Sunday's Yard Sales Finds March 12th 2017

Toys and more toys! Good deal overall. Bought several My Little Pony, a bunch of Littlest Pet Shop, plenty of Playmobil. Most were in bags/lots and were mixed with random toys. These no brands toys will be sold in lots on local ads. I'll also unload the LPS structure and low value pets locally. Also bought a bunch of epiphany feves (tiny porcelain figures).

I spend around 25$ for everything. Should be easy to make a profit. I'll sell the best stuff individually and make lots for the rest.

Playmobil dog and pony show

Littlest pet shop lot and accessories

some MLP

The feves sells ok, I did nicely before Christmas with the French epiphany creche/santon ones. These little tiny porcelain figures are quite collectible.

French epiphany feves

Update #2 on the Big Toy Haul And Some Recent Finds

Some of the recent finds come from either charity shop or other online venues.

I found some interesting bed sheets, some toys, a few necklaces (Scooter Paris brand) and little knickknacks. I have to admit that I look forward to the warmer weather that rhymes with more yard sales. But still, charity shops do hold some treasures and scouring online shops and online auctions can also worth the time (but the deal are usually not as good because of the shipping part, so one needs to make sure the total will still be profitable). 

Just a few pictures of recent finds, no everything is included. Note that I already have sold the vintage Tom & Jerry flat bed sheet for $88. Haven't list the rest yet.

Vintage French Disney Snow White Bed Sheet & Vintage French Bambi Bed Sheet

Vintage 80's The Smurfs Glasses (Amora and Maille mustard brand)

 

Some nice Scooter Paris Necklaces

 

Vintage Tom & Jerry Bed Sheet

 

A recap of the big toys haul I bought a few weeks ago (see post here: http://www.myyardsalefinds.com/2017/02/2017-ebay-toys-haul.html)?) 

Since my first recap (here: http://www.myyardsalefinds.com/2017/02/update-on-last-week-big-toys-haul.html)  I sold $254 more so I am up to $401. Still a few toys to list and some I listed haven't sold yet. So yes that was a nice buy.

Vintage Fisher Price #952 Yellow Family Playhouse

The Vintage Fisher Price #952 Yellow Family Playhouse.......FINALLY I found one!! In a charity shop for 6$ on Tuesday. I had one when I was a little girl and been looking for one for years. eBay has them often but with the shipping to Europe it was pretty expensive. Patience paid. I wanted one just to ring the bell (I remembered the sound!).

BUT now that I have it, should I keep or sell. Big question. My daughter will play with it until I decide.

Here's what I wrote a few years back about that playhouse:  The Fisher Price 952 House

Fisher Price 952

2017 eBay Toys Haul

Good weekend! I went to a few sales on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday didn't start too good. On the 2 sales I went, only one had a few interesting things. One was organized by a school and they were selling some of their older material, including old furniture. I decided not to go there first because my chance of finding small things I could resell easily were small (not to mention that it was most likely attracting lots of antique dealers). So I went to a community sale organized by school kids parents in hopes to find some good toys.

I only found some ELC Happyland fairy sets. Not a big deal, but I'm sure to net a small profit. I also bought a nice women Zara top that I will list on a specialized site. Then I went to the school sale, nothing interesting left by the time I got there. I decided to hit some charity shop to help paying for train/tram/coffee fees. The more I find the more I make especially when I have to pay around 25 euros of train/tram and food. Yes I usually add the coffee and snacks to my fees.  At the charity shop I found some Littlest Pet Shop houses with pets and a bag of Fisher Price little people. These where like blind bags, I couldn't see the figurines inside the LPS houses, but I figure that selling the house alone would net me a profit anyway. Upon opening, I found a kitten and some accessories that will sell ok. Houses and less interesting pets/accessories will sell locally for pickup.

LPS houses and ELC Happyland Fairies

On the way home, I bought a France Starbucks mug at the local Starbucks. They usually sell, not fast but I like to carry some in my store.

