So you want to flip used items and make cash? Cool!

[Sander]

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 money to get started

Open your eyes and take a look around. I bet you have plenty of items you can sell for starting cash.

Don’t believe me?

Is that a television in the corner with a Playstation 4, a Nintendo Wii and a surround sound system?

Moving on.

To get myself going, I sold my Playstation 4, my bass guitar (haven’t played it for three years), an old Xbox 360 and some games for the consoles. In total I made around $600.

Okay, got the cash. Now what?

Now you will do the exact same thing.

Easy, right?

Only this time, you won’t sell the Playstation 4 with a loss (I assume you bought it from the store back in the days, and sold it for less today).

You’ve already proven that you can sell a PS4. Let’s say you made $250 from that.

Now it’s time to chase another PS4. And no, it’s not to replace the first one.

And your task is to buy it for less than $250.

Can you do that?

No probs.

What? Nobody will sell a PS4 that cheap!

Okay, fine, you win. Go get drunk and buy pizzas for the $600. Or buy another brand new PS4 in the store, because you already miss the old one.

Or…

Instead of yelling at the screen, you can read on and learn how to buy.

If you know how to buy, you know how to profit.

Is it easy to buy a PS4 for less than $250?

No.

Can it be done?

Sure.

I’ll show you how.

How to buy dirt cheap stuff

First, you want to scan the market.

Open up Craigslist.

Open up eBay.

Open up Facebook groups where people are buying and selling stuff in your local area.

You can go to garage sales or flea markets, but if you don’t know what to look for, you can end up spending all your time there. We don’t want that.

Scan for Playstation 4’s.

If it looks good, open the ad in a new tab in your browser.

Keep digging until you have found all the available, good conditioned PS4’s in a realistic radius.

Now go through the listings one by one. Look through the ad and skip the ones that your guts tell you to avoid.

Place bids for the rest.

Depending on the item, I usually bid between 20-50% of the price. So if the listing says $200, I’ll bid $50-$100.

Done bidding?

Perfect.

Now you must prepare for

1) The dreadful waiting. Do yourself a favour and do something else meanwhile. Otherwise you can spend your entire day looking at the sites for new replies.

2) All kind of bad words coming your way. Some people will be pissed at you, some people will ignore you etc. Leave your feelings and emotions out of this. This is business. /ignore.

Okay then.

Let’s say you placed bids on at least 20 ads. You want this number to be high, if you want to make sweet dollar deals.

10 people ignore your offer. Fine.

5 people won’t go lower than the asking price. Fine.

4 people are mad at you for placing such a low bid. Cool.

1 guy is answering you.

His PS4 was listed for $250.

You offered $100.

He offers you to meet him halfway at $175.

He switched to Xbox One and just want the PS out of the way.

You offer him $150 and promise him, that you can pick it up in an hour.

He accepts.

You smile, put on your pair of 8 sunglasses and newest flip flops and jump in the car to go pick up your fresh and crispy $100 bill.

Remember; the PS4 is only an example. This could be a bicycle, a washing machine, a car, an office chair etc. To make money with this, you have to understand this part.

Quick tips to grow profits and save time flipping used items

1. Avoid antique stuff and useless crap, unless you have a master’s degree in that area. Flip what people buy.

2. Know the market value. Did you buy anything recently? Perfect. Because then you probably researched the market well enough to know the prices. I just bought a new office chair. Now I’m flipping office chairs, because I know what that sells for on Craigslist.

3. Don’t be afraid to make low bids. This is where you find your profit. Everyone can sell a PS4 for $200. But only a few can buy it for $50.

4. Try to get a buyer before you buy. You want to flip the item as fast as possible to get new cash for new investments.

5. Place. Many. Bids.

6. And don’t be scared if you only get 1 yes in 100 bids.

7. Don’t be in a hurry. Leave that position open for the seller. You can always find another item to flip.

8. Make good descriptions for your ads when selling. Include measurements, small flaws, following items etc.

9. Never lie in your ad, or in life for that matter (uuh, deep). Ever.

10. Take good pictures when you want to sell.

11. Search for new ad listings. The minute the seller post the ad, he’s looking for cash. The sooner you can give it to him, the better. Because then he can be open to lower his price, if you can pick it up quickly.

