Go to Yardsales

[enjoyprogress]

<p>I do this all the time. I go to yardsales and look for old / small trinkets and things I know the value of.<br /><br />And if I don't know the value of the item. I use a website called&nbsp;<strong>terapeak</strong>.com to figure out its value and how often it sells on ebay and other analytics. (It costs $20.00 a month)<br /><br />When your out searching keep in mind to find small items. Both for storage and shipping cost purposes.<br /><br />If you have access to internet on a daily basis. This could be a way to make some money. Also Swapmeets are a really cool place to sell / find items. Here in Kingman Az you can make deals with the owner to live in the gated area for periods of time and sell on the weekend.<br /><br />This isn't for everybody. But I thought I would bring it to your attention if it could work for you.<br /><br /></p>

 

[enjoyprogress]

You can do that. But with terapeak you can go back months at a time to look at past sales. Which is really handy if you have an item that is rare or hard to find.&nbsp;<br /><br />For me I enjoy Terapeak because I can see the percentage of how well the item actually sold compared to how many didn't sell.<br /><br />There are a lot of little features that it has that makes it handy. But at $20 a month. I wouldn't get it unless you really need it. I use it every day so for me it makes sense.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Are you really able to make any money on ebay doing yard sales though?&nbsp;&nbsp; It seems to me after all the fees and with so many other listings (out of china too) you would find it hard to pull ahead these days.

 

[enjoyprogress]

This is what I do for a living. I buy and sell. Stick to small items. Don't always buy things just to buy. Hold out for good deals. Sometimes there are dry spells.&nbsp;<br /><br />I make the best money on old stuff. Collectible old stuff. Old telephone company stuff. Anything that has to do with model trains is usually profitable if you buy right. Certain cameras. There is a lot of stuff out there that someone has had for years and wants it gone. Some of it is worth more &amp; a lot of it is trash.<br /><br />They key is knowing what your average sale price is going to be before you buy. Know your odds of selling the item before you buy &amp; buying it at the right price.<br /><br />You really don't want items that are all over ebay.<br /><br />Yes there are fee's. But thats business. The fee structure is different depending on what catagory you sell in &amp; the final price.<br /><br />Also once you have a good ranking in ebay. Ebay starts favoring you in the search results and you sell more. Its hard when you first start. I'll admit that.&nbsp;<br /><br />This isn't for everyone. But if want to make extra cash start learning the values of various items. After a while you start to memorize all this and will have a good eye for knowing what to get at yard sales &amp; anywhere else you can.<br /><br />Also. Always check the sale bins at stores. Its not often but every now and again you can find something you know fetches more on ebay.<br /><br />Also sometimes things on ebay are cheaper than locally. It works both ways.&nbsp;<br /><br />All of this takes time. Not all my income is from ebay. Im always trying to hustle and sell anywhere I can.<br /><br />Once I become fully mobile. This will change up a bit but my overhead will be lower.&nbsp;<br /><br />Also if you decide to purchase from a wholesaler and want to be fully mobile. You may want to go with selling on amazon. You can pay to have them ship out all your items. You can find all that info on their site if you search around enough. Its kind of confusing at first. But basically You pay based on weight and size and how long its been there.<br /><br />I'm lucky and I live near las vegas. So I attend trade shows whenever I can. The easiest show to get into is the ASD show. Get a tax license and go. From there network with companies and ask if they go to other shows. This is your ticket to get into more exclusive shows. Once you purchase from them you can generally get yourself into the other shows they attend.<br /><br />Also on the last day of the shows most of the companies will sell out their entire booth or individual items well below their wholesale rates because it would cost to much to ship it back to wherever they are from. You can really get some good deals doing this.<br /><br /><br />Anyways this has been a bit of a ramble. But my point is. Keep your eyes open &amp; you will find there is a lot of money just laying around.

 

[enjoyprogress]

Also Etsy is a great website to sell older &amp; handmade items. Some times old stuff fetches a lot more there than on ebay. Since the people there are really after cool old stuff.

 

[enjoyprogress]

Another overlooked medium is facebook. This can be used kind of like craigslist except you get to tell all your friends with what you have. Instead of other people searching for it. Just don't over do it.

 

[enjoyprogress]

One more. Look into the wanted section of craigslist. People are asking for things there. Sometimes they want free or dirt cheap. Just ignore those and look for ones that you think you could source quickly. There is a slight amount of danger here. Since they may not want to buy your exact item (for whatever reasons) or they already bought it while you were searching.

 

[enjoyprogress]

A fringe benefit of selling on ebay is getting loans through <a href="https://www.kabbage.com/">kabbage.com</a>. They give out loans based on your sales and whatnot. You don't actually have to use the money for ebay. You could actually use the money in an emergency. I have terrible credit &amp; I can get about $1300 from them right now. Thats after only being with them for a few months and after a few loans. I pay a little off everyday &amp; the more sales you do the more they will loan you. Its a nice way to get ahead.

 

[enjoyprogress]

I don't mean to "Spam" this thread but I feel that since I grew up in a self employed family I know a decent amount about making money &amp; I would love to share my knowledge with anyone that wants to put it into action. There is enough out there for us all to get ahead and live the lives we want.

 

[offroad]

enjoyprogress - am liking your discussion. You are adding a lot of new information.

for the yard sale folks here is my tip. Buy a copy of MICROSOFT STREETS AND TRIPS. Get a list of all the addresses of the local garage-yard-tag sales and enter in the addresses to plan out a route with MS STREETS. You get an optimized route. Then go to them all in the first two hours of when they open. You can find some incredible good stuff for sale.

 

[She]

Yes I agree with offroad I never thought of FB . I do have something to sell...going to put it on now. Thanks!