Simply Sold Store Blog » What Sells?

It’s hard to find good help these days

admin — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 01:32:25 +0000

Seemed like a good idea at the time

This guy named Darth came to the store the other day and asked if we were hiring. He was pretty convincing, although a little quiet, so we hired him.

Customer service didn't work for Darth

He started at the front counter greeting customers and researching items they brought in to sell. Honestly, customer service is not his strength.

The buttons gave him trouble

So we moved on to taking pictures. He did OK, but he had trouble with the buttons on the camera. I kept asking him to take off the clumsy gloves but he just stod there grinning at me.

Darth and Marion didn't work well togther

From there we moved on to shipping. What a disaster! The dude is like a bull in a china shop. Whacking at stuff with the tape gun. He’s putting shrink wrap on items like he’s trying to strangle them. What’s that all about? We couldn’t trust him with the delicate stuff so he’s no longer on shipping duty. He kinda pissed off Marion too. His breath isn’t the greatest and they started arguing about it, she threatened him with an atomic wedgie and we had to separate them.

Guard duty seems to fit him well

For now, he’s on night guard duty in the front window while we look for new employment for him.

Need a new employee? He might be just the guy for you. He’s only going to be around until October 24.

Get your new employee, Darth Maul, here!

Would a bent wheel sell on eBay?

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:44:38 +0000

I’ve talked before about how even things that are broken can sell. I’m not asking you to bring in junk. Let’s get that straight right up front. When someone comes in to the store and says “I’ve got some junk for you”, I’m not impressed. Junk is junk. Throw it away or recycle it.

Moving on.

Some things are not in perfect condition or sometimes not even in working condition, but if they’re the right things that someone can fix, they just might sell. Game systems are a perfect example. That old XBOX 360 might have gone haywire and you replaced it with something else. Someone out there wants that broken one for parts.

Here’s another example of something we’ve recently sold. We sell a lot of wheels. Aluminum wheels are soft and if you hit a pothole they stand a decent chance of bending. However, they can be fixed.

These were replaced with a new set and instead of scrapping them, we sold them. The seller gets a chance to recover some of his money and the buyer will just have to take one wheel to a repair shop, get it fixed, and he’ll be stylin’.

For a damaged set of wheels, the seller did pretty well. Click here to check out the wheels

Ford Fusion Wheels

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve sold?

admin — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 19:23:40 +0000

Growing Up Skipper Doll

We’re often asked the question, “what’s the wierdest thing you’ve ever sold”. While we try to stay away from downright quirky things that have no value to anyone, we’re not against selling something that a collector would really want but is a bit unusual. Sometimes you need a little fun.

Here’s one that really got us laughing. It’s Barbie’s friend, Growing Up Skipper.

Here’s the goofy thing about Skipper. You twist her arm around in a circle and, well, she grows up, or out, or both.

Do you have something odd that you’d like to sell, tell us about it below? Got something strange you’ve sold? Let’s hear about it!

Big or small? Simply Sold can sell and ship it!

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:08:23 +0000

If your business has surplus equipment or excess inventory, don’t overlook eBay as the place to turn it to cash. Since opening in 2005, we’ve sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in business equipment and shipped it worldwide.

Many people make the mistake of thinking eBay is just for small stuff. We can help with the larger and heavier items too. We ship items by motor freight often and we’ve even arranged shipment for vehicles.

John Chase from Simply Sold preps an item for freight shipping

Household appliances and furniture, although large and shippable by freight carrier, don’t generate enough interest because buyers aren’t willing the pay the cost associated with freight shipments. Businesses are a differenct story. They understand the cost of shipping and use freight requently. If your business has an item that has enough of a market and people are willing to pay the freight cost, this can be a great market for your product.

Give us a call at (815) 293-0300 and let’s talk about selling your excess equipment today!

It’s broken, but is it junk?

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:13:05 +0000

Tim came in a few weeks ago to pick up a check. He was on his way to buy a new Sony PSP for his sons and he happened to mention that he had three broken games to throw away.

