I paid a local developer $400 to “tighten the screws,” and in September 2011, Gadgetabulous.com finally went live!

Throughout grade school, middle school and high school I struggled academically.  I didn’t care about school and didn’t care about learning.  Luckily I had parents who pushed me to go to college and I did just enough to get accepted.  I graduated and I was proud of myself.  But that came and went and I was stuck in the same position I was in all my life…unmotivated (and underpaid). I never thought I was smart enough to do something I would one day be proud of.

I don’t know what happened, but by age 27 I finally got sick of it and told myself I wanted to prove that I could do something I was proud of.

In 2011 I started my own company! I had achieved what I had set my mind to.  And it feels so good! I wish for an amazing 2012 not just for Gadgetabulous, but for all my friends, family, and gadgeteers.

Thanks everyone for making 2011 a great year! -Josh

As a last resort, I decided to check out the local flea market, a trip that I had been planning to make on a day of desperation, much like yesterday.

I was tired, ready to go home and not overly optimistic. I backtracked through town, and just a mile shy of the flea market, my peripheral caught sight of a florescent sign. As I continued on I examined the sign fading away in my rear-view mirror and contemplated going back. And then with the last bit of garage sailing energy I had left in me I turned around.

As I neared the dewy lawn, a large woman greeted me with a loud and comforting, “welcome sweetie!” Her disposition put a good feeling in the dark air. She sat back down on her stoop and I rummaged through several large boxes packed with plastic bags. Inside each back, junk! More junk! Like a kid digging to China, I finally hit the bottom…the last bag. I felt some metal-like objects, pulled the bag out, and examined curiously.

I had come across a bag stocked with 5 Hitachi CCD Cameras (Model# KP-F1U), each complete with a Rodenstock Rodagon-WA 40mm Enlarging Lens

5 Hitachi CCD Cameras with Rodenstock Rodagon-WA 40mm Lenses

I didn’t know a lot about them, but being that the lenses were German made, I was hopeful they would prove to be winners. They are!

CCD Camera Assembly

The woman was more than happy to part with the cameras. And I left a happy camper!

Feeling revived from a great score, I headed to the flea market with confidence.

A hodge-podge of antiques, vintage electronics, Christmas supplies, specialty knives, baseball cards and other odds-and-ends, I was sure to continue my lucky streak. As I headed to the last isle of remaining shops, I met Joe, a vendor who specializes in buying estate sales and storage auctions. We chatted for a bit and he revealed a handful of Nintendo 64 games and an original Nintendo NES still in the original box. He sold it to me at a great price.

Original Nintendo NES in Box

If you’re interested in purchasing any of these items, please visit our eBay store. If you have similar valuable gadgets or other electronics that you want to sell, visit us at gadgetabulous.com. Stay tuned next week for more garage sailing adventures!

After an hour of driving, I finally stumbled upon a young man dragging a box from his garage.  Although he was still setting up, he didn’t mind me looking around.  As I pulled a flap from a box open I saw an old brown case.  Inside, a beautiful Olympus OM-1N 35mm SLR Film Camera.  Beside it, two cylindrical cases with 28mm and 50mm lens.  It was a great find!

Olympus OM-1N 35mm SLR Film Camera

I also found a pair of Electric Blaster Sunglasses. Although I didn’t buy a great deal of items, I think I found a great camera!

If you’re interested in purchasing any of these items, please visit our eBay store. If you have similar valuable gadgets or other electronics that you want to sell, visit us at gadgetabulous.com. Stay tuned next week for more garage sailing adventures!

Our History: Founder, Josh Brodleit began buying unwanted items from his friends in early 2008, reselling the majority of his inventory on eBay.  He then began searching for good deals from local people through a variety of classified ads.  Over the years he expanded his buying market to thrift stores and garage sales.

In 2010 he developed the idea of a website that would give people a simple way to cash in their used electronics so he got busy and claimed his first web domain. Knowing nothing about building a website, Josh gathered a mountain of web design and web development how-to books and a slew of video guides.  After a year of learning and trial and error, he finally launched what is now known as gadgetabulous.com.

Gadguh-what!?: It’s pronounced “gaj-uh-tab-yuh-liss“…yes like a gadget and fabulous sandwich.

What do we do? We buy used electronics from people like you and businesses and resell them using a variety of different outlets.  We also generate business buying items from thrift stores, classifieds, and garage sales!

