Rob and Melissa Stephenson share an interview they did with Chris Petrie on MoneyPeach where they talk about how they took their flipping side hustle to a full-time income.
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Rob: What's up Pro Flippers? On today's episode, we have a special treat for you. We are talking to Chris Peach with The Money Peach, an interview that we did a couple years back, but an amazing interview, so you should absolutely enjoy it.
Melissa: We made a lot of friends in the financial space like money bloggers, by going to this one conference, called FinCon.
We went for several years and so we got to know a lot of people in that space and we are a side hustle for a lot of them. And so it's a lot of fun to be able to talk to them and be on their podcast. So this is an interview that we did with Chris Peach and I hope you enjoy.
Rob: Enjoy.
People know us for really is a prosthetic leg. It was a prosthetic leg. We bought for $35. We picked it up, we brought it home and I sold it less than 24 hours. And we sold it for a thousand dollars. So $35 into a thousand. I sold it for $999 on eBay, so it's super quick.
Chris Peach: Welcome to the Money Peach podcast, where we dump debt, save more, build wealth, and live life on our terms, not the banks. What's up everyone. I'm your host, Chris Peach, and I have a major problem with the financial world. You see, the banks are winning and you are not, but the good news is that's all about the change, my friends. Let's jump right in. What's going on my friends, Chris Peach here with episode 148 of the Money Peach podcast, Money Peach live show, really excited about today's show. On this, on this podcast, as you've known, we've done a lot of different things, we talk about ways to increase your income, increasing your income is way more fun. then cutting or cutting all your expenses. I want to show you how to increase your income. And so we've had a lot of different ways, but we've never had anybody come on like we're going to have today.
So we are having professional flippers, flea market flippers, Rob and Melissa Stephenson. They're in Orlando, Florida, and they're coming on the show to talk about how to become an expert or how to become the master at flipping and making money. And they're doing it the right way. They've been doing it, for, we're going to talk about for a long time, about over 20 years now, they've been flipping.
And, so we're going to walk into this and see what it's like to flip, but, I don't know anything about it. So I needed to bring on somebody that does so here I have Rob and Melissa from the Flea Market Flippers. Let's bring them in this dude. So, hey guys, you're here. Welcome to the show. So you guys are known as, I mean, everybody in the, in the financial blogging space kind of knows you guys as just like, they don't even know your first names anymore.
They just know that's, that's, they're the Flea Market Flippers. Yep. So kind of give us a little background here as I know you're in Orlando, Florida. You guys have three kids, correct? Yes. Okay. So you're, you're, you're moms and dad, your mom and dad, your husband, wife. But you also have this really unique business where you guys, you know, you flip things and you increase your income, you know, you, that's how you generate your revenue, generate your profit.
But I kind of want to back up here is how do you even get into flipping? Like, how did this even start?
Rob: Yeah, definitely. At a young age, my parents modeled this, I guess this lifestyle or this, the side hustle to me. I grew up in a bigger family. I have six older sisters. I'm the youngest and only boy.
We grew up to where my parents would have to go to yard sales to be able to, put clothes on our back, that kind of stuff. So we didn't grow up real rich. but they did that. And as my parents would go to yard sales, my mom loved it. Every weekend, she would go to Saturday yard sales. She would buy, anytime she saw some expensive, equipment, whether it was exercise, commercial equipment, she would buy that from a local yard sale, and then she would bring it back to our house.
And this was before eBay. So she would sell it in the local classified section. Orlando Sentinel was what it was. So, and at a young age, I saw my parents be able to create some side income, on top of their, their normal careers doing this. and it was fun. It was fun to see and be able to purchase new stuff.
And then, yeah, like I said, we got up, we ended up having toys and all kinds of crazy stuff that they would find great deals at yard sales. And then slowly as I became 16, 17, I started doing it as a side hustle. And then through the last over 20 years now, I've done it as a side hustle until five years ago, we actually jumped into a full time, Melissa and I, to provide for our family.
