Rob & Melissa Stephenson from Flea Market Flipper give a roadtrip picking update.
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Picking Road Trip Update
Rob: What's up, pro flippers? On today's episode, we are talking about an update on our picking road trip
Melissa: across the country, and a little more.
Rob: All right guys, so we are talking about the road trip that we are on right now today, and can't wait to give you guys an update about what is going on.
Melissa: Yeah, we wanted to give you an update on, we talked about kind of going on this road trip right before we left, so that episode should already have gone live, and so we kinda wanna give you an update after our first week plus on the road and yeah. So let's dive right in. That's it. So let's start with.
We, when we got on the road, I don't think we talked about this on the podcast. We did it on Instagram a little bit and into our emails. So if you are on our email list, then you already know, that we had sold something right when we first started our road trip. So you wanna dive into that right now?
Rob: Yeah. So we didn't actually sell it. We had somebody reach out and say, hey, I would like to buy a pump organ that you have listed on eBay. So I reached back out to them and I said, where are you guys located? I don't have enough time. This was the day before we left. I asked them, where are you guys located?
We are getting ready to go on a road trip, which we start off with an empty trailer, which is awesome. And I said, where are you guys located? And I can deliver it to you possibly if you guys are on our route. And sure enough, they were only about 30 minutes off of the route. I loaded up the pump organ into the trailer and we delivered it to the buyer, on day three, I believe on the road trip. Yeah. So after we left the house, drove for a couple days and were able to meet up with them. And deliver the pump organ.
Melissa: Over to New Mexico.
Rob: $900. Kicking off the road trip, which I absolutely love it. We paid $30 for the pump organ and then we sold it for $900. Yeah. And we delivered it.
Melissa: And he had a really cool story too, which is something we don't always get to know because we don't always know like somebody buys it on eBay, we ship it to them and that's the end. They leave feedback. But they don't, you don't know what, why somebody's buying some of these items. And this was a very unique organ.
It was a pump organ we picked up at the 127 yard sale three years and ago, four years ago. So it's been sitting for a while and we had every intention, if it didn't sell after several months to repurpose it into like a bar. There's some really cool ones on Pinterest. Yeah, absolutely. That we were gonna redo, but then projects time, that kind of thing.
Didn't ever get around to it. But he saw it and it was one that his grandmother had, and I think he, he learned, knew how to play. So he, I'm assuming he learned how to play with his grandma on that pump organ and it reminded him of that. And so it was like sentimental to him, which was really cool to, to see that and be a part of that story that he was able to get that kind of memories back, I guess.
Rob: So super cool. And it's always cool to make a little bit of extra cash when you're going on a road trip. So that's one of the things we loved.
Melissa: One thing I wanted to add too is you said it did happen that he was 30 minutes off our, our, our truck. We were planning to go straight to Colorado. We were dropping my, the dog off at my mom's house in Colorado and he was 30 minutes off there.
But I said, well, what if he would've been like somewhere else. He's like, and you said that, well, even if we wouldn't have dropped it off right in the beginning of the trip, we still could have had it in the trailer for a while and dropped it off mid trip because we are driving, you know, we went all the way to California and we're gonna drive back up to Michigan and then back to Florida.
So we have a little bit of a loop. So there's other places it could have gone. Absolutely. And we could have still made it work.
Rob: It did work out that we were able to do it on the way, which was awesome. It was nice. And we did it that way. So worked out really, really great. It only took probably 30 minutes off the track to get it to him.
And another 20 or 30 minutes actually unloaded from the trailer, loaded into his truck, met up with him and got it done and we made $900, which is killer, killer deal. Gas money that that's
Melissa: right.
Little gas money. But we also ended up turning that, taking some of that cash and turning it into a competition for our kids.
Rob: So we're, which is another update we wanted to give you guys. We had a great idea to be able to do that as well.
Melissa: So to take, give them each a hundred dollars. We already, you had this idea before we left that we could make it a competition, but we took a hundred dollars of that money and we had gotten tubs already for the kids.
So we, they can take the hundred dollars and buy stuff at thrift stores or if we stop at flea markets or wherever we stop your stores where we stop on the trip, so we're gonna have to make an effort to stop at more thrift stores than we normally do, but then they can find stuff and whenever they can find that a hundred dollars, we're gonna come back to home home.
When we get back home and do an auction and sell it off. Sell it off. So.
