An Online Business from Overstock, Junk, Garage Sale Items
So I was driving down the road this morning on the way to the bank or some other random errand and I drove by garage sale after garage sale. Then I passed two fund raising garage sales for various sport teams. The funny thing is that they were all packed with people, so much so, that parking was a little difficult to find.
I didn’t stop and look because this wasn’t really my thing but it got me thinking about my own experiences with selling used items, junk, clearance items, and overstock products. And I asked my self would this be a viable business online, can someone make a income to supplement or provide for themselves, and what do you do about stock and attracting customers.
I got my handy notebook out and started to jot down some ideas and see if I can answer some of these questions and maybe pass along some way someone can make an income from this, or at least supplement an income.
In today’s world and economic times it is imperative to look at all available ways you can make income. Good jobs that pay well are in short supply, things are getting more expensive by the day, and any additional income is a big help. But many people dont know how to make a small business or hobby business to make an additional income.
The one thing I dont like to see is people who have to work so hard to make ends meet and dont have time to spend time with the ones they love. Families with two working parents, single people working two and sometimes three jobs, and others not being able to work due to lack of good jobs. Our purpose here is to help in whatever way we can to make an online business dream come true for you – Online Business Reef
I got some of this idea from my own experiences and others from reading about someone who made a living buying and selling clearance items on Amazon and eBay. So first lets talk about the items being sold, then possible ways to sell them online, and finally how and where to find customers.
First Finding Items to Sell…
Garage Sale Items have a lot of stuff, but in order to be successful at this type of thing you need to know what you are selling, what the items are worth, and what you can realistically sell them for. I remember a neighbor was selling thousands of baseball cards at a garage sale all in sleeves and in boxes for about $120.00 I was sorely tempted to buy them and resell them. But I didn’t know what they were worth so I could have been buying a box of cards worth only $20.00 or maybe $2000.00. So it is important to know what items are worth.
Back in the day DVD items sold really well and I would sell lots of 10-20 DVDs and make up to $100.00 per lot. I could go around and find them in various sales for about $1.00 each. So on a good Saturday you could get 100 DVDs you could make $400.00 or $500.00 in profit. Just had to spend a morning searching and then cleaning them up. Video games and books also work well. As a recap almost anything can do well if you know the value you can get for the item, if the item will sell quickly, and you have a knowledge of the products so you can sell them.
Junk can be a lot harder to sell but I know a person who buys used vehicles that dont run for about $300 to $1000 per vehicle and then sells the used parts off of it and almost every time doubles or triples his money. Then he would call a re-cycler to haul the carcass of the vehicle away and makes $50.00 for that. Another person got free used 55 gallon drums, cleaned them out, painted them, and retrofitted them into backyard BBQ or smokers and sold them for a hefty profit. So selling junk is like the old adage “one mans junk is another mans treasure”.
Overstock items are a little easier to manage with today’s technology. You can find these items at stores like WalMart and Target or store that is going out of business. There are also overstock stores locally, and also products that come are from UPS, USPS and airlines that are lost damaged or misplaced and then sold at a store that specializes in this type of stuff. It is easiest to sell items that are new in the box or only slightly damaged. All you need is a bar code scanner APP on you phone and you can scan the bar code right there and see what the item is selling for on Amazon, how many are sold, and the rating. If you can make a good margin and the item moves quickly you can be confident you can move it.
Like with all things there are risks when buying these types of things and some items might sell really well and others you may not be able to give away. Remember to think about this when pricing items to sell.
How can I determine what will be good to sell online?
Pick something that you love or are passionate about. It will help if you have a lot of knowledge about what you are going to sell. The more you know the easier the process of getting goods to sell, listing the products for sale, and making a good profit margin will be. Also you wont get discourage easily and you might have a lot of fun doing it.
Do some research and just dont take my word or any other persons word as all the truth on this. Look around and see what others are doing and how they are doing it and put it all together in one quick and easy sales plan.
Finally just do it, pick something and give it a try. Start small and try your idea out, if it works expand on the model until you need to develop new ideas and then quickly do that. I see so many people who fail only because they dont take the leap, they are stuck in the thinking about it phase.
Where can I sell this stuff and find customers who will buy it?
The two best and easiest places to sell this stuff is on Amazon and eBay. Both venues have a large customer base to buy your products and are easy to list products on. Amazon is very easy to list movies, books, and games by UPC code. Both are safe for sellers and buyers and can offer you a quick and easy way to sell your used items.
Classified ad sites can also work. Here in our state we have a great site that is free to list on, has a lot of customers looking at it, and we have sold quite a few items on it. These are not as safe as you are dealing with people face to face but are great for bigger items.
Lastly if you have a unique item that you are remaking from junk or you are looking to start a long term business in used products you may want to setup your own website and or eCommerce store. Or use a site that lets you make a store of your own without all of the start up and maintenance costs.
CONCLUSION
While this will take some effort to setup and run, it is a quick and easy way to make a supplemental income and it is a real business. So many times I see things like make a 100k from home, or work from home like me and be a millionaire. These programs rarely work except for the person who is selling it. They prey on the fact that you will get all excited and then not do a thing about it, because the fact is those things take a lot of work to make only a few dollars. I believe this is a great way to test if you have an aptitude for this type of business with little investment in money and if done right can make you the income you need and want.
