My Greatest Flip: Turning 20¢ Into $575
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Today's side hustle is...
See this comic book?
This is my greatest flip of all time.
In November 2022, I was paying for my monthly rent purely by reselling items on eBay.
It was a hobby and a perfect outlet during a dark time. I was closing my e-commerce business after running it for four years and being severely burned out.
Every Saturday, I’d wake up at 6 a.m. and go to garage sales in my local area.
One morning, as I was driving around residential neighborhoods, I spotted a garage sale sign taped to a street light.
When I walked up to the garage sale, I was greeted by a young boy and his baby sister. They were standing behind a fold-out table with Marvel and DC collectibles scattered across their front yard.
I found an old box stacked full of comic books right in front of me. Knowing literally nothing about comic books, I discreetly scanned the first comic book with the eBay app to see how much it was worth.
“Holy sh*t,” I thought to myself. The eBay comps were showing previously sold listings ranging between $500-$1500.
Playing it cool, I ask the kids, “So, uh, how much if I buy the whole box?”
The boy wasn’t sure, so he called for his dad to come over.
“Wait, no. Please. He’s going to know,” I thought to myself. Surely the dad would recognize his expensive comic sitting right still sealed in pristine condition, and ask for an exorbitant price.
The dad walked over, glanced at his box of comics, and nonchalantly said, “You can have the whole box for 10 bucks.”
I couldn’t believe it.
I just bought a box of 50 comic books for $0.20 each, and the first comic-book was worth hundreds.
Sadly, the rest of the 49 comic books weren’t worth more than $2–$5 each. But, fortunately, I still hit the jackpot. After further research, I confirmed that I owned an incredibly rare and valuable first print of a popular comic book.
I ended up selling the comic book for $710 before fees.
And while I’m sharing my #1 greatest flip, here are some more profitable flips from my eBay flipping era:
A few fun facts about these flips:
- The first item was an entire box of old hard disks I bought for $40
- I purchased almost every item here for less than $50 at a garage sale or flea market
- Prostate pills have insanely high demand (purchased each sealed bottle for $1 each and sold in packs of three for $40. They sold out within two days.)
Why Flipping Items Is The Best Beginner Side Hustle
When I decided to close my business, I was really depressed. After completely losing my confidence, I needed a win no matter the size.
I was burned out and desperate enough to walk away from a $20k/month business to start selling used camera gear, video games and other random items (like prostate pills) on eBay.
In the first 3 months of learning how to resell items, I got really good at flipping.
When my eBay store grew to a size that I needed more storage space, I moved out of my parents house, rented an apartment, and expanded my eBay store inside my garage. I was only spending 10 hours a week flipping items online, but it was enough to pay for my rent each month.
That’s when I came to a realization…
Every aspect of flipping is entrepreneurship in it’s rawest form. Buy low, sell high. Be scrappy, resourceful, learn how to sell.
I could write a book about why every aspiring entrepreneur should start re-selling items, especially if you’re strapped for cash and don’t know where to begin.
The benefits, lessons and knowledge you pick up are priceless.
For me, it’s right up there with my belief that every person should work retail or food-service at least once in their life.
Re-selling on eBay taught me:
- How to identify valuable products
- How to calculate net profit in seconds
- How to negotiate (my favorite)
- How to organize and manage inventory
- Everything there is to know about shipping items across America (UPS, USPS, Fedex)
- How to safely ship and fulfill customer orders
Why Re-selling Will Always Work
After visiting 100+ garage sales, estate sales, and flea markets, I’m always reminded of two truths:
People die.
And people move away.
As long as these two events continue to happen, resellers will always have opportunities to make a profit.
It sounds disturbing, maybe even immoral, when I put it this way. But when you see life through the lens of a reseller, there’s beauty in knowing that money is literally just sitting all around us. It’s sitting in a thrift store or on someone’s driveway every Saturday morning. And you can quite literally purchase it for cheap and sell it online for a profit.
There’s beauty in knowing that if I lost everything tomorrow, I’d be able to rely on my flipping skills to start earning money immediately.
Starting costs
The beauty behind flipping items is that it hardly costs anything to get started. A higher budget is nice in the beginning when you inevitably make unprofitable purchases. I gave myself a $1000 budget from the start to fail quickly and acquire the skills and knowledge.
However, you can get started for as little as $50.
Skills and Strategies
Flipping is a game of knowledge, speed and humility.
Knowledge: To recognize valuable brands, use eBay sold listings, and own an area of expertise, such as electronics, clothing, vintage figurines, kitchenware, etc.
Speed: To identify value in seconds and make faster purchasing decisions than other shoppers (competition is fierce everywhere)
Humility: To get your hands dirty and be willing to spend hours sifting through used items at garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores.
Personally, it took me 3 months of consistent visits to garage sales and thrift stores before I could confidently make purchase decisions within seconds. But at the point, 90% of my purchases were profitable.
It’s also normal to feel embarrassed when starting out.
But if you can overcome discomfort and other people’s judgement, the strategy is simple:
- Visit a garage sale, estate sale, flea market or thrift store
- Make data-driven purchases using eBay sold listings
- Negotiate and use social finesse to lower your costs (when possible)
- Create and optimize your eBay listings
- Pack and ship your sales orders
It’s simple, but not easy to become an expert at.
Time investment
Saturdays and Sundays are prime opportunities for resellers. It’s when garage sales and flea markets are booming and sellers are trying to make as many deals as possible.
If you’re a beginner looking to start casually flipping, you can realistically expect to earn $500/month by spending 8–10 hours a week sourcing items, creating an eBay listing, and shipping out orders.
In 2021, I was working 10–12 hours a week and earning about $3500–$4000 a month in revenue with 60% net margins.
Earnings
In 2021, my total earnings hovered right above $40k in revenue. It was my first year flipping as a side hustle.
We've Rebranded To HonestHustles.com!
A quick update – we’ve changed our name from sidehustlestories.co to honesthustles.com.
My mission is to build authenticity and honesty around side hustles on the internet. If you’ve checked, 99% of side hustle groups online are full of people shilling their own courses, affiliate links and promoting things for their own self-interest.
For added context, this change was made for a few reasons:
- .com websites have better SEO advantages
- .com websites reduce lost/misdirected emails
- It’s shorter
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Join side hustlers who are earning beyond their full-time jobs. Unlock side hustle ideas and tips to earn an extra $500–$10,000 a month by building a legitimate side business.