Let's Flip Stuff for Fun and Profit!

[Lex DeVille]

This is the default, auto-suggested message prompted to the user by the App/Web service to post it to the seller as the very first message itself!

Probably stole it from me!

From now on when I reply to people, I'm adding the following to my reply:

"This reply is copyright 2024 by Lex DeVille, all rights reserved, no part of this reply may be reproduced without the express written permission of, and agreed upon compensation to, Lex DeVille."

 

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[NervesOfSteel]

This morning I was listing stuff on Facebook Marketplace. My daughter asked what I was doing, so I told her. We talked about how she does chores and how that creates value for me, so I pay her. Then I explained this is kind of like that, but it's a different way to create value.

If I buy something for $1 that's worthless to me and sell it for $10 to someone who wants it, then I made $9 by creating value for them. I explained that when she does chores she's limited to what she can earn. But if she could buy something and sell it for more than she bought it for, then she would gain some control over how much money she earns. She's 6, so I wasn't sure she understood. But then she asked if she could list some toys she doesn't play with for sale to someone who might want them. And I said...YES!!

This afternoon, I dropped into an estate sale. While I was there, I started looking for things to flip. I spent about $55 on necklaces, a painting, and a small piece of wall decor. Next, I went to our local landfill thrift store. Landfill is a fancy way to say "the dump." I was surprised by the quality and cleanliness of items in the store. It's off the beaten path, so there are a lot fewer people who shop there compared with the town's other thrift stores. The prices were awesome. I bought a bunch of $1 and $2 necklaces, bracelets, rings, etc. In total I spent about $45.

So for $100, I came home with a bunch of items that can easily be stored, listed, and shipped. I'm reasonably confident I can flip all of these items for a higher price than I paid for them. Some of the items are worth $100 or more on their own, but the most I paid for any single item was $14. Others will require a creative marketing angle to move them at a solid price. Anyway, I had a lot of fun so I'll probably do more soon and take my daughter with me so she can learn.

For now, I thought I'd see if anyone wants to do some flipping and see how it goes for them. @KJFast @MTF

My criteria for buying flippy stuff:
- Always buy what you know (or have thoroughly researched)
- Never buy what you don't know UNLESS...
- It looks really bizarre and old, and makes your hands smell funny when you touch it
- Set a budget and stick to it
- Try to find small items that will be worth a big price and will also be easy to ship (that's one reason I like jewelry)
- Try to find items you can build a story around
- Avoid broken items (unless you know you can easily fix them or unless the buyer wouldn't care)
- Always be thinking about items you might bundle to create more value
- Always be thinking about how you can create more value
- Niche down... (some people like fish stuff, some like light houses, some like hunting etc. get to know your niche)

Places You Could Look for Good Deals
- Estate Sales (love these)
- Thrift Stores
- Garage/Yard Sales
- Church sales (these are good because old people bring stuff and donate it and all money goes to the church, so there's a high incentive to price low so the church can make some cash, and there's a good chance some of the items will be worth a lot.
- Dumpster Diving
- Online Estate Sale Websites (make sure you read their shipping terms)
- Online auction sites (even ebay can be used for this)
- OfferUp (MJ said he's used this one)
- Facebook Marketplace
- Craigslist
- NextDoor

Places Where I Am Listing Stuff for Sale
- Facebook Marketplace
- Ebay
- Private Websites
- Craigslist
- Who knows where else.

Okay, that's all I can think of for now. If anyone tries flipping anything, share below.

I'd love to hear what cool deals you come across and what you're able to turn it into. I'm sure I'll share mine once I start making sales.

In 3rd Grade, I flipped "He-Man" stickers to my classmates for 2x margin!

I never thought Flipping was something to be considered "valuable" ... LOL


I was told, this was morally wrong, but the 2x money drove me crazy, and the scent of money still does!

 

[NervesOfSteel]

"This reply is copyright 2024 by Lex DeVille, all rights reserved, no part of this reply may be reproduced without the express written permission of, and agreed upon compensation to, Lex DeVille."

This court case will be worth a documentary! LOL

 

[Oso]

Update on the shenanigans that occurred.

Ended up spending a few hours out longer than I had expected to that day, but found some amazing pieces. First, the locations I visited: antique stores, a few pawn shops, 2 estate sales, a few hole-in-the-wall thrift stores, and a garage sale.