Rob: Yes, super excited about that. It's going to be a little fun game with the kids, get them more involved in picking and it's not going to be big items. They can do money learning how to make some money. Yeah. So, yeah, and we don't, I mean, Melissa and I, you guys know we do the big items, but want the kids to get involved in being able to do some smaller stuff and then really get hooked.
We wanna see who can make the most money from that hundred dollars investment while we are on the road. They're gonna pick it up, fill up those tubs when we get back. We are going to do an auction for each individual kid and see how much they can make on the items picked on the road trip. So very, very exciting.
Very cool to be able to do that with our kids as well. Yeah. So super excited about that.
Melissa: Our, our youngest is definitely, I feel like the most motivated, but our oldest has a really good eye, so I'm curious to see who ends up winning. I mean, they're all, they're all gonna make money, which is really fun, and they can, you know, keep the money or whatever, but, but it's, it's gonna be a fun competition.
Yep. And I wanted to add too, like, sometimes you might need to make a competition. Like if you feel like you're in the same day in and day out and day in of listing and stuff. Maybe make a competition, either with yourself or with somebody else. You know, like, okay, how, what can we do this month? How many things can we get listed?
And just kind of make it a game because it just makes it go, I mean, it's work, but it makes it go so much faster.
Rob: Absolutely. So much better. And having somebody accountable with you. So we're gonna hold the kids accountable. We're gonna be looking for those items, we're gonna help them do that. But you might need somebody to be able to do that with them.
I mean, do it with yourself to be able to get the results that you're looking to get. So, great, great point. If you can find somebody that you can do something like this with, totally, totally will change your world with your business.
Melissa: Yeah. So this is our fourth year doing this picking road trip, which kind of stemmed from the 127 Yard Sale, which we talked about on the previous podcast kind of leading up to this trip. And this time, this time we're doing something a little bit different. We added a new element that doesn't really add to picking so much, unless you think you can. Well, maybe, maybe we'll see.
Rob: So where we are coming to you guys right now is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
We are on the truck from LA over to Hawaii, the Big Island. And we're on a boat. We are on a cruise boat that we were headed over there to do a couple islands. One of the cool things we did, instead of actually doing excursions on each island, we rented our own Jeep to be able to drive and do our own stuff.
So we were a lot cheaper. It's gonna be cheaper, but we were also gonna be able to hit up more things. Some thrift stores, maybe some stuff along the way on the islands to see if we can pick some cool stuff, while we are on the road trip over across the ocean. And it's gonna be a lot of fun to be able to do that.
So we're very, very excited about this leg of the trip, being able to, seeing what we can find and what's out there on the islands of Hawaii.
Melissa: And then if we don't find anything, that's okay too. We still have a couple weeks once we're back on. Absolutely. The normal or the what is it, Lower 48 states or then, we'll be back on that part of it.
But this was a cool, we had done this with some friends and we thought it would be a really cool thing for the kids. One of our goals is to hit every national park like with the kids, and that's kind of what we weave into our summer. What is, it's, it is what we weave into our summer road trip with picking and it, it just meshes so well together.
Like we can pay for the trip from our stuff that we find. And then it's still a fun adventure, but yet we get to see some amazing sites at the same time. Yeah. So now we're doing a little bit different this year, but there's three national parks over in Hawaii, so hopefully we can hit those all up. So yeah.
Rob: And last year's road trip we ended up picking, already sold from last year to this, before this road trip. We sold $23,000? A little over $23,000.
$23,000 of stuff that we picked on the road trip and out of that $23,000, how much did we spend on those items? Did you total that up? Oh, I didn't check. Anyways. A total last year spent was like $1,600.
That isn't all we spent while we were on the trip.
Melissa: We had $32,000 total. Okay. And we spent $1,600, but we've sold $23,000. And really the biggest reason we haven't sold all the, all of it is just cause it's not listed exactly. So.
Rob: Some of the stuff got put into the warehouse and I did not get pictures and did, they got, get it listed.
So probably five to $10,000 worth of stuff that still has not gone on eBay that has not sold. We did really well with the first items that we, we, we listed, got them sold really, really quick. Made some quick cash and then the other ones got put on the back burner, which I'm very bad about is getting stuff and not getting enlisted right away.
