Rob and Melissa Stephenson from Flea Market Flipper talk about whether a flip was worth the price.
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Is This Flip Worth The Price?
Rob: What's up, pro flippers? On today's episode, we are diving into kind of a new series called Is This Flip Worth It?
Melissa: We're gonna dive into a scenario and go through the numbers and see if it makes sense to go ahead and purchase this flip.
Rob: Alright, so on today's episode, this is gonna be a fun one.
We're gonna talk about a flip that we used to do quite a bit, and we haven't done them in a while, but we wanted to do a hypothetical. If you found this. Would it be worth it? What would it be worth it at, to buy this flip and buy this item and then turn around and flip it. So we're gonna walk through everything talking about eBay, fees, shipping, all that stuff.
And it's very easy for us to do a hypothetical on this because we used to flip these quite a bit. So.
Melissa: And we can find all the numbers online right now. Anyways, so that's kind of, we're gonna walk through how we found them, like what we're looking for, and is it worth it. So, and this is actually a great example of an item that we started looking at because of the stage of life we were in.
So I started selling on eBay back when the kids were just born because I was doing personal training. And then when I stopped my personal training. I started doing it, helping him, but then I'm like, I, I was looking for items too, and since we were having babies, we had, you know, toddlers and babies.
That stuff's expensive. Like, who knew that this stuff would be expensive? I, I mean, you know, like it's a huge industry, but strollers just something that we really got into and got into the high-end strollers. I was, could not believe people were spending a thousand, $1,500, $2,000 for strollers. That, I mean, it just was crazy to me.
So, 'cause we, we got all of our stuff used from the flea market or thrift stores. But then we started looking at the different ones and we started honing in on the higher brand. So we're gonna dive into a stroller today.
Rob: So is it worth it? We are gonna take a BOB double stroller. We've sold multiple of these strollers in the past.
We've had our own, when we had kids, we used multiple BOB strollers to be able to jog with the kids very, very well, made expensive stroller. Not the highest brand of stroller, but definitely for active people who exercise with their kids. This is definitely one of the well-known brands out there, and it's just BOB, BOB stroller, a double stroller.
They make singles, they make doubles. The double ones are the ones that are worth more money. So that's what we wanted. A hypothetical. See if you actually found one of these at a thrift store. If you found one of these on the local Facebook offer up at a flea market, what would it be worth to buy one of these right now and sell it in today's market?
And we're gonna run through those numbers for you. If you do come across one of these, is it worth it for you to do it?
Melissa: And the funny thing is, with this one, I remember we sold several of these in a row. You know, we'd find them each week or whatever, every other week, or I don't know, a couple here and there and sell them. But I never kept one 'cause I'm like, oh, I can make $300 or I can make, you know, $200, $400, whatever it was on this stroller. I can't keep it. I need to sell it. And then finally, I can't remember, it was when we had the two, I kept one and I was like, we're keeping this one. We ended up buying it for like $35, I think, or $40. And we kept that thing and it, we tore it to shreds like we used every last little bit. And I think we still sold it for like $35 on marketplace. Like at the end. I mean, we,
Rob: a couple years later.
Melissa: Yeah, a couple years later, like we used that thing and we was definitely disclosed that it was very used, but somebody still wanted it.
It's a, you know, it's a great stroller. They're great strollers. So.
Rob: Absolutely. So if you were out there and you're shopping and you found a BOB stroller, what price could you actually spend on that stroller, to make the money that you really need to make in this. So we gotta take a couple things into consideration with this.
You gotta think about how much time you're gonna spend on getting this stroller, cleaning it, pictures, listing. And you also have to think about the shipping aspect of it. Will this ship on a pallet? Will it ship in a box? All these things have to come into play with any item that you find. But for the one that we're using hypothetical right now for the BOB, we have to be thinking about those couple things, before we actually pull the trigger and buy one of these.
Melissa: Yeah. So like we'll kind of look at the price point. We set a price right now at $60 for if we found a BOB stroller at $60, would it be worth it to sell on eBay? Because that's kind of roughly the price you could probably find them for. Very realistic. Probably anywhere from $40 to a hundred dollars you can find them in the local market.
