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35 Times People Bought Ridiculously Cheap Things That Turned Out To Be The Best Purchases
Generally in life, the adage that “you get what you pay for” remains true. But every now and then, either through a lucky good investment or just a second hand seller who doesn’t know what they are doing, people end up striking gold.
Someone asked “What is the cheapest thing you bought that turned out to be very valuable or expensive?” and netizens share their best stories. From lucky cash finds in lost envelopes to folks who got something that ended up being massively popular, get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to comment your thoughts and experiences below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I paid 50 dollars for my Dogs adoption fee. He ended up barking for help when I had a seizure caused by medication.
Priceless puppy!
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#2
My dog was a long term resident at the shelter so she was only $10, but she’s so incredibly valuable to me. ❤️🥹.
Daniela Lavanza 7 months ago
Thanks for giving her the comfort of a loving home. Enjoy good times with her, you both deserve them.
#3
Bought a lottery ticket for $2.
I won about 800k from it
Bought a house with that money and now I work a regular job while saving for retirement.
#4
After my office chair broke, I was going to go to a cheap furniture store (the range) to get another crappy chair for €150, which was the most I could spend at the time. But on the way there I stopped by a second hand furniture store in my town, and they had a sturdy looking office chairs (steel wheel frame instead of plastic, fairly comfy, seemed like they'll last some time), for €50. I bought one, and few months later decided to look up what kind of chair is it. Turns out it's a Herman Miller Mirra 2, which seem to retail for around **€1300 more** than I paid.
#5
My boyfriend bought me a cheap graphics tablet for maybe $50 or something. He knew that I loved to draw. With this tablet, I found a job as an artist and made my dream come true.
#6
My daughter bought a painting for $0.50 at a thrift shop and found an envelope with $1,000 in back of it.
#7
Only cost me like £20 to marry my wife. There is nothing else I will ever have that is more valuable to me than her.
The best things in life are (nearly) free.
Auntriarch 7 months ago
Hehe, I paid the licence fee (300 dirhams), Mr Auntriarch turned out to be very good value!🥰
#8
$25 notary fee to get out of the Mormon church.
Lord of the laserprinter. 7 months ago
For tax reasons, same here in Germany you pay church tax in your faith and if you want to become godless heathen and no longer pay taxes you have to have to notarise it.
#9
Bought a first edition of The Shining by Stephen King for $1 at a local library sale and sold it for $500 a few years later.
Kombatbunni 7 months ago
I have a signed copy of Salem’s Lot that I scored for a whole $10 from a local charity shop.
#10
Saved up $150 for a Roomba. They accidentally sent me the model that was $700 at the time. 6 years later and David still works perfectly fine.
Manic Mama 7 months ago
Mine is called Minion - because he's an underling that does my bidding.
ERMAHGERD DINOSAURS 6 months ago
My floor robot is little buddy! This one is like 6.0 so maybe I’m saving up for the extra $$ for 7.0
KatSaidWhat 7 months ago
Decided to send in for a free perfume sample. Pretty sure someone got fired for the £150 bottle of Creed I got sent.
#11
I went to an auction last year, looking for tools. They had an old busted up jukebox. I had no interest in it. They started bidding at $500 before going down to $25. I bid and no one else did. Dragged it home and was trying to figure out what I was going to do with it. A jukebox broker I had chatted with before the auction got a hold to see if I ended up buying it. He then gave me $2k for it. I owned it for about a week.
#12
I took the cheapest art class at a local art school for "continuing ed". It wasn't cheap but relative to the others it was, anyway it got me so invested I ended up using the skills professionally and personally, made some great friends and boosted my confidence.
#13
Not me, but my friend's grandmother was at a yard sale and bought a framed sketch cause she thought it looked neat. Turned out to be a genuine Picasso sketch. No idea what it was worth, but she paid like a dollar for it. I should also add that his grandmother was already filthy rich, so she just hung it up and was like "meh, that's neat".
Wintermute 7 months ago
It's surprising how often people still find original Picasso art. He was very prolific and gave a lot of stuff away - prints and sketches specifically. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for.
#14
I purchased a tiny glass bird at a yard sale for .25 cent. Turned out be a signed hand blown Mirano piece that I sold on ebay for $800.
#15
I got a box of vinyl records from a family friend. Went on Discogs to add them to my existing collection.
