Here’s how I make money from thrift stores and you can too! What I do is not rocket science, but I think it might inspire you. You may want to read my first article called Operation Thrifting For Gold because it was my first ‘case study’ and my readers really enjoyed it.
There is quite literally treasure in most thrift stores waiting to be found…
Today, I went to two thrift stores and spent a total of 2 hours, including getting in my car and driving there and back, and I picked up at least three hundred dollars worth of goods. At least!
Let me show you about 60% of my booty:
As you can see in this picture of my thrift store finds (from one small store), I got some interesting things. Most of them are worth good money, and my return on investment will be significant. This is not everything! I got 7 more books in addition to all this…
Here Are My Thrift Store Finds:
- The three books alone will bring in just over $90. I spent a total of $2.50 on these books. It will take a while for them to sell, but they will sell eventually.
- The sandals are vintage Japanese Geta sandals. These should bring in around $25 on eBay. Maybe more. We shall see. They were only $3.
- In the upper right corner is a vintage Dymo punch labeler. Remember these from Junior high school or grade school? You put a plastic strip into the machine and hand punched letters to spell out your name or whatever label you wanted. It’s not worth much but I had to have it because it brought back memories. I actually bought two for $3, and I think I can get maybe $10 or more for both on eBay if I decide to sell them.
- The Boss business organizer is a vintage piece of equipment that is listed at $99. I paid $4.50. There is a ravenous crowd out there for this kind of thing. I see people every so often searching just for these types of items at thrift stores.
- A doll house miniature chess set and a miniature doll house night stands that I am betting I can get at least $20 for all of it.
- Also, I found a rare set of vintage hand carved clogs from Holland. These should fetch around $20.
But that’s not all…
Above is a collectors Darth Vader EP III Master Replica Lightsaber. I got it for $25 (they were asking $30), and it will sell for at least $90. It’s in perfect condition.
But I am still not finished making money from thrift stores today…
I went to Goodwill and got 5 DVD’s which will bring in about $70 minimum, 5 books that will bring it at least $50, and 5 brand new inject cartridges that will bring in $14 – $17 each. There was a few more items that are worth quite bit but I think I should have inspired you by now.
All this took 2 hours at most. And when they all sell, and eventually they will, I will have netted at least $300. Not bad for 2 hours work, right!
As a matter of fact, it took more time to write this article on how to make money from thrift stores than it did to actually go to the stores, find items, research pricing, buy them, and get home!
I don’t do this full time either…
My full time career is Internet Marketing. I build and maintain niche websites, Squidoo lenses, make videos, and sell eBooks. But when sales are slow, or when my kids are going bananas (I work in our family room!), I like to get out there and bring booty home to sell.
At first I did this for fun to see if there really was a creative way to make money from home, but without working behind my computer all the time. My first time out I scored. But I continued to go to thrift stores, books stores, and library book sales, and every time I would make money.
So, I do thrift store shopping to sell on ebay and amazon about two to three days a week. It’s fun…