Finders Keepers Indy

10/02/2026

Newbie mistake avoided!

At a private estate sale, my husband and I split up. He went to the basement, I went in the house. It was, in all its glory, full of interesting treasures. But you had to dig.

Model airplanes hanging from the ceiling. Art stuffed in closets. Cool vintage clothes- the kind with 29 years of dust on them, but underneath that was Italian leather and flawless vintage suede. Jewelry, a neat vintage radio… all kinds of stuff!

This house had been in their family for 3 generations. But it was unkempt, super old, dingy and dark. The gentleman who lived there was elderly and his sister was in from out of state to clear the house and sell it, as her brother was going into a nursing facility.

We had several totes packed full and some loose ends, paid the lady about $90 and went home.

I list it all on eBay and have already sold most of it.

Then there is this painting.

I listed it for $125. It hasn’t sold, but a ton of views. I knew I had it priced low but couldn’t figure out why it was sitting still. Maybe it’s because the back is ripped up? I don’t know. It’s only been a couple weeks, so whatever, I’m a patient woman.

Then, the other day, another eBay seller (who only sells art) reached out to me to ask why the shipping was so high. I checked the shipping, and because it was set to 3 pounds, it was jumping that shipping cost to something ridiculous. I set it to 5 pounds and p**f! Shipping-$26.

But that’s not the exciting part, my friends!

I decided to do a deeper dive into this painting because with all these views, there must be something interesting here…. So I submitted pictures for an appraisal….

Apparently, according to an art dealer in Australia- this painting is valued between $2000 and $4000 at auction!!

😮What!?!?!? Holy crap! I immediately took the listing down and am deciding how to proceed with this one, and am thanking my lucky stars that nobody snatched this up for $125!!!!

Moral of the story- SLOW DOWN & DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Sorry for yelling, I’m just so excited!

10/01/2026

Just a few short months ago, I had never heard the words “death pile.” Not to be morbid or anything, we were just dealing with a lot of actual deaths in our family and inherited mounds of other people’s stuff that nobody else wanted to deal with. I thought that’s what “death pile” meant 😬

Reselling for me was always watching my husband wheel and deal sports cards and collectibles, but mainly in person, over the last 20 years. But I stayed out of that!

I was overwhelmed with what to do with the literal houses full of our parents belongings- so we started reselling on eBay to clear some of it out. I’d say that since January, collectively across multiple selling platforms, we are upwards of $20-25k in gross sales.

Everyone says eBay is “dead” but it worked for us! We are just the little guys here, doing this extremely part time (we have full time jobs) but still have a steady flow of sales coming in every month.

Where we may have started this business for no other reason but not to become generational hoarders, we now absolutely LOVE being part time resellers & it’s time to get serious.

What’s the best advice you can give us to turn this into a full fledged business?

09/30/2026

Wedding on a budget? You bet’cha!

I raised my kids to value themselves, and each other- not stuff. Stuff is easy to come by, true connections with people is not.

Just about everything was free, super cheap or thrifted. Except the brides dress and the venue. To be honest, we probably could have thrifted the dress, too- but she just “HAD” to have this one (I don’t blame her, it is exquisite)! I even bought my dress on eBay!

For two years we pulled this wedding together from items given to us from friends and family, hit every clearance rack in Indianapolis, dug from the Goodwill Bins, garage and estate sales… And you know what? It was BEAUTIFUL.

My daughter had a vision that came to life, and I truly believe she missed her calling and should have become an event planner. There’s time, I’ll work on her!

Have you “thrifted” your way through planning an event before? Tell me about it!

09/21/2026

Quite a busy weekend! My husband tried his hand at photographing clothes and not surprisingly discovered he hates it as much as I do. It really sped up the listing process, though, so I hope he gives it another try.

We conquered a good portion of the death pile and he packed up weekend orders- all by the front door ready to be delivered to the post office today.

This may not look like a lot of stuff, but there’s good money in there, folks. We are elated!

It’s pretty exciting to see our efforts paying off, and the more we do this reselling thing,the more addicting it gets.

