I'll be sharing my experiences hunting for castaway treasures and my observations on the best practices for making money while having fun in your free time. This is also a place for discussions of personal finance, space and storage organizing, and general thrift store adventuring.
I'll be posting (semi)regularly on topics like:
- What things to pick.
- The best places for great finds.
- Researching items fast.
- Where to sell items, including eBay, Amazon, Craigslist, Etsy, retail stores, and more.
- How to maximize your listings and profits.
- How to deal with shipping, customers, and returns.
- Reviews: of books about reselling, other website and services, mobile apps, TV shows and more.
- Anecdotes from the trenches.
- Organizing your items.
- Time and Energy management.
- Personal Finance strategies and money saving tips.
- Links to other great articles.
- Thrift Scores: some of my favorite finds for my personal stash.
- Responses to Reader emails and comments.
- Plus lots of other thought provoking ideas.
Please check out the My Story page to learn about me and why I'm so excited to share my Part Time Picking experiences with you.
Here are some of the frequently asked questions I get.
What is "picking"? Picking is the search for and acquiring of items for resale. It is not only knowing where to find treasures, but also having the specialized knowledge of what is worth getting. Once you've located some good items, you still need the skills to negotiate a good deal. In the antiques business, the picking is often done by a different person than the researching, restoring, and final sale of the item. A Part Time Picker like me does all these roles and gets 100% of the profits. And with the help of my smart phone, I don't even need a lot of the specialized knowledge anymore... It's all right there on the internet.
What makes you an expert? I have spent my whole life scrounging in thrift stores and garage sales for my own collections. For the past decade I've shifted my focus more towards finding items that can be resold at a markup. I sell most of my finds online through eBay and Amazon.com, but I've also flipped things on Craigslist, Etsy, selling to antique stores, and hosting my own garage sales. I've also read lots of books, blog posts, and online forum exchanges on the subject. I write about what has, or hasn't, worked for me; But don't take my word for it. Please kick some knowledge back at me in the comments or through an email.
There are many people out there who do this on a much larger scale than I do. There are plenty of folks out there who have more knowledge about picking and reselling than I do. However, very few of them seem willing to share their expertise for free.
How much money can I make by Part Time Picking? That all depends on you. With enough energy and time, the sky's the limit! There are people out there (most of whom are selling you their book or subscription service) who claim they've made hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Certainly there are many people who earn a decent income by reselling stuff; from big time antiques dealers to folks running a full time business with a digital eBay storefront.
As a Part Time Picker, I can easily make several hundred dollars a month with an effort of just several hours a week. Even better, I've found that when I choose to focus more time on my picking and selling, the dollar amounts I earn always rise in unison. Throw in a few big scores, where I've netted hundreds of dollars in profit from a single sale, and I'm sitting pretty and having a great time doing it.
That's the formula: The more time and energy you can commit, the more money you can make. For a guy like me who enjoys his "day job", I'm pretty content with a leisurely picking pace. But it's sure good to know I have the option to step up my part time income when I want or need to.
Why make a blog? Picking cool items is a great hobby, and I love talking about it with other pickers I've met out there. Reselling items gave me the opportunity to merge an enjoyable activity with a means to get my financial life in order. This blog is a way to share my story and lessons learned to a larger audience, and hopefully learn some new things myself.
There are a lot of great blogs about personal finance, many of which occasionally post about selling things on eBay. But there are surprising few blogs that are specifically geared towards information and opinions about picking items and then selling them online. And then most of the "eBay blogs" I've found are little more than promotional websites for a monthly paid subscription service, littered with advertisements.
So, how much does it cost to read your advice and reviews or join your website? Nothing. This blog and the information in it are 100% free. It is also currently advertising free. It is also, more or less, politics and 'check out my family' free. I may not be on time, but do my best to stay on topic.
Someday I might try out some of the Adwords or Affiliate Marketing programs. I'm also entertaining the idea of eventually compiling all my best posts and secret picking weapons into an affordable eBook. If those days come, remind me to update this question in my "About" page. In the meanwhile, dig in and enjoy.
