Can you make a living from selling on marketplace etc

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Hi I wonder if its possible if I happen to come across things I could sell for good prices online on Marketplace etc if I can make a living from that? I would start a business but I cant do accounting and I dont know if its possible to get any help with those things for free because im not spending any money paying anyone its my money and I use it for putting aside and not using it. I can sell things I find myself tho thats legal right whos gonna stop me or prove that its not my used item and that I didnt just find it in my local thrift store full of dummies that underprice everything that I once stole a cabinet key from because I lost my cabinet key.

Thanks

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Comments ( 6 )
  • wigz
    2 years ago

    You can try. It's something you can start doing really small and then grow it as you go, if you're any good at it. You don't need to worry about accounting really, unless you use a 3rd party like eBay or etsy where the money exchanged becomes "official". If you stick to selling in-person, like flea markets or fb marketplace, the only accounting you need to do is just simple math...money spent vs money earned on sales, just for your own knowledge.

    I do this and I've made a lot of money. The worst part is dealing with people. People are absolute morons and will waste a lot of your time, they will infuriate you with idiotic questions, they won't show up when they're supposed to, etc. The second worst thing is that you can have some bad dry spells when it comes to acquiring new items to sell. Since you need to get the right things at the right price, you're at the mercy of the thrift gods. I had so many good sources completely dry up on me. You've got to have the time and effort to put in to finding items, you've got to travel a lot, get to places early, network, just generally be on top of any sales, auctions, thrift stores, etc. And if you use Google to price items, be careful. You can't sell things for eBay "asking" prices. You also have to be in tune with what people in your area are willing to spend money on. Like, I have a $2000 mid century chair that I got for $100 at an auction but I can't sell it locally, nobody in this redneck area would buy it. But they will buy other things like knives, cast iron pots, etc. You have to figure out what the people want and then sell them that.

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    • Boojum
      2 years ago

      "People are absolute morons and will waste a lot of your time"

      Truth.

      I recently watched some click-bait YouTube video which showed some totally ridiculous exchanges between sellers and outrageously obnoxious, entitled, stupid people who responded to ads on Marketplace or a site like it. I have a vague recollection the stories were harvested from some Reddit.

      My conclusion was that selling anything online can be almost as frustrating and rage-inducing as working in retail in a place where customers expect to be treated as kings.

      I've heard some horrible stories about sellers being totally screwed by immoral buyers on Ebay as well.

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  • olderdude-xx
    2 years ago

    It is possible if you know what you are doing. In your case you also need to include the cost of someone to handle your accounting on at least a weekly basis so you understand where your are financially with the business (and such a person is a business deduction).

    You will likely need that person to be able to file your taxes anyway.

    I wish you the best with this,

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  • bigbudchonger
    2 years ago

    It depends what you sell. I sell video games on ebay and the market is soooo saturdated. It's also gotten a lot more difficult since covid kicked in and people have started to sit at home selling all their old shit.

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  • 1WeirdGuy
    2 years ago

    If you have money it'd be pretty easy to buy and sell used cars on there. Sometimes I see ridiculously good deals on there like someone selling their grannies honda for $900 only had like 60,000 miles on it! I tried to buy it even tho I didnt need it but someone got it first. I coulda turned around and got $3,000 for it and itd be sold in a day for that. If you watch Craigslist and Marketplace everyday you can make good money.

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    • Boojum
      2 years ago

      It obviously only possible for those with the necessary technical skills and the equipment and space to do it, but I've watched a few YouTube videos of guys in the UK who find older, basically mechanically-sound but neglected cars, buy them for next to nothing, do whatever minor repairs are necessary to make them road-legal, spend a couple of days doing a very thorough valet job, and then sell them on.

      I'm certain that if you know what you're doing at every stage and you have a bit of luck, it's possible to make good money with that.

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