The goal this week is to list as much as possible in the evenings after work. This weekend, our daughter is getting married and we will be celebrating alongside our family for a couple of days.

I’ll share some pictures of thrifted items from the wedding soon, I’m pretty sure if there was a contest for the most beautiful wedding at the lowest cost, we’d win!

Have a great Monday, everyone!

09/18/2026

Every pick has a story behind it! 🔎✨

We found this item while out hunting for unique vintage treasures around Indy. Sometimes it's the history, and sometimes it's just the excitement of uncovering something unexpected.

What's the best or most unique antique item you've ever found? Tell us in the comments! 👇

09/17/2026

Such a conundrum!

The reseller circle of life. 😂♻️

Go thrifting to find inventory.
Come home with 3 bags of inventory.
Sell inventory to pay for inventory.
Immediately go buy more inventory. 😂

Please tell me I’m not the only reseller running this highly sophisticated business model. 🙋‍♀️😂

What stage are you in today: BUYING, LISTING, or SELLING? 👇

09/17/2026

If you are young - hear out this gray haired middle aged lady for just a minute.

I’ve always been a thrifter. There’s nothing I love more than exploring the world for treasures.

I like digging through everything from barns to bins. I love thrift stores and flea markets. Heading out to garage and estate sales are better than fancy restaurant to me. I love saving and salvaging someone else’s discarded stuff. I get beyond excited when I find something unique or valuable but paid pocket change.

I love glass. When sunshine through the windows hits it, my soul dances. I collect a ton of it with no regrets.

I always wanted to have my own store, but never did ... And it’s not because I’ve never been able to afford it, I was just uneasy with the risks. Too afraid to change my path.

What I’ve been doing for a living for a better part of my life doesn’t reflect my passion at all. I’ve spent decades working for the man. I have a great “job” but what if….. What if I would have turned my passion into my career years ago? Would I have been successful? Happier? Wealthier?

I’ll never know, because I was too afraid to try.

If you’re young, let me give you a piece of advice…Take it or leave it.

Don’t be afraid to chase your dreams. Expand your horizons. Follow your passion. Spend your life doing something that genuinely makes you happy.

There are so many opportunities for entrepreneurs these days, anyone can turn their dreams into reality.

Even me. I may be heading into retirement soon, but I have a feeling my work has just begun. And even better, it’s something my husband and I have started together, and the possibilities are endless with him by my side.

09/16/2026

We pulled up to a house and there was a group of older folks, neighbors, who were just hanging out and having a garage sale.

Laughing and carrying on, enjoying each other’s company- I hope one day I will be so lucky to have a friend group like that.

With my picks in hand, my husband asked if I saw the glass in the garage- of course, I headed that way. I was speechless. It was gorgeous. But she wanted $50.

This was her mother’s, she said. The egg plate alone had me reeling, so I asked if she’d split it up. She really didn’t want to and said, “How about if you buy the entire set for $50 I give you everything else for free!?”

😯

SOLD!

The rest of the weekend was spent buying a new china cabinet and rearranging the house to make room for these beauties, who will never be for sale. My three daughters have already started fighting over who gets it when I die and devising a plan to steal them 🤣

09/12/2026

Update on this***the guy never returned his stinky shirt, eBay let us keep the money and negative feedback was removed. My goodness. I guess it didn’t stink “that” bad after all 🤣

Well, I got my first return for it “stinks.”

I’m no weirdo or anything- but I do give everything a little sniff test and am very particular with what I’ll list for sale. I don’t wash thrifted clothes because I figure the buyer will surely do that when they get it home. But nothing I sell stinks, has stains or is dirty. At least to me!

I offer a 30 day return to my customers, so I’m not mad about this- I just think maybe he’s being a tad dramatic. If you soak a like-new red shirt in a bucket, you’ll get red water. It being like new, it may have that “die” smell. I don’t know, but I want the guy to be happy.

Call me crazy, but I can’t wait to get this one back to give it a little huff.

Would you respond, apologizing or just accept the return and keep it moving?

09/12/2026

❤️❤️

😉✌️