What I found:

* A handful of antique pieces
* An old video game collection with a handful of games I know are worth 100$+ each
* Random pokemon card collection I found at a thrift store
* Collection of sport cards at 1 of the estate sales (I know nothing about anything sports related, but there's like, 15 boxes of old rookie/signed cards alone, some with big names (jordan, etc.))
* Collection of signed celebrity memorabilia that, while I have no idea what it's worth, was picked up for next to pennies, so I'd like to believe I'll at least make my money back, lmfao
* And my favorite thing I bought? That I don't believe I found? A 1991 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4. 15k original miles, bought from the original owner. Purchased for 16k and have a pending offer of 40k.

I want to solely focus on cars and motorcycles now, ngl. Subtracting potential profit from the car (because that'll never be consistent), I'm up ~7k. The video game collection ended up fetching more than I thought it would, and I still have pieces of it.

The quickest selling platforms for me, by far, have been marketplace, craigslist, and eBay. Every antique I've put on marketplace has sold within a couple of hours, so either my prices are off, or I've found a decent audience/product mix. I'll be keeping the pokemon stuff, but taking the sports cards to a few different shops in my area that have been in that business for decades.

Finally, the celebrity stuff will probably just get thrown on eBay, where I'll hope and pray. I haven't even started researching what some of it is going for. I look forward to seeing what I discover.

As I am done with developing the primary features for my TCG app, I may spend the next couple of weeks traveling to nearby states to see what I find. Indianapolis is only ~4 hours away, after all. Ohio is only ~6.

The money is out there!

Cheers.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Update on the shenanigans that occurred.

Ended up spending a few hours out longer than I had expected to that day, but found some amazing pieces. First, the locations I visited: antique stores, a few pawn shops, 2 estate sales, a few hole-in-the-wall thrift stores, and a garage sale.

What I found:

* A handful of antique pieces
* An old video game collection with a handful of games I know are worth 100$+ each
* Random pokemon card collection I found at a thrift store
* Collection of sport cards at 1 of the estate sales (I know nothing about anything sports related, but there's like, 15 boxes of old rookie/signed cards alone, some with big names (jordan, etc.))
* Collection of signed celebrity memorabilia that, while I have no idea what it's worth, was picked up for next to pennies, so I'd like to believe I'll at least make my money back, lmfao
* And my favorite thing I bought? That I don't believe I found? A 1991 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4. 15k original miles, bought from the original owner. Purchased for 16k and have a pending offer of 40k.

I want to solely focus on cars and motorcycles now, ngl. Subtracting potential profit from the car (because that'll never be consistent), I'm up ~7k. The video game collection ended up fetching more than I thought it would, and I still have pieces of it.

The quickest selling platforms for me, by far, have been marketplace, craigslist, and eBay. Every antique I've put on marketplace has sold within a couple of hours, so either my prices are off, or I've found a decent audience/product mix. I'll be keeping the pokemon stuff, but taking the sports cards to a few different shops in my area that have been in that business for decades.

Finally, the celebrity stuff will probably just get thrown on eBay, where I'll hope and pray. I haven't even started researching what some of it is going for. I look forward to seeing what I discover.

As I am done with developing the primary features for my TCG app, I may spend the next couple of weeks traveling to nearby states to see what I find. Indianapolis is only ~4 hours away, after all. Ohio is only ~6.

The money is out there!

Cheers.

Damn, good work.

I've got stuff listed on ebay and Markeplace, but not on Craigslist. So far, I've got around 40 items listed, and it's been crickets. Not even so much as an "Is this still available?" message.

Right now I've got 1 bid on 1 ebay item. Most of my other ebay items are listed on buy it now, but I'll probably list more as bids this week if I don't see some movement soon.

One ebay item (a painted photo of Jesus) I thought would get a lot of traction, but it hasn't even had a single view. I listed it on Sunday evening.

I believe the money is out there, but so far it's not where I am lol.

 

[Oso]

Damn, good work.

I've got stuff listed on ebay and Markeplace, but not on Craigslist. So far, I've got around 40 items listed, and it's been crickets. Not even so much as an "Is this still available?" message.

Right now I've got 1 bid on 1 ebay item. Most of my other ebay items are listed on buy it now, but I'll probably list more as bids this week if I don't see some movement soon.

One ebay item (a painted photo of Jesus) I thought would get a lot of traction, but it hasn't even had a single view. I listed it on Sunday evening.

I believe the money is out there, but so far it's not where I am lol.

I can't even agree with the "good work" part because, quite frankly, this definitely seems to be a legitimately "luck-based" business model. "Luck-based" in that "are you lucky enough to find the deals when they're available?"