 

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[Deleted52409]

4. Try to get a buyer before you buy. You want to flip the item as fast as possible to get new cash for new investments.

I don't flip very often. But my favorite strategy is to take someone's ad from craigslist and post it onto facebook marketplace with a higher price. If I get reasonable offers then I will try and negotiate with the original seller so that I can get his item for a lowball price in order to resell it.

A quick $50 is much more enjoyable than having to work 5 hours as a stock boy. Now I have a ton of free time to build my business.

 

[amp0193]

I don't flip very often. But my favorite strategy is to take someone's ad from craigslist and post it onto facebook marketplace with a higher price. If I get reasonable offers then I will try and negotiate with the original seller so that I can get his item for a lowball price in order to resell it.

@JohnnyAppleseed

This is F*cking brilliant.

You get all the rep dollars I can give for such an out of the box idea.


Any noobs here looking for a business model, @JohnnyAppleseed just handed it to you on a silver platter.

1) Develop script to repost Craigslist ads on Facebook marketplace at a higher price
2) Determine the most efficient processes for getting the items from Seller A into buyer B.
3) Hire someone to run the process.
4) Iterate to other cities.


This opportunity will last as long as Facebook is mainstream, and Craigslist still has traffic.

Airbnb - Millions of properties for rent, no properties owned.
Amazon - Millions of 3rd party sellers, no inventory owned.
Craigslist --> Facebook arbitrage, no inventory owned (for long).


Cash flow is king.

 

[amp0193]

Great classic threads on flipping, well, everything.

GOLD - A Hustler's Guide To Buying And Selling Anything (Part 1)

GOLD - A Hustler's Guide To Buying And Selling Anything (Part 2)

 

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[minivanman]

Friday we had a lady stop by and want to sell us her stainless steel refrigerator for $120. We declined because we only sell washers and dryers. Not 15 minutes after she left (she lived across the street in a circle and was moving) a guy came up and was buying a washer and dryer and asked if we had a stainless steel refrigerator. Lupe (guy that works on my washers & dryers) & I looked at each other and he said... we might have one over at the other shop for $400. Let's load the washer & dryer in your pickup and you take them home then come back after the refrigerator. He leaves and we head to the ladies house that wanted to sell the refrigerator. We get her down to $80. Wheel it on a dolly from her house and quickly wash it with a hose and clean it out just in time for the guy to get back and hand over $400.

I do this with washers & dryers sometimes too but it puts too much pressure on me and I don't like to do it. I'm just in this to keep busy and have fun. It can be done but I don't like pressure. lol

 

[Process]

Love it. I can personally vouch for this overall method as it has helped me out.

You inspired me to share:
1.) Ask each buyer what they're looking to get out of the purchase, it weeds out scammers and shows you're not one yourself. Then you can tailor your answers to this too.
2.) Have the item ready for demo, if they even let you...(not kidding, many times I've had to shut up and close the sale)
3.) People will always have money problems and need to sell fast and buy reliably and cheaply. Fill these gaps for the buyer and the seller. Do that and this process is evergreen.
4.) Learn some basic photography. Good lighting and angles set you apart. Most pics bring to mind getting mugged. Skew value by being the one who doesn't.
5.) Write emotional benefit statements in the Craigslist copy style.(i.e. great for X lovers, X nostalgia, etc.). Mention the minor flaw/why getting rid of it. Then flow back to a big benefit then a call to action of call me now for X.

Most listings languish because they miss these factors.

Do these things and you'll be a little money generator.

 

[minivanman]

is it worth it? in my opinion, in large cities, in 2018, the craiglist hustle is pretty much gone. The time you will need to spend to make it worth your while- you may as well do the best u can at your current job.

Why not do both.

