Recently a reader of this blog reached out to me asking for advice. He wanted to get some ideas on what are fairly easy ways to to turn £2,000 into over £5,000. The side hustle I gave him – flipping items.
Flipping items is something that many people do. This is a fairly simple way of making money. And I can assure you – anyone is able to do this. The beauty of this way of making money – you can fairly quickly double and triple your initial investment.
I have personally done this in the past. So below I will share with you the way I would approach this if I was to start from scratch. I will also give you ideas in terms of what tools I would use for this and what type of items I would do this with.
how do you flip items
I will start with the basics of this side hustle. Flipping items is a process of you buying an item and selling it for a slightly higher price. Some might ask – why would anyone pay you more than what you buy the item for?
The answer to this is simple – they either don’t know where to get it cheaper, need it in a rush, potentially aren’t expert in the real worth of the item or you might be willing to buy items in bulk. No matter the reason – there is an opportunity for you to make some pocket money here.
Back in the days, when I was 16 – this was how I was making pocket money. I was flipping second hand phones. It was a fun process and I got to play with a lot of latest models of phones. That was the best bonus to this side hustle.
In order to succeed in the process – you need to be an expert in the prices of a certain category of items. I would suggest sticking to one particular type of items – this way you will become expert quicker.
A skill that comes really handy in this side hustle – knowing how to haggle. This will help you in both buying and selling part of this. If you are currently no expert – don’t worry, you will pick this skill up really quickly.
why is this side hustle great
The reason I think this side hustle is great – you can do it whenever works for you. You can put more time into it when you are free. Or go spend time with your friends and family and return back to it when you have time once again.
You are allowed to choose a category of items that excites you personally. This can bring you a lot of personal joy.
The best part for those looking to do it to make a couple of extra pounds – you can make decent returns in a fairly short period of time. You can easily expect to make £10-20 per each £50 item you sell.
If you think of the above – that’s a return of 20-40% per each sale. Investing that is viewed as a money making machine by many doesn’t return that sort of growth in a year. Here – you could flip items with the same £50 more than multiple times per year.
This can easily turn into a return of up to 200-300% per year. There is a trick however – you need to find the right type of item that will help you achieve returns like that.
The most important step for you to do – research and learn the prices of the items you want to sell. Pay attention to how different the price will be depending on the condition of the item.
Other factors that can play a role – colour or the amount of memory will often be a deciding factor. Research the prices for the exact item you are looking to flip. Often when it come to electronics – having the original box can add 5-10% to the items value.
what type of items make your side hustle a success
This point is the most important. It is also the one that stops most people from trying this side hustle as they believe that they don’t have the right type of item in mind.
I have 3 rules that you should follow in order to succeed in the process and make some decent returns.
First rule – the item you pick has to have high sales volume. You definitely don’t want to be selling something that doesn’t have much demand. This only could be worth if there is very little competition or your margins are crazy high and you are ok to sit on the stock for a while.
Second rule – items have to change hands for a high price tag. If you think of cheap items – many of them sell high volumes. The issue here though is – if you sell 100 items that cost £1 and make 20% profit … you only make £20 profit.
To get £20 in your pocket is not a bad thing. Issue however is the fact that selling 100 items isn’t easy and it is a lot of time and hustle.
Third rule – they have to be easy to transport and store. Fridges might be a great opportunity but moving one around is a two men job. I also doubt that Royal Mail will agree to ship this for you.
My personal go to category was always electronics. If you think of tablets, phones or cameras – all of these fit the above 3 rules. Clothes can be another great category to consider
There are many other categories that will fit this simple system. Sit down for 10 minutes and write some of your ideas down. Below I will give you a list of tools to check if these fit the above criteria or not.
where to pick the items from
Sourcing the stock is the next issue most people find challenging. This once again is extremely simple to solve. You won’t see it as an issue at all once you start the side hustle yourself.
The moment you realise that you can use your phone for sourcing stock to sell rather than only watching funny cat videos on YouTube – that’s when you realise how easy it actually is to make money online.
The platforms that I would personally recommend you use are the following:
- eBay
- Gumtree
- Facebook Marketplace
- Shpock
- And multiple other apps/platforms that offer similar service
Some of these will require you to pick the items up yourself locally. Other platforms might provide shipping. Keep in mind – shipping often comes at a cost and will eat into your profits.
There are also options to buy items and ship them from abroad. If you decide to do this – keep the shipping costs in mind as well as you will most likely have to pay import duty. Another thing that makes it slightly more challenging – it might be expensive to return an item if the seller is abroad.
where to sell your items
You might be surprised – but the above list of platforms is the same where you will end up selling your items.
Your target audience will often be those who need the item straight away. These people don’t have time to search and look for a better deal.
The margin that you will be charging will be basically the equivalent of you parking your money to provide someone else with a product that they are looking to buy.
There are few things to keep in mind when it comes to picking where to sell your items.
Platforms like eBay are a great way of selling. The website allows so many sellers meet buyers and makes the whole transaction simple and smooth. Sales values as a result there are extremely high.
The issue with this website though – they charge high fees for the service they provide. Category depending – it could end up costing you up to 18-20% in eBay fees. This is a straight cut from your profit. Make sure you account for this before you commit to an item.
Other options are the likes of Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace. These platforms don’t charge fees. Often though – you might have to meet the buyer in person. You have to be comfortable with this.
what free tools can help your side hustle
You will be surprised – but the above web sites will also be the tools that you will end up using the most for your research. The amount of information and resource they provide is incredible. And the best part – it is all free.
Firstly, use these platforms to identify the price ranges that your chosen item changes hands at. This will most likely end up being the price you will be competing with. Make a couple of phone calls to see if the items have already sold at that price and pay attention to the age of the add.
Next, learn the volumes. For this step – eBay is my personal go to tool. When you search for your chosen item – you can adjust your search filters. One of the options there is SOLD ITEMS.
Once you choose this – eBay will only show the items that actually sold. You will also see the final price and the date & time. This can help you understand the rough demand for the specific item.
Lastly, if you choose to sell your items and provide shipping – check Royal Mail or other couriers to get an idea of how much it will cost you to ship your item to the buyer. Make sure you include all of these costs into price before you sell.
Also, all of the above platforms offer notifications. Use these to get messages of when new items are listed that match your criteria. This way you can be the first to see it and buy as a result.
summary
Flipping items is a great side hustle anyone can start. This can easily add a couple of hundred pounds into your pocket monthly without doing too much work.
Research the market and find the items that works for you. Learn the prices and explore the demand. Once you are clear on these – strike you first deal and see how easy it is. The worst case – you might have to sell the item for the same price you bought it.
One other thing I would suggest you do – create a way of tracking all the costs and sale prices. You want to make sure you are doing it and are actually making money. No point of simply wasting a lot of your time if it doesn’t bring any cash.
The profits from this can either go back into buying more items or investing for the long run. This is where ISAs become a powerful tool.