I had another great couple of weeks. I made my first four-figure sale (!) and sold a lot of items otherwise. Things won’t keep up at this pace, but it’s nice to have a bit of extra cash for a change. This March might have been my most profitable month ever, and at this point I’m wondering if the goal I set of 24k profit for the year was a bit conservative! We’ll see how it goes, as summer is generally a slow time for online sales but things are sure looking good so far.
Now, here’s the former trash that I’ve converted into cash…
1. Broken DJI Phantom II drone camera / gimbal (for parts or repair): On eBay for 200$. This was the first time I’ve found anything drone-related in the trash. The technology is pretty modern, so this gimbal sold for a nice amount even though it was broken. Found about a month ago in TMR.
2. Vintage plastic ring box: On eBay for 25$. I considered using this to package one of my Etsy sales, but instead decided to sell it. Found last March in Hampstead.
3. Anime DVDs: On eBay for 130$. This profit came from three different listings, but I’m grouping them all together because DVD sales aren’t particularly exciting. They were all part of the anime collection I found last October in the Plateau.
4. Delta Phi Epsilon sorority 10k gold pin: On eBay for 210$. Found alongside an Omega watch this January in TMR. That ended up being a pretty profitable pile of trash.
5. Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound miniature sewing kit: On eBay for 25$. I had this sitting around for quite some time before finally listing it recently. Found in Park Ex way back in 2013.
6. Montreal Alouettes 1961 season ticket card: On eBay for 15$. This sold pretty quickly, making me wonder if I should have upped the price a bit. I’m happy it sold regardless. Found last summer in Westmount.
7. Collection of 19 pre-war Polish magazines: On eBay for 40$. They all came from a dumpster in Glenmount, which is a tiny neighbourhood within Cote-des-Neiges. I spent a while there digging through old, often ruined books, saving the ones that looked most irreplaceable. I assume that it’s relatively hard to find Polish stuff from before WWII given the devastation that occurred there. Regardless, I’m glad they’ve found a new home. To see the magazines (and others I’ve since given away or sold), check out the link above.
8. Danese Milano cube ashtray: On eBay for 40$. Found in Snowdon sometime last year.
9. British isles pamphlet / map: On eBay for 20$. Found in Westmount last summer.
10. Parker Pen “Wadsworth” compact: On eBay for 35$. Found December 2015 in TMR.
11. Boss DB-12 Dr. Beat Digital Metronome: On eBay for 16$. This ended up going to some remote part of Labrador, reducing my profit by at least a few dollars. I do flat rate shipping, so this kind of thing is bound to happen on occasion. As long as I still make money I don’t worry too much about it. Found in the Plateau last May.
12. Broken Mondaine watch: On eBay for 65$. This watch didn’t end up working but I still managed to profit from it. Found late November in the Plateau.
13. Vintage tartan pen knife: On eBay for 58$. Found last April in NDG. Kudos to my mom for letting me know these knives were collectible.
14. Lot of Expo 67 photos and documents: On eBay for 1250$. My first four-figure sale! After taking months to consider my options I recently began the process of listing the Expo 67 haul I found last October. Not long after I listed the Hostesses’ Handbook I received a message from a potential buyer and we got to discussing the photos I had yet to list. I think I negotiated myself a good deal here, with my patience and my willingness to test the market as I do likely earning me a better price.
I’m also generally happy with how the deal worked out. I earned a nice chunk of cash, and the buyer is someone who will use the items to further various intellectual and artistic projects. I’m confident this stuff won’t be collecting dust somewhere, or simply part of someone’s inaccessible private collection.
To clarify, the Hostesses’ Handbook was the most valuable part of the deal, netting me 250$. The photos went for an average of 15$ a piece, while the miscellaneous documents went for an extra 50$. The collection made me a lot of money largely because it was so extensive. Nearly everything included in the listing is shown in the link above.
Total: 2129$, 7484$ since the new year.
I wish I could have many hands too give you as many thumbs up that you well deserve! Thanx for sharing again!
