On Wednesday I told you about a great marketing book I found in a box of junk outside someone’s house.

If you missed that issue, you can check out a version here.

It was a chance discovery.

I don’t generally make a habit of sourcing books from random bins!

However, some plucky people earn money from doing precisely that…

A few weeks ago, there was a story in The Mirror about a 34 year old from Portsmouth who’s a self-confessed ‘dumpster diver’.

He claims to make an average of £600 a month from items he discovers by rifling through shop bins every evening after work.

These include everything from jewellery and antiques to designer handbags.

“Some of the stuff they throw away is beyond me,” he told the newspaper. “I found £1,500 of jewellery in one night.”

Now, if you enjoy rummaging into rubbish bins, this could be THE business opportunity for you.

But I’m going to guess not! 😉

However, you don’t need to be a scavenger scrabbling around in trash to make good money finding what other folks leave behind.

Classic Buy-Low, Sell-High Flipping

You simply find something second hand at a very low price…. then sell it on at a much higher price.

I know this business model very well indeed, because I used to edit and publish the late great Avril Harper’s eBay Confidential in the 2000s.

Every month, she’d show readers how to make money on eBay by finding in-demand items for pennies at auctions, house clearances, car boot sales and charity shops.

I also published Sharon Fussell’s Sold, Dispatch Now!, which focussed on books found in charity shops, or old library stock and remainder stock.

Then there was Richard Bullivant who specialised in VHS tapes, academic books and other niche items for his newsletter The Profit Box.

So this is a CLASSIC way to make money.

And it still works today – as long as you don’t mind a bit of digging around (though you don’t need to rifle through rubbish bins!)

You can still find super-low-price items the ‘Avril Harper’ way, through shops, auctions and car boot sales.

But now there are also treasures to be found through online auctioneer and wholesaler clearance sites, as well as apps like Vinted and social media sites like Facebook.

So today I thought of gathering as many viable potential sources of flippable unwanted items as possible.

Let’s start with the old school ones…

Offline Product Goldmines

If you enjoy a car boot sale, then these are an obvious choice, and a popular target for seasoned product flippers.

Professional resellers will start circling like hawks right from opening time, so you need to get there early – and bring cash!

To find local events, Google “[your town] car boot sale”, do the same on Facebook or use: https://www.carbootjunction.com

Flea markets and charity shops are another classic option – but they will depend on how many are in your area, and how often they get new stuff in.

Also look for

• House clearance sales – People clearing homes often offload items for low prices – sometimes free. Use Google and Facebook Marketplace to search “house clearance” + your town. Also look on Gumtree.
• Council Reuse Shops and Recycling Centre Shops – These are treasure troves for £1-£5 bargains including tools, furniture, lamps and décor. Google: “reuse shop + [your council]” or “[your town] recycling centre reuse shop”.
• Library Clear-Outs – Libraries sell withdrawn stock cheaply, which is ideal for booksellers. Check your local council website for library events.
• School Fairs and Church Fetes – if you see a poster for one of these, go along and check it out, you never know what you might find.

However, you don’t necessarily need to do a lot of hunting up and down the high street.

You could also go to a local auction to see if you can buy cheap job lots of mixed items, electronics, furniture.

These can be found through:

• The Sale Room
• Easy Live Auction
• or by Googling “auction house in [your town]”

Also bear in mind that the police auction-off stolen goods and unretrieved lost property.… everything from bikes and laptops to trainers… usually at a fraction of their market price.

The government also sells-off equipment it no longer needs. For example, cars, vans, trucks, and motorcycles… computers, televisions and cameras…. printers, photocopiers, and stationary supplies… kitchen appliances, gym equipment and musical instruments.

To find Police and Government actions, you can use this website: https://www.police-auctions.org.uk/

In some regions – for example in Sussex, Leicester and Northamptonshire – the police now use Vinted and Ebay to sell off goods.

For example, here’s the Sussex eBay shop:

Or simply put your local region into Google + ‘police auction’ or ‘government action’.

You could also try the following online auction companies, who sometimes host government and police auctions.

• John Pye Auctions – one of the biggest auction groups in the UK. They host everything from Amazon returns to seized goods, tech, furniture, jewellery and even cars. Good if you want variety and large-volume stock.
• Wilson Auctions – known for government, police and insolvency stock. You’ll find laptops, tools, home goods, jewellery, clothing, bikes, instruments and more – often at very low starting prices.

There are rich pickings to be found into those items that people return to shops, or which are sold-off in large volumes after liquidations and clearances.

For example, you could buy a ‘return pallet’ full of goods which have been returned to stores. They include surplus items that are out of catalogue, products that have gone missing in transit, or stock taken from bankrupt businesses.

These are auctioned at bargain prices where you could get a serious steal… or sold directly at a fixed price that’s way below the estimated retail value.

They might include vacuum cleaners, bikes, tables and chairs, scooters, limited edition Lego sets and children’s toys.

The more pallets you buy, the lower the cost of each individual pallet will be (sometimes as low as £10!)

Here are some places to look.

• i-bidder is one of the biggest, with thousands of daily lots from liquidations, retail returns, house clearances and general sales. It’s messy, busy and full of mixed-box treasure if you don’t mind sifting.
• William George – specialise in retail returns, often with no-reserve auctions, and stock everything from homeware and electronics to furniture and toys.
• Supreme Auctions offers pallet loads, home goods, DIY, garden equipment, toys and clothing – ideal if you want to buy in bulk and flip items individually on Facebook Marketplace or eBay. They also offer nationwide delivery, which saves a lot of hassle if you’re not local.

You can also access pallets by registering on the Amazon EU Liquidation Auctions marketplace.

Or you can try:

• Wholesale Clearance
• BritDeals
• DiscountHouse
• Gem Wholesale
• Job a Lots
• Marthill International
• Topdown Trading

These will not only offer bulk sales like pallets but discounts on individual products.

You could also find FREE items to sell through one of the following platforms…

• Freecycle – search for items people want to get rid of, then arrange collection.
• Freegle will match what you’re looking for with someone local who is giving it away.
• Olio is an app that will hook you up to local household giveaways.

Or you could get bargains via these apps and platforms:

• Gumtree is a free classified ads platform with loads of used goods to choose from.
• Facebook Marketplace – this allows you to buy unwanted items from people in your local community.
• Vinted – this is particularly good for selling second hand clothes
• Shpock – a marketplace that makes buying and selling second-hand items quick and simple.
• Preloved – this is a classified ad site that covers a wide variety of categories.

If you cast your net wide enough…and you’re prepared to scour different websites and apps every day… you should find some amazing opportunities for a quick profit.

Certainly, it beats rifling through bins!

Happy Hunting!