Garage sales aren’t just for picking up useless junk that you’ll end up dumping at a sale of your own in a few years. They provide optimal opportunities to pick up cheap stuff that you can hawk online, marking up the price several times over.

Brittney at Blonde Nerd, who collects old video games, brags about hauling in loads of video games for a buck or so, no doubt taking advantage of parents who don’t realize old games their kids have abandoned still retain some value. Her biggest killing was scoring a copy of Spyro 2, which she saw on eBay for $12, for a buck. That’s the sort of profit margin that makes GameStop such a successful enterprise.

If you’re a regular on the garage sale and flea market circuit, what items do you look out for, and how much do you make when you resell them?

Garage sale haul #1: Let me show you my loot [Blonde Nerd]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.