Earn Few Bucks When Bored

FistFullOfCash · May 1, 2024

This one isnt overcomplicated but really you should know the market of what you are buying/selling. Like these Pokemon came up today on a Marketplace app, 2 sealed Pokemon Battle Figure packs for $4.50, plus shipping. Used a coupon to cover the whole order basically except like $0.18 cents. I could easily retail these out $10 each perhaps.

Heres how it went down.. Get the market price of what you plan to resell, a new sealed Pokemon maybe sells fast for $10, certain ones are more sought after than others. But what I mean to say here is, learn a few product niche(s) and get a handle of prices. I have been on Chronos24 App for a long time and still am not comfortable buying & selling watches, but if I spend enough time reading listings and learning then itll be fine down the road. Lots of markets, choose a couple to source from, but have a couple ones to offload product on.

So what I did was I was on Mercari and used a keyword, then sorted lowest to highest with some criteria. Its rare to get to work with these low ticket items because shipping eats up like $6-7, remember that. What I used to do was do this arbitrage stuff on VeVe marketplace because there it was digital goods, but they changed owners and KYC kinda ruined transfers. Then on AliExpress I saw they had a coupon too and I got another Battle Figure for like $1 total.

There will always be people who try to unload perfectly good stuff because they are misinformed, dont care, are lazy, mistake the spelling or trying to make room for other inventory. No matter what the reason, take the opportunity before someone else does. This probably works better with items over $35. I would stay away from used/refurbished....

I was inspired to try.. because of the boy who traded a paperclip on Craigslist into a Porsche.

AuxWritzau · May 1, 2024

That's neat, thanks for sharing...

MoonStarz · May 2, 2024

Hot Wheels is another one, buy cheap sell expensive and few of those are collectibles but most hot wheels are sold on auctions instead of a fix price sometimes they get more money depending on the collectible or car.

Linkies · May 2, 2024

Could probably do the same with second-hand legos as well that stuff is expensive as hell

FistFullOfCash · May 2, 2024

The downside is because you are buying as a retail user, they collect sales tax. If you are dropshipper or wholesaler you can wave that on your purchase with a seller permit and I get free shipping from my distributor. I have been applying to different suppliers certified in my paid directories of wholesalers.

Also selling fees places like eBay are 10%+ (so multiply gross sale X.9). There's different business models Im running being in different apps, each has its different pros and cons. Working to develop my Walmart MarketPlace business now before going onto Amazon after some invoice rejections.

I just tested the Display ad promotions but it ate up too much profit. Got 115+ listings, 30 in-house sku in my inventory currently and 45 more in the mail. Pushing it to 250 listings or more to max my limits. Pricing wise I play with the numbers to see what works but I'm not usually the cheapest listing, especially when you add on shipping. I think a lot of people are opting for like $1 profit on a sale, they probably have Uline bulk envelopes and stuff, but I can't operate on such slim profit.

Mistakes I made was bought 32 of on item, which isn't moving fast enough. So I moved to buying many sku at low wholesale amount. But really I see Terapeak on eBay and should be using it more for my research. You get 250 free listings with the $8 mo store. Don't underestimate the value of a winning product. I buy sets of different assortment of items, like 6 or 8 in a case, anyways one or two will sell way more than the others. It's not a fluke, watch your views!

Legos are expensive! Hot wheels have low perceived value but can do sets of different bundles when you have an inventory.

jonathan101 · May 2, 2024

I like this, thanks for sharing. Will check it out.

FistFullOfCash · May 2, 2024

Tip: Read the description on each listing because you may otherwise be buying a wrapper or something if you dont figure out the condition within 2 minutes from the picture & details. People still to this day on eBay will sell you a empty box or picture if you do not read the description!!!!

