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79 here right now. I do not have a need for a warm car. No snow here in 27 years.

Sunshine and warm year around other then a month or so it does drop down into the 30-40's at night sometimes.

My house is my home and I wont clutter it with yard sale items. I do not bring any cloth, furniture, used appliances etc to the house. They all go to the storage shed to be cleaned, pictured and listed.

Too many nasty people out there and I do not want their nasty habits brought into my home.

;)

I'm jealous! :bolt: Florida?

Same for me! :) Other side of the country though..

This is Sandy_D's big thread.

I am hoping that I can help someone.

When someone goes into a thrift store, yard sale, flea market etc they will hopefully remember this thread and when they see something one of us posted they will grab it and make some money on it.

We all learn something new everyday and like me buying gallons of paint was never a thought until I realized that people will buy anything they need at a lower price then retail if the price is right.

It has worked for me to change the way I look at things. I know not everyone wants to be out running around and looking but for me I love it. The treasure hunt is what I like.

Going to estate auctions is what I really like to do but opening myself up to a new world of finding hidden gems elsewhere is not only challenging but rewarding.

I once found 400 my profit of items in a dumpster. All kinds of Columbia sportswear. Really kool stuff including a laptop. I love driving around and finding computers sitting out for the garbage man. Every time I see an old Dell its like finding $50.

Old Dells? Meaning scraping the metal inside right?

Or taking it apart and selling for parts?

LOL

My luck you would fall into the dumpster and fall on someone who's asleep.

:rolleyes:

Thanks for the thread, Sandy D. I had always pretty much brushed off flea markets and such.. I went to a small flea market yesterday to check things out. Found a working Panasonic VSC RR-830 for $3! It is some kind of vintage voice recorder worth $60 to up to $500. A decent profit regardless of condition. I also got 10 MLB certified baseballs for $5.. These balls retail for at least $15 each...

The flea market was pretty fun too.. Other than some of the vulture salesman at these things, lol. But if you say "No" enough times, they usually throw a dirt cheap price out, sold.

Fleamarkets is a good way to people to sell off non working junk. i bought a dvd player and a dvd rom in the past from the fleamarket the sliver toung bstard said to work and neather items worked and they where no where to be found the next sun when i went back.

Good!!

You just learned to open your eyes for things you normally would never look at.

The baseballs is a perfect example of that. Who would ever think to look at them?

Good job BG.

First of all you are at a flea market. If you purchases these items I would bet they were low priced.
Second, why on earth would you buy electronics with checking it out first?

You cannot say there is not electric plugs because I carry a converter with me in my van. If I need to check an electronic item I ask them if it works, if I want to buy it I tell them I have a converter that I can plug into your cig lighter to see if it does work. If it does not work they will so no and you dont buy it.

I would never spend big bucks on electronics without checking it and if you got it for next to nothing then you took the risk for a low dollar amount and nothing hurt.

Lesson learned here. Dont buy electronics that you cannot check.

Exactly! Great example.. A slightly used baseball is only worth 50 cents... But Rawlings Official MLB balls... :)

This thread rocks,

I just went to a fleamarket and looked around on Friday to see what is happening. Best $1 entrance fee I ever spent. First time in a fleamarket since I was 12 or 13 years old, over 15 years ago.

I concentrated on the things I know, I know computers and computer parts right out of my head, no need to check on prices online or anything. Well, I came back with tons of hard drives and older desktops. I had to call my sister and get her to use her car's trunk and back seat for extra storage.

My best items I bought where SSD hard drives when the seller thought they were external hard drive cases. For $2 each I ended buying everything he had, it was 12 SSD drives. I figure it will sell for $80-$200 each, depending on the size. I bought 8 desktop computers that I'll piece them up and sell individually. I only bought 3 laptops cuz I figure the hard drive and cpu are worth it. I was about to buy some Dell laptop chargers but I went over my budget so I didn't. I budgeted $800 and sent $790.

Since I don't have a 2 car garage, my spare bedroom in my house is full. By tomorrow, that room will be a complete mess with computer parts everywhere. I only need more EB accounts to start selling. Oh, and my sister thinks I am completely nuts.

Awesome job!

It is out there if you are willing to go looking.

lol, oh its out there and located at the outdoor swap meet. It was such a beatuful day outside in Vegas, temp is 70 or so, without any clouds and sun shining, no wind also. The swap meet was full. Best part out of all this is that my sister thinks I really lost it for buying complete junk, we'll see.

I just tested all of the SSD drives and they all work, major $$. 75% of the other hard drives work, the rest I will just sell for parts. I cant test the memory since I dont have a working desktop. I'll still sell it all used.

lol the a**hole was quick to tell me there was no plugs to try it out on and i would highly dout i could had took the items and walked back to the truck with them w/o paying for them first just to try them out. Ever since then when i go to these swap meets people always trying to sell junk like lcd monitors and stuff then expect me to take there word that it works :pound: no sir fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. These people come at u like carnival stand attendants. Thing u got to remember about fleamarkets these peeople are here trying to make money so u might get luckly and find something to resell for profit but most times its inflated junk that they picked up at yard sales and auctions and what not. The real money makers is always yard sale ;) and most always honest people at yard sales cause if they screw u then u know where they live and u can take the dollars out of there a** or there ride :D

Goodness DBK why are you trying to infuse negativity into this thread?

If you are not smart enough to not test something electronic before you buy it then I would like to sell you a truckload.

Just a hint to help you out with your dilemma---No flea market I have ever been to and I have been going to them since I was able to walk does not have an outlet somewhere. If I bought something that I was told did not work and tried it out before I left you can bet your sweet bippy I would get my money back. The owners of the market would not tolerate a seller selling something they said worked and did not.

