Benjamin Wong

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Garage sale flipping: a how-to

Garage Sale flipping is one of the most quick and profitable ways to make $100 a week. And the best part, it’s super fun! In this blog post, I’ll explain how I got started in garage sale flipping, and my four steps to get you to domination!

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Garage sale flipping is one of the easiest and most profitable side-hustles! The best part, there's almost no risk involved and it's super fun! Let's get into how you can start flipping and make $100's of dollars a week!

my story

A couple of weeks ago I began watching "Trash Talk" by Gary Vee. It was so cool to see ordinary garage sale finds being flipped for massive profits! As someone who's always loved collecting stamps, collectibles, and antiques, it was amazing to learn I could make some money AND have fun. Without overthinking, my Dad and I headed out one Sunday morning, and on my first sale, I hit the JACKPOT, selling an old 3ds game for $65. Considering I bought it for $3, it was a steal!

the four steps to garage sale domination

Discovering

To get efficient results, you need to look for small cluster of sales. That way, you'll be able to hit multiple sales in a small area, decreasing transportation time. You could just drive around the neighborhood looking for sales, but at best, you'll get 3 in your area.

My favorite tools for finding garage sales are craigslist.org and gsalr.com. Craiglist is amazing due to its simplicity and ease of use but can be filled with old or inaccurate sales. My second go-to is gsalr.com. I love this site as a craigslist companion because it contains solely garage sales, and is based around a map, allowing you to easily see nearby sales. Take this information with a grain of salt though, as many sales turn out to have inaccurate times or may be fraudulent. Though I haven’t had much luck, I would highly recommend searching for “Community Garage Sales _____” and your city or county. Every once in a while, you will find neighborhoods that come together and host massive multi-family sales. This is by far the best and most efficient way to find gems. Here’s an awesome blog post for more!

Valuing

You’re at a garage sale! The next step is to find valuable items to flip. Right off the bat, items that tend to do great on the market are video games, mugs, comic books, or sports cards. If you find one of these items or anything that looks like it may have value, open up the eBay app. Run a quick search and use the “sold” filter to find similar items. From there, you can check to see if an item is worth flipping. 

HINT: When negotiating, start by clarifying the price of an item. Then, offer 1/2 of the original price. If they decline, simply stay silent and pick up a new item. As you are about to head back to the car, offer to buy the item at a slightly higher price.

selling

You’ve found a garage sale flipping gem! Next is ensuring you can sell the item for maximum profits! This part is one of the easiest: just navigate to the “Seller” tab in the eBay app, and press “List an Item”. From there, eBay will help you find a similar item for sale, auto-filling the details.

HINT: For collectibles or antiques, I always use the Auction feature. eBay will recommend a price to start with, and even tell you how much the average sale price is!

sold

You’ve sold an item and now must complete the final step to garage sale domination-shipping! Find or purchase a good-sized box and wrap your item in bubble wrap. Then, print out eBay’s provided shipping label to tape to the box. Lastly, print out a shipping label and personally addressed letter. In my letters, I will always ask my buyers to leave a positive review. Here’s eBay themselves explaining the process!

for more tips and tricks, click the links(see what I did there)! also, follow me on instagram @officialbenjaminwong to tell me about your garage sailing adventures!