Rob & Melissa Stephenson from Flea Market Flipper talk about the one thing that has made hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Register for the Reseller Summit:https://www.theresellersummit.com/registration
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fleamrktflipper/
Check out our FREE Workshop: https://courses.fleamarketflipper.com/flipper-university-workshop-webinar
You can find us at: https://fleamarketflipper.com/
Appliance Flipping Course: applianceflipping.com
Reseller Hangout Podcast - This 1 Thing Has Made Us Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars
Rob: What's up, guys? On today's episode, we are talking about this one thing that has made us hundreds of thousands of dollars in our flipping business.
Melissa: It really is the key to our business.
Rob: All right guys, so this one thing has made us hundreds of thousands of dollars in the flipping arena in our flipping business.
Melissa: So it really is like kind of the basis of our business and it's a simple, not simple, it's, yeah, one thing.
So let's dive into it.
Rob: Absolutely. And I'm gonna tell you a story first before we get into it. I'm gonna tell you a story where we did not use this one tip, of how we make good money on our flips. Melissa and I bought a bowling, a bowling arcade, that we actually bought. We bought it on the road trip.
We spent $175 on that bowling arcade. We had to go back and pick it up with two other items, at the end of the road trip. Had to go back and pick it up. It was a big sucker. It was like 10 foot long, 8 or 10 foot long arcade game that you'd see in a bar and you slide a little, like a puck across and hit bowling things.
We picked it up for $175. It was in worse condition than I originally thought. When we got there, I still took it and then we should have walked away. I should have walked away. I should have walked away. We brought it back. I cleaned it up, got some pictures, and ended up selling it for what, $500?
Melissa: $550.
Rob: $550, So not huge return on it. But one of those things that I learned some valuable lessons, and we're not even talking about this being at the beginning of my flipping journey. This was something that I did within, what was it last year?
Melissa: It was a year, year and a half ago.
Year and a half ago. Yeah. So, and I was gonna say that it wasn't, not just not a huge return.
We didn't really lose money. But we pretty much broke even with after shipping and fees. And then if you account all the time, the time it was, it took us a long time to get it loaded in the trailer because we already had the bus washed in the trailer and we were trying to bring it back down and oh yeah and the oven, which were both great buys. But the, this one was not so much and you try to finagle and put it in the, it took a, it took a while to get it in there and then it was not in great shape. Yeah. And, but we sold it and cleared out the garage.
Rob: We did. And it was a big sucker. So you might be wondering, okay, what is it you guys?
What is this tip that you have made hundreds of thousands of dollars on? And it is your money. Get ready. Get your, your pen out. Your money is made in your buy. So what exactly does that mean if we break that down?
Melissa: Well, like, I do wanna break it down, but we actually started talking about this. Yesterday we were on a podcast interview with somebody and we were on their podcast and you said that, and you said, your money's made in the buy. And we we're talking about it. And then he goes, you know, who else says that, and we're like, no. Who says that?
Rob: Had no idea whatsoever. I thought I'm the one who said it, but obviously I'm not.
Melissa: He's like, Warren Buffet. We're like, oh, I guess that's a good thing because I guess we're on the right track then.
Rob: So, and if you know anything about us, we're not very good at stocks. We don't, I, I know who Warren Buffet is, who doesn't? But I've never really listened to any of his, which I'm going to. I'm gonna listen to his autobiography.
Yeah, it sounds amazing. Just hearing some of the stories that this other guy told us when we were on the podcast about Warren Buffet. It was really, really cool. So, but yeah, that was really, really cool to hear that. And he's like, it's so cool, the gentleman who was interviewing us, he's like, it's so cool to see the parallels of your guys' business, and then when you see something else that, you know, and it, it was really, really cool.
So we had a lot of fun on that podcast.
Melissa: So what exactly does it mean your money is made in the buy?
Rob: People think they make their money when they sell their item, which you do make your money when you sell the item, but at the same time, the money is made by how cheap you can actually get the item.
If you can find a item off the trash and then you sell it for $200 versus you spend $100 on an item and then sell it for $200, guys, you made $100, but you made $200 getting the one outta the trash and selling it for, $200, something like that. You just have to, you need to find items as cheap as you possibly can because when you get it that cheap, your money is made on that buy.
Before you actually sell it. So that's, that's the really cool thing. And that's the motto that we've lived by, for ever since we've been flipping. It's one of those things, and we're not perfect at it. Don't get me wrong. We've made mistakes. Just like we just told you with that bowling arcade that we did.
My eyes got bigger than my head and I'm like, this is cool. I love cool stuff.
Melissa: That's the thing is if you, it's the coolness factor. You're like, oh, it's a cool arcade game.
Rob: I love that stuff.
Melissa: And it's vintage. So.