Sunday I went to a local community sale and I score some good stuff. A guy was selling little baggies of toys for 2 euros each and they were good. Some nice LPS, some more Early Learning Center figures, some Playmobil pieces and figures, vintage early Kenner Star Wars figures and some Fisher Price stuff. Good stuff really, I'll need to research the Star Wars pieces a bit, haven't sell any since I sold my brother collection about 10 years ago. I know the market is not as good as it was, but at the price I pay it's still a great deal. I also bought a table cloth that I may sell or keep, not sure yet, and a few things for the kids and myself.

Vintage Star Wars Figurines

I spend a total of 77,30 euros (around $82). That includes train, tram and coffee/snack, and exclude things I bought for myself (a top and a scarf) and for my son (Pokemon cards) and daughter (shoes). Also not in the total is the new Starbucks mug. As of tonight Monday, I have listed 9 Pet Shop, 1 lot of Fisher Price and 1 lot of ELC figures for a total of 147$ Still tons of stuff to list, the pile haven't even start to shrink! Have the fairy sets to lost, Star Wars stuff and lots of playmobil, as well as the LPS houses and many more accessories and pets!

Big toys haul for ebay

First 2017 Finds

It's been quiet in January, but I still managed to hit 2 sales. One was a collector's sale with the usual array of stamps, postcards, coins. I did end up buying quite a lot of French epiphany feves. I realised just recently that they do sell and not just to French collectors. I sold quite a few nativity pieces before Christmas as well as some themed ones. So from now on I'll buy them if I find pieces that can appeal to collectors and if the price is right.

What are these "feves" you ask? The feve (broad bean) is a little figurine (usually porcelain, sometimes plastic) hidden in the French epiphany cakes (King cake). "Tradition holds that the cake is “to draw the kings” to the Epiphany. A figurine, la fève, which can represent anything from a car to a cartoon character, is hidden in the cake and the person who finds the trinket in his or her slice becomes king for the day and will have to offer the next cake. Originally, la fève was literally a broad bean (fève), but it was replaced in 1870 by a variety of figurines out of porcelain or—more recently—plastic. These figurines have become popular collectibles and can often be bought separately. Individual bakeries may offer a specialized line of fèves depicting diverse themes from great works of art to classic movie stars and popular cartoon characters." (cf: King Cake article on Wikipedia)

You can see some French Feves here:


I also went to an indoor community sale and bought a few playmobil and Littlest Pet Shop. Not a big profit, but I have good success selling Playmobil, either as custom sets or for replacement parts. Also bought a stunning necklace, heavy and beautiful, by Scooter Paris. I'll list it on ebay or Etsy.

And last, yesterday I went to a charity shop and score two nice vintage bed sheets... you'll have to wait until a bit, I'll take some pics and show later this week in a new post . Also looking forward to hit a few sales over the weekend!

Two Weeks Worth of Toys... Mostly

Toys toys toys. I am drowning in them! The last two weekends sales were very very good!

I score loads of toys and for very very very cheap.

Lots of My Little Pony, including many International exclusives (sold two already for 25$ and 32$ which cover around 75% of what I spend during these two weekends).

Lots of Littlest Pet Shop (I do not buy unless there are dirt cheap now. I use to buy whatever I find, but now the market is saturated and filled with fakes from China selling for 1 cent... They still sell, but instead of selling a few per days, I sell a few per weeks. It's a shame that eBay help China ruin the market). The houses I will sell locally. I paid 18$ for the house, the car and all the Petshops and accessories shown in photo #2. Most of it will be covered by the sale of the empty house and car.

I also bought some nice Playmobil including some with the box. I may sell them in set or break them and sell by pieces, depending on what they are worth sometime it is better to sell piece by piece.

The nice tin box with cats and dogs should sell well too.

