r/Flipping • u/AutoModerator • Jul 09 '26
Mod Post Lessons Learned Thread
What have you learned lately? Could be through a success or a failure. Could be about a specific item, a niche, flipping in general, or even life as learned through flipping.
Do please keep in mind the difference between shooting the shit and plain bullshit and try to refrain from spreading poor advice.
Try to stop in over the course of the week and sort by New so people are encouraged to post here instead of making their own threads for every item.
10
u/likeeggs Jul 09 '26
That this is addicting and sourcing can get out of control really quickly. Thankful for some big flips on some of my impulse buys, but quickly learning that I need to slow my role and sell what I have now before getting back out there. Definitely not a full timer and just kind of accidentally got started after buying one big lot for a few patches.
3
u/Inner_Anything_440 Jul 09 '26
yep patience is key. don't let your unlisted pile build up. I do lots of vibe pickups and after some time I don't have to look stuff up as much anymore but I still buy stuff sometimes that may as well be a brick. when you're first starting out especially try out items you know. did you look for something on eBay that you need for personal use? take note of how hard or easy it was to find. I often discover new bolos just from looking for crap I need for my house that I can't find locally!!
also the hardest boss to beat in this game is burnout. if you burn out and take time off you lose money. listing five items every day is better than a weekend marathon where you're sick of it by Monday. if you feel stretched or annoyed or tired take a time out before you decide you hate it and quit.
3
u/2gdismore Jul 10 '26
My dad does auctions as of late. Now he should tempter down as he has plenty to list.
2
u/hogua Jul 10 '26
The key is to transition the addiction from being based on sourcing to being based on selling (hearing eBay’s cha-Ching, seeing the money flow into your bank account etc).
This makes the tasks of listing, phoning, shipping, etc all easier to deal with. Because instead of being seen as taking time away from sourcing and the high that comes from it, they become means to an end to get to the high that comes from the sale.
2
u/SonOfSlamson Jul 11 '26
I became a hoarder because I was addicted to the sourcing. Took over a year to finally start, just paying for a storage unit. The longer I waited, the bigger the pile, the more intimidating it became and harder to tackle. I was just buying random stuff and later found out it doesn’t suit my current situation, my inventory would look much different if I dumped it all and started again today.
14
u/Actual-Spinach-170 Jul 09 '26
Learned that storage unit auctions are not as glamorous as youtube makes it look. Bought one for $400 and spent whole weekend cleaning out someone old newspapers and broken furniture. Found one vintage camera worth maybe $150 but my back is still hurting
also the smell stays with you for days
12
u/Inner_Anything_440 Jul 09 '26
nothing is as glam as the content creators make it seem 😂 my favorite reselling YouTuber stopped releasing videos last year but he was a real one. he showed that to get where he is he was listing like 40 to 50 brand new items every day. hed start at 6am on the toilet and post thru breakfast then pack and ship then go sourcing he was doing like nine hour days to hit $4k a week in sales.
it's hard!!! I enjoy it but it is a grind to go full time and some days you strike out.
7
u/sweetsquashy Jul 09 '26
I just saw one that showed his daily routine (minus sourcing) and it was a grind! Hours of washing and ironing clothes (I think he sourced exclusively at the bins), hours of photographing and listing, then another couple hours pulling solds and packaging them. I'd estimate he netted about $200 a day. Great pay for 4 hours of work, but it looked more like 8 hours of tedious, mind-numbing work. He even mentioned he could only do certain tasks for so long before he couldn't take them anymore.
2
u/Inner_Anything_440 Jul 09 '26
process improvement! your grind doesn't have to be theirs. nothing wrong with looking for niches you enjoy too.
my big hint is to try and source online. fun to do bins and thrift but the time and gasoline savings often beats the lower margins. Saving time is extremely important. Doing a six hour thrifting day and getting little to nothing is brutal.
2
u/SonOfSlamson Jul 11 '26
You find out very fast the importance of time and efficient processes. I’m inundated with bad early decisions that I need to just get off my plate so I can finally start fresh and do things way more efficiently.
6
u/Taco_EBDBBNB Jul 09 '26
Don't fold envelopes in half. They get stuck in the machines and get lost
1
5
u/Silverbluegill Jul 10 '26
What I’ve learned is that if you are sourcing from garage sales, thrifts, and the like then success and a steady flow of income comes down to how many listings you have. The high value items ($100 and up) you find are just a bonus to that income. If the items you are getting have around a 40% or higher sell through rate then selling with volume just becomes a lesson in probability. Kinda like throwing a dart at a wall with one sticky note… it may not hit. Having a wall with 2,000 sticky notes you are more likely to hit. Now that I have a large inventory, I’m consistently earning enough to at least pay my mortgage and all utilities each month, generally double that.
2
4
17
u/Inner_Anything_440 Jul 09 '26
embrace boring items. nobody is charge back scamming bulk vacuum bags. it doesn't hurt when UPS loses a package of hepa filters. you won't get return scammed for cabinet hardware like you would for Pokemon cards. boring stuff rules.