So I don’t know about you but from time to time I get it in my head to look for ways to make extra income. This happened again recently and in my research, I discovered a lot of people selling just about anything on eBay, including VCRs. I immediately began to look deeper into the subject and started to find that a lot of people buy used Items from thrift stores and then turn around and sell them on eBay and of course I figured “I can totally do this!”.
So I continued to research more and more and the one thing that everyone recommended was to start by selling things around your house. So I got a few items together and quickly put them on eBay and they just sat there and didn’t sell. So I jumped to the conclusion that anyone normal person would, this stuff just isn’t that desirable. So I jumped back into research mode.
What I found was mind-blowing. I discovered a youtube channel called Craigslist Hunter. This guy named Pete owns and operates a reselling store in Chicago. He buys things that walk into his store, but he also buys from thrift stores and yard sales in his area. He specializes in vintage electronics, but not just the stuff you would think like record players, radios or cameras. This guy actually buys old VCRs, tape decks, and other old electronics that you would assume no one wants. Believe it or not but people will actually pay hundreds of dollars for some old VCRs.
So I decided I had to give this a try. Now it is worth noting that not every VCR you find is going to be worth a ton of money, but many will sell for about $35 or more. When you can usually buy them at a thrift store for under $10 and charge close to $20 for shipping the profit margin is still pretty good. The first VCR I bought was a Samsung and sadly I still have that unit with no offers. However, I did not let this non-selling item stop me. I then Found a Hitachi VCR at a local KARM thrift store. I was able to find examples of the same unit selling on eBay for about $30. After testing this unit I found that it was not working properly, some of the buttons didn’t always work like they should. It did play tapes though so I thought why not try to sell it still just to see what happens.
It turns out this was a pretty good decision. I originally paid $5 for the VCR. I was able to sell the unit within one day for $11 with $18.50 in shipping! This small victory got me hooked!
Shortly after that, I was able to find a Sony DVD/VCR that was selling for about $60 plus shipping on eBay, and I scored that beauty for only $6!!! After testing the unit I found it had some tracking issues when playing certain tapes, but overall it worked great. Since it had the issues I decided to list the item a little cheaper than some others at only $49.89 with $18.98 shipping. It sold almost instantly!!!!!!
Needless to say, I am hooked on this and I have already bought a few more items to try to sell. If you are willing to put the time in and you enjoy working with old electronics I highly recommend giving this a try!!! If you are interested in knowing more about my small time eBay selling business and experience, please let me know! Thanks for reading and be sure to check out some of our other posts!
