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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Speaking of shoes....I was at a yard sale over the summer and noticed a pair of pink cowgirl boots, toddler size. Looked just like the ones my three year old has, only smaller. My daughter's were a gift, but I knew I liked them. I paid the .50 the buyer was asking and popped them up on ebay about a month ago, showing the never worn bottoms and listing pageant and photography in the description. They sold right around the $15 mark. I also bought 4 tiny Yo Gabba Gabba figures. I had NO idea what they were, but they were small and my daughter seemed interested. $3 and 2 months later she lost interest. To Ebay land they went. Turns out people like these ugly little things, $40 like these things. Glad other people know what those things are!!
ReplyDeleteAmber-Those big pageant curlers are big on eBAy, so why not pageant boots? It makes sense. great score, I would guess there's other stuff in the pageant genre that could be bought and sold too, dresses, ect? I think I'll do an eBay search under pageant and sees what comes up.
DeleteExcellent flip on the Yo Gabba Gabba figures too. $40 big ones and so easy to ship. (I am all about easy shipping!) That was a home homerun!
Thanks for writing in and passing on the ideas to everyone....Dude!