[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in ...
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       Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 - Show and
       tell
        
       It seems this question hasn't been asked for some time, so I'd be
       interested hear what new (and old) ideas have come up.
        
       Author : folli
       Score  : 6 points
       Date   : 2021-12-23 22:12 UTC (50 minutes ago)
        
       | plasticbugs wrote:
       | My 'side project' is pretty conventional, but it surprises people
       | to learn how much I've earned from it with _very_ little effort.
       | At least once or twice a week, I use my lunch break to walk to
       | the local thrift store. I look up items on eBay as I browse and
       | buy anything that would net me $20+ (basically to cover my
       | lunch). I stick to the  'hard goods' section (things like
       | electronics, games, DVDs, home appliances, books, etc). I avoid
       | clothing which is difficult to browse quickly, difficult to list
       | and difficult to find comparable items. I also avoid anything
       | that would be unwieldy to carry home or ship.
       | 
       | The first year I started doing this, I grossed about $20000. Last
       | year was bad. Our thrift stores shut down because of Covid. In
       | late June of this year, I started back up slowly because our
       | thrift stores came back. My gross for the last six months is
       | $3,238.63. And again, because of Covid, I've stopped going daily
       | like I was which cut into my fun money.
       | 
       | Last year I bought a brand new pinball machine from my thrift
       | store finds.
       | 
       | Some tips:
       | 
       | If you can go every day, you only have to look at the 'new' stuff
       | which saves lots of time.
       | 
       | The eBay app has a barcode scanner so you can look up anything
       | that's in its original packaging by just scanning it.
       | 
       | Don't pass up anything vintage looking that's still sealed (even
       | if it looks worthless). I sold nearly $100 worth of new in
       | package vintage incandescent bulbs a little while back. I got the
       | lot of them for like $10.
       | 
       | Save all the boxes you have coming to your house in advance of
       | starting this. You can't sell stuff that you can't easily box up
       | and ship.
       | 
       | Never use the post office or UPS/FedEx store. You can get a
       | significant discount through pirateship.com (free to use, offers
       | steep US Postal and UPS discounts) or even eBay's own shipping.
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-23 23:02 UTC)