So we still have $5,000 to $10,000 worth of stuff from last year's road trip that I'll be working on. I pulled it all out to the front of the warehouse and I'll be working on that once we get back as well with the stuff that we pick up from this year's road trip, to get them all listed together and try to make some of that money.
Melissa: But it was a thousand dollars because $1,020, I have it in my head. Okay. I just was going through.
Rob: $1,020 is what we spent to make $23,000 plus over the last year's road trip, which we did not even spend anywhere near that much money on the road trip. We paid for the road trip, had some great memories and fun with our kids, and still able to have such a blast on
Melissa: the road trips.
I can, I, there was like eight items. I can run through them real quick if you want to. You can. So the, it was the NordicTrack that we sold from last year. Three trip free. A free one to $350. Yep. Then we sold the, and you tried to give him money and he wouldn't get let you do it. We sold the solo Flex for $400.
Yep. And that was a freebie too. Yep. Is that on marketplace?
Rob: No, that's sold on eBay.
Melissa: No, no, no bought on Marketplace. Yes, Marketplace. Yes. So that's usually we, and we talked about this before, but that's usually how we find the stuff on the road. So he's like, okay, where are we going tomorrow? And then the night before the
Rob: Marketplace and offerUp are the two places that we always are looking on the road.
Melissa: Because some are active in areas more than others.
So like sometimes an area will have an active Marketplace, but they don't have an active OfferUp in vice versa. So you look at both usually. Yeah. And be like, okay, where are we going tomorrow? And, and the night before he's looking up, send out a few messages and then so we get there. I'll be there tomorrow.
We have a very short window, so if they don't respond, they don't respond. But sometimes they do right away and you or you're there, like I, I can pick it up. I, I, we've got a short window. I'm there and we can get it and then we're gone. So.
Rob: Yeah. And I'll cut you off too because this, one of the things about what we bought last year, we only have a small enclosed trailer.
We only pulled what list? 17 items. Yeah, 17 items. We're not buying thousands and thousands of items on the road. It's only the little, well I say a little, but it's only, it's larger items, but a, a, a small amount of the items, volume. Yeah, volume. So 17 items to be able to make. And we sold how many items to make?
I think. Eight items to make $23,000. Yeah. Yeah. Which is awesome. Totally awesome. So go ahead, back to our list.
Melissa: Yeah. And then, the next one was those little cells. Those were a smaller one, but we paid $10 each. I think you sold two of them and they were $150. So those were just at a thrift store.
Yep. That we stopped at, at Habitat, I believe was the store and then the double oven. You sold, you picked that for a hundred dollars. You had to get, take that outta the wall. I remember that. But you picked it for a hundred dollars, sold it for $2,000 or $2,300?
Rob: I think $2,000. And that one's sold in 24 hours.
Yeah. Once I got that listed, it sold in 24 hours and I shipped it right out.
Melissa: I remember it. And then the same place that you got the cooktop.
Rob: Cooktop. A 48 inch, Jenn air cooktop or Viking cooktop. I don't know which brand it was. Yeah. But, same thing. We bought that from the same guy got that for a hundred dollars, sold it for 17. 17. 17, yeah. $1,750. And actually that one, they picked it up locally, up locally. They were traveling through, so they found it on eBay. They did. They were traveling through snowbirds that were traveling through Florida, on their way back. So we were at a conference house. Yep. And they picked it up.
So $1,750 off of a hundred dollars flip. What else did we have? The big ones that we had were the two. Yeah, the two Turbo Chefs. Turbo Chefs that we bought, paid
Melissa: like $400 each. So $400 each, so I talked about, so that was our biggest investment.
Rob: But yeah, I talked that guy down to $500 until I got there and he said he had three of 'them
and I said, well, I have $800. Would you do two of them for $400 each? If I took two and he said absolutely. So we thanked two of those $400 a piece.
Melissa: You really wanted to get the third one, but you didn't have time to go to the atm.
Rob: No, we were driving through a town. I had that much cash with me inside the car.
That's all the cash that I had made the deal with him. I loaded them in the trailer, got rid of them, I mean, got them quick. And then we sold those fairly quick. $8,500 for one. $10,000 for the other. Those were killer, killer sales, that contributed to that 20 some thousand dollars worth of stuff. So, killer deal on that.
Melissa: Yeah, that was what we had. That was it, I think. I think that was the eight sales that we had. Cool. I might be missing one, but I just did a reel on it just recently, so I remembered those numbers from that. But yeah.
