10 tips on how to find cheap gold, silver coins, sterling silver jewelry, flatware & other items.

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How to find cheap gold, silver coins, sterling silver jewelry, candlesticks, vase, plates & more at garage sales / thrift stores.

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Tips to finding treasures for resale

Today, I went out and did some treasure hunting in Pittsburgh, PA.  I found a TON of stuff and got some great head cam footage which will eventually be up on my youtube channel the Armed to Sell Network. 

Regent Square, an upscale neighborhood where I am staying had their annual neighbor hood garage sales.   Pittsburgh is one of the places I am researching on setting up one of my stores so I was very excited to see what I could find.  

 One thing I found a lot of today was silver.   I found a bunch of sterling silver jewelry, sterling silver salt & pepper shakers, 7 sterling silver candlesticks, some Mexican sterling silver forks, sterling silver letter opener & 1 gold cuff link.

See what large lots of silver are selling for right now!

How to find cheap silver coins, sterling silver jewelry, candlesticks, vase, plates & more at garage sales / thrift stores.

Finding silver coins, sterling silver jewelry and other items at garage sales & thrift stores is not as hard as one would think.  There are many treasures out there just waiting to be found.  The number one piece of advice that I can give if you are new to hunting for silver, gold and other precious metals  or items for resale is to do your research.

Check out my free research website list to help educate yourself on what to look for as well as identification of the things you find.

How to find cheap silver tip #1 - Know what US coins are silver.

US dimes dated 1964 and older are 90% silver.
US quarters dated 1964 and older are 90% silver.

US half dollars dated 1969 - 1965 are 40% silver.

US half dollars dates 1964 and earlier are 90% silver.

US large dollar coins dated 1964 and earlier are 90% silver with some exceptions of later dates with 40% silver content.

How to find cheap silver tip #2 - Know what sterling silver looks & sounds like.

When it comes to sterling silver jewelry, flatware & dishes, it is important to know what sterling silver looks like as well as how it sounds.   

Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% silver & 7.5% other metals, usually copper.   

Sterling silver is usually stamped in some form, once again review my research website list for silver smith hallmarks & stamps.

It is a soft metal which can give you inside into whether or not is is silver or not.  Stamps usually look rounded like the metal is sloping in.  

Weighted sterling is very thin and prone to denting.  Silver plated items do not dent easily.

When you tap on something sterling silver such as salt and pepper shakers, it will sound dull and does not reverberate like brass or copper does.

How to find cheap silver tip #3 - Pick up everything that you think could be sterling silver.

This tip works for many different things, not just silver.   

If you think something is sterling silver, pick it up, pay attention to how it feels, note the weight and the sound when you put it back down.  Doing this will build a memory of the different metal types you are going to come across while looking for silver.   

How to find cheap silver tip #4 - Have a loupe to check hallmarks.

How to find cheap silver tip #5 - Do not assume the seller knows that they have.

Many times when I go to garage sales or thrift stores, I find sterling silver marked dirt cheap because the seller does not know it is sterling silver or they just don't care.   Refer back to tip #3, pick everything up and check to see if it is silver.   If you don't pick it up, you won't find it.

How to find cheap silver tip #6 - Thrift stores have sterling silver as well.

I have found many sterling silver candlesticks & vases at thrift stores.  Many employees who price goods at thrift stores don't have a clue what sterling silver is which means you can score some great cheap silver if you are lucky enough to come across it before someone else does.

How to find cheap silver tip #7 - Do not listen to,  " It is just costume jewelry".

I don't know how many times I have been told that everything in the box is just costume jewelry to find out that there are 14K gold & sterling in little baggies for $1.00 each.    Put forth the extra effort, look and you shall find.

How to find cheap silver tip #8 - Go often.

The more garage sales & thrift stores you go to, the better your chances to find cheap gold & silver, the better chances you will find it.

How to find cheap silver tip #9 - Dig through boxes.

Dig through everything, you never know what box is going to have 

How to find cheap silver tip #10 - Ask sellers directly if they have any gold or silver.

Asking a seller directly if they have any gold or silver may not be the cheapest way to get gold & silver but you will at least have the chance to get some.  When I am at garage sales, I always ask the sellers if they have any gold or silver they are interested in selling.  This requires you to know what the current spot prices are ( these again can be found in my research website list ).   Make them a fair offer and chances are you can score some below spot gold and silver.

How to find cheap silver final thought.

The cheap silver & gold is out there waiting to be found.  Usually, it takes hard work & perseverance, but sometimes all it takes is a little bit of luck.   Good luck at all of those garage sales & thrift stores, and remember, if you really want some gold or silver, you can always find some in the on Amazon.

