Reselling tools, sports equipment for cash

Reselling is a popular self-employment option for retired women and men. So often they start by selling off old stuff from around their homes at their own garage or yard sales when they are downsizing. Yard sales can be time consuming, however, so some people take the next step up: selling stuff on Ebay. Ebay is quite obvious and the fact is that people (including me) do make money by becoming Ebay sellers.

People–I call them the Resale Super Stars–who have had long term success with reselling online have told me this:

1) identify a niche and specialize in it and

2) sell brand name products whenever possible and

3) post detailed photos of the merchandise and any flaws.  

And Resale Super Stars always have a good idea of how much money an item will sell for before buying it at a yard or garage sale. If there is any doubt about making a profit, move onto another item or another sale. And there is always another yard sale!

Some women have considered opening an etsy vintage shop, or their own online webstore, but decided that it would take up too much time. They preferred the freedom of selling on Ebay. They can start and stop when they want and then do something else — like travel.

Reselling a coin collection

One man began his retirement “reselling career” by selling part of his personal collection of ancient coins in an open air market in an affluent neighborhood. It was so unusual that he attracted a lot of attention. He spent time with the men who gathered at his booth explaining the details of coin collecting and the characteristics of each coin. The time spent educating his customers paid off in sales. Then instead of selling more of his personal collection, he began to buy more coins but these were only for sale to customers.

Another person went online to sell her personal collection of books, many were signed First Editions. Read more about it here.

Make money from tools two ways

Tool Reseller. We have heard of a couple of men who purchase used tools at garage sales, then clean and restore them before selling the tools for a very good profit at swap meets. Sometimes the tools are in good condition when they buy them and sometimes they are so old they are almost antiques. The former are sold to bargain hunters who want working-condition tools to use on their jobs. The latter have a different market: tool collectors.

Cleaning up the used tools and testing them are the first things these men do after they buy them before they consider pricing them to sell them at outdoor markets. One man is quite handy and brings seemingly “dead” tools back to life. Neither of them try to hide any flaws. If you are not comfortable with swap meets or flea markets, Craigs List or Next Door can be a good places to advertise tools, although potential buyers are looking for super-bargains on those sites.

Reselling sports equipment

Sports Equipment Reseller.  In some areas of the country, Los Angeles among them, there are stores that specialize in buying used sports equipment in very good condition. Scouting out lightly used sports equipment at garage sales and reselling them to the stores has potential for generating some extra cash. 

Tools open doors to new retirement life

These two examples are not reselling, but re-utilizing skills from a former career.

Handyman.  If you are not naturally handy this may not be fun, but it is for Bob.  After years of being a top salesman for a printing company, he retired to a small northern California city. It was a quiet life and he loved it at first, but soon realized he needed to get to know more people. He joined a few groups in his new city and met a few people but most of them were still working. Then came up with another idea.

He had always enjoyed doing maintenance on his personal home and investment properties. All it took was getting some business cards that offered his services as a handyman. He  posted the business cards on bulletin boards in various locations around town–coffee houses, grocery stores, etc.  Soon he had plenty of work, much of it for women who, like him, were single. It has turned out to be good for his bank account, great for his social life!

Another man, Ed, who lived in a retirement community in Nevada offered to help install chandeliers in the Clubhouse. It made his reputation  A former contractor, he became the most popular handyman in the community simply by word of mouth. And, like Bob, expanded the circle of friends for his wife and himself.