In this episode of the What Sold Podcast, Brandon and Matt discuss the inherent difficulties of running a small business while balancing personal life. They delve into the concept of maintaining a long-term perspective, acknowledging that highs and lows are intrinsic to any business. The conversation transitions to the TV show 'Severance' and its portrayal of work-life separation, leading to discussions on the complexities of intertwining personal responsibilities with professional duties. Matt shares his experiences and insights on navigating flea markets as a professional reseller, offering tips on identifying valuable items, the importance of negotiating, and the risks of potentially buying stolen goods. They also cover the ethics and psychology behind reselling, emphasizing relationship-building and responsible sourcing. The episode concludes with Matt’s rundown of recent sales items that may seem insignificant but hold surprising value, illustrating the potential in overlooked objects. A note of appeal is made for listener support through subscribing, reviewing, and sharing the podcast.
00:00 Introduction and Philosophical Musings 01:03 Balancing Work and Personal Life 03:32 Challenges of Small Business Ownership 04:46 The Reality of Reselling 11:09 Flea Market Adventures 24:49 Early Bird Yard Sale Strategies 25:35 Negotiation Tactics and Ethical Considerations 28:05 The Importance of Time Management in Reselling 30:10 Understanding the Reseller's Role 36:01 Valuable Finds in Unexpected Places 44:57 Selling Damaged Goods for Profit 46:23 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts The What Sold Podcast Subreddit #ebayjewelry #ebayauctions #fleamarkets #indianbrass #mickeymousewatch #sellingonebay #vintage #whatsoldpodcast #rustythereseller #whatsold #reselling #ebaystore #thewhatsoldpodcastRusty the reseller:
https://www.youtube.com/@RustyTheReseller What Sold: https://www.youtube.com/@whatsold Postcard Planet: https://www.youtube.com/@postcardplanet What Sold Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc513e2aPbloS20mTwuv8bAMark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:38):
Welcome back to the What Sold Podcast.
I am Brandon.
This is Matt.
We were just waxing philosophicallyabout sometimes business is hard and
that even when things are going great,those of you that are out there and
you're crushing it, you are going tohave moments where it's not so great.
And to keep it all in perspective,that it's going to be an average.
(00:58):
We hope that the average isa little above, not a little
behind, but that it's an average.
Right.
There's this TV show I've heard about.
I've not watched it, but.
The premise is that for some reason,these workers are disconnected
from the other part of their life.
So when they're at work, they'reonly thinking about work.
Severance.
It's called severance.
(01:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I don't, I'm not watched it, but I'dbe curious if they had a character doing
this that gets called from the schoolbecause their kid is sick and they have to
somehow switch or say they work from homeand they have to have their kid there.
How does that work?
Because I'll tell you, I'm notdisconnected and we were talking pre
(01:40):
production about how it can be oneof the difficulties in work sometimes
when you work for yourself is thatother things in life will interfere.
And I say that not in a super negativeway, but they just, other things will
pop up that require your attention.
And now you're in a positionwhere you're having to do
multiple things simultaneously.
(02:01):
And I would say I can certainlydo, I can, I wear several hats.
I can do more than one thing at a time.
I'm not going to be optimal.
It's, not peak efficiency when I do that.
And it also can add alittle bit of stress.
So, between me having some illnesses,kids picking up things having to
(02:22):
take them to appointments, thetrash company not coming for five
consecutive weeks to pick up trash.
I, so this morning I had to drive myvehicle full of trash to a transfer
station and pay 12 to dump it.
And I spoke with the man there and hesaid, yeah, I'm hearing this a lot.
He said, I've had over easily over 500customers complaining that this new
(02:42):
trash company is not picking up theirtrash when you have things like that.
It makes the, what should be.
Straightforward tasks easy.
And the tasks that I have todo aren't any more difficult
when that stuff's happening.
It's just that I've addedmore tasks to my plate.
So now, Oh, I got to stop this becausemy son needs me to make him lunch.
(03:05):
Yeah, he needs to eat.
So work goes away for a little bit.
And then when I try to step back init, dad, can you read this or dad?
Can you, and it's great.
I love being able to spendthis time with my kids.
But it's also double edged because I don'twant my kids being like, yeah, dad was
around, but he was never really around,he was always working and I don't want
to, I don't want to, I don't want thatto be the vibe I'm giving off either.
(03:30):
So it's tricky.
It's tricky.
Yeah.
Owning your own business is tough.
Again, a lot of the people that listen tous are probably part time or so but I'm
sure everybody can relate with working.
And if you ever work for yourself.
It's like saving, like youdon't want to save just enough.
You need to save a little bit morefor a rainy day or whatever else.
It's the same with when you work, it'slike, I know that things are going to come
(03:52):
up on the day that I did not anticipate.
And then there will be thatday where nothing comes up
and I'm like, Oh what do I do?
I'm always, I'm literally, I writedown a list of things to do every day.
When that happens, I go back to thelist and say, what have I been holding
off on because I've been so busy withother things that there is a deal
audience that you can help cousinrusty so that he is not constantly.
(04:16):
Going great.
He needs an assistant.
Some free childcare out there?
Yeah, he needs an assistant andthere's no question about it.
The only way he can get that assistantis if this show grows and becomes
the star show that it can be.
That's right.
So make sure you tell your friends.
I like the guilt trip intro into that.
Oh yeah.
We're gonna be passivelymaking you feel bad.
(04:37):
If you don't do something fair,we haven't done a patriotic cat.
We haven't done any of the thingsthat, that other podcasts have done.
No, this is actually a really goodpoint that I'm going to point out.
Not because anyone needs to hear it orcares, but it, this is me just sort of
I'm just, I'm giving you the real me andthat is that when you're doing things
like this, when you're producing media,whether it's a podcast, definitely
(05:00):
true of the YouTube world, you can'tnecessarily know the best thing to do.
That's going to say, translate tothe most amount of money, which is
why a lot of most people do YouTube.
Some of it's just vanity.
They want to be seen but alsomost of the time it's just they
want to make, earn some money.
And you can't know for sure what itis, but you can get a very good idea
(05:23):
by seeing channels that have hugenumbers, millions of subscribers, and
look at what they're doing in the nichethat I'm in, which is reselling stuff.
If you go find the channels of resellers.
What you're going to find is theselarger than life kind of personalities,
not characters per se, but they'rejust, they've been given freedom to be
(05:45):
more themselves, like more hardcore,charismatic in the way that they are.
And you're going to see a lot of, I'm ata yard sale, I'm out, I'm in the store,
and I'm finding this thing that is only 5and I'm going to make, 2, 000 off of it.
And that's exciting.
The idea of finding atreasure is super cool.
We all think that's all.
Anybody who is interested inhistory or that stuff sounds
(06:10):
great, but that's not real life.
Have I found things before that areworth way more than I paid for them?
Sure.
But you, in order to do that, unlessyou're just incredibly lucky, you
have to be out different placesmultiple times a week, every week.
And be armed with the knowledgeof what you're looking at
and knowing the value of it.
(06:30):
So if I wanted to go on and be crazy andstrap a GoPro to my chest and manufacture
these pretend scores, which in somecases, maybe they are finding them.
There is no way, folks, thatthese people are hitting these
huge things one after another.
It's not real life.
It's geared towards entertainmentand to sucking you in.
(06:53):
And the thing is, we don't have aPatreon account, like you mentioned.
I'm giving away free information,and I'm going to get on here and
tell you when eBay's ticking me off.
And I'm going to show you the 10items that I sold, because that's more
common than selling a 1, 000 item,or finding that for a cheap amount.
I'm going to give it to you real.
The small business, it is difficult.
(07:15):
It has its challenges.
It's a job like anything else.
There's good and bad.
And I'm not making up your mind for you.
I'm simply going to present my actualtrue experience and you can decide if
it's something that you want to do.
But I think the frustrations thatmaybe I elaborate sometimes are just
cautions for you to know, these arethings that you could or may encounter.
(07:36):
And knowing that ahead of time, you'rein a better spot than getting into it.
And like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What's this?
What's happening to me.
Absolutely.
I could get on.
I just, there's things that Iam not willing to do personally.
You have a conversation about politicians,people, a lot of the time I, it will
come up that anyone who gets to thatlevel has to be a little crazier.
(07:58):
Anybody who gets to that level hasto have compromised or given in.
And at a certain point, thereare people who, they don't really
care what they do, they just wantto be as successful as possible.
And I'm not saying this applies toall politicians, but it's just like.
Someone tells you, Hey, hereare the 10 things you can do.
This one thing is going tobe the most successful thing.
And they don't even look at it.
There's like, okay, great.
(08:19):
That's what I'm doing now.
You see it in YouTube.
You see it in other arenas.
I'm just not like that.
I'm, there are certain thingsthat I'm just like, yeah, okay.
That may be the most successful.
It's not, I'm not going to do that.
Here we are, we're goingthe route we're going.
It's fine.
I would like to think that eventuallywith hard work and giving good content,
that there will be some success.
Out of that, but I don't plan onchanging necessarily my strategy.
(08:43):
Sorry that we're not, I don't know.
Sorry that we're not Mr. Beast orwhatever doing this crazy YouTube thing.
He's from North Carolina asa matter of fact, as well.
And he's makes billions of dollarsand yet he has, there's been nothing
but controversy swirling aroundMr. Beast for the last year or two.
I think that both you andI would love to carve out.
(09:05):
In existence, a financial existencethat makes it so we can continue to
do this because we love to do it,but without becoming too famous.
Yeah.
I don't need people to know me.
Yeah.
You can know rusty.
That's fine.
Absolutely.
If they show up on the streetsaying rusty, you go, I don't
know what you're talking about.
So you can, you've got an alter ego.
I don't even have an alter ego.
No, but he was no moon doggie, butnobody wants to find me out there.
(09:29):
Your thing is that when you'rein the arena and the wrestling
match, instead of coming down likethe promenade and what's yours.
You are lowered from the roof.
No one knows you're moon dog.
Okay.
You're up there and you're justlowered at a certain point.
You cut the cord and you justfall right on your opponent.
I feel like I come in on a parachute.
I feel like I would bedropped out of an airplane.
Or one of those.
Ya like one of those squirrel, likeflying squirrel situations where you.
(09:52):
Skydivers do that, slam intothe ring and it's lifeless.
It's funny.
I oftentimes think about the peoplethat have reached out to us on the
show, and there've been a number.
But I think about like Yvette, who isbuilding this little thing, wants to
retire, that's the people we're speakingto, Mary, other people, Mary, who came
on the show and Mary, who's written tous, people that are out there that are.
(10:15):
That are just normal people trying tomake a little bit of money selling stuff.
Yeah.
And we hope it would be fantasticif people turned it, this into a
career, but we're not gonna lie toyou and tell you that it's easy.
Right.
I'm a small business owner,Matt's a small business owner.
It's a challenge.
I'm doing my taxes right now and I'm like,I want to rip my hair out by the roots and
(10:36):
I'm paying somebody to do it and I'm stilljust like, Oh my God, the collection.
