Hello from the Badger State

Hi everyone!

Thanks to Jay and Ryanne for hosting this incredible site and of course, their fantastic podcast. I found the podcast last spring and was immediately hooked. We have a lot in common! I went to college to work in broadcasting and worked in the field for about five years before burnout took over. I bounced around for a few years and luckily technology allowed me to get back into broadcasting as a freelancer when my son was born in 2008. I stayed home with him and scraped together freelance jobs to keep the lights on until my daughter was born a few years later. At that time, one of the companies I freelanced for offered me a fulltime job. The timing and situation were perfect so I jumped at it. Five years later, I’m still doing it. I love my job.

I manage a large online sporting goods store. We have an eBay store with sales in the mid-six figures annually as well as a very successful Amazon store. We also do mid-six figures on our own e-commerce sites. I handle the operations of these stores with a few great teammates. I also produce several videos and blogs in the niches we sell in. It is a very satisfying, fast paced position that allows me to do the things I love. My boss values what I do, I earn a really good salary, and get a lot of freedom personally and in the job.

However, the itch to create my own income stream again took hold last year. I was looking for something that wasn’t tied to any set deadlines. Something that would be fun and wouldn’t require me to work for anyone else. I was searching for an income producer that allowed me to work when I want. I started to listen to Amazon podcasts and considered creating my own product line. Ultimately, I decided that business plan was too risky and it opened up another box of potential issues. Then I stumbled upon Scavenger Life.

I started listing a few things I had around the house and immediately put a few hundred dollars in the Paypal account. Then I decided to start checking out some garage sales. We have a pretty amazing garage sale culture in our area(there are still plenty of duds!). I found some pretty good items and within the first 30 days of “doing garage sales” I hit the jackpot.

I took my kids with me to a neighborhood I had previously had some success in. Three motorcycle helmets were in the back of a dirty garage priced at $2 each. I picked one up and set it back down. The guy running the sale said “that one is a Bell”. I didn’t know what that meant but I picked it up and saw a label inside the helmet. It said “Bell Helmet 1968 Long Beach, California”. I figured it had to be worth something. I offered the guy $5 for all three of them. As he accepted he said, “there’s another one in the free box”. So I walked away with four helmets for $5.

When I made it home, I looked up the solds on the helmet(I was too shy at that time to look it up at the sales!). I saw a similar helmet sell for $400 and another one sell for $700. Mine did not look as nice as the one that sold for $700 and I was a little surprised at how much it was worth. I showed my wife and she could not believe it either. I decided to list the helmet at auction for $100. One of the other helmets was an Arthur Frommer. I started that one at $30 and had them both ending on a Sunday night at 8 PM central(my favorite time to end an auction). The next morning I checked my email and someone offered me $300. I showed it to my wife and she said “take it!”. Then I checked the next email and it was someone else offering $400. I personally have a problem with ending a standard auction early. In my opinion it is no different than winning an auction and not paying. Essentially, you’re not honoring the terms of the auction. I respectfully declined both offers.

The Bell helmet ended up selling for $515 and the same buyer purchased the Frommer for $80. I sold the other two to different buyers for about $30 each. My $5 investment really cashed in. I was hooked and it earned instant acceptance of my new hobby from my better half.

Like Jay and Ryanne, I have two stores(now three, since my son wanted a chance to try eBay too(I co-manage it with him)). I don’t have a ton of items listed. I usually have about 100 items in one store and 30 or so in the other. Jay and Ryanne’s strategy of List it & Forget It is awesome and it definitely seems to be working for them. I simply don’t have the space or time to build a huge inventory. I basically have a 10×10 room to run my entire operation so I price items fairly competitively. My goal is to move everything within 90 days of listing it. I generally price right in the middle of what I see for solds. If my item is in great condition or has something others don’t, I price accordingly but aggressively. The profit margins are insane compared to what I deal with in retail so I don’t feel like I’m shorting myself.

I also buy and sell at two different local online auction houses and a live auction that is about 30 miles away. Between all of these little enterprises, my monthly sales range from $1,000 to $1,500 per month. After fees and COGS I generally put $750 to $1200 in my pocket each month. July was my first month over $2,000. That felt really good but my August is not looking so hot. August is the busiest month of the year at my job so that probably has a lot to do with it.

My wife and I call eBay reselling “my garbage business”. It has become a part of our family story. Our crew went to Disney World earlier this year. 75% of the trip was paid for by my reselling stash. We just booked another trip for next year and paid for the flights and hotel via “the stash”. I really enjoy finding these little treasures and connecting people with cool little items they can’t find in other places. This garbage business is a lot of fun and has allowed our family to enjoy things that would have been difficult to do without it. Thanks to Jay and Ryanne for your inspiration.