There is absolutely no reason I should've been able to purchase that car for 16k. Anyone who keeps a car that old in that pristine of condition more than likely knows its value/potential value. But I got lucky in that I picked it up at an estate sale, and they gave 0 craps about it. They just wanted it gone.

My honest opinion? I don't think it has anything to do with your prices or products. I've found one of the biggest aspects to this is really just matching your audience with the platform. For example, the Jesus painting is doing poorly on eBay (which, tbfh, surprises me as well), but I believe it'd move on marketplace.

Marketplace seems to harbor a lot of older, white conservative people still and religious people. I believe that's why my antiques have been moving so quickly on marketplace. Most of my customers have been older white people. Even my non-white customers have been conservative. I feel marketplace is amazing for anything with historical value, religious pieces, antiques of any kind, etc.

I'd say just try listing your items cross-platform to gather a clearer understanding of what your audience on that specific platform is telling you. Also, 100% keep a spreadsheet of everything, though I highly doubt I need to tell you that, lol. You're a legend.

I've been working on something for people that want to potentially start this as I believe it's a decent way to get some cash flow.

For people interested in potentially starting.

Platforms/Places (Buy)

* Salvation Army
* Commercial thrift stores (Goodwill, etc.)
* Clearance sections of commercial department stores (you can especially make easy money targeting the right shoes/clothes at the right time)
* Any type of social media marketplace
* Similar to the above, any type of "Craigslist" style site (Offerup, Bookoo (?), Craigslist, etc.).
* Garage sales
* Estate sales
* Pawn shops
* Antique stores
* Furniture stores (specifically for furniture, obviously)
* Any store "lower than Walmart." This sounds hella stuck-up/shitty but money. If your city still has a "k-mart" style store, go there. It'll essentially be the same inventory from Walmart but cheaper. Which leads to...
* Dollar stores

** I also highly recommend spending the 5$ to create a "I buy <items>" post on Craigslist. I did this for antiques and received 20 something emails. I now have an ad running on CL 24/7 specifically for antiques. **

Platforms (Sell)

* Amazon
* eBay
* Anything Craigslist related (offerup, etc.)
* Marketplace
* Any other social media channel
* Create your own site, list items/turn it into an auction site (something I'm looking into)
* Item-specific sites (autotrader.com for cars, <website> for motorcycles, etc.)

** As stated above, I highly recommend cross-listing all of your inventory until you've established what's selling on that respective platform for you.**

Cheers.

 

[RichOC]

I love this thread, I really like flipping because it's such an easy concept. I'm going to join in by starting with a load of tech i have that i need to get rid of (also including a load of stuff that i got completely for free, so it's all profit baby). Once I'm rid of all that, I'll try and see how far I can push flipping. I'll be honest though, i don't love the idea of spending a huge amount of time going round charity (thrift) shops etc, so i might have to try and get creative with my sourcing.

Something i love about flipping is that even if it's not a consistent "business" it's all about becoming someone who can spot real opportunities and actually choosing to take advantage of them. in my instance for example how i came upon a fair bit of free inventory, and I've seen lots of instances where people leverage their circumstances or chance occurrences, to cash in, in ways that wouldn't apply to just anyone asking where to get items in a forum post.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Got my first win today. Sold a large circular mirror for $25.00 in cold hard cash. Three people asked if it was available. One didn't respond. One asked if I would deliver (even though the listing says pickup only). The third only wanted to know the size, so I measured it, and she picked it up about an hour later.

 

[biophase]

Question: What's the point of asking if something is available if you just turn around and disappear?

I'm trying to sell a working dryer because I don't want to bother moving it, and every inquiry is "Is this still available?" and then a prompt disappearance.

I get 2 per day.

Is anyone actually interested in getting it? Or do they just want to know if its available so they can disappear 3 seconds later. The whole experience is just lowering my expectations for the average human, which BTW, is already terribly low.

Donate it to a dog rescue. They will come pick it up. They always need washers and dryers.

 

[MitchC]

I love watching youtube videos of people doing this, Froggy Flips to be exact. I'm not even from his generation and I don't like games and toys but I can't stop watching him.

He seems to make good money from flipping but I imagine the youtube revenue is even better and more consistent.

Long 20 minute videos that don't take much editing, it's like the perfect content

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Yesterday I slapped some old knives on ebay. I figured nobody would want them because they're dinged up, scratched up, etc. That's why they've been at the bottom of a box in my closet for years. So far, they got the most attention of all of my listings.