So there, there is this stuff thathappens on there and now, right
now I can hear whoever that was, atroll dog, 74 getting mad that we're
not, why don't you stop talking?
I wanted to, I'm glad that you mentionedit because I was going to pop in and
say, Hey, by the way, for those whodon't want to hear us talking about
silly stuff in a bed of ourselves.
(10:58):
Just fast forward the first 11minutes, go ahead and do that.
We literally put chapters on there.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Yeah, we put chapters on there.
So anyway we are stoked to be here.
We have it's funny, I've been thinkingabout this topic for a long time.
We touched on it, maybe, oh geez, almosta year ago, Matt had gone out to Oakland.
(11:20):
And he'd gone to a giant flea marketthat I've actually been to it.
There are a couple of huge flea marketsin the Bay Area of California, and
I think there's a big flea market.
I want to say down nearGreenville, South Carolina.
Pickens, there's one inPickens, South Carolina.
I'm just fascinated by it.
I'm completely afraid of them.
(11:41):
Okay.
I feel like I might get fleas.
It just, it feels like alittle bit of a carnival.
Feels like there's just alot of stuff going on there.
But I actually wonder.
Is it really people sellingstuff and buying stuff?
So Matt is going to take us on atour of what it's like to go to a
flea market as a professional seller.
What are you looking for?
What are you not looking for?
(12:02):
What to be aware of, gems are youlooking for at the flea market?
Okay, I need to ask aclarification question first.
Sure.
You, what you described are theseoutdoor sort of flea market, markets,
which is a very different beast, verydifferent animal from Wouldn't people
think of like thrift store, which wouldbe a goodwill type thing or something
(12:22):
smaller that's in a local community.
So what do you want me to I'mtalking flea market, baby out in
the, out in there, big outdoor thing.
Everybody's got, they've got thesekiosks, these stalls, you got a dude sell
out of the back of his, station wagon.
I just often wondered, is thereanything worth buying there?
Is it worth dealing with it?
So as resellers, yeah.
(12:45):
We would go in there and we'd saywe're not going to buy anything.
We can't resell for more money.
So is it worth going into?
So you're, I love to hear yourexperience with flea markets.
What have you found them to be positive?
Do you go to them?
What's the story, Morna Glory?
That's what I want to know.
I've had a mixed experiences.
They can be a little bit, I don'tknow if scary would be the right
(13:07):
word, but when you walk up tosomething that's so massive, you can
certainly be a little apprehensive.
Oh, I'm scared.
Okay some people are scared.
I appreciate your bravery ofbeing honest about being scared.
Oh, I just don't go,because I'm too afraid.
It's especially funny becauseyou're not Like a small person,
like you're, you could be a bouncer.
Yeah, I have been a bouncer.
(13:27):
I can handle myself in a scrap for sure.
But there's just something.
You just have a soft side, a kind heart.
I think it's just overwhelming.
It is.
I think that's what it is for me.
When I get overwhelmed in anything,it's just, my wife will tell
you , it just stresses me out.
Yeah.
And that's one of the reasonsI love that idea of it.
I do.
I love the idea of going andstrolling and it always feels like.
(13:49):
If I go around the wrong corner,somebody, like those old time, 40
movies where that dude had a truncheon,like this thing where you whack you
over the head and it robbed you.
I always feel like that's going tohappen to me when I go to a flea market.
Sure.
I think the thing that wouldmake me nervous, it would be
to be a seller at one of those.
Because, and I'llexplain that in a moment.
That's that, I'll get back to that.
(14:10):
My experiences with these outdoorlarge markets, there are some that
are permanent sort of fixtures in anarea, and they operate either every
day or most days during the week.
And What's there, who's there changes allthe time because the way that it works
is you arrive really early in the morningand there's a set fee for the, for what
(14:37):
you pay to sell on a table or a sectionthat's already there and you pull up
with your vehicle, you can back up to it.
And it's like 15 bucks or 20 bucksfor a table or 50, but whatever it is.
And you can get maybe an unlimited number,or maybe you can get a maximum of three.
And so you pay and you start to unloadyour trailer or your vehicle on all
(14:58):
this stuff as people are coming upand people will get there early with
flashlights in the dark, and they'realready ready to look at your items.
Want to wheel and deal.
Okay.
Then there are others that happen.
Let's say once a year or twice a year,and they might pop up in like a grocery
store parking lot, like a parking lot,some of some area, or maybe it's something
(15:22):
that happens annually in your town.
Some of those types of things are goingto be less junky and less antique y.
So if it's something that's in your town,it's more likely going to be things like
local artists, people who make jewelry.
Woodworkers, things like that.
Crafty things, trinkety things,but things that have been created
in the last, let's say decade.
(15:44):
Very early on in the life ofthis show, Matt sent me to
one of these outdoor events.
He's like, Hey, this is a swap.
It's going to be great.
We're going to go to it.
I think I'm going to get some, I'mgoing to get some big purchases.
I want you there.
I want you to see how the magic happens.
I'm like, sweet.
So it's like on a nine o'clockon a Saturday morning, some crazy
(16:04):
thing in this giant parking lot.
I drive in there and I'm like,looking around where's Cousin Rusty?
Where's Matt?
He's must be wheeling a deal.
He must be making money somewherein this cause that's how he rolls.
So I couldn't, I walked thewhole thing and I was frightened.
As I want to be in theseevents, I can't find you.
So I text him like, HeyMatt, where are you?
And he's like, I'm at home.
(16:24):
I said, stay home and watch cartoons.
I just didn't feel like going.
I'm like, what?
You sent me into the heart of darkness.
That sounds just like me,
but actually something come up andI remember going, Oh man, I don't
even know what I'm doing here.
It was a swap.
So I don't think it was whatyou're talking about in terms of.
(16:45):
People setting, it felt like people werecleaning out their sheds, not even their
attics, just the old shed and they feltlike a dusty something and they threw
it on a table and wanted you to buy it.
That's what it felt like to me.
I'm sure if I knew what I was lookingfor, I might've found good things.
Okay, so going back to my Thedifference is between the two.
If you have something that's moreart stuff, that's the kind that's
(17:06):
not usually the kind of placethat you negotiate for a price.
The prices are typically thereunless there's some sort of other
thing that says something like youget a discount with a quantity.
If you buy or all this sectionis on sale, yada, yada.
But the thing that you'reasking about, I think, are these
fixtures that are always there.
(17:27):
It could be literally anything.
It could be antiques.
It could be newer stuff.
But you don't usually see artistsout there trying to, hey I'm
a potter and here's a bunch ofmugs or things that I've made.
You don't usually see that.
What you'll see, what I see a lotof time are a lot of old rusty
tools that came out of someone'stoolbox out of there that have been
in it, rusting for 20 or 30 years.
(17:49):
I see beat up instruments.
I'll see a bunch of poise stuffthat people went to goodwill all
week long, buying these things for50 cents, a dollar, two dollars.
And then they come and throw themon this table, hoping to make more.
Yes.
Oh, wow.
Yep.
Also, depending on the typeof place and how shady it is.
(18:11):
Wait, can I interrupt youbefore you go on for that?
Cause I that, what kind of,what's the psychology behind that?
It's like, that seems like a lotof work to go to Goodwill to find
these chintzy items to go sell.
How much money could youmake at this as a reseller?
Is that, is there moneyto be made doing that?
If you go to a thrift store thathave bundles of toys, let's say.
(18:33):
Like a bag of 30 action figures for10 bucks, and then you go to the flea
market and you pull them all out and yousay, these are all five bucks a piece.
And someone wants, when someone buys twoof them, you've made your money back.
Yeah, it's possible to make money.
Clothing is the other thing.
People have stocked up on allof the donations of clothing.
(18:54):
There are people who went, gotclothing, and then go to Smiley.
They got it for free.
They go to Smiley's.
Which is one local to us andthey'll try to sell them.
Maybe someone's like, Hey, here, I've gota bunch of kids clothes that I don't need.
They put it on Facebook marketplace.
People will get on Facebook marketplacejust combing it for free stuff.
(19:16):
They'll drive, they'll get free stuffall week long, and then they'll go and
try to sell it and make money on it.
They're only out their gas and their time.
But if that's what theydo, that's what they do.
So not everybody does that.
A lot of people do have things.
They're just, they need a little extramoney, so they go out to the barn and they
grab a few things and they go out there.
Or they inherited some stuff, so they'relike, well, I'll just, I'll go out.
(19:40):
However, you will from time totime have people who stole things.
And because they don't want to getcaught going into a pawn shop or going
into another place, they'll go andthey'll try to sell it there quickly.
I can't tell you the number of storiesI've heard of something getting stolen.
The next day, the cops go to Smiley's.
Here's the culprit.
They're here trying to sell it right now.
(20:01):
Yeah, that happens.
I don't want to scare people.
It's not every place is like that.
There are more reputable places.
There are places that police it.
And I know that there are, there is apolice presence at that one as well.
They walk around.
I think that they try, right?
They try it.
But if it's someone who just rolls in,And puts 15 bucks down is like, this is my
table and you just take the cash and youwalk to the next person like that's not,
(20:23):
there's not a lot of regulation there.
Okay, so that can be good and bad.
It can be bad in the sensethat you could be trying to buy
stolen goods and not know it.
However, if there's not a lot ofregulation, somebody could walk in
with something terribly valuable.
People are sometimes selling firearmsthere, things that there's a gray area
legally with some of those things.
(20:44):
Yeah, so you just really never know.
So I think that the thing with thoseoutdoor flea markets is they are
intriguing because there are people whoknow exactly what they have and the things
that they have are not worth anything.
Then sometimes you have people who comeout, they just got a bunch of stuff and
they don't really know what the value is.
That's where someone like me willcome away with something that
(21:08):
I can sell and make money on.
But the downside there is that.
You could feel, depending on what kindof person you are, you can, could feel
a little bit bad that you're takingadvantage of them because they came out,
they're, you're going to pay the pricethat they offer, but at the same time,
they just don't realize that this isa bunch of gold jewelry that you want
to sell me in this bag for 10 bucks.
(21:28):
I feel like I need to say this bag'sworth a thousand dollars because
these are just people like you and me.
It's not like you're walking intoan antique store where they've
done their quote unquote research,they've priced it, they've had ample
opportunity to research and knowwhat they have, and they put it in.
If they make a mistake, maybe I get totake advantage of that situation, or
(21:49):
maybe they know full well and they don'tcare, they just want to sell it quickly.
I never know what the intentionbehind the sales people are typically.
Someone who goes into a market like that.
They're wanting to comeaway with money that day.
That's why they're there.
They don't want to pay a fee to anantique store to have a booth every
month and worry that they're not goingto make enough to cover their overhead.
(22:10):
They want to go in and they want to wheeland deal, and they want to come home with,
half of what they had and have money.
That kind of brings up the next thing.
This is not my ideal place to buy items.
Because what is expected there, both fromthe seller and the buyer, is to negotiate.
