15 Places To Flip Unwanted Items for Profit

If unwanted items are lying around your home, why not turn them into cash? Flipping items for profit has become a popular way to declutter while earning extra income.

Whether it’s old furniture, vintage collectibles, or unused electronics, there are plenty of platforms and marketplaces where you can sell or auction off items for a solid profit.

In this guide, we’ll explore 15 great places to flip unwanted items, from well-known websites to niche outlets, helping you turn your clutter into cash.

Flipping unwanted items for profit is a great side hustle that doesn’t involve too much time and work. With some planning and organization, you can make a little or a lot of money on the side in your spare time.  

When I was in debt, one of the first things I did to generate quick cash to throw at my debt was to flip unwanted and unused items for profit. 

Flipping unwanted items for profit boosted my bank account and empowered me to declutter my life. It’s satisfying to realize that what you once thought was junk, others find valuable.

I’ve also included a complimentary sales inventory planning worksheet!

Flip Unwanted Items for Profit – 3 Tips for Getting Started

1. Take Inventory

You need to take an inventory of all the items taking up unnecessary space in your home, including items you think are useless. 

This can also include gifts you received that you never used or don’t want and forgot to return. 

Do not exclude your wardrobe from this exercise. Unwanted items you can flip for profit include:-

• Clothing
• Shoes
• Accessories like watches, necklaces, cufflinks, eyewear, etc.
• Furniture
• Collectibles
• Decor
• Antiques
• Books
• Appliances
• Motorized items like dirt bikes and jet skis
• Musical instruments and equipment
• Vintage items
• Toys
• Baby gear
• Exercise equipment
• Sports Memorabilia
• Games
• Electronics – smartphones, smart watches, tablets, computers, etc.
• Power tools
• Anything else you no longer want

Organize these items by category. How to Declutter Your Home and Life Fast is a good resource to help you declutter and take inventory. 

Download the complimentary inventory planning worksheet Here.

2. Decide on Prices

You need to set prices once you’ve inventoried the items you want to flip for profit. Don’t set arbitrary prices.

Before setting your prices, conducting thorough research on various selling platforms is crucial.

This knowledge will ensure you’re not undervaluing rare or unique items, giving you the confidence to set fair prices. 

3. Start Selling

All items inventoried and prices set? Then, it’s time to start listing the items online and offline. Below are the best places to start flipping items for profit ASAP. 

Flip Unwanted Items for Profit Online

• Facebook Marketplace 
• Facebook groups
• eBay
• Craigslist
• Bonanza
• Etsy – you can use this avenue if any of the items are vintage and/or handcrafted.
• Apps – various apps can help discard these items ASAP, such as Decluttr, Letgo, Mercari, Poshmark, Tradesy, 5miles, OfferUp, Vinted, and VarageSale. Conducting a search on the app store specific to your country will yield more selling apps. 
• Local classifieds sites 
• For sale areas on forums 
• If you search online, you will also find local places to sell specific items like wedding dresses, jewelry, clothing, and electronics apart from the general places listed above. 

Interested in other side hustle ideas? Check out Swagbucks, Survey Savvy, and Proofreading.

Flip Unwanted Items for Profit Online – 8 Tips for Success 

1. Price Properly

Check out what similar items on the sites are priced for before setting your prices.

Too expensive and no one will buy from you. Too cheap in comparison and people might think something is wrong with the item. 

2. Don’t Forget Extra Charges

Take listing and/or commission charges into consideration when setting your prices.

Offer free shipping to entice buyers, but check the cost before you do this. If it’s viable, build it into the cost of the items. 

3. Be Detailed

Add as many product descriptions as possible. Your descriptions should be very detailed.

Compare against descriptions of similar products on the same avenue, but don’t copy anyone’s descriptions word for word.

4. Use Clear and Beautiful Pictures

Upload clear and attractive pictures. You can create a simple home studio with a Portable Foldable Photo Studio Box.