How to ship USPS tips tricks supplies recommendations

How to ship USPS

How to ship USPS

Shipping through the USPS is a fairly straight forward process.   In this article we will be discussing how to ship via USPS.   Since you are already reading this article, it means that you already have an interest shipping with USPS, that is a wide decision.  Did you know, shipping through the USPS is one of the most cost effective methods for shipping items?    USPS will beat out every other competitor until you start getting into the heavier packages, even then, USPS still has some great rates with their flat rate boxes.

Here are some items that you may  need in order to ship USPS.

Click to buy

Shipping tape

A necessity for most shipping.  You can purchase tape online or directly at your local USPS office.

Click to buy

Bubble mailers

Bubble mailers are great for shipping smaller items.  The ones shown are 8.5 x 11" which will fit most smaller items such as music Cd's, DVDs & video games.   There are many different sizes of bubble mailers to fit your need.

Click to buy

Poly mailers

If you are shipping clothing or other textiles, you may want to look into poly mailers, they are light weight, water resistant, cheap and have self adhesive backs so you don't have to tape them up.  Like the bubble mailers there are many different poly mailer sizes.

Click to buy

Bubble Wrap

Bubble wrap great for filler, it will keep your items from being destroyed when going through the postal system.

How to ship USPS step #1. - Decide on shipping method

Here are a few tips on postage.    If your item is under 13 oz, ship it first class no matter what.  It is by far the cheapest method.   If you have a heavy item and it will fit in a flat rate box, use a flat rate box.  Do not ship light items in a flat rate box, it is a waste of money.   

Parcel Select ( Parcel Post ) can actually be more expensive to ship than priority depending on where it is going.  If you are shipping to the same state or surrounding states, chances are it is cheaper to ship priory.

There are also regional boxes that can save you money on postage.

How to ship USPS step #2 - Find a box

Find a box that will fit your item.  You can go to your local USPS office grab free boxes, use recycled boxes or buy boxes.  When it comes to choosing a box, it is important to leave enough space for cushioning material such as packing peanuts or bubble wrap.  This space should be 360 degrees around the item to ensure all sides are covered.

How to ship USPS step #3. - Wrap your item

Wrap your item in cushioning material such as bubble wrap.

How to ship USPS step #4. - Print postage at home or pay at USPS office

At this point, if you have a printer, you can decide to print postage at home.  This would require a printer as well as a scale to weigh your package.  If you do not have a printer or scale, it is time to head on over to your local post office and ship off your package.

Here is a recap of how to ship USPS.

Shipping USPS is one of the easiest, most cost effective way to ship an item.  It is important to have the proper packaging supplies to ensure that your package will arrive safely.   If you are shipping an item under 13 oz with USPS, make sure to ship it first class.    If you do a lot of shipping, it is worth the time to invest in a printer as well as a scale.  Printing shipping postage from home will save you time as well as money.    

That's it for this article, don't forget to subscribe for other articles in the future.

Video turning $50.00 into $700.00 ways to make money selling on eBay & Amazon

Ways to make money selling online.

Video:  Turning $50.00 into $700.00 selling on eBay.

How to stand out as a third party seller on Amazon using Amazon's gift wrapping service

How to stand out as a third party seller on Amazon using Amazon's gift wrapping service.

The importance of standing out in the online market place.

When it comes to selling online, it is important to stand out in your listings as well as your overall business.

I am constantly looking for new ways to stand out as well as add value to my products and services.   It helps attract new customers as well as keep the customers you currently have.

In this short blog post, I am going to go over one of the ways I indirectly stand out on my Sneaky Squirrel Games Amazon Storefront.

Amazon gift wrapping services.

Last year was my first year selling on Amazon.   One of the very first options I setup in my Amazon store was my gift wrapping services.   

I wanted my store to stand out from every other third party seller out there, brainstormed for a little while and came up with my custom vintage video game gift wrapping services.

I didn't realize how important the gift wrapping service was in helping me stand out in the Amazon market place until I tried to buy a video game specific gift during the holiday season.  

I was amazed to find that there were very few third party sellers offering gift wrapping services, let alone the type of gift wrappings was offering

As I was skipping over the plethora of third party sellers that did not have gift wrapping services, it dawned on me, I wondered how many prospective customers were doing the same thing, Those prospective customers, wouldn't be jumping past my listings, they would be stopping by to check me out.

Final thoughts.

There are many different ways that you can help your online store stand out.  

When it comes to Amazon, the gift wrapping service is one of many different ways that you can do it.   

If you have any other ways of getting your Amazon store to stand out, I would love to hear about them, comment below.

Amazon gift wrapping service examples.

These are a few examples of Amazon video game gift wrappings I have done in the past. 

I use vintage video game magazines, strategy guides as well as RPG table top games such as Warhammer 40k.

These particular magazines / books are ones that had issues such as ripped pages or stains to the point that I wouldn't be able to sell them but they work perfect for making cool video game gift wraps for my Amazon customers.

