The "master the money you have" thread, spam or not, reminded me of something I read yesterday. If you have 25 cents, a bank account and internet access..you are ready to start building towards your financial freedom.
"1. What Three Giddy Teenaged Girls Can Teach You About Making Money on eBay I was working away at email on Saturday afternoon when the doorbell rang. Karen and I both reached the door at the same time to find three cute giddy teenaged girls standing on our porch holding a small stereo. Between giggles and teenaged shyness they started explaining to us that they were playing the "Trading Game." This is a game that was popularized by a midwest college student a few years ago who started with a ball point pen and kept trading up for something more valuable until he eventually ended up with a small house. The girls had started with a 1955 penny and now had a stereo after about a dozen trades.
We didn't really want the stereo and couldn't think of anything to trade so we suggested they visit one of our neighbors. Shortly after they left Karen remembered that we had this old giant cow trough in the back yard. No, we don't own any cows. We had bought it the previous summer to use for a pond project in the back yard that never worked out. So Karen went running up the street calling after the girls and told them to come back.
Well they did, but now the nice little stereo was gone and they had a new, in-the-box, gas tank from a 1995 Blazer. So Karen traded the cow trough for the gas tank (at least it was smaller).
The girls were thrilled. "Oh wow, a cow trough. None of the other teams will have anything like that." And, they happily walked down the street dragging a 6 foot long cow trough behind them. (On Sunday I put the Blazer gas tank on Craigslist and got 2 calls the first day. Some guy is supposed to drop by later this week and give me 50-bucks for it).
Now that's a cute story --but how does it relate to selling on eBay? Well as it turns out a variation of this is how Karen and I got our start many years ago. After Karen's mom passed away, she got a very small inheritance once the estate was settled. She didn't want to just pay down bills or spend it on something frivolous. We both loved, but couldn't really afford, antiques and thought about opening a small antique business. So we rented some space in one of those mult-dealer shops and went about buying antiques and collectibles at garage sales and flea markets in the hopes of selling them in our shop.
We knew nothing about the business and learned that we knew even less about antiques. I can't tell you how many times we bought fakes, overpaid for things, or bought stuff that we liked but just wouldn't sell. But we stuck with it and learned as we went along. With only a few thousand dollars of startup capital the stuff we could buy tended to be the lower end of the scale. At one point the owner of the shop suggested we try to upgrade our merchandise or we would have to move out. Actually she even moved us into the attic where we got very little traffic.
But we learned what those girls were learning when they played the trading game. Keep trading up. I was working full-time in the corporate world so we didn't need to take any profits out of the shop. Every time we did make a profit we put it right back into new (actually old) merchandise. And as we learned more we started buying better and more expensive pieces. Within about 18 months we went from selling old radios, vintage kitchenware, and minor collectibles to selling high-end 18th century furniture and fine English and American silver and brass. Pretty soon the owner of the mall moved us downstairs into a premium spot. Eventually our inventory was worth many thousands of dollars. We were selling antiques valued as high as $14,000 each. And, we never put another penny into the business. Eventually we closed the shop and started selling on eBay.
Trading up is just a fancy name for bootstrapping your business. You don't need an antique shop. You can do this on eBay and Craigslist and many other sites today. And, it isn't just antiques --you can do this with almost anything. If I lost everything I had today except that 1995 Blazer gas tank I guarantee you I could turn it into enough to feed my family and build another income again. All you need is the first item to sell, a place to get in front of people (eBay, Craigslist, flea markets, garage sales, etc.) the desire --and most importantly, an attitude that keeps you going no matter how many mistakes you make or how many obstacles are put in your way. It doesn't matter how much or what you start with. There will always be someone who needs a gas tank for a 1995 Blazer."
Another similar post in the same newsletter.
"It's finally spring and one thing that springs up every spring is garage sales. You might say this month marks the start of the Garage Sale Season. I know all of you are looking for the low cost wholesale source for Prada handbags, Apple iPods and Nikon cameras, but folks there are huge amounts of money to be made in used, vintage and collectible products.
People often ask what are the hot selling items. Well yes, there is money to be made in hot toys, fashions and electronics, but believe me there are also fortunes made in the stuff that people walk by every day. You can buy many new products that allow you to make 25% to 40% margins on eBay, but it is also easy to find used and vintage goods where you can make a 90% margin. Would you rather pay $190 for an iPod that sells for $260 or pay $1.00 for an old pair of eyeglasses that sell for $200?
So, what are some of the hot selling items you can find at garage sales? Here is a very short list --but if you do some research you can find many, many more.(chart does not show up here, will need to see it in the link below) Believe me this is a very short list. These are just the few of the items that come to mind and ones that I found after about an hour of surfing around eBay's various collectible categories. The key to any of these items is condition. The better the condition the more it will sell for. I always clean used items up a bit before photographing them. I once had an old DeWalt drill (bought for $2.00) that looked like junk but worked fine. I shot a photo, put it on eBay and never got a bid. So I spent 15 minutes with 4-0 steel wool and cleaned it up and re-shot the photo. It got 16 bids and sold for $44.00.
You can learn more about selling and sourcing goods for some interesting niche markets in my book, "(edited, not sure if I should keep that link their or not)
http://skipmcgrath.com/newsletters/current.shtml
This is an easy way for anyone to start building up cash in their spare time.
