Flipping for a year
It's been a whole year since we started this journey!
Creating and building Flipshark has been a dream come true. So much has happened. Almost too much to contain it all here. I've tried with my monthly reports but it'll never capture all the little details.
Let's just take a quick trip down Memory Lane for the moments I was able to capture:
My mom was my co-pilot from the beginning. She might not always know what I'm looking to buy, but she is always down for the ride. We shared tons of lunches together and chats during our short sprints between locations. Plus, there have been plenty of times she's caught treasure I missed in my anxious impatience. I know she is wishing we could thrift just as badly as I do right now.
We explored so many places too. Looking back at photos, I have examples of estate sales, church functions, flea markets, garage sales of all sizes and flavors, and, of course, our regular thrift stops.
Hauling everything back to my one-bedroom Hoboken apartment was always a trip. Throughout this past year, I've seen every inch of my apartment at least once covered by Flipshark finds. One of the many game-changers was committing to buying some shelving and getting everything up and off the floor. But there were still some weekends where the piles grew to an unruly height.
I was lucky enough to sell at a couple of events. My good friend Marianne set it up. I felt so proud to display everything I found on the tables in front of me, offering up treasures for people to ogle and imagine in their homes. It felt wholesome and genuine, each item with a life and potential of its own.
One of the biggest leaps of the past year was finding another day to myself. Instead of a full-time, five-day work week, I've negotiated four days every week at my primary gig, and reserved Thursdays for thrifting. It was a bold step in the direction I want to go and I can't express how grateful I am to be able to afford the opportunity.
It's funny now to realize how little I knew at the beginning. I'll probably say the same about right now in another year's time. What I can say is I've developed a sixth sense for alchemy. I can explain the value of a few items, but when it comes to scanning shelves, there has just been enough practice in my time to subconsciously spot the gold.
I don't regret a single minute of it and I am committed to making this bigger and better in the future. Somehow.
Now, let's take a peek at what happened during this last weird month.
By the numbers
Regardless of a global pandemic, I was still able to take home more than half the revenue of one of my best months doing this.
Profit this month: $281.43
Profit last month: $554.33
Spend: $0
Listed on eBay: 9/60
eBay rating: 97.9%
YTD total spend: $2,368.62
YTD total net profit: $5,855.48
What Sold
Other highlights
I'm pleased to report I followed through on last month's specialization goal. Every single day of April, I posted on my Instagram Stories a few images highlighting a different aspect about buying, collecting and/or selling glass. Of all kinds. This is a sneak peek of some of my favorites:
I was happy too that other people found this interesting. A number of people even reached out. It was honestly often a slapped-together sneak-peek into the glass-collecting world, but maybe that's just enough. Plus, I can confidently say I know way more than I did at the beginning of this month.
Fails
Luckily, without any thrift trips and moving parts, there were few fails this month.
But I did have one! My brother gave me another 23&Me testing kit to sell. In my haste, I copied my original Ebay listing. I should have taken a bit more time to review the finer details because someone bought it within 12 hours and it had the wrong title. With the potential for an upset customer and a negative review, I cancelled the sale and went ahead to re-list it. Crisis averted.
Going forward
As we all know, the world right now is still a big fat question mark.
Buying is off the table. At least in stores. I don't even want to imagine how long it'll be until I can get down and dirty in the thrift store aisles again. I was always so unafraid to literally touch and explore everything that it was half the fun. It made it feel like true treasure-hunting. To be honest, to imagine a whole different process makes me sad.
But the stuff won't flip itself!
Emptying the apartment is the most immediate goal. As you can see, things are still trickling off the shelves. Plus, passing this annual milestone has helped me take a hard eye to some of the items left over. Are they worth the time and effort to photograph, list, and then sell and ship? Sadly, some are not. I've just delayed their eventual demise to the dumps.
Mