- This topic has 15 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Hello everyone. I decided to go full time with my scavenging and have been doing ok for my first 2 months in busniess (thanks to The Scavenger Life Podcast). However I live in the most rural desolate place in America…Wyoming. Not only does our state have the lowest population of any American state, but it also has the lowest population desity (besides Alaska). I somehow managed to make a profit of 2,500 last month. Wyoming has no craigs list, well we do but its not for individual cities, its for the whole state and no one uses it. There are two chruch thirft stores and one pawn store in my town of 18,000. I also use facebook to buy and sell. I recently took a trip to denver and I could not believe the amount of stuff. Thrift stores every where, crazy amounts of stuff on craigslist, pawn stores, garage sales, and Auctions. I have never even seen an estate auction anywhere close to my home in Wyoming. How do I go about finding auctions, estate sales and things like that? My plan is to move closer to the action in Colorao and continue selling on ebay. Thanks!
-
Welcome. We’re rural as well, but not as rural as you.
Here are some good sites to find places to scavenge:
estatesales.net
auctionzip.com
http://garagesalefinder.com/ -
Jay is correct on those app sites. But there is a bonus feature we use. Forget if all 3 have this feature or 1, 2 or… But you can put in key words and if any of those key words pop up within the sales listed with them they will send you an email. You can select to have daily or weekly updates sent to you every morning.
Something to note, if your keywords are broad, like furniture you will get everything, sort of like Jay’s “firehose”. But if you input mid-century, retro, stained glass lights, and things like that your email will be more focused. These sites save those key words until you change them. Also I think one of them allows up to one hundred key words. Then on a few you can select a mileage radius that you are interested in. Since you are very remote, and you have the time and are willing, you might use 50 or 100 mile radius, then select which sales you would want to attend. Also there are lots of photos to help you decide if you want to travel that far.
Here in Atlanta we keep it to about 10 to 20 or 25 miles. Just so much stuff here that finding inventory is not the problem, it is self restraint from buying too much at a time.
Just a few details to help you use those sites Jay suggested.
mike at mdc galleries in atlanta -
Thanks for the replies! I will check those sites out. The problem with Wyoming is that even putting the radius at 150 miles would net nothing. I am almoost 4 hours from a city of any reasonable size. Thats why I am thinking about relocating.
-
you could also think about sourcing online. finding online estate auctions that are willing to ship to you. or to find items that other sellers are selling too cheap on ebay on auction. i know people on this forum even in urban areas that prefer to source online instead of going on the hunt. but you could also do weekend trips to flea markets, thrifts in the nearest largest area, load up and then list for a few weeks.
-
-
You might also think of things in your area, not necessarily at thrift stores, that are unique to the area. Regional food, farm tools, ranch items, cow skulls and almost anything you can think of. Just use your imagination and then look it up online to see if there is a market for it.
-
Suzanne A Wells has started a Facebook group for folks who want to sell Death Piles to folks who don’t have places to buy directly. You have to email her directly to request membership as a buyer.
-
Here is the URL for Suzanne Well’s Facebook Group; https://www.facebook.com/groups/226788811059233/
Anyone cam join. Read the Official Rules before buying or selling. There is a $50.00 per 30 day charge if you want to sell but it is not a recurring charge.
-
-
Jawa,
I understand your challenge but be careful about moving to a big city just for sourcing. I’ve found that in the cities there is lots more stuff and also much higher prices. I actually take trips to smaller towns here in FL just to get away from the crazy high prices that you see in the city. -
your options are travel–good for the summer, find thrift stores online (I am not far from you in WA, stores are a bit pricey but I find stuff.) I also would look into second hand stores and Antique malls–you would be surprised at the good deals available in Malls and antique shops, just be careful of expenses (which are tax deductible) stay in cheaper hotels, eat cheaply, gas prices are pretty low, and a trip of even as short as a week might yield weeks worth of inventory.
Advertise that you “buy estates, no estate too small,” in your area–(you do need cash on hand for this option, but I have had some luck with this in the past.)
buy online–of the 24 items on the first page of my etsy shop, 12 came from an online auction, and 12 from a local auction house that has bidding online. Only 3 of my items came from a thrift store. I use proxibid.com (just make sure, if you are buying out of state to concentrate on light goods, and, essential, look for an auction who has “in house shipping” some auction outsource to the local UPS store which is very expensive.
-
-
Jawa,
Check your local government surplus, I buy from schools, libraries, colleges, water authorities ect.. Almost every county,state and federal organization has a way to sell off their unwanted stuff.
Not sure what else you have around your area without a city name? Farm equipment, Equestrian supplies, rock climbing?
-
-
-
We’ve talked about moving near other family in more rural WV so we can get cheap/free land and minimize our living expenses. If we did that, I just wouldn’t bother with local scavenging. There are plenty of metro areas within a 2-3 hour drive that I can go on 2 day scavenging trips every couple weeks and load up the van and roof rack with high quality merch easily.
I can go through a new thrift store and cherry pick the good stuff throughout the entire store and overfill a cart within 45 minutes. Considering metro areas have dozens of thrift shops, you see how quickly and easily this can be done.
-
I feel your pain! We also live in a very rural area, although we are only 3 hours to a large urban area. We go to a lot of farm auctions – primitives and rusty junk seem to sell quite well, although they can be challenging to ship. Sometimes I’m sad that I miss the great Craigslist finds that others seem to find, but we also have the opportunity to scavenge in old barns and we have lots of “grandma’s houses” that are emptied out full of vintage and MCM goodies that sell really well. Garage sales, auctions and small town charity thrift stores are great places to source with much less competition than in the city and no parking or traffic hassles! We road trip to other areas, mixing sourcing with travel and events so we can write if off as a business expense. Good luck!
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.