This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
All right, last week it was Mystery by Mail, the murder mystery by mail content creator. Today we're gonna look at From Power Rangers to Profits in Two Weeks. That's the title of today's episode in the segment known as First $1,000. This is a segment all about how somebody goes from an idea to making at least $1,000 from it. Today we're gonna hear how a toy collector uses estate sales, eBay and insider knowledge to flip vintage figures for a profit.
I guess that's probably better to have a profit than a loss, right? That's good, okay, profit not loss. By focusing on three collectible categories, I'll tell you exactly what they are. In fact, he will, he's gonna tell you the story. He builds a low stress resale system that brings in steady income.
How can you do this? How can you do something like this? Do you have a project that's bringing in steady side income? If not, you need a side hustle and I'll do my best to help you get there. That's what we're all about for more than 3,100 episodes, 3,100 days in a row, in fact, and counting.
Let's hear today's case study. I'm gonna pass the microphone over to Brian. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap up. [Music]
I've been collecting toys for most of my life, mostly vintage action figures and more recently Funko Pops. It started as a personal obsession, but at some point I realized I knew a lot more than the average person about what these things were worth.
That's what gave me the idea to try selling a few items on the side. The first big win came from an estate sale. I found it on Craigslist. It mentioned vintage toys, which always catches my attention. When I got there, most people were focused on the furniture and kitchenware.
But in the garage, there were four big bins filled with unopened figures from the late 80s and 90s, Power Rangers, Star Wars, and some off-brand stuff I recognized from growing up. I offered $200 for the whole lot. They accepted, probably just happy to clear out space. Back home, I spent a few hours sorting and checking sold listings on eBay. One figure, a white ranger from 1995 in mint packaging, sold for $150 within three days.
A set of five loose Star Wars figures went for $250 as a group. Two rare Funko Pops fetched another $200. Within two weeks, I'd made just over $1,000 after fees and shipping. That was when I got more systematic. I set up saved searches on eBay for Funko Pop lot, unopened action figure, and vintage toy collection.
I also started using an app called Scout IQ, which is made for booksellers, but works well for scanning barcodes and checking comps quickly. On weekends, I'd hit a couple of local garage sales in flea markets. I wasn't trying to buy everything, just the stuff I knew I could move fast. I focused on three categories I really understood, Power Rangers, certain Funko Pop releases, mostly exclusives, and Star Wars figures from before 2000. That helped me ignore 90% of the clutter and stick to things I could resell for at least two to three times what I paid.
I priced most items between $25 and $75 and used calculated shipping to keep things simple. For tracking, I built a spreadsheet in Google Sheets where I logged purchase price, platform fees, and net income. My average margin hovered around 55%. I didn't build a brand or open a Shopify store. I just used my personal eBay account and made sure to take good photos and write clear listings.
I also started bundling low value figures into theme plots to move inventory faster. Now I make a few hundred bucks a month, more if I hit a good sale. It's still fun. And I no longer feel guilty about buying toys since they usually pay for themselves. All right, thanks a lot to Brian for sharing the story.
I love how he was able to get systematic focusing on some specific categories. As he mentioned, let's see what they were, Power Rangers, Funko Pop releases, and Star Wars figures from before 2000, from before the year 2000. The focus really helps, especially with reselling when you've got tons of items and their logistics, and you're probably using ShipStation or Shopify or other partners and tools to make it easy, but nevertheless, having some specific focus helps as well. Anyway, listeners, I hope that's helpful. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better.
If you've got a question and update about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com, you can download the complete archives of the podcast, more than 3,100 episodes, all completely free there. And of course, follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts for new episodes. That's all for now. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
