Bootstrapping and Flipping on Craigslist Self-Employed Work from Home'

[Guest34764]

I wasn't going to make this thread but decided that by perhaps showing some of you this it'll motivate you to do something.So follow along in my journey of bootstrapping.

My real goal at the end of this is to make an e-commerce site and make some money on the side for other things.But the main goal is e-commerce.

I'm bootstrapping using sites like craigslist,apps like OfferUp,and other little selling platforms.

I have already made some progress flipping and selling because I wanted to be sure I would pull through with this.I'm currently flipping bikes that are either very old or bikes for casual cycling.

After every update, I will post a screenshot of google sheets that shows each bike being bought and sold.
I'll share my thoughts and tips along the way as I go.The end goal is a grand or two and perhaps a few car flips.
I should also note that I'm 16 with no car....So shit can get hard sometimes.My deals aren't always good and I'm still learning how to value and flip a bike so excuse shitty profits.

Anywho,here's the first google sheet screenshot.I'll update this weekly I suppose.

90$ from flipping and 130$ total (extra 40$ from somewhere else not related).Goal is always double what I paid for.

 

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[PTP]

That's awesome man!

If you're having trouble pricing, you could try and go onto ebay and see what similar bikes are going for just to get an idea.

 

[Guest34764]

That's awesome man!

If you're having trouble pricing, you could try and go onto ebay and see what similar bikes are going for just to get an idea.

Yeah, that's what I did with the Schwinn but it was pretty damn rusty and had a few problems so It threw off my valuation.Probably could have gotten maybe 70$ for it.My first two sales helped me a lot with knowing my area and what sells and doesn't.

 

[PTP]

Yeah, that's what I did with the Schwinn but it was pretty damn rusty and had a few problems so It threw off my valuation.Probably could have gotten maybe 70$ for it.My first two sales helped me a lot with knowing my area and what sells and doesn't.

Im sure as time progresses you will start to get a better feel for what will/wont sell as well as the price you can get for it.

Also, I was reading about someone who actually would buy bikes that had cosmetic damage and sell them after cleaning them up and making them more visually appealing. A lot less time intensive than fixing technical aspects of the bike.

It really depends on the availability of bike in your case I suppose because you dont have a the ability to drive all over town looking for different bikes.

 

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[Guest34764]

Also, I was reading about someone who actually would buy bikes that had cosmetic damage and sell them after cleaning them up and making them more visually appealing. A lot less time intensive than fixing technical aspects of the bike.

I was heavily considering this with the Schwinn bike.I did, however, spend an hour to two removing rust which worked pretty great.I'm looking at an old Peugeot Tourmalet that could need some cosmetic repair so I might repaint it.If I end up buying it I'll make an update on it.I should be buying two bikes tomorrow for 60$.They're shit tier Huffy bikes but apparently my area likes bikes like those.I'll flip and sell for 60$ each.

 

[PTP]

Definitely let me know how it goes and best of luck!

 

[Guest34764]

Got this old one today.I bought it for 60$.A pretty big dent in my pocket but 60$ Is a fair price to buy this bike at.I rode this and holy shit, It's definitely for a racer,it's an entry level race bike.The other deal I had going fell through once the man wanted me to pay 70$ to have it delivered to my house instead of the 60$ we agreed on earlier.The profit margin would have been small anyway since they were just Huffys.

1987 French Peugeot Tourmalet.Has all original parts but needs to be restored a bit.The rust is going to get removed and I'm considering repainting it and buying new tires.Or If I don't do that I'll just sell it at 100-120.Once fully restored it could go for 200-300.

I'm also downloading new apps that are like craigslist.I mainly use OfferUp but now I'll be posting on LetGo too.

 

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[JokerCrazyBeatz]

Keep it up with the good progress !

 

[Guest34764]

A bit longer than a week,but it's better not the focus on the internet and focus more on hustling.

Made a breakthrough with my lazy a$$ mind.I was working at maybe 40% now I'm working near 100% with my mindset.I thought just sitting around selling one bike and waiting a week for it to be sold was what I should do.But that's F*cking stupid.How would I make money off of sitting on my a$$ waiting for one bike to be sold?So bought another bike.I'm selling one bike on Friday and listing the other tomorrow.After I sell these two I'm looking for a storage unit so I can fit 3 bikes or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7.Storage units are pretty cheap at 50$ a month and one is very close to me so I'll more than likely buy one.

BUY BUY BUY.I shouldn't have waited so long to realise this even though I knew the steps I had to take.

I'll be making more than minimum wage will make me this Friday.Following that, I'll be increasing exponentially.Stay tuned for some more hustling.No more sitting around.

Current money=10$
After the first bike is sold=110$
After the next bike=210$
One other item getting sold this Friday for 40$
So all thing go right,around 250$ after all sales.
Although I only started using 40$ I still think I've made slow progress.

I'll update this once I sell all bikes in inventory.

 

[rc08234]

Nice, I wouldnt waste money on a storage unit. I would deff look into other options.