You have a couple post in this thread and all finding faults at finding things.

This thread was not meant for someone to constantly bring up your mistakes in buying or lack of knowledge to know where to find anything. So far many here have done well in finding things but you have not?

You posted that all your goodwills etc have nothing but junk etc. You must be looking for the wrong things as I never go into a thrift store without seeing something I can flip.

If you dont have anything to share other then your poor experiences then dont post in this thread as it is not helpful to anyone.

Sometimes it doesn't even matter if an item works or not... I bought a 4-stroke weed-wacker at a flea market on Saturday.. It was missing the bottom half that has the blade. I start to ask if the motor still ran, but then said forget about it, I'll just take it. Why not since it was only $1...

Sell the weed-wacker for parts and you'll get more then $1.

When I go to buy used hard drives I always bring along my laptop and an external case to power up the drive to see if it functions. If the hard drives are desktop or 3.5 inch drives I bring along a power adapter for my car and power it at my car if I can't find a power socket.

Goodwill I found 2 books from 1845 that were the Greek Testament 1 and 2. I paid $1 each and they are extremely hard to price since they are rare. Easy 100-200 each in their immaculate condition.

They are for my personal collection though :)

Finds of today

2 NFL Jerseys 1970's

2 New Ekco Hoodies, never worn with tags

1 Baby Phat childs clothing item

2 Black and Decker New Irons

2 Ping golf clubs with covers

Bag of original Monopoly pieces

Knapp steel toe shoes brand new with tags

Crystal glass cake stand rare Italian item and marked!!

Bag of WWF figurines 1985

Few other little items to build feedback on newer account.



Nice trip at the thrift store. Spent about an hour there and probably will make 200 or more profit easily. Only had time today to hit this one but there are 3 more on this little route I take.

Finds of the day. Great day to be out.

Box of American Flyer track, switch, parts, trees etc - 60 years old

Awesome Dale Earnhardt (SR) jacket, minor wear but still an awesome find for 4.99.

Nintendo DS

New York Mets 1969 Pennant in a matted frame. ( Miracle Mets fame )

Box of gold plated silverware, some pieces missing but in the original wooden box. Last one

Murano Glass vase

Sony Walkman ( have to research this thinking it is the first one from the 80's?)

Today I found 4 Rawlings catchers masks for $2 each. Nearly brand new condition. These sell for $20 to $25 each. :)

More swap meet findings for me. I found more hard drives in good shape.

15 desktop hard drives that range from 750gb to 1.5 TB
10 laptop drives from 160gb to 250gb

paid $173 for all not including the $1 entrance fee.

My legs hurt, it's a lot of walking.

Good job!

We have tons of flea markets around me with one being one of the largest in the US. Takes 4-5 hours to go through it all and that is moving at a very fast pace souring thousands of tables.

I wish I was techy as I know I have passed on tons of good stuff over the years.

What good is a catchers mitt without a cup?

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

You dont have to be techy to know that the prices on hard drives have shot up like crazy since the floods in Thailand have wiped out tons of factories making them. Inventory is down and demand is up. It will stay like that until Q4 of 2012.

My luck and lack of knowledge in this area I would buy a hard drive that is burned up or loaded with viruses.

I wonder what the equivalent of a thrift store is in the UK if any for that matter :typing:.

I actually run into a lot of people from the UK that are on vacation and have asked this question.

One lady told me they-you have similar stores for used goods but they are not called thrift stores.

You just make sure to catch the ball. :)

Oh..

What if you do not?

You just take a small laptop or net-book with you, one that will last many hours while you walk around the swap meet. Also take an external hard drive casing with you, tear the thing up first. Take the case motherboard and a USB cable to test all the laptop hard drives.

For the desktop hard drives do the same thing, tear the external hard drive casing apart and only take the casing motherboard and USB cable. You will also need the power adapter to power the desktop hard drive, it takes more power to power those babies.

You hook it all up and make sure if the hard drive will show up on your profile where your hard drive, DVD, etc. are. If it shows up, you have a working drive. To delete everything on any hard drive you only right click on the drive profile and press format, press quick format, and wait until everything is deleted.

To really make sure that the hard drive does not have any bad sector(s), download a program called "hdtune", free btw, and test the drive for bad sector(s). Press quick test and gets done within a few minutes depending on the size of the drive.

Easy work, just make sure you bring along a really light laptop. I once brought my 15 inch HP laptop and by the end of the day, the battery was dead and my arms where jelly.

Great info.

I always carry the car lighter converter with me everywhere in case I need it for anything.

I know where a ton of towers are, for less then 5 bucks if I remember.

They are stacked in a thrift store.

If these HD were of any use you would think someone would have grabbed them all up right?

I know most towers are older versions but some of these towers are clean and nice and do not show much age.

I need to learn how to do what you described.

Today was a great finds day.

2 RR Lanterns

New HP printer in box

2 early 1900s porcelain wine decanters

Bud mirror sign

Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey

Old 8x50 binoculars in org case

Box of vintage shot glasses from around the world. Some cool shot glasses.

Harley Davidson leather biker saddle bags - What a find!

sandy, do you sell these on ebay? some of the items would seem hard to ship like the mirror and laterns

Sandy, you should know by now that DBK is the original flea.

Never his fault or his problem. Would not matter what was suggested DBK got conned somehow so it's all bad. Learn to ignore his negativity :violin:

I can just see nobody trolling listings to see f they can ID Sandy's items.:violin::pound:

Why would a professional seller like Sandy have trouble packing items to ship?:smash: