- I bet I could sell these.
What about this?
How much could I get for this?
And here, anything in here?
Oh, look at all this.
Oh, I could sell that.
Yes. That.
Oh, I wonder if I could sell that.
Oh yeah. Look at all this stuff I can sell.
Oh, I could sell some of my wife's tools!
Eh, on second thought, that's a horrible idea.
(screen whooshing) (groovy music)
What's going on, y'all?
I'm just hanging out here in my garage,
trying to see if there's anything here I can sell and flip
and make some extra money.
But truth be told, I am not the expert in this.
Flipping items can be fun and also lucrative,
and honestly,
I think one of the coolest side hustles that exists,
but that's enough of me yapping.
Let's hear more from Rob and Melissa,
how they got started,
and more importantly,
how they made over six figures flipping items on eBay.
Check it.
(upbeat music)
- What's up, Jeff?
Excited to talk to you today,
and give you a little of a back scene in our business,
for sure, so.
- So number one, tell us about your business?
- We are Rob and Melissa with Flea Market Flipper.
And what we do is buy used items locally,
and then we put them online
and sell them online platforms, for a profit.
- We mostly use eBay.
We do a couple of the other little reselling apps,
but eBay's always been our bread and butter, so,
and we specialize in larger items, so,
and we do the smaller items too,
- Yeah. - but we like the large items.
- It wasn't always about that,
but that is where we are right now,
we'll get into that a little bit later, but yeah,
that is where we make the most of our money,
on larger items.
- So what inspired you to start an online business?
- So this is cool.
I've been flipping for, since I was 16 years old.
24 years, something like that.
And it was always, when we got married,
it was our fun money.
We did it on the side.
I did it, I found some cool stuff.
When we needed extra money to go on vacation,
when we needed extra money to fix a car,
something like that,
I'd go out and I'd flip something,
I'd find something, I'd buy it, I resell it,
and we made money that way,
so, and then five and a half years ago roughly,
we came to a crossroads
where we had to jump into something
to get out of both of our professions.
- We had to decide if we were going to jump in
full time or not.
I was pregnant with baby number three,
and I was a month away from our due date,
and his work calls and says
that we're cutting health insurance.
And it was gonna be cut like the day before
that we were due.
- Our son was born, yes. - So, we had to decide, okay,
do you go find something else to do,
for our health insurance?
Or do we look at what we've been doing on the side,
and jump in with both feet and do it full time?
Can we do it,
if both of us are doing it? - Yeah.
- 'Cause I had already made the decision,
we had made the decision
that I was gonna stop working, as a personal trainer,
to be home with our kids,
'cause we were gonna have three kids
that were ages three and under.
- Yeah. - And it was already crazy,
and we knew it was gonna be crazy,
so I was gonna stop already.
And then we got that news.
- We had to decide, so. - Yeah.
And it was a blessing in disguise.
We had never really thought about our side income,
making it into a full-time income.
So we started actually checking some of our numbers
and what we were doing.
That's where we actually found out that we were doing,
what did we do the first year that we kept track of it?
- 42,000 gross and 30 net, so. - 42,000,
and that was half,
that was part-time,
we were not putting full-time hours into it.
And then we decided,
hey, what if we... - If we could both do it,
what could we do?
- What if we really threw some hours at this,
what can we actually do?
And that's when I left my job,
she left her job, - It was scary.
- stayed home with the kids.
It was very scary, - But it really wasn't.
- but we did it, and it was amazing,
our first full-time year into it, what did we gross, one?
- 133.
- 133 gross and still over a hundred thousand in
- Net. - in net, yeah,
so it was an amazing choice
for us to be able to go into this full-time,
had a blast and we have not looked back ever since.
- What do you remember being
your biggest obstacle starting out?
- Yeah, so for us, definitely time management.
Trying to juggle a business, being business owners,
trying to juggle the time that we spend together
and spending, staying present in our kids' lives,
and being able to raise our kids.
That was the biggest struggle for us is to figure out
how to work, how to make good money,
and how to be present in our family.
- Yeah, work-life balance, stress,
starting a job together,
but then we don't really have "real jobs" was kind of,
was scary.
We don't really have real jobs,
- Yeah. - so we gotta make this work.
We have three kids now
that are depending on us
and we have to also make sure that they stay alive,
'cause they're really tiny. - Yeah.
- So, it was a little stressful.
- It was, and that's what launched us
into selling larger items.
Larger items, larger profits,
less sales, less fulfillment, less shipping.
When you actually sell bigger items
with higher profits,
then you do not have to do tons and tons of work
for those big items.
So, that was kind of how we stepped into it,
saw what the potential was,
and then that's where we honed in on that skill set.
- Also, learning to work together,
I would have to add, - Yeah.