(22:32):
And I've said multiple times onthis podcast, what I like to do is
go to local places, time and timeagain, make relationships with the
people and give them good prices.
I don't haggle people and itturns into other opportunities
I wouldn't have had otherwise.
So if I go in and I don't.
Personally enjoy the process of beinglike, Oh, you have 50 bucks on this.
(22:53):
How about five?
And then it'd be like, get out of here.
And then you walk away and youcome back and you're like, okay.
10, but it's not even worth that.
I'll be doing you a favor.
And then they're like, Ijust, I don't like that to me.
That's I just makes me feel icky.
I don't want to feel like a.character, a horse trader.
Yeah, exactly.
So I like, so I don't spenda lot of time at those.
(23:13):
The other thing is if you show up on aday where a bunch of people showed up that
don't have anything worth anything, you'regoing to walk around for an hour, two,
three hours and come away empty handed.
And my time is.
Worth more than that to me.
I need that, nothing in life is aguarantee, but I want to have a pretty
good idea ahead of time that there's agood chance I'm going to find something
that I can turn around and sell.
(23:35):
I'm assuming too, that the majority ofpeople that go to the flea market are
just people that are looking for a gooddeal on something that, like, Oh, I
found a shovel for 5 and it was, might'vebeen 10 somewhere else or something.
But as a reseller, it seems likethe margins would be way too slim.
Is that fairly accurate?
(23:55):
If it's one of those that is alittle bit nicer than usually they're
priced above what I could pay,I could buy it on eBay for less.
But some of these ones where they'rejust, it's random people, they could
be coming from anywhere, they could bebringing anything, you can find deals.
However, this is another annoyingthing about those, and another reason
(24:17):
why I don't do them a lot, is thatif you want to get the good deals,
you had better get there super early.
It's like the garage sale, right?
They'll post it, and they'll postpictures of the stuff that they have.
They're like, we're opening at 8.
Don't come before 8, we'renot going to open before 8.
You get there at 8 o'clock.
You're the first one in line.
You go look around and you're like, whereare the watches that I saw and you go up
(24:39):
to and you go, Hey I came for the watches.
I got here early where they're like, Oh,somebody got here at 7 30 and they said,
and we just, we said, well, we'll sell.
I'm like, what?
That's the deal.
If you want to get the good deal,you got to get there an hour or
two before you're supposed to.
And you have a flashlight, right?
And you're walking around and youhave to as people are emptying their
(25:01):
vehicles, they're not even ready yet.
You have to be like,Hey, can I look at this?
And I just, that's nothow I like to do business.
So I don't do that a lot.
I know if I'm going to go to a yardsale, you got to get there earlier
because there are always people, thereare people who call the night before.
They call them or they contact themand say, Hey, yeah, I know you got
this tomorrow but I'm interested inlots of these things and I'm available.
(25:22):
And I really, anytime you want, I'llcome and they'll, I say harass, they
will communicate with these peopleand try to get, it's all about trying
to get ahead of your competition.
Get there first, be the first one.
And with yard sales, a lot of times too,they'll, these buyers, I don't recommend
doing this unless you're already goingto buy something and you've spoken
(25:44):
with them, but there I've heard lotsof stories of people say, I came in,
they had a little bit of jewelry and Iwas interested in two or three pieces.
And I went up to, to sell 'emand say, yeah I buy and sell.
I'm interested in all kindsof small things like jewelry,
watches, this and that.
Do you happen to have anything elsethat maybe you didn't think to bring
out, but I'm here and I pro I wouldprobably be interested and they'll go
(26:07):
inside and bring out a bunch of pocketwatches or whatever else, something
else that they didn't consider selling.
But they, now they knowhow they have a buyer.
And I've heard lots of stories of peoplewalking away with stuff that wasn't
even out simply because they asked thatmight be, I don't, that's not something
I do usually, because again, I don'twant to make a person uncomfortable.
I don't want to, but Ileave things on the table.
(26:29):
I'm sure good deals because we, Isaid in the beginning of this episode,
it goes through my whole life.
There are some things Ijust don't personally do.
And usually it's, it comesdown to relational reasons.
Interpersonal things between people thatI just, I don't want to go there, but.
Other people do.
It's not that it's wrong.
Do you want to do these yard sales?
(26:50):
People go or these outdoorthings get there super early.
Make sure you bring flashlights, makesure you bring cash because they're
not going to take anything else.
A lot of times they want cash andI don't know, just use your gut.
Cause if something seems too good tobe true, like they're selling gold
coins for 30 percent of what theysell for online, they're just trying
(27:10):
to make that money fast and get out.
They don't even wantto be there in an hour.
Cause that stuff's hot.
So use your gut.
If it seems too good tobe true, it probably is.
And, or you, maybe you need to ask afew more questions before, before you
bite on paying for something like that.
So I don't think that they're dangerous.
I think that they are intriguing.
They certainly can be a placeyou can get some good deals.
(27:33):
It's just going torequire some extra things.
You're going to have tobring a lot of cash with you.
Do you feel comfortable walking aroundwith cash in an area you've never
been, or you're not familiar with?
Do you want to get there fourin the morning or five in
the morning and walk around?
Do you want to get upthat early and drive?
Cause if not, someone else is, and they'regoing to get that deal before you do.
(27:57):
I don't know.
I've had, like I said,I've had mixed results.
I've found some cool things,some cool vinyl records, some
stuff that's really decent value.
And then I've had complete duds where Iwalked around and I'm like, oh, and I've
learned by the way, and this is true ofantique stores, thrift stores, anything.
If I walk in.
And I walked down two or threeaisles and the prices are pretty much
(28:19):
all spot on or a little bit high.
I leave.
I don't go to the rest of the storebecause that time and time again.
In my mind, I'm thinking,okay, challenge accepted.
I'm going to find that onething in here that's worth it.
No, you're not.
You're not.
They clearly are getting guidance from thepeople who are running that store to sell,
(28:40):
or they're just all super savvy vendors.
And it's not worth my time.
I'll spend an hour and a half in there.
And when I'm done, I'mgonna be like, dang it.
I knew within five minutes ofwalking in that place that I should
have left and I didn't do it.
I've learned now again, saving time.
I just got to walk out of those placesand not worry about not regret it.
(29:01):
That's a valuable tool right there.
There was a program I'm sure of referenceson this show, but as I've always been
fascinated by it with IBM started the,this program called getting to know.
Where they realized.
Getting to know you?
Getting to learn all about you.
Exactly.
I think that's from TheKing and I, isn't it?
Anyway.
I don't know.
I sang it in elementary school.
That's how I believe it is.
I believe it's from the It's from TheKing and I. Elementary school music class.
(29:25):
Getting to know you.
Oh, we're big on theshow tunes in our family.
I have a nine year old andshe's very much into it.
Nice.
I'm pretty sure that's fromThe King and I. Anyway.
But this getting to know.
Was the idea they realized that so manyof their sales people would spend, so
much time Trying to get these people thatwere never going to buy from them and
they would spend more time with them thananybody else And IBM realized no you've
(29:47):
got to get to know as quickly as possible.
That's the win It soundscounterintuitive to trying to
sell something Or buy something.
But if you walk in and you go, no,on the outside chance that you might
get that one thing, you're going tomiss out on so many other things.
That is a really valuable tool in any bit.
Where are you spending your time?
(30:08):
Because you only have so much of it.
And, another thing about that is thatthis show is not for the horse trader.
We are not here to help the horse here.
There are people out therethat are, moving and grooving,
shaking, making deals.
That's not what we are.
We're not here for that.
If that's who you are, I'm sure there'sa YouTube channel out there for you
(30:28):
because in a sense, there's a very fineline of that type of person between
criminal behavior and not criminalbehavior, like taking advantage of people.
Yeah.
And I want to clarify, I don't,some of these tactics are fine.
I just personally don't do themfor my own reasons and that's fine.
But I do tend to find that the people whodo engage in some of those strategies.
(30:50):
Tend to also be the kind of peoplethat rub vendors and salespeople
the wrong way, which has giventhe term reseller a bad name.
And that's why I don't like the termreseller because I'm no different
than Guitar Center or any of theseplaces, Ross, DJ Max, like that is me.
(31:10):
I'm just not paying for a largebrick and mortar store, right?
I'm finding through my own connections.
Items that I can buy at a cheaper priceand I'm turning around and selling
them to someone who wants them fora price that is more in line with
today's value, the general value of it.
That's what everyone else is doing.
(31:31):
No one's calling them resellersand hating like people go
there because they want a deal.
That's why people go to eBay.
They want a deal.
And that's where I sell most of my stuff.
I don't love eBay.
They just have the largest marketplace.
So it's hard to leave with this.
And I'm.
Frustrated with him right now,but it's a whole other episode.
(31:51):
But because there's a lot of thingswithin their system, I can't control.
And they're not very forthcomingwith information or speed at helping.
I'll leave that there.
You are an aftermarket merchant.
I am.
That's what you are.
Aftermarket merchant.
I don't produce the things that I sell.
Someone else produces them.
I find them and then Ibuy them and sell them.
That's it.
(32:11):
You also refurbish things.
I think there's some, I do.
I repair things.
That's true.
There's something really importantto be recognized though, that people
that are really good at refurbishingI, we've talked about Sweetwater.
I love this company Sweetwaterand they have this marketplace for
people that want to sell equipment,gear, Matt and I are gear heads.
We'd like to own.
Stuff that makes sounds good, looks good.
(32:32):
And you can buy this.
Nobody's calling the people thatare selling their sec, their
secondhand gear, terrible people.
That, that leads me to the secondquestion of the, it's not really
about flea markets, but more whatwe would call them out less swaps.
Yeah.
So every year in the late.
Spring typically or maybe sometimes middlespring, whatever, there would be ski
(32:53):
swaps where different ski places would gettogether and they'd sell last year's skis
and gear, and you could get credible deal.
I don't think I've ever boughta brand new pair of skis.
I think I've always bought them at swaps.
They're brand new.
They're just, you're just payingless from, do you ever go to swaps?
Does that ever, you everdo something like that?
No, the closest thing tosomething like that is.
(33:17):
For what I do is just throughcommunicating with people, finding people
who buy certain categories or certaintypes of things so that when I come across
it, I may not have to go through thetrouble of selling on an eBay someplace.
I may just contact that person andsay, Hey, I've got a bunch of, I
met somebody just the other dayand they collect Limoge branded.
(33:38):
Like little jewelry boxes and thingsyou may or may not, they're porcelain.
They usually have enamel painton them, like gold leaf or blue,
cobalt blue, and a little picture.
They collect those.
And I was like, Oh, I've gottwo or three of those at home.
She's like, can I get your number?
And we swap numbers and now I cancontact her and I don't have to wait
for months for that to sell on eBay.
I got somebody who's gonna comeand get that from me locally.
(33:59):
So that's the closest thingto something like that.
Although, you can sometimesfind people who will trade.
I have quote unquote purchasedthings on Facebook Marketplace
before through trade or half trade.
So a few years ago, Iwas living in Arkansas.
