Monday, August 13, 2012

First Idea - Converting Garage Sale Finds to Moula

My first thought was to tackle something that's easy, well in theory it's easy!

The town I live in loves Garage Sales, I mean LOVES them, in a relatively small town there would be at least 10 garage sales in the paper each weekend, plus another 10 or so that don't advertise in the paper, just put up signs around town.

So my thought was to see what I can find at garage sales and try and turn them into extra cash, either through Gumtree, Ebay or local Facebook sale pages.

I have been buying & selling on Ebay for over 8 years, and have 100% feedback, with over 350 buys/sells, so I would look legit to buyers (I am legit by the way :), but you know what I mean about 'Ebay legit'!).

I also have a bit of form for making a profit, as last year when we got married (see my other blog - Our Surprise Wedding), I scoured Ebay, Op-Shops, Garage Sales, local shops here and in Newcastle & Maitland to source everything to decorate the hall for our reception.

I found that buying alot of the items was in fact cheaper than hiring them, and then selling them afterwards gave an opportunity to turn a bit of a profit. Which I was able to do.

As an eg, I bought 6 cake stands for an average of $11 each, and sold them on Ebay for an average of $22 plus postage.  I was able to make a similar percentage profit on the chair sashes, bird cage, and a few other things.

Mr Mel & I discussed the idea, and we've decided to give me a shot, Yay!
I have a budget of $250 to spend how I see fit, then sell on Ebay, Gumtree, Facebook, and I'm going to track each purchase in Excel, and see where that $250 takes us, taking into account costs like petrol etc.

IF I can turn a profit on this $250 I'll then up the budget and see if I can turn into a bit of an income.

Wish me luck! I shall report back, I'm heading to a garage sale this arvo!

Till next time,

1 comment:

  1. I used to want to do this but I was/am too lazy. I do think it an *easy* way of making money as far as working goes and wish you lots of luck with it.

    Barb.

    4th!! try with that word thingy. lol.

    ReplyDelete