For those new to my cause: I quit my corporate job to find and sell anything I can. Two and a half years later, 2,550+ items sold, debt free, a stockpile of cryptos, and free to live as I choose. You can too with some confidence and faith! I've developed many sources of inventory, many of which are completely FREE, if not at very low cost. I'm most proud of the recycling of consumer goods and tons of packaging to ship everything. This NEVER feels like work. I hope to inspire others to make some extra money and help the environment, one item at a time.
Adding to my last post, this is a second glimpse of more completely free finds from walking around on recycling nights near my apartment. All of these would have been crushed and hauled away, but they were all saved to pass along to good homes. Please check them out and their stories!!
Dobbs Clubfoot Bar
Sold to a mother in Tanzania who couldn't get access to this for her child locally. These help straighten club foot in infants. It's important to get these in place early so she was pleading with me to give her a discount, which I did because I saw the bigger picture. Really proud of this one.
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $66.89 (discounted for customer budget). Shipping to Tanzania was $52.50!
Vintage Norway Tone Vigeland Sterling Silver Ear Cuffs
Never judge a book by its cover. I found these in a small jewelry box on the curb within a box of someone who just moved out. Check out the before and after. I mixed baking soda with boiling water, and then placed the ear cuffs on top of tin foil to create the chemical (magic) reaction. This is an excellent cheap and natural solution for polishing silver. Sold to a happy customer way across the world in Japan.
BEFORE
AFTER. BOOM!
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $167.72
NVIDIA Shield Android TV
Near mint media system with the plastic still on it! I couldn't believe someone would toss this and almost kept its since the system was fun to test. The original user's data was still on it, but I did a factory reset. Could have sold for more, but I couldn't find the remote. I had to test it via my iPhone app.
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $127.28
18 Breg Polar Care Cubes/Glacier Cubes (yes, 18 of these!!!)
Almost all were completely brand new! Why would anyone throw these out?! To use, you put ice water in the bin that's pumped through the hose into a special tube-webbed wrap for post-surgery rehab. I sold them at a low price to not take up too much space in my apartment. Ironically, I found two similar versions of these this month I'll be selling soon.
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $528.09
One Brand New DonJoy Defiance Leg Brace & Two Breg Freestyle Knee Braces (Med/Lg)
I found many other leg, back, neck and elbow braces of similar value, but just one example. Shame on whoever threw these out instead of donating them to a charitable cause. People around the world desperately need these. At least I helped many people avoid paying high retail costs.
DonJoy:
Breg x 2:
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $395.72
1940's Golden Cookies Picnic Basket - Classic Americana
Antique item once again for free on the curb sticking out of a bag. Took it home and listed it immediately. It actually sold in under 30 minutes to someone who was desperately waiting for one in great condition with a search hit alert. A gem saved and a thrilled woman out in California. Fastest recycling find to completed sale in my record book of 1 hour (mainly because I was still hunting after I found it.)
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $95.97
2007 Bugaboo Frog Baby Stroller w/ Ride-On Board
Broken up and sold as 13 separate parts! I've found and sold so many high end strollers (Bugaboo, Uppababy, Maclaren, etc.) I'd lose count if it wasn't for my Excel file. I sell many intact for cash, while some I part out if there's anything damaged to prevent me from doing so.
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $382.30
Bugaboo Cameleon3 Stroller
Found right in the recycling pile on the street. Near mint condition only 8 months old at the time from the label's manufacturing date. All I had to do was hand wash the pink canopy for 10 minutes. What a shame to toss this, but I made sure it got in the hands of a new mother in my neighborhood for an easy cash sale.
Profit (Cash Sale): $350.00
Line 6 POD Studio UX2 Digital Recording Interface
The chrome finish in a clear bag caught my eye. I almost gave it to my band's guitar player, but decided that he had enough gear. After downloading the software to test it, it sold in a few days of the find. It was in mint condition! It's inexcusable to just toss this, but I stopped that devious plan. It wasn't a huge profit, but saved music gear is a triple bonus in my book.
Proof:
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $66.48
Ritter Midmark M11 Sterilizing Machine Circuit Board & Control Panel
I found this complete medical device out in the rain. It's worth about $2,500-$3,000 used! It was too heavy to carry and I didn't know how to confirm that it'd work, so I just stripped a few parts off of it. The first listing sold in an hour of posting the next morning, so I emailed the buyer to tell them about the other part, which they asked me to list immediately and bought in 5 minutes! Money made in 12 hours from the find!
Proof:
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $271.74
GMAT Prep Book Set
Entire stack found and sold to a student for a discount. Nothing crazy, but this is a good niche. I find a lot of high school and grad school textbooks that sell like water.
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $73.07
Rode NTS Microphone, Specialized S-Works Road Cycling Shoes & Manfrotto 386B Nano Clamp
A woman threw her ex's stuff out on the curb in some bags. I found a bit of TMI stuff, but some nice items as well. I sold the microphone for $140 cash, and the shoes and camera clamp online. I kept the working password-free iPad and two working external hard drives for myself. Nice score!
Profit After Fees & Shipping: $140.00 + $77.09 + $22.09 = $239.18
I have so much more that I'll share, especially as I salvage new items every week. I hope this inspired you to make an impact for the environment and yourself! Feel free to message me via Steemit Chat at mattcoin8 if I can help with any advice.
