What is the £5 charity shop challenge?

I set myself a challenge of taking £5 to the charity shop and buy something for reselling on eBay and see how much profit I could make. I know what your thinking ’but £5 is not much!’ and your right but the idea is to start with a small amount and reinvest the money made.

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Week 1 Results - A hard lesson learnt

Welcome back to the £5 Charity Shop Challenge. As promised I am keeping you updated week by week at how the challenge is going and let's just say, I did not get off to a good start.

In the last weeks post I introduced you to my challenge of taking £5 and buying (Thifting) an item from a UK charity shop in order to resell online for a profit. The item I chose was...

Bioshock Big Daddy Vinyl Figure Loot Crate Exclusive RARE 2017 Model

This item I chose as it was an exclusive collector's item that from new would retail at £20. I listed as used - unopened so I was looking at around the £10 - £12 estimate. Unbeknown to me, when I listed the item, eBay offered a suggested postage amount (in which I accepted) Which was then added to my post. After the item had ended I realized that this was a little bit too much postage and could have posted the item a lot cheaper. As this was advertised and I was contractually obliged to honor the purchase, I let it go as lesson learned.

purchased for: £4
Sold for: £8.40
Gross profit: £4.40
postage: £2:90
PayPal fee: £0.53
eBay fee: £0.89
Net profit: 0.08
so having now sold the item and sent it on its way to my costumer, I have ended this week with just 8p profit but I have learned a great lesson and i have gained extra knowledge plus I'm 8p in the green.

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Week 2 - Is Elvis Alive?

I know right!
No, I have now lost my mind. It is in fact going to make perfect sense in just a moment.

So after the results of Week 1, I have now got £4.08p from last week's sale and £1 remaining that was not spent in week 1. Totalling £5.08p going into week 2. Ok so I am not going to be rich anytime soon at this rate but the profit line is rising and that has to be a plus.

This week I stuck to the same local shops so I could get a feel for how the shop operates and when stock is rotated. Armed with my £5.08p, I began rummaging through the Treasure trove of used items and clothing, in search of that elusive item that I think may bring in a profit.

Here is what i found...

Now you see why I am calling this week, Is Elvis Alive?
This book and audiotape stuck out to me because of its old vintage appearance and the fact that it was still sealed. The cost was £3. Further examination revealed that it was published in 1988 and has never been opened. The fact that it is about Elvis Presley also makes it sort after to collectors but also it will exercise the conspiracist's minds too.
This time though I have declared my own postage cost and have listed it with a starting bid of £3 which is what the item cost. Looking online (especially Amazon) These sell from £40 in this condition and all though I don't feel that I will reach that mark, I am however hoping that it will still bring in a good amount of net profit to take into week 3.

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Look out for future blogs of my progress or why not try it yourself and post about your money-making journey.