Breaking past my fears through flipping electronics

[Rossoneri]

Hey guys, this is my first progress thread.
I'm an 18 year old who's been action faking after my previous failure.
I am simply flipping iPhones and I made this thread for accountability.

"But flipping iPhones sounds too easy and too saturated!" Let me explain.

One day, I sold my old iPhone for around $80 profit, just for some extra cash. I then looked through some side hustle threads after being inspired by even the lowest off chance that this could be a valid idea.

NOTABLE! - SIDE HUSTLE - So you want to flip used items and make cash? Cool!

You want to start a company, but you don’t have any cash? Awesome! Today you will learn how to knock that problem to the ground. How? We’re going to sell used stuff for a profit. “But I don’t have any money to buy stuff that I can flip for a profit” Alright, let’s start here. How to get...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

NOTABLE! - SIDE HUSTLE - I Make $15,000/month - 3 Hours of Work Per Day

I'm new to the forum but I thought I'd share what I've been doing for the past decade. This is more of a side hustle because it's not really scalable past what I'm doing, but I've been able to become quite wealthy doing this. Now I've gotten into investment properties and I don't need to do...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

It sounded like a good side hustle but I needed cash to turnover quickly, I don't want to risk having inventory lying around for days on end while waiting for a buyer to flip. So then I got some ideas after researching more into the topic. I then got into contact with direct buyers, companies who are buying phones/macbooks/ipads/etc in various conditions for near market value, and will pay up-front so I can turnover cash into acquiring more product. They also have a pricing sheet so I can quickly appraise and shoot out offers. This allows me to focus on marketing and sales, as I assume need to generate a lot of leads and make a lot of offers to make this work.

I'm definitely not the first one to think of this idea, but it seems like a solid plan.

Acquisition of phones locally (FB marketplace, Craigslist, Offerup - Reaching out and lowballing, posting free ads, yard sale groups) -> Disposition to direct buyers --> Use capital that is being recycled to scale, possibly reaching out to businesses like hotels/nightclubs and see if I can access and buy their lost and found phones for pennies on the dollar?

Oct 27
I have already made 15 offers on marketplace, posted a marketplace ad, and post an ad into 3 buy/sell groups. I will send out 20-30 more offers in the evening.

 

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[Rossoneri]

Was planning to post on a weekly schedule but today is my first day, so I'll post today so I'll remember this in the future. I ended up with 1 lead closed, where I'll profit $75, not bad. I almost closed a lead before that would've netted me $135, but unfortunately someone swooped in from another app at the last minute right when I was about to meet him. Extremely disappointing...

One guy responded to my ad had a phone I would've had to post on eBay since it was damaged, accounting for fees and shipping, I would've netting around $60-70.

All in all, I spent two hours, so would net around $67 an hour. Compared to my job at five guys where I had to work my a$$ off for $13.50, I'll take it.

A lesson that I learned is to account for sellers backing out at even the very last moment. Don't get too excited and expect this.

 

[DONTRAY]

Have you ever thought about buying damaged electronics to repair.

 

[Rossoneri]

Have you ever thought about buying damaged electronics to repair.

Yes, was thinking about getting lower priced devices to work on after seeing a video. Devices that are unlocked and that need minimal repairs (cracked screen, bad LCD, etc.) I might work on and flip straight to the community on marketplace.

Another short update. I made a mistake. Lead that I closed yesterday baited me and I improperly checked the carrier status and memory. Looks like I'm breaking even on that one. I closed one deal today that will net me around $40 to direct buyer, but possibly $100+ on eBay. I'm thinking about which one I will disposition too. Day ends with $40 profit.

Damaged iPhone posted on eBay, we'll see how that goes.

Also really important note. I got into contact with a big time electronic flipper in Florida who can do lead generation for me, 70/30 split (70 to me), and I don't pay for any of the ads (FB ads). It seems like a win-win, I only pay for the phones when the leads are closed when I appraise and handle dispositions. Also is sort of a mentor to me after we talked for a bit about business. Could lead to an extra 1-2 phones closed a day.

 

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[DONTRAY]

Damaged phones are valuable on eBay. Especially with the phone screens being expensive and harder to repair yourself. The sold price depends on how badly damaged the device is. A iPhone 11 with a cracked screen will still sell. Damaged phones are tricky when it comes to negotiating a price if you’re going to repair it because the price of the parts to fix it comes into play.

 

[Rossoneri]

Weekly update:

I sent out my first shipments. Three phones to my direct buyer which net me $200, one phone that net $20 via FB marketplace, and then a iCloud locked phone for $30 on eBay. Around $250 profit my first week. My goal was $500, but I learned a ton of stuff.

- Get better at negotiating and be firm in your offer. There is always a next deal. I should've gotten more margin.
- I overestimated how quick I was going to turn over capital. My direct buyer did not trust me since I was a random guy who was going to send phones in their eyes, so they made me send it up front. I don't mind since I've built trust and have talked to a representative since then. I can use the invoice method now, but it is something that I didn't account for. Turning around capital is the name of the game.
- Make sure you check the phones correctly. Was lazy and trusted the seller's word for some reason, and I ended up with a carrier locked phone which is worth way less to a direct buyer right now. I quickly resold it back on marketplace to get at least a little out of it.
- Took me a lot more time than I thought for negotiating and reaching out. Scaling to FB ads and making connections in order to create repeat customers should be my top priority.

 

[DONTRAY]

Weekly update:

I sent out my first shipments. Three phones to my direct buyer which net me $200, one phone that net $20 via FB marketplace, and then a iCloud locked phone for $30 on eBay. Around $250 profit my first week. My goal was $500, but I learned a ton of stuff.

Great.

- Make sure you check the phones correctly. Was lazy and trusted the seller's word for some reason, and I ended up with a carrier locked phone which is worth way less to a direct buyer right now. I quickly resold it back on marketplace to get at least a little out of it.

Also make sure to check the camera, speakers, make a phone call, if it’s an older phone make sure to check the headphone jacks, make sure the charging port isn’t damaged, connect the phone to a charger, and much more. Act as is you’re buying it for yourself. Good job.

 

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[Marpen]

Great.



Also make sure to check the camera, speakers, make a phone call, if it’s an older phone make sure to check the headphone jacks, make sure the charging port isn’t damaged, connect the phone to a charger, and much more. Act as is you’re buying it for yourself. Good job.

That last part! I got all my money back from Ebay when I bought a phone as the charge port didnt work. The seller never checked it (admit it in an email) and said since he didnt list a working charge port in the description, that he wouldn't refund. The price I paid would have been for a functioning phone. Ebay sided with me and didnt even have me send the phone back (I did offer but the seller never responded after Ebay sided with me).