For comparison, my jewelry items got 1-2 views. My knives have 20 - 40 views overnight. One is a Benchmade folding knife. I listed that one at $100 and it had the second most views of all and currently has 2 watchers. One knife sold at $20. I got that one for free a long time ago when I purchased a pair of boots.

Apparently people like knives on ebay.

 

[403burnout]

Yesterday I slapped some old knives on ebay. I figured nobody would want them because they're dinged up, scratched up, etc. That's why they've been at the bottom of a box in my closet for years. So far, they got the most attention of all of my listings.

For comparison, my jewelry items got 1-2 views. My knives have 20 - 40 views overnight. One is a Benchmade folding knife. I listed that one at $100 and it had the second most views of all and currently has 2 watchers. One knife sold at $20. I got that one for free a long time ago when I purchased a pair of boots.

Apparently people like knives on ebay.

Ebay's user base skews towards men, and is also more popular with Gen X and Boomers. Might explain the knives getting more traction than the jewelry.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I'm trying to sell a working dryer because I don't want to bother moving it,

Removing the "Will not help move it" seemed to help move the item, LOL.

@Lex DeVille have you looked at weekly pallet auctions?

Since you are here in UT, they have them weekly. I never bought anything but they are for active flippers. Each pallet is like a crap shoot of returned items, very similar to buying a default storage unit.

Here's this week's

Erkelens & Olson Auctioneers | Pallet Auction & Elite Pure Med Spa Equipment 03-21-2024

palletauctions.salesandauction.com

Donate it to a dog rescue. They will come pick it up. They always need washers and drye

I sold the dryer, but that's a great idea, I haven't figured out who the reliable rescue is out here quite yet.

 

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[wanttogofaster]

I've been flipping for a few years and it's actually the sellers that do not get back to me! They don't even see the messages on Facebook marketplace. It seems like they list the items and then forget about them (same on Craigslist when all they have is the "email" option).

Create your own site

I did this, and while most of our sales are still in a marketplace, our website's traffic and sales have been increasing every month.

 

[Oso]

I've been flipping for a few years and it's actually the sellers that do not get back to me! They don't even see the messages on Facebook marketplace. It seems like they list the items and then forget about them (same on Craigslist when all they have is the "email" option).

Oh, don't get me wrong: I make it all sound/seem easy and smooth, but if I showed yall my marketplace message history, you'd see it's far from it, lmfao.

Items are sold/bought fast, but that's only after 600 messages!

I did this, and while most of our sales are still in a marketplace, our website's traffic and sales have been increasing every month.

I really like this. Tbh, my thought process with the website is mostly aimed at the buying side. I believe it'll be exponentially easier to continually replenish stock with a website running 24/7 saying, "hey, sell me your stuff. You can ship it to this PO, and you get more or less paid on delivery." Similar to the mentality with the Craigslist post.

I'm at the point of having people message me asking for specific antique pieces, and/or asking me to hold them if I find said items. I'm not here to get into the antique business, but my data is telling me to reconsider my opinion.

Do you use your website for buying, too? If so, how has that been working out for you? Is it streamlined/automated at all? Have you hired people?

I'm really trying to avoid going full-blown "American Pickers," but this stuff is extremely fun and sure as hell beats sitting in front of a computer screen filled with code all day.

Removing the "Will not help move it" seemed to help move the item, LOL.

@Lex DeVille have you looked at weekly pallet auctions?

Since you are here in UT, they have them weekly. I never bought anything but they are for active flippers. Each pallet is like a crap shoot of returned items, very similar to buying a default storage unit.

Here's this week's

Erkelens & Olson Auctioneers | Pallet Auction & Elite Pure Med Spa Equipment 03-21-2024

palletauctions.salesandauction.com

I sold the dryer, but that's a great idea, I haven't figured out who the reliable rescue is out here quite yet.

I had no idea what a "pallet auction" was, so I did some digging. They sound cool as hell and 100% worth checking out. @Lex DeVille: be our crash test dummy and check one out, lol.

Furthermore, MJ's post reminds me of a purchase spot I've forgotten: storage units. I've yet to dive into this world as, from what I've been told, storage units in my area tend to sell high, but it's still something I'll inevitably check out.

Cheers.

 

[Lex DeVille]

I'm really trying to avoid going full-blown "American Pickers," but this stuff is extremely fun and sure as hell beats sitting in front of a computer screen filled with code all day.