I bought some more vintage Disney bed sheets and duvet cover. I haven't finish listing the others I found a few weeks ago, but the one I listed sold for 58$ (from that sale, the one with the classic Dinsey characters: http://www.myyardsalefinds.com/2016/09/treasure-hunting-with-kids.html)

Luckily the kids are off school for the 2 weeks fall holidays and they are visiting mom in law for at least a week so I can focus on listing all these babies!

Toys toys and toys

More Toys for Ebay

I attend only one sale this weekend, for a local school. As expected, lots of toys and ok prices. Got a big lot of playmobil for 15$, many LPS and accessories for about 13$ and some very neat old wooden silk spools that will look great in someone's home. Also a couple of epiphany "feves" (Found in King's cake during the epiphany in France). No big deal like the bed sheets I found last week, but still all of this will be profitable.

Toys toys toys

Feves (French epiphany figures) for a nativity scene

Old silk spools

Big Toys Haul This Week End

Perfect for the up coming Christmas! I found loads of toys this weekend. Dirt cheap too. The Playmobil sets are pretty nice and should sell easily. Fairies are cute and will make a nice gift for a little girl. I still buy the Littlest Pet Shop when they are cheap enough, the market is slowly dying thanks to the Chinese seller loading eBay with cheap knockoffs (http://www.myyardsalefinds.com/2014/11/fake-littlest-pet-shop-sold-on-ebay-by.html).

I bought many My Little Pony too, they don't move very fast for the most part but they were so cheap that it doesn't matter. Also some Pokemon finger puppets (10 cents each), some Polly Pockets, Pinypon and Disney stuff.

My favorite find is a nice French porcelain bathroom set with soap box, wall hanger, toothbrush holder and a pair of door plates. This set will most likely go on Etsy.

I also like the Naf Naf fox pajamas! Very cute but not my size. Whimsical enough to sell ok.

Oh and I love that little pink bag with horses, should do well too, very cute!

Toys From yard Sales

Treasure Hunting With The Kids

Hubby was away for the weekend so I did bring my kids "treasure hunting" (like they say) with me in Grenoble. We had a blast, except for my youngest one who kept telling "are you going to sell that mommy" despite me having explain not to say that. At least she didn't do it in front of people I was buying from. And it was not as bad as what my son did last year when he told a lady "my mom is going to sell that for a lot of profit"!!

Otherwise they were very nice and didn't ask for anything, nor did they complain!

I didn't find a lot of stuff and once I factor in the train the tram and the food for the 3 of us, profit will be hurting a bit (although the Disney bed sheets may save the day).

Total fees for the day were 50 euros (about 58$) + the price of what I bought. The LPS alone  covers everything and more (transportation, food, purchases and ebay /paypal fees).

Vintage Snow White Bed Sheet, Vintage Disney Bed Sheet, LPS, Wicket Basket.. oh my!!

 My favorite find was the beautiful wicker basket! I am tempted to keep it, but I know it will sell well (I will most likely sell it locally). I paid less then 3$ for it! I also love my big glass jam jar. Will most likely keep it.

I am also looking forward to sell those vintage Disney bed sheets. Most likely from the 70's maybe even a bit earlier. One is Snow White and the other shows various Disney's character (Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Pluto etc) These will probably change my day from just ok profit to very very awesome!! And the "Around the World with Willy Fog" sheet? Pretty awesome and most likely rare but I am not sure if this show has a lot of fans. We shall see soon.

Around the World with Willy Fog bed sheet

Not Much Luck This Weekend At The Yard Sales

Worst ever yard sales I have ever come across. I'm not even sure I'll break even with the train/tram fees!

I went to 2 community sales yesterday. The first one was bad. Lots of cheap broken stuff. It was in a not so nice neighborhood, but still I was expecting at least a few decent toys.... nothing really unless broken sinks and faucets are your thing.

The second was not much better. Lots of clothes and baby stuff, but this is something I usually don't sell and a quick glance didn't make me want to buy. No good/fancy brands. lots of dirty stuff (seriously if you sell clothes at yard sale, wash them!!!)