[/QUOTE]

Apparently you aren't hustling the right stuff. I don't get my stuff off of Craigslist anymore... but I could. I actually bought 2 sets of washer/dryer from Craigslist last week just because I like it. Do you see how often I'm on here? Between dealing with several other businesses AND selling washers and dryers I will make an easy $90,000 taxable income this year just from washers and dryers alone. I had a few months where I really hustled just to keep up with the buyers so that put me ahead of my projections. Anyway, if a person is making $25,000 or $40,000 why wouldn't they double their income? The Craigslist hustle is alive and strong. I actually plan to buy a few more from Craigslist in 2019. You see a set for $600... ask if it's still available.... then wait a day.... tell them your budget won't let you spend that much (No lie. You should always have a buying budget). Now you've made a few contacts with that person so you aren't 'strangers'. In a few days get back with them and ask if they sold it yet. If not, tell them you have $250 in your budget and you know they can't take that low of an amount but what would be their lowest they would take. They might say $500. Tell them you will be trying to put more money in your budget.. 3 days later tell them you have $300 and you think that's all you will be able to put in your budget.... notice how I've never lied? I never said I didn't have the money, it's my budget that doesn't have the money in it. Sometimes they will sell it for $300 that day, sometimes they will never sell it to you for that low of an amount but SOMETIMES..... ding ding ding..... we have a winner! So now you buy it for $300 (maybe a few days later because they really want more but need to sell it), clean it up, take better pictures and put it on Facebook market place for $599. Just make sure it's a set you can sell for $599. Sometimes you will need to buy at $225 and sell for $375... it depends on the set. Don't have trash on your Facebook page. People will be checking your profile. If you look trustworthy, people will pay you $599 on Facebook but those same people would never trust you on Craigslist.

1 reason I'm giving up this secret to those that don't know how to wheel & deal.... I need everyone in my area to buy up all of the cheap sets from Craigslist/Facebook/phone apps and that way we can all sell them for higher prices. The people you bought it from needed to get rid of it before the 1st of the month. You don't have a time line so if you keep it 3 weeks, that's ok.

You could do this same thing with lots of stuff. Just don't be a $10 hustler. If you aren't going to make $100 profit for your effort, find something to make a minimum $100 from. You will get to where doubling or tripling your money won't be that hard.... I'm not talking about buy something for $5 and sell it for $15.

Or, was this post a ploy to get people to not do the Craigslist hustle so it leaves more stuff for you? If so, sorry

 

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[Guest34764]

I didn’t know bicycle blue book was a thing, thanks for sharing! I’d always shied away from flipping bikes because I thought the liquidity would be low.

How long does it take for you to sell a quality bike?

Impossible to say because it depends entirely on your market, but with a good high-end bike and an okay market should be sold within a couple weeks, It's all about grabbing a profit and taking it as soon as you can because the value of bikes lower significantly the longer they are on the market.I had a bike drop about 250$ in value (as listed on bicyclebluebooks) because It took me a long time to sell it. Your market with high end bikes is going to be people who know their shit, they will use bicyclebluebooks almost always to buy a bike.They know parts, so don't lie or cheat them.

However saying this, I've never lost a profit on a bike, usually I get around 300 to 500$ profit from buying it, cleaning it, and posting a stellar ad. Which all takes about two hours or less.

With bikes you want to have a lot in circulation, ten bikes at a time and you can make a killing versus just selling one at a time, they're quite easy to sell once you get the hang of it and learn all the parts so volume is key.

 

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[Van Halen]

No domain experience, but guitars are probably a good potential item to flip. They depreciate in value massively when bought new, guitars can be quite expensive so when people need money and fast, its usually the first thing to go. Ive seen it many times in guitar groups where people are "quick selling" if you will, at heavily discounted prices because they need cash. Most people in these groups are consumers and see it them as more of a "its nice but eh dont need it/dont have the money", whereas if you were an Entrepreneur coming in, you could put money down and negotiate good prices from these people.

 

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[ZCP]

Don't forget to ask if they are looking for anything! That way you are their 'go to person' for selling future stuff and finding things they need.

