Going to Garage Sales and Antique Shops for Fun and Profit 
Who doesn’t love a good garage sale or antique shop?
Spending your Saturday morning looking through old boxes of items someone no longer wants to treasure hunt is a wonderful pastime. But what if you could make it even more fun by hunting for treasures that you can earn a profit from reselling? Most people selling their items at garage sales are just looking to find new homes for stuff they no longer want before donating whatever doesn’t sell. That means they aren’t exactly asking top dollar and that you can get some fantastic deals, which I’m sure you’ve already figured out if this is something that you like to do.
But making a little bit of income by looking at garage sales and antique shops for items to resell for profit can make the experience even more enjoyable! What if your weekends spent shopping could make you a few hundred or thousand extra dollars each month? If that’s something you’re interested in looking into, then keep reading because we’re about to dive into the best items to resell for profit, along with where to sell items online when you find them.
Best items to resell for profit
You may be wondering what the best items to resell for profit are. There are hidden gems worth good money everywhere and you probably pass them all the time without even knowing it! Unless you already have knowledge of an item, you’ll never know if something is worth a fair amount of money. But there are some items that you can usually find at garage sales and antique shops that are more likely to be worth looking into to see if you can make a profit.
Electronics 
We know that electronics can be pretty expensive. But the money isn’t always in the most current or expensive electronics like you would think. Sometimes you can make a pretty penny reselling electronics that are discontinued and highly sought after. For example, have you ever lost or broke the remote to your TV? If that TV is no longer made and the manufacturer doesn’t have any replacement parts, you’re often stuck with no remote or wondering if you should just buy a new TV. And that’s why things like old remotes can be worth money! It’s always worth it to look through older electronics to see if there are any worth money. Of course, make sure that they work or at least look like they should work (all cords are there and there is no corrosion where batteries go).
Antiques 
An antique shop is going to be full of, you guessed it: antiques! Not all antiques are worth reselling and even if you find something worth reselling it’s all going to depend on what you can pick it up for to determine if you can make a profit. If you have special knowledge, or interest, in a certain type of antiques like clocks or art you can start there! Some vendors at antique shops even mark their items with information that will help you do a little research to see if that item is worth buying to flip for a profit.
Clothing
While not all clothing will make you a profit because there is plenty out there that is either cheaply made or no longer in fashion, don’t forget that everyone needs to wear clothes! Clothing is one of the best sellers on any reselling platform. This is also one of the most common items you see at garage sales and usually you can pick up clothing pretty inexpensively. If you know what to look out for, or take the time to look up items, then you can start to pick up clothing to resell.
Anything you have knowledge of
This isn’t exactly a specific item you can look out for, but this is always the best place to start! Everyone has different knowledge based on their individual interests and experiences. While one person may know a lot about crafting, another might be really interested in movie memorabilia. Take a bit of time to brainstorm what you already know a lot about and start looking up those items to see what sells for a good amount of money. You have the advantage of knowing about the things that you do that other people may not!
Where to sell things online
If you’re looking at reselling items for profit, you’re going to want to think about where you’re actually going to sell those items once you buy them. There are so many places to sell online which is different from even 10 years ago when ebay dominated the online reseller market. Below are a couple of the best places to resell items online for a profit.
Ebay
Of course we had to include the tried and true: Ebay! While there is a lot more competition these days and other marketplaces are available, Ebay is still a great place to sell your items. Because it already has a large customer base and most people know about Ebay, listing your items to sell on Ebay is a no brainer. You can sell almost anything on Ebay and you have literally millions of built-in customers!
I do have my own email account (again) so im right there with you.
Mercari
An up and comer over the last couple of years has been Mercari. Just like with Ebay, you can sell almost anything on Mercari. Because this marketplace is mostly dominated by the younger generations, it’s best for items that they are looking for. However, there are plenty of other items geared toward us boomers that do well on Mercari too! As a bonus, Mercari makes shipping a bit less complicated allowing you to simply select the method and the weight and automatically provides you with the shipping label when your buyer pays. Easy!
Etsy
Even though Etsy is known more as a handmade marketplace, you can actually resell select items on Etsy! You can’t just sell anything on Etsy, but some items that you may find while you’re out shopping are vintage items (at least 20 years old) and craft supplies. That means if you frequent antique stores, you may be able to sell a lot of the items you find on Etsy where vintage items tend to do really well and go for a bit higher than on other marketplaces.
Facebook Marketplace
If you’re looking for a way to sell offline and online, then you can look into Facebook Marketplace. Previously you could only sell items locally on Facebook Marketplace, but recently they’ve opened it to allow online sales and items that need to be shipped once sold. While this is still newer, it has exploded, and many resellers have reported that Facebook Marketplace is quickly becoming one of their favorite places to list items to resell for profit.
Reselling items for profit is one of the best ways to make some extra money. Not only is it fun, and profitable, it also allows you to provide items to people who are looking for them! Making the hobby of shopping second-hand and antiques into a small side business can be a worthwhile venture to get into if you want to make a little extra money. Are you ready to jump into the world of reselling for fun and profit?
This article is for informational purposes only. Not for financial or legal advice.
