What's funky, furry and sells well on eBay? Osiris shoes!

You don't need to be an expert on everything in this business. For example, I recently made a great flip on an item I had no previous experience with. It was a great example of keeping an open mind when hunting for deals. 

I came across this particular score at my local Saint Vincent's thrift store. You may remember a few months ago when I was singing the praises of this recently remodeled shop. Ever since the store was re-done, it's produced some excellent deals for me. As an example, I found this sharp looking Under Armour golf shirt there. Under Armour golf shirts are a "must buy" if you see them. They consistently sell for $20 or more on eBay. What made the find even sweeter was I'd just sold the exact same style and color shirt a few months earlier for $30 dollars. When I found the identical shirt again for only $4 dollars it was a no-brainer. I grabbed it knowing some easy cash was about to be made again on eBay! To be honest, I am lazy when it comes to posting stuff on eBay. So since the shirt was identical to the previous one (except for size) I just re-posted my old eBay listing. I didn't even take a new photo-why bother? The only edit I had to make was the shirt size. That took me all of ten seconds. But once it was posted, I half expected a picky buyer to take notice that the photo showed a different size shirt. Luckily nobody seemed to notice and my "instant replay" shirt sold for $21 bucks. That was a quick and easy $17 dollar profit! That's the kind of luck I've been having at the new and improved Saint Vincent's thrift store!

So it's with this lucky streak at Saint Vincent that I recently found the below funky looking pair of "Osiris" sneakers. Up until that moment, I'd never heard of the company. The shoes were priced a tad high at $8 dollars, but they definitely stood out from all the others on the rack. Osiris was emblazoned in big letters across the tongue of the shoe. They even had a fur lining on the inside-you don't see that every day in a sneaker! I decided the shoes deserved further investigation. I discreetly broke out my phone and looked up Osiris sneakers on eBay. It's a good thing I did. I discovered that Osiris are a brand of skateboarding shoes that retail for upwards of $100 dollars a pair. Used pairs are nothing to sneeze at either, with many selling in the respectable range of $30 dollars on eBay. After thumbing through several completed listings, I was now a believer. I grabbed the big, bulky sneakers and headed to the cash register.

When I buy stuff, I like to quickly get out of the store with not too much chit-chat. But that wasn't happening this day. Tossing the shoes up on the check-out counter, the little old lady at the cash register proceeded to offer an opinion on my purchase, "Oh, I like these, what a nice pair of sneakers!" Now, if you follow my blog you know this is one of my pet peeves! Why is it that some thrift store employees feel the need to give you their unsolicited opinion on stuff you're buying? It's totally unnecessary. In this particular case, these crazy looking shoes are worn by young "skater dudes" with long hair and ripped jeans! I chuckled to myself over the idea that  this lady would like a pair of skateboarding shoes! But okay, I know what your thinking....she was just making small talk. I guess that's true. So despite it not making much sense, I just agreed with the lady and went on my way.

Once home, I did a little more eBay research on Osiris shoes. The more I looked, the more confident I became in my find. The added bonus seemed to be the fur lining inside the shoes. This was an extra feature not found in all Osiris shoes. With my research complete, I eagerly listed the shoes on eBay with a bold starting bid of $25 dollars. Turns out the little old lady wasn't the only person who thought the shoes were nice. I had four "Skater Dudes" bid against each other during the seven day auction. The "dudes" drove the final price up to an amazing $68 dollars! That was a sixty dollar profit on an item I knew nothing about until I stumbled across them!

Which brings me back to my original point. Keep an open mind when looking at stuff you're not familiar with.  Just like I did with the Osiris shoes, if you don't know what it is-look it up. You can learn something new every day in this business!

Do you have any "newbie" finds that you did well with? Share your story below......



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