One was an original press of some obscure folk musician. Apparently pretty rare. They were going anywhere from $300-$900. I had a guy message me asking for photos/videos. I sent him some, he asked the price, I said name me an offer. He said $500, I said sold. He was a mega fan and super happy, and I was happy to have $500.
nomnomborkbork 7 months ago
That's fantastic! I'd better go through the eight boxes of vinyls I've got...
#16
I brought a small glass orb for ~$25 at a street fair as I thought it was cool. For four years it was sitting on my desk, a client came into my office and stated if it was authentic it is valuable. Appraised over $10K - not on my desk any longer.
#17
Once bought a box load of Christmas decorations at an auction house for $40. It was full of gold, silver, crystal and hand blown glass decorations from harrods and other fancy stores. I'm in New Zealand so they came half way round the world.
nomnomborkbork 7 months ago
These are the most exciting kinds of finds--buy a box full of stuff and find a treasure.
#18
I used to buy comic books for less than a dollar when I was a kid back in the 80s. I think most were like $.60. Anyway, my current collection is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars because I also bought those plastic bags and acid free cardboard backs and all of them are in mint condition.
#19
A book by Don Miguel Ruiz called, “The Four Agreements.” $12.99 at Barnes and Noble.
The book sums up 4 life lessons to live by and ever since reading it, I can honestly say I’ve been a much happier person with little to no stress in my life.
For those who don’t want to read between the lines, the 4 agreements are:
Don’t take things personally.
Don’t make assumptions.
Be impeccable with your word.
Always do your best.
#20
Maybe not *cheap* but in 2012 I bought two bottles of high-quality bourbon (Pappy's) for $250 each as I knew it was popular and reputed to be good, and I wanted to try it.
I drank one bottle over the course of the next year, but saved the other. Well that remaining bottle is now worth in the vicinity of $5k and I'm very hesitant to actually drink it.
Marcellus II 7 months ago
Yeah it's not $5K good, and people will realise eventually, so better sell in the next few years.
#21
Bought a nice beach painting in a thrift store in Florida.
The artist was Alfred Hair https://www.floridahighwaymenpaintings.com/highwaymen/alfred-hair/
Of the Florida Highwaymen https://backusmuseum.org/highwaymen
The painting is a twin to one that hangs in the National Gallery. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/highwaymen-segregation-era-florida-artists-sold-and-often-painted-roadside
More importantly to me is that the purchase led to me meeting and making friends with several of the Highwaymen. .
#22
I bought a bra for a girl when I was 16, cost about $18 I think.
Well, 25 years and two kids later we joke about it every now and then, and I still think about my idiot self as a teen thinking I'd get to take that bra off some day if I was lucky.
Auntriarch 7 months ago
A lady should never accept from a gentleman a gift of clothing that she would not permit him to remove from her person.... Miss Manners
#23
1) studying for finals in college December 1989 I bought a six pack of Diet Pepsi....won a free 2L and the brand new Nintendo game boy (all for spending about $2.75) 2) bought a barely worn pair of Prada Mary Jane's at a thift store in Chelsea NYC for $40. They were going for $800 brand new 2) bought a Russian fox fur hat for $12 At a thrift store...retaiing for $1200 4) won a lot of 6 silver necklaces at auction for $9.25....one was a vintage Tiffany and Co. worth about $300 5) found an inch long pin on the ground going out to catch a bus....cleaned it up, 18k Tiffany and Co. bumblebee pin with ruby eyes. My late father always said, "I'd rather be lucky than good," and that is my motto as well!
#24
I won U2's first single, 1000 of which were released only in Ireland in 1979 and hand-numbered, from the radio show competition that determined which track would be on the A-side. Had I paid for it, it would have been £1.49. Today I'm negotiating selling it for between $3000-$5000. Not too shabby.
#25
Nothing crazy but years ago I was throwing a mad hatter tea party for my daughter and decided to get teacups at the thrift store so kids could take them home after if they wanted.
Found a set of 11 cups and saucers for $0.99 each and loved them. I’d wanted mismatched for the kids but loved the design I bought them for myself. Tried to search them online to see if I could find a 12th and maybe a tea/coffee pot/carafe and found them listed individually for around $20-40 and the pots for over $150.
