Funding a Safari with Facebook Marketplace

[csmcclain]

Great idea. I applaud your efforts and am looking forward to tracking the progress. Maybe a graphic or two? Like those capital campaigns at church. You could should the buffalo at the top and the other animals along the pipe!

Personally, I no longer do garage sales or sell stuff on market place. My personality is not sufficiently patient to deal with people wanting to pay 5 cents on the dollar for something I have listed for 10 cents on the dollar. So, our local charities get our stuff.

Good idea on the graphic! I’ll have to do that.

It definitely requires a ton of patience, but oh well.

 

[bakerb]

 

[csmcclain]

My wife used to always be paranoid about that. I thought she was going to have a heart attack when I once told her my plans to fly across the US to hunt alligators with some random guy I met in a Facebook group.

*edit: he was NOT a guide. Just some random guy with tags.

 

[HookMeUpII]

My wife used to always be paranoid about that. I thought she was going to have a heart attack when I once told her my plans to fly across the US to hunt alligators with some random guy I met in a Facebook group.

*edit: he was NOT a guide. Just some random guy with tags.

My wife is concerned about folks coming to the house to buy things. I try to avoid it with items I can just meet them in a parking lot for. The last couple items were furniture, fish tanks, etc. Hard to meet somewhere for those.

My house would probably be the last house you'd want to pick to rob....

But yeah, I think nothing of connecting with people to do things afar and abroad. I guess it's because of where I've been/what I've seen but it doesn't bother me much.

If someone had some bull elk tags in Colorado that I could use and they don't seem like someone who'd want to make me into a lampshade (I have pretty bad skin anyway)...I'd probably go for it.

You're on the right track and just reminded me I have some things I need to sell.

 

[csmcclain]

Took some advice and went a little overboard on a tracker. Not saying these are the animals I will buy if I hit that number, it's more just what I could buy.

Didn't think I'd be here in the first 10 days, especially given that I was traveling for business for five of them.

And yes, I know about the prices, but the base package was free, so it will probably be a wash.

 

[mdwest]

My youngest did something similar last summer and made an extra $3k before heading out to college…

She found estate sales in the area and bought all sorts of stuff for pennies on the dollar… I can’t tell you how many times she was able to get things like a $700+ coffee table that was still in great condition, made by a recognizable manufacturer, etc for $25 or less…

She’d bring the stuff home, wipe it with a little furniture polish, take good pictures of it, and put it on marketplace… typically it would be gone within 24 hours at a price 3-4x what she paid for it… she made bank on one particular piece that she picked up for $10.. she did something similar last research and found out it was a collectible antique.. and sold it for $200 the next day (price in an antique shop would have been 3x that.. but she figured 20x on her money was enough to get it moved quickly…)…

I suspect she’ll do something similar this summer when she comes home…

She got me a couple of good deals as well.. she knew I was considering buying another freezer to put out into the garage… she found us a 9 cf chest freezer in almost new condition for $35… and she knew I was considering replacing the desk in my office… she picked up a designer made desk from the 1950’s that literally still looked new… no scratches, dents, etc.. in spectacular condition… for $75… when googled we found several in not nearly as good of condition going between $1500-$2k…she figured if I didn’t want either she could easily flip them and double (or better) her money… so no risk…

 

[LivingTheDream]

In my early 20s, I did this with Craigslist. Paid for 3 hunts in the states. So you can absolutely do this.

 

[Josh P]

It’s how I fund my “personal” hobbies. I enjoy antique and thrift stores. The other day I paid $20 for half of a duck call and had it sold online for $100 before I left the parking lot. I also just shipped out ~$20 worth of investment in board games for $300. Doesn’t matter how off beat the subject matter may be, just find the market. It’s out there.

 

[Troubleshooter]

csmcclain: That's an innovative idea, and you will have the self-satisfaction of knowing that you have earned the trophy fees for those additional animals.

Hmmm..... Wonder whether I could start a "GoFundMe" page to pay for my next safari?