I bet the hipsters would love that Peugeot. I would deff look into targeting them somehow for that bike. Maybe local coffee shops that have like poetry readings lol.

 

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[Guest34764]

I bet the hipsters would love that Peugeot. I would deff look into targeting them somehow for that bike. Maybe local coffee shops that have like poetry readings lol.

Peugeot is getting sold this Friday for 100$.Not exactly doubling my money but I perhaps shouldn't have bought it.The Shogun I just got today.looking to sell it for 100-120.With my current house situation, a storage unit is not a bad option.Trust me I would love to be able to store them in my house.

 

[Ron Dee]

Make sure to search the other great boot strapping threads on the site. So much valuable information. I got my start after reading rich kids threads. Stuck with Craigslist until over 10k in profit then want another direction. Learned so many subtle negotiating tactics that help daily .

I remember narrowing down my searches after a few months. I had a list of keywords to search daily and I knew what buyers would pay for these items. Made finding profitable items faster. Keep it up and never pay asking price!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Guest34764]

Thanks for the reply!Yeah I've gone about a few threads on bootstrapping here.Definitely some good information that i'll have to go over tonight.

Asking price?What's that?

 

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[Ron Dee]

Whatever the price someone would like for the item for sale. Don't be afraid to start with an offer of 50% of asking price and go from there.

Didn't see the emoji till after I replied sounds like you have that part figured out.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Guest34764]

Another update.Two bikes sold.

I've made some good profit, but progress is slow.Maybe because I started with 40$?Perhaps.I decided to pick up another bike out of the blue because I thought it was a good deal.Bought it for 40$ and I posted it today and within 10 minutes I had a buyer.Sold it for 110$.

Also sold that damn Peugeot.Took me a little more than a week, but at least It's sold and out of the way.Made 40$ on it.Meh.The Shogun has yet to be sold but I have a few people interested so I'll likely sell it very soon for around 100-130.Has my progress been slow?Have any ideas to go faster?Besides buying more bikes.Thanks for reading, here's the progress report.

Current Money-180$
Current Inventory-Shogun Safari
Money after Shogun-280-300$

 

[DuncDad]

Well done


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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[Guest34764]

So I finally got 300$.It's been a long crawl starting at 40$.

Have I done good?I think so, considering my current situation.However, I'm not sure what I should do now.Selling and buying bikes isn't as easy as you'd think.I could continue selling bikes, or I could invest in a vending machine.I could also flip other items, and I could also put some money into investing stocks/bitcoin (yes,I know bitcoin...).

My main goal at the end of this all is a eccomerce website, I could just start a site now and do dropshipping.However,If i do vending machines that goal could change.

Anyone got some guidance for me?

 

[Azure]

So I finally got 300$.It's been a long crawl starting at 40$.

Have I done good?I think so, considering my current situation.However, I'm not sure what I should do now.Selling and buying bikes isn't as easy as you'd think.I could continue selling bikes, or I could invest in a vending machine.I could also flip other items, and I could also put some money into investing stocks/bitcoin (yes,I know bitcoin...).

My main goal at the end of this all is a eccomerce website, I could just start a site now and do dropshipping.However,If i do vending machines that goal could change.

Anyone got some guidance for me?

Where are you that bikes are so cheap? You could sell that Peugeot here in Toronto for an easy 250-300.

 

[Guest34764]

Well, I wish I was in Toronto then.I live in Florida,But I'm like one hour away from the hotspot of biking that is Clearwater.

To be fair that Peugeot was not in the best of conditions.

EDIT:Buying a Cannondale tomorrow,super excited.This will be my first big purchase!Buying for 150 and will try to sell for 300.Will update with pictures of it because Cannondale.

 

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[LleixG]

Did you try buying and selling Apple products?

 

[TonyStark]

Good job.

 

[Hristo]

This is really fun to read. Keep it up man.

 

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[rogen]

Great read! waiting for updates, I'm bootstraping for eCommerce site too, but I do it by freelancing online

 

[Guest34764]

Did you try buying and selling Apple products?

No, I've tried staying away from them.The first reason I stayed away is because I didn't have enough money to buy one (unless it was a previous model), and second because I didn't really know too much about them.The first reason was the main one.

Since flipping bikes I've learned quite a bit about them and I've been able to fix some issues on them.Direct exposure to any product will do that to you I think.So now I'm at the point where I have 300$, I can now buy the big boy bikes (or at least some of them).

I'll post pictures of the Cannondale I get today, but I'll be shelling out 150$ or a little less.It was listed as 300$, but I got it down to 150
Since I haven't really posted anything valuable I might post pictures or list steps of cleaning a bike or I might show you how to test it before buying.

 

[Guest34764]

This is really fun to read. Keep it up man.

Good job.

Great read! waiting for updates, I'm bootstraping for eCommerce site too, but I do it by freelancing online

Thanks for all the kind words, to address @rogen yeah freelancing online seems to work pretty well.What type of work do you do?