At this time I was ready to come home empty handed and lighter of about 18$ in train/tram fees. It's part of the game, over the years I have always managed to come home with profit (most of the time a very nice one) or at least with enough to break even. Not this time, until I spotted the Playmobil carry away house. At the price (18$) any other day I would have pass, but this time I did not. I won't make much on it, but enough to at least cover a small % of my transportation fees. And the kids are allowed to play with it until I am ready to sell.

I plan to sell the empty house locally (I did sell one last year easily) and will list the parts and figures on eBay. I sold the last one for 10 euros (12$) and I should be able to get at least 20$ for the parts (selling them as replacement parts). Maybe a bit more.

Frankly not a good weekend, but it happens. I have enjoyed getting lost twice in Grenoble trying to find the right places! And I walk quite a bit, too bad I don't have a fitbit to keep track......

Playmobil saved the day...almost!

Back to School Season Means More Yard Sales

After a very very slow summer, with very few chances to hit yard sales, I was more than happy for the back to school season. It means weekends after weekends of community sales, school fund rising sales and other charity events.

My eBay Haul

This weekend wasn't the best but I did manage to find a few good things to resell. And all very cheap. 5 Euros (about 6$) for the near mint pink leather timberland boots, 4$ for the purple The Art Company sandals. Both brands usually sell well for me. The are among my favorite brands to resell. See my favorite shoe brands to sell on eBay here (we all have our own favorites, these are mine and they have always sell well for me).

I also found more Pinypon dolls/figurines (the lot came with Polly Pocket cats that I will list separately). They sell like hotcakes so I buy them anytime I find some (if the price is good). A set of 4 Australia Birds porcelain mugs. One sold immediately after I listed it and paid for the lot and more. The other 3 are pure profit. They don't go for much and will take time to sell but that's ok.

I cannot believe my luck, at the second yard sale I manage to find that absolutely gorgeous French Moustier porcelain salt box for only 6$. It's a nice one too with pastel colored birds butterflies and flowers. Very shabby chic. This one will most likely go on Etsy, although I may put it on eBay first and see how it goes. I also found a 70's Italian porcelain espresso set with big blue and yellow flowers on it.The large flower shop planter and the old French lemonade bottle were bought last year but I don't remember having posted about them. I also treated myself to a beautiful blue porcelain soap dish from Prague ceramic.

Moustier salt box

 Happy thrifting everyone!

2 of my Latest Yard Sale Hauls

May 22 haul includes a cheap Playmobil mix lot, a nice Champagne ice bucket, an old French Hot Water Bottle Bras, some jewelry (mainly vintage, nothing real hot, but so cheap that whatever it sells for it's going to be profit). Also found a rock climbing metal sculpture made by HINZ & KUNST. The cute plate and wine rack were bought online for resell.

May 22 haul

Jewelry, need to be research a bit

May 28 finds: toys and more toys! Pet Shop, Playmobil, Pinypon, Brio trains, Frozen etc.... I have good success selling toys so whenever the price is right I buy.

toys to flip!

May 21st 2016 eBay Haul

Gorgeous day today, so I went early and hit 2 yard sales in Grenoble. Both were pretty big and one of them was located in a nice park.

I ended up buying a lot of Littlest Pet Shop and way way cheaper then what I usually pay. Also got a huge (and I mean huge) lot of LPS accessories for dirt cheap (7$ for all the Littlest Pet Shop accessories you see in the picture below).

May 2016 eBay Haul

Sales of Littlest Pet Shop on eBay are not as good as they used to be. They still sell but not as fast as before. I blame this on two things:

1- lots of sellers now look for them because they are money makers.
2- But mostly,  the China sellers on eBay have flood the site with cheap knockoffs/fakes and buyers either don't come back to ebay because they feel they were scammed (they receive a cheap knockoff instead of a real Pet Shop) or they see cheap price so they think they get a deal.... so instead of buying the real thing they buy a fake.

