The Life of a Picker

So many times I read about or hear people say that people that sell on ebay or who are in resale have it soo easy. "They just buy shit, take a picture, list it, and then mail it"  It's much more complicated than that, at least in my world. I would not dream of sending out an unidentified, filthy, ratty-haired, smoke-smelling doll to someone. That's bad business.

I decided to post an example of my "easy" profits. I bought these two boxes of naked/semi-naked Barbies for $22 Friday night, after the initial culling there's 93 actual Mattel Barbie/Skipper/Ken dolls, a bunch of loose heads, then about 10-15 off-brand or weird dolls like Britney Spears and some clothes. There were also two pieces of American Girl clothes in the box (bonus!).

I had a painful abscess until I did self-surgery on it last night (long story) so they are getting dealt with a day late :(

The volume is tremendous, but even though they look okay, and it seems on the surface like an "easy" profit, there is a lot of work involved in dealing with them. Sure, I could just chuck them out at a yard sale or fleamarket as is for $1.00 a piece and do okay, but I'd rather get real money for them. In order to do that, there is a process.

Bent Arm Superstars in one bag, Straight arm in the other.

This was the beginning of the sorting, it's all blondes here.

First there is culling. Dolls with missing body parts, chewed hands, or stains are tossed or parts pulled off for reuse. Off-brand dolls are stuck in a separate box for later IDing and sale, clothes are yanked off, because they are rarely, if ever, original to the doll. Clothes are also chucked in a box for later sorting and resale.

I sort by type and as I do, I do research. When was this doll made? Is it scarce? Is the body type a desirable one?
Sorting goes like this:
Superstar face, bent arms.
Superstar face straight arms.
New face, any arms.
Skipper.
Ken.
Ethnic (Hispanic, Indian, African, Asian)
Later I will further sort the newer dolls by body type because some are articulated or have molded non-twist and turn waists. In the late 90's there was an 11 inch Skipper with a Barbie face, the only way you can tell them apart is the feet. I separate those.

Since this particular batch of dolls smells like cigarettes...strongly, I decide to soak them for several hours in lavender baby bath in the tub. After their relaxing soak, they go into the sink. There, I scrub them with a toothbrush and some Awesome, sometimes they need magic eraser. Then I condition the hair with Suave Damage Care and comb the shit out of it to remove the rat nests. Multiply this process by 40 or 50 and you get an idea of what I am now dealing with. Afterward, my hands are like prunes and I wind up with dishpan hands.

Ethnics redheads and brunettes chillin' in the tub after their lavender soak, this is only about 1/4 of the dolls I am dealing with this week. I still have all the damned blondes to deal with.

Scrubbed clean and conditioned.

I trim stray ends, and then set them on a drying rack, usually on the porch, but tonight it's my daughter's room with the ceiling fan going, because Charley is shipping something tonight, and he needs the porch space for a large box. Tomorrow I will comb out their then-dry hair and set them on the porch for a spell because they will probably still stink like smoke.

After I do all this work, I can sell several of them for 7-10 each, mostly teen Skippers, brunettes, and ethnics, and the rest, who are mostly blonde run-of-the-mill Superstar faces in lots of 5 or so depending on type and the volume I have. Some body types are more desirable than others in the OOAK world. After I sell these dolls, they will be wrapped well in pretty tissue and bubble-wrap and boxed in a clean, new box and sent to their new home.