(34:20):
And I saw this really nice Gibsonguitar on a marketplace that I wanted.
And I contacted the person.
And I said, I'm very interested in thisand we started talking, I said, I, and
this is, I was still selling at thatpoint, not full time, but part time.
I was like, I've got afew other instruments.
I've got some other things.
(34:40):
Is there anything that you're needing?
Cause I might have it.
And I had this laptop that wasn'tall that old, but I didn't, it was.
I didn't need to use it anymore.
I swapped that laptop and a coupleof other things, and I think I only
paid like 200 bucks after the fact.
And I got this guitar.
Now I have a warehouse, mybasement, full of thousands of
things in all kinds of categories.
(35:01):
So if I reach out and I'm interestedin buying something, now I will say
I buy and sell things for a living.
I've got a lot of stuff.
Are you interested in anything because Imay have a lot of trading power at this
point and in knowing what I've paid forthe items I'm willing to barter means
I, a lot of the things I might be, theymight be interested in getting from me,
(35:23):
I might have nothing in anymore becauseI bought them in a lot of things I've
already sold enough to get my money back.
So I might be trading eight or 10things or five, whatever it is, and I'm
basically giving, they have value, right?
They have real value.
I could sell them, butthey haven't sold yet.
And I have no money, so if they'reworth 500, that's a big difference
(35:43):
between handing 500 cash to somebodybecause it's almost like it costs
me nothing at this point to getto do that, so that's what's nice.
Once again, I've, we'vejust pontificated away.
Alright, it's time tostart the episode now.
That's right, I hit, Iforgot to hit record.
Can you tell us what you sold this week?
(36:04):
Yeah I've sold a lot of things, the floorunderneath of me is littered with stuff
that I have paid for the labels, I justhaven't put it in the packaging yet.
Oh.
But I selected, one, two, three, four,five, six things today, and the reason
I picked these is not because they'rethe most valuable things that I've
sold, but because they're all thingsthat most people probably would see
(36:28):
and think, that's not worth anything.
That's the kind of thingI would just throw away.
Okay.
So the first thing is this littlevintage, it's just a little cardboard box.
It says keen cutter pocket knives.
So it's an old box that would have helda few smaller folding pocket knives.
Okay.
It's empty.
(36:48):
It has no pocket knives in it.
Huh.
It's just a little boxand this box sold for 32.
Whoa, why?
Somebody collects vintage.
Maybe they collect things thatare just from King Cutter.
Maybe they collect cutlery from St.Louis, which is where this was made.
Maybe they have some King Cutter pocketknives and they want to be able to
(37:10):
put them in an original package toincrease the value of the collection.
How old is that box?
I'm looking to see if there's a date.
I don't actually know.
I would have to do alittle bit of research.
My guess is this is from maybe the1920s, 1930s, something like that.
All the cane collectors out there rightnow are going that's a cane cutter.
73. Yeah, exactly.
(37:32):
That's the infamous King cutter.
73. And I didn't even know.
How are you missing 10, 000?
Right.
Okay.
The next thing.
Is this little, and maybe you evenseen things like this, Brandon.
It's this little brass it's shaped like.
Almost like a miniature goblet, a candleholder, or it's like a candle holder
kind of, yeah, it's like a goblet, right?
It's like it, but it's small.
(37:53):
It's brass on the bottom.
It says India and so Thrift storesgoodwill's are Littered with these I
mean across the country littered withthese made in India brass Tabletop items.
They can be spoons and forks.
They can be goblets.
They can be candle holders.
(38:14):
They can be pitchers.
They can be gravy boats.
They can be little genie lamplooking things, all kinds of stuff.
And usually they're only selling, ifit's a local kind of tiny thrift shop,
you could maybe get it for 10 cents.
Some of these things, if it's a goodwill,it's probably going to be two or 3, but.
These things sell thislittle thing sold for 14.
(38:39):
I probably got it in a lot.
It's I've had a while,probably gotten a lot.
I don't think I have anything in anymore.
And I checked on eBay just beforegetting on here to talk about it.
And there was a collectionof 50 things like this.
They're all kind of different shapes,different sizes, but there were 50 pieces.
It sold for 400.
So do the math on that.
If you were paying, 3 a piece.
(39:02):
Or something like that, that, andyou had 50, that's a, that's what is,
that's 150 dollars that you spent.
You could turn that 150 into 400.
If you're just paying, if you're paying 0.
10 a piece for them, wait until you have20 or 30, and then sell it, you're maybe
30 or 40 bucks in, sell it for 200, 250.
These things are everywhere.
(39:24):
I don't know why people are buying these.
I don't know if they canreuse this brass somehow.
Because everybody needs a good gravy boat.
I don't know, I guess.
Yeah, you polish it up.
It looks okay.
But these were tourist items.
These were little knickknacks.
These were made or these werelike export items sent to the U.S
. But if you see these littlebrass things, almost certainly
(39:47):
turn that thing upside down.
It's either going to be in themetal or the, oftentimes there's
a little sticker that says made inIndia or India, or you'll see the
outline where a sticker used to be.
Cause there's some of that residuefrom the glue is still there and it
said it was a made in India sticker.
That's what it was.
So they are still selling.
Don't pitch that.
Don't say, Oh, nobody wants that.
(40:07):
Nobody cares.
Most people just donate it.
They donate it to the goodwill.
And that's where someone like me buys it.
Okay, next up are these twoold, probably 1960s, between
the 50s and 60s, little knives.
One is just almost looks like a littlebutter knife, like a spreader type of a
knife, but it has, it looks like horn.
(40:30):
Like, antler, but it's not it'sactually a resin, like a plastic
that was made to look like that.
But then the other one, which was at onetime a folding knife, is made of antler,
the handle, but it's so rusted and boundup that you can't even fold it anymore.
The tip on it is a little bit brokenand it has the remnants of white paint.
(40:52):
Where someone has used this todo some sort of job with that
involve paint point is they don'tfold They're not good condition.
They're old.
This is the kind of thing that it'snot sharp Probably just pitch in the
trash, but these two sold for twentyeight dollars It's kind of thing you
could find in a drawer in a familymember or a grandparent's garage and
(41:14):
they don't care It's been in there.
No one's using it anymore turn thatinto money Another one is an old lock.
This says B& O Department.
B& O, it's a Yale lock, butit says B& O C T R Y Division.
It's a Yale lock, butthis is a railroad lock.
It would have been used in the rail yard.
(41:36):
It doesn't even have a key.
It's brass, but it's terriblyScratched and dinged up.
I put this up for 75 and it soldthe day I put it up, which means
probably put it up for too little.
It should have put it up for a little bitmore, but old locks that are locked, you
can't open and you don't have the key.
(41:56):
It doesn't mean they're worthless.
The type of lock matters, but itcould be worth quite a bit of money.
So don't pitch those.
Don't donate them.
Locks are one of those categories that hasa really high sell through rate on eBay.
They sell, there's a lot forsale, but a lot of the ones that
are available sell every month.
Another set of items is a small lot,and these are tiny little hair pins
(42:20):
that are from like the Victorian era.
So late 1800s, early 1900s, they were justmade to stick in your hair, just to hold
your hair back on the side or wherever.
They're gold filled, but they, thesethree together probably weigh four grams
or less, but these three sold for 30.
And it's thing where no onereally wears this anymore.
(42:42):
This is probably something that aperson collects or they do something
with them, polish them up jewelry.
It's not enough to really scrapit and get gold out of it.
People who do that, buy them in largerquantities, but something like that.
It still has value, even if it's oldand no one's using that kind of thing.
Last one up here is a small.
(43:03):
Watch like a wristwatch.
It's older and it features Mickey Mouse,and the hands are his arms and hands.
And so as the clock moves, his handsand fingers point to the time this
particular one has no wristband.
It's in bad shape.
The little second handat the bottom is missing.
(43:23):
It's either fallen off inside ofthere, or it's completely gone.
It also doesn't, wh it's anautomatic, but it doesn't work.
The point is.
This has got a lot of things against it.
It's the kind of thing that youwould probably see and say, Oh,
interesting but nobody will want that.
I don't even donate it.
It doesn't work.
Someone paid 35 for this.
They're going to work on it.
(43:44):
They're going to fix it.
They're going to put a band on it.
They're going to clean it up and they'regoing to either keep it as a collector
item, or they're going to resell it.
I almost guarantee you.
Yeah.
I can imagine if you made that thingwork again, put a nice band on it.
It would be worth a fair amount of money.
Sure.
That's a cool looking antique watch.
You can know that it does, becauseif you were to look that same one
(44:06):
up and look at sold items, theyhave sold ones in working condition
and good condition for more money.
I just don't personallyrepair wristwatches, right?
I just don't have the.
The skillset or the tools to do that.
So if I ever, whenever I buy and sell, andI sell a lot of watches, pocket watches,
and wristwatches, if it doesn't work, orI'm not confident that it works well, I
(44:27):
put untested or I put for parts of repair.
If I wind an automatic and it'srunning, I'll say it's running.
However, I have not testedits accuracy over time.
So I want people to know that.
I'm not trying to mislead themif they get it and say, yeah, it
works, but it's an out, every sixhours it gets off by 15 minutes.
(44:48):
I don't have the time to sit andwatch dozens of watches and keep
track of that kind of thing.
So I just put it up and I say untestedor I want to ask you this question.
I keep forgetting to ask youthis, but it falls into that
category of not working untested.
We have an Instapot that I know hasa heating element that went bad.
And I looked for the heatingelement and I think you could buy
(45:08):
them out there, but I'm like, ah,man, I just bought a new Instapot.
Okay.
But those, it was like ahundred dollars we bought it.
It's like two years old.
Is that something that you would put upon eBay to sell or you just donate it?
Yeah.
It's the same thing.
If you got on and said for parts orheating element just went out, then
someone else might have one that theheating element works, but the switch.
(45:32):
Or maybe the lid doesn'tseal correctly anymore.
So it doesn't hold that pressure.
They might just say, okay, I can pay20 bucks for this and then go pay 20
bucks for, or 10 bucks for a heatingelement and then put it together.
That could apply to anything.
If you have something like an old radioor an old something in it, and you plug
it in or you turn the switch or it's anold lamp and it's got the really old.
(45:55):
It doesn't work.
Those can be rewired.
So it's, you can put a newcord in that you can put a new,
a lot of stuff can be fixed.
A lot of people out there buythings damaged because they
have the skillset to fix it.
They know it'll be worth more.
And it's a hobby.
It's fun for them.
So yeah, definitely.
You can sell things that are damaged.
Like our friend, Dave, who fixeswatches is going to fix my pocket watch.
(46:16):
Yeah.
He's he fixes pocket watches for me.
He's a great guy.
He just loves doing it.
He does.
It's something really fascinating.
All right, we are up against time.
I don't know how we did it,but we somehow we did it.
We managed to fill up morethan 45 minutes long winded.
We'll try to edit a lot of myself out.
But anyway, remember folks, wereally appreciate you listening.
(46:36):
If you skip the first part, justknow that we care about you.