But still what I got will sell, for less money then a year ago for sure, and they will move more slowly, but I'll still make decent money. And the accessories sell well (and the Chinese sellers don't produce fake accessories so they are not killing the market for these).

I also bought some cute necklaces, from South America. One is made from Tagua and the 2 others are made from paxiuba beads. I might keep them if they don't sell, I love them!

South American Fair Trade Necklaces

Also found a lovely cookie tin depicting a Victorian (horses and noble people):

Vintage tin

More yard sales tomorrow if weather is good. I also need to list some of today's finds!

Brocante Finds and an eBay Cassini Search Rant

Here's some of my recent brocante finds that will eventually end up on either Etsy or eBay!
Yard sales haven't been good lately so I rely on brocante (both online and offline).

In this lot: a very large cast iron rooster in a wonderful green paint (a door stopper most likely), a cute, whimsical little chick (ceramic), an old wood bench, a zinc florist vase, a fleur de lis zinc frieze, an old jam jar filled with marbles (I'll need to research marbles a bit, I know they sell well, but I know nothing about them. Might just make a big lot with best offer option)

Brocante finds

Otherwise, yard sales have been slow lately (luckily I have a lot of inventory not listed yet). I'll post about what I found later this week, nothing much thrilling tho.

Sales on eBay right now are very uneven, it's either a flood or a dry spell, something I have never experienced before. Something is very strange and I do hope it's only a temporary situation, not a taste of things to come... When buyers tell you "I have been looking for this for months on eBay" and your item has been listed for months, you know something is wrong. We all know Cassini search is not very good, but I feel that goes beyond that. Traffic seems off, it's like my store is visible then invisible. Of course the flood of cheap Chinese crap on eBay doesn't help anyone: buyers get burn and don't return, buyers cannot find what they want because the Chinese sellers are known to manipulate search so they go elsewhere....

What do I do then? I keep listing but no longer exclusively on ebay!

My eBay Hauls: Very Little Finds so Far This Year

It's such a slow start of the year that I haven't posted much yet (but that is going to change soon.... lots of huge community sales coming in the next few weeks, so fingers cross).

I went this morning to a medium size community sale and didn't find much. Some Littlest Pet Shop, a pair of My Little Pony G3 and 2 interesting necklace that should sell ok ( paid less then 4$ for the pair).

Easter eBay haul

The elephant necklace carved in bone might be an hassle to list on ebay because elephant and bone in the title will probably get me in trouble (even though that is not elephant ivory, eBay is very very trigger happy. I had one pulled a few years back. I'll need to get creative and avoid triggering the filters.)

Pretty elephant necklace carved in bone

The other necklace is very pretty and signed Ikita Paris.

I am looking forward to April. Next weekend I have 5 large sales to attend, and then the next two weekends I'll be in Paris and it looks like I'll need a real planning if I want to max out my time (lots of sales are already advertised, all over Paris)

Good Online Finds To Flip on eBay

January is usually a pretty dead month for yard sales, charity sales and community sales, especially here where it's cold. So I have been sourcing online, including on ebay. And I did find some nice profit making toys.

Among my purchase is a MIP My Little Pony Midnight in Canterlot set for 25$ (yes not cheap but it's going to be an easy flip). I plan on listing it on eBay eventually. They go for over 80$ on Amazon, so I am pretty confident I can make a decent profit.

Also I did source a lot of MLP and Littlest Pet Shop for cheap. Including some Mint in Package (such as a LPS advent Calendar). I bought many lots as well, with decent LPS pets and ponies and a lot of accessories. Even when I factor in the shipping on these lot, there is a good profit to be made. I do check ebay and other online marketplace daily to find the good lots and so far I am doing really well and I don't plan stopping when the yard sale season start!

