Hello I'm Doug aka -The Frugal Prof

[thefrugalprof]

Hello everyone

My Ebay Journey is a bit complicated.
I began buying and selling on Ebay in 1999
Back when I would take physical pictures and then scan them into my computer to list items.
Yes, I am that old

Then a 20+ year career on Wall Street. (Not much Ebay)

Recently, a personal finance blog. http://www.thefrugalprof.com
My followers were interested in side hustles and I kept hearing about Amazon FBA, so I thought why not start selling on Amazon and blog about it.

What happened was I started finding great stuff to list on Ebay and Amazon was just ok. My eaby sales keep growing and I just passed the one year mark. I am close to being able to pay all my bills via Ebay (plus Amazon FBA + Poshmark). I live in a city (LA), which is expensive, but has many great sourcing spots. There are two Goodwill outlet Bins within 45 minutes of where I live.

I keep learning about new categories and really enjoy the Scavenger Life podcast.
Hope to learn from all of you.

Hello

[Jay]

Welcome Doug. Your story mirrors many people around here.
They started on eBay in the early days, got involved in a career/family/life, now have found themselves back to scavenging in a more serious way.

Im not sure if we have anyone here from LA. What part of the city are you in?

[thefrugalprof]

Thanks Jay
I’m in West LA near Brentwood

[Jay]

Nice. Near Santa Monica.

You mention sopping at the Goodwill bins. Do you go to estate sales? From our experience in LA, there were always estate sales in that area, especially if you cross the 405 and go into Century City, Beverly Hills, etc.

[thefrugalprof]

Yes. Estate sales are usually priced pretty high.
Except on Sunday when they normally reduce prices by 50%.
Every so often there’s an estate sale from someone famous or known
and the lines are crazy.
Have to be strategic.

[MyCottage]

Hi, Yeah, for our kind of stuff, it’s all about the sourcing. As the saying goes, you make your money when you buy, not when you sell….

[thefrugalprof]

I’m not sure if all Estate sales in other areas are like this but most estate sales here they have a security guard, a sign in list,
and no bags allowed. And high prices.

[Jay]

True. The big name estate sales are definitely like that.

When we were in LA for a short while, there were definitely estate sales in “normal” houses. Beverly Hills sound swanky, but much of it are just little 1800 square foot houses (that cost $1-million) owned by the Beverly Hills “middle class”. Not rich, not famous, not in the business. Old people who moved there in the 1960s and found themselves in a great location. Plus there’s all the areas in and around Beverly Hills.

Sounds like you are doing great with Goodwill so dont stop. But if we were in your area, I’d peep some of the local estate sales if they are on the way to other errands: https://estatesales.org/estate-sales/ca/los-angeles
Many will be duds, but when its good, its good 🙂

[thefrugalprof]

That’s a great point- yes many of the Bev Hills houses are just normal houses that are worth $2M. I still go to as many as I can. Especially on Sunday when the clock is ticking and they need to move merchandise.

And I found this great bag that I’ve been using. It’s a shoulder bag but it’s plastic and completely see through. So far they allow me to bring it in. I love it. At the last sale people were like, oh that’s so smart.

Let me know if you guys come back. It would be fun to meetup with you both. I need to up my dish, porcelain, and antique game!

ps- I was at a sale today and bought some of those craft stamps Ryan was talking about.

[Author]

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