We want everybody to do well.
Remember to follow, like, and subscribe.
If you get a chance, tell afriend helps us out, right?
We're trying to grow this show.
We are growing, but we need your help.
So do us a solid, letsomebody know if you enjoy it.
If you don't enjoy it,then, just stop listening.
But if you do enjoy it, tell somebodyelse and otherwise we will be back
(47:00):
with a brand new show next week.
Any last thoughts, Matt?
Yeah, when you're thinking about whetheror not you should write a review or
send an email or something, I wantyou to just picture me laying in bed
at night with just like tears in thecorner of my eyes and I'm kind of
like sniffing and just, just wishing.
You would commit y'allgotta help out Cousin Rusty.
(47:21):
That's right.
Rusty's in need He's in need outthere brothers and sisters, right?
Don't make me cry peopleDon't make cousin rusty cry.
Anyway, everybody have a great week.
We'll be back with a brand new shownext week Thanks for listening.
Talk to you soon
Welcome back to the What Sold Podcast.
I am Brandon.
This is Matt.
We were just waxing philosophicallyabout sometimes business is hard and
that even when things are going great,those of you that are out there and
you're crushing it, you are going tohave moments where it's not so great.
And to keep it all in perspective,that it's going to be an average.
(00:58):
We hope that the average isa little above, not a little
behind, but that it's an average.
Right.
There's this TV show I've heard about.
I've not watched it, but.
The premise is that for some reason,these workers are disconnected
from the other part of their life.
So when they're at work, they'reonly thinking about work.
Severance.
It's called severance.
(01:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I don't, I'm not watched it, but I'dbe curious if they had a character doing
this that gets called from the schoolbecause their kid is sick and they have to
somehow switch or say they work from homeand they have to have their kid there.
How does that work?
Because I'll tell you, I'm notdisconnected and we were talking pre
(01:40):
production about how it can be oneof the difficulties in work sometimes
when you work for yourself is thatother things in life will interfere.
And I say that not in a super negativeway, but they just, other things will
pop up that require your attention.
And now you're in a positionwhere you're having to do
multiple things simultaneously.
(02:01):
And I would say I can certainlydo, I can, I wear several hats.
I can do more than one thing at a time.
I'm not going to be optimal.
It's, not peak efficiency when I do that.
And it also can add alittle bit of stress.
So, between me having some illnesses,kids picking up things having to
(02:22):
take them to appointments, thetrash company not coming for five
consecutive weeks to pick up trash.
I, so this morning I had to drive myvehicle full of trash to a transfer
station and pay 12 to dump it.
And I spoke with the man there and hesaid, yeah, I'm hearing this a lot.
He said, I've had over easily over 500customers complaining that this new
(02:42):
trash company is not picking up theirtrash when you have things like that.
It makes the, what should be.
Straightforward tasks easy.
And the tasks that I have todo aren't any more difficult
when that stuff's happening.
It's just that I've addedmore tasks to my plate.
So now, Oh, I got to stop this becausemy son needs me to make him lunch.
(03:05):
Yeah, he needs to eat.
So work goes away for a little bit.
And then when I try to step back init, dad, can you read this or dad?
Can you, and it's great.
I love being able to spendthis time with my kids.
But it's also double edged because I don'twant my kids being like, yeah, dad was
around, but he was never really around,he was always working and I don't want
to, I don't want to, I don't want thatto be the vibe I'm giving off either.
(03:30):
So it's tricky.
It's tricky.
Yeah.
Owning your own business is tough.
Again, a lot of the people that listen tous are probably part time or so but I'm
sure everybody can relate with working.
And if you ever work for yourself.
It's like saving, like youdon't want to save just enough.
You need to save a little bit morefor a rainy day or whatever else.
It's the same with when you work, it'slike, I know that things are going to come
(03:52):
up on the day that I did not anticipate.
And then there will be thatday where nothing comes up
and I'm like, Oh what do I do?
I'm always, I'm literally, I writedown a list of things to do every day.
When that happens, I go back to thelist and say, what have I been holding
off on because I've been so busy withother things that there is a deal
audience that you can help cousinrusty so that he is not constantly.
(04:16):
Going great.
He needs an assistant.
Some free childcare out there?
Yeah, he needs an assistant andthere's no question about it.
The only way he can get that assistantis if this show grows and becomes
the star show that it can be.
That's right.
So make sure you tell your friends.
I like the guilt trip intro into that.
Oh yeah.
We're gonna be passivelymaking you feel bad.
(04:37):
If you don't do something fair,we haven't done a patriotic cat.
We haven't done any of the thingsthat, that other podcasts have done.
No, this is actually a really goodpoint that I'm going to point out.
Not because anyone needs to hear it orcares, but it, this is me just sort of
I'm just, I'm giving you the real me andthat is that when you're doing things
like this, when you're producing media,whether it's a podcast, definitely
(05:00):
true of the YouTube world, you can'tnecessarily know the best thing to do.
That's going to say, translate tothe most amount of money, which is
why a lot of most people do YouTube.
Some of it's just vanity.
They want to be seen but alsomost of the time it's just they
want to make, earn some money.
And you can't know for sure what itis, but you can get a very good idea
(05:23):
by seeing channels that have hugenumbers, millions of subscribers, and
look at what they're doing in the nichethat I'm in, which is reselling stuff.
If you go find the channels of resellers.
What you're going to find is theselarger than life kind of personalities,
not characters per se, but they'rejust, they've been given freedom to be
(05:45):
more themselves, like more hardcore,charismatic in the way that they are.
And you're going to see a lot of, I'm ata yard sale, I'm out, I'm in the store,
and I'm finding this thing that is only 5and I'm going to make, 2, 000 off of it.
And that's exciting.
The idea of finding atreasure is super cool.
We all think that's all.
Anybody who is interested inhistory or that stuff sounds
(06:10):
great, but that's not real life.
Have I found things before that areworth way more than I paid for them?
Sure.
But you, in order to do that, unlessyou're just incredibly lucky, you
have to be out different placesmultiple times a week, every week.
And be armed with the knowledgeof what you're looking at
and knowing the value of it.
(06:30):
So if I wanted to go on and be crazy andstrap a GoPro to my chest and manufacture
these pretend scores, which in somecases, maybe they are finding them.
There is no way, folks, thatthese people are hitting these
huge things one after another.
It's not real life.
It's geared towards entertainmentand to sucking you in.
(06:53):
And the thing is, we don't have aPatreon account, like you mentioned.
I'm giving away free information,and I'm going to get on here and
tell you when eBay's ticking me off.
And I'm going to show you the 10items that I sold, because that's more
common than selling a 1, 000 item,or finding that for a cheap amount.
I'm going to give it to you real.
The small business, it is difficult.
(07:15):
It has its challenges.
It's a job like anything else.
There's good and bad.
And I'm not making up your mind for you.
I'm simply going to present my actualtrue experience and you can decide if
it's something that you want to do.
But I think the frustrations thatmaybe I elaborate sometimes are just
cautions for you to know, these arethings that you could or may encounter.
(07:36):
And knowing that ahead of time, you'rein a better spot than getting into it.
And like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What's this?
What's happening to me.
Absolutely.
I could get on.
I just, there's things that Iam not willing to do personally.
You have a conversation about politicians,people, a lot of the time I, it will
come up that anyone who gets to thatlevel has to be a little crazier.
(07:58):
Anybody who gets to that level hasto have compromised or given in.
And at a certain point, thereare people who, they don't really
care what they do, they just wantto be as successful as possible.
And I'm not saying this applies toall politicians, but it's just like.
Someone tells you, Hey, hereare the 10 things you can do.
This one thing is going tobe the most successful thing.
And they don't even look at it.
There's like, okay, great.
(08:19):
That's what I'm doing now.
You see it in YouTube.
You see it in other arenas.
I'm just not like that.
I'm, there are certain thingsthat I'm just like, yeah, okay.
That may be the most successful.
It's not, I'm not going to do that.
Here we are, we're goingthe route we're going.
It's fine.
I would like to think that eventuallywith hard work and giving good content,
that there will be some success.
Out of that, but I don't plan onchanging necessarily my strategy.
(08:43):
Sorry that we're not, I don't know.
Sorry that we're not Mr. Beast orwhatever doing this crazy YouTube thing.
He's from North Carolina asa matter of fact, as well.
And he's makes billions of dollarsand yet he has, there's been nothing
but controversy swirling aroundMr. Beast for the last year or two.
I think that both you andI would love to carve out.
(09:05):
In existence, a financial existencethat makes it so we can continue to
do this because we love to do it,but without becoming too famous.
Yeah.
I don't need people to know me.
Yeah.
You can know rusty.
That's fine.
Absolutely.
If they show up on the streetsaying rusty, you go, I don't
know what you're talking about.
So you can, you've got an alter ego.
I don't even have an alter ego.
No, but he was no moon doggie, butnobody wants to find me out there.
(09:29):
Your thing is that when you'rein the arena and the wrestling
match, instead of coming down likethe promenade and what's yours.
You are lowered from the roof.
No one knows you're moon dog.
Okay.
You're up there and you're justlowered at a certain point.
You cut the cord and you justfall right on your opponent.
I feel like I come in on a parachute.
I feel like I would bedropped out of an airplane.
Or one of those.
Ya like one of those squirrel, likeflying squirrel situations where you.
(09:52):
Skydivers do that, slam intothe ring and it's lifeless.
It's funny.
I oftentimes think about the peoplethat have reached out to us on the
show, and there've been a number.
But I think about like Yvette, who isbuilding this little thing, wants to
retire, that's the people we're speakingto, Mary, other people, Mary, who came
on the show and Mary, who's written tous, people that are out there that are.
(10:15):
That are just normal people trying tomake a little bit of money selling stuff.
Yeah.
And we hope it would be fantasticif people turned it, this into a
career, but we're not gonna lie toyou and tell you that it's easy.
Right.
I'm a small business owner,Matt's a small business owner.
It's a challenge.
I'm doing my taxes right now and I'm like,I want to rip my hair out by the roots and
(10:36):
I'm paying somebody to do it and I'm stilljust like, Oh my God, the collection.
So there, there is this stuff thathappens on there and now, right
now I can hear whoever that was, atroll dog, 74 getting mad that we're
not, why don't you stop talking?
I wanted to, I'm glad that you mentionedit because I was going to pop in and
say, Hey, by the way, for those whodon't want to hear us talking about
silly stuff in a bed of ourselves.
(10:58):
Just fast forward the first 11minutes, go ahead and do that.
We literally put chapters on there.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Yeah, we put chapters on there.
So anyway we are stoked to be here.
We have it's funny, I've been thinkingabout this topic for a long time.
We touched on it, maybe, oh geez, almosta year ago, Matt had gone out to Oakland.
(11:20):
And he'd gone to a giant flea marketthat I've actually been to it.
There are a couple of huge flea marketsin the Bay Area of California, and
I think there's a big flea market.
I want to say down nearGreenville, South Carolina.
Pickens, there's one inPickens, South Carolina.
I'm just fascinated by it.