Warhammer 40K Ork Kustom Weapons Amazon gift wrap

Mario Kart 64 Custom Amazon gift wrap

Mario Kart 64 Winner's Circle Amazon gift wrap

How to ship video games international.

 

How to ship video games international

This little how to guide will show you how I personally ship my video games.  It is down and dirty,  just breezing over what shipping services I use and some of the limitations that go along with them.

I will throw this out there before starting, some countries do not allow certain items through customs and video games can be one of them.  Make sure prior to shipping that your package is going to make it through customs.

When shipping video games in general I use 2 methods to ship.

#1. Boxed games 

 I ship all of my complete vintage NES / SNES games in boxes, I don't want to be that guy to ship them in bubble mailers, they will end up crushed just like my feedback.

#2. Loose game cartridges 

On loose games and DVD style cases, I always use Kraft bubble mailers just like the ones at the top of this post.

When shipping video games international, you normally have two different options when shipping USPS.  Priority International and First Class International.

I am not going to on Priority International, the high shipping costs will deter most buyers so below is the shipping method that I use to ship all of my video games.

First class international 

It is the cheapest and easiest.  Paypal and Amazon fill out all the necessary forms for you so there is no need to fill out the first class customs form.     Before choosing first class international for your own packages there are a couple things you should know.

That being said there are some things that you need to know about shipping your games first class international.

 #1.  No Tracking 

First class international does not provide a tracking number.  I have never had an issue shipping this way, and even if I did, it would be few and far between.  The ease, low cost and better chance of producing a sale will always keep me using this option unless a buyer requests to have a tracking number.

#2.  Restrictions

I am not going to get into the physical requirements for packages, just know that there are restrictions but video games fall well in them.  If you would like to learn more about first class international restrictions you can check the USPS website.

#3. Thats all you really need to worry about.

The final thing you need to do is either print your postage and your customs declaration will be filled out for you, or fill it out.  It is nice to have it properly filled out before you get to the counter so you don't get turned around.

How to fill out a first class international customs  declaration

To:  The senders address

Left side of the form

Check the Merchandise box

Detailed description:  If sending a video game just put "video game"

Qty:  Number of games

Weight:  If you have a scale you can get the weight but I just have them fill it in.

Value:  Amount the buyer paid.

HS Tariff#:  Leave blank

Exemption/Exclusion Legend: Leave blank

Sign and date at the bottom and you are set.

It really is that easy, don't read into the whole international thing.  People don't ship internationally because they don't want to fill out the paperwork or they are afraid that their packages are going to get lost, which is fine by me.  The people who are willing to go the extra mile, get the extra money.

Thanks for reading my down and dirty how to guide on how to ship video games international.

If this post was informative please like it, and share it.

Check my blog for other useful tips at http://famousturtletreasures.blogspot.com

How to find cheap video game on Craigslist.

Recently I have been having a lot of luck finding TONS of vintage and modern video games to fill up my Amazon store.

Here are a few tips that will help you find great deals on games and whatever else you might be looking for on Craigslist.

#1.  If you do find a killer deal, go pick it up as soon as possible.   I have had many amazing deals get snatched up by someone else because I was being lazy and didn't want to conduct the transaction the same day.

#2.  Don't be afraid to drive a distance to get a great deal, but make sure it is worth your while and ask if you can get a discount for the drive.

#3.  If you don't like driving to pick stuff up, you can always offer a better purchase price if the person comes to you.  I do with with Playstation 2s all the time.  I pay $15.00 if I have to come to them, and $25.00 if they come to me.  $25.00 is a good price for the seller and it usually draws out people that were on the fence about selling at $15.00.

#4.  Don't low ball people.  If you pay people fair prices, they are going to tell all of their gamer friends and you will end up having more games to buy.

#5.  Make sure to ask if they have any other games they are looking to sell, and if they do not, ask them to let all of their friends know that you are looking for games.

#6.  People are more likely to contact through text message so if you have unlimited texting, Have your phone number in your listing.  Don't use all numbers or bots will pick up on it and you will start getting phone calls, instead spell out the numbers like this:  Eight 4 Three 5 1 3 Six One 3 2.

#7.  If you are looking for something specific, make sure to try your luck with the most general search region in your area.  You never know when someone may have placed the thing you are looking for in a completely different category.

#8.  Search Craigslist on a daily basis and setup alerts for items you are looking for.

#9.  Like pictures instead of words?  Check out Craig's Easy, and set yourself up an easy button.  Once setup, you can go to Craigslist, hit the easy button and just view pictures.

#10.   Remember the renew your listings constantly, no one will be contacting you if your ads are expired.

Well that's all for now, I hope you found my tips helpful.   Good luck out there,  Famous Turtle OUT!


If you are not on my blog, come see my other posts at http://famousturtletreasures.blogspot.com