Didn’t ever buy the 12th and with my luck they’re full of lead but still pretty.
geezeronthehill 7 months ago
Lead test kits should be available from your county extension agent,, or equivalent, depending on your country.
#26
A late 17th century printing of Ben Jonson's play "The Alchemist", found at a thrift store for fifty cents.
The Original Bruno 7 months ago
Fake. Read the quotation from Lucret. They didn't have Priuses in the 17th century.
#27
Mountain Dew limited edition flavors. Picked up a bunch of 20oz bottles and cases of 12 oz cans around 2005 after seeing collectors pay a lot for discontinued Surge and such. Ended up selling most for $100-200 apiece about a year ago. Ended up using most of the money to fix my drywall and carpet after most of the cans exploded.
#28
I bought a sealed set of the Burger King gold Pokemon cards for like 40$. The person gave me a HUGE binder also full of like 1st gen original cards. I've sold some of the cards and made a couple grand and still have plenty.
Gypsy Lee 6 months ago
My brother’s friend gave us all the Burger King Pokémon ball things back in the day, for our son. He’s a packrat, & they’re still sitting in a box in their boxes in our storage. Never opened. Just sitting there. Some are multiples. I figure he’ll remember them when he has to sort our stuff after we’re gone. 🤣
#29
I once bought a bag of chips and there was this event on their company where they put random amounts of money in random bags and I bough the bag for like a buck and won 100 pretty worth ngl.
#30
I got a bag for 10 bucks at a thrift store which would cost like 200 in an actual store.
#31
Bought a comic for 2 bucks from a Lyft driver cleaned it pressed it then sent it to get pressed again and graded at cgc worth 2k last time I checked.
#32
Bought a McIntosh receiver and speakers at a garage sale for $500 total. They were from the 90s.
Most likely were $10-$20k brand new.
#33
Got into the Game Stop short squeeze pretty early. Made several thousand dollars without any work or contributing to society. It was nice. I felt like a banker for a short time lording over the peasents
I wish I would have had more liquid money at the time to buy more :/.
Sara Frazer 7 months ago
Oh man, I had a coworker at my last job who was in this, he sold his stock for like $2000 because he thought that was pretty good. Next day he woke up and saw the stocks were now worth a lot more, I don't remember the exact number but it was seven figures. He was kicking himself forever
#34
I bought a lot of Nintendo DS / 3DS games for either retail or $10-$20 at p**n stores in the mid 2010's.
Now the least expensive ones are going $75+, some over $500.
No, I am not going to sell them.
A few years ago I also got about $200 worth of Lego sets (new in the box/ still sealed) for $25.
#35
About 6.5 NVDA shares at $141.
Kyra Heiker 7 months ago
This means exactly nothing to me. How about an explanation of what you actually bought and what it's actually worth?
What do you think ?
Steve Hall 7 months ago
I use to search a lot of yard sales to supply my Ebay hobby. One Saturday I found 32 troy ounces ingots for $10, the seller said they were fake. They were not fake, they were .999 pure silver. Valued at over $600 at the time.
Sleepy Panda 7 months ago
Please fix the app. Posts like these are not displaying properly on iPhone, it doesn't display the text for the picture and when you go to reddit then come back your app crashes, repeatedly. It's been happening for about 10 days.
PixxelDust 7 months ago
Got my dress for formal at a 2nd-hand shop for $70, searched it up and it went for around $1800 while it was being sold (it's also not being sold anymore). Plus, it's gorgeous and fits me well!
Stannous Flouride 6 months ago
I bought this chair from a guy on the street for $50. It turned out to be an early Pedro Friedeburg one (He did the giant hand chairs in the 60s) I sold it through an auction house for $5K. About two weeks later my daughter called and asked if I could give her $1K because her tuition at NYU had gone up. "By how much?" I asked. "$4800" Oh well, easy come, easy go. 286_1_520_...fb6b7f.jpg 
Apollo 6 months ago
I like collecting old books. Among my collection is a 2nd edition hard cover copy of King Of The Wind it's worth 100+. Will I sell it? No King of The Wind was my favorite book growing up I found it at a second hand shop a few years ago and paid about 30 for it. I also have a 3rd edition of Stedman's Poetical Works Complete, it was printed on an actual printing press in 1878 and the copy I have has multiple small printing mistakes and the pages were cut wonky
Lene 7 months ago
My grandfather's wife's little sister was adopted to some other family and met her bio-siblings when she was an adult. My mom and I once visited her and.... turns out she was the widow of a famous American painter called Walter Williams. She let me pick a painting as a present. For free. And I'e seen on auction sites that this series of paintings that I got one from, goes for way over 1000 us dollars now. So... that painting is sorta my emergency savings. Lol.
