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Flipping Used Stuff

On each passing corner there seems to be a new thrift store or weekend yard sale happening, I have to ask myself “Are these places or people actually making money?”

The thrift stores? I say yes as far as the big roomy stores go but not so much with the smaller store. As for yard sales I am on the fence with these because I have made hundreds of dollar a day on my unwanted things and other times only ten dollars.

This year I received an inheritance, a house full of everything. I donated ALL the clothing to the Goodwill thrift store and packed about one half of what was in this five bedroom house and brought it to a place ( empty house ) I have till I could figure out exactly what I wanted and what I did not need to keep.

I did keep a bedroom suit so I put the one I had in the for sale stuff, thats how I managed what I wanted. It meant if I kept something new something I already owned had to go.

Now, I had a house full of unwanted/not needed stuff and I wanted to sell it to make back the money I had spent moving it and the things I did keep. So I did what most people won`t do, I listed it all on Craig`s list and invited strangers to come on in!

I staged this house by putting everything kitchen in the kitchen, bed room with bedroom and so forth.

I sold half of the stuff. And then I did a Facebook listing in the area yard sale group and I have to say that could have been the worst experience I ever had. People wanted me to load a solid oak bed on MY truck, take it to their house to let them SEE it! No money before hand, not even gas money. No I did not! But then I had two real people buy from me, one was for $30 for a comforter and the other was my big item $430 and s few other small things.

Next was the estate/yard sale. I did sell a couple hundred dollars this way and it was for the smaller stuff like dishes and bedspreads / comforters.

This took me a couple months to get rid of all my stuff so did I make any money? I did. I doubled my money. I got back what I spent and more. Plus I kept what I wanted.

Out of two 17 ft. U-haul trucks I only had one small pick up truck of stuff left. One of those items was a piece I wanted to keep but did not have a porch to out it on so its stored in my old home place waiting on my porch 🙂

That`s how I flipped stuff.

TIPS :

Just make sure you advertise the sale on facebook, Craig`s list and with the free local papers. Hang signs from inside town all the way to your place to sell. Allow neighbors to pick and buy things first, this will save you a lot of time.

Make the first sale an “estate sale” with as much as you can keep inside the house and then next month make it a “yard sale or garage sale” with most stuff outside.

By Andria Perry

Photos By Andria Perry

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Written by Andria Perry

14 Comments

  1. I have always had really good luck selling on Facebook Garage Sale Groups. I just always make sure to say pick up only and no holds. On the other hand, I never do well at garage sales. If you don’t want to just give it away for pennies, no one buys anything, at least not in the neighborhood I used to live in. Now that I live in the country, can’t really have one!