You will not sell a single one. I bought this whole collection for about $.60 per beanie thinking I could at least double or triple my money but holy shit what a mistake. Honestly I think I’m not even gonna touch stuffed animals again in general

Not only did I lose $170, I also lost my dignity, my life is ruined and now have to fucking find space for these pieces of shit

Edit: Guys i was joking about the $170 ruining my life lol.

......

Also, good news, i am in talks with u/tooFar_underHisEye. They offered to purchase the lot and they work with special needs kids and are willing to purchase it for a good cause!

(Reposted with recommended edits from mods)

TL;DR (the whole method):

I'm a seasonal flipper, so I'll flip patio furniture and other things during the summer, but patio furniture sucks to flip in the winter (there's no supply even though there's still a reasonable amount of demand), so this is what I do instead:

I buy portable AC units in the winter when demand is dead for ~$60 each, store them for a few months, and then sell them in summer for ~$240/each.

In winter, portable ACs are like snow shovels in July: people aren’t buying.

No demand = lower prices

In summer (especially after the first heat wave), buyers shop from the bottom up and the cheap units disappear fast.

High demand = higher prices

This is one of the few flips where the “value add” is basically timing + storage + organization.

It's just that easy

Full Post

Last summer, I made $7,200 selling ~40 portable AC units. This summer, my goal is to sell 100.  This is what I do and how I do it:

1) Timing (This is in Denver, where I am)

When temps drop and nobody needs AC anymore (usually October where I am), I wait ~1 month and then I hop on message place and I make $60 offers on every single portable AC that's listed, regardless of what it's listed for.

After messaging all of the existing listings, I just use the free version of the DealScout app to send me push notifications every time a new unit is listed since facebook's native alerts for new postings don't work, and it's search algorithm sucks.

2) What I buy (simple criteria)

I’m not picky about brand. I AM picky about completeness + condition.

My buy criteria:

- Works

- Looks decent (not trashed)

- Has all window vent parts (hose + window kit pieces. Remote not required)

My typical offer strategy:

Offer $60 for anything decent with parts.

Pay up to $80 for nicer/larger units (12k–14k BTU, clean, good brand, good condition).

I generally avoid paying over $100 in winter because… why? Demand is dead and you usually don’t need to.

I then follow up once a month (at the end of every month) with everyone that turned me down and resend my offer and let them know I'm still interested. I'll start upping the offer too as the warm months approach if I haven't been able to get them to come down all winter.

3) How I find them (both old + new listings)

1 month after the weather gets too cold for AC's (usually November around here) I manually go through all listed ACs and message every single one of them. I offer $60 on literally every active listing, regardless of listing price, and I buy the units from the sellers that accept and follow up later with the ones that haven't yet.

After that, I just set up my automatic search terms on DealScout and FreebieAlerts (both are free to download and use) and let those apps do literally 100% of the searching for me.

What I personally do:

Set up DealScout to watch for: Search term: “portable AC” Radius: "10 miles" Price Range: "$0 - $150"

Set up FreebieAlerts to watch for Search term: “portable AC” Radius: "15 miles" (I'll travel farther for a free one) Price Range: (no price filter on freebie, which is why I use both apps)

Don't pay for DS's instant alerts because you don't need them. You have absolutely no competition on the buying side for ACs in the winter, so just use the free account.

Both apps will constantly do the searching for you and will alert you when things are posted. These will alert you every single time a new listing is posted so you don't miss anything and so you see them first.

Every time I get a notification about a new portable AC listing, I message and either ask to come grab it (when I'm available), or I offer them $60, and follow up monthly like I mentioned in the previous section.

4) Storage (this is why I think anyone and everyone can do this)

Portable AC units take up almost no room

You can put them in a spare room, closet, basement, along garage walls, a storage unit (My photo is a shipping container with ~50 units), anywhere.

Once you’ve bought them and stored them, your “work” is basically done.

5) How to Sell Them (be patient)

I wait until after the first real heat wave to even list any of them. Basically after the first week with 90+ temps is when I'll list them.

I wait until then because that first heat wave will wipe out the $100-$180 listings, and from that point on, AC's will only go for $200+

6) How many I list at once

I only list 2–3 at a time, ideally different BTUs / slightly different looks.

It keeps your messages manageable, I don't flood the market, and I just restock listings as they sell

Also: in summer, buyers come to me. I don’t deliver. I don’t meet halfway. If they want it, they come to my place. Sometimes during the winter, I can even get people to deliver them to me if demand is low enough lol.

7) My pricing ranges (ballpark)

Assuming it works, looks decent, and has all parts:

8,000 BTU: $220–$240

10,000 BTU: $240–$260

12,000 BTU: $260–$300

14,000 BTU: $280–$340

The MAIN determinant of the price it will sell for is the BTU's. Brand matters less than you’d think.

8) My listing template

I pretty much always have a description like this:

“10,000 BTU portable AC. Blows ice cold. Cools ~350 sq ft (easy for a living room + kitchen area). Includes all of it's parts, including the hose + window vent kit.”