MerCari allows you to make offers up to 25% below the listing price. I have been making some offers, but its sad you cannot offer lower. I want to test out offers more, with eBay especially. Its like Real Estate or any business, you have to be buying correct and the best thing to do is make more offers. So know your pricing. Do not buy with emotion and do not buy what you think is cool. Go off the market, check eBay for market value (Not just buy it now, but auction end pricing too. I used to do appraisals so figuring out the price on a pokemon or whatever isn't rocket science.

So I was looking today. Here is what I came up with "Sealed"/New with Free Shipping/Low to High... Ignoring all the McDonalds toys! Sometimes you find yourself wanting to break your own rules, but when the profit is only $1 or something I just move on. I have $8 in one account I want to spend with, lets see what we can do.

I like the Licensed stuff surrounding comics and such because of the small items shipping costs and value. If you start shipping vaccuum cleaners or something you will notice the shipping costs! Some stuff like CDs/DVDs I still dont touch to this day because it was a declining market so long. Everything has its pros and cons, but stay away from consumables for the obvious...they expire and can be recalled easier. Supplements is tempting, yeah, but I would rather buy that with a Wholesale Supplier like Vox.

Note: On filtering criteria for MerCari press; "For Sale"/"New" + Keyword | ***Choose appropriate Brand/Category if not correct.

If you have 1 item in your cart with shipping, you can sometimes bundle another item from the same seller to save on combined shipping. Remember if the price is abnormally low, it means the item listed will sell faster when views trickle in.

So after 10 minutes scratching the surface on low end products "sealed", this is what I came up with folk (Attached Picture). So 2 items with bundled shipping still came to too much, though I may make a couple dollars off the $6 + $7 shipping purchase, I dont think it is worth my time. Opted for the $6 purchase with free shipping. I am not too familiar with Fortnite, but I keep an open mind if there are dollars to be had.
________________________________________
Fortnite Love Ranger ($4.50 Expected Sale) + Buyer Pays Shipping

Fortnite Figure Omen ($10 Expected Sale) + Buyer Pays Shipping

Minus $7.14 Cost
=$7.36 Profit before eBay fee/Misc

Not bad for 10 minutes

Deckard_Cain · May 2, 2024

There's money in books, believe it or not. but it also takes a lot of time to learn which books are pristine, unread, which ones have value for collectors.
I used to sell on ebay before, but i got scammed so much there because ebay always tends to side with the buyer no matter the circumstances and now they say that i owe them money.

FistFullOfCash · May 2, 2024

Deckard_Cain said:
There's money in books, believe it or not. but it also takes a lot of time to learn which books are pristine, unread, which ones have value for collectors.
I used to sell on ebay before, but i got scammed so much there because ebay always tends to side with the buyer no matter the circumstances and now they say that i owe them money.

Yeah tough niche, I used to sell my college books after the semester was finished on Amazon back in 2011. I think for books, maybe sourcing offline then selling online would be good, possibly. I know deals pop up at storage units and stuff of thousands of books, people usually ignore the book as they as seen as tedious to move. Comic books though? Maybe something there...

Here is some offers I might make:
MerCari 1 (Offer $17)
MerCari 2 (Offer $6.96)
MerCari 3 (Offer $10 TTL)

So many niches and products that I don't see this getting saturated anytime soon because of the human element. I would limit this to a certain amount of time each day, but its not a bad thing to check the markets more often. This method sure gives you a excuse to be browsing listings when you feel bored.

I am looking for automation methods for this kind of method! I know on FB marketplace you can setup notifications and for Craigslist I can setup email notifications using IFTT to my email. Anyone else know any ways to get inbound notifications - FREE?

Lots of ways to earn with E-Commerce. I am interested in doing the LIVE SALES next to move products faster. Setup PoshMark/TikTok/Whatnot for their live stream feature(s) & loaded up on collectables. Looking at a wholesale lot of Pokemon cards, graded by PSA. Average cost on these for 100 sleeved is $1400 or so, average $14 cost. Got to research more and see what the retail end is. Used to collect cards as a kid, if only I still had them, sleeved.... I would be a rich man. If you do not test, you do not know; I don't trust peoples word these days. I will let you know when the Live Shows move forward...