Bobert Robertson 7 months ago
I bought a spot on a mission trip to Mexico and met my wife. As far as I'm concerned that is the greatest return on investment!
h to da izzle 7 months ago
once bought an old squier bass guitar from a very old man. i needed a new bass and he was willing to let it go for about 100 Euros. Few years and a lot of research later i was able to sell it of for 600 Euro because it as some rare production model from the early squier days.
Carole G. 7 months ago
Those $1 Wienerschnitzel hot dog guys, antenna toppers from years ago. I thought they were cute & bought one everytime I went. I never opened them. Sold a bunch on Ebay $35 each, go figure. Not big $ but fun to hear from the people that bought them & why they were important to them. The stories were memories of their childhood.
Sapna Sarfare 7 months ago
Few years back, i brought a old book on the Tatas (big time industrialists in India) for i think 500-600 rs. Later i checked and it is a second or third edition and not much in print these days. An old copy on Amazon is selling for Rs 7,000 and that too after discount... hmmm
Steve Hall 7 months ago
I use to search a lot of yard sales to supply my Ebay hobby. One Saturday I found 32 troy ounces ingots for $10, the seller said they were fake. They were not fake, they were .999 pure silver. Valued at over $600 at the time.
Sleepy Panda 7 months ago
Please fix the app. Posts like these are not displaying properly on iPhone, it doesn't display the text for the picture and when you go to reddit then come back your app crashes, repeatedly. It's been happening for about 10 days.
PixxelDust 7 months ago
Got my dress for formal at a 2nd-hand shop for $70, searched it up and it went for around $1800 while it was being sold (it's also not being sold anymore). Plus, it's gorgeous and fits me well!
Stannous Flouride 6 months ago
I bought this chair from a guy on the street for $50. It turned out to be an early Pedro Friedeburg one (He did the giant hand chairs in the 60s) I sold it through an auction house for $5K. About two weeks later my daughter called and asked if I could give her $1K because her tuition at NYU had gone up. "By how much?" I asked. "$4800" Oh well, easy come, easy go. 286_1_520_...fb6b7f.jpg
Apollo 6 months ago
I like collecting old books. Among my collection is a 2nd edition hard cover copy of King Of The Wind it's worth 100+. Will I sell it? No King of The Wind was my favorite book growing up I found it at a second hand shop a few years ago and paid about 30 for it. I also have a 3rd edition of Stedman's Poetical Works Complete, it was printed on an actual printing press in 1878 and the copy I have has multiple small printing mistakes and the pages were cut wonky
Lene 7 months ago
My grandfather's wife's little sister was adopted to some other family and met her bio-siblings when she was an adult. My mom and I once visited her and.... turns out she was the widow of a famous American painter called Walter Williams. She let me pick a painting as a present. For free. And I'e seen on auction sites that this series of paintings that I got one from, goes for way over 1000 us dollars now. So... that painting is sorta my emergency savings. Lol.
Bobert Robertson 7 months ago
I bought a spot on a mission trip to Mexico and met my wife. As far as I'm concerned that is the greatest return on investment!
h to da izzle 7 months ago
once bought an old squier bass guitar from a very old man. i needed a new bass and he was willing to let it go for about 100 Euros. Few years and a lot of research later i was able to sell it of for 600 Euro because it as some rare production model from the early squier days.
Carole G. 7 months ago
Those $1 Wienerschnitzel hot dog guys, antenna toppers from years ago. I thought they were cute & bought one everytime I went. I never opened them. Sold a bunch on Ebay $35 each, go figure. Not big $ but fun to hear from the people that bought them & why they were important to them. The stories were memories of their childhood.
Sapna Sarfare 7 months ago
Few years back, i brought a old book on the Tatas (big time industrialists in India) for i think 500-600 rs. Later i checked and it is a second or third edition and not much in print these days. An old copy on Amazon is selling for Rs 7,000 and that too after discount... hmmm
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