How Savvy Shoppers Can Make Big Bucks Reselling Their Finds

Are you looking for ways to make money at home?  You’ve probably heard about the money you can make by cleaning out your garage and having a garage sale, or by selling your items on eBay, but I learned about a little trick recently that has made me some extra cash with very high profit margins.  I have always prided myself on finding a deal.  I love finding something on sale.  Especially when someone says to me, “Oh, I love that blouse” and I get to tell them what a great deal I got on it.   Are you one of these people?  If so, your talent could earn you some extra income. 

I ride horses, which is a very expensive hobby.  The horses are expense, the board is expensive, the clothes are expensive and the tack is expensive.  Tack is all of the gear you use when riding, like saddles and bridles and such.  Every three months a tack shop in my area has a big sale.  I’m on their mailing list, so I always hear about it in advance.  I get there early along with several other people and wait for the doors to open.  They have their usual markdowns of 20% - 40% off certain items, but then they have special items that are on close out that are marked so low they are practically free.  I always scour the shop to find all of these items as quickly as I can, because they are usually in short supply.  For example, one time I found two pairs of leather tall boots.  These were not high quality riding boots, but they still retailed for over $100 dollars a pair.  They were an odd size.  The foot size was normal, but the calf size was really wide.  The boots were marked down to $10 each.  Most people didn’t even look at them, because of the size.  But I snatched them right up and sold both pairs for over $65 each on eBay a couple of days later.   The auction buyers paid the shipping charges and I made $110 profit.  The people who bought them were thrilled with their purchase, because if you remember these boots sell for over $100 a pair!  

Sometimes I don’t feel like dealing with eBay auctions and shipping merchandise, so I just drop the items off at my local tack exchange, where items are sold on consignment.  I don’t get as much profit this way, but it saves me the trouble of selling and shipping the items.  If the items are an odd size, like the boots, I usually have better luck selling them on eBay, where there are a lot more buyers looking at them. 

On another occasion, I found an expensive down designer riding vest for $20.  These vests sell for $200.  I sold it at my local consignment shop and made $60 profit. 

Now I realize most people don’t ride horses, but this way of making extra money can be used on any kind of merchandise.  You just need to be a savvy shopper and know what things are worth.  If you are really good at it, you could make quite a bit of money.