To be clear, I am not sponsored or paid by anybody to promote their product or service. Not by eBay, not by Amazon, not by anything I've reviewed, nothing.
What's with all the weird old photos in the blog? One of the many things I enjoy collecting (and selling) are found photographs. Some of my posts won't have specific images or illustrations to go with them, so I try to spice up the page with some vintage snapshots. Most blogs go with some stock photos for these situations, which I'm not above doing if I find the right thing.
Here are some of the frequently asked questions I get.
What is "picking"? Picking is the search for and acquiring of items for resale. It is not only knowing where to find treasures, but also having the specialized knowledge of what is worth getting. Once you've located some good items, you still need the skills to negotiate a good deal. In the antiques business, the picking is often done by a different person than the researching, restoring, and final sale of the item. A Part Time Picker like me does all these roles and gets 100% of the profits. And with the help of my smart phone, I don't even need a lot of the specialized knowledge anymore... It's all right there on the internet.
What makes you an expert? I have spent my whole life scrounging in thrift stores and garage sales for my own collections. For the past decade I've shifted my focus more towards finding items that can be resold at a markup. I sell most of my finds online through eBay and Amazon.com, but I've also flipped things on Craigslist, Etsy, selling to antique stores, and hosting my own garage sales. I've also read lots of books, blog posts, and online forum exchanges on the subject. I write about what has, or hasn't, worked for me; But don't take my word for it. Please kick some knowledge back at me in the comments or through an email.
There are many people out there who do this on a much larger scale than I do. There are plenty of folks out there who have more knowledge about picking and reselling than I do. However, very few of them seem willing to share their expertise for free.
How much money can I make by Part Time Picking? That all depends on you. With enough energy and time, the sky's the limit! There are people out there (most of whom are selling you their book or subscription service) who claim they've made hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Certainly there are many people who earn a decent income by reselling stuff; from big time antiques dealers to folks running a full time business with a digital eBay storefront.
As a Part Time Picker, I can easily make several hundred dollars a month with an effort of just several hours a week. Even better, I've found that when I choose to focus more time on my picking and selling, the dollar amounts I earn always rise in unison. Throw in a few big scores, where I've netted hundreds of dollars in profit from a single sale, and I'm sitting pretty and having a great time doing it.
That's the formula: The more time and energy you can commit, the more money you can make. For a guy like me who enjoys his "day job", I'm pretty content with a leisurely picking pace. But it's sure good to know I have the option to step up my part time income when I want or need to.
Why make a blog? Picking cool items is a great hobby, and I love talking about it with other pickers I've met out there. Reselling items gave me the opportunity to merge an enjoyable activity with a means to get my financial life in order. This blog is a way to share my story and lessons learned to a larger audience, and hopefully learn some new things myself.
There are a lot of great blogs about personal finance, many of which occasionally post about selling things on eBay. But there are surprising few blogs that are specifically geared towards information and opinions about picking items and then selling them online. And then most of the "eBay blogs" I've found are little more than promotional websites for a monthly paid subscription service, littered with advertisements.
So, how much does it cost to read your advice and reviews or join your website? Nothing. This blog and the information in it are 100% free. It is also currently advertising free. It is also, more or less, politics and 'check out my family' free. I may not be on time, but do my best to stay on topic.
Someday I might try out some of the Adwords or Affiliate Marketing programs. I'm also entertaining the idea of eventually compiling all my best posts and secret picking weapons into an affordable eBook. If those days come, remind me to update this question in my "About" page. In the meanwhile, dig in and enjoy.
To be clear, I am not sponsored or paid by anybody to promote their product or service. Not by eBay, not by Amazon, not by anything I've reviewed, nothing.
What's with all the weird old photos in the blog? One of the many things I enjoy collecting (and selling) are found photographs. Some of my posts won't have specific images or illustrations to go with them, so I try to spice up the page with some vintage snapshots. Most blogs go with some stock photos for these situations, which I'm not above doing if I find the right thing.
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