Just started getting reviews trickling in on my marketplace accounts I sell from. 5 stars looks a lot better than no history! I like the platforms for their free traffic and they have features that are hard to replicate on a store. Running a WooCommerce store now, testing Ads, it is not as good as the courses said in 2018 lol

Pre-Orders = Too much market research!!!
White-Label/PLR = Works but branding a good product or bundle takes a little effort
Wholesale to Retail = Gold with the right supplier(s) & Items but you hold inventory
Flips: Gold, but time consuming
Dropshipping = Ok
Classifieds = Ok, forget the lowballers though. Better for sourcing these days.
Handmade/Local = Time consuming/Takes time to get supplies, MEH
Garage sales = Garbage tire kicker neighbors. Better for sourcing. Use Google Lense!
Retail arbitrage = Untested (Wanting to buy some cheap rocks, crystals like tiger eye and such then try. Dont like dealing with strangers at my home though)
Live Sales = Untested

Use those coupons and promotions when you see them. There is a BING plugin for IE I recall that automatically tries coupons. But usually the best offers are for new users. Like I got $300 sign on bonus from my bank last year. MerCari hands out $5 or $10 coupons sometimes. Whatnot has a thing where you do a webinar to access live sales then you can get $150 credit after you make a few live sales. If you are broke like half the BHW people here, don't pass on the "FREE MONEY"

You don't necessarily need to pay $2,000 to buy some product wholesale. To give you an idea, check this product which I will be adding in LOTS to my store(s). The following product I can buy 120 booster packs of for $27 TTL & easily double my money. By the time its Holloween, who knows... But this item I am considering as a product bonus because each pack runs $0.22 cents. The other boosters I have researched like Pokemon Sword and Shield, I have found CASES of product from $357-$420 (Shipping Included) - 144 Ct +.on these sleeved boosters, probably less on the non-sleeved. Individually it is not worth your time, the lowest average pack cost is around $2.40 on something like this, max $4.5-5 sale. Try LOTS of 5/10+ and don't forget volume pricing!

eBay Listing

TwilightHope · May 2, 2024

Cool share. Now, time to put this to test.

afu666 · May 2, 2024

thank you for sharing

Hunter Marlowe · May 2, 2024

Interesting, same thing happens to me at Goodwill sometimes. A few weeks ago I found a $100 MIDI controller for $15 as is, because they dont know how to work it. Intelligence arbitrage! Or yea laziness arbitrage

Starblazer · May 2, 2024

The knowledge of niche and customer mindset helps a lot. The beginners who just jump in without doing market research will struggle to resell the products. I guess replica watches is the most rewarding niche for resellers.

Arpito · May 2, 2024

Oh man!! Really well explained guide! Thank you so much!

Deckard_Cain · May 2, 2024

FistFullOfCash said:
t see this getting saturated anytime soon be

FistFullOfCash said:
Yeah tough niche, I used to sell my college books after the semester was finished on Amazon back in 2011. I think for books, maybe sourcing offline then selling online would be good, possibly. I know deals pop up at storage units and stuff of thousands of books, people usually ignore the book as they as seen as tedious to move. Comic books though? Maybe something there...

Here is some offers I might make:
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m76295731632/?ref=search_results (Offer $17)
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m17630135245/?ref=search_results (Offer $6.96)
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m91898021082/?ref=search_results (Offer $10 TTL)

So many niches and products that I don't see this getting saturated anytime soon because of the human element. I would limit this to a certain amount of time each day, but its not a bad thing to check the markets more often. This method sure gives you a excuse to be browsing listings when you feel bored.

Ive never done it fully online, I was friends with an author at the time when i started learning the difference between an unread book and all the other types of condition the books can be in. (There are many)
So i got over 100 books for free from this person because he had "duplicates" of them and he was running out of space to store all of them. Then i started putting them out for sale and learned about the differences in quality by doing that.
The thing is that if you want to continue with this type of business you have to visit a lot of second hand stores, because a lot of books are gifted to people that never even read them or open them... So that's where they end up, there's a lot of money to be made in second hand stores if you know what you're looking for.