Please upvote, follow and resteem to help me share these ideas. It means a lot and motivates me to do more. I truly want to promote recycling and being able to fully support yourself without a standard job.
If you enjoyed this post, check back to some of my previous ones while I'm working on the next.
~steemmatt
That's fun, you job in your sales. I have a friend that owns a consignment shop and they visit yard sales professionally. thank you for Sharon. This was a fun post.
Hello @steemmatt
So lucrative what you are doing. You can't find discarded things that are still useful where I live. I'll have opted to try it out but recycling here is not fun at all.
@learnandteach01
Well keep your eyes out! You never know. Either way, you can make money from selling parts of household items or appliances instead of getting rid of them. A lot of the parts are still valuable, especially if in great shape and from discontinued products.
Oh, this is great. Never knew I could do this. Thank you very much.
You've had some awesome finds. That was a really great shot of those earrings before and after, it's so crazy what people throw away. Definitely seems like a fun way to make a living and it's got to feel good knowing that you're helping to recycle this stuff and even help out those who really need it. Cool all around.
Thanks! Even if you find something partially broken or with the cord cut, the parts can sometimes make nearly as much as if you sold the entire thing. Parts for discontinued or vintage products can be hard to find, so there's a premium on them.
There's also a thrift store that throws out items "deemed not of value" that was a gold mine for years until others caught on. I avoid the competition now, but complained to the store's manager last month about how many amazing items they've tossed because the store could help their cause with them, especially in the spirit of those who donated the items with those intentions.
She was quite rude about it, so I countered by saying that I'd been selling her discarded items for years for thousands of dollars. The shock on her face was literally like seeing a ghost. It was a priceless moment and I have a hunch it's impacted her process as I've seem more items on the shelves that I'd usually find outside.
People like that drive me crazy, at least you got that satisfying moment out of it! At least it sounds like she got the point.
Wow, this is seriously inspirational! You've got some great finds in this list. At some point in the future, I think it would be super interesting to see some posts on the business side of things. For example... when you are out sourcing, how do you determine if you think an item will be profitable and sell quickly? What do you do if an item isn't selling... keep lowering the price or cut your losses? How hard is it to ship large, awkward items like strollers? Keep up the great posts!! I always look forward to seeing your latest finds!
Thank you very much. That's a good idea for a future post.
I don't sell large/heavy items online much unless it's books via USPS media mail. If I take on something large like a deluxe stroller or appliance, I'll sell it for cash. While it's not too hard to ship large things with all of the free packaging, and USPS/FedEx drops near me, the shipping costs can be cost prohibitive or profit-killing.
That's the main reason I'll part a stroller out into parts to sell online. I have more work to do for listing setup, but I'll make just as much, or more, selling this way. I'll sometimes save a step and just strip down a stroller or an appliance on the street and leave the bulk of it there so I can keep strolling (cough) to find more stuff on that trip (more profitable).
I'll be posting next about a high end dishwasher I found and took apart last night in 30 mins. There are lots of valuable parts in the $50-100 range, and then the motor which normally sells for $300 used if functional.
ahh that makes more sense! I saw the strollers in your photos and wondered how the shipping charge would hit your profitability. I hadn't really thought about stripping stuff down for parts before, but that's so cool that you do that! Can't wait to see your dishwasher post... that will be super interesting.
That's smart of you to strip it down right there when possible so you aren't hauling around so much stuff. Nice stroller pun by the way! haha
We call this picking down here. I am a professional picker. It's amazing what people throw away in America. We are the most wasteful country in the world. You may like this post. I am following you now. https://steemit.com/homesteading/@leaving-egypt/the-big-leaving-egypt-sale-or-how-we-make-homestead-money
Thanks for your comment, support and link. It's nice that we can relate and promote your expertise (my new path). Thanks also for generously resteeming my post!! I just got back from a 30 minute walk with 4 items to sell: a discontinued Miele electric vacuum hose ($100 revenue), a vacuum charger port ($32), a sealed DVD collection ($20), and brand new Lancome makeup ($15). Just a warmup for tonight before the baseball playoffs tonight. Following now as well.
once again, some really great finds / flips you made! really is crazy what some people just leave on the curb.
Thanks, Alex. I've even heard of someone who wanted to put potted trees on the curb.
well granted, none of that's going on the curb, and we're keeping the planters (a big part of the expense is getting the trees out of them). but yeah, that's really the thing in NYC, sometimes people get caught in a bind (eviction, last minute move, bad breakup, etc), and sadly it's cheaper and easier to just curb-it and hope someone else can make use of it.
On the flip-side, we've found many amazing antique-ish furniture items (and other little gems) over the years that way too, literally just dumped cuz I suppose they just couldn't go "along for the ride".
You're absolutely right. Lots of extenuating circumstances can be a factor. When you live near millions of people, all you need is a few a night to be set.
If you get the chance, feel free to share some of those finds one day.
Fascinating to read this. I dabble a bit in the 'find & sell' process but not systematically. I live in a very rural area in the UK so haven't got the advantage of being in city for this. But the local rubbish dump is a very good source.
Also Freecycle is extremely good. I have had some excellent pickups from that including a wheelchair, a fruit cage, a pressure washer and a lawn mower. All working and all for free. Do you have Freecycle over your way?
img credz: pixabay.com
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