I'm completely afraid of them.
(11:41):
Okay.
I feel like I might get fleas.
It just, it feels like alittle bit of a carnival.
Feels like there's just alot of stuff going on there.
But I actually wonder.
Is it really people sellingstuff and buying stuff?
So Matt is going to take us on atour of what it's like to go to a
flea market as a professional seller.
What are you looking for?
What are you not looking for?
(12:02):
What to be aware of, gems are youlooking for at the flea market?
Okay, I need to ask aclarification question first.
Sure.
You, what you described are theseoutdoor sort of flea market, markets,
which is a very different beast, verydifferent animal from Wouldn't people
think of like thrift store, which wouldbe a goodwill type thing or something
(12:22):
smaller that's in a local community.
So what do you want me to I'mtalking flea market, baby out in
the, out in there, big outdoor thing.
Everybody's got, they've got thesekiosks, these stalls, you got a dude sell
out of the back of his, station wagon.
I just often wondered, is thereanything worth buying there?
Is it worth dealing with it?
So as resellers, yeah.
(12:45):
We would go in there and we'd saywe're not going to buy anything.
We can't resell for more money.
So is it worth going into?
So you're, I love to hear yourexperience with flea markets.
What have you found them to be positive?
Do you go to them?
What's the story, Morna Glory?
That's what I want to know.
I've had a mixed experiences.
They can be a little bit, I don'tknow if scary would be the right
(13:07):
word, but when you walk up tosomething that's so massive, you can
certainly be a little apprehensive.
Oh, I'm scared.
Okay some people are scared.
I appreciate your bravery ofbeing honest about being scared.
Oh, I just don't go,because I'm too afraid.
It's especially funny becauseyou're not Like a small person,
like you're, you could be a bouncer.
Yeah, I have been a bouncer.
(13:27):
I can handle myself in a scrap for sure.
But there's just something.
You just have a soft side, a kind heart.
I think it's just overwhelming.
It is.
I think that's what it is for me.
When I get overwhelmed in anything,it's just, my wife will tell
you , it just stresses me out.
Yeah.
And that's one of the reasonsI love that idea of it.
I do.
I love the idea of going andstrolling and it always feels like.
(13:49):
If I go around the wrong corner,somebody, like those old time, 40
movies where that dude had a truncheon,like this thing where you whack you
over the head and it robbed you.
I always feel like that's going tohappen to me when I go to a flea market.
Sure.
I think the thing that wouldmake me nervous, it would be
to be a seller at one of those.
Because, and I'llexplain that in a moment.
That's that, I'll get back to that.
(14:10):
My experiences with these outdoorlarge markets, there are some that
are permanent sort of fixtures in anarea, and they operate either every
day or most days during the week.
And What's there, who's there changes allthe time because the way that it works
is you arrive really early in the morningand there's a set fee for the, for what
(14:37):
you pay to sell on a table or a sectionthat's already there and you pull up
with your vehicle, you can back up to it.
And it's like 15 bucks or 20 bucksfor a table or 50, but whatever it is.
And you can get maybe an unlimited number,or maybe you can get a maximum of three.
And so you pay and you start to unloadyour trailer or your vehicle on all
(14:58):
this stuff as people are coming upand people will get there early with
flashlights in the dark, and they'realready ready to look at your items.
Want to wheel and deal.
Okay.
Then there are others that happen.
Let's say once a year or twice a year,and they might pop up in like a grocery
store parking lot, like a parking lot,some of some area, or maybe it's something
(15:22):
that happens annually in your town.
Some of those types of things are goingto be less junky and less antique y.
So if it's something that's in your town,it's more likely going to be things like
local artists, people who make jewelry.
Woodworkers, things like that.
Crafty things, trinkety things,but things that have been created
in the last, let's say decade.
(15:44):
Very early on in the life ofthis show, Matt sent me to
one of these outdoor events.
He's like, Hey, this is a swap.
It's going to be great.
We're going to go to it.
I think I'm going to get some, I'mgoing to get some big purchases.
I want you there.
I want you to see how the magic happens.
I'm like, sweet.
So it's like on a nine o'clockon a Saturday morning, some crazy
(16:04):
thing in this giant parking lot.
I drive in there and I'm like,looking around where's Cousin Rusty?
Where's Matt?
He's must be wheeling a deal.
He must be making money somewherein this cause that's how he rolls.
So I couldn't, I walked thewhole thing and I was frightened.
As I want to be in theseevents, I can't find you.
So I text him like, HeyMatt, where are you?
And he's like, I'm at home.
(16:24):
I said, stay home and watch cartoons.
I just didn't feel like going.
I'm like, what?
You sent me into the heart of darkness.
That sounds just like me,
but actually something come up andI remember going, Oh man, I don't
even know what I'm doing here.
It was a swap.
So I don't think it was whatyou're talking about in terms of.
(16:45):
People setting, it felt like people werecleaning out their sheds, not even their
attics, just the old shed and they feltlike a dusty something and they threw
it on a table and wanted you to buy it.
That's what it felt like to me.
I'm sure if I knew what I was lookingfor, I might've found good things.
Okay, so going back to my Thedifference is between the two.
If you have something that's moreart stuff, that's the kind that's
(17:06):
not usually the kind of placethat you negotiate for a price.
The prices are typically thereunless there's some sort of other
thing that says something like youget a discount with a quantity.
If you buy or all this sectionis on sale, yada, yada.
But the thing that you'reasking about, I think, are these
fixtures that are always there.
(17:27):
It could be literally anything.
It could be antiques.
It could be newer stuff.
But you don't usually see artistsout there trying to, hey I'm
a potter and here's a bunch ofmugs or things that I've made.
You don't usually see that.
What you'll see, what I see a lotof time are a lot of old rusty
tools that came out of someone'stoolbox out of there that have been
in it, rusting for 20 or 30 years.
(17:49):
I see beat up instruments.
I'll see a bunch of poise stuffthat people went to goodwill all
week long, buying these things for50 cents, a dollar, two dollars.
And then they come and throw themon this table, hoping to make more.
Yes.
Oh, wow.
Yep.
Also, depending on the typeof place and how shady it is.
(18:11):
Wait, can I interrupt youbefore you go on for that?
Cause I that, what kind of,what's the psychology behind that?
It's like, that seems like a lotof work to go to Goodwill to find
these chintzy items to go sell.
How much money could youmake at this as a reseller?
Is that, is there moneyto be made doing that?
If you go to a thrift store thathave bundles of toys, let's say.
(18:33):
Like a bag of 30 action figures for10 bucks, and then you go to the flea
market and you pull them all out and yousay, these are all five bucks a piece.
And someone wants, when someone buys twoof them, you've made your money back.
Yeah, it's possible to make money.
Clothing is the other thing.
People have stocked up on allof the donations of clothing.
(18:54):
There are people who went, gotclothing, and then go to Smiley.
They got it for free.
They go to Smiley's.
Which is one local to us andthey'll try to sell them.
Maybe someone's like, Hey, here, I've gota bunch of kids clothes that I don't need.
They put it on Facebook marketplace.
People will get on Facebook marketplacejust combing it for free stuff.
(19:16):
They'll drive, they'll get free stuffall week long, and then they'll go and
try to sell it and make money on it.
They're only out their gas and their time.
But if that's what theydo, that's what they do.
So not everybody does that.
A lot of people do have things.
They're just, they need a little extramoney, so they go out to the barn and they
grab a few things and they go out there.
Or they inherited some stuff, so they'relike, well, I'll just, I'll go out.
(19:40):
However, you will from time totime have people who stole things.
And because they don't want to getcaught going into a pawn shop or going
into another place, they'll go andthey'll try to sell it there quickly.
I can't tell you the number of storiesI've heard of something getting stolen.
The next day, the cops go to Smiley's.
Here's the culprit.
They're here trying to sell it right now.
(20:01):
Yeah, that happens.
I don't want to scare people.
It's not every place is like that.
There are more reputable places.
There are places that police it.
And I know that there are, there is apolice presence at that one as well.
They walk around.
I think that they try, right?
They try it.
But if it's someone who just rolls in,And puts 15 bucks down is like, this is my
table and you just take the cash and youwalk to the next person like that's not,
(20:23):
there's not a lot of regulation there.
Okay, so that can be good and bad.
It can be bad in the sensethat you could be trying to buy
stolen goods and not know it.
However, if there's not a lot ofregulation, somebody could walk in
with something terribly valuable.
People are sometimes selling firearmsthere, things that there's a gray area
legally with some of those things.
(20:44):
Yeah, so you just really never know.
So I think that the thing with thoseoutdoor flea markets is they are
intriguing because there are people whoknow exactly what they have and the things
that they have are not worth anything.
Then sometimes you have people who comeout, they just got a bunch of stuff and
they don't really know what the value is.
That's where someone like me willcome away with something that
(21:08):
I can sell and make money on.
But the downside there is that.
You could feel, depending on what kindof person you are, you can, could feel
a little bit bad that you're takingadvantage of them because they came out,
they're, you're going to pay the pricethat they offer, but at the same time,
they just don't realize that this isa bunch of gold jewelry that you want
to sell me in this bag for 10 bucks.
(21:28):
I feel like I need to say this bag'sworth a thousand dollars because
these are just people like you and me.
It's not like you're walking intoan antique store where they've
done their quote unquote research,they've priced it, they've had ample
opportunity to research and knowwhat they have, and they put it in.
If they make a mistake, maybe I get totake advantage of that situation, or
(21:49):
maybe they know full well and they don'tcare, they just want to sell it quickly.
I never know what the intentionbehind the sales people are typically.
Someone who goes into a market like that.
They're wanting to comeaway with money that day.
That's why they're there.
They don't want to pay a fee to anantique store to have a booth every
month and worry that they're not goingto make enough to cover their overhead.
(22:10):
They want to go in and they want to wheeland deal, and they want to come home with,
half of what they had and have money.
That kind of brings up the next thing.
This is not my ideal place to buy items.
Because what is expected there, both fromthe seller and the buyer, is to negotiate.
(22:32):
And I've said multiple times onthis podcast, what I like to do is
go to local places, time and timeagain, make relationships with the
people and give them good prices.
I don't haggle people and itturns into other opportunities
I wouldn't have had otherwise.
So if I go in and I don't.
Personally enjoy the process of beinglike, Oh, you have 50 bucks on this.
(22:53):
How about five?
And then it'd be like, get out of here.
And then you walk away and youcome back and you're like, okay.
10, but it's not even worth that.
I'll be doing you a favor.
And then they're like, Ijust, I don't like that to me.
That's I just makes me feel icky.
I don't want to feel like a.character, a horse trader.
Yeah, exactly.
So I like, so I don't spenda lot of time at those.
(23:13):
The other thing is if you show up on aday where a bunch of people showed up that
don't have anything worth anything, you'regoing to walk around for an hour, two,
three hours and come away empty handed.
And my time is.
Worth more than that to me.
I need that, nothing in life is aguarantee, but I want to have a pretty
good idea ahead of time that there's agood chance I'm going to find something
that I can turn around and sell.