 

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[Guest34764]

This bad bitch right here.Holy crap man.I picked it up for 150$ and the dude gave me free gear too.I'm listing it for 500$ and going from there.This thing is more of a beast than I thought.It has USA stickers on it, and has a drawn map on the frame.I'm not sure if this specific Cannondale 600 Jekyll is rarer than the other ones, but I'm sure it'll fetch me more money for having the designs on it.Extremely pleased with this pick-up.If I get 500$ I will literally go insane.

I'll try to make a little mini guide in this post I suppose since I said I would.

First:What's important when buying a used bike?

The most important thing is if it is rideable.I have yet to pick up a bike if it is in disrepair.Just don't do it.Unless it's a Cannondale 600 Jekyll going for 50$.If you're starting out just like I did, with almost zero knowledge about bikes, don't buy a complete junker.You'll spend hours of fustration and many $ trying to fix it.

Second:What should I look out for?

Almost everything,always check every listing.The only listing I avoid are listing's that advertise Granite Peak bikes.They're shit and won't make you any profit.However, your focus should go towards good name brand bikes like Fuji,Cannondale, and Schwinn.I should say though that even Schwinn branded bikes can be complete garbage bikes.Just like how Trek makes some really well-made bikes, they also make garbage too.

Third:You finally found a good bike and you're going to test it out.What should you do?

Test the hell out of it!ALWAYS TEST RIDE A BIKE!!!!This again, goes without saying.If you fail to test ride a bike and end up getting a punctured wheel, bad shifters, or the like; it's on you.While you test ride make sure to take note of anything that is making noises, and make sure to shift gears.Some noises that come from a bike can get fixed with some simple lube, while others can mean more serious issues with the chain or cassete.If the bike has shock absorbers make sure to push down on them to test them.

Oh oh!I found a problem what do I do?

Depends.I'm no wizard at bikes so It's up for you to make the call if you still want to purchase it or not.If It's something like a bad tube, that's usually an easy fix.However, if there's a more serious issue you can either back away from the deal or push that point to get the price discounted on the bike.It's extremely important to know how a bike works and the parts it's made out of.Check out diagrams like these and get yourself familarized with them.The more you know about bikes the easier it is for you to make mechanical fixes and find those diamonds in the rough.


That basically covers buying a bike, albiet simplified it should help a little.A tip is to always carry tools with you when you go to peoples houses in case you have to tighten or loosen a bolt.The next mini-guide I'll make will be about cosmetic fixes on the bike.However, that guide will be much smaller.I'll post that guide in a day or two, and I'll post a guide on selling bikes after I've sold my bad bitch, Cannondale.

If you want to flip bikes check out this channel.It has nothing to do with flipping bikes, but they have so many damn videos on doing bike fixes.They've helped me a ton.

https://www.youtube.com/user/globalcyclingnetwork

If you have any questions feel free to ask them, I'm no expert but I should be able to give you an answer.

 

[Guest34764]

Here's a great example of a bike diagram.

 

[InspireHD]

This thread is great. I hope that Cannondale sells for $500!

I never heard of OfferUp, so thanks for that resource.

I have a really stupid question, but it's something I think about. Do you ever fear that you're buying a stolen bike? I feel like that is what holds me back from Craigslist. I always feel like I'm buying something stolen. I live near a major city and hear too many horror stories. I'm probably overthinking it, but it's something I have to think about.

About a year ago, I saw a garage sale on Craigslist and everything left was free. It was around the corner from me so I decided to go out. I got a little box full of bicycle parts. I always thought about throwing them up on ebay, but haven't done it yet.

And, sorry if I missed it. Any tips for finding underpriced bikes on Craigslist or OfferUp? Any specific search terms? Or do you just go into lowballing them and hoping to get someone to bite?

 

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[Guest34764]

I have not once thought about buying a stolen bike.Usually doesn't happen in my area and if you know a little about bikes I bet you can tell if it's stolen right away.I've yet to encounter someone like that but I bet there are giveaways like the person is trying to sell it as fast as he or she can.Perhaps the person will literally take any offer on the bike, they just want it gone.The owner could make up an obvious lie on where he got it.He could be trying to dodge questions and be evasive, or have very little knowledge about what he's selling.

I feel like in that situation there should be an indicator to tell you.However,

If a deal ever feels wrong in your gut, don't take it.Just walk away.

Better to be safe than sorry, also if you can open carry, do so.I always bring my father with
me on deals and I carry a small knife in my pocket.

I never heard of OfferUp, so thanks for that resource.

There are tons of apps like that.However, I will say that I've had the most success from Offerup.More so than Craigslist.

 

[InspireHD]

There are tons of apps like that.However, I will say that I've had the most success from Offerup.More so than Craigslist.

I like that OfferUp site. I just spent a little bit getting familiar with it.

Any tips for finding the underpriced deals? Do you just make an offer and see if they accept? What about search terms? I like this idea of bootstrapping. I have a little bit of a bankroll that I need to start investing.