Welcome, Fellow Thrifters! This is a series of blogs by the Manitoba Thrift Hunter meant for thrifters to turn their love of thrifting into earning extra money at the same time.
Episode 1: Thrifting For Fun and Profits.
It started for me with many trips with my wife to thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets. I was bored to tears and couldn’t get out quick enough, until that fateful day I came across the show Thrift Hunters starring Brian and Jason, two thrift hunters out of Las Vegas. I watched with amazement as they were picking up items from various thrift stores and reselling on eBay, and I was hooked. From then on, I went with her to seek my fame and fortune through thrifting.
Now I have been thrift hunting for the last eight years. I set up my eBay store, created a separate bank account (my wife said, “You’re not going to make any money”) to monitor whether it was going to work. Next thing, I was buying items I hoped would sell for more than I spent. I had to get packaging supplies, a business account with Canada Post, clothes racks, hangers, and a camera for pictures. I made many mistakes, bought items that didn’t sell, knock-off items that I was unaware of, and returned items.
I learned there were many things over the course of time to improve my reselling: what I thought would sell but didn’t, researching items’ selling price (not list price), shipping costs, listing items, descriptions, sizing on clothes I was listing, best pricing at different outlets, etc.
After my first year of business, my wife asked the accountant: “So how much did he lose?”. She wanted to shut down my growing obsession and get her basement bedroom back (yes, I had a lot of stock).
The accountant quietly said: “He made a profit.”
At which point she said: “Where’s my cut?”
That was eight years ago, and my business has been growing from a joke to a pastime to a side hustle to a passion, and now a supplementary income that is self-sufficient.
It is at this point I want to mentor new thrifters to help them enjoy thrifting for fun and profit.
I look forward to your feedback, questions, comments, and your successes (oh, and maybe a reality show deal LOL).
Next update: next week.
