Flipping in-demand products is a very easy way to make some extra money. It’s something anyone can do, and it’s also a very flexible side hustle for those who don’t have much free time. Flipping is the process of finding great products at a low cost and then reselling them. If you have an eye for great deals, flipping could be a great source of additional income for you.
While you can flip virtually any item, there are some items that are easier to flip than others. In this article, we’ll talk about the best items to flip. We will also discuss where you can buy and sell these items, and tips for getting the best deals as a seller.
Best Items To Flip
It’s important to remember that you can flip almost anything. Don’t be afraid to get creative – if there’s any kind of demand for an item, chances are you can resell it regardless of what it is. Here are some of the most popular items to flip.
Furniture
Furniture is a great item to flip because it can be very lucrative. Consumers are often willing to pay large sums of money for high quality furniture, particularly large items like couches or bed frames. Since people move all the time, there’s always demand for furniture. Many people will also sell their furniture for very affordable prices when they move. It can be very expensive to ship furniture, which is why so many people opt to sell it at a discount instead of taking it with them. Yard sales are a great place to find old pieces of furniture, as are sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.
When flipping furniture, look for pieces that are durably made. Wood furniture in particular can sell for a lot of money because it is extremely durable and timeless. It can also be very helpful to learn how to fix up old furniture that is gently worn. In some cases, an old piece just needs to be polished, repainted, or reupholstered and it will look brand new.
Appliances
Appliances are another very lucrative item you can flip. Like furniture, appliances can also be very large and difficult to move, so many people opt to sell them below market rates or even get rid of them for free. Many people consider appliances essential when moving into a new home, so there’s always demand for these items.
One of the best things about reselling appliances is that you can make a significant amount of money with almost any type of appliance as long as they work well and have been cleaned since their last use. While large items like fridges, washers, and dryers are all possible to flip, you can also make money by flipping smaller appliances like microwaves, coffee makers, or food processors.
If you’re going to flip appliances, it can help to have some basic knowledge of how to fix small problems with them when the break. You’ll also need to familiarize yourself with the current market value of different types of appliances so you can charge appropriately when reselling.
Bicycles
Bicycles are an excellent item to flip, and they’re fairly easy to find at yard sales or on resale sites. Many people get rid of their bikes because they are upgrading to a different vehicle, are moving, or simply just don’t want to continue the maintenance on a bike.
However, there’s still plenty of demand for bikes, so they’re easy to resell. In recent years, many people have been getting rid of their cars and opting to bike around as a result of climate change. In many cities, biking is a much faster way to get around than taking public transit, and it’s also a great way to get some exercise.
To flip bikes effectively, you’ll need to learn how to clean and repair them fairly well. Alternatively, you’ll need to be willing to invest some money in getting it repaired at a local shop. If you’re going to take that route, you’ll need to make sure that the price of the repairs is still significantly lower than the eventual resale price.
In some areas, you may also be able to flip electric scooters. Many areas throughout the US have legalized electric scooters, and they are a very fun way to get around. Repairing electric scooters isn’t usually very complicated either – in many cases, you’ll just need to add a new battery.
You can also flip bike and e-scooter accessories. Some examples of popular accessories include helmets, baskets, headlamps, and bells. Selling accessories with a bike or e-scooter is a great way to raise the price.
Power Tools
Power tools are a big investment, so it’s no surprise that many people want to buy them secondhand. There are also many people that will want to get rid of them when they move, or if they upgrade to a newer model. It’s common for someone to purchase a power tool for one project and then never use it again, so you can find them in good condition.
There are plenty of places to find used power tools – try local yard sales or community resale platforms like Cragislist. Before reselling the tool, give it a good test run to make sure it still works well. It helps if you have some prior knowledge in this area in order to do so.
Clothing
Clothing styles change all the time, and an item that is ‘so last season’ for one person might be an amazing find for someone else. There are plenty of online platforms dedicated to reselling clothing, such as Poshmark, ThredUp, and DePop, just to name a few. You can also resell clothing through general resale platforms like eBay and OfferUp, or even through a social media platform like Instagram.
There are many different subcategories of clothing and accessories to consider reselling. Some types of clothing are easier to resell than others – for example, fast fashion items that were very cheap to begin with can be difficult to make a profit from unless you get them for free to begin with.
However, luxury clothes do very well in the resale market. Many people will sell designer items from their closet without realizing what they are truly worth. If you’re particularly savvy, you can also find luxury clothing items at thrift stores. Certain vintage styles are also highly sought after as well.
One subcategory to keep an eye on is designer shoes, especially designer sneakers. Many people collect designer sneakers and will be willing to pay huge amounts of money for rare models. In fact, sneakerhead culture has become so intense that there are entire sites just focused on reselling sneakers.
