I found this on /r/flipping
Here's a link to the post, which includes even more good advice: http://www.reddit.com/r/Flipping/comments/1m5jsd/i_buy_and_sell_online_for_a_living_and_am_here_to/
Here's a link to the post, which includes even more good advice: http://www.reddit.com/r/Flipping/comments/1m5jsd/i_buy_and_sell_online_for_a_living_and_am_here_to/
Hey everyone! I’m Kelly and I make a living buying and selling anything and everything. I’m going to teach you everything that I know. If you spend the next few hours reading this and asking questions, you will learn something very important. Knowledge is only a small fraction of this business though. Half of you will read this and continue your lives only wishing you could make a good in the resale business. Another 25% of you will probably read this and “try” reselling. I put “try” in quotes because you will probably half-a$$ it with a doubtful mind. You will scoff and think to yourself “If it’s so easy and you can make so much money, why isn’t everyone doing it?” or “It just sounds too good to be true.” I’ll let you in on a little hint. Everyone does do this. That’s what makes this job so challenging!
Those of you who put in the proper effort will succeed. Is this because the resale business is hard? You’re damn right it’s hard! If you actually take in what I teach you, however, in 6 months’ time, you will be making around $2000-10,000/month working between 5 and 20 hours per week, at your own schedule, from your own home.
Before I get in to the hot and steamy facts, I want to tell you a little bit about myself. I’m 22 years old (in a few weeks at least) and I currently live in Indianapolis, Indiana. I’ve had the “reseller’s sickness” since I was young. My mom told me a story once about how when I was in the first grade, I tried to sell Garfield comics that I printed off the internet to my classmates for a nickel. I didn’t have a real business though, until I was about 15 years old. I would go and find furniture and appliances that people left on the curb to throw out, and I would resell them in the classified section of the newspaper, and eventually, on craigslist. I made a killing (at least for a 15 year old) doing this! You can actually still make money doing that, but I’ll talk more about that later on. In 2011 I up and left my small town home for the big city, Charlotte, North Carolina, half a world away. Okay, just 1000 miles, but that’s still a long ways away! I quickly got a job selling cars for the local Kia dealership (they told me I’d be a used car salesman someday lol) and within 2 months I was promoted to corporate. I was the Executive marketing director for one of the oldest dealership franchises in the Carolinas. I made $50,000 per year plus benefits (including all the fuel I ever needed in my car for free). I could be sitting pretty there for the rest of my life if I wanted to, but I dreamt bigger things. October 15th, 2012 was a big day for me. It was my last day in the car business. I left to start reselling on eBay full time.
Since then I’ve expanded to amazon and craigslist along with eBay and nearly a year in, I’m making about the same as I did in the car business. The difference is I work at my own schedule. I can travel, spend time with friends/family, and do whatever I want because I work half the time that I did before. Now for those of you doubters, if I can leave a cushy corporate job to do this full time and never look back, you shouldn’t be afraid to start reselling too!
What are the benefits of reselling?
For starters, you can make a good living. That’s pretty obvious though. The freedom to work your own schedule and limited hours are the biggest benefit in my opinion. Living out of state, so far from my friends and family, it’s nice to take a few days off to go visit them. I also love travelling so I can go anywhere at the drop of a dime without worry of getting fired or using up PTO. You can also get health insurance through eBay. Lastly, because you are always finding deals and know how to buy low, you can usually get things you need for next to nothing!
There are two sides to every story. What are the cons of reselling?
There aren’t a lot of cons, but with everything, there are always a few. For starters, you really need to motivate yourself. With no boss looking over you, there’s nothing stopping you from skipping work for a day…..or 20. I found that out the hard way when I only made $500 last November. Too much travelling and not enough working! Another downside goes along with your health insurance. It can take a few months to get health coverage through eBay, so you’ll be insurance free until then. Lastly, you can’t prove your income until you file taxes. Don’t plan on getting any loans or leases or renting a new home until you get that tax statement next year!
If it’s so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?
That’s a valid question that I have to answer a lot. The truth is, everyone does it, and it really pisses me off! Every time you find a new niche item or unknown supplier, you need to milk it as much as you can, because soon enough, so many people will do it that it will either (1) flood the market and drop prices, or (2) people will buy it up so much that the product cost will skyrocket. DVDs are a prime example. I used to buy them in HUGE collections from people at $1 each and sell them for $3 each. Soon later I could only sell the rare ones and the common ones would go straight to the pawn shop for my $1 back. Within months pawn shops would only pay 50 cents per DVD. Then $0.25. No they don’t buy them at all. DVDs are almost worthless! I’ve seen it happen time and time again. In fact, every month or so I have a new product that I buy and sell primarily. This can really be a pain working in an ever changing industry!
So where can I find merchandise?
There are all kinds of places to find merchandise! Soon, you’ll find yourself pricing every item you see in your head!
I find most of my merchandise in the following places:
What kinds of items sell best
- Craigslist
- yard sales
- Flea markets
- Goodwill / thrift stores
- Clearance items at stores like Target / Walmart
- Salvage stores like Big Lots
- eBay
- Return business
This is a very broad question that I get asked a lot. You can sell just about anything if you get it at the right price. I don’t want to tell you any specific items, because this changes daily, but try to look for things that are in high demand. Search craigslist for things like video game systems and hot electronics. Find the people that need cash NOW and lowball the hell out of them. They get cash now and you get a profit later. You can also find people moving, trying to unload a ton of furniture. Buy it for one price and sell it later at higher prices. If you find a discontinued item that people love, buy it and wait until later. People were paying over $100 for a box of twinkies a month after stores were sold out!
I always like to find things that I can get for next to nothing that everyone just passes by. You’d be surprised what sells! I can get scrabble games for around a dollar and sell the tiles to crafters for $10/set. I find TV remotes and sell them in wholesale lots for $1 each. Broken video game systems sell really well for parts as well! Try and make your own niche. If you hit it early, you’ll get more sales before the market gets saturated.
Tell me about shipping
Anytime I buy anything, I save the bubble wrap and box. This comes in handy because I hate spending $16 for a small roll of bubble wrap. If I have to, I get boxes at walmart when they are restocking. I also use newspaper to pack boxes. It’s all about being green right?
Always ship directly through amazon / ebay. It’s about 30% cheaper than going to the post office and much easier. Use media mail when you can (books, DVDs, CDs, etc) and anytime it’s under 13oz ship first class. I usually find it cheaper to ship in my own boxes instead of flat rate, but sometimes medium FR boxes come in handy. Order yourself a ton of flat rate padded envelopes. They are about $5.70 to ship an item and you can pack them tight! Also, get yourself a shipping scale and make sure to pack everything tight! You see the posts on the front page about how fed ex and ups deliver items!
Lastly, you want to get insurance on anything that you ship that’s over $250. It’s eBay’s policy and it will really cover your a$$!
Here’s what you need to get started:
First, a smartphone. Don’t have one? GET ONE! My iphone 4 costs me about $75 a month and it’s worth every penny! Download the “amazon price check” app and the “ebay” app. I use the former to scan items to see if it’s worth anything on a regular basis.
Next, get yourself a shipping scale. You can get them cheap; for about $12, on eBay. Don’t just guess! It’ll cost you in the end!
You’ll want a USB barcode scanner. This makes listing a breeze, especially when you have hundreds of DVDs and books to look up. They are about $10 on eBay.
Order bubble mailers off of eBay too (noticing a pattern here?). #0 are best for DVDs and #2 and #4 are best for about everything else!
give yourself a dedicated office. I use my spare bedroom, but it might be smart to work out of a storage unit too.
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