A few years ago, I went through a brief phase where I'd buy stuff and try and flip it on eBay. It started one Sunday when I bought this small painted plate at the Georgetown Flea Market for a dollar. When I got home, I realized I didn't like it quite as much as I thought I did. Instead of just tossing it, I Googled the artist's name from the back of the plate and it turned out that he was actually a painter of some renown. I'm not saying I'd found a long lost Picaso or anything, but if you traveled in whatever lonely circles are traveled in by collectors of painted plates, you'd have probably heard of the guy. I put it on eBay and sold it for $50.
"Wow!" I thought. "I just turned $1 into $50 (minus eBay fees)! If I can do that on a regular basis, this would make a very nice second income for myself. One that the IRS need never know about!"
So for the next few weekends, I hit as many garage sales, flea markets and estate sales as I could. And while I managed to find and resell a few things, I never got anywhere near the profit margin from that plate. And when you considered the time and money I was investing in not just the acquisition of objects, but the packaging and listing as well, it occurred to me that I could make a lot more for a lot less effort if I just volunteered for weekend overtime projects at the office. So that was kind of the end of that experiment.
But aside from not being especially cost-effective, I came to realize that my plan had other flaws as well:
1) Not everyone is as lazy as that first flea market dealer. Most people actually price their goods correctly, if not overprice them.
2) If you're going to try and flip art or antiques or other rare-ish items, you need a decent bankroll. It's a lot easier to buy something for $300 and sell it for $350 than it is to buy something for $1 and sell it for $50. And your bankroll has to be big enough that if your $300 investment turns out to be worthless, you can just shrug and move on, not think, "Holy shit, I just lost $300!" and be paralyzed.
3) My apartment is full of stuff I've gotten at Georgetown and Eastern Market, so I'm pretty unsuited for flipping items anyway, in the sense that I tend to fall in love with them and start to think about how much nicer they'd look in my home than in someone else's.
Recently, I've started watching Pawn Stars on the History Channel. For the uninitiated, the show's about a family-owned pawn shop in Las Vegas where people come to sell various vintage treasures, which often fit in very nicely with the theme of the channel. It's also probably the least real reality show I've ever seen. Rick, the owner of the store, has such an encyclopedic knowledge of almost every item that comes in the store, it's clear that he bones up ahead of time. They do little comedic bits that were obviously pre-planned, if not entirely pre-scripted. There was even a dream sequence in an episode, where Chumlee, one of the employees, fantasizes about going on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, complete with Meredith Vieira cameo. The fuck? How can you have a dream sequence in a reality show?
But Pawn Stars has managed to renew my interest in buying and re-selling stuff. The show may be as fake as hell, but seeing Rick's eyes light up when someone brings in something cool that he knows he can sell, is completely genuine. The best thing I've seen on the show so far was a gambler's kit from the 19th century, which held a deck of cards, poker chips, and other various tools of the trade, not to mention, a knife and a revolver, for when things got dicey. Rick and I were both geeking out over it.
Will I be lucky enough to come across something like that or other items from the show, such as a document signed by John Hancock, or a Civil War belt buckle with a bullet lodged in it (which actually turned out to be fake)? Probably not. But that might actually make this more enjoyable. Instead, I'll have to think outside the box and focus on stuff that isn't so obviously popular. So I think it'll be entirely possible to have fun and turn a profit, as long as I focus more on the former than the latter.
Seriously, though, don't tell the IRS.
"Wow!" I thought. "I just turned $1 into $50 (minus eBay fees)! If I can do that on a regular basis, this would make a very nice second income for myself. One that the IRS need never know about!"
So for the next few weekends, I hit as many garage sales, flea markets and estate sales as I could. And while I managed to find and resell a few things, I never got anywhere near the profit margin from that plate. And when you considered the time and money I was investing in not just the acquisition of objects, but the packaging and listing as well, it occurred to me that I could make a lot more for a lot less effort if I just volunteered for weekend overtime projects at the office. So that was kind of the end of that experiment.
But aside from not being especially cost-effective, I came to realize that my plan had other flaws as well:
1) Not everyone is as lazy as that first flea market dealer. Most people actually price their goods correctly, if not overprice them.
2) If you're going to try and flip art or antiques or other rare-ish items, you need a decent bankroll. It's a lot easier to buy something for $300 and sell it for $350 than it is to buy something for $1 and sell it for $50. And your bankroll has to be big enough that if your $300 investment turns out to be worthless, you can just shrug and move on, not think, "Holy shit, I just lost $300!" and be paralyzed.
3) My apartment is full of stuff I've gotten at Georgetown and Eastern Market, so I'm pretty unsuited for flipping items anyway, in the sense that I tend to fall in love with them and start to think about how much nicer they'd look in my home than in someone else's.
Recently, I've started watching Pawn Stars on the History Channel. For the uninitiated, the show's about a family-owned pawn shop in Las Vegas where people come to sell various vintage treasures, which often fit in very nicely with the theme of the channel. It's also probably the least real reality show I've ever seen. Rick, the owner of the store, has such an encyclopedic knowledge of almost every item that comes in the store, it's clear that he bones up ahead of time. They do little comedic bits that were obviously pre-planned, if not entirely pre-scripted. There was even a dream sequence in an episode, where Chumlee, one of the employees, fantasizes about going on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, complete with Meredith Vieira cameo. The fuck? How can you have a dream sequence in a reality show?
But Pawn Stars has managed to renew my interest in buying and re-selling stuff. The show may be as fake as hell, but seeing Rick's eyes light up when someone brings in something cool that he knows he can sell, is completely genuine. The best thing I've seen on the show so far was a gambler's kit from the 19th century, which held a deck of cards, poker chips, and other various tools of the trade, not to mention, a knife and a revolver, for when things got dicey. Rick and I were both geeking out over it.
Will I be lucky enough to come across something like that or other items from the show, such as a document signed by John Hancock, or a Civil War belt buckle with a bullet lodged in it (which actually turned out to be fake)? Probably not. But that might actually make this more enjoyable. Instead, I'll have to think outside the box and focus on stuff that isn't so obviously popular. So I think it'll be entirely possible to have fun and turn a profit, as long as I focus more on the former than the latter.
Seriously, though, don't tell the IRS.
3 comments:
My SIL made enough on ebay to put hardwoods throughout her house and buy a new computer with all the gizmos. Her secret - Disney. Disney crap sells like you wouldn't believe on there. Apparently there are small pockets in this country that don't have a Disney story or a Disney outlet. She had access to both and cleaned up. She tried scouring estate sales and flea markets for treasures and couldn't sell a thing. I have also heard that the uglier it is, the quicker it will sell on ebay. I knew a guy who sold quilts (some new, some antique) on there, and he was always stunned at the godawful ones that sold in no time flat while the really beautiful ones rarely moved. So, there you go - ugly sells and Disney sells. Go forth and be prosperous!
Great post! Yeah, I've just discovered Pawn Stars and American Pickers. I also recently woke up at 6 AM to scour yard sales. I think I may have a problem. Pawn Stars certainly isn't helping my addiction, but it's what I've got until I have the bankroll to start bidding on storage units. Help me...
old things are better than new things. except in the case of electronics and video games and realdolls.
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