- and we've gotten
a lot better at it - Yeah.
- but it's a learning curve for sure.
- It is, it is.
- How did you make your first thousand dollars online?
- Okay, so way back when,
when I started flipping,
when I was 16 years old,
we found a niche that we were able to hone in on,
it was NordicTrack's ski machines.
I would buy them from a local auction.
I could get them from anywhere from 5, 25, 30 bucks,
something like that.
People would move down from up north,
they bring their NordicTrack ski machines,
they would not have to use them down here
because it's not snowing down here,
so they would either donate 'em or get rid of 'em.
I would be able to buy them
and I would sell those jokers for between 3 and 500 bucks
And I still remember the first one,
probably the only one I ever sold for $1,700.
I sold it on eBay for $1,700.
Super excited about that sale.
It was one of the most expensive,
it all depended on the brand,
I mean, not the brand,
the model, NordicTrack ski machine, it was,
they had higher, higher, higher ends.
So, that was the one that sticks out in my head,
selling it for $1,700.
Killer, killer deal. - It got you hooked.
- It did. - For life!
- Once you started to see that,
when you're only paying so much money for them,
we could get them dirt cheap
and then we'd be able to sell 'em online
for a lot more money,
so yeah, it was pretty sweet.
- When did you make your first significant passive income?
- So what we do is not quite all passive.
You have to do some work on the front end,
you get listed on eBay,
and then the sales come in after that.
But, game changer for us
that sticks out in our memories,
definitely the dining room table.
It was a dining room table set that we actually bought.
- Yeah, it really changed the trajectory of our business.
So, this dining set, you got locally for 350.
- From an auction.
- And you tried to sell it locally in other apps
for 750, I believe.
- Yeah. I'd be happy with 700, doubling our money.
I would have been happy with that on the local apps.
- But then it didn't sell for about a month or two.
- Yeah. - So.
- Then we, I started looking on eBay
because we were selling stuff on eBay,
just not to this level
where it would have to go on a pallet and be shipped free.
We weren't doing that.
So I started looking on eBay
and seeing some of the other items that were selling,
and all that, it had the same thing in common,
all the bigger items,
dining room sets and stuff.
The only ones that were selling were the ones
that were offering shipping or freight.
And that's where I was like, okay, wait a minute.
There might be something to this,
if I can get this thing sold,
I'll go ahead and - Figure out the shipping.
- I'll figure out the freight.
So we actually listed it on eBay,
listed it for, instead of $750,
we listed it for $2,200, - $2,200.
and we actually sold it in less than a month on eBay.
- Yeah, plus $500 shipping!
- And I charged an extra $500
for my learning curve of how to get that thing shipped
on a pallet to the buyer.
And that was a game changer for us.
We did it, we got it done for under $500.
And then that's what really opened our eyes
to, okay, wait a minute, these big items.
- People don't want to ship them, so,
- They don't want to ship 'em. - let's do it.
- And when you offer them online
to a larger group of people,
that's where they will sell
if you're willing to ship it to them.
- What would you tell your beginner self
about getting started?
- So, this is a big one,
back in the beginning,
back when I started flipping stuff on eBay,
I definitely overpromised and underdelivered.
- And you learned the hard way.
- I did, I had returns,
and I had people that were upset about stuff.
Now, getting more specific with it,
when I took pictures of an item,
it looked like,
even go back to the NordicTracks
that we actually sold.
I thought it looked in like it was in great condition,
I listed it as an excellent condition.
And then when the buyer got it
there might've been a scratch here, scratch there,
and they got it and thought,
well, yeah, this is not excellent condition,
this is not mint condition.
So, I learned the hard way
to underpromise and overdeliver on your items
so you can get good feedback
and people are very happy with what you do, so.
- And I would also add that it's okay to make mistakes,
things are gonna happen,
and things happen in business.
You're gonna to get a return request.
You're gonna get all those, but it's okay,
those things, everything that happens,
you can figure it out.
What are some of the best items to purchase and flip?
- Yeah, so a good rule of thumb is
the higher the retail value of the item is,
the more money that you can actually resell it for.
So we look for brand names,
high-end commercial equipment,
restaurant equipment, stuff like that.
We look for the higher retail values
that we can get as low as we can buy them
and then turn around and sell them and make money on 'em.
- And the profit is made,
your money is made in the buy. - Definitely.
- So, in the purchase.
So make sure that if you are looking at an item,
that the profit is there,
if not then it's not worth your time,
it's okay to just walk away, so.
- Yep, that's one of the cool things about the bigger items,
the bigger items that are harder to move,
but you have to have more space to store it,
those are the items that people will tend
to get rid of quicker, and for a cheaper price
because they have to get rid of it.
We can usually get 'em a lot cheaper,
and then we can turn around and resell 'em
for a lot more money.
