EBay, Amazon, Mercari, OfferUp, Letgo, Craigslist Flipping

[DURABLEOILCOM]

Anyone making big money selling on EBay, Amazon, Mercari, OfferUp, Letgo, Craigslist Flipping? Is the secret to massive sales Free Shipping? Who is successful and what do you recommend to do in order to sell more? Which product types sell the quickest?

 

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[minivanman]

The key is to sell very large items that have very large profit margins and don't be afraid to ship it with free shipping. Be sure to include the shipping in to the cost of the item.... but just say FREE SHIPPING.

But the question is... do you mean massive sales or profit? I mean, you could sell thousands of low profit items a month or you could sell way less items with much larger profit margins.

 

[3feetfromgold]

I used to flip about 5 years ago. Used it as a way to fund my main business which I knew would take some time to grow. I stopped flipping when my main business was generating enough revenue to sustain itself.

When I was flipping, my best month was 10K but most months averaged 4K. It was super fun. Even today, once in a while, I'll go out for fun and flip some stuff if it's really valuable.

You can flip items from garage sales, estate sales, thrift stores to eBay.
You can also flip items from platform to platform. E.g. Mercari/Poshmark bundles to eBay if you are doing clothing.

Find criteria and a niche that works for you. E.g. vintage art, records, clothing, cameras. There is a niche for everything on eBay. People collect weird stuff. I once bought some cool looking mugs for $1 each at a garage sale which sold for $3,000 each because they turned out to be some antique mugs by a famous artist.

My main criteria were:

• Lightweight and/or non-bulky. Shipping is expensive for heavier items but if it can fit in a flat rate package that USPS has, then it's not so bad. This is how people flip old XBOX's and PS3's because they can fit in a standard flat rate box that costs $12-13.
• 5x my money. So if I bought it for $5, I had to sell it for at least $25.
• No cleaning or repairs. There is money to be made but it wasn't worth my time
• Potential for fast turnover. I didn't want things piling up in my house so it had to have potential to sell fast. You build an eye for this once you've been doing it a while.

 

[minivanman]

I totally agree about stuff not piling up. No cleaning/ repairs is also my rule for my side flipping business. It might sound crazy but I flip stuff on the side of my flipping business. lol My goal is that it will not be around in 30 days. What I mean by a flipping business on the side of my flipping business is that me and the lil woman have a flea market booth, because she thought it would be cool to have one. She has been over there a couple of times so apparently she thought the IDEA of having one was cool..... as long as I do the work, but anyway.... I got a table for free and sold it for $195.00. I got several toys for free and sold them for $2 each. A desk for free and sold it for $25. Today I got a love seat that reclines on both ends that will go for $200, a chair that will go for $25, a tv stand that will go for $50 and a nice electric smoker for free that I gave to my neighbor because I knew he would enjoy it. All of that will be gone within 30 days. I'm not sure we've ever paid for anything to go in the booth. But, I have a big surprise coming next month..... I have no interest in working a flea market booth so she does 1/2 the work or we are closing that puppy down! 2 weeks ago I passed up a whole house full of mid century furniture in near perfect condition. I could have made a lot of profit but that's just not my thing. I'm not in this to work, I'm in it to stay a little busy.

5x the money is a great rule for most but personally, I can't get excited about even packing 1 thing in an envelope for $15 profit. I like things you can buy for $500 and sell for $14,500.00 or buy for $300 and sell for $3000.00! Buying things at $325 and selling them for $699 or buying at $280 and selling for $450 is my norm but those sky high profits can get your juices flowing . But if you are not going to go with large, high profit items, 5x the money is a great rule to go by. And like 3feetfromgold said, get your niche. Even if it's 3-8 things you look for. Narrow it down so your eyes are looking for a few specific things. I LOVE flipping. I will do this until the day I die.

 

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[wanttogofaster]

I like things you can buy for $500 and sell for $14,500.00 or buy for $300 and sell for $3000.00!

I assume you're talking about things you've actually flipped, what were they if you don't mind me asking?

To answer the OP question, from my personal experience, as long as you have a somewhat unique, popular item you can charge as much as you want and people will buy it.

What I mean by somewhat unique is that there aren't 100 results when you look on eBay or whatever, if there are only 2 o 3, or even better, just 1, people will pay whatever amount you ask for it, within reason of course.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I love this idea if I was in "hustle" or "need capital" mode -- there is a ton of opportunity sourcing local products (garage sales, estate sales, local consignment shops) and then bringing those products to the global market via one of these apps. Pretty easy to turn $25 into $100.

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

I assume you're talking about things you've actually flipped, what were they if you don't mind me asking?

To answer the OP question, from my personal experience, as long as you have a somewhat unique, popular item you can charge as much as you want and people will buy it.

What I mean by somewhat unique is that there aren't 100 results when you look on eBay or whatever, if there are only 2 o 3, or even better, just 1, people will pay whatever amount you ask for it, within reason of course.

@minivanman hasn’t posted since the beginning of the pandemic last year, to my knowledge. He’s a cantankerous old dude in his eighties I believe who made millions in THE most wonderful random ways including doing what this thread entails. He resold washers when he wasn’t overseeing his properties. Great guy.

I miss him. I hope he’s ok.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

He’s a cantankerous old dude in his eighties

Are you serious? I didn't know that.

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

Are you serious? I didn't know that.

Yea, I’m completely serious. He’s really sweet. I pm’ed him a long time ago cuz he said something that reminded me of a client I had. We ended up just shootin the shit. He’s one of those ppl you just know has tons of stories. He’s got a great wife and great kids from what I could gather.. I’m hoping he just got busy. Sigh.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Goodwill shoes.

 

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