Have you ever found yourself strolling through a thrift store and wondering why people got rid of some of the items on the shelf? If so, you’ve probably been amazed by what some people consider junk. Perhaps you’ve even thought of buying some of their discards in hopes of turning around and reselling them. Just know this: profiting from thrift hauls takes a special talent.
There are people who spend entire days accumulating thrift hauls. They sell their purchases online or in their own brick-and-mortar shops. When necessary, they clean, repair, and recondition items prior to sale. It takes work, but those who know how to do it can make good money at it.
So where’s the talent in profiting from thrift hauls? In the following three things:
1. Knowing What to Buy
The most important aspect of any business is offering a product or service that customers actually want. It is no different when it comes to thrift hauls. You have to know what to buy. You have to know what people are willing to buy from you. Knowing what to buy is part knowledge and part talent.
Some people just have the innate ability to identify items that will sell. They can scan the large thrift shop sales floor and pick out a selection of items destined to bring in big bucks. They just have an eye for that sort of thing.
2. Repairing and Restoring
Next up, it definitely takes talent to repair and restore items prior to sale. Imagine a thrift hauler who specializes in clothing. She might find one or two pieces in her latest haul that need some minor repair work. No worries. She pulls out the sewing machine and a couple of spools of thread and goes right to work. In no time at all, the pieces are ready to be put up for sale.
Restoration can be a little trickier when you are talking household items you intend to sell as decorations. You might have another thrift hauler who finds an old butter churn he wants to restore and turn into an umbrella rack or vintage planter. The restoration work could determine how much he eventually sells the piece for. It takes a bit of talent to get it right.
Jami Ray Vintage, in Lehigh, UT, is a company that turns thrifted haul into profit. One of the things they specialize in is taking thrift haul pieces and rehabbing them to fit the modern farmhouse style. Repair is part of the deal. As for restoration, that depends on how you define it. Either way, a lot of talent is involved.
3. Setting Prices
Believe it or not, there is a lot of talent that goes into setting prices. The interesting thing is that there is an enormous difference between what you might think something is worth and what the market will bear. You see this sort of thing all the time at garage sales.
Garage sale prices tend to start out on the high end when the sale first opens. But by the time the weekend draws to a close, every price tag has been reduced to mere pennies. What people are willing to pay is the true value of a particular item. It takes some talent to price things accordingly.
Anybody can buy stuff at a thrift store and throw it up on eBay. But to truly make a profit on a consistent basis, you need to have a talent for this sort of thing. Not everyone has that talent, though a lot of us wish we did.