Formalwear is another category that is great for flipping. Many people purchase formalwear for a specific event, like a wedding or gala, and then never rewear it. These items are high quality, but people may be willing to sell them for a very affordable price purely because they don’t wear them very often. You can then resell them at market value.
To be successful at flipping clothing, you will need to keep an eye on the current trends and designers. When shopping for pieces to flip, you will need to be able to identify items that are undervalued. It also helps if you have some basic sewing skills to make small repairs to gently used clothing. You’ll also need to be able to style and photograph the clothing in an attractive way. The market for secondhand and resale clothing is huge right now, but that also means it can be very competitive. You’ll need to make sure that your listings stand out in order to generate sales.
Jewelry
As with clothing, there is also a huge resale market for jewelry. In particular, there is a huge market for vintage jewelry. Items that were considered costume jewelry in the early 20th century could now be worth a significant amount of money. Many jewelry collectors also like to seek out pieces made with certain materials. There is also a huge market for flipping watches, especially those made with complex mechanical timekeeping processes.
A great place to find vintage jewelry and watches is estate sales. Many people build up large collections of jewelry over the course of their life, which are then sold in one large batch at an estate sale. You may be able to pick up some gems. Local vintage and thrift stores are also a great place to look for these types of pieces.
When reselling jewelry, you will need to commit some time to cleaning the pieces and making sure they are in good condition. If you are reselling watches, you will also need to make sure they work properly.
Electronics
Electronic can be tricky to flip, but once you get the hang of it, you might be able to make a significant profit. Since items like smartphones, laptops, and TVs tend to retain a high value over time, it can be difficult to find them for sale below market value.
The key here is to know where to look. If your friends, family, or coworkers are considering upgrading their electronics, ask them what they are going to do with the old model. If they were going to just throw it away, ask if they would be willing to sell it to you instead. Smartphone companies release new models every year, even though their phones are typically designed to last for at least two years.
eBay and Craigslist can also be a good place to find old electronics to resell. The key is to check the market value of the item or its parts before purchasing to see how much you can flip it for. An item that may not seem particularly exciting to you could actually be worth a significant amount of money to someone else because of a rare part it has.
One surprising item that can sell for a lot of money is a VHS player. It’s very hard to find VHS players nowadays because technology is evolved. Someone might have a collection of old VHS tapes that they would still like to watch, but no way to play them. Because of this, they might be willing to pay far more for a VHS tape than the market value would indicate.
Video Games & Consoles
Video games are another great item to flip and resell. The video game industry is huge, and new games and consoles come out all the time. Many people are willing to get rid of their video games after they play them through to the end. They also might want to sell their consoles when they upgrade to a newer model. Because of this, you can often find video games for low prices or even for free at yard sales or on platforms like Facebook Marketplace.
There’s always going to be demand for video games. Avid players love expanding their collections, and if you can offer a coveted game for a reasonable price, it’s easy to make a sale quickly. There’s also a nostalgia factor to video games. For many people, video games evoke memories of childhood. Vintage Nintendo games and consoles, for example, are highly coveted.
Sports Memorabilia
People get very attached to their favorite sports teams. Dedicated fans are often willing to pay up for memorabilia, particularly if you have a rare or unique item. Great examples of sports memorabilia to look for include jerseys, hats, rings, cards, and more.
Because of the sentimental value associated with sports memorabilia, many people are willing to pay much more for it than it is actually worth. They also make great gifts, which is another reason why many people seek it out. When flipping sports memorabilia, it helps to have some knowledge of sports, so you can identify the teams and players associated with each item. Keep an eye out for unique vintage finds, as these are going to be worth the most.
Books
Books are a timeless form of entertainment, and avid readers are always on the hunt for new ones. People are also very willing to sell or even give away their books after they finish reading them. Keep an eye out for used books at yard sales, thrift stores, or even the bookshelves of your friends and family. While books don’t have the huge resale value of furniture or electronics, you can still make a profit flipping them if you do so in bulk.
There are plenty of great places to sell used books. Many local bookstores will purchase them directly – this is an easy way to make money flipping and support a local business at the same time. There are also plenty of online platforms where you can sell your books. Amazon is the most obvious one, but Bookscouter is another great choice. You can enter the ISP information and it will link you to places around the web that will buy your books.
Kids’ Toys and Accessories
Having kids can be expensive, because there are so many new items to buy in order to keep your child comfortable, safe, and happy. You’ll need clothes and toys as well as items like strollers, high chairs, baby carriers, and diaper bags. Because the cost of these items can really add up, there are always people looking to buy them at a reduced price.
Kids also grow out of these items very quickly. Because of this, there’s also a steady stream of parents who are looking to sell or give away used children’s items. The best way to find these items is by asking parents that you know. You can also keep an eye out on social media groups for parents. When it comes time to sell, you can head to mainstream platforms like OfferUp or check out Kidizen, which is a platform specifically for reselling kids’ items.