5. Be Specific

Be very specific and explicit about what you’re selling to weed out the time-wasters who will clog your inbox with ridiculous questions and demands.

That doesn’t mean you should ignore all questions. Respond to genuine questions and queries. 

6. Safety First

Arrange to meet people in public places, not your home, if you’re not shipping the item(s).

If meeting at home is unavoidable, don’t be alone during the exchange. Have your partner, friend, or relative with you and conduct the exchange during the day.

7. Don’t Overextend Yourself

You don’t necessarily have to sell through all the avenues recommended above.

Weigh the method’s popularity, how long it takes to sell, comments from users, etc, before you decide which avenue is best for your items. 

8. Don’t Forget Trade-ins

If the item is still new or unopened, you may be able to trade it in with the manufacturer.

This is a good option for electronics. Check Amazon Trade-in Offer before you start listing it for sale online. 

Flip Unwanted Items for Profit Offline

Flipping unwanted items for profit offline requires more work and time, but if you have loads of heavy items, this might be a better option.

1. Garage/Yard Sale 

This is ideal for those who have enormous amounts of items to get rid of and have a house they can do this out of. This requires a lot of planning and organization to maximize your sales. 

You need to engage in a lot of advertising to get people to the sale. You can do this via local supermarket boards, community centers, and word of mouth. 

For more information on organizing a garage sale, look at How to Organize a Garage Sale.  

2. Flea Market 

As the name indicates, this is for low-end items that won’t sell on the sites listed above or in a garage sale. 

The items are cheap and expect potential buyers to try and beat the prices down even further. Do not bring items of high value to sell here. You will not get the proper worth.

3. Car Boot Sale 

This is a fair where individuals come together to sell items out of car boots. Properly organized car boot sales attract many people and it’s another way to get rid of items fast. 

They can take place either indoors or outdoors. A quick online search will list car boot sales in your area and how to sign up for them. 

4. Pawn Shop 

This is ideal for items you need to get rid of quickly. However, you won’t get the best deal for them. Avoid pawn shops as much as you can. 

5. Consignment Store 

This is a level above the pawnshop. It’s a specialty store that will help you sell unused items. 

Depending on how the store works, they may pay you upfront or split the profit once your item is sold. 

You can also list items on online consignment stores such as swap.com and thredUP.  The consignment store process will take longer than options 1 – 4 above.

Flip Unwanted Items for Profit Offline – Tips for Success 

You can use a combination of all of the recommendations above to flip unused and unwanted items for profit or focus on only one avenue if you can use it effectively to move all your goods. 

How Much Money Can I Make Flipping Unwanted Items?

It depends on how many items you have and how proactive you are with flipping them for profit, but when I did this, it took me a few months to get rid of everything, and I netted over $3,000.

I switched to retail arbitrage afterward and made about $1,000 a month on average. I will cover this in the following article. 

Flip Unwanted Items for Profit – How Much Will It Cost You? 

• Listing fees on websites and apps. However, they come out of the sale of each item and can be deducted once the item is sold or charged to your card at the end of every month. Take this into consideration when setting prices.
• If you’re shipping items, you will need padded envelopes, boxes, etc, depending on the size of the items. 
• You may have to pay a small fee for the table at the flea market or the space you park your car at the boot sale. Depending on your location, the cost shouldn’t be more than $15 — $25 per day. 
• For professional-looking photos, the cost of the home photo studio. However, this is unnecessary if you have a good phone camera, and you can use the free resources on Placeit to edit pictures if necessary. 

You can get started ASAP with as little as $100 or even less! 

You can also flip items for profit by buying and reselling undervalued items, aka retail arbitrage. This is another method I used frequently while I was paying down debt. 

Learn more at Best Things to Buy & Resell – Retail Arbitrage.

Anna gave up her 9 – 5 to implement her life plan after paying off over $40,000 in debt. She started The Writer Entrepreneur to share her journey and encourage other people to pay off debt and pursue their life plans. She has been featured on HuffPost, YouQueen & Fitnancials among others. Learn more about Anna HERE.