FistFullOfCash · May 2, 2024

Hunter Marlowe said:
Interesting, same thing happens to me at Goodwill sometimes. A few weeks ago I found a $100 MIDI controller for $15 as is, because they dont know how to work it. Intelligence arbitrage! Or yea laziness arbitrage

So I can try to give you a piece of info I came upon.... There are "GoodWill Outlet(s)" in each region where all the items go to be sorted before sent to the retail stores. You can sort through GIANT containers of items before they hit the store. There's lots of crazy stories or people finding gold chains/money in jackets and stuff. At the Outlet stores you PAY BY THE POUND. GoodWill Outlets

& yes the condition really matters, you do not want to overstate condition on your listings. I try to over-deliver on value to my customers so I do not overstate the condition. I learned the hard way one time years back because I put "like new", but someone returned it for a refund after sniveling that it was just average. The eBay AI writer for the descriptions is NOT perfect either, make sure to read over it and edit mistakes.

The Pokemon cards have a grading through PSA and such. Also coins too. There's a cost to get things graded, its slow and you are without your items some time, but apparently if done right there's a lot of money in it. I am really trying to put more focus into getting PSA graded items over various used conditions going forward. If I find a way to get items graded in bulk for cheap and turn a larger profit then of course Im going to try find out the formula.

I have looked over a lot of different niches & business models. Happy to help you all get your feet wet with this method, but its more of a side thing. I like replenishable wholesale products and do a little high ticket dropshipping now. Though I like eBay, they are #3 behind Amazon and Walmart now, so its not the easiest making a huge income on now. You can turn other people's "trash" into "treasure" there though. Like not long ago I got some broken gold chains and other things my family would have thrown away, sold it for close to 2K.

I no longer like paying retail now that I have learned about getting things for resell. You almost never get real value buying from retail stores. I got a gold chain once heavily discounted for Black Friday, maneuvered through crowds of people to get the "deal" for $740 from a retailer, thinking I got a good deal. Ha, melt value was $300. Do your research till your eyes tire from the rays of the blue screen! Once you know some values, its more power to you. Then eventually you can do "flips" of cars, appliances, luxury watches or whatever you find to be a gravy-train! There's value in a lot of things, but try not to be a hoarder of items if you can and keep away the timewasters/scammers.

Found another one off MerCari while typing this.. Different figure collectable lot of 2 sealed, $15 total (Free Ship) that I can resell each for $15. MerCari is just one platform! There's classifieds, auction sites, private sellers, OfferUp, newspapers (Probate/Estate/Garage Sales). I live in a state with like 10% sales tax some places, so I think some of you in the USA that live in states like Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon with low/no sales tax can really have an edge over the competition with this method in particular.

Hunter Marlowe · May 2, 2024

FistFullOfCash said:
So I can try to give you a piece of info I came upon.... There are "GoodWill Outlet(s)" in each region where all the items go to be sorted before sent to the retail stores. You can sort through GIANT containers of items before they hit the store. There's lots of crazy stories or people finding gold chains/money in jackets and stuff. At the Outlet stores you PAY BY THE POUND. https://goodwilloutlets.com/goodwill-bins-california-store-locations/

Really cool to know!

Ive been into the pokemon card biz too

& yea a lot of different ways to source products, good info

FistFullOfCash · May 4, 2024

Hunter Marlowe said:
Really cool to know!

Ive been into the pokemon card biz too

& yea a lot of different ways to source products, good info

I hadn't tracked prices on cards in a long time and was surprised when I heard what a 1st edition Charizard was going for on auction, I had such a card graded and all my mother got for me in grade school for $365. I used to have a load of cards. Many many got ruined and some stolen. My collection today if it had been kept pristine would maybe be a million or more. Anyways, the cards seems a logical addition to my niches store. I like PSA graded cards because its more obvious what you have as far as condition, set by a expert. Was browsing their website and you have to send 10 bulk cards to be graded at $15 each.

