - Jan 4, 2014

• Total Items in Store: 3004
• Items Sold: 65
• Total Sales: $2364.40
• Highest Price Sold: $210.00 (Vintage Typewriter)
• Average Price Sold: $36.37
• Returns: 1
• Positive Feedback: 38
• Neutral Feedback: 0
• Negative Feedback: 0

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