I made $1,000 flipping eBay stuff in 4 weeks.

[mmmmm...beer 807]

So I am back in the States for a couple more weeks, but the last four I wanted to try an experiment.

I went to goodwill, salvation army, garage sales and picked up little stuff for $0.25 cents to $10.  I probably spent about $150 total. Found an estate sale that was bonkers.  Bought half a pickup load of stuff for about $60...

This wasn't all at once, but I and a buddy did that thought the month.

I've sold a pile of vintage watches and some other stuff on eBay but its been awhile.

So in 4 weeks... sold about 48 items of 108 listings.  Total $2100.  After fees/shipping, net about $1150.  Cool $1,000.

I still have a 2 totes full of stuff to sell.  Have 60 items still up and probably another 40 I told my buddy to list and just pay me what I got i to them.

All in all I'm pretty happy with how it went.  I feel like when I get back from Japan, I could scale this easily.  It seems more like a fun hobby to me, than it would be work.  I love finding something for nothing snd snagging a good profit.

My favorite flip of the session? I found an old zippo in the box for $0.50 cents at a rummage sale.  Sold it thr next morning for $78 bucks + shipping!  

 

[MikeMatt 80]

Very cool. How did you judge how much to sell each item for ? 

[mmmmm...beer 807]

37 minutes ago, MikeMatt said:

Very cool. How did you judge how much to sell each item for ? 

So google lens to figure out exactly what it is.  Then copy that to eBay and search for it.  Once stuff returns don't pay too much attention to what they are "selling" for, but rather go to filter and down to "Sold" listings.  It'll shown you how much they are really selling for and how many have sold recently.  You find an item with 100 solds lately?  More than like it will move fast and consistently for the solds prices.

Can't find something or if you do there's one sold in the last 90 days?  Pass...

It sounds complicated but if you do it a few times you can get pretty quick.

[mmmmm...beer 807]

Unless its easily apparent.  I bought a whole box of an old Wii system with 2 consoles in there, 4 controllers a couple of guns, and like 20 games for $10.  Sold 5 of the games for $130.  Sold the rest of the 13 suck games and the Wii/accessories for $110.  Have a balance board, Wii Fit and another game, plus the extra console alone left to sell out of that lot.

[MikeMatt 80]

Got ya. I’ve sold alot of stuff on eBay - it sounded like you were selling random stuff that you couldn’t get a comparable item to price it out. 

[BeenHereBefore 1,517]

He's not BSing and did it months back around October till Jan. He checks the sellser rate or whatever it's called and won't buy it unless the item sales Quick and smart of him!

[Alias Detective 1,399]

Try an experiment?  WTF!  People have been doing this for 100 years. 
bwahahahahahaha

[Maximum Overkill 1,988]

I used to do that on Craigslist back in the day. There's good money to be made doing that. 

[mmmmm...beer 807]

1 hour ago, Maximum Overkill said:

I used to do that on Craigslist back in the day. There's good money to be made doing that. 

Figured it will give me something to do in tetirment that's not "getting s other job".

[mmmmm...beer 807]

1 hour ago, Maximum Overkill said:

I used to do that on Craigslist back in the day. There's good money to be made doing that. 

And many people try it and fail.  So... wanted to see if it took.  Was fairly easy.

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

2 hours ago, Alias Detective said:

Try an experiment?  WTF!  People have been doing this for 100 years. 
bwahahahahahaha

I think he just meant an experiment as in to test if he could do it. 

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

9 hours ago, mmmmm...beer said:

So I am back in the States for a couple more weeks, but the last four I wanted to try an experiment.

I went to goodwill, salvation army, garage sales and picked up little stuff for $0.25 cents to $10.  I probably spent about $150 total. Found an estate sale that was bonkers.  Bought half a pickup load of stuff for about $60...

This wasn't all at once, but I and a buddy did that thought the month.

I've sold a pile of vintage watches and some other stuff on eBay but its been awhile.

So in 4 weeks... sold about 48 items of 108 listings.  Total $2100.  After fees/shipping, net about $1150.  Cool $1,000.

I still have a 2 totes full of stuff to sell.  Have 60 items still up and probably another 40 I told my buddy to list and just pay me what I got i to them.

All in all I'm pretty happy with how it went.  I feel like when I get back from Japan, I could scale this easily.  It seems more like a fun hobby to me, than it would be work.  I love finding something for nothing snd snagging a good profit.

My favorite flip of the session? I found an old zippo in the box for $0.50 cents at a rummage sale.  Sold it thr next morning for $78 bucks + shipping!  