I can see this working with different niches, but some of you may try electronics. I simply don't like refurbished/used. They go outdated quick too. At one time I wanted to take a local college class on fixing the electronics, to add some kind of extra value by fixing things but no time now.

Ah and remember, sometimes to get what you deserve from a item you may have to have it listed a little longer before you get a sale on it. I used to put some certain items at $1 auctions and set a reserve on eBay, BUT now it is so much fees to use reserve there. While we are on the topic of eBay I want to point out to everyone who does not know that watchers can also result in sales by sending them offers of 5%+ off the sale. I add small coupon to listings and it does have a take rate.

Shipping is something because some sellers make money on the shipping, but I think that since we have some competition undercutting everyone else, plus those that offer free shipping that we must get a little creative. You have to know your costs on the item. Look at those 2 figures I got for $6, the cost came to over a dollar more in fees then there is the envelope from USPS (USPS is the cheapest shipping provider/SurePost maybe next which is a USPS/UPS hybrid). I see that you can buy envelopes bulk from ULine, saving you $1 per envelope or so from the USPS prices of their envelopes that I have been using.

I just got some listings published on Walmart Marketplace, I have lots more to list soon but they are asking per-approval of the brand since they are licensed products. I got rejected from Bed, Bath & Beyond with my seller application though which I almost find funny, since the way they run things they will be going Bankrupt soon. They said I can reapply next year, I think I will pass. Got a couple used high ticket items from family I will try to get rid of on FB marketplace since Craigslist isn't what it used to be.

Back to this threads method for a second.. I want to get into higher ticket items, but I see potential in earning north of $40 profit per hour if this is done right with low ticket new items with little to no shipping costs, off my experience with MerCari. If I open 20 interesting items from the search page, I can usually find 1 deal I add to cart then examine before checkout. You should develop a bankroll because Ill tell you this, the worst regrets I have is opportunity loss. If you are buying products you can save a little of the fees if you use a credit cards with like 3% cashback points. Heck, if you are doing this as a business and buying tons, you may have travel points or something to fly around the globe. But thats not me because I dont pay for experiences, I make things happen.

I got you all to think in terms of new and sealed, but there are niches out there that this works with.........THAT ARE ANCIENT. Yeah I have been frequenting antique stores since a small child. I know some niche pricing info on WW2 goods and sterling silver, plus have an eye for certain things though I dont claim to be an expert. I like small items with good value, works well with shipping rates too. Saw a snus box from Austria-Hungaria in the late 1700s/early 1800s on eBay for $50, which I could have resold for a nice profit. Weird niche, but just goes to show you there is a lot out there. Going to expand this perhaps with this method as it can get you more sku's in your store(s) fast. Have some good favorites on MerCari to buy soon. I want to track like 20 product types, then I can source however much I want, when I need. Another example is I bought a WW2 knife from a antique store at not too much below their retail price after a little haggling, still I sold it to a reseller collector for $30 profit not long later at a deal.

Just know what you are buying though, if you can learn some of the markings/stamps. Knowing the jewelry stamps has saved me some money before. The last time I was in a antique store I was buying a "sterling silver keychain with monogram" but on the hoop it said a number which meant it had mostly other metals, got the consignment owner on the phone and struck a deal. Also, I dont believe in a lot of the restoring of items, buy in condition where it is not all worn then you dont need to worry so much about it

abraz774 · May 4, 2024

FistFullOfCash said:
Yeah tough niche, I used to sell my college books after the semester was finished on Amazon back in 2011. I think for books, maybe sourcing offline then selling online would be good, possibly. I know deals pop up at storage units and stuff of thousands of books, people usually ignore the book as they as seen as tedious to move. Comic books though? Maybe something there...