(23:35):
I'm assuming too, that the majority ofpeople that go to the flea market are
just people that are looking for a gooddeal on something that, like, Oh, I
found a shovel for 5 and it was, might'vebeen 10 somewhere else or something.
But as a reseller, it seems likethe margins would be way too slim.
Is that fairly accurate?
(23:55):
If it's one of those that is alittle bit nicer than usually they're
priced above what I could pay,I could buy it on eBay for less.
But some of these ones where they'rejust, it's random people, they could
be coming from anywhere, they could bebringing anything, you can find deals.
However, this is another annoyingthing about those, and another reason
(24:17):
why I don't do them a lot, is thatif you want to get the good deals,
you had better get there super early.
It's like the garage sale, right?
They'll post it, and they'll postpictures of the stuff that they have.
They're like, we're opening at 8.
Don't come before 8, we'renot going to open before 8.
You get there at 8 o'clock.
You're the first one in line.
You go look around and you're like, whereare the watches that I saw and you go up
(24:39):
to and you go, Hey I came for the watches.
I got here early where they're like, Oh,somebody got here at 7 30 and they said,
and we just, we said, well, we'll sell.
I'm like, what?
That's the deal.
If you want to get the good deal,you got to get there an hour or
two before you're supposed to.
And you have a flashlight, right?
And you're walking around and youhave to as people are emptying their
(25:01):
vehicles, they're not even ready yet.
You have to be like,Hey, can I look at this?
And I just, that's nothow I like to do business.
So I don't do that a lot.
I know if I'm going to go to a yardsale, you got to get there earlier
because there are always people, thereare people who call the night before.
They call them or they contact themand say, Hey, yeah, I know you got
this tomorrow but I'm interested inlots of these things and I'm available.
(25:22):
And I really, anytime you want, I'llcome and they'll, I say harass, they
will communicate with these peopleand try to get, it's all about trying
to get ahead of your competition.
Get there first, be the first one.
And with yard sales, a lot of times too,they'll, these buyers, I don't recommend
doing this unless you're already goingto buy something and you've spoken
(25:44):
with them, but there I've heard lotsof stories of people say, I came in,
they had a little bit of jewelry and Iwas interested in two or three pieces.
And I went up to, to sell 'emand say, yeah I buy and sell.
I'm interested in all kindsof small things like jewelry,
watches, this and that.
Do you happen to have anything elsethat maybe you didn't think to bring
out, but I'm here and I pro I wouldprobably be interested and they'll go
(26:07):
inside and bring out a bunch of pocketwatches or whatever else, something
else that they didn't consider selling.
But they, now they knowhow they have a buyer.
And I've heard lots of stories of peoplewalking away with stuff that wasn't
even out simply because they asked thatmight be, I don't, that's not something
I do usually, because again, I don'twant to make a person uncomfortable.
I don't want to, but Ileave things on the table.
(26:29):
I'm sure good deals because we, Isaid in the beginning of this episode,
it goes through my whole life.
There are some things Ijust don't personally do.
And usually it's, it comesdown to relational reasons.
Interpersonal things between people thatI just, I don't want to go there, but.
Other people do.
It's not that it's wrong.
Do you want to do these yard sales?
(26:50):
People go or these outdoorthings get there super early.
Make sure you bring flashlights, makesure you bring cash because they're
not going to take anything else.
A lot of times they want cash andI don't know, just use your gut.
Cause if something seems too good tobe true, like they're selling gold
coins for 30 percent of what theysell for online, they're just trying
(27:10):
to make that money fast and get out.
They don't even wantto be there in an hour.
Cause that stuff's hot.
So use your gut.
If it seems too good tobe true, it probably is.
And, or you, maybe you need to ask afew more questions before, before you
bite on paying for something like that.
So I don't think that they're dangerous.
I think that they are intriguing.
They certainly can be a placeyou can get some good deals.
(27:33):
It's just going torequire some extra things.
You're going to have tobring a lot of cash with you.
Do you feel comfortable walking aroundwith cash in an area you've never
been, or you're not familiar with?
Do you want to get there fourin the morning or five in
the morning and walk around?
Do you want to get upthat early and drive?
Cause if not, someone else is, and they'regoing to get that deal before you do.
(27:57):
I don't know.
I've had, like I said,I've had mixed results.
I've found some cool things,some cool vinyl records, some
stuff that's really decent value.
And then I've had complete duds where Iwalked around and I'm like, oh, and I've
learned by the way, and this is true ofantique stores, thrift stores, anything.
If I walk in.
And I walked down two or threeaisles and the prices are pretty much
(28:19):
all spot on or a little bit high.
I leave.
I don't go to the rest of the storebecause that time and time again.
In my mind, I'm thinking,okay, challenge accepted.
I'm going to find that onething in here that's worth it.
No, you're not.
You're not.
They clearly are getting guidance from thepeople who are running that store to sell,
(28:40):
or they're just all super savvy vendors.
And it's not worth my time.
I'll spend an hour and a half in there.
And when I'm done, I'mgonna be like, dang it.
I knew within five minutes ofwalking in that place that I should
have left and I didn't do it.
I've learned now again, saving time.
I just got to walk out of those placesand not worry about not regret it.
(29:01):
That's a valuable tool right there.
There was a program I'm sure of referenceson this show, but as I've always been
fascinated by it with IBM started the,this program called getting to know.
Where they realized.
Getting to know you?
Getting to learn all about you.
Exactly.
I think that's from TheKing and I, isn't it?
Anyway.
I don't know.
I sang it in elementary school.
That's how I believe it is.
I believe it's from the It's from TheKing and I. Elementary school music class.
(29:25):
Getting to know you.
Oh, we're big on theshow tunes in our family.
I have a nine year old andshe's very much into it.
Nice.
I'm pretty sure that's fromThe King and I. Anyway.
But this getting to know.
Was the idea they realized that so manyof their sales people would spend, so
much time Trying to get these people thatwere never going to buy from them and
they would spend more time with them thananybody else And IBM realized no you've
(29:47):
got to get to know as quickly as possible.
That's the win It soundscounterintuitive to trying to
sell something Or buy something.
But if you walk in and you go, no,on the outside chance that you might
get that one thing, you're going tomiss out on so many other things.
That is a really valuable tool in any bit.
Where are you spending your time?
(30:08):
Because you only have so much of it.
And, another thing about that is thatthis show is not for the horse trader.
We are not here to help the horse here.
There are people out therethat are, moving and grooving,
shaking, making deals.
That's not what we are.
We're not here for that.
If that's who you are, I'm sure there'sa YouTube channel out there for you
(30:28):
because in a sense, there's a very fineline of that type of person between
criminal behavior and not criminalbehavior, like taking advantage of people.
Yeah.
And I want to clarify, I don't,some of these tactics are fine.
I just personally don't do themfor my own reasons and that's fine.
But I do tend to find that the people whodo engage in some of those strategies.
(30:50):
Tend to also be the kind of peoplethat rub vendors and salespeople
the wrong way, which has giventhe term reseller a bad name.
And that's why I don't like the termreseller because I'm no different
than Guitar Center or any of theseplaces, Ross, DJ Max, like that is me.
(31:10):
I'm just not paying for a largebrick and mortar store, right?
I'm finding through my own connections.
Items that I can buy at a cheaper priceand I'm turning around and selling
them to someone who wants them fora price that is more in line with
today's value, the general value of it.
That's what everyone else is doing.
(31:31):
No one's calling them resellersand hating like people go
there because they want a deal.
That's why people go to eBay.
They want a deal.
And that's where I sell most of my stuff.
I don't love eBay.
They just have the largest marketplace.
So it's hard to leave with this.
And I'm.
Frustrated with him right now,but it's a whole other episode.
(31:51):
But because there's a lot of thingswithin their system, I can't control.
And they're not very forthcomingwith information or speed at helping.
I'll leave that there.
You are an aftermarket merchant.
I am.
That's what you are.
Aftermarket merchant.
I don't produce the things that I sell.
Someone else produces them.
I find them and then Ibuy them and sell them.
That's it.
(32:11):
You also refurbish things.
I think there's some, I do.
I repair things.
That's true.
There's something really importantto be recognized though, that people
that are really good at refurbishingI, we've talked about Sweetwater.
I love this company Sweetwaterand they have this marketplace for
people that want to sell equipment,gear, Matt and I are gear heads.
We'd like to own.
Stuff that makes sounds good, looks good.
(32:32):
And you can buy this.
Nobody's calling the people thatare selling their sec, their
secondhand gear, terrible people.
That, that leads me to the secondquestion of the, it's not really
about flea markets, but more whatwe would call them out less swaps.
Yeah.
So every year in the late.
Spring typically or maybe sometimes middlespring, whatever, there would be ski
(32:53):
swaps where different ski places would gettogether and they'd sell last year's skis
and gear, and you could get credible deal.
I don't think I've ever boughta brand new pair of skis.
I think I've always bought them at swaps.
They're brand new.
They're just, you're just payingless from, do you ever go to swaps?
Does that ever, you everdo something like that?
No, the closest thing tosomething like that is.
(33:17):
For what I do is just throughcommunicating with people, finding people
who buy certain categories or certaintypes of things so that when I come across
it, I may not have to go through thetrouble of selling on an eBay someplace.
I may just contact that person andsay, Hey, I've got a bunch of, I
met somebody just the other dayand they collect Limoge branded.
(33:38):
Like little jewelry boxes and thingsyou may or may not, they're porcelain.
They usually have enamel painton them, like gold leaf or blue,
cobalt blue, and a little picture.
They collect those.
And I was like, Oh, I've gottwo or three of those at home.
She's like, can I get your number?
And we swap numbers and now I cancontact her and I don't have to wait
for months for that to sell on eBay.
I got somebody who's gonna comeand get that from me locally.
(33:59):
So that's the closest thingto something like that.
Although, you can sometimesfind people who will trade.
I have quote unquote purchasedthings on Facebook Marketplace
before through trade or half trade.
So a few years ago, Iwas living in Arkansas.
(34:20):
And I saw this really nice Gibsonguitar on a marketplace that I wanted.
And I contacted the person.
And I said, I'm very interested in thisand we started talking, I said, I, and
this is, I was still selling at thatpoint, not full time, but part time.
I was like, I've got afew other instruments.
I've got some other things.
(34:40):
Is there anything that you're needing?
Cause I might have it.
And I had this laptop that wasn'tall that old, but I didn't, it was.
I didn't need to use it anymore.
I swapped that laptop and a coupleof other things, and I think I only
paid like 200 bucks after the fact.
And I got this guitar.
Now I have a warehouse, mybasement, full of thousands of
things in all kinds of categories.
(35:01):
So if I reach out and I'm interestedin buying something, now I will say
I buy and sell things for a living.
I've got a lot of stuff.
Are you interested in anything because Imay have a lot of trading power at this
point and in knowing what I've paid forthe items I'm willing to barter means
I, a lot of the things I might be, theymight be interested in getting from me,
(35:23):
I might have nothing in anymore becauseI bought them in a lot of things I've
already sold enough to get my money back.