Rob: So that's one of those things. But we, we lost money. When you think about the time that we spent on that, we definitely lost money as our time spent.
But then you look at the other two items that we got on that road trip. We bought a bus wash and we bought that for $500, and then we sold that for $14,500. Amazing. My money was made for that $500 investment that I made. My money was definitely made because I got it so cheap. Now, I could have spent $6,000 on that and then sold it for $14,000 and still made really good money.
But instead I spent $500 on it and we were able to make amazing money. The oven that we got, the same thing. I paid $200 for it, sold it for $2,700, $2,800 within like two weeks. Both of those other two items, that is where we really lived out your money is made in your buy. That's where we lived, those out with those two.
And then this one, like I said, I got starstruck. I love arcades. I love games. If, if you know anything about me as well, I love toys, I love all that kind of stuff. So I'm a sucker when I see something cool. And this one I should have walked away from and I did absolutely and I did not and yeah, in hindsight, I should have, but we didn't.
So we actually sold it. And money wise it was okay. We broke even. But time wise, I definitely lost money on the time that I spent on this whole sale.
Melissa: Yeah. And for us, like our general rule of business, what we do is we wanna 10 x our investment. So if we're gonna spend a hundred dollars at least on an item, we wanna make at least a thousand dollars or the sale price at least a thousand dollars.
So it leaves with us wiggle room for our fees and shipping costs or maybe we'll add shipping. Sometimes we do free shipping, sometimes we add it. So it just depends. Back to the thing, you spent $175, you should have sold, been able to sell it for $1,700. Yes. So, according to our rule of thumb, which we normally do.
Rob: And I thought I would've sold it and.
Melissa: Is that, did you think it would sell for that much?
Rob: Over $2,000.
Yeah. I thought it would've got $2,000 to $2,500, but, it was in worse shape. And like I said, we were already there. And it was one of those things, Yeah, we were, we were, we went on the road trip to actually pick this thing up. So it was one of those things that I really couldn't walk away from it. I felt like I couldn't, but I should have, in hindsight, But it is what it is.
Melissa: Yeah.
And that is a important thing, like you don't have to feel obligated, even if you've made the meet up and it's the item is definitely not what you thought it was. It's okay to walk away.
Rob: It's a great point.
Melissa: Because now you're gonna have more time invested. You're gonna have, and your time is worth money.
And you could be finding and selling something else that's gonna make you more money. Yeah. So.
Rob: And we have had students, the, our students reach out to us and they're like, well, we set it up. We went and picked it up. And it wasn't, it had rust, it was this and that. And I probably shouldn't have bought it, but I felt obligated because I set up an appointment and I'm like, never feel obligated.
You guys do not have to do that.
Melissa: You get the chance to inspect it, when you go to pick up the item. And that same is true when you're selling locally. Absolutely. That person has the chance to look at the item and if it's not what they're looking for, it might not be in the right condition or whatever.
They don't have to take it. So, I mean, yeah, it's an inconvenience for everybody to, to go and meet up, but you don't have to feel obligated to to go with the sale.
Rob: Usually like eight outta 10 times the item is gonna look way, way better in pictures than it actually is when you go to pick it up.
That's where it really comes in. A really helpful, hint is to ask questions before you set up an inspection on an item. Make sure you're asking, hey, is this broken? Hey, is there rust on the item? Hey, is there, and try to get all those questions outta the way before you waste your time and waste their time going out to pick up an item.
That's one of the biggest things you wanna do. Now, I know on the flip side of stuff, when I'm doing it. When I find an amazing deal, like I'm paying $50 for something and I know I'm gonna get $2,000 for it, I just wanna really go and get it. And if there is anything wrong with it, that's me personally.
I'm like, okay, I'll just take my chance. If it's a 15, 20 minute drive, I'm just gonna take my chance. Is there something wrong with it? I'll decide when I get there, if I'm gonna talk 'em down or if I'm gonna walk away. That's one of the things that you can do as well.
Melissa: So people might be thinking okay, well that's great if you can.
Your money's made in the buy. It's great if you can find an item for $50 and sell it for $500 or a hundred and sell it for a thousand. But are there really items out there like that? Like can you really do that? So how do you go about finding these items?
Rob: That's our business model. Yes, you absolutely can do it.
And you can find stuff in the trash, on the side of the road. If you have big collection days, in your areas, you can find stuff that you, you can easily get for free and turn around and sell for $100, $200 all that kind of stuff. But the other thing is looking on the local apps, OfferUp, Marketplace.
Melissa: That's probably one of your favorite places to source local.
Rob: Marketplace is, yeah, Facebook Marketplace is one of my favorite places. But, flea markets, thrift stores, yard sales, all that kind of stuff. There are people who they either have to get rid of something, because they don't wanna store it, or there's people who just don't really care about the item.
