This video walks through how to find items to resell and how to decide whether something is actually worth buying before you spend money on it.
Where to source items
- Your house: the lowest-risk place to practice listing and selling.
- Thrift stores: consistent inventory and random underpriced finds.
- Garage sales and yard sales: sellers often want items gone quickly.
- Flea markets: many sellers in one place, often with negotiable prices.
- Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist: good for local bulk deals.
You make money when you buy
A good flip needs two things: it has to be a good item, and it has to be bought at a good price. A high listing price does not mean the item is worth that much.
Use sold comps to see what buyers actually paid, not just what sellers are asking. Then check how often similar items sell so you are not buying something that will sit forever.
The key metrics
- Average sold price: what similar items have actually sold for.
- Active listings: how many sellers are competing with you right now.
- Sell-through rate: how often the item sells compared with how much competition exists.
- Recent sales volume: an item that sold 30 times is usually easier to move than one that sold once.
Tools that help
Google Lens can help identify an item, but it is not a reliable value tool by itself. The eBay app is better for sold comps, especially if you filter by sold listings.
Flippr speeds up the process by letting you scan shelves, stacks, or groups of items and see useful resale data faster, including sold price, sell-through, and a simple Flippr Score.
Why movies are a good starting category
- DVDs, Blu-rays, VHS, and other media are easy to find at thrift stores and garage sales.
- They are usually cheap to buy and simple to ship.
- Some overlooked titles can be worth $30, $40, $100, or more.
- Always check condition, make sure the correct disc is inside, and avoid badly scratched copies.