 

[Guest34764]

Bikes are extremely easy to flip, learn bike parts. Buy it cheaper than what the price is listed on bicyclebluebooks and you pretty much have a 100% chance of making a profit. I have never gone negative with profit on a bicycle and I never will because If you buy it lower than it's value and there's a market, you'll make money with it.

Also, I'll probably return to posting on the forums, we'll see. I might get too excited...

 

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[exclusives88]

I did something similar...

I had a canon 5d mark iii camera that I bought for $1,100. I ended up upgrading to a Nikon so I put the Canon on eBay and sold it for $1,500 within 2 days.

After eBay and PayPal fees, I probably only made $200.

I ended up going on camera forums and craigslist and guess what... found another canon 5d mark iii for $1,100. I bought it. And ended up selling for $1,450 this time. As I’m scanning around, I see another one for similar pricing...

You can replicate this with cameras and lense. They are also small to ship cheaply and don’t lose much value. A lot of people upgrade after the new model comes but there is still demand for the old gear.

All it takes is some time to search for th right item and some photography skills....

Photography makes a huge difference when selling a used product.

 

[Sander]

I don't flip very often. But my favorite strategy is to take someone's ad from craigslist and post it onto facebook marketplace with a higher price. If I get reasonable offers then I will try and negotiate with the original seller so that I can get his item for a lowball price in order to resell it.

A quick $50 is much more enjoyable than having to work 5 hours as a stock boy. Now I have a ton of free time to build my business.

Actually, trying this. Have made a few listings tonight. Will report back how it goes.

 

[NateTheGreat]

I don't flip very often. But my favorite strategy is to take someone's ad from craigslist and post it onto facebook marketplace with a higher price. If I get reasonable offers then I will try and negotiate with the original seller so that I can get his item for a lowball price in order to resell it.

A quick $50 is much more enjoyable than having to work 5 hours as a stock boy. Now I have a ton of free time to build my business.

I've seen this done before (in other settings), but you have to be careful using the same images. I've seen where that same seller will be on both sites and will call you out openly - especially if the Craigslist site and Facebook Group are in the same narrow location. But it can be done.

---------------

Great write-up overall. I usually stick to the older ones that didn't sell. That way they are more open to lowering their price further. But for your technique of many bids and few answers, your quick offers work well. Nice job!

 

[Morethan1]

Here are some things I've learned from doing this:

Buy from one platform and sell to another
So obviously, you're not going to make much money when buying from eBay just to sell back to eBay. Find where the enthusiasts are and sell to them directly, usually at a mark up, since they know the product and are actively looking for it.

Buy low, sell high
Buy slightly broken things that need a simple fix. These items will sell for less, thus increasing your profit margin.

The rest of the stuff has already been covered, taking good pics, not being a dick when dealing with people (even though people are sometimes dicks) etc.

Have fun!

 

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[Deleted52409]

I've seen this done before (in other settings), but you have to be careful using the same images. I've seen where that same seller will be on both sites and will call you out openly - especially if the Craigslist site and Facebook Group are in the same narrow location. But it can be done.

I take many precautions in order to help prevent this such as having multiple facebook accounts, multiple phone apps, checking both websites for the ad, and screening the person to see how involved they are on marketplace.

In my region, the ideal person to arbitrage off is someone who is unable to sell his item on craigslist because he doesn't realize that most people in our region use facebook marketplace. If it's been a couple weeks without a sale it's a very easy lowball.

I find that my biggest problem is actually flakey buyers more than anything else. If I don't get multiple offers on the item I am less likely to be willing to flip it. I just don't like to deal with the risks of selling on ebay. More offers, more likelihood this won't happen.

 

[amp0193]

I do this with washers & dryers sometimes too but it puts too much pressure on me and I don't like to do it. I'm just in this to keep busy and have fun. It can be done but I don't like pressure. lol

Not to mention the pressure of selling an appliance you didn't have time to check to see if it worked or not.

But, the upside was worth the risk for sure.

I did a few deals like this when I was doing appliances. Selling a set, and then having to go find one of the pieces of the set.