Hello Kitty Ty Plush and My Little Pony

Not a great haul this Sunday, but I bought a lot of Ty Hello Kitty. They don't sell for a whole lot  but I got them very very cheap so that's fine. Also found many My Little Pony. Some Littlest Pet Shop but nothing good. One lady was selling hers 3 euros each..... so I pass because there was none that was worth paying that much.

I bough 6 exquisite French monogrammed linen hand / tea towels at a very decent price. Not sure if I'll sell or keep. Also some books for my son, although I usually manage to seel kid's French books on ebay. We'll see once he read them, I might flip them.

I bough yet another version of one of our favorite games: Ravensburger's Labyrinth. This one has a different game play, so we'll need to read the game rules. If you are not familiar with this board game, read this: Ravensburger Labyrinth Game Is Fun For The Whole Family

Pictures:

My weekend haul

Hello Kitty, large and small, from Ty

 

First Fall 2015 Yard Sale

It was a gorgeous day and I went to 3 community yard sales. Score a few neat things for ebay and a cute useful mug for me (that's the retro chick mug you can see on the first pic).

Found plenty of good Littlest Pet Shop, with accessories, some My Little Pony, a few things for my kids such as books, DVDs and a princess dress (these are not pictured).

Fall 2015 eBay haul

I also picked some t-shirts: Abercrombie & Fitch, IKKS, Tintin, MLP. I want to try and sell clothes, mainly tee-shirts. These are easier to list and measures. Although I have been selling a lot of clothes when I started on ebay over 15 years ago, it's been a while I haven't really looked into it.

Also found a super cute vintage tin box depicting cats and dog, and a super yellow and blue metal horse show plaque. It's a beautiful plaque in bright colors and it is actually depicting an horse on it. many of these horse show plaques only have dates and name of the event. As for the tin box I use them around the house to sorts all kind of things, so if it doesn't sell I will keep it.

Some Littlest Pet Shop

Beautiful horse show plaque

Cats and dog vintage tin box

Misspelled Brands on Craiglist Can equal Great Profit

When I browse small ads online, I always search for misspelling. My logic: if someone is looking to buy Petshops like I do to flip, they won't necessarily be searching for misspelled keywords. When I look for Petshop to flip, one of the keyword I use is "Petshups"(and a few others). Usually these ads have less views and it ups your chance to find some good lots.

That's what happened this weekend. I got two awesome Petshop lots, both ads were misspelled.
First seller had a complete set of "Around the World" Petshop (the first set) for $11 as well as a small accessories lot that included the cute Halloween black cat in a pumpkin for $4.50.

From another seller I got a mix toy lot with a complete Outdoor Adventure 2 set LPS, many Ponyville My Little Pony and some flocked Hello Kitty figurines. Seller gave me a super cute, large, Hello Kitty bubble bath container.

Small ads haul to flip on ebay

Also found 2 MIB MyScene dolls

Summer 2015 eBay Haul

Yes I know it's a small haul, but I didn't do that many yard sales and community sales during our summer holidays.

We went all over France and I have been home very little, but on our journey to Limousin, Bretagne and Haute-Savoie I managed to convince the family to make a few stops for yard sales.

I bough a few LPS, including some Great Danes, a selection of crafts magazines (including ugly Christmas sweater patterns), a big box of use France stamps, on and off paper. Some vintage tin box (including a nice blur Suchard chocolate one), some clothes for the kids (not in the picture), a lovely set of unused French linen torchons (tea towels), a wooden basket with a nice patina, some Playmobil Castle parts, a Limoges Chambord chateau plate, a cute Victorian style photo album. Some were cheap, some were even free because one of the sale I attended was almost close when I got there and got things for free.

My summer yard sale haul

The Littlest Pet Shop are a sure profit maker and the rest was so cheap that I'll make money too. I may sell a few things locally, but most will be listed on ebay.

I hope everyone had a great summer and may the yard sale god be with you !!!