New Feature: Friday Finds

Although Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" brought the idea of second-hand finds to the mainstream, thrifting has been a hobby of mine for quite some time now. While I tend to avoid the brick-and-mortar Goodwill shops, I regularly search eBay for a good bargain.

eBaying (yes, I used eBay as a verb) has resulted in finding a ton of wares that I would never be able to find in a regular store. That's the beauty of eBay. No matter how old, or rare something might be, if you're patient enough it will always turn up on eBay. It's a bonus when you can get it at a great price.

Every Friday, I will post a Carolina item that turned up on eBay. They won't necessarily be a great price, but instead might just highlight the extraordinary things you can find on eBay.

Kicking off this feature will be the Jordan Brand UNC "Take Flight" shirt that was a giveaway to 3,000 fans at the January 10th game against Louisville.

2014-2015 marked the second consecutive season Jordan Brand hosted this type of event against a team from Kentucky. During the 2013-2014 season, the game against the University of Kentucky featured a "White Out" event where every fan received this Jordan shirt:

This game saw Carolina beat the highly touted Wildcats, and subsequently, prices for this t-shirt on eBay were sky high. I was fortunate enough to find one seller who seemed to grossly undervalue what he had. His listing was for 2 UNC shirts. The main auction image was of a nondescript Carolina shirt, and neither his title nor his description mentioned Jordan Brand or Nike. It was only upon clicking the auction link that one could see that his second pictured t-shirt was this one. I was able to buy a shirt that went for over $70 for less than $10.

On January 10th, Carolina played one of its most thrilling games of the season as Marcus Paige's lay-up capped Carolina's rally from a 13 point second half deficit to beat Louisville, the other powerhouse from the Bluegrass state. They did so in front of 3,000 fans who received this shirt upon clearing the turnstiles at the Smith Center:

3,000 was a much smaller quantity than the previous "Take Flight" shirt, which was given to all 21,750 fans at the game. The combination of the euphoria of such an exciting win, and the limited quantities of this shirt pushed eBay prices over $100 in some instances. These weren't just asking prices set by opportunistic sellers, people were actually paying this for the shirt.

I had a self-imposed limit that I was willing to pay for a shirt, and unfortunately, the price never fell below my threshold. One of my eBay tricks is to set up a saved search, where eBay will automatically search for items matching my key words. After a couple months had elapsed since the Louisville game, I saw three of these t-shirts become available. The seller clearly was unaware of the scarcity and the value of what he had. When I clicked the item I saw a price of $19.99 and was stunned to see the price was a Buy It Now price, and shipping was free. 

While I've yet to receive the shirt, it appears the quality of this giveaway shirt far exceeds that of last year's. This shirt is made of Nike's drifit material as opposed to a standard 100% cotton t-shirt. The design also features elephant print which is most famous for appearing on the Jordan Retro III and also appeared on the "Ultimate Gift of Flight" Jordan XX9 seen in the above picture.

eBay has helped me obtain some items that I've really wanted. It's a bit of a rush when an item that you've been searching a long time for turns up. What have been some of your eBay finds?