 

Cool man. My grandfather and my uncle were both into this as a hobby. Not the eBay part, just the flipping. With them it was majority antiques. They would go to yard sales and estate sales and then flip the items for more at a higher end flea market. The last few years, before my uncle passed away, he was asking me to list a lot of stuff on FB Marketplace for him. 

So I wanted to chime in and suggest FBM. My issue with eBay is that it is phenomenal for a buyer but pretty suck for sellers. Between listing everything, deciding if you want to charge the buyer shipping or give them "free" shipping and bake it into the price, printing shipping labels, boxing up the item, and eBay taking their %, you're really killing your profit. When you list items on FBM, you simply state local pickup and the buyer comes to you or you meet in a public location close to you. It's a lot more convenient and you keep 100% of your profit, all cash. 

Of course if you live in a super rural area, that may not be the best option... obviously eBay is giving you a wider reach... and the other drawback is that you will get tons of messages about your listings and have to respond. Some will be scams but those are easy to spot, many will ask if the item is available and then go silent, and you may have to do some negotiation  but I find it to be easier than I just made it sound. 

Last item I sold for my uncle was a large brass coat rack he picked up at a yard sale for $10, flipped it for him for $280

[RaiderHaters Revenge 4,348]

I have a watch my grandpa kept in his a55 for 3 years can you help me list that?

[Maximum Overkill 1,988]

2 hours ago, mmmmm...beer said:

Figured it will give me something to do in tetirment that's not "getting s other job".

Yup. I've even gotten free lawn mowers that they said didn't work, replaced a spark plug, cleaned them up and sold them. You can do really well if you're handy. 

[mmmmm...beer 807]

2 hours ago, WhiteWonder said:

So I wanted to chime in and suggest FBM. My issue with eBay is that it is phenomenal for a buyer but pretty suck for sellers. Between listing everything, deciding if you want to charge the buyer shipping or give them "free" shipping and bake it into the price, printing shipping labels, boxing up the item, and eBay taking their %, you're really killing your profit. When you list items on FBM, you simply state local pickup and the buyer comes to you or you meet in a public location close to you. It's a lot more convenient and you keep 100% of your profit, all cash. 

 

Yeah FB marketplace is absolutely the way to go.  Especially for bigger items.  Also... no 1099 cut.

[mmmmm...beer 807]

2 hours ago, WhiteWonder said:

I think he just meant an experiment as in to test if he could do it. 

He focking knows that.  My shadow is just a @sshole that needs to spread his toxic sludge to all.  The only thing I can think of is jealously my life is better than his.  Otherwise... why focking care? Why try so hard to come in to each and every thread I produce once every few months and b!tch like I took his woman? Move on.   Focking loser...

[easilyscan 924]

1 hour ago, mmmmm...beer said:

Yeah FB marketplace is absolutely the way to go.  Especially for bigger items.  Also... no 1099 cut.

Congrats on flipping those items for a nice profit. Regarding the 1099, I think that changes next year.

The IRS implemented a phased approach to the $600 reporting threshold for online marketplaces like eBay

. The thresholds are: 

• 2024: $5,000 in gross payments.
• 2025: $2,500 in gross payments.
• 2026 and after: $600 in gross payments. 

This means that starting in 2026, if you receive $600 or more in payments through eBay, the platform will be required to issue a Form 1099-K to you and the IRS. 

Note that this reporting threshold was initially set at $600 by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, but the IRS delayed its implementation to allow for a smoother transition. 

[mmmmm...beer 807]

12 minutes ago, easilyscan said:

Congrats on flipping those items for a nice profit. Regarding the 1099, I think that changes next year.

 

The IRS implemented a phased approach to the $600 reporting threshold for online marketplaces like eBay

. The thresholds are: 

• 2024: $5,000 in gross payments.
• 2025: $2,500 in gross payments.
• 2026 and after: $600 in gross payments. 

This means that starting in 2026, if you receive $600 or more in payments through eBay, the platform will be required to issue a Form 1099-K to you and the IRS. 

Note that this reporting threshold was initially set at $600 by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, but the IRS delayed its implementation to allow for a smoother transition. 

Yup... the days of free ebay, mercari, poshmark flips are over.

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

2 hours ago, easilyscan said:

Congrats on flipping those items for a nice profit. Regarding the 1099, I think that changes next year.

 

The IRS implemented a phased approach to the $600 reporting threshold for online marketplaces like eBay

. The thresholds are: 

• 2024: $5,000 in gross payments.
• 2025: $2,500 in gross payments.
• 2026 and after: $600 in gross payments. 

