Using Pop Culture Knowledge While Thrifting for a Profitable Advantage

Jason has agreed to share with you how staying up on current trends in music, movies, television, sports and other media can help you buy better while thrifting. This column will also lead you to smarter reselling of your thrifting finds and encourage you to time your listings to maximize sales.

Catch Up on Upcoming Pop Culture as we Enter the Fall Season

Football season is upon us (Go Browns) and it is time to make sure all your football items are listed for sale.  Make sure your jerseys, t-shirts, helmets, jackets, sweatshirts, and the rest are ready to sell.  When writing your title, have the full named in the title i.e. New Orleans Saints, not just Saints. If the team has a nickname, add that too i.e. Jags for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Halloween is fast approaching. Are you ready?  Of course it is easy to list actual costumes, but how about turning some items you are having trouble selling into holiday costumes.  Have some camouflage items? Easy soldier. Sports jersey? Easy football/baseball/hockey player. Flannel shirt and over sized ball cap? Easy trucker.  Point being, add Halloween costume to your title and hopefully unload unsold items quickly. Also, items like horror  t-shirts, can have Halloween added too.  'Friday 13th Jason Vorhees T-shirt Halloween'.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of James Bond and the 23rd movie, Skyfall, drops on November 9th. Now would be a good time to list any Bond movies or other items for maximum return.
 
On TV, The Walking Dead returns in October. If you are unfamiliar, it is a hugely popular TV show based on the graphic novels about a band of survivors battling zombies.  I don't recommend key word spamming The Walking Dead into zombie items that aren't specifically from the show, but get your zombie t-shirts and toys up now so when the show hits, you will reap the benefit. Or be creative and get the words "walking" and "dead" in the title without them being seen as spamming.  Example, 'Dead Green Zombie Walking Slowly T-Shirt'.
 
The third highest grossing movie of all time, The Avengers comes out on Blu Ray September 25th. If you have any items from The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, or Nick Fury, make sure to have Avengers in the title.

Also in November is Breaking Dawn Part 2, the continuing sags of glittery vampires. Although I personally don't care for these movies, I do see their appeal and understand how to use that to my advantage.  However, be careful. The Twilight series is sooooo popular and well licensed, that there is a glut of products on the market.

 Thrift On!

Summer Update #2

Four upcoming events that should be on everyone's radar.

First up, coming out this Friday June 15th is the movie Rock of Ages.  Based of the Broadway musical about the hair metal scene of the late 80's.  It stars Tom Cruise, Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin, Paul Giamatti, Mary J Blige, Bryan Cranston, Catherine-Zeta Jones and more.  The soundtrack features the stars singing songs by Night Ranger, Guns N Roses, Poison, Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Scorpions and more.  I truly believe people will leave the theater and when they get home not purchase the soundtrack, but instead buy CDs by the original artists.  So check your unlisted CD stock and get the hair metal bands listed asap.

Sample of a CD sale which is Rock of Ages related:  Motley Crue CD

Next is the reboot of the Marvel Comics Spider-Man movies called The Amazing Spider-Man.  The movie debuts July 3rd with all new cast, director and villain. The villain is Dr. Curt Connors aka The Lizard.  There should be a nice jump in interest for all things Spidey.  Make sure to note that Spider-Man is spelled with a hyphen. 

Sample of a Spider-Man sale: Comic Book

Quickly on Spidey's heels is DC Comics The Dark Knight Rises on July 20th.  This is the third and final movie in the Batman trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale. Batman's new enemy is Bane played by Thomas Hardy.  Like all other super heroes movies, geeks will either buy a shirt to wear to the movie or buy one as soon as they get home from seeing it.

Sample of a Batman Dark Knight sale: Toy

Finally, this year the Summer Olympics from London July 27-August 12.  I used to be leery on buying Olympic stuff of the past, fearing it was like last year's Super Bowl.  After the fact, nobody cares.  This is not the case with Olympic items.  Everything I find, sells, and sells quickly.  Be sure to keep your eyes out for all thing Olympics and London, England.  It will be almost like a two week commercial for Great Britain. 

Sample of an Olympics sale: Vintage Badge

Side Note - I purchased a Roland Garros awhile back.  Most people would know it by its other name, The French Open (tennis).  The finals were this past weekend and the day of the finals, the t-shirt sold out of my store after sitting there for 2 months. 

Good luck selling and Thrift On,

Jason

Summer Update #1

Today is Dark Shadows starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton.  Dark Shadows was an American gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971.  It has a huge cult following.  Tim Burton has given the movie comedic elements that original fans don't seem very happy about.  I feel this will not only be a big hit (not as big as the Avengers) but will generate interest in the original series.  If you have any Dark Shadows items, now is the time to get them up. Recent Dark Shadow sale on:  eBay.

 May 18th is the opening of the big budget movie of the board game Battleship.  The movie has no real ties to the board game other than ships are being blown up. This time, however, it is by aliens.  I don't think this movie will do well, but I have a feeling it will generate interest in the original board game. Milton Bradley has had many different versions out since it debuted in 1967.  The average selling price of the game on Ebay in the past couple of weeks is $35.  As an added bonus, pop star Rihanna is in the movie.  Recent Battleship Game sale on: eBay.
Keep your eyes peeled for Dark Shadows and Battleship merchandise this weekend as you are out thrifting and take advantage of the opportunity to cash in while the interest is high!

Thrift On,
Jason

The Avengers Opens 5/4/2012 at a Movie Theater Near You!

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Thrifting, Tiki and Pop Culture Expert Jason Smith

THE AVENGERS

The Marvel Comics movie The Avengers debuts on the big screen May 4th.  The Avengers are a group of Marvel Comics super heroes brought together to fight evil.  The Avengers characters are; Captain America (played by Chris Evans), Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.),  Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (played by Jeremy Renner), The Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner (played buy Mark Ruffalo and voiced by the original Hulk, Lou Ferrigno), and led by Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson).
So, why is this important?  Because this will be one of the biggest movies of the summer and maybe of all time (fingers crossed).  Comic nerds (like myself) will either want to wear a t-shirt emblazoned with their favorite Avenger to wear to the movie OR buy one afterwards.  If you have any items listed on Ebay right now with any of these characters, change your title and add Avengers to it.  I have done that here:

The Incredible Hulk Avengers Textured Face Mens T-Shirt Small Black Marvel Comic 
and here:
The Avengers Wolverine Spider-Man Iron Man Captain America Hulk T-shirt Medium

To give you an idea how well this strategy works, last fall, over one weekend, I sold eight Star Wars shirts out of my store.  Most had been there for awhile and I wasn't sure why the multitude of sales occurred all of a sudden.  Then realized that the Star Wars movies had debuted on Blu Ray.  It has also worked when The Muppets movie came out last November. 

The debut of the Avengers as a team of superheroes originated in magazines published by Marvel Comics starting in 1963. That leaves plenty of years of 'vintage' pre-current movie Avengers products. Toys, clothing, mugs, media and much more will see a rise in popularity and create a window of opportunity with the increased demand.  So get out to those thrift stores and find some Avengers items!

Thrift On,
Jason