If you go to thrift stores and yard sales and flea markets, those will be probably the cheaper places. Marketplace is gonna be a little bit more expensive, typically, not always. Sometimes people just wanna get rid of stuff, but that's gonna typically be where you can find them at the cheapest price.
So for sure. So at $60 now, let's see, we need to find out what it's selling. What are they selling for, what are, what's the retail? What are you selling for? And that all goes into factor is is it a good buy?
Rob: So I was pleasantly surprised when I actually just jumped on the app and on eBay and did some research on, you have to look at the active listings.
You have to look at the completed listings to see what the market's bearing, how much you can actually sell for. Not a lot of BOB double strollers that are out there right now for sale and that have gone through eBay. So if you look on eBay, like when we're, recording this right now, there's one new stroller available and that stroller is like $1,394.
So almost $1,400. That's somebody wants for a new double BOB stroller. There's other two right now that are used. One's at $275 and one's at $350 now. This is the best part. Both of those used items, they are not offering shipping. So it's the same thing as me listing a BOB stroller on Facebook Marketplace right here in my local area.
We have a big local area, so it won't be that hard to sell something like that in the local area. That's pretty much half or less than half of what retail is. But that shows a great opportunity on eBay because they are not willing, those are the only two other double strollers listed on eBay and they're not willing to ship them so that
Melissa: they're worth that price, but they're
Rob: absolutely worth
Melissa: that price.
Rob: So as a, a reseller, I can find an item for $60. I know that I can probably. And then actually going back and looking at some of the other completed listings, one had sold $500 was the asking price. They took an offer. We don't know what that offer is. Typically, you're not gonna take a huge discount.
But they took an offer and sold that one. That one was a hundred dollars shipping plus a $500 asking price. So they're willing to ship it and that's why they sold it. So you have to take it into effect. All this stuff taking into effect for me. I know if I had a Bob stroller right now, I could sell it for $500, no problem, no question asked, because there are very few on the market and there are none that are willing to be shipped other than the new one for roughly $1,400.
So if I undercut that one by a third. $500 and then I charge $50, which it's gonna cost between $15 and a hundred dollars to ship this. It will absolutely go into a box. You have to take the wheels off, do a couple little things with it to get it folded up into a box, but it will absolutely ship in a box, to where you can ship it in a box for roughly $50 to a hundred dollars, depending on how far away it is going.
So we threw a lot of scenarios at you. We threw a lot of information at you. So we have to figure out is this worth it? Now, Melissa's gonna break down the numbers and figure out what you will make. On this item, if you found it for 60 bucks or less, what you can make on this profit.
Melissa: Yeah. So new on eBay.
When we, at the time of recording, this was $1,300 you said was a new stroller. Oh,
Rob: almost $1,400. $1,394.
Melissa: Almost $1,400 on Amazon. You could get one for $900 plus, I didn't see if it was free shipping, it might've been free shipping for,
Rob: typically for that kinda stuff, Amazon is not doing free shipping on the larger items..
Melissa: Okay.
Rob: So they're gonna charge you on top of it for shipping as well.
Melissa: Okay. So we have $900 to $1,400 for retail. So that's kind of what we're looking at for retail. So if you can bring the item for $500 to a market and get it shipped, that is definitely appealing to somebody 'cause right now, like there's nothing on there.
So that's, if you're listening to this, maybe start going and look for them. So we brought, we, I broke down a couple scenarios just so to see what would the profit be, what would it be, cost per hour. And is it worth your time? So at $500, which is what you're pretty confident you could get. Yeah.
Rob: Absolutely .
Melissa: I mean.
Rob: I know I could sell them right now for 500 bucks.
Melissa: Take, we have our account at a hundred percent. So we have like those things going for us. So, and you take good pictures and and get it listed. So $500 plus you said $50 shipping, but you know, it would cost a little bit more than that. You're just.