 

[minivanman]

Yes, it is best to keep them a week to make sure they work correctly. Just 1 of the many reasons we don't carry them. Too big and bulky... people want them delivered and I do not want to be responsible for getting them in and out of their house. The only reason I sold that one is because it all came together so nice and if it went to hell I was only going to be out $80.

My house cleaner (she is here now) sells tables on the side. She does pretty well. She shines them up and doubles her money usually.

 

[mikeyjd]

Fridges take 48 hours to test. Force defrost. Check ice maker. 5% call back rate on a 1-year warranty. We test 18 fridges at a time.

 

[Sander]

I don't flip very often. But my favorite strategy is to take someone's ad from craigslist and post it onto facebook marketplace with a higher price. If I get reasonable offers then I will try and negotiate with the original seller so that I can get his item for a lowball price in order to resell it.

A quick $50 is much more enjoyable than having to work 5 hours as a stock boy. Now I have a ton of free time to build my business.

And if you don't feel good about using other people's images, you can try to use a product image of the item, if that's possible.

But yes, this can work.

 

[amp0193]

I've seen this done before (in other settings), but you have to be careful using the same images. I've seen where that same seller will be on both sites and will call you out openly - especially if the Craigslist site and Facebook Group are in the same narrow location. But it can be done.

Better to do in a big city of course.

You'd definitely want to be operating multiple facebook accounts anyways, as I'm sure Marketplace would start to ghost you if you were posting too much stuff.

 

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[Deleted52409]

Better to do in a big city of course.

You'd definitely want to be operating multiple facebook accounts anyways, as I'm sure Marketplace would start to ghost you if you were posting too much stuff.

Thank you so much for the reps!!!

I have multiple call/text apps on my phone and 3 facebooks accounts. And yes, I definitely would have a much easier time if I lived in a bigger city! Things are all spread out where I live and that's exactly why it's not my main focus.

 

[Bryan James]

If you can, I suggest to buy used vehicles from Facebook Marketplace and flip them for thousands in net profit. There are some seriously undervalued prices there in the "vehicle" section. Also, wish.com has some items for way too cheap that can easily be flipped with extremely high margins. Very basic: buy low, sell high. It works as long as there are people who actually want what you're selling and are aware that you're selling it.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

UPGRADED, NOTABLE.

 

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[KLaw]

Hell, the fruit loop will never know.... I'll wear it and then sell it. The only problem I see is there is no way in hell I'll be able to fasten the bra behind my back. How do they do that?

Now, you are talking about a niche market. Fck a bra, just wear a g-string for a day. Premium dollars. Lol. Btw. I won't be hiring you for any plumbing work.

 

[minivanman]

More than 1 profile? Well I have no idea what you are talking about.....

You have to watch Facebook and profiles. They caught on to me back when I was a rookie and booted every name I had. There is also a trick to posting on 40 buy/sell/trade groups a day. Facebook calls it spamming. I'm a member of right at 400 buy/sell/trade groups, or should I say, one of my multiple personality disorder' is a member of right at 400 FB groups. For me, I run a lot of different businesses from Facebook so I need a different one for each. And to keep me straight for which name I'm getting on, I have a different iPad for each. lol Or, if I'm doing something that will take a lot of typing and I really need to see it (I'm getting old and can't see these days) I will get on my Mac. I also have different names for people that sell for me so if that person quits, I still have that name... unless they are a prick and change the password.

We were just talking about this a few hours ago.... my buddy sells what he got for free. But, for example, if someone is giving away a free lawnmower, he will get it, fix what is wrong with it, clean it up and sell if for maybe $125. Now everyone and their grandma gets on his case about.... you got that for free and now you're selling it!!! He explains.... yes, I got it for free, I repaired it so it now works perfect, spent an hour cleaning it up and now I'm selling it. I showed him a way to get around this bitching from people but I'm going to leave that up to you to figure out. I don't like giving up all my secrets.

As for making a new profile name.... just make it. I find that a female name sells better so I think you look like an Allison Davis, or better yet, you look like Allison Davis' brother. Not too popular yet easy enough to maybe remember if they see it again. No sexy picture, be really conservative. Make her homely looking. lol

Potential buyer... Allison, can you give me a call about the tv you have for sale? I'm kind of tied up right now but my brother (your name here) will give you a call.