And that's, yeah, that's when we've really grown within the last five years. And
Chris Peach: I'm sorry. So go ahead, Melissa. Go ahead. I know you married into it, but one of the things that, so the one, the thing that really, I really like about your guys's story and your guys's method is there are a lot, a lot, I mean, people see it, there are a lot of people out there saying, um, you know, do what we do and you'll make a half million dollars per year.
And a lot of people look at that going, that's just not realistic. I'm going to leave my job and just Start this new thing and make $500,000 this year. And you see a lot of this spammy stuff on the internet or on podcasts as well. And I really try to make sure we never have that, by the way, if you're, if you're a new listener on the show.
But one thing I really like is how you just said you started as a side hustle. So what were you doing, full time then along this? Because people out there, they're not looking to necessarily replace their job. They just want to increase their income.
Melissa: For the first beginning of our marriage for 10 years, I was a personal trainer and worked at a gym and then he did, reports for, home inspections, a home inspector.
And then we did flipping on the side and it was always our extra money, like our vacation fund or extra funds that we would do, fund money, any extra bills that came up
Rob: and our savings. So we never really understood the full potential of what we were doing until we needed a full time income because of both of our careers.
And then that's where like, well, actually it was
Melissa: when our last, I had decided to quit, well, stop training when our third baby was born. And right then, cause it was crazy. We had three kids that were three and under. So I'm like, I can't keep doing like this is insane. So I have to stop and just be home.
And then right the month before he was born, his job said that we're cutting benefits or yeah, health insurance. And that was really the biggest reason he had that job. So we're like, okay, do we jump full time? Like, do we just go all in? Like we already know what, what we can do in. Five hours a week. Like what if we have all this, we could, you know, dive in.
And so that's kind of what pushed us to do it. So.
Chris Peach: So Melissa, so you didn't grow up in a flipping family, so you kind of married into it. So what is that like when you, when you, when you, when you meet Rob and you kind of, he's like, hey, we're going to go flipping, we're going to go, we're going to take a road trip.
We're going to go buy something over here. I mean, what does that, what is your first thought? Because I know somebody right now is listening, going. This sounds great, but my boyfriend or my husband or my wife, they're going to think I'm crazy that I want to go to, you know, the thrift stores or go to garage sales and go flip it.
Yeah.
Melissa: Well, I remember one of the first times when we were dating and he had bought this tanning bed from some, from, was it, I don't even know where you bought it from, some flea market. He bought this tanning bed. And then he's like, yeah, I got this gym that wants to buy this tanning bed. He like, I just like, what are you, I don't even understand what's going on.
You made good money and I, whatever I'm like, okay. So.
Chris Peach: All right. So you're, so, so from 1996 to 2015, you guys, um, well, you guys are, you're not flipping as a full time income yet. You're doing it as a side hustle, which I think is so smart. Don't quit your full time job to go start a side hustle. Side hustle is what it means that you do it on the side.
So what kind of income. Realistically, are you looking at, you know, that first year or that, not the first year, but during that period of time, like I just want listeners to have an idea of, okay, this is not something I signed up for and I make $100,000 to become a flipper. What does it look like in the very beginning?
Melissa: I mean, when we really started keeping really good records, um, when we were still doing it as a side hustle, that. Last year, before we went into full time, we had made $42,000 gross and $33,000 net, and then the next year when we jumped in full time, we hit $130,000 gross, and then it was $100,000 net, so that was full time, and then it's gone down a little bit since then, because now we're.
more into our other side hustle now of like coaching and helping people. So it's gone on a little
Rob: bit, but we still, but the other thing is you have to realize too, that I, we've lived at this as a side hustle for, I did for over 20 years. So I had quite a bit of experience going into a selling and eBay, looking for items.
That's some, some, some people doesn't come natural to, and some people, they love going to yard sales, to flea markets, to find those deals that they're getting amazing deals. When people are already in that, they can, they can definitely start off making some good money. But sometimes it takes a little bit to build those skills, um, to be able to jump into it.
Like we did.
