Does anyone make extra income from selling on finds in charity shops/boot sales?

familyguy12

Hi,

Long time reader first time forum user here. Hope you'll all be kind.

As it says in the tin....

I was just wondering if anyone makes a living or even just a bit of regular extra income from finding items and reselling them on ebay/amazon / auctions etc?

I have attended a few car boot sales but with no experience in the field other than some googling research I really don't have much clue what to look out for in terms of what types of items could be valuable.

Ebay used to have Pulse which would tell you what were the most searched for items and so on but it's gone now.

Just hoping to get some info/help whether via useful links to read up or just general advice on what might be a good way to start a little home business via buying say used books/old watches/cameras/delph or vintage clothes etc for profit.

Thanks for reading.

scutley

Hi I used to make money from buying in charity shops and at car boots over 5 years ago, but these days I dont have the time to scour for good sellers.

My OH once bought a camera for 20p and sold it on ebay for £80, I was impressed.

familyguy12

scutley wrote: »

Hi I used to make money from buying in charity shops and at car boots over 5 years ago, but these days I dont have the time to scour for good sellers.

My OH once bought a camera for 20p and sold it on ebay for £80, I was impressed.

Yeah from what I've read it seems the charity shops use Ebay as a guide these days to price their items to stop people 'shortchanging' them so to speak.

I was just wondering if anyone has any advice for a newbie like myself in terms of simple items to look out for to start with which could be turned into a profit for a small initial outlay, like say certain books/items of delph/clocks/watches etc. Which brands / manufacturers etc.

When I google things like this I just end up finding results from scam websites or those offering "advice" for a fee or simply results from the key words I'm using in the search like auction or carboot which brings up advice on selling rather than buying.

Almo

The problem is, people are reluctant to give out info on what to look out for because it takes away their own business opportunities. I realise it's frustrating.

We started doing this overseas and fell in to it by buying things we liked and either ending up with more than we needed or finding a nicer example of something we'd already got, and then selling things on. It takes a lot of time to source things and once one of our regular sources dried up, it became quite difficult and largely tailed off for a few months. We then sold off some of our collection when we moved back to the UK, which proved the market was still there, if you could source stock at a decent price.

We would like to do to the same here but need to find sources and a market. Ebay is a lot more competitive here than it was where we lived and people are a lot more switched on about what's collectable so we're under no illusions as to how hard it will be.

somethingcorporate

Gumtree can be good occasionally.

I managed to pick up a brand new unwanted upgrade phone for £60, decided I didn't like it and sold it on for £250 a week later.

familyguy12

Almo wrote: »

The problem is, people are reluctant to give out info on what to look out for because it takes away their own business opportunities. I realise it's frustrating.

Thanks for the reply.

Yep that seems to be the problem alright unfortunately.

HalfPint

Hiya,

There is profit out there to be had but it's a case of finding what works. As Almo says, people will be reluctant to advise you on specifics (including me, sorry!).

A tip when looking round boot sales is to avoid the obvious 'traders' as they have already marked up their stock and you are unlikely to sell it for more. The same goes for those 'antique' dealers at boot sales. Take your phone and do some research whilst on the go.

And finally, a lot is trial and error (and a bit of luck), accept that some you win and some you lose.

Give it a go and see where it takes you

HP x

PS: I say avoid the 'antique' dealers as I know of a guy who buys his stock from charity shops (haggling the price down) and then selling it at boot sales. He also seems to have a rather large unending supply of stock of an item he sells as a 'extemely rare antique' :rotfl::rotfl:

sambamamba

I think cheap and unusual is the key for me and always have the eBay app on your phone to check completed listings. It's very hit and miss but you can find bits. I tend to look at vintage / retro but that is what interests me. And it's not going to finance early retirement, just a hobby.

Best from a car boot was an unusual silver belt buckle bought for 50p & sold for £15. Best charity shop was a 1st ed 80s kids book for 50p sold for over £30.

sambamamba

Oh yes and bought a 60s footy mag for 10p couldn't shift It for 99p but individual ads went for a total of £20!

WolfSong2000

My advice would be to pick a niche, research the heck out of it so you know there's a market for it, roughly how much a collector would pay for it, etc. That way you'll be more confident, knowing what you need to be looking out for and having a rough estimate of the money you could potentially make.

familyguy12

WolfSong2000 wrote: »

My advice would be to pick a niche, research the heck out of it so you know there's a market for it, roughly how much a collector would pay for it, etc. That way you'll be more confident, knowing what you need to be looking out for and having a rough estimate of the money you could potentially make.

Yes thanks, I'm trying to consider what might be the best niche market for me, cheers.