Let’s talk about a high-profit side hustle that can make you an extra $500, $1,000, or $2,000 weekly — reselling used appliances.
Selling used appliances is an uncommon side hustle, and the reseller market isn’t as oversaturated as it is with some categories. Items like cooktops, ovens and washing machines can sell for hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the brand and condition of the item. Flipping used appliances allows you to hit your financial goals faster with less time invested.
If you’re new to flipping, reselling used appliances might be your niche!
Where To Find Appliances
The first step to reselling used appliances is to source them. Where do you find used appliances? Check your local resale stores like Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, or Salvation Army. They usually have appliances at a lower cost, and if their price is too high, ask if they’d be willing to sell them for less. There is no harm in trying to negotiate.
Check the apps. You can also find used appliances on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and OfferUp. People doing home renovations don’t want to deal with getting rid of old appliances, so they’ll often post them for free to the person willing to haul the appliance away. This can work out in your favor because you can score appliances for free or cheap!
The lower you buy an item, the more profit you will make when it sells. The profit is made in the buy (or find).
What To Consider When Reselling Used Appliances
If you’re considering reselling used appliances, you’ll need a way to transport the appliance from the pickup location to your storage unit and then to the freight shipment facility. Do you have access to a vehicle that can accommodate large items like a washing machine or cooktop?
If not, think about how you could make it work. Can you borrow a truck from a friend? Is there a moving company in your city that rents out trucks, and would it be worth renting one for the day? These are all factors to consider before you get into selling used appliances.
If you don’t have transportation, you can still make it work by thinking outside the box. If you know you’re going to make a couple of thousand dollars on an item, perhaps you can outsource the pickup, packaging, and shipping to someone else for a percentage of the profit. In that situation, you wouldn’t even have to touch the item.
Who Buys Used Appliances?
You might wonder if people will buy used appliances, and the answer is yes! Appliances are expensive, and nice ones still sell for a good percentage of their retail value if they’ve been cared for and are in good condition. Now, if you pop your stove top on Facebook Marketplace hoping to sell it locally, you might not have any luck selling it because your local market doesn’t need it. By offering to ship on eBay, you are opening the door to selling the used appliance to anyone in the United States. People buy items on eBay because they want them delivered to them. Sometimes people may see a new model of an appliance and realize that it’s out of their price range, but they can afford the used version.
We have had success in our high-profit flipping business selling used appliances, and it’s what we’ve been gravitating toward as a business.
How To Prep Your Used Appliance To Sell
When you pick up or purchase a used item, ask questions about its condition and functionality. Ask if they have the original manual you can take. You want to find as much out about the item as possible so you can write an accurate description for eBay.
Before you take pictures of the used appliance, you should clean the item. Appliances are heavily used, so they are rarely in pristine condition. Take the time to clean them, test them, and repair any broken parts. A minor fix could add hundreds of dollars of value to the appliance.
Take good pictures of the item. Use good lighting and a clean background. Take photos of the defects, scratches, and scuffs. Take a video of the appliance working, so the buyer knows it’s functioning. Note all of the flaws in the item description too.
What To Do If Your Used Appliance Doesn’t Sell
If you’ve had an item listed for a while and it’s just not selling, there are some options. You can sell the item for parts. That is legal, and people do it all the time on eBay. Some parts can be sold for a couple of hundred dollars. Another option is to check if your state allows recycling for cash. Scrap metal recyclers may also be interested in your appliance. You can also sell the item for less in your local market if you’re just trying to get rid of it. You can still likely make a profit on the item if you got it for cheap enough, to begin with.
If you’ve been looking for a side hustle that takes a little time but yields maximum profit, consider reselling used appliances. This niche can make you hundreds to thousands of dollars a month, and it’s easy to get started.
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