 

[Whit]

Great idea! I applaud your efforts and initiative. May have to start doing something similar. Seems the best location might involve living in a wealthier area, with more to give away?

 

[Odinsraven]

it works - I check the skips around my neighbourhood - always finding some strange stuff discarded -

 

[csmcclain]

Great idea! I applaud your efforts and initiative. May have to start doing something similar. Seems the best location might involve living in a wealthier area, with more to give away?

Honestly, I live in an extremely middle class neighborhood. My approach is more about timing the trash days. I’m making sure to go out the night before and morning of trash pickup days, as well as throughout the day on weekends. I also just set an alert on my neighborhood Facebook group for posts so that I can be the first one to see when people post “curb alerts.” Just this week, I found a Bowflex, a workout bike, a car seat, a weight bench, a stroller, plus fishing gear (I’m keeping the fishing gear). I found a smoker on the way home from the airport Saturday night, and it was sold by the next day.

It seems I recall an old saying about one person’s trash…

 

[Whit]

Gosh, I’m not terribly far another neighborhood like that, maybe I need to get after this to fund my own safari!

 

[HookMeUpII]

it works - I check the skips around my neighbourhood - always finding some strange stuff discarded -

If you have young kids...come to my home. We're always giving free kid stuff away. You'd think I own an oil company. Absolutely pains me. I'll list it for sale on FB for a nominal price ($20-$30) and it goes unsold. Then I put it out before the garbage man comes and it's gone before they pick up lol.

 

[Est.1970]

The lowballers are unreal. I have some things posted now.

The highballers are unreal. I have some things posted now.

lol.

 

[mdwest]

Gosh, I’m not terribly far another neighborhood like that, maybe I need to get after this to fund my own safari!

My daughter used this site primarily to locate local area auctions... put in your zip code, and set it to show you auctions (these will include estate sales, auction houses, and other people wanting to get rid of large volumes of "stuff")..

she'd specifically seek out estate sales.. didn't matter if they were in middle-class or wealthy neighborhoods.. you'd be amazed at some of the junk in wealthy houses (people living mortgage poor and cant afford anything beyond their house note) and some of the really nice stuff in some middle class homes (folks living below their means on the mortgage, but able to afford nicer amenities, etc)..

She'd put in super low ball bids (literally $5-$10 on most things unless she knew for certain they were name brand/designer items or the sort of things that would go super quickly once posted on FB.. she didn't want to be sitting on "inventory".. and I didn't want her taking all of my garage space for long periods of time).. she'd miss on 90% of the opportunities.. but.. she'd hit paydirt on the other 10%...

She'd literally put no more than 5 minutes into cleaning stuff up, and another 5-10 minutes listing what she purchased from estate sales onto FB and never did worse than doubling her money (typically she'd triple or quadruple it.. but keep in mind while we're talking excellent % margins.. you still have to do a good bit of volume to make any real money.. 3x on a $10 purchase only gets you a $30 sale and puts $20 in your pocket)..

That said, another one of her strategies that worked most of the time was once she won an item at a sale, she'd be willing to take a bit more risk and put in slightly better bids on other items at the same estate sale.. she figured if she (or I) were going to have to drive across town to pick something up, we might as well pick up 2 or 3 or 4 items.. and if she only doubled her money on everything, she now had more volume sales and made more actual cash than if she had to spend an hour of time picking up just 1 thing..

She didn't get "rich" doing this.. but it was worth about an extra $1K a month for her the 3 months she did it.. she didn't put a whole lot of time into it (maybe an hour a day?) and she actually enjoyed it...

Most of the time she didn't even bother to answer the door.. people would make an agreement to purchase on FB MP.. she'd leave the item out front in the driveway.. and they'd put cash under the door mat.. only once did she have someone try to rip her off and not leave payment.. even then it really wasn't a big deal.. she sent the guy a polite message on FB saying he must have "forgot" to pay.. she didn't want to have to leave him bad feedback and send notice to FB over $30.. please let her know if he intended to come back and leave the cash.. he replied back and was back at the house a few hours later leaving cash under the door mat..

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