Gargantuan-sized bras and funky TV memorabilia may not be the first thing on your shopping list, but thrift store shopper Kathy Wood knows a deal when she sees one.
The daughter of Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan and his wife, Bobbye, rakes in riches from the rejects she scoops up and resells on eBay.
The Nebraska resident made a $145 profit from an extra-large leather coat, emblazoned with the name of the defunct teen sitcom “Saved by the Bell,” that she bought for 99 cents at Goodwill.
Developing an eye for a bargain is something Wood learned from her parents as they hunted for treasures at garage sales and antique stores. Their three-story home in Illinois overflows with antiques, sports memorabilia and dolls; six barns are filled to the rafters with stuff, including the tractors Jerry Sloan collects and restores.
Based on her lucrative experience, Wood offers tips on how to make extra cash from thrift finds in “Bargains to Bucks,” on sale March 12.
“The more unusual the item, the more money it seems to bring,” she said, noting the huge bras netted her three and four times more than she paid. “Just because an item doesn’t appeal to you, or you think it’s hideous, doesn’t mean a little old lady in rural Iowa hasn’t been looking for that exact item all of her life,” she says on her Web site at www.bargainstobucks.com.
Wood has been buying items to sell on eBay for six years and claims a savvy seller can net $200 to $300 or more a month. There is not much overhead–in addition to the 99 cents she spent on the coat, Wood had to pay eBay a 30 cent listing fee and 2.4 percent (around $3) of the coat’s selling price.
She gives items two chances to sell. What is not snatched up she returns to the store with her receipts, resells at a consignment shop or at her biannual garage sale, or donates as a tax write-off.
Wood advises starting with no more than 10 items. Pay no more than $5 for a piece of clothing unless the item is new or unusual and start with items you are familiar with.
“It does take awhile to know what sells, and that just comes from going on eBay and seeing … what’s hot,” she said.
At Target one day, she bought four of the same clearance items for $14.14 each that originally retailed for $52 apiece. She sold two for $55 apiece and the others for $55 to $60 each.
Among her advice to eBay newcomers: Don’t be greedy. The coat that sold for $150 she initially listed at $1.99.
“If you start out listing [an item] really high, it turns people off from bidding on it,” she warned. “List it so at least you’re making $2 or $3 so you’re not losing any money, but usually [the bids are] going to go higher than that.”
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
