Side Hustle Selling — $5K IN 5 Months

Summary

An individual has turned thrift shopping into a profitable side hustle, earning approximately $5K in 5 months by selling items on Mercari and Facebook Marketplace.

Abstract

The author of the article describes their journey of transforming thrift shopping from a personal passion into a lucrative side business. They detail the joy of finding valuable items at low prices from various sources such as garage sales and thrift shops. The practicality of this approach is underscored by the significant cost savings compared to retail prices, especially for clothing and items for their three daughters. However, the author acknowledges the need to declutter and resell items to avoid excess, turning their once-treasured items into profit. They have found success selling on Mercari, where they make smaller profits but sell more frequently, and Facebook Marketplace, where sales are less frequent but more profitable. The article provides a link to the author's seller profiles on both platforms and outlines the pros and cons of each, along with personal seller stats. Since January 2022, the author has made $2,262.80 on Facebook Marketplace alone.

Opinions

The author expresses a strong enthusiasm for thrifting, highlighting the excitement of finding high-quality, brand-name items at a fraction of the cost.
They believe in the practicality of thrifting for acquiring items for a family with varying needs and interests, especially when dealing with children's quickly changing sizes and fashion tastes.
The author advocates for a cycle of buying and purging to maintain a balance and prevent clutter, suggesting that what is considered trash by some can be treasure for others.
They prefer Mercari for its user-friendly platform, incentives, and low fees, despite its domestic-only market and being a buyer's market.
The author favors Facebook Marketplace for its broader customer base and seller-friendly environment, despite its less user-friendly interface and lack of automatic seller stats tracking.
The author endorses a cost-effective AI service, ZAI.chat, as an alternative to ChatGPT Plus(GPT-4), emphasizing its affordability.

When your trash is their treasure!

Image: Thriftstored.com

Garage sales, thrift shops, after holiday markdowns, flea markets; places where my financial self-control disappears. Why? There is a thrill to the find! A vintage original signed book for $1 OR a 1970 designer wallet in excellent condition for $5. Brand names that I could never afford to buy retail, beautiful holiday decorations (our $5 artificial Christmas tree lasted us nine years and was by far the best we had ever had). Champagne items on a beer budget. I cannot resist!

There is also the practical aspect to thrifting. Having three daughters with three different styles, ages, and interests, I cannot take advantage of gender hand-me-downs. Kids grow fast, fashion changes, and we live in an unpredictable climate. One good garage sale day can provide me with bags of clothing, shoes, jackets, sports equipment — all NEW or LIKE NEW — for $100. Whereas those same items retail would be pushing at least $800. Sounds too good to be true, right? With every YAY, there is a BUTT…

Thrifting does create clutter. Is it necessary to have three spring jackets for each child? Or, having ten outdoor razor scooters, I admit, is a bit excessive. So, if I thrift, I purge. Once per month, I declutter closets. Each holiday, I downsize quantity and keep the quality. What someone thought was their trash became my treasure. And now, my old items are another’s new items. The best part is side hustle selling has become a solid passive income for our family! Since October 2021, I have sold roughly $5K between two sites (I have only been selling on FB Marketplace since January 2022).

Having attempted my luck at many sites such as; Poshmark, eBay, Etsy, Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, and many others. The two I prefer that I sell on are Mercari and the Facebook Marketplace.

MERCARI: Sell more, but make less.

Pros:

User-friendly platform

Seller shipping preferences

Incentives

Low platform fee

Offers welcomed

Control payouts

Platform seller stats tracking

Cons:

Siloed to Mercari customer base

Domestic only

Buyers Market

MERCARI SELLER STATS: Amanda Marks

FB MARKETPLACE: Sell less, but make more.

Pros:

Seller shipping preferences

Low platform fee

Offers welcomed

Broader customer base

Seller’s market

Buyer/seller protection

Cons:

Automatic payout

The platform is not as user friendly

Manual seller stats tracking

Manually calculated earnings since 01/2022: $2,262.80

Side Hustle Selling — $5K IN 5 Months

When your trash is their treasure!

“A penny saved is a penny earned.” — Benjamin Franklin