Scavengers find the best stuff to sell online.

As a scavenger who sells all manner of merchandise on the Internet, I know where to acquire lightweight antiques cheap. As far as eBay goes, I’ve always had the best luck with used items – we scavengers love collectibles. I like this category as it’s hard to put a value on any item that’s one-of-a-kind. And this is what most people obsess over – there is no price too high for the last clue in the puzzle. Unique or hard-to-find items generally sell faster and for more money than new items.

Disadvantages of Selling New Items

New items can be acquired in many different places. The buyer can find a thousand places on the Web to buy new stuff and feels obligated to search for the best price. In most cases, the goods are cheapest at the factories or farms where they were created.

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If you’re selling “new items,” try to find a source within fifty miles of where you live. Think about how many local shop owners are buying new replacement stock for their stores each week. Hit the yellow pages. Check the listings for wholesale distributors. Go direct to the factory. Many factories are looking for new dealers. Don’t be put off because they have a big name, they need distribution too. It’s amazing how many of them are willing to drop ship – all you need to do is ask.

Distributorship

I recently tied up a distributorship for a new automotive product because…I asked. They did not have a distributor in my country and I was the only person to inquire. When I first called, I asked about wholesale pricing and when they supplied me with a discount I started thinking, “Why did they not inform me that I lived within the territory of an exclusive dealer?” One more phone call and I was the exclusive dealer. Now sales are exploding and I’m well protected simply because I asked!

Sources of Used Merchandise

In our town we have about a dozen thrift stores that are run by the Salvation Army, Goodwill, Second Heaven, and all church denominations etc. I hit them all once a week. Normally my two hour “shopping spree” ends with an average of fifty dollars spent. Fifty dollars in expenses usually nets me somewhere between three to five hundred dollars in profit. Local auctions and garage sales are also good sources for used merchandise. Use local search software like Poynt on instant messenger to make a route and follow it.

The Secret of Secrets

Get your name on the mailing list for all the local auctioneers. When they’re called to hold estate sales, I’m usually the first person to find out about it. Yes I’ve gone to extremely well-attended events where there are only twenty or thirty other bidders present. That’s because of bad advertising on their part.

Freight Claims

A friend of mine drives for two hours across state once a week for a Freight Claims auction on the outskirts of a big city. You have to buy large quantities of goods, but the prices he pays are unbelievable. Check with all the local freight companies and insurance companies and get the lowdown on how to buy damaged merchandise.

One word of caution, don’t fall for those so-called “Super Disks” that you see advertised all over the Web that are supposed to be filled with “millions of wholesale leads”. Few of them have any up-to-date information, and half the companies listed don’t have Websites so you must call long distance to get the necessary information.

Dumpdiggers

Become a member in antiques collectors’ social networking websites. Attend club meetings and participate in niche discussions on active forum sites. Read blogs like Dumpdiggers to get a sense for the world of modern day treasure hunting – its easy if you have even a little bit of wisdom.

Being an eBay Scavenger Is Easy

The best eBay scavengers think outside the box. I know a lady who only buys and sells fossils. Another chap plucks micro chips from the circuit boards he finds in trashed computers. Dumpster divers do best in industrial parts of town and often work out a route they travel once a week just before pick-ups. One guy popped out the lenses from a pair of broken binoculars and sold two bits of glass for forty dollars each. My daughter once brought me a handful of rare Billy Idol pins that she picked off an empty knapsack she found abandon on the transit system. I sold those pins for fifteen dollars each and bought her a brand new bicycle! Opportunities abound for scavengers of all ages – think and grow rich.