Rob: Yeah, I'm just trying to keep it, I do it $49.99 for shipping a $50 flat rate for shipping.
I know it's gonna cost me between $50 and a hundred dollars, depending on how close the person is, how far away it's gotta go, roughly. It's gonna cost me about that for it, so I'm taking a little bit of a gamble. But at $60 invested, all that's coming on the back end after I get paid. So I know if I spend an extra 50 bucks, it's just taking a little bit off the profit, but I know the money's there to be able to make it.
Melissa: Yeah, so, what I'd say, a hundred dollars to ship. So let's say $450. eBay fees would be roughly $71. That's 13%. Cost of goods was $60, which brings your total, if you sell it for $500 plus $50, ship to $319. So.
Rob: so $319 profit after eBay fees after shipping. And what'd, shipping at the highest at a hundred bucks.
A hundred bucks? Yeah. So you're at the highest of the market right there, or the highest of the estimate. So yeah, you're still over $300 now. We figured out time-wise what it would actually take, and then we even overestimated on time, but three hours, into buying, listing, shipping. This item three hours is a very, very conservative amount of time to be able to do this whole thing.
So you're roughly over a hundred dollars an hour to be able to buy a BOB for $60 and then sell it on eBay for $500.
Melissa: Yep. So I then I did another one at, so say we get a hundred dollars less at $400 plus $50 shipping. Say again, a hundred dollars to cost, and then it would be $58 eBay fees. Then your total profit comes to $232.
So even if you get a hundred dollars less at $400, your profit's $232, which is $77 an hour. So you have to kind of think, and that's again, roughly estimating three hours, which it should be on the higher end. So. Yeah. Like, you have to determine what is your time worth and is three hours worth of your time worth $232 or worth $319?
So those are things to think about when you're going to pick up items. Now you also have to think about like, if you, you have to start thinking of these numbers as you're buying stuff so that you know, okay, well I know if I get it at roughly $60, roughly what my profit's gonna be. So I know if I, if it's for sale for $150 and I can get $500.
Is it still really worth it for me 'cause that's an extra a hundred dollars less. So you have to kind of put all those scenarios into consideration because your money is made in your buy. You have to get it at the right price. And then I just lost my train of thought. Was I gonna say,
Rob: I'm not sure
Melissa: your money is made in your buy, but also your profit has to be there at the end.
Rob: For me, I just looked on our local area for Facebook marketplace, any BOB strollers listed, and they're roughly at that price. $250, $350 they can to the right person, sell it in that market. Way easier to sell it on eBay, trust me, because you're gonna deal with a lot more people looking on eBay for that BOB stroller.
So way easier to sell that. But it's not worth it for me to go buy one of those at $250-$350 and then try to sell it for $500 because that's the biggest mistake that a lot of people will make. Well, if I can buy it on Marketplace for $350 and I can sell it on eBay for $500, you have to take everything into account.
When you're actually looking to flip an item, you do not wanna spend $250-$350. There's not enough profit
Melissa: to sell for $500.
Rob: Yeah, exactly. Not enough profit on it. And you could even think, well, if I'm getting $250, I'm selling $500, I'm doubling my money. But you're not, there's a lot of other things to take account for.
You're shipping it, that's how you're gonna make the most money. You're gonna be able to ship it. You're taking eBay fees into account. You wanna make sure that you're thinking about all of that before you buy your item. And Melissa already said it, your money is made in the buy. You have to get these items cheap enough to be able to do, make the money that you need to make per hour that you're working on your business.
That's the biggest thing, is you are trying to make that, that hourly rate. For most people, a hundred dollars an hour is pretty good for somebody who's not in a white collar is that white collar job that you're, you're not executive or something like that. You're out there in the world. You're working just like everybody in the world.
But that's not that bad of a price. A hundred dollars an hour for your time to be able to do something like this. So you just have to take all the things into account. Hopefully, you'll think more about that while you're out there sourcing. Now you'll think more about, what do I need to take into account?
