My Thrift Store Finds Of The Day: $6.96 Spent = $265.00 Projected Revenue - Post #1
My name is @steemmatt and I encourage you to follow me for first-hand creative inspiration and knowledge on how to supplement your income... or even generate enough to quit your job and be free!
Selling thrift store and free curb finds has fully supported me for ~2.5 years, debt free, while living in the heart of a major US city. My location gives me the volume and high-end inventory to make this possible, but everyone can do this to some degree. In the spirit of becoming fully self-sufficient, I use most of my profits to build on my cryptocurrency portfolio and a brand new silver bar/coin stack.
What I'm most proud of is that I recycle a LOT of consumer goods, which keeps them clean and usable. This includes what I find to sell, and a TON of reused cardboard, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and paper wrap for my shipments.
As of October 7, 2017, I've sold exactly 2,535 items with my bare hands (split between thrift store purchases and free finds), so you can imagine how much the salvaged items and recycled packaging helps the environment downstream. I hope you can find a way to help too!
I'll be posting in four main categories:
My Thrift Store Finds Of The Day (items picked, their cost & potential revenue)
My Free Curb Picks Of The Day (items picked from city recycling nights & potential revenue)
How To Part Out Household Items To Sell For More Profit (workflow & estimated resale values)
My Past Thrift Store Finds & Free Curb Picks (notable finds for ideas)
In anticipation of doing this at some point, I've taken pictures of many of my notable finds with their price tags and/or receipts, or them sitting where I found them on the curb. Older finds may not have a full photo history, but you'll quickly see that what I'm doing is legit. I also meticulously keep all sourcing and financial records for tracking and tax reporting.
I sell my items via various channels, so I'll just list initial costs and projected revenue. Some channels will have fees and shipping costs, while others will be cash and carry. I get my revenue estimates by analyzing recently sold listings on eBay, what's currently listed on any of the sites I use, or from my past experience selling similar items. Some finds are so rare that I can make my own price to reflect the supply!
Here's What I Found Today.
(Time Spent Shopping = 1 Hour)
Total Spent: $6.96
Realistic Total Revenue Expected: $265.00
I had other stuff going on today to not shop more, but not bad for a quick stroll...
FIND 1: Sealed New Adobe Acrobat X Pro - Windows Retail
Cost $0.43 > Projected Revenue $175.00!
This thrift store sells by weight so it's easy to win if you can maneuver the mob of people who fortunately focus on clothes and books, two things I don't care to resell. I actually got this by walking up to someone who I thought was an employee that had this on the top of their cart, but they saw me peering and offered it to me for nothing but "friendship". He shook my hand and asked for my name, and said he'll see me again. He knew its value, so that this was a nice gesture of humanity.
::UPDATE - SOLD for $174.99 one day after listing it!::
FIND 2: Yankees Snoopy Metlife 2012 Bobblehead
Cost $5.44 > Projected Revenue $75.00
I almost missed this one on the shelf behind the cashier because I looked up the wrong one on eBay when valuing it from far away. I left the store and then went back in to double check it in hand, and was glad I did. It was priced at $10.00, but I negotiated it to half off because it was missing the baseball bat accessory. Without the bat, it still sells well given its rarity, and is small/light for cheap shipping. Some bobbleheads are relatively valuable and sell fairly well.
FIND 3: Playstation 1 Crash Team Racing Game
Cost $1.09 > Projected Revenue = $15.00
I usually don't spend my time picking small profits, but this ratio was good and the game will definitely sell. I sometimes pick up these small wins to offset subway and bus fares, or a snack while I'm out on the hunt.
More of my new material:
Please upvote, follow & resteem if you'd like to help me in my vision of sharing this knowledge.
~steemmatt
Wow
Thanks to EVERYONE for their overwhelming support. I have so much knowledge to post from my time doing this, and as I continue on, so I'm glad it's so well-received!
Awesome finds @steemmatt! Especially the adobe sealed! I also thrift and dabble in cryptocurrency and would love to do it full time. Do you make enough to make a good living?
Thanks. This is a small pull. I usually have a few bags full after a full day.
I live in a very expensive major US city and cover all bills, and have funds to invest each month, so I'd say yes so far! It's not millions, but I consider the free time and independence my wealth. Fingers crossed that I can keep it up and grow the business. I also note that I don't have a lot of overhead that others may have.
I'm interested in what magic you performed to get so many upvotes and more $ than my post so fast. Please share YOUR secret.
The secret to getting about 30cts of upvotes on a comment or a post like @slothboarder did, is to use eSteem, the mobile app developed by @good-karma. It doesn't bring these upvotes on every comment, but only once or twice per day, and I also think there is a minimum word count before these upvotes apply. But hey, let me post this via eSteem, and then you can check who upvoted this and compare with the comment here-above.