So I might be trading eight or 10things or five, whatever it is, and I'm
basically giving, they have value, right?
They have real value.
I could sell them, butthey haven't sold yet.
And I have no money, so if they'reworth 500, that's a big difference
(35:43):
between handing 500 cash to somebodybecause it's almost like it costs
me nothing at this point to getto do that, so that's what's nice.
Once again, I've, we'vejust pontificated away.
Alright, it's time tostart the episode now.
That's right, I hit, Iforgot to hit record.
Can you tell us what you sold this week?
(36:04):
Yeah I've sold a lot of things, the floorunderneath of me is littered with stuff
that I have paid for the labels, I justhaven't put it in the packaging yet.
Oh.
But I selected, one, two, three, four,five, six things today, and the reason
I picked these is not because they'rethe most valuable things that I've
sold, but because they're all thingsthat most people probably would see
(36:28):
and think, that's not worth anything.
That's the kind of thingI would just throw away.
Okay.
So the first thing is this littlevintage, it's just a little cardboard box.
It says keen cutter pocket knives.
So it's an old box that would have helda few smaller folding pocket knives.
Okay.
It's empty.
(36:48):
It has no pocket knives in it.
Huh.
It's just a little boxand this box sold for 32.
Whoa, why?
Somebody collects vintage.
Maybe they collect things thatare just from King Cutter.
Maybe they collect cutlery from St.Louis, which is where this was made.
Maybe they have some King Cutter pocketknives and they want to be able to
(37:10):
put them in an original package toincrease the value of the collection.
How old is that box?
I'm looking to see if there's a date.
I don't actually know.
I would have to do alittle bit of research.
My guess is this is from maybe the1920s, 1930s, something like that.
All the cane collectors out there rightnow are going that's a cane cutter.
73. Yeah, exactly.
(37:32):
That's the infamous King cutter.
73. And I didn't even know.
How are you missing 10, 000?
Right.
Okay.
The next thing.
Is this little, and maybe you evenseen things like this, Brandon.
It's this little brass it's shaped like.
Almost like a miniature goblet, a candleholder, or it's like a candle holder
kind of, yeah, it's like a goblet, right?
It's like it, but it's small.
(37:53):
It's brass on the bottom.
It says India and so Thrift storesgoodwill's are Littered with these I
mean across the country littered withthese made in India brass Tabletop items.
They can be spoons and forks.
They can be goblets.
They can be candle holders.
(38:14):
They can be pitchers.
They can be gravy boats.
They can be little genie lamplooking things, all kinds of stuff.
And usually they're only selling, ifit's a local kind of tiny thrift shop,
you could maybe get it for 10 cents.
Some of these things, if it's a goodwill,it's probably going to be two or 3, but.
These things sell thislittle thing sold for 14.
(38:39):
I probably got it in a lot.
It's I've had a while,probably gotten a lot.
I don't think I have anything in anymore.
And I checked on eBay just beforegetting on here to talk about it.
And there was a collectionof 50 things like this.
They're all kind of different shapes,different sizes, but there were 50 pieces.
It sold for 400.
So do the math on that.
If you were paying, 3 a piece.
(39:02):
Or something like that, that, andyou had 50, that's a, that's what is,
that's 150 dollars that you spent.
You could turn that 150 into 400.
If you're just paying, if you're paying 0.
10 a piece for them, wait until you have20 or 30, and then sell it, you're maybe
30 or 40 bucks in, sell it for 200, 250.
These things are everywhere.
(39:24):
I don't know why people are buying these.
I don't know if they canreuse this brass somehow.
Because everybody needs a good gravy boat.
I don't know, I guess.
Yeah, you polish it up.
It looks okay.
But these were tourist items.
These were little knickknacks.
These were made or these werelike export items sent to the U.S
. But if you see these littlebrass things, almost certainly
(39:47):
turn that thing upside down.
It's either going to be in themetal or the, oftentimes there's
a little sticker that says made inIndia or India, or you'll see the
outline where a sticker used to be.
Cause there's some of that residuefrom the glue is still there and it
said it was a made in India sticker.
That's what it was.
So they are still selling.
Don't pitch that.
Don't say, Oh, nobody wants that.
(40:07):
Nobody cares.
Most people just donate it.
They donate it to the goodwill.
And that's where someone like me buys it.
Okay, next up are these twoold, probably 1960s, between
the 50s and 60s, little knives.
One is just almost looks like a littlebutter knife, like a spreader type of a
knife, but it has, it looks like horn.
(40:30):
Like, antler, but it's not it'sactually a resin, like a plastic
that was made to look like that.
But then the other one, which was at onetime a folding knife, is made of antler,
the handle, but it's so rusted and boundup that you can't even fold it anymore.
The tip on it is a little bit brokenand it has the remnants of white paint.
(40:52):
Where someone has used this todo some sort of job with that
involve paint point is they don'tfold They're not good condition.
They're old.
This is the kind of thing that it'snot sharp Probably just pitch in the
trash, but these two sold for twentyeight dollars It's kind of thing you
could find in a drawer in a familymember or a grandparent's garage and
(41:14):
they don't care It's been in there.
No one's using it anymore turn thatinto money Another one is an old lock.
This says B& O Department.
B& O, it's a Yale lock, butit says B& O C T R Y Division.
It's a Yale lock, butthis is a railroad lock.
It would have been used in the rail yard.
(41:36):
It doesn't even have a key.
It's brass, but it's terriblyScratched and dinged up.
I put this up for 75 and it soldthe day I put it up, which means
probably put it up for too little.
It should have put it up for a little bitmore, but old locks that are locked, you
can't open and you don't have the key.
(41:56):
It doesn't mean they're worthless.
The type of lock matters, but itcould be worth quite a bit of money.
So don't pitch those.
Don't donate them.
Locks are one of those categories that hasa really high sell through rate on eBay.
They sell, there's a lot forsale, but a lot of the ones that
are available sell every month.
Another set of items is a small lot,and these are tiny little hair pins
(42:20):
that are from like the Victorian era.
So late 1800s, early 1900s, they were justmade to stick in your hair, just to hold
your hair back on the side or wherever.
They're gold filled, but they, thesethree together probably weigh four grams
or less, but these three sold for 30.
And it's thing where no onereally wears this anymore.
(42:42):
This is probably something that aperson collects or they do something
with them, polish them up jewelry.
It's not enough to really scrapit and get gold out of it.
People who do that, buy them in largerquantities, but something like that.
It still has value, even if it's oldand no one's using that kind of thing.
Last one up here is a small.
(43:03):
Watch like a wristwatch.
It's older and it features Mickey Mouse,and the hands are his arms and hands.
And so as the clock moves, his handsand fingers point to the time this
particular one has no wristband.
It's in bad shape.
The little second handat the bottom is missing.
(43:23):
It's either fallen off inside ofthere, or it's completely gone.
It also doesn't, wh it's anautomatic, but it doesn't work.
The point is.
This has got a lot of things against it.
It's the kind of thing that youwould probably see and say, Oh,
interesting but nobody will want that.
I don't even donate it.
It doesn't work.
Someone paid 35 for this.
They're going to work on it.
(43:44):
They're going to fix it.
They're going to put a band on it.
They're going to clean it up and they'regoing to either keep it as a collector
item, or they're going to resell it.
I almost guarantee you.
Yeah.
I can imagine if you made that thingwork again, put a nice band on it.
It would be worth a fair amount of money.
Sure.
That's a cool looking antique watch.
You can know that it does, becauseif you were to look that same one
(44:06):
up and look at sold items, theyhave sold ones in working condition
and good condition for more money.
I just don't personallyrepair wristwatches, right?
I just don't have the.
The skillset or the tools to do that.
So if I ever, whenever I buy and sell, andI sell a lot of watches, pocket watches,
and wristwatches, if it doesn't work, orI'm not confident that it works well, I
(44:27):
put untested or I put for parts of repair.
If I wind an automatic and it'srunning, I'll say it's running.
However, I have not testedits accuracy over time.
So I want people to know that.
I'm not trying to mislead themif they get it and say, yeah, it
works, but it's an out, every sixhours it gets off by 15 minutes.
(44:48):
I don't have the time to sit andwatch dozens of watches and keep
track of that kind of thing.
So I just put it up and I say untestedor I want to ask you this question.
I keep forgetting to ask youthis, but it falls into that
category of not working untested.
We have an Instapot that I know hasa heating element that went bad.
And I looked for the heatingelement and I think you could buy
(45:08):
them out there, but I'm like, ah,man, I just bought a new Instapot.
Okay.
But those, it was like ahundred dollars we bought it.
It's like two years old.
Is that something that you would put upon eBay to sell or you just donate it?
Yeah.
It's the same thing.
If you got on and said for parts orheating element just went out, then
someone else might have one that theheating element works, but the switch.
(45:32):
Or maybe the lid doesn'tseal correctly anymore.
So it doesn't hold that pressure.
They might just say, okay, I can pay20 bucks for this and then go pay 20
bucks for, or 10 bucks for a heatingelement and then put it together.
That could apply to anything.
If you have something like an old radioor an old something in it, and you plug
it in or you turn the switch or it's anold lamp and it's got the really old.
(45:55):
It doesn't work.
Those can be rewired.
So it's, you can put a newcord in that you can put a new,
a lot of stuff can be fixed.
A lot of people out there buythings damaged because they
have the skillset to fix it.
They know it'll be worth more.
And it's a hobby.
It's fun for them.
So yeah, definitely.
You can sell things that are damaged.
Like our friend, Dave, who fixeswatches is going to fix my pocket watch.
(46:16):
Yeah.
He's he fixes pocket watches for me.
He's a great guy.
He just loves doing it.
He does.
It's something really fascinating.
All right, we are up against time.
I don't know how we did it,but we somehow we did it.
We managed to fill up morethan 45 minutes long winded.
We'll try to edit a lot of myself out.
But anyway, remember folks, wereally appreciate you listening.
(46:36):
If you skip the first part, justknow that we care about you.
We want everybody to do well.
Remember to follow, like, and subscribe.
If you get a chance, tell afriend helps us out, right?
We're trying to grow this show.
We are growing, but we need your help.
So do us a solid, letsomebody know if you enjoy it.
If you don't enjoy it,then, just stop listening.
But if you do enjoy it, tell somebodyelse and otherwise we will be back
(47:00):
with a brand new show next week.
Any last thoughts, Matt?
Yeah, when you're thinking about whetheror not you should write a review or
send an email or something, I wantyou to just picture me laying in bed
at night with just like tears in thecorner of my eyes and I'm kind of
like sniffing and just, just wishing.
You would commit y'allgotta help out Cousin Rusty.
(47:21):
That's right.
Rusty's in need He's in need outthere brothers and sisters, right?
Don't make me cry peopleDon't make cousin rusty cry.
Anyway, everybody have a great week.
We'll be back with a brand new shownext week Thanks for listening.
Talk to you soon
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!