Chris Peach: What is your best flipping story? Like I have to know, cause I'm going to ask you the opposite of this too, but I want to know first, what's, what's the best flipping story. I mean, what I want to know is what's your fine that you had. And then all of a sudden you bought it for this much and you sold it for way more.
Rob: I think the leg is the best story. Well, we'll give you two, two stories. The first one that people know us for really is a prosthetic leg. I picked up at the flea market. It was a prosthetic leg. It was a knee joint. So it was only probably about that long. we bought it for, it was, it was Otterbach. I still remember the name of the company that manufactured it, Otterbach.
I, if I pronounce that correctly, I don't know, but it was a prosthetic leg we bought for $35. We picked it up, we brought it home, and I sold it the next day. Yeah. Less. They listed it like, yeah, in the last couple hours. Less than 24 hours. And we sold it for a thousand dollars. So $35 into a thousand. I sold it for $999 on eBay.
And sold it super quick. that would be the first story, which is pretty cool. They're the biggest one and the biggest, our biggest profit. We sold a parking lot. A security tower. So it is actually on a trailer. you pull it somewhere, it raises up into the air, like 25 feet. Um, and then you can see over a parking lot or use it for whatever you want to.
We paid, I think it was $5,000, $5,000 for that, which is not normal for us. That's a lot of money to invest. Not my comfort, but we did it because I did the research on it before I bought it. I found out that the retail on it was like one 30, $130,000. I got it for $5,000. We sold it for $25,000 in less than a month.
So that was by far our biggest flip that we've ever done.
Chris Peach: Holy cow. Okay, so prosthetic leg. Um, yeah, I mean, the thing is, is when you're thinking about flipping and doing flea markets, you're thinking, Oh, I'll go buy an old oven and resell it or but prosthetic leg. You just don't think that right? That's just not something you think of.
And then again, with the tower, I've seen those like in the malls where they have it like Christmas time to put in the mall. Okay, so that's your success stories. Now, every entrepreneur out there, if they're telling you they've never ever Crashed and burned their line or they're not an entrepreneur. So what are some of the crash and burn stories?
Because I think the audience needs to realize too, it's not, it's not, it's not all ponies and rainbows, right? There's going to be some kind of, you know, dip down. Oops. Oh, I shouldn't have bought that. I've done it plenty of times. I paid my stupid tax. What, what's one of them for you?
Rob: Yeah, definitely the boat.
The cool thing about what we do is not as, is not, um, it's not as high risk. It's not because of nowadays when I started out years ago, we did not have a smartphone. We could not go to an auction. We could not go to the flea market and we couldn't, you know, bring that smartphone with us to do the research before we bought an item.
So we were just going off of our knowledge of what we knew was worth money. So nowadays you don't have to do that. You can research everything before you get there. So, but being said, we bought a, or I bought, I should say, a inflatable boat from one of my contacts at the flea market. It was brand spanking new.
I thought, how in the heck can I go wrong? What did I, was it a hundred dollars? I spent a hundred dollars on it. It's still in the package. And I got at home and I looked at it and it was like five or six years old and come to find out the glue that was holding the boat together was actually, it was peeling apart.
And yeah, right then I knew I was, I was screwed. And so anyways, I don't, did we, I think I broke even with that deal, um, to where I didn't lose money. But it was one of the ones if it was in good condition as I thought it was, we would have sold it for $2,000 and we would have made good money. But, and I think I just sold it as is for like, yeah, I think I got my money back out of it.
But like in the earlier days, trust me, I bought so many things. We used to go to a Salvation Army auction when I was younger. And I bought so many things. They're thinking that they were, you know, good items. And you get home and find out you can barely get your money back on these. So, there are stuff out there that you will find, that you'll crash and burn on, but the majority of them, if you do the right research before, you don't have to take a huge risk at it.
Okay. So speaking of the right research, , you, you have me intrigued.
I've never, I've never flipped anything. I have a, I have a good friend. He flips cars. He's been doing it for, um, I don't know, probably 10 years. And he literally started with like a $500 car. And now he's like driving a $30,000 truck and he's just kept, you know, like flipping up, flipping up, flipping up, flipping up.