That's the main appeal for me too. I'm so tired of sitting behind a computer. It's why I picked up a side gig, and it's also why I wanted to do this. It's fun. You meet people. You find cool shit and maybe turn it into money.

What do you do for work?
I'm an entrepreneur. I sell stuff.

Well, what do you do for fun?
I'm an entrepreneur. I sell stuff.

I had no idea what a "pallet auction" was, so I did some digging. They sound cool as hell and 100% worth checking out. @Lex DeVille: be our crash test dummy and check one out, lol.

I hadn't heard of these before now either, but I'll look into it later today.

 

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[RichOC]

I've gone through my stuff, I've prioritised a quick sale so I'm actually leaving a little bit of profit on the table, but nothing too dramatic. I've already sold my first £148.50 worth, and have an expected £246 waiting to be sold. There are a few more items but they need some additional work (cables replacing, formatting, cleaning etc. so I'm going to try and crack on with that for now.

Then comes the bigger challenge of getting hold of more inventory. As I mentioned previously, I'd like to see if I can do this without sinking too much time into sourcing. I do understand what you guys are saying about that arguably being the fun part, and perhaps at some point I'll have a go at getting out there scouring for individual picks, but for now i don't seem to be able to accomplish much that way, and I think that will burn me out faster than this.

The method that I've been most interested in is the same method MJ mentioned, pallet auctions. I have found a few sites, but one in particular which I like the look of, they actually do both new items and return pallets. I'll be honest I can't figure out how to get hold of the new items, as the really good stuff seems to be gone literally moments after it's listed. I don't know if it's bots or people sniping the good stuff instantly, but in a perfect world perhaps building a relationship with them will allow easier access to some of this.

I can think of plenty of reasons that going for a returns pallet could be a failure, but I can't find out for sure without giving it a go, so I'm going to give the place a call and make sure I understand the process, then keep an eye out for one I'd like to take the chance on.

 

[Bounce Back]

One method for this I did back in college that solves the "sourcing" part and worked good that you all can look into: Buying boxes of mixed cosmetics on ebay and split and sell individually. I just checked "cosmetics lot" search and still see them listed.

The pieces usually ship light and sell pretty decent. One trick I learned is look in the pictures for lots of mascara - those moved fast. If you get a lot of same item too you can do a posting with quantity which helps with having to do an individual listing for each.

I guess people buy in giant pallets of returned stuff and split into these smaller "lots"/"boxes" to not have to do the work for each individual item.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I hadn't heard of these before now either, but I'll look into it later today.

Auctions close on Thursday so you better get on it. This week's had all kinds of interesting stuff, including collectables, memorabilia, jewelry, and precious metals. I'm always looking for unique collectables for my home, for example, there is a signed Mike Tyson boxing glove there, if I was a big fan of him (or boxing) I'd bid big.

For someone who is active flipping, I'm guessing each pallet should net out a good meaty %.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Auctions close on Thursday so you better get on it. This week's had all kinds of interesting stuff, including collectables, memorabilia, jewelry, and precious metals. I'm always looking for unique collectables for my home, for example, there is a signed Mike Tyson boxing glove there, if I was a big fan of him (or boxing) I'd bid big.

For someone who is active flipping, I'm guessing each pallet should net out a good meaty %.

These are pretty crazy. I'm looking at a pallet of rims with a bid of $200. I wonder how much it will go up by tomorrow. One rim is usually worth over $100. Looks like there's 10 or more on the pallet.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

These are pretty crazy. I'm looking at a pallet of rims with a bid of $200. I wonder how much it will go up by tomorrow. One rim is usually worth over $100. Looks like there's 10 or more on the pallet.

Prices go up dramatically in the last hour. There's a lot of guesswork involved since you can't inspect the items so the risk is a bit high for most people, which for someone who flips regularily, might be a non-issue.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Prices go up dramatically in the last hour.

Interestingly, I noticed that a lot of the clothes and shoe lots go for big prices. Makes me think people are putting this stuff on up on Poshmark and other upscale online resellers. I think I saw a lot of "high-end clothing" once go for $5,000 at this auction, which for sight unseen, is pretty ballsy.

 

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[Ing]

I hope, you all pay your taxes for your side hustle!

 

[Roli]

Question: What's the point of asking if something is available if you just turn around and disappear?

I'm trying to sell a working dryer because I don't want to bother moving it, and every inquiry is "Is this still available?" and then a prompt disappearance.

I get 2 per day.

Is anyone actually interested in getting it? Or do they just want to know if its available so they can disappear 3 seconds later. The whole experience is just lowering my expectations for the average human, which BTW, is already terribly low.