But then again, what works even better than that, is to just post the best content you can and hope for some whales to come along. That seems to be working out just fine for you :)
Thanks for the info. Wish I could upvote you more for the solid tip.
And yes, THANK YOU to whoever upvoted my post. It's amazing to see the support and motivates me (for the right reasons) to build this niche out.
My ex-husband of 20+ years did this while we were married to supplement his income. I used to tell him to quit his job because he makes much more money doing this. After we divorced he lost his job and now he has been doing this full time for several years and is super happy.
At this time he has become a leader in the Dallas Ft.Worth area in this field. I've seen people are literally calling him from all over the world to work with and learn from him. He just has an instinct that he's cultivated since he was a child.
I've really learned so much from him about this kind of work/hobby. It's very rewarding to find things for people and bring stuff to those who want it.
Great post! If you want details about contacting him message me on chat. Great stuff to expose steemit to.
Steem On, Dude!
Great story. It just takes one example here and one there to show people the power of what they can do on their own. Our society has made us dependent on others, and that doesn't need to be the case. Thanks so much for sharing.
hmmm, there seems to be quite a thrifting community here on steemit, and quite a few resellers. A really cool thing to get on the platform would be something similar to Ebay to buy and sell the finds you make
some kind of steemit sales channel where you can buy and sell with SBD /steem
Wow, these are great finds! I tried thrift store picking myself and it sure is hard, especially in New Jersey.
Thank you for sharing.
Welcome here brother ^_^'
Same to you!
I see that you like to invent new "categories," as do I. Your new "thrifting" tag might be a good one. Please use it some more.
I will definitely be building that out the best I can. Thanks for your comment and encouragement!
I'd love feedback; but, I believe in a recent @steemcleaners update, creating unlisted tags have to be approved. I'd love to be wrong about this. If anyone knows, please let me know.
Peace.
I spoke with an admin in the appropriate chat room who said:
"You can make & use any tag you want. If you create a tag for something like curation and it becomes popular it could be abused. It's a good idea to let us know about it."
Aha! Thanks so much @steemmatt!!!
If you have time, this would make a great original post. In the post you could help the Community know how to let the admin know; and how a popular tag could be spammed. I'm sure it's in the FAQ; but, great to read on the go.
Again, many thanks!
Peace.
Impressive finds! I think so many people are downsizing and they are just trying to get rid of stuff . this really makes thrift stores a treasure trove
You're right. This was a small haul for the time I put into it that day, but I've seen more thrift store time than most will ever to agree completely with your view. I can't tell you how many brand new things are donated, whether unwanted gifts or clearing out the kid's room when they go off to college. I don't know exactly why, but I love it! The best stuff to find is the sealed new stuff. My eyes dart for that as the highest priority when I'm out shopping.
You found some awesome finds on your trip. Even if you didn’t do you normal bargain hunt haul, what you did get was great. I love the ROI you ended up with. Just goes to show there are great deals if someone just looks for them. It would be great if we had a place that sold by the pound here. But, I would probably get way too much haha. Thanks for sharing your great deals.
Thanks! I try to keep my costs down as much as possible, so these ratios were about as good as you can get where I live. I never buy anything unless I'll make at least 3x or 4x my money to make sure I clear the fees, shipping and taxes enough to keep it worth it.
As for the per pound system, it's literally a mad house. I prefer to go where the bull rush isn't and peruse the older bins while they're forgotten about for a few minutes. The trick is going on weekdays when most people are working during business hours. That's been my competitive advantage since I work for myself. I go when most people can't.
Sounds like a great strategy. "Early bird gets the worm?" Well your strategy seems to be working out great for you. Keep up the great work and happy bargain hunting. :)
Do you do freecycle at all? My home town is rather affluent, but small, so I've picked up quite a few beautiful antiques for free that were either in prime condition or easy to restore. Furniture may not be your thing, but I've also picked up garbage bags full of seeds, truck loads of compost, really...anything you can think of.
I suppose I do quite a bit of freecycling, but not by giving away or trading. I go curb hunting in my city a few times a week and find lots of stuff. I don't keep it though, except the rare thing I may need (like finding a working iPad w/o a password with its charger) from the recyclables. I sell almost everything I find. I'm just starting to blog about it if you check out my post linked above about the TV I found as an example. I sold one of those parts last night for $73.99 revenue, minus fees and taxes.
Great to hear that you're able to save those types of things where you're based. Every bit adds up.
I've done this on a very small scale. Usually I find things at a yard sale or on trash pickup day and then resale them on ebay. I really do enjoy finding value in things that other just throw away. But more times than not, I end up repurposing into something for myself.