Not everybody has time to setup a website or manage their product supply chain. Some people need fast cash with minimal inventory carrying costs and that's where Craigslist comes in. Most people will tell you that all the good deals on Craigslist happened years ago and now it's too hard to get a good deal. Don't listen to these guys cause I just made $225 on a flip last weekend! It was not a traditional Craigslist flip but a reverse craigslist deal which I will get into another lesson but here are the basics. The 3 steps of a Craigslist deal are below
1. Product Research
This is probably the most important part of the process. You have to poke around craigslist and see what going price is for the product you are interested in flipping. As a rule of thumb you want to stick with smaller products as larger products will be costly to transport. Tech products are hot but can be damaged in non physical ways (be careful). Once you find the average rate of the product on Craigslist go to Ebay and Amazon and check the going rate of the product specs. I have made $1,000+ flipping Unlocked cell phones and selling them overseas to GSM phone buyers. I consistently made over $100 per phone flip and in one case made almost $200 on a single phone. (An angry girlfriend had got a NEW Iphone for her boyfriend for his birthday. When she surprised him at his place she caught him cheating and she sold it to me for less than she paid for it.) SCORE!
2. How to Score The Product
Be courteous to the sellers when you message or email them. Let them know that you have cash for their product and would like some details. You need to make sure the product is in good flipping condition. If the craigslist photos are bad then you need to ask for better photos. I really like to call them to ask a couple questions about the product to make sure I can make some cash and even offer less than asking. (Be careful you don't want to lowball the seller or they will not respond to you) Instead of a lowball offer -> Ask them what they can do on the price. If they don't know then make a reasonable offer usually 75% of asking price to get started and go from there. Meet them up and make sure the product is in the described condition. One time I showed up to buy a phone and it was not mentioned that the frame was scratched so I had to offer a price less than we agreed on and the seller was resistant but sold to me for a discounted price.
3. How to Cash Out
This is essentially the easy part. You have a few different options. You could try and resell the product on Craigslist but in most cases you can't turn a healthy profit by trying to sell on the same marketplace that you bought. In most cases I had great success flipping craigslist products on Ebay and Amazon. The reason is that these sites have millions of buyers purchasing products every second! In order to get the highest dollar for your product you have to take great photos of the item. This is for Ebay as Amazon uses the stock photo. For Amazon and Ebay make sure you describe the product accurately in the description as to avoid any returns or bad ratings for your seller performance. Always be honest and if you have any questions be sure to answer them timely. Don't waste your time with the lowballers but be polite. Tell them the advertised price and then move on.
ENJOY SPENDING ALL THAT MONEY!!
Do you have a good craigslist deal story? I would love to hear it. Just enter your name and post it in the comments below.