Instruments
While musical instruments can be quite valuable, they can also end up being an item that people pick up for a few months as a hobby and then never touch again. Because of this, there’s a great resale market for instruments.
When flipping instruments, it helps to have a background in music so that you can identify if an item needs repairs. Guitars are one of the most popular instruments to flip, but you can flip other items as well.
Board Games
You might be surprised to find that there is a huge market out there for flipping board games. Regular players are always looking to expand their collections, and buying secondhand is a great way to do that. Rare or unique games can be worth a significant amount of money to a collector, especially if they come with expansion packs. For many people, board games also evoke a sense of nostalgia, and they like to search for the games they played as a child. They also might be looking for duplicates of titles they already have in order to replace missing pieces or cards.
Since board games are bulky, many people will downsize their collection after they move. One of the great things about board games is that they don’t have to be in perfect condition to resell, they just need to be playable.
Clearance Items
Any clearance item in general can be a good item to flip. Many experienced flippers will scour clearance sections of popular retailers to see if they have any items that are heavily discounted. In many cases, clearance items are in perfectly good condition, but they didn’t sell in a timely fashion and the store needed to clear it out.
When shopping for clearance items to flip, you’ll need to make a note of what people will pay more for. Many seasonal or limited edition products will go to clearance as soon as the season changes. Hang on to these limited edition items – since they are a one-off and the company won’t make any more of them, fans will be willing to purchase them at a premium because of their rarity. Finding designer brands or high-end brands on clearance is always great as well, because they will inherently carry a high value later on when you’re ready to resell.
If you’re going to start reselling clearance items, you’ll need to invest some time to scour both online listings and local brick and mortar stores. Clearance items are often just thrown into bins at the back of a store, so it will likely take some extra time to find the best items. Not every clearance item is going to be worth reselling, so you’ll need to be able to make quick judgements about which items to buy and which items to pass up. Over time, you’ll develop a good eye for items that can be effectively resold.
Digital Space
This is often overlooked in the world of flipping, but it can actually be a great way to make a little bit of extra money. You can flip old websites and resell their domain names for a significant profit. Many old websites are extremely cheap to purchase and have great domains that could attract a lot of traffic.
You also may be able to do this with old social media profiles that have desirable handles – for example, many people do this on Twitter and Instagram. You can find an early adopter of the platform that has a great username, but doesn’t seem to post anymore. In many cases, they will be willing to sell you their username for a relatively affordable price, which you can then resell to an influencer or company that wants it.
If you’re going to resell digital space, you’ll need to make sure that you have plenty of tech savviness. You’ll need to be able to pick out which sites have the potential to flip due to their existing SEO infrastructure. You’ll also need to make sure the site has revenue generating potential. Once you’ve rehabbed the website, you can opt to keep operating it yourself and pull in revenue, or sell it to someone else.
Flipping items is a great way to make extra money without much effort. If you love searching eBay or thrift stores for bargains, you can turn that hobby into extra money by reselling your amazing finds.
Tips For Flipping
In order to flip your items successfully, you’ll need to know where and how to resell them. There are so many different online platforms that you can use to flip your items. eBay is one of the most popular places for online flipping, because it’s very easy to use and you can sell virtually anything. If you are looking to make online flipping a consistent side hustle, you can also create an account as an Amazon merchant.
There are also plenty of websites and apps that you can use to sell within your community. Cragislist, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, and LetGo are all great examples. You can also look for platforms dedicated specifically to the type of item you would like to sell, such as clothing, books, or video games, for example.
When you’re flipping items regularly, you will need to learn how to make an attractive product listing. You’ll be competing for people’s attention, and your listing will need to convince them that your product is worth buying in a very short amount of time. Make sure to take plenty of pictures where you can clearly see the item in good light. You’ll also need to be able to write highly descriptive product listings.
When flipping, you’ll also need to learn how to appropriately budget and price your items. Before purchasing an item to flip, you’ll need to calculate the approximate profit that you could get from the final sale. While some items may seem like a good deal, it’s not worth trying to flip them if they don’t have a reasonable resale value. There are many websites where you can check the current market value of an item using its bar code number. It’s also important to keep in mind that you will need money up front to start flipping in many cases.
If you don’t know where to start when it comes to flipping, consider the items you and your family already own. Do you have anything that’s in good condition, but doesn’t get used regularly and has just been collecting dust? This could be a good candidate for a resale. You can also reach out to your friends and see if they have any items they would like to get rid of. They may have quality items that they just haven’t had the time or energy to sell.
While the internet is one of the best places to find items to flip, you will want to keep an eye out in your community as well. Visit your local thrift stores regularly, and spend some time going through the racks or bins to see what’s hidden inside. You should also visit any local yard sales or estate sales, as these are all great places to find hidden treasures to flip.