What a great deal! I remember reading about it all and seriously questioning your thinking on the olympics ephemera, but Wowee, you were right. Congratulations on following your gut.
Awesome! So glad that things are going so well for you!
What a score with the Expo 67 stuff Martin! Great job and finds.
Congratulations!
Love following your sales as you go up and up! I get vicarious pleasure out your good news.
Left out part of the sentence…….”I get vicarious pleasure out of your good news.”
Excellent month! I’m always fascinated by what you find.
Dazzling number! Amazed, as always.
I love to follow your dumpster dives. I have lived in Montréal many years and used to find little things here and there (but never on purpose, just by walking by). I then moved to France and found some good things in Paris but again, never on purpose. Maybe I should start doing what you do (although I no longer live in paris, my small town here could hold treasures too).
I’m confident there’s good garbage to be found everywhere, though obviously moreso in wealthier areas.
I’ve been following your sales over the past couple of weeks … pretty real-life exciting!
How sweet to mention me in your post. 🙂 Colour me proud … of you!
Fantastic Martin, congrats on the big sale 🙂
Yay!!!! Well done!!!
If you find billiard tables in the trash,definitely rescue them.You will get a good price for them.Palason Billiards buys used pool tables. To get a value of what they can pay, please send pictures to the contact email on http://www.palason.ca or call Jean-Pierre Emond 514-343-9399
I’d love to, but there’s no way I could get something like that in the car, unless it happened to be in pieces for some reason.
nice finds ! & the season’s barely begun 😉 i found what i thought might be a silver-plate (handle missing) large english tea pot,but scratched the bottom & still remained silver coloured,is it possible it’s solid silver? any idea how i’d check,who might buy? also,i often run across old cells,blacks,smartphones,could keep’s for ya if you like,lemme know,happy springtime picking ! 😉
Are there any marks or stamps on the piece? You’d usually find them on the bottom. Sometimes those things are made of pure silver but it’s not that common (I’ve never seen it personally). Sometimes they have a thick layer of plate, or are otherwise made of lead or another metal that might look silver. I would have it tested by someone who buys silver, because it’d likely be worth at least 100$ for scrap if so. Just don’t get too excited, because it’s likely not.
I don’t do much with old cell phones these days (I just recycle them, unless they’re iPhones 4 and up, or whatever else is new and more expensive), so it’s probably best to just recycle them (there are drop off bins at a lot of stores now, especially electronic stores) or sell them on eBay if someone wants them. Thanks for the offer though.
I work in a store,25 hours every week.My budget is very tight and my savings went because I just paid my Hydro bill last week.Do you know where I can dumpster dive and get bread,pizza,pastries for free?I live in St.Henri,but look out in Verdun and near Atwater market for scavenging opportunities.My food budget is tight so I get frustrated when almost everything that is written about dumpster diving refers to Mile End,the Plateau,Park Ex and Rosemount.There are other areas in Montreal too where people want to dumpster-dive.I have a friend in LaChine who wants to dumpster dive also.Please help.You need to do more food-related posts.
I have no idea. I don’t dumpster dive much myself these days, and have never dived in those neighbourhoods. There are other websites and Facebook pages devoted to this kind of stuff, check those. In general, look behind any store that sells food, and see if there’s a dumpster.
I am a bilingual francophone who reads your blog and enjoys it.I live in Ahuntsic.Two or three of my francophone friends would like to read your blog,but they do not understand English.Have you thought about translating your blog posts to French in order to get a bigger readership in Quebec?Have you gotten such requests ?Just wondering.
I would like that. I once thought about trying to translate it myself (my French isn’t that good, but I can get by especially with a dictionary). However, it would take a lot of time, and I find translating to be pretty stressful since I don’t have a strong grip on the language. Basically, I don’t have the time to do it properly. Some browsers offer to automatically translate pages, so maybe they can try that. It probably wouldn’t be a great translation, but with the pictures they’d likely get the gist of it.
I just translated a paragraph from my most recent post to French using Google Translate. It was pretty decent, from what I can tell. I’d suggest they try that, or like I said figure out the “auto translate” setting.