Rob: So we are gonna be looking for some sweet items when we get back. Like I said, we're gonna try and find some smaller stuff in Hawaii that we can grab, but we still will be looking for more stuff once we get back to the states.
Melissa: One, one thing, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but one thing I, we did notice too last year was everything we gravitated towards tended to be appliances. It wasn't everything, but it was like, 80% to 90% of what we picked where appliances, because such huge market, there is a huge market for them.
People like a brand and then they can't get it. And like the newer stuff sometimes just doesn't last as long. That's good. And so they used stuff, people know it. If they need, they want to just replace the one they had or, and people get rid of stuff because they upgrade kitchens all the time. You knew the stat on it at one point, like how many percent like, but it's a lot like people are always upgrading kitchens and people are always wanting new stuff.
Rob: Throwing stuff away, donating stuff. So you're always able to find some really, really cool appliances that other people really want, but they can't find it until they go on eBay and you have the item that you're able to sell it on eBay and then ship it.
Melissa: So yeah, just think of like how many, when you redo, if you redo your kitchen, like do you really take the time to list all the appliances that you have on marketplace to sell or something?
You just want them gone like half the time. People give them to the people who are doing the kitchen and then they can sell them and get rid of them. So. Because they just want them gone. Absolutely. That's what we, we tend to look for. So we'll put a link if you're interested in, in more like appliances, we have an appliance flipping course.
You can check it out. It'll be, we'll put it in a link below. Yep. But it's just something that we've gravitated towards because there's so much money in it. So. Absolutely. And we love it.
Rob: So guys, we'll be doing some more updates to this road trip that we're on, so stay tuned for that.
Melissa: And you wanted to talk a little bit about, how like we planned for this summer trip, but it's also important to take a little bit of a break too. Yeah. So it it, it's something that you are good at. I am not good at. But you found yourself needing a little bit of a break too, right? Yeah.
Rob: Yeah. And that's something that, I mean, just resetting yourself, even if it's a weekend, a getaway weekend, that you can go to the beach and go.
Well for us, we're in Florida so we can get to the beach in an hour each way. Or maybe it's to go to the mountains and go to a, a river, a cabin or a cabin or a lake. It's getting outside. Yeah. And just doing that and resetting yourself and refocusing on what you really need to do totally helps. Because I feel as American, we work, work, work, work, work.
And you don't stop working. You don't take time to actually re, re-energize your batteries and do that. The cool thing about what we do is when you're doing stuff like that, you can still look and find stuff from different places that you're going, to be able to make money while you're actually out there on vacation.
You know what I mean? That's what we do. We love vacationing, but we also love looking for items that we can turn around and sell that will pay for our vacation. So just another tip that you guys, if you have not done a little getaway, your spouse, your kids, something like that, that you can get away even for one or two days just to get away and reenergize, reset. It will totally help you mentally, just focus your, focus your time and your effort on your business once you get back. But something that is really, really needed and, in this, in this world.
Melissa: I wanted to add too, and maybe you're thinking, okay, well I can't, you know, maybe get away or I need to be able to pay for, whatever a weekend away, make the, put that into your like, competition to yourself.
No, but like competition to yourself to flip something. Like that's something that Stacy does all the time is like, okay, what can I flip to go on this vacation? Like she wants to do stuff with her family and like we do. And so like, what can I flip? What can I sell to make this happen? And so if you can do that, it just makes it like maybe you have a goal instead of just.
An overarching goal of, yes, I need to make money. It's like, okay, well I have it for this. What can I do for this? And then that will help you come back, be re-energized so you can make more money. Absolutely. And we actually did a video, for this trip too, for our cruise, about one flip that we did to pay for the cruise.
So, we'll put that link below to it. We didn't do really a podcast on it, but we just did a, a, a video. We're trying to have fun on YouTube, so Yeah. So yeah, you could check that out. I'll put it in the link blast. Absolutely.
Rob: And it was a Turbo Chef. Not one of the ones we talked about last year. It was another one that we sold, our third Turbo Chef that we sold.
Melissa: Yeah. Need find some more of those.
Rob: We do. Hopefully on this trip we'll be able to snag a couple more of those and be able to make some more good money on this trip. Yeah.
So you guys rock. Have an amazing day. We'll see you on the next episode.