This means that starting in 2026, if you receive $600 or more in payments through eBay, the platform will be required to issue a Form 1099-K to you and the IRS. 

Note that this reporting threshold was initially set at $600 by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, but the IRS delayed its implementation to allow for a smoother transition. 

yup, it was WAY higher before Biden. Something like 20k AND 200 transactions.   Honestly I thought it already was at 600 but I guess that was the plan and since delayed, as you said.

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

2 hours ago, mmmmm...beer said:

Yup... the days of free ebay, mercari, poshmark flips are over.

There really never was such a thing as free eBay flips. I have sold stuff on there occasionally since like 2005. When PayPal used to be the middle man, PP took a small cut iirc and so did eBay in some way or another be it listing fees or final sale fees. Those eBay fees got bumped a little when they cut out PayPal. 

[mmmmm...beer 807]

10 minutes ago, WhiteWonder said:

There really never was such a thing as free eBay flips. I have sold stuff on there occasionally since like 2005. When PayPal used to be the middle man, PP took a small cut iirc and so did eBay in some way or another be it listing fees or final sale fees. Those eBay fees got bumped a little when they cut out PayPal. 

Yeah I meant they reporting anything over $600 a year to uncle suger.

[easilyscan 924]

20 minutes ago, WhiteWonder said:

yup, it was WAY higher before Biden. Something like 20k AND 200 transactions.   Honestly I thought it already was at 600 but I guess that was the plan and since delayed, as you said.

You're right, it was 20 K & I really didn't have a problem with them lowering it, but to bring it all the way down to $600 C'mon man, I'm sure most garage sales take in more than that!

What next, will IRS agents be roaming the streets during garage sale time in the spring forcing people to report their sales. There's no doubt in my mind, the CPA lobby was responsible for pressuring the IRS to implement these new limits.

 

I got into a debate with some guy at another forum a year or 2 ago. He was totally in favor, but he wasn't satisfied with the $600 figure. He thought that every sale should have to be reported to the IRS.

I gave him a hypothetical situation. Let's say you were into high-end audio back in the early 80s & bought a top of the line Bang and Olufsen system for 3K in 1985

30 years later, in 2015, you had a garage sale and someone offered you 5K for the system & you accepted. Would you report that 2k in gains to the IRS ?

He said he would, and I simply said I didn't believe it.

Shortly after, they kicked me out of the forum.

 

 

 

[JuneJuly 210]

Did this a decade ago or so with antiques.  Wasn't worth is as shipping costs went way up. 

Totally not wrth it having to pay taxes. I think most places are already sending out 1099s based on the $600. 

[WhiteWonder 2,734]

25 minutes ago, easilyscan said:

You're right, it was 20 K & I really didn't have a problem with them lowering it, but to bring it all the way down to $600 C'mon man, I'm sure most garage sales take in more than that!

What next, will IRS agents be roaming the streets during garage sale time in the spring forcing people to report their sales. There's no doubt in my mind, the CPA lobby was responsible for pressuring the IRS to implement these new limits.

 

I got into a debate with some guy at another forum a year or 2 ago. He was totally in favor, but he wasn't satisfied with the $600 figure. He thought that every sale should have to be reported to the IRS.

I gave him a hypothetical situation. Let's say you were into high-end audio back in the early 80s & bought a top of the line Bang and Olufsen system for 3K in 1985

30 years later, in 2015, you had a garage sale and someone offered you 5K for the system & you accepted. Would you report that 2k in gains to the IRS ?

He said he would, and I simply said I didn't believe it.

Shortly after, they kicked me out of the forum.

 

 

 

I don't know many people who are claiming the $600 they win at the blackjack table over 2-3 days. Heck, Dk and FD never sent me any 1099's and I have had at least small gambling profits every year. 

Let alone garage sale proceeds. 

After my uncle passed, I have sold a little over 2k of his items for the family. Some that I had listed before and some items that would have otherwise been tossed. All through FBM. When I mark something as sold I always check off  "yes, sold elsewhere" 

[BiffTannen 953]

1 hour ago, WhiteWonder said:

I don't know many people who are claiming the $600 they win at the blackjack table over 2-3 days. Heck, Dk and FD never sent me any 1099's and I have had at least small gambling profits every year. 

Let alone garage sale proceeds. 

After my uncle passed, I have sold a little over 2k of his items for the family. Some that I had listed before and some items that would have otherwise been tossed. All through FBM. When I mark something as sold I always check off  "yes, sold elsewhere" 

I got three of them this year. FD, DK, and ESPN. 

I'm keeping a close eye on profits this year and when I get to around $595, I'm finished with that book until 2026