Are you strapped for cash? Do you need some quick money? Arbitrage is the easiest way to get it. I had times when money was tight. I had a budget, but some unforeseen expenses put me over budget for the month. I was working on paying off debt and needed a little extra cash in certain months to make things work. This was before I had created a nest egg. I used to hunt for stuff around the house to sell on eBay just to get that little bit of extra cash. I got addicted to this for a while.
I tell you what; the house got cleaned out after those couple of months; especially my bookshelves. I have a slight book addiction as well. eBay was starting, and just about anything you threw up there sold. Fees were low, and shipping was pretty cheap back then. Now, fees, shipping, and all sorts of hassles keep me away from eBay. I have another article here where I talk about some similar ideas, but these three should get you money the quickest way possible.
Arbitrage Income Ideas #1 Finding free stuff on Craigslist to sell on Craigslist
In my other article, I talk about selling on eBay after finding free stuff to sell on Craigslist. To get the fastest cash into your hand, relist the free item back on Craigslist in the for-sale section or try another sales alternative like Letgo. eBay can take some time to list the sale, wait for the auction to complete, then get paid and ship the product. Plus, with their fees and possible PayPal fees, you will get considerably less than you originally bargained for.
With these other sales sites, you could pick the item up from one location, list it, make the sale while you are having some lunch, and have cash in hand when you drop it off after lunch. It wouldn’t even have to leave your car. I have heard some stories about sales going that smoothly. Although not all go that smoothly, the potential is there. As you get into the buying and selling game, you may find some collectors who will buy everything you come across.
Years ago, I had a bunch of computer stuff I was getting rid of. My wife found a guy who tinkered with rebuilding and then reselling the thing he fixed. He told her he’d take whatever she had. Since he was fixing and reselling himself, he would not offer top dollar, but the idea is there. Build yourself a list of people who will buy whatever you find in a particular niche, and you will have almost a guaranteed sale.
Arbitrage Income Ideas #2; Finding gold at garage sales to sell on Craigslist
A vast majority of the people holding garage sales haven’t done their due diligence on the market for their used stuff. What does that mean? Garage sales can be a gold mine for items to arbitrage. Most people who have garage sales just want their items gone but aren’t yet at the threshold to give the stuff away. What you have though is the ability to buy things for only a couple of dollars and then resell them for possibly ten times that amount.
Also, try to put together batch deals. Instead of trying to deal with each piece, put together a bunch of items and make a discounted deal for everything. As I said, their goal most of the time is to get rid of things. If you offer to take a significant lot of items off their hands, they are most likely to see it as a win to get rid of the stuff as well as making a couple of bucks.
The benefit to you is even more deep discounts on things to make your margin higher. I consider my father to be a garage sale guru. After retirement, he started doing the arbitrage thing for some extra spending money. He has a routine. He sometimes dresses in shabbier clothes to make himself look the look. And, more importantly, he has a niche. He has a specific group of items he looks for which he knows the market well.
He can pick out, at a glance, items he can make money on and usually knows his potential profit before he even makes the purchase. He also takes significant advantage of the group deal thing. He can usually make an extra $20 or $30 just by putting batches of items together. But, how can we take this garage sale thing to the next level?
Arbitrage Income Ideas #3; Getting paid to clean out someone’s garage to sell on Craigslist
Did I ever tell you my uncle was a trained auctioneer? Yes, entrepreneurship does run in my family. When I was young, he would offer to clean out people’s garages for a fee. All the ‘junk’ they didn’t want, he would haul away and resell much of it for additional cash. Not only did he get paid to clean the garage, but he made money on the items people told him to throw away.
This is similar to estate sale companies. Families hire companies to clean out relatives’ houses after they pass on or get moved into assisted living situations. These companies usually have antique or resale shops connected to them. The shop owner goes into the home first and picks out items to put in their store. They make the family a batch offering on certain items. Then they send their team in to clean and price all the rest of the stuff.
They hold the sale and do the rest of the clean-out after. They take their fee for handling everything and the family gets the rest of the money. So, if there are some valuable items they can sell, they make their money for the items and take their fee on top of that. My mom is an antique buff. She had a job for a while working for one of these estate sale companies. It’s a pretty interesting system.
If you could patch together some sort of ‘clean out and sell the leftover’ system, you could make some serious quick cash. These are just three systems I’ve done or heard of people doing. The fun part about entrepreneurship is that you can mismatch ideas and change things on the fly to make the profit work out.
Like the garage sale deal above, I’ve heard of people offering a lump sum for everything left after a garage sale is done. If you know the market well, you can make really good deals on things. The biggest takeaway you need to keep an eye on in any arbitrage deal is knowing the market for the items before you buy. That way before you even buy the item, you know you have a profit.
No matter what type of arbitrage deal you put together, make sure you have fun as well as turn a profit.
Be safe,
Kevin