Thread: A Hustler's Guide To Buying And Selling Anything.

I have an Ipad 2 that I got at work for about 445$ (apple employee discount) I have thrown it on craigslist barter and gotten some interesting offers. Any ideas on best way to maximize this item that has serious value?

Originally Posted by The Spark

I have an Ipad 2 that I got at work for about 445$ (apple employee discount) I have thrown it on craigslist barter and gotten some interesting offers. Any ideas on best way to maximize this item that has serious value?

Honestly, just put in on craigslist with a couple decent pictures, a nice description, and it should sell pretty fast. iPad's are a hot item right now, especially if its an iPad 2.

Originally Posted by biggeemac

I definately need some help with this.....I think I have the ambition and the right idea but im not doing SOMETHING right.

Takes some time to get into the swing of things. Just always remember you don't have to buy any item so don't ever pay too much. It is all a numbers game, if you can buy it a price that gives your room for a nice profit, jump on it. Just keep searching for items, their are always deals out there. When you search CL, trying using these search terms:

Must sell
Need gone
ASAP
Mortgage
Divorce
Payments
Etc...etc...

I usually do this first so I can see right away some of the people who are in a bind for money and usually can talk them down quite a bit. Like Ryan said before, if someone denies your offer, don't play volleyball with them, just tell them the offer will still stand and you have cash.

Officially surpassed the $1,500 milestone. Took me a week and a half.

Made some sales that I turned around and poured directly into more inventory.

Inventory: $1,647
Cash: $125

Total: $1,772

RyanDrake PM me if you can

Originally Posted by biggeemac

I definately need some help with this.....I think I have the ambition and the right idea but im not doing SOMETHING right.

I doubt your doing anything wrong. Last month was the first month I tried to do this, when someone posted a thread about it. Made $2000 profit in Id say about 5-6 hours of work. This month however ive made $75. Your at the mercy of your area. At the mercy of people selling things for a realistic price that you can still resell and make money on. Doesnt come around everyday.

Actually you will find that most people value things at far above what they are actually worth. I always hear "well I paid $500 for it 2 years ago so I want $400 for it" Even though the market only pays $200 for that product used. You have to keep in mind most people arent very intelligent, making deals harder not easier most of the time. Maybe thats rude, but its the truth.

I only will do a deal if I can make at least $60 off of it have shipping and fees. I also never resell on craigslist. I find that to consume much more of my time then simply putting it on ebay, then packing it and printing out the label in 10 minutes after it sells. Post office picks up your packages at your house for free.

Also if someone is making a bunch of money off of video games then more power to them. Thats a very tough way to go. Profit margins are usually very slim. But the thread starter seems to live in a area that pays top dollar for old games, you wont find that many places.

I think cell phones are the easiest way to start out. Smart phones to be exact. Very easy and cheap to ship and they are always in demand on ebay. Just check ebays completed listings before you buy it to see what the phone goes for, then get the seller to sell it to you for a price low enough that you can make at least $60.

Here is a handy calculator for seeing what you ebay and Paypal fees will be on a product before you buy it.

eBay Fees Calculator 8.2 by Ryan Olbe (updated July 12, 2011)

Actually, smart phones seems to be one that im doing right. Picked up another iphone 4 last night for 220. It will sell for 420 on ebay or better. Almost had another one too.

Originally Posted by theBiz

where are you located? Popular cities it can become difficult due to such high demand, people are ontop of those big time in some areas.

in NYC it's such a big market that people often sell for quite far below eBay price due to the sheer amount of sellers and low amount of buyers.

Edit: Scratch that. I mean low amount of buyers looking to pay a decently reasonable price for the phones. There are a gazillion people who deal phones here, even stores deal phones on CL. Plus, they sell for ridiculously high prices, too: they sell iphones for pretty close to what the Apple Store sells em for.

Originally Posted by theBiz

yeah if you call about iphones theyre usually gone in a few minutes. i actually dont know about that whole below market thing... if you call a few people in nyc they are firm on prices, and someone always calls them and offers too much, just my experience and i only dealt with iphones. Im really not into phones, i look at buying and selling in a different perspective but for people into phones and know them well im sure once you find your groove you can make some money driving around all day hustling them.

You're probably right about the people offering too much thing. However, because of how high people are selling them, deals are pretty easy to find. You just gotta be fast enough to nab it before other people do. iPhones are probably the hardest things to find deals on because there are so many people in the iphone business.

Originally Posted by theBiz

cellphones are probably the worst believe it or not... its a good market.. too good.

You need to start with ONE thing and know it like the back of your hand. Buy something that has some down time and market it better than the last guy. Not everyone is going to buy a generator everyday but it will sell.... a cellphone, that guy is getting 10s of calls per day. I remember one of the first things i did was a motorcycle for i think $500 and turned it into over 1k... not everyone buys that everyday, so that guy has trouble selling it NOW theres opportunity for you. If he has trouble selling it why would you buy it? Because he has crap pictures up and isnt listing it enough, not picking up his phone enough/bad negotiator. Theres money to be made on cell phones and such but its stressful and when your half way there they got a call for a higher offer etc.

I agree with your 2nd part completely but disagree with the first part. I wouldn't say its the best market because its not, but its also not the worse. I've made 250% on phones that sold in a day, doubled my money on many, or just made good profit on them period. Like you said, people will get 10 phone calls a day on a phone they put up, and if you are the one selling the phone you have lots of demand. I don't know how many lowballs I've turned down and just told the person, I know I will go home to 5 more emails about the phone, I will get close to my asking price. I usually do too.

With phones you just have to be quick. You have to find the deals and jump on them. So no, its not the best market out there but its also not the worse. I am actually trying to get into motorcycles right now for the reason you mentioned, you can make really good profit although you might sit on it a little longer. Surprisingly, people are still asking a lot for bikes around here. Either too high mileage or price.

Originally Posted by theBiz

sounds good oddball im happy everyone is doing it, this is by far the best business to enter with limited capital and make the most profit. You learn alot about business and negotiating. Everyone doing this should remember to save their money and parlay this into something else, its difficult to sell things out of your house forever.

About the motorcycles before you jump into it full swing, i learned the hard way, look for vehicles B2B. Buy vehicles businesses need. If you slightly travel too its great. One company is doing terrible, you get a great deal like that, put it on the market, cold call companies whatever... eventually a company gets a contract and wants to spend it before they make it. So b2b vehicles have spontaneous buying habits but the profits are huge.

Alright thanks, I will check out the B2b thing.
As for saving for something bigger, thats my plan. My main plan is to get into rental property. Got the idea from one of the older threads on here actually. Slowly learning and reading about it, going to talk to my friends parents who do it too.

Great job Ryan! Two things:

Instead of a consulting business, you could sell a $27/$47 eBook with tips and tricks. I'm sure you have 5-10 buyers on this thread alone. Maybe 50-100 with the lurkers.

What you are doing could essentially be transferred to flipping houses, which you could graduate to and make $10-20k per deal.

Originally Posted by theBiz

sounds good oddball im happy everyone is doing it, this is by far the best business to enter with limited capital and make the most profit. You learn alot about business and negotiating. Everyone doing this should remember to save their money and parlay this into something else, its difficult to sell things out of your house forever.

That is my plan as well I want to learn some of the ins-and-outs like you listed and then move onto something else whether I continue to sell on CL in the future or not.

I think the Ebook idea has great potential just needs a little marketing behind it to get it to take off.