I am not saying that you should do any of this, I'm just saying what goes on when dealing with people on the internet. Maybe if you are trying to buy something, this is happening to you and you never know....

 

[daivey]

Thanks for sharing these awesome tips, Mr. OP, Appleseed and Omega.

I've been working on this myself, armed with a modest budget and living in nyc, I thought I would have the best chance at succeeding... One week later and bust. I either have no eyes for deals (yet!) or focusing on the wrong items. Again thanks for sharing.

Here's the thing with the "flip" and "hustle" that you see a lot of this online.

Can you do it? Yes
But you will need to invest a lot of time in it, learning a few niches/products, inside and out, so that you know what to look for.

In larger city centers and urban areas, where the population is "smarter", university educated, and have professional jobs, it becomes more difficult to flip the smaller gadgets/gizmos, because people are not dumb. That is, you're not going to get an iphone for $50 and sell it for $400. It's almost impossible to do that in a large city.. Unless you buy it from a grandma that doesn't know what she has and trying to get rid of it.

the other issue with that is that there are thousands of people doing the same thing - specially in a big city. Again, people are not dumb.

The price abritage is being wittled away because lots of people are doing this same "hustle".

Even "low balling" people, will likely results in a lot of no answers. You might snag a few "yes" to desperate people, or might be able to open the door to negotiate, but it's rather difficult.

I'm not "whining" and saying it's not impossible. What I am saying is that POPULAR, COMMON items, that easy to flip and take no effort, likely have their margins reduced because of how easy/common the information is.
So this is where you need to use knowledge and elbow grease/sweat equity to make any profit. And it will be hard.


is it worth it? in my opinion, in large cities, in 2018, the craiglist hustle is pretty much gone. The time you will need to spend to make it worth your while- you may as well do the best u can at your current job.

 

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[Sander]

Haven't been doing this for a while. Busy with school, freelance writing, travel etc.

This morning I thought I would give it a go today, just for fun.

Two minutes in, I found a listing with two TV's for a pretty good price. A 37" and 32" for a total of $74. I offered $59 in cash, and I would pick it up right away. She accepted.

The ride was 10 minutes each way.

Picked up the TV's, drove straight to an used electronic store, which buys and sells TV's, iPhones, computers etc.

Had my hopes up for a better price, but took the lowball offer at $45 each. Could've re-listed online, but didn't want to store them, don't have much space at the moment.

Still made around 50% profit, and now I have around $31 more in my pocket than I did this morning. Minus a buck or two in gas.

 

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[Jello]

I don't flip very often. But my favorite strategy is to take someone's ad from craigslist and post it onto facebook marketplace with a higher price. If I get reasonable offers then I will try and negotiate with the original seller so that I can get his item for a lowball price in order to resell it.

A quick $50 is much more enjoyable than having to work 5 hours as a stock boy. Now I have a ton of free time to build my business.

I like this. Bold [emoji6]

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G955F met Tapatalk

 

[NateTheGreat]

In my region, the ideal person to arbitrage off is someone who is unable to sell his item on craigslist because he doesn't realize that most people in our region use facebook marketplace. If it's been a couple weeks without a sale it's a very easy lowball.

I find that my biggest problem is actually flakey buyers more than anything else. If I don't get multiple offers on the item I am less likely to be willing to flip it. I just don't like to deal with the risks of selling on ebay. More offers, more likelihood this won't happen.

Yep, I see your point exactly. In my area, a lot of people use Facebook marketplace for smaller items like smaller electronics. If going to bigger, more expensive things, then Craigslist is definitely where to go. I try to typically aim at the ads that have been on the site for a few weeks, because like you said, easy lowball.

I am like you in that regard with the offers. Product needs to be in somewhat high demand and to get multiple offers. It's just easy to buy from your area and resell in the same area if you can take advantage of the price arbitrage right in your backyard instead of going to eBay.

 

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