Niche eBay Products - The Hidden Goldmine of Toys at Garage Sales and Goodwill Stores
Everyone realises that selling on eBay requires good products.What everyone does not realise is the type of products that are "good".
In this series of articles, I will go through several Niche product areas that you may have never guessed existed.
At the risk of enraging collectors, for my first Niche area, I am going to talk about toys.
Selling toys on eBay can be amazingly profitable if you know what sells.
Lets start with second-hand toys made within the last 30 years. A great many of these are simply lying at garage sales and goodwill stores. People look at them, think how they had them when they were younger, and move on.
They are overlooking a gold mine !!
now unlike many reports, I am going to name the hot sellers !
My Little Pony;
Made by Hasbro.
To recognise the real vintage ponies from the newer versions and fakes, I recommend this website;
Dream Valley
These can be great sellers if you get them cheaply and in good condition.
Look for nice hair and no damage. However, even the the worst condition ponies can be sold for up to 10 times what you paid if you market them correctly.
I wouldn't suggest paying any more than $2 and it is likely you'll get them a lot cheaper.
Run a search on eBay to check if the pony is rare or hard to find.
This is essential as you may have a pony worth $100 or more.
If the particular pony only gets around $3-5 you can assume you have a common pony.
Before you list it, check the country stamped under its hoof. If it is the same as most listed eg; Hong Kong, China ect... you have 2 choices.
Either sell it for the $3-5 or save it until you have a few and market them as "custom Bait". There are a lot of pony people out there who repaint and re-hair ponies and resell them.
Note; This still can be a profitable market, if you do your research.
Glo Friends;
Made by playskool.
These little glo in the dark, plastic toys have just surged ahead in price.
This is a very under-represented market and a great opportunity. Very often you can get these guys for 50c or even free at sales and goodwill stores.
A large number of Generation X had these as kids and that age group are willing to spend big on these.
A collection of these can go for quite a lot and even single can go from $5-$80 depending on the rarity and popularity.
On eBay be aware that people search for the term Glo Bug, Glo Worm and Glo Friend, if possible, the three terms should be used when listing to get maximum visibility.
A very good resource to look at which explains the "mis-spelling" on eBay and how you can profit from these mistakes, is here;
Mis-spelt eBay resource
To check out these and more 80's fad toys, I suggest this web ring;
80's Toy Webring
As you can see, the hot items of this era include;
Jem
Rainbow Brite
Strawberry Shortcake
She-ra
Popple
Wuzzles
He-Man
GI-Joe
Lady Lovely Locks
Transformers
Carebears
Another series of toys I want to specifically mention is,
Sea Wees
These mermaid figures with their babies, pets and sponges were made from the late 70's to the eighties.
Now, these can be quite hard to find, but if you find a rare one, the pay off is astounding.
I mention these as there are accessories that came with the Sea Wees that are often overlooked. The Sponges, combs and little skirts they came with can offer a substantial return.
Even the worst condition examples are saleable.
As with Glo Friends, these also have a number of search terms that should be included in the title; Seawee Sea Wee Seawees ect..
You will notice the related searches under the search box on eBay which is very helpful;
eBay search for Sea Wees
Again, I want to mention the following resource for help in this area;
Mis-spelt eBay resource
As you can see this only slightly scrapes the surface of popular 80's toys. If you spend a couple of hours educating yourself on the popular sale items, you will start to see them when you are looking for other things.
For example, I personally know a record and book dealer. After realising this market, he picked up some of these toys every week as he was looking for stock.
Just before Christmas he listed the toys with correct terms, and in sets ect...
The haul from picking up 98 toys was $2,500.
Not bad for simply going about your business !
So, as you can see this niche market has some extremely good possibilities if you do your research and keep your eyes peeled !
Good Luck !
Rachel Annarve
About the Author
Rachel Annarve has been selling and researching niche products on eBay for the past 6 years. Future articles can be found here; http://auctionresource.co.nz
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