How I turned free items from a garage sale into cash!

Sounds like one of those late night infomercials, right?

But it's not. I "flip" items I find through thrifting (garage sales, Goodwill, thrift shops, etc.) on eBay for a profit. It's how I can help support our family and still be a stay at home mom. No shame in that. In fact, I'm kinda proud of making a profit from the "junk" that others throw away.



Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago we were at a garage sale. My oldest was getting tired, hot and frustrated, so I suggested she go sit on the lawn under the shade trees. When I was done perusing (not finding much that interested me), I walked over to where she was sitting, and she said to me, "Mommy, I know what the word on that box says. F-R-E-E spells free!" Two thoughts entered my mind. First, how had I not noticed this? And second, thank God for kindergarten sight words!

Yes indeed, there were four or five boxes of free (free!!) clothes. I quickly sifted through the boxes, searching for items I thought I'd be able to flip on eBay and came up with a nice pile of clothes. We paid for the items I'd picked out before (about $6 worth of things for eBay and a couple of toys and books for the girls), and headed home.

So far I have listed six things and sold four from my free garage sale haul. The first item I listed was a pair of men's Gramicci shorts, new with the tags from R.E.I. still attached. They sold within two days for a best offer of $17 with free shipping. My profit after fees and shipping, about $12.

Dakota Prairie Girl's Closet - Gramicci Shorts

The next thing that sold was a pair of Liz Claiborne madras shorts. These shorts were used, but in near perfect condition. I accepted a best offer of $12 with free shipping. My profit on the shorts was approximately $8. After the sale, the buyer sent me an email saying she'd been looking for a pair of madras shorts for a while, and how happy she was to have found them in my store. Awesome!! (Now when I'm out thrifting, I make a point to be on the look out for madras shorts! After some research, I found that these are a hot summer item on eBay.)

Dakota Prairie Girl's Closet - Liz Claiborne Madras Shorts

Third on the list is a pair of destroyed cut off shorts from Vanity. Sold on auction for $11.99, buyer paid shipping. My profit on these babies was about $10. Nice and easy flip!

Dakota Prairie Girl's Closet - Vanity Cut Off Shorts

These U.S. Polo Assn. men's denim shorts sold this week for $9.99, with the buyer paying shipping. Easy profit of $8.

Dakota Prairie Girl's Closet - U.S. Polo Assn. Denim Shorts

I currently have two more items from the free haul listed: these Tommy Hilfiger girl's shorts and these Cabela's men's shorts. There's still about a dozen or so things left to list, so I haven't even gotten to the bottom of the pile. I'm saving these things for when I'm running low on inventory to list and don't have the time or resources to go thrifting.

So, here's the bottom line:

cost of items sold = $0.00
amount received from sales =  $50.98
fees and shipping paid by me = $13.00
my profit = $37.98

Not a huge chunk of change by any means, but it all adds up in the long run and I'm not complaining! All thanks to my daughter, who knows how to spell FREE. Please take a minute to check out the items I have for sale at Dakota Prairie Girl's Closet! Thank you!