"1. What Three Giddy Teenaged Girls Can Teach You About Making Money on eBay I was working away at email on Saturday afternoon when the doorbell rang. Karen and I both reached the door at the same time to find three cute giddy teenaged girls standing on our porch holding a small stereo. Between giggles and teenaged shyness they started explaining to us that they were playing the "Trading Game." This is a game that was popularized by a midwest college student a few years ago who started with a ball point pen and kept trading up for something more valuable until he eventually ended up with a small house. The girls had started with a 1955 penny and now had a stereo after about a dozen trades.
We didn't really want the stereo and couldn't think of anything to trade so we suggested they visit one of our neighbors. Shortly after they left Karen remembered that we had this old giant cow trough in the back yard. No, we don't own any cows. We had bought it the previous summer to use for a pond project in the back yard that never worked out. So Karen went running up the street calling after the girls and told them to come back.
Well they did, but now the nice little stereo was gone and they had a new, in-the-box, gas tank from a 1995 Blazer. So Karen traded the cow trough for the gas tank (at least it was smaller).
The girls were thrilled. "Oh wow, a cow trough. None of the other teams will have anything like that." And, they happily walked down the street dragging a 6 foot long cow trough behind them. (On Sunday I put the Blazer gas tank on Craigslist and got 2 calls the first day. Some guy is supposed to drop by later this week and give me 50-bucks for it).
Now that's a cute story --but how does it relate to selling on eBay? Well as it turns out a variation of this is how Karen and I got our start many years ago. After Karen's mom passed away, she got a very small inheritance once the estate was settled. She didn't want to just pay down bills or spend it on something frivolous. We both loved, but couldn't really afford, antiques and thought about opening a small antique business. So we rented some space in one of those mult-dealer shops and went about buying antiques and collectibles at garage sales and flea markets in the hopes of selling them in our shop.
We knew nothing about the business and learned that we knew even less about antiques. I can't tell you how many times we bought fakes, overpaid for things, or bought stuff that we liked but just wouldn't sell. But we stuck with it and learned as we went along. With only a few thousand dollars of startup capital the stuff we could buy tended to be the lower end of the scale. At one point the owner of the shop suggested we try to upgrade our merchandise or we would have to move out. Actually she even moved us into the attic where we got very little traffic.
But we learned what those girls were learning when they played the trading game. Keep trading up. I was working full-time in the corporate world so we didn't need to take any profits out of the shop. Every time we did make a profit we put it right back into new (actually old) merchandise. And as we learned more we started buying better and more expensive pieces. Within about 18 months we went from selling old radios, vintage kitchenware, and minor collectibles to selling high-end 18th century furniture and fine English and American silver and brass. Pretty soon the owner of the mall moved us downstairs into a premium spot. Eventually our inventory was worth many thousands of dollars. We were selling antiques valued as high as $14,000 each. And, we never put another penny into the business. Eventually we closed the shop and started selling on eBay.
Trading up is just a fancy name for bootstrapping your business. You don't need an antique shop. You can do this on eBay and Craigslist and many other sites today. And, it isn't just antiques --you can do this with almost anything. If I lost everything I had today except that 1995 Blazer gas tank I guarantee you I could turn it into enough to feed my family and build another income again. All you need is the first item to sell, a place to get in front of people (eBay, Craigslist, flea markets, garage sales, etc.) the desire --and most importantly, an attitude that keeps you going no matter how many mistakes you make or how many obstacles are put in your way. It doesn't matter how much or what you start with. There will always be someone who needs a gas tank for a 1995 Blazer."
Another similar post in the same newsletter.
"It's finally spring and one thing that springs up every spring is garage sales. You might say this month marks the start of the Garage Sale Season. I know all of you are looking for the low cost wholesale source for Prada handbags, Apple iPods and Nikon cameras, but folks there are huge amounts of money to be made in used, vintage and collectible products.
People often ask what are the hot selling items. Well yes, there is money to be made in hot toys, fashions and electronics, but believe me there are also fortunes made in the stuff that people walk by every day. You can buy many new products that allow you to make 25% to 40% margins on eBay, but it is also easy to find used and vintage goods where you can make a 90% margin. Would you rather pay $190 for an iPod that sells for $260 or pay $1.00 for an old pair of eyeglasses that sell for $200?
So, what are some of the hot selling items you can find at garage sales? Here is a very short list --but if you do some research you can find many, many more.(chart does not show up here, will need to see it in the link below) Believe me this is a very short list. These are just the few of the items that come to mind and ones that I found after about an hour of surfing around eBay's various collectible categories. The key to any of these items is condition. The better the condition the more it will sell for. I always clean used items up a bit before photographing them. I once had an old DeWalt drill (bought for $2.00) that looked like junk but worked fine. I shot a photo, put it on eBay and never got a bid. So I spent 15 minutes with 4-0 steel wool and cleaned it up and re-shot the photo. It got 16 bids and sold for $44.00.
You can learn more about selling and sourcing goods for some interesting niche markets in my book, "(edited, not sure if I should keep that link their or not)
http://skipmcgrath.com/newsletters/current.shtml
This is an easy way for anyone to start building up cash in their spare time.
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