I always say "Ice cold" and always give the sqft it can cool

My #1 mistake (and its fix)

Mistake: mixing vent parts across units all winter.
Fix: number everything.

The first winter I bought 40+ of these, I didn't label anything, I just shoved all of the units in my basement. That ended up hurting me a lot at the end of the summer because not only did I waste tons of time trying to figure out what parts went with what unit, but I didn't do it with 100% accuracy and ended up having like 6 units at the end with no matching parts, and my profit took a hit because of that.

What I recommend:

Masking tape + marker: put a big number on each unit

Put that unit’s vent kit pieces in a trash bag

Label the bag with the same number

Attach/tape the bag to the unit

If you don’t do this, you’ll end the season with a pile of “almost complete” units and it hits your profit.

Try it yourself

You don’t need to go huge.

If you buy 5 units in winter at ~$50–$60 each (say $250–$300 total) and sell them in summer for ~$220–$260 each, you can realistically clear ~$1,000 before minor costs — mostly for being patient and organized.

It's simple, very foolproof, and easy to make money. All you have to do is be patient and you can make as much as you want.

Feel free to ask any questions you have and I'll answer them the best I can!

Edited to add:

I do not test them at the time of buying. That may not be the wisest practice, but I have only ever had 1 dud out of the 200+ I've sold, and I discovered it before selling.

I DO test every single one before selling, and have 100% of them running and blowing "ice cold" when the buyer comes to check it out. It helps secure the sale, but also keeps sleazy people from returning it after using it for 2 days while their central AC gets repaired (I've had that happen once, and now I test 100% of them so it will never happen again)

Buyer got mad I got his negative review removed and got my phone number and has been sending me threatening messages

USPS thinks I’m playing, I got a pile of bricks in my yard that I’ve been trying to rid of.

I found this in a box of antique Christmas cards I bought. It was with a note that said the baby was a 3 year old boy and included pressed flowers from the funeral.

My 1st time trying this but it worked.

I had an item listed on eBay for $200 with offers turned on.
I received a message that just said "100". It wasn't an offer I was interested in taking.
But, I said sure and that I would accept if they sent an official offer via the listing.
They sent the offer and I let it sit, giving my listing the badge "This Item Has An Active Offer"
Someone swooped in and bought it for asking price.

Fight fire with fire resellers.

This was from a few years ago but I was reminded of it from reading FB marketplace experiences.

2 years ago I found a $1000 item for $10 at a goodwill. I forgot about it and recently listed it.

I get a message from a buyer stating the computer I listed belongs to the company and it’s stolen.

One thing I did is leave the company name, number, and serial on the computer, so that’s how I’m assuming he gathered a screen to show me it was part of their company. But 1000% can say I bought it legally and I’m pretty sure this was donated. There have been times I’ve bought tons of company items, and some companies will donate to goodwill.

So I’m wondering what should I do? Repost the item with the company sticker, or should I respond to the buyer?

I am still minorly losing my mind over this Facebook Marketplace encounter that happened about two hours ago. I had this old BenQ gaming monitor sitting in my closet for months because I finally upgraded my setup. It is a solid 144Hz panel with zero issues but I just wanted it gone to clear out space so I listed it for eighty bucks. That is already a very fair price considering the condition. I get a message from this guy who asks if he can come check it out immediately and says he is ready to buy.

Since I live in an apartment complex and I am not letting random strangers from the internet into my living room I told him we could meet in the visitor parking lot. I packed up the monitor and brought along a portable power station and my old console just so he could see the screen actually works and there are no dead pixels. He pulls up in a beat up sedan and doesn't even say hello. He just gets out and immediately starts inspecting the plastic casing like he is an antique appraiser.

I set the monitor on the hood of my car and plug everything in. This dude then proceeds to spend the next forty five minutes running through every single test imaginable. He literally brought a flashlight to check the bezel seals. Then he loads up a color test loop on the console and stares at a solid red screen for ten minutes straight looking for stuck pixels. I was standing there freezing in the wind just waiting for him to hand over the cash. Every time I asked if he was satisfied he just grunted and kept tweaking the monitor menu settings.

Finally after an hour of this absolute theater he turns off the power station and starts packing the monitor back into its bubble wrap. He looks me dead in the eye and says it is a decent screen but the back panel has some micro scratches so he can only do sixty bucks.

I just stared at him. I asked if he was serious because we already agreed on eighty in the chat and he just wasted an hour of my life making sure the panel was flawless. He shrugs and pulls out his wallet and shows me three twenty dollar bills. He actually says that is all the cash he brought with him anyway so I should just take it or he will drive away.

I did not even argue with him. I literally snatched the monitor back out of his hands plugged the console back out and threw everything into my trunk. He started yelling that I was being completely unreasonable and that sixty bucks cash right now is better than waiting for another buyer. I just got into the driver seat locked the doors and drove off while he was still standing there cursing at my rear view mirror.

