Reselling

Reselling is my favorite side hustle because you can do it on any level that you are ready for starting out. Even if you only have a couple hundred dollars starting out you can start reselling items in your budget and work your way up from there. In this section we will go over a few examples of things you can resell and some tips for finding and selling these items. This section will be ordered from the least expensive item to more expensive items so depending on what your budget is you can always skip ahead.

If you are starting out with just a couple hundred dollars the cheapest and easiest way to get into reselling is by making use of garage sales and used good sites like Offer Up, Facebook Marketplace, Freecycle, and Craigslist. You can find items at these places that can cost you as little as $5 and you can even find items for free that you can resell. To find some garage sales in your area try joining local Facebook groups in your area and searching up garage sales in those groups. You can also go to sites like garagesalefinder.com to find garage sales in your area. Most garage sales are held on weekends so try checking every weekend for garage sales that are going on and spend the day driving around to multiple of them to make the best use of your time. While looking through garage sales try to find things like sports cards, video games, vintage designer clothes, tools, furniture, and art. Once you find something you think may be valuable that you can profit on, go to eBay and search the item and then set the filters to show only sold listings so you can see what the items are selling for. Be sure to consider how much shipping will cost or if you believe you will be able to sell the item locally on Offer Up which you can also check sold listings on.

Aside from garage sales, the best place that I used to use when looking for things to flip was Facebook Marketplace and Offer Up. Items listed on these platforms tend to sell for less than on eBay because they require the buyer to meet the seller in person. I do not recommend getting items shipped through these services because there is much more scamming happening on there than on eBay. I loved checking for used phones that are unlocked with clean IMEI numbers, other used electronics like game systems and computers, couches that you can clean up and resell, home appliances and shoes just to name a few things. The great part is you can choose to focus on items that you can afford, and you can directly compare the prices they are charging on Offer Up an FB Marketplace with what they are selling for on eBay. Just be sure to meet people in public areas and don’t let them rush you when you are trying to inspect your items. If you choose to resell shoes or hype beast clothing from these platforms, I recommend using a shoe checking service like the LEGIT APP-Legit Check on Ios or android. You can send pictures through the app and get a verdict on if the items are fake or not very quickly for only a couple dollars. If someone does not let you do this, they are most likely fake and you should leave.

The best way to secure deals on Offer Up and Facebook Marketplace or really any platform is by negotiating. My favorite way to secure products that I know I can resell for more on eBay is to choose a few products to search like iPhones, Play Stations, Xboxes, or Jordan shoes and search them on those apps. I would then go through every listing regardless of what they are asking for them and message them offering the price that I know I can make good profit with. For example if a particular phone is selling for $600 used on eBay I will message every person selling that phone on Offer Up and Facebook and offer them $500. If I can just average buying and selling 1.5 of them a day that is $150 a day in profit or $1,050 a week with minimal work.

Although I have already mentioned it, I would like to go over the practice of selling couches and other furniture in a bit more detail because I know of people that have made over 6 figures a year just selling couches! If you have a truck or vehicle that can transport furniture then selling couches can be an amazing way to make great money. You should start by going on Facebook Marketplace and eBay and setting the filters to sold items for furniture so that you can get a good idea of what different types of furniture are selling for in different conditions. Once you have a good idea of what furniture is selling for in your area, you can start searching for couches, desks, nightstands, dressers, and bedroom sets around your area. Keep in mind the best condition to buy furniture in to make a profit flipping is dirty or in need of paint. Try to find quality furniture that may have had poor quality pictures posted on sites like Offer Up, FB Marketplace or Craigslist as well. Furniture in poor condition or that is hard to see in the pictures typically will sit for a while and you can come in and offer a price that you can make a profit with.

Once you find some furniture that you know you can make a profit on negotiate a good price and go pick it up as soon as you can. Then you can get to work on vacuuming your furniture if it is upholstered and then making a mixture of dish soap, hot water, and white vinegar that you can scrub into your furniture to remove any stains. Once you hit it with this mixture you can wipe it up with a Clorox wipe to remove any remaining stains and it should look much better than before. If the legs of your furniture are in bad shape you can sand them down a bit and restain them with some stain from home depot. If your furniture you bought is wooden and looks a bit beat up you can paint it a color that will look more modern and high quality like black or white. Once you have your furniture looking new you can focus on taking some pictures and posting them online. Make sure that you are taking as many pictures as you can with high quality lighting so your post will stand out above the other posts on FB Marketplace and Offer Up.

The last level of reselling we will talk about is cars. The main thing you will have to keep in mind with this though is that you are only allowed to sell 4 cars per year THAT WERE REGISTERED TO YOU without a car dealership license. Even if you do stick to this rule buying and selling 4 cars per year can make you pretty good money to supplement your income.

The best places to look for cars that you can flip in my opinion are Facebook Marketplace and Offer Up. These platforms have so many vehicles that have been sitting on there for long periods of time that the owners simply have not thought to repost once they got pushed down the list. Search for cars in your area and scroll down to some that have been sitting on the platform for a while. These people are typically desperate to get rid of the car because so many people have flaked out on them before and they have been waiting to get rid of them. Do some research on what these vehicles are actually selling for and make them an offer that will leave a good margin for profit. You can even go as far as submitting a description of a car to car max and seeing what they would pay for it. If you can purchase the vehicle for around that price, then it should be very easy to resell for a profit. Try to find cars that are in good shape mechanically but may have some rust or simply need deep cleaning on the exterior and interior. Cars that look rough will always sell for less than cars that appear to be in good shape so you should take advantage of this fact.

Once you find a car that just needs a little cosmetic love you can haggle to a price that makes sense for the work you will put in and the profit you will make. It may seem a bit unethical but always make a lower offer once you go to look at the car based on things that may be wrong. Even if it is an amount that is way lower than the car is worth they may just take it because they have had so many people waste their time already. This is especially the case if it is a car that has been sitting on the resell platform for a long time. Once you get the car you can sand off any rust that it has and order a touch up kit based on the color number that is typically listed on the sticker next to the driver’s door latch. Keep in mind that if the car has rust or has spots that are worn down to metal you will need a primer to keep it from rusting again as well as paint and a clear coat to give it that glossy finish. Give the car a nice detail inside and out before getting your paint done, and then prime if needed, paint and then clear coat trouble areas once your paint has dried. After you have your car looking in tip top shape spray some new car smell spray inside that you can order on Amazon, and you will be good to repost it with some quality pictures and a nice description. Make sure that you take your pictures right after a thorough wash so that your car is looking nice and shiny and get pictures of every inch of the car that you can. Once you post your car make sure to list it for a price that is about 10% more than you are willing to take for it so that you have room to negotiate. If you follow these steps, you can make great money selling a few cars a year and if it turns out to be something you enjoy you can end up applying for your auto dealers license and start making use of things like police auctions for seized cars where you can get even better deals.