Here is some offers I might make:
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m76295731632/?ref=search_results (Offer $17)
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m17630135245/?ref=search_results (Offer $6.96)
https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m91898021082/?ref=search_results (Offer $10 TTL)

So many niches and products that I don't see this getting saturated anytime soon because of the human element. I would limit this to a certain amount of time each day, but its not a bad thing to check the markets more often. This method sure gives you a excuse to be browsing listings when you feel bored.

I am looking for automation methods for this kind of method! I know on FB marketplace you can setup notifications and for Craigslist I can setup email notifications using IFTT to my email. Anyone else know any ways to get inbound notifications - FREE?

Lots of ways to earn with E-Commerce. I am interested in doing the LIVE SALES next to move products faster. Setup PoshMark/TikTok/Whatnot for their live stream feature(s) & loaded up on collectables. Looking at a wholesale lot of Pokemon cards, graded by PSA. Average cost on these for 100 sleeved is $1400 or so, average $14 cost. Got to research more and see what the retail end is. Used to collect cards as a kid, if only I still had them, sleeved.... I would be a rich man. If you do not test, you do not know; I don't trust peoples word these days. I will let you know when the Live Shows move forward...

Just started getting reviews trickling in on my marketplace accounts I sell from. 5 stars looks a lot better than no history! I like the platforms for their free traffic and they have features that are hard to replicate on a store. Running a WooCommerce store now, testing Ads, it is not as good as the courses said in 2018 lol

Pre-Orders = Too much market research!!!
White-Label/PLR = Works but branding a good product or bundle takes a little effort
Wholesale to Retail = Gold with the right supplier(s) & Items but you hold inventory
Flips: Gold, but time consuming
Dropshipping = Ok
Classifieds = Ok, forget the lowballers though. Better for sourcing these days.
Handmade/Local = Time consuming/Takes time to get supplies, MEH
Garage sales = Garbage tire kicker neighbors. Better for sourcing. Use Google Lense!
Retail arbitrage = Untested (Wanting to buy some cheap rocks, crystals like tiger eye and such then try. Dont like dealing with strangers at my home though)
Live Sales = Untested

Use those coupons and promotions when you see them. There is a BING plugin for IE I recall that automatically tries coupons. But usually the best offers are for new users. Like I got $300 sign on bonus from my bank last year. MerCari hands out $5 or $10 coupons sometimes. Whatnot has a thing where you do a webinar to access live sales then you can get $150 credit after you make a few live sales. If you are broke like half the BHW people here, don't pass on the "FREE MONEY"

You don't necessarily need to pay $2,000 to buy some product wholesale. To give you an idea, check this product which I will be adding in LOTS to my store(s). The following product I can buy 120 booster packs of for $27 TTL & easily double my money. By the time its Holloween, who knows... But this item I am considering as a product bonus because each pack runs $0.22 cents. The other boosters I have researched like Pokemon Sword and Shield, I have found CASES of product from $357-$420 (Shipping Included) - 144 Ct +.on these sleeved boosters, probably less on the ow Tüpfelchen. Uhrhhhfff

FistFullOfCash · May 4, 2024

So I am thinking that on eBay there might be some opportunity on the auctions too. I went and put my KEYWORD + FREE SHIPPING*+++ /Ending Soonest... Maybe its beginner luck but I found something nice. Sitting now at $40-70 with 4 days left (Searched Lowest to Highest on this one) one antique caught my eye. Huge luxury brand, I see better conditioned ones selling for $600 so maybe the one I like I can get couple hundred.

Build a favorite/Watchlist!!! Sellers will send you offers then.

The Pokemon cards is interesting, I was trying to get a idea of prices and I saw one PSA 10 card for $30 total and then I see another listing of the same product PSA 10 for $83, with 1 sale. Its the same thing! Recent sales are weighed more than active listings in my calculating the price of a item, they are a better judge of value.

Check out this link, it might give you some ideas... Apparently there are tons of misspelled brand names that get searched every day.
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