Now, this in my mind. We're looking for items that aren't selling for $500. We're looking for items that are selling for $5,000. We just came back from our trip. We were down south with the kids in Venice, Florida. We brought back the double, or triple, sorry, burner. Deep fryer. Deep fryer, yeah.
The triple deep fryer. And we paid a hundred dollars for that. And I am on, I mean, on the conservative amount $7,000 to $10,000, depending on how well I can get it cleaned up, how well it looks. So that shows you a hundred dollars to $7,000. I mean, we're making thousands of dollars for our, our time invested into it.
So that's where we're at. You might not be there right now, but you can totally figure out what your time is worth to spend an hour of time into this business. And then you can start ranging your, I I, I mean your time.
Yes. Thinking about ahead of of time how much you're gonna make per hour and try to get your hourly wage way up there.
So.
Melissa: So in your opinion, or with all the numbers Yes, outta $60 for a double BOB stroller, would it be worth it?
Rob: Yes.
Melissa: To purchase and?
Rob: Yes. So in my opinion, it would be worth it, but the flipper that I am, if I saw BOB stroller for $60, I would offer $40 for it, and I would try and get it for $40. If I saw BOB stroller for $120 yes, I'd probably ask offer, offer them $60 and know, that I could get what I need to make out of it if I got it down to 60 bucks. So I'm not sure I would go much over $60 with all the numbers that we just figured out because you really, I mean, even in this business, if you're starting out trying to make a hundred dollars an hour, you're gonna do okay. You're buying the items for the right price, you know what they're selling for.
There's a lot of opportunity for a BOB stroller right now at this very minute in time when we are recording this because there are none listed on eBay. We know they're good strollers. We know we've sold them in the past and we know they sell really good. So right now. Absolutely that is a great item to be on the lookout at your local and you'll find better deals.
Like Melissa said originally, you're gonna find better deals at thrift stores, at flea markets, at yard sales than you're gonna find in them on marketplace themselves. So if you're out there in those those venues, make sure you're looking for these BOB strollers, 'cause you can make some good money on them.
Melissa: Yeah. And one thing I wanted to add is this is a baby slash child item, so do make sure. Oh, great disclosure. That there's none recalled because
Rob: BOB did have recalls at one time. He did for older strollers. So yeah, Melissa's a hundred percent right. Anything you're selling for kids, make sure you're checking those recalls.
Melissa: Yeah, because, and they're not very often, but every once in a while there's something that you're not allowed to resell. Like one of the BOBs that we sold, it was the stitching on the logo
Rob: behind the, the, the sun visor.
Melissa: It was a like somebody got embroidered. Yeah, like the stuff, it came undone. So they recalled that.
But if you took the embroidery off, you were okay. So we still sold a couple of them, but they had to be fixed. So, but then that, I mean, it was a while ago, so I don't know what they have now.
Rob: Very easy to Google your model your year and find out the year of the item that you're trying to sell of any baby item.
You wanna do that with anything that you're doing? Car seats very hard. Yeah. We don't do, we would not recommend car seats.
Melissa: We don't do car seats.
Rob: Strollers, yes. They're very expensive and they can be reused and yeah. So you just wanna check all recalls before you try to go sell it.
Melissa: And one last thing that I wanted to say was that, the hourly rate, like if you're just starting, it might take you a little more time. Don't let that stop you. Don't let that frustrate you because you'll get so much more efficient, so much faster. Like you can get listings done super fast like it and get good pictures, like get really good listings. So it just takes some time in practice and then once you get in your groove, things go a lot faster and you spend a lot less time so that like we even over conservatively like gave the time that it would spend to do this. But when you're starting out, it does take a little more time, but then when you start getting in your groove and you will start to really kick butt. So we're excited for you.
Rob: You guys are awesome. Thanks for joining us. Anything else?
Melissa: No. If you wanna learn more about our business model, we have our free workshop in the links, in the show notes below.
You can check it out. We'd love to help you grow your eBay business to even bigger than you already have it.
Hopefully you have an amazing day and we can't wait to see you on the next episode.