So he has this. Beautiful truck now, but he started with this, , like with, with a beater. And so he's been doing this. So I've seen people do it, um, with vehicles. I also watch the shows, you know, I love watching the, you know, where they go to the, the storage unit, you know, and the, and that kind of stuff.
And the auction I'm getting, it's very similar, right. Buying and selling high, but if someone is, is. Thinking like, okay, I, I would like how many hours a week are they looking at? You know, if you're doing a side hustle and, and let's, how do we get started? So let me ask you this. How many hours a week should they be dedicating to say if they wanted to make $500 extra a month?
Rob: Yeah,
Melissa: I think it's more, I mean, I would say in five hours, you can do a lot, five to 10 hours a week. I mean, if you're really serious about it, you can do a lot in that. And I think it's more about instead of like, I have one day like, , to do it. If you could do a little bit every day, it's more consistent.
It's a little bit better. Like as far as listing for the algorithms, it's better. As far as looking for things, we like to buy a lot on apps. So things are constantly being, um, listed. So like we, if he can check it, you know, 15 minutes every evening, then that's really nice. You know, or 30 minutes then, um, being more consistent is a lot more helpful.
Yeah. So,
Rob: but yeah, five to 10 hours a week for sure.
Chris Peach: Realistically, could somebody make an extra $500 a month within their first couple extra months of doing this?
Rob: Oh, easily. We have students that do it all the time. The other thing, a little bit different about our business model is we are not out flipping items to make $5, $7, stuff like that. We're out where we want to work less to make more money. We found out when we went full time into this, we wanted to spend more time with each other and with our family. So we had to find those items that had the higher retail value and we could turn around and make $500, $1,000, you know, $2,000, $3,000. We wanted to find those items. So it was less, um, effort and time invested into a single item than having to sell $500 of a, you know, a $500 or a $5 item or a $1 and whatever, whatever you're doing, we, so our, our business model is to buy less, sell them for a higher profit, and then, yeah, we, we spend less time working on the business.
So yeah.
Chris Peach: You see a lot of this and you see a lot of people who are selling on eBay and it's this volume, volume, volume, volume with very small profit margins. So it sounds like you're kind of the opposite. You're looking for more of a higher profit, lower volume. Yes. So is that tough to find these diamonds in the rough then?
Or is it doing this for a long time? You kind of know what to look for.
Rob: Yeah, you definitely
Melissa: develop an eye. He can pretty much find stuff wherever we just did a road trip this summer and wherever we stopped like he sits at the hotel for 10 minutes like oh, we're gonna go pick this up. We bring our trailer with us so we can source on the road, but yeah, you can find that stuff everywhere
Rob: pretty much. We did a 30 day road trip and ended up coming back with twenty four thousand dollars of inventory and it was eight items. That was all it was. Oh, wow. Yeah. And we spent $1,400 on those. Yeah.
Chris Peach: So the vacation paid for itself. Yeah. Oh yeah. And then some.
Oh yeah. Okay. So I'm asking for me personally then. So I want to, I'm going to go home and I'm going to tell my wife, I'm gonna say, Hey Andrea. I kind of want to try this out. I think it'd be fun to do. It'd be fun for the kids and I, and, you know, for the, for the four of us, where do I start though? Do I start driving around town and trying to like find yard sales or, where, where's kind of a, where do you recommend when you're telling people to get started, where should they start to find their stuff they should be selling?
Rob: Yeah, we, we tell everybody start with the stuff that's in your house that you're going to give away to Salvation Army, um, goodwill, whatever those things that you're going to donate, start with those items first, um, and get the feel of the flipping, you know, the flipping business. You might not know how to sell on eBay.
You can either, you know, learn how to do that, or you can just post them on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp all these other apps. That's where we love to buy stuff, but you can list stuff on there to turn it quicker if you want to make money that way. We sell 80, probably 80 to 90 percent of our sales go on eBay.