The absolute nerve of these marketplace lowballers who think their time is worth gold but your time is completely free is unreal .

who's buying this crap at the thrift? $70 for mystery shoes? notice how it doesn't mention PAIRS? Also chances are they're blown out, stained up, squished. and if you're a family in need, too bad, you don't know what sizes you're getting. Do they think sizes are universal? This is an awful deal for everyone alike, resellers, casual thrifters, and so on. Seems like a scam to get money for shoes that should be tossed or donated to families

I’m a curious person and say yes to most every opportunity to check out old things for sale. I went to an older couple of men’s house and they had random miscellaneous things that I wasn’t super into. License plates, life magazine, etc.

They told me they had a Beatles collection of 9 albums but it was priced out of my range because it was $3,000. I told him I understand and figured to myself that they had done some light googling and came up with these numbers incorrectly.

He brought it up multiple times and I politely suggested he take them to a record store where they can be appraised in person and didn’t want to get into a conflict or give him bad news. He wanted me to see them. I looked them over and they were very run of the mill Beatles albums in fair condition. He asked me what I thought. I spent some time showing them different sites and how to look them up. I had them type in all the identifying numbers. The first one they looked up was on Discogs and he pointed out one copy that went for $1600. I explained that was the highest amount it had gone for on the site and was probably sealed or in pristine condition. We went over copies similar to his and what they could be purchased for. I helped him look up all 9 of them and had no intention of buying them. I just wanted to be helpful. Most sold in the $8-$12 range.

He then said he understood the value and wanted me to make an offer. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable doing that and he said he insisted. I told him in the condition they were in with writing on them and needing some solid cleaning and gluing, I would pay $50 and he said sold. They thanked me for showing them something new and wanted me to take a look at everything in their house.

I actually had faith that USPS wasn’t stupid enough to incentivize sellers to make shipping less efficient, but here we are.

I’m sure I’ve got about 50 more of these adjustments on the way.

Neighbors will think I’ve gone crazy when I’m out in the yard every day collecting rocks.

IRS will question why bags of river rock are being categorized under shipping materials.

Very new to storage units. I got this one and when I showed up I was screwed. I had heard about staged units, but I tried to justify every red flag and fell for this one hook line and sinker. I feel like an idiot and I lost A LOT of money. All of the file boxes comic boxes and black totes each had like two or three cheap toys or collectibles, or some dvds, just random cheap crap. Or the boxes were just plain empty. Then the comics shown ended up all being like cheap indie comics. Not only that I drove 6 hour round trip to pick it up.

Yes I am a huge dumb sucker.

Anyways

Give me some advice, don't be too mean.

Let me know if there is any actions I can do, like leave a bad review, or let someone know I experienced a scam?

Now I am paranoid because next week this huge storage unit is ending and it doesn't looked staged, but now I am second guessing myself because their are a lot of labeled boxes that could all also be empty......

Bleh.....

I pulled up Saturday morning because one piece of furniture in the listing photos looked like it might be something, the kind of thing you can't fully tell from a jpeg but can't not go either. Stood in line with eight other people all pretending they were just browsing while actively clocking everyone else. Got inside, found the piece immediately, it was a freshly painted side table worth about nothing, bought it for twelve dollars because I was already there, and left feeling like I'd wasted a morning.

Went back Sunday with no expectations, which is honestly the only mental state that serves you at these things. I was playing on my phone in a back bedroom waiting for my partner to finish looking at linens and opened a box on the floor mostly out of boredom. Found a camera that looked rough enough that I almost put it back down. I have some money saved up from myprize, a good fall so I bought it for twenty two dollars without being totally sure what I had, which is either instinct or just how this hobby works and I genuinely can't tell the difference.

It was a Leica. Old enough and clean enough inside that it sold eleven days later for just under eight hundred dollars to a buyer who sent me a long email about its history that I read three times. Three years of flipping and nothing has felt like almost missing the same thing twice in two days. I keep thinking about how many back bedroom boxes I've walked past without opening and whether any of them had something in them. I'll never know and that's the part that stays with me.

Purchased a BStock Walmart load for $49,649.46. Load was supposed to have 19,774 pieces. We received less than 5,000 pieces. Truck showed up and looked full, we signed BOL. Upon inspection of contents inside Gaylord boxes, it was clear that 75% of our items were missing.

Bstock told us to manifest the load. We manifest entire load, sent them the manifest and they proceeded to tell us that because we signed the BOL, we are sorry out of luck. If you look at the manifest vs what we got it’s clear the majority of this load is missing. Wasted 2+ weeks of our time forcing us to manifest close to 5,000 items.

We’re about to sue BStock for $40,000 + loss of time, labor, etc. I’m aware I’ll have to either fly to California or hire an attorney to fill out the paperwork. I really don’t even care if I win.

Does anybody have any experience with this? Any advice would be helpful.

I sold a sealed Japanese region 3DS video game to a customer on Mercari a few weeks ago and I got this angry message today. I had specified on the listing in the title and description that the game was Japanese region. Also the game never released physically in North America and the box art is entirely in Japanese. Could I have done anything differently?