One strategy helped us turn $100 into $5,000, and today we’re going to talk about how you can implement it into your reselling business.
Recently we sold an autoclave for $5,000. If you don’t know what that is, they use it in medical offices to sterilize all the medical tools. It’s a little oven that gets super hot and burns everything off, sterilizing it. We got this from a vendor and only paid $100 for it. He texted me a picture of it, and I started negotiating with him. I didn’t know much about it, but I did have the name and could do some research.
When I picked it up, it was heavy and way bigger than I expected, which was great. There are all different sizes, so I got super excited when I picked it up because it was a big one. I cleaned it, tested it, and listed it on eBay.
We sold it fairly quickly for $5,000, and it was over. I think new; it was a $15,000 machine. We’re typically reselling items at around 50% of retail. That was even less than that because we were able to get it for such a good price.
Had I not bought it, he would’ve taken it and sent it to the scrap yard and got probably the same price on scrap.
So let’s dive into the strategy.
What is the one thing that made us $5,000? It’s super important in our business and its relationships.
Build Relationships, Expand Opportunities
We recently had our team come down to Florida and were looking for a whiteboard. While on Facebook, I got sidetracked looking at a seller’s other items. This seller had a whiteboard, and I clicked on their name and saw they also had a commercial espresso machine. So I forgot about the whiteboard for a minute. He wanted $450 for the machine, and I looked it up on eBay and found comps for $9,500. I shot him an offer for $250, and he said yes. He had other fantastic items too, so I told myself to bring more cash. When I got there, he told me they had sold the office they were in and had to get rid of all this stuff.
While I was there, I also got a pneumatic jackhammer with hoses. He wanted $200, and I said let me see what’s in my wallet. I had $121, and he said okay.
They were trying to liquidate everything. So two jackhammers and two hoses for $120. The jackhammers sell for roughly $500 to $700 a piece and hoses approximately $100 to $150 apiece. When I loaded them in the car, he said I could have another cappuccino machine for $50, and I didn’t have the cash, so I said let me think about it. About a week later, he reached out and said we could have the second machine for free. And he found a whole bunch of attachments to the jackhammers. He gave me those for free too. I’ll be selling the free cappuccino machine for parts. They also gave me a huge laser copy machine that worked but was low on toner. They had a brand new toner that needed to be put into it.
So how do you tie all this back to this strategy? The one thing that has helped us in our business is creating contacts. We have created relationships with sellers, vendors at the flea market, thrift stores, supervisors, and people from OfferUp and Marketplace that might have more stuff for us.
This is what’s changed our business.
Be Consistent To Build Relationships
A huge part of building relationships is being consistent. We go to the same flea market every single Saturday. Every Saturday, we see the same vendors, talk to them, and buy from them. Now some of our contacts from the flea market even text me mid-week to say they found something and do I want to buy it.
I get first dibs at items before they even go to the flea market. So it’s a win-win for everybody.
It is creating those relationships with the people who are in the industry that you want to be able to get stuff in. It’s huge. I get first dibs on it before competing with hundreds of people at the flea market on Saturday.
So you can see how this can snowball, and you get a couple of vendors like this with whom you can build these relationships. And it doesn’t have to be at the flea market. It can be somebody off Marketplace who has my number and will call me when they have more junk to get rid of. Don’t be afraid to share your story so you can build those contacts.
Tell your friends and family, too, because they have items to get rid of too, and they often don’t want to deal with eBay. Contacts are everything in this business, so work to build those relationships, and you’ll see the profits.
You can build relationships with other resellers at our upcoming free virtual event, The Reseller Summit.
Show Notes
Register for the Reseller Summit: https://www.theresellersummit.com/registration
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FURTHER RESOURCES
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