Now the big thing about eBay is you're limited to a local market. You remember how I told you back when I was a kid, my mom would go to yard sales and she'd pick up stuff from yard sales, which was, you're gonna, you're limited to maybe 100 people visiting that yard sale over the weekend. Well, she would take it from the yard sale and then she'd put it into the classified section, which you get a couple thousand people looking at the classified sections.
Now we do that to a model of we pick it up locally in a market of maybe 40 to 60,000 people on OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, depending on your town, we take it from that market and then we throw it onto eBay, which has over 182 million registered users. So there's a lot more people there that are looking for that specific item.
That way we can ask more money that not all
Melissa: of 'em are looking for that. Exactly, but but there's more eyes that can.
Rob: Exactly. And when I say we can ask more money, we're not asking retail. We usually stick the 50% of retail when we sell items. Yeah, that's what our sweet spot is. 50% of retail. So when somebody sees it on eBay, they're like.
I can say 50 percent if I buy it here, , versus going to buy it new. Um, and then that makes it more appealing to them. So we buy it in a smaller market and take it to a bigger market. Um, that's why we do eBay.
Melissa: And I was going to say, also getting started with stuff in your house kind of gives you the idea of how eBay works.
If that's where you want to start selling and also lets you. Build up your feedback because people aren't going to want to buy the more expensive stuff from you if you have zero feedback. So if you can do the smaller items, less expensive stuff at first, all the stuff that you said you're going to donate anyway, like it doesn't matter if it doesn't make you that much.
As long as you're building up your feedback and getting the experience and then you can start to find the more higher profit items and sell those.
Chris Peach: So I kind of like what you said right there because you look at eBay and I do this all the time. If I'm buying something on eBay and I see somebody has.
You know, 4,000, you know, come or reviews that are positive and somebody has one, even if it's the same price, I'm probably going to go with the 4,000 just because it makes me feel better. So you're saying build those comment or build the, the reviews up using smaller ticket items that people aren't really going to care about, not these larger ticket items.
And then when you build that up, you can go to the, you know, to the prosthetic legs or whatever it might be along those lines right there. Okay. So this question is for Melissa. I I've been following you on, on the blog and on YouTube. And so I feel like, are you the one taking the pictures? Is this kind of your bread and butter?
Melissa: Actually he, well, if it's the larger items, he takes the pictures. If it's the smaller items, I take the pictures. So.
Chris Peach: So what are some of the tidbits that we, I mean, do we need to go out and buy some fancy camera? What would you, is there some kind of background or some kind of do's and don'ts?
Because I know that a lot of these sites you have, I think, like 10 to 12 pictures that you could put online. Should you use all 12 and overwhelm people or should it just be a few pictures? What have you seen works?
Melissa: Yeah, definitely use all of the pictures that you can use on ebay, the person doesn't get to see the item first.
So you want to show it as best you can and all the imperfections too as well, and just we use our iPhones. We don't have any fancy camera. We use our iPhones and then just a clear uncluttered background. You can use a white background. Ebay does have now a feature that you can take the background out and I've done that.
I've played around with it a little bit and can take it. I usually do just like the First picture, but then I leave it in for the rest. Cause I still want them. I don't want them to think that it looks better in the pictures than it really does. So I still want to get the, all the imperfections of the item too.
So I don't know if you want to talk about that because he used to try to sell it better than it was back in the day. And that never works.
Rob: Definitely have to be careful. You do not want to overpromise and under deliver on your items. You want people to have a good expectation of what they're receiving.
Um, that way you do not get that negative feedback. You want the positive feedback, , to grow your business. So taking good
Melissa: pictures. But the only thing I ever do to edit them is maybe just lighten them up a little bit on, and just using my phone editor and just lighten them just so they're a little bit brighter, but not changing the color or changing how the item looks in any way, just brighten
Rob: it.
Chris Peach: What about, like, some of the rules you have for listing these items? I mean, I know, like, titles are everything, right? I mean, you can have the best, I always say you could have the best podcast interview, you could have the best blog post, but if you, you could have the best email. But if you don't have a good subject line or a good headline, no one sees it.