This is why I stopped listing stuff on Facebook, Gumtree and the like. I would get a ton of emails saying "Hey, is the blah-blah still available?"

I would answer, "Yes, are you interested?"

Then that's it, end of communication.

This happened so many times I started putting on my ads, "If the ad is up, the item is still available," and I stopped getting any replies at all!

That being said, I'm about to put a Mamiya medium format camera up on Ebay. I bought it about 15 years ago for a few hundred, it's worth about nine hundred to a thousand now.

 

[Roli]

This is the default, auto-suggested message prompted to the user by the App/Web service to post it to the seller as the very first message itself!

The apps are coded to offer an "Is it still available" option to every user and most users, including me, use it as a bookmark for the items on sale!

LOL

Right!!!! That makes sense.

Anyway, know that when you do that, you are really winding up the seller. Surely there's another way to favourite the item?

 

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[Timmy C]

This is why I stopped listing stuff on Facebook, Gumtree and the like. I would get a ton of emails saying "Hey, is the blah-blah still available?"

I would answer, "Yes, are you interested?"

Then that's it, end of communication.

This happened so many times I started putting on my ads, "If the ad is up, the item is still available," and I stopped getting any replies at all!

That being said, I'm about to put a Mamiya medium format camera up on Ebay. I bought it about 15 years ago for a few hundred, it's worth about nine hundred to a thousand now.

Flipping and that stuff, through these platforms is a complete waste of time in my opinion.

You are better off spending your time doing anything else, such as watching TV.

That's a better use of your time.

 

[Roli]

Flipping and that stuff, through these platforms is a complete waste of time in my opinion.

You are better off spending your time doing anything else, such as watching TV.

That's a better use of your time.

It depends what you have to flip, in my experience white goods are the best. If you list a washing machine, or fridge, you get a lot of interest very quickly. It took me less than 48 hours to sell my mum's old fridge and washing machine. Other stuff just sat on there for weeks and never got sold.

 

[Lex DeVille]

Flipping and that stuff, through these platforms is a complete waste of time in my opinion.

You are better off spending your time doing anything else, such as watching TV.

That's a better use of your time.

Do you have a suggestion for a better alternative than platforms?

I've made money from both ebay and FB Marketplace.

Both offer access to a lot of people. Whether or not items sell is a matter of connecting the right item at the right price to the right person (value creation). That's true on or off the platforms.

 

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[wanttogofaster]

I really like this. Tbh, my thought process with the website is mostly aimed at the buying side. I believe it'll be exponentially easier to continually replenish stock with a website running 24/7 saying, "hey, sell me your stuff. You can ship it to this PO, and you get more or less paid on delivery." Similar to the mentality with the Craigslist post.

I'm at the point of having people message me asking for specific antique pieces, and/or asking me to hold them if I find said items. I'm not here to get into the antique business, but my data is telling me to reconsider my opinion.

Do you use your website for buying, too? If so, how has that been working out for you? Is it streamlined/automated at all? Have you hired people?

The website is to sell, have more control, and avoid paying marketplace commissions. However, we get constantly contacted by people wanting to sell their stuff to us, which is not a problem when they're local.
Sometimes they're way too far and the cost of shipping the items to us kills the deal (well, not necessarily, we haven't made any offers to those out of state yet, but I'd bet it's most likely not worth the hassle for them).
We frequently get items for free, they don't care as long as they get rid of the stuff.
We also get contacted about other items that we do not carry or have in stock. On many occasions, we've been able to source the specific item and resell it to them.
We haven't hired anyone yet but we are at a point in which we will need to if we want to scale even more. Even if only part-time during the busiest months (March/September).

I hope, you all pay your taxes for your side hustle!

Absolutely. This mostly applies when you're starting, but once you reach a certain threshold you get a 1099 from the marketplaces, Shopify, etc. We run everything under a business entity and it is required by law to file taxes to avoid penalties.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

If anyone is struggling to obtain capital, pay close attention to this thread which is why I'm following it.

I'm sure you could flip goods and earn more than working 40 hours @ $15/hour paying at some fast food joint.

Opportunities like this likely are in every big city if you just do a little research.

No, not Fastlane, but could be a better alternative to capital accumulation on your terms, versus manning a greasy grill flipping burgers.



This item retails for $3,497



Could you sell it for $1,500 and make a quick $500?

Maybe.

If not, you'll end up with beautiful skin. LOL.