We have four services

1. Sell – get cash for your gadgets
2. Consignment – earn 75 percent from the final sales price of your gadgets
3. Donate – sell multiple items and your charity of choice earns 50 percent of all final sales prices
4. Recycle – recycle your gadgets for free!

That’s about it!  If you want to sell your electronics for cash, please visit gadgetabulous.com and get a quote!

My first stop landed me in the south corner of Chico in a cookie cutter neighborhood that resembled the one in the movie The Truman Show. It was still dark, but as I got out of the car a glimmer from the moon’s reflection caught my eye. Tucked in cabinet low to the floor sat a vintage Marantz Model Twenty Six Stereophonic Receiver. I paid a fair price and went on my way.  It was the start of a good day!

The next hour treated me like a lost boy without his mother, searching for the next big sale.  As it became lighter outside, I finally came to find a decent sized spread, predominately clothes, but tucked in the corner I spotted an 11 lb plastic bin full of LEGOs, littered with speckles of cat food tree bark, and what must have been locks of the owner’s hair…but mostly LEGOs. Did you know that LEGO is based in Denmark and first started manufacturing LEGOs in 1949?

Last week Peter and I found a hand-full of vintage lighters and things “heated up.” But things got even hotter on Saturday! I know, right? I found a fire fighters suit, complete with boots and goggles. It was a bit too small for me so it doesn’t look like I’ll be wearing it for Halloween.

Some of my other finds included three Playstation 2 systems and a vintage scale, which has been donated to my kitchen.

Overall, it was a great day and I look forward to next week.

If you’re interested in purchasing any of these items, please visit our eBay store. If you have similar valuable gadgets or other electronics that you want to sell, visit us at gadgetabulous.com. Stay tuned next week for more garage sailing adventures!

Our first sale led us to a modest garage sale with plenty of antiques. The owner was an elderly man who watched his customers, proud of his belongings and told stories about particular items as people expressed interest. As we poked around, Peter spotted a handful of vintage lighters in pretty decent shape. We were off to a hot start.

While the elderly man and Peter continued to talk about the lighters, my attention was quickly broken by a vintage Osterizer Galaxie blender. I wasn’t really sure if it was worth much money, but it was worth the childhood memories of my mom blending strawberry banana smoothies with that same model.

Later in the day I spotted a tall case leaning on an oak tree. It seemed a bit out of place, beside a clothesline of country western shirts and a grass area covered in cowboy boots and hats. Inside that case revealed “The Cheetah,” a vintage AMF Voit Tournament water ski. After paying a small price, I was not too excited to learn that the top portion of the ski had minor damage. Lesson learned. At least I bought all the western shirts too!

Some of our other purchases included a Panasonic Micro Cassette Recorder – SN-108, Prominence Project a Gram Outdoor Image Projector, Envision Professional Series LCD Flat Panel Monitor 17″, Samsung SGH T469 Gravity2 – Deep Ocean (T-Mobile) Cellular Phone, and 4 Sony Playstation 3 games (Transformers: The Game, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Prison Break, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2011)

If you’re interested in purchasing any of these items, please visit our eBay store. If you have similar gadgetabulous.com. Stay tuned next week for more garage sailing adventures!

They look the same, but are they different?

You’ll be cool telling your friends you have the new Apple iPhone 4S, but you’ll take your coolness to the next level if you actually know the differences between the iPhone 4 and the 4S!

The new Apple iPhone 4S looks and feels exactly the same as the iPhone 4, but according to Apple, it drives significantly faster. The most notable difference is the new dual-core A5 chip. I’m not going to get into nerdspeak, but basically, you’ll be getting longer talk time, and increased processing speed with the graphics and the overall functions.

The old iPhone 4 ditched the 5 megapixel camera and upgraded to an 8 megapixel and added face detection technology. Similarly, the video camera improved to take up to 1080p HD (1920 x 1080 pixel) video, complete with video image stabilization and noise reduction.

Lastly, in an effort to compete with the growing popularity of the Android’s voice recognition, Apple added Siri, a voice recognition technology that allows users to set reminders, send texts, dial phone numbers, and more.

There you have it! Among other small changes, you can now speak confidently about why you made the switch! If you’re looking to sell your old iPhone 4 to upgrade, visit us at gadgetabulous.com. We buy used gadgets, gizmos and electronics. Easy as pie!