Is that very similar in the world of flipping?
Rob: Yeah, titles, definitely everything. It's just because of you're limited to, , catching your audience with those couple of words. So eBay, when you're listing an item on eBay, the only way they can find that item is with the title. So you have, I think it's 88 characters, to get the right person looking for that.
So you have to put yourself in the shoes of. Hey, is my buyer going to be typing in this word to look for it? And you want to use as many words in that title as you can descriptions. I mean, they're important, but it's not like copy. It doesn't have to be perfect. This, this magnificent description that's going to sell it.
It's going to be your pictures in the title. The title is going to bring them in the pictures are what they're going to be able to see the item that they're getting. And then the description can
Melissa: do some features that exactly, but that's about it. Exactly. I was going to say the title too, doesn't also, you don't, it doesn't have to. Makes sense.
Like it can, as long as you just put all the words in it doesn't really have to No. Make sense as you're saying it.
Rob: Yeah. I don't know if you want like. Right. Well, exactly. You just want the buzz words, you want the words that the people are gonna be searching no matter what that is. It doesn't have to be in perfect order.
You, I mean, you just want those in the title. The title is as many words as possible, is very, very important.
Chris Peach: And then do you have any, like tidbits you can give us as far as, you've been doing this now for a long time, but is there any best practices you've seen when you're. When you're listing something or have you, I've seen it where somebody lists something, maybe one of your students or somebody lists something, you're like, Ooh, don't use that.
That's not that. That's a, that's a no. You know, like, don't, is there something like spammy that people should stay away from when they're talking about their titles or headlines or, you know, naming the product?
Melissa: I think one of the biggest things we see is people don't even like use enough descriptive words, like we said, or, um, Make it sound like the item is better than it is, right?
Yeah, when you've looked
Rob: at some of their accounts or your accounts definitely like I said before you do not want to over promise and under deliver. When I started out, I got an item that was used and I would. To me it looked like it was in perfect condition So that's how I listed it. And then when the buyer got it, they're like, wait a minute.
There's scratches on this This does not look perfect. So I learned that the hard way. So you definitely want to even on most of our listings, if I can't find scratches or scuffs and it's a used item, I will put that in my listing. You know, this is a used item. Please expect, um, you know, normal wear and tear scratches, scuffs, scrapes, whatever, anything like that to where the, when the buyer gets it, they're more, they're excited about it versus being upset at, wait, there were some scratches in here and he didn't say anything about this.
So you definitely want to under promise and over on your items. It will help you a ton.
Chris Peach: Okay. So then you, I heard you talk about 50 percent of retail. So what I'm guessing is what that meant to me is you're buying something, you find out what it retails for and you're always at 50%, correct?
Rob: About roughly.
Chris Peach: Yeah. Roughly. So, so when you're building in, like when you're looking at buying something, I'm trying to do the process in my head. I'm looking at something on, you know, like at a garage sale or in my house, what makes this my house, but I'm looking at a garage sale or yard sale or something like that. I'm already looking.
Okay. Let's just say I'm buying a, I don't know, , an oven and let's say the oven's $3,000 new, right? So 50 percent is $1,500. So I need to make sure if I, you know, I gotta be below this $1,500 if that's what I'm going to sell for. Is this kind of the method you guys
Rob: use?
Melissa: Yeah. So we would probably want to get that oven for about $150.
Yeah. 10 X is
Rob: usually X is what we should
Chris Peach: 10 X. Okay, so that's it. I love when there's a little tidbits here. So 10 X is kind of the model you're looking for because you know, there's going to be some negotiating back and forth. Yeah. What about so what about then I noticed you guys do you said about 85 percent of sales on eBay.
Is that correct? Yeah. So eBay has the feature of bidding or buy it now. What do you guys recommend for somebody just getting started.
Rob: We, all of our stuff is buy now. We don't, we very seldom do auctions. Um, but if you're starting out and you want to build, your feedback, auctions are not the worst thing ever.