- And as far as the best items to flip,
there really, I mean, there's so, hundreds of thousands
of items out there that you could flip.
So we always tell people
to start with stuff that you know,
- Yeah. - and like.
Hobbies, there was a time,
obviously when we had little kids,
that we got into baby stuff,
I started selling strollers were really good.
They still are good, I still like to sell them.
- High-end, high-end strollers.
- Brand name for everything. - Yeah.
- Shoes are, a lot of people like shoes,
but again, the brand is everything.
So it's just knowing that,
or finding those items that you like to look,
people, some people like to collect cards,
some are Pokemon,
so there's a lot of really cool items
out there. - Yeah.
- Sports equipment. - Yup.
So, now we're starting to get into sports with our kids.
So now we're starting to look at different things
and we've, you know, the whole new world is opened up to us
of stuff to resell.
So, it's stuff that you like - Yeah.
- and brand names are huge.
- It makes it a lot easier
if it's something that you already know about,
whether that's your career,
that you have a head up on everybody else,
whatever you like,
or you know a lot about,
that's usually the best place to start flipping.
- Yeah.
What are some of the best profits
that you have made flipping items?
- So, this is cool.
Just a couple of weeks ago,
we got back from a five-week road trip,
probably our best week so far this year,
we actually made a little over $24,000
- In four items!
- In four items, coming home from our five-week road trip.
- And we had our store set,
so for the length of our trips,
so people knew that this stuff wasn't getting shipped out
'til we were getting back.
- Yeah, one of those items that we sold,
which is the big majority of it, was actually,
two of them were pretty big,
but the one that we sold was a bus wash.
We picked it up, we bought it for $500 actually.
- From Facebook Marketplace. - Yeah, actually,
- On a road trip!
- On a road trip, we bought it for $500.
We listed it, and we sold that for $14,500,
while we were on the road trip,
- Shipped that sucker out, right?
- Shipped it out once we got back,
I was able to fulfill it after we got back.
But that was a great one that we sold on the road,
and then another one was an ice cream machine.
Bought that one,
or, didn't buy it,
we got it on OfferUp.
- She was giving it away on OfferUp, so.
- A free, one of those big,
it was a big, soft serve ice cream machines.
We picked it up, locally,
the lady wanted to get rid of it,
she didn't want to mess with anybody,
she put it on there,
first come, first serve.
I was the first one who saw it.
I went and picked it up, and got it.
And we sold that for $8,500, - Yeah.
- Locally, so that one didn't even actually sell on eBay.
It was listed on eBay,
but we actually sold it locally
'cause we crosspost as well.
So that one sold locally for $8,500,
and then the two other ones that we sold,
- One was, we actually found on vacation.
So we were there, but the whole point we were,
we were going to go across the country
and find stuff to resell
while we were visiting national parks.
- Yeah. - So,
you found a wallpaper steamer?
- A commercial wallpaper steamer from a
- It was thrift store going out?
No, a business going out.
- Yeah, it was a rental business.
- Oh, hardware, okay.
- A hardware store going out of business.
They were getting rid of it
from their hardware fleet,
or their rental fleet.
Picked it up for $35.
We actually sold it in less than,
I think it was like six or seven hours
after I listed it on the road,
we sold it,
- For 750 bucks!
- $750.
So that was a sweet one while we were on the road,
I actually fulfilled that one on the road.
It wasn't that big. - Yeah.
- I put it into a box, shipped out,
got that baby shipped out.
- And the last one was a dance board, the
- [Both] Dance Dance Revolution.
- It was a commercial board that we bought,
and bought that on a road trip as well
and paid 50 bucks for it,
sold it for $600.
So, a killer, killer deal, but that was one coming home
from a five-week road trip with the kids
and then being able to fulfill the ones that were here,
being able to ship them out.
But it was a killer week for us, selling all that stuff, so.
- That was fun.
- Awesome!
- Any last words you'd like to share?
- Yeah, I guess we never thought
that this career that we're in, flipping stuff,
could be a full-time career,
or even a profitable side hustle.
But, that is one of the things, I mean
we're living proof that you can do this,
you can do it,
and you can make really good money at it.
- You don't have to have a real job to make it, right?
- Exactly, exactly.
So that's the best thing.
I mean, jump into it,
we never tell anybody to go out and quit their jobs to flip,
start out as a side hustle.
- And you don't have to do the big items, too.
- You don't.
- Like just start where you're at
because there is money to be made flipping out there,
and people give away so much stuff.
- There is.
- We are definitely over-consumed as a culture,
so there is stuff everywhere.
- Yep. So, awesome, Jeff, thank you so much.
Have a great day.
- Thank you! - See ya!
- Bye!
(upbeat music)