They've got it, they've replaced something with it, an exercise machine, appliances, anything like that. They just wanna get rid of it. They don't wanna mess with it. They, and a lot of times they will give that away for free on a local app and say, hey, I got this double oven. I just replaced it in my oven.
There's nothing wrong with this one. We just updated our kitchen. Please. Somebody come in, pick it up. That stuff happens all the time. I'm telling you. There is stuff that you can find amazing, amazing deals on and totally, 10 x 20 x your investment. It's not that hard to do it, and that's kind of our guideline now.
We try to, at least it's worth our time if we're gonna 10 x our investment, if we're paying five, $50 for something, I gotta make at least $500 on it, maybe even a thousand dollars on it, because I, I want it to be worth my time.
Melissa: Yeah. And the items are out there. I think the biggest thing is you have to be consistent with looking for them.
And, and then once you kind of know what you're looking for you see things faster. So, I mean, you've trained your eyes Yeah. Now to spot stuff that you can see. But I think just being consistent, going to those places that you're sourcing, checking the apps. When we go on a road trip, the apps is all he uses because, well, we did stop at a thrift store once or twice, at, at my mom's house. But other than that, the apps are all you're using and you're just checking the area before we get there and see is there anybody, anything there cuz people unload stuff all the time that they're just trying to get rid of or you never know their situation.
They're moving, they need to have gone now they're willing to just give it away. Was that yesterday we were talking to on the podcast, the guy like, so they just was giving everything.
Rob: Oh yeah. His friend, his friend had a garage. He had a storage unit. Yeah. And he didn't wanna pay the next month in the storage unit.
So, he's like, hey, I tried to sell it at first and I couldn't sell it. So I started giving it away. I didn't wanna pay my next month rent on the storage unit. I wanted everything outta there. They moved in, he's like, this is all free. It's all, everything in here. I only wanted two things outta the storage unit.
I had tons of other stuff in there. I just was giving it away to people. So you'll find that stuff very, very often everywhere you'll find stuff like that, that you'll be able to get for free, you'll be able to get to really, really cheap good deals.
Melissa: Because you're looking too. You have to be looking.
Rob: And I will double down on what Melissa said, the consistency thing.
Guys, you might go to a thrift store one time and you're like, ah, they don't got nothing. If you don't see anything the first time, that's, you have to go back a few times, multiple times and different times of the day and stuff like that. Because you might not find anything the first time. But if with your business, if you're consistent looking at thrift stores or these thrift stores in your areas. And then if you go back, you know, five or 10 times and it's junker, you know, you can't ever find anything at that one, then you could probably cross that one out. But give yourself some time to see if they put stuff out at certain times a day or, you know, all that kind of stuff plays in. Consistency is huge in this business on both sides, on hunting for items and listing items and getting stuff listed. So consistency is a huge word. Like Melissa just touched on.
Melissa: You know what's interesting is talking about like when they bring stuff out at thrift stores. Our Goodwill, we went to one other one early in the morning one time and there was nothing there because they bring stuff out during the day. They don't, it's not like a normal store where they stock overnight and like they bring all this stuff out. Yeah, they're just working during the day. So I found that interesting because we usually go in the afternoon after school, but for some reason we stopped early in the morning and there was like nothing there.
I'm like, there's, we need to come in the afternoon. So it just the different time of day for sure. Which was interesting. And another thing is, with consistency, you can build contacts too. So that can be a really big game changer. Huge in your business. I know that's helped us over the years and that was something that we didn't try to do until we really, till we went full time and you made some more contacts.
Rob: I have a couple contacts that have made me over hundred thousand do hundreds of thousands of dollars just because of the contact, the relationship that I built with that contact that I originally met from the flea market that I met at picking up an item, whatever it is. I've created a relationship with mostly, mostly flea market or.
Yeah. Yeah. So that's one of those things that you definitely want to be thinking about that as well. Contacts, even at thrift stores for managers. I had a manager contact at a local thrift store that he would call me when he got cool stuff. And he is like, hey, this is, you bought one of these already.
Do you wanna buy another one? And he'd called me up when he got cool stuff and I would run over there and check it out and I'd buy it usually. So it was one of those things. Yeah, being, creating relationships is huge.
Melissa: You can also make one, make contacts with people on OfferUp and Facebook, like if they have stuff listed, you can go and see what else they have listed.
Cuz maybe they're a scrapper and they've got lots of stuff listed or something. So you can always make contacts that way too. Some of it is just being consistent.
Rob: Absolutely.
Melissa: So always know back to our main topic is your money is made when you purchase the item. Not necessarily when you sell it, cuz we really don't want to spend $200 on an item and make $250, like that's not worth it for us. So it's not worth our time. It's not worth, worth everything. So yeah, 10 x is kind of our goal. That's it.