You can accept that you don't really care about the price. You don't want to lose money on shipping. So you want to make sure your shipping is covered. So put the shipping in there. Exactly. And then let it go for a dollar, 2, 3, whatever it is. So you're giving the buyer a great deal and they're going to give you positive feedback.
But the majority of our stuff, very seldom will we do an auction unless I'm just trying to liquidate something and get it out. But the majority of our stuff is buy it now prices. So we want people to see it, know that we're at 50 percent of retail, and then they're going to buy it because it's so cheap compared to buying it new.
Melissa: I think Amazon's changed that a lot because now people are searching and they just want to buy it. So I think that's why more people want to buy, just buy it now versus waiting for the auction to go out unless they think they could really get it for a steal.
Rob: Yeah. But so I think that's why buy it now works a little better now.
Chris Peach: What about on the other side of that, if you're purchasing something, not maybe on eBay, but in person, what are some of the techniques that you used? And we actually had a podcast while back on, on, you know, how to buy a used car, negotiating, bargaining, you know, being quiet, but do you have any skills or, or anything that you're looking for when you're buying something?
Like if you, if you're buying something that 50 percent is $1,500 and you're trying to get it for $150, I mean, are you, are you offering $50 to start and then kind of working your way there? Or what, what's some of the things that you've seen have worked?
Rob: Yeah, the majority of the time we're already, excuse me, they already have the price on the item.
So if I get to a stove or an oven and I see it's $200, I typically will get the name brand and the model. If I'm at the flea market, I'll get the name brand and the model. I'll walk away from it, pull it up on my phone. This was the other thing. A lot of people don't know how to get, when we say it's not a gamble, this business isn't a gamble, I can jump on eBay and see what these items have sold for.
So within the last 30 days, I can plug in that oven, that model and see if it has sold. And if it has, I can see what it's sold for gives me a great idea of what I can sell it for because I have a hundred percent feedback. , we have four or five hundred feedback is, is what we have on eBay. So, that, that just gives me a great thing for, I'll walk away, look it up, then I'll come back and negotiate with them.
Negotiating is definitely a skill. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Be willing to walk away from an item. It's not the end of the world if, if I come back and they're asking two hundred dollars and I offer them a hundred dollars. He says, no way I can walk away again, and then I can come back and say, okay, I, is there any way you go to a, you know, $175 or $150, you can negotiate a couple of times with people.
It doesn't have to be yes or no. And then that's it, the only downfall is the seller knows if you come back the second time, you really want the item. So they have, you know, they kind of have you. So you kind of want to dicker the first time you're there with them. And if you're doing it on an app, yeah, always be willing to walk away if the price is not right.
And on an app, it's so easy to do all the research. Send them an offer, go back and forth with offers if you want, because you're not in person right there doing it in person. Um, it's very easy to do it over and out.
Chris Peach: Awesome.
So you guys also have this, this community where you guys do these challenges and I saw this headline and I have to ask what, if I'm reading this correctly, but it said a free chair, 203, 000. In this challenge before we, I have to know, what does this mean? What happened last year?
Melissa: We did a challenge. We found a chair, we like to walk to our downtown every day and we found so much stuff in the trash and the like free stuff all the time.
We found this chair and we took it home. , threw it on Facebook marketplace for $50 and then we took that $50 and you bought two bikes, I think, exercise bikes and sold them for $500 each on eBay and then took that money and just kept reinvesting it. And we got, we only kept track until like May and we got to like $15,000 liquid cash and then $100,000 in inventory.
And then it got too much and we didn't keep track of it, but that's where we got to.
Chris Peach: You started off with a free chair that was in the garbage. Yeah, this is so cool. I love it. I love it.
So I want to thank you guys so much for coming on and, All the show notes, all the links, anything that we talked about can be found on our, , moneypeach. com forward slash session one 48. That's moneypeach. com forward slash session one 48. We'll put links to Rob and Melissa's site. Some, some really cool blog posts they have up their YouTube channel, their Instagram channel, follow them there.