“Hold on Tim, bring them in and we’ll sell them for you”, I told him.

He was quite surprised that someone would buy a broken game system. I told him that broken games system, if they’re the right ones, can actually get pretty good value. The buyer will take that game system along with others they buy, rebuild them, and re-sell them as refurbished units. The market’s actually pretty strong for this type of item.

Tim’s three broken game systems sold for $220! Not bad for junk.

Fortunately, that same thing applies to many cell phones and iPods too.

Here’s a recent sale of a broken iPhone and a broken iPod.

Before you throw that broken electronic gadget away, give us a call and see if you can recover some of the cost first.

That broken gadget might be worth something

Is there a market for old video game systems?

admin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:59:48 +0000

Don't toss out those old games!

As companies pump out new game systems and people are constantly upgrading to get the latest and greatest thing, what happens to the old system?

Most often, it gets shoved in the closet to collect dust and take up space. Many of them sit until they’ve completely lost all value and then get thrown away. If you’ve got an unused video game system, now’s the time to sell it!

Check this out! Even the games alone can be worth money!

Don’t let those diabetic test strips expire!

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:31:25 +0000

If you or someone in your home is diabetic, you probably receive a supply of glucose test strips on an auto-pay program. If you’re like most people, you probably have more than you really need and they’re piling up and sometimes even expiring. Or even better, maybe you’re controlled your Type 2 diabetes through exercise and nutrition and no longer use them.

Don’t let those extra glucose test strips sit on the shelf and expire. Get them in the hands of someone who needs them and make a few dollars in the process. As long as they’re not expired and have a few months shelf life remaining and the box is still sealed, bring them in and we’ll sell them for you instead of letting them go to waste!

One Touch Ultra, Free Style Lite, Bayer Breeze, Accu-Chek, True Track and more!

Do you know a good electrician?

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:41:39 +0000

Recently sold for $158

Business equipment is a big market on eBay. One area that we have seen success is in used electrical components.

If you are an electrician or you know of an electrician, we have an opportunity for you. We have a few electricians who bring us circuit breakers and other components that they’ve removed from a job during an upgrade that are still in great working condition but just don’t meet the specifications needed. Even though an item might be outdated for that specific application, it might still have value to someone, as long as it’s in good working condition.

We’ve also worked with one of the largest electrical equipment manufacturers in the world to move surplus parts that no longer met their build specs. The parts were on their way to the dumpster when we met the company and worked with them to turn that junk into $75,000.

This example can apply not only to electricians, but to many other trades and businesses as well. If your business has excess inventory or surplus equipment, don’t throw it away. Call us first and you might be able to turn it into cash instead!

Would your business throw away $2,325?

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:28:48 +0000

This week brought more proof that businesses are sitting on thousands of dollars of unused equipment. In many cases, the equipment is considered “junk” to the business because they’ve replaced it with a bigger, better, faster, shinier model.

I’m willing to bet that you’ve seen the company you work for, or that you might even own, throw something away that has value because it’s too much hassle for you to go through the process of selling it.

Before your business decides to throw something away or pays to have a scapper pick it up and haul it away, give us a call first. The owner of this machine is pretty happy that they did!

Going the extra step makes the difference

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:34:33 +0000

We recently sold a WWII Japanese Samurai Sword for a long time customer.

When he brought it it, he didn’t know much about it, other than the fact that it was brought back from the war by an uncle. There were no maker’s marks evident on the piece and without marks they were selling for around $400.

With his expectations lined up, we agreed to sell the sword for him. After extensive research, learning about the parts of a sword like this and what brings it’s value, we discovered that many swords were marked by their swordsmith on the tang. (That’s the part hidden under the grip). Well, if it’s hidden under the grip, the only way to find that is to take apart the sword. We learned how to carefully and appropriately disassemble the sword and were pleased to find the signature.

Why is this important? Signed swords bring more money than unsigned swords.

We could have left it alone and not risked disassembling the sword. He was OK with not knowing if it was signed or not. We could have done a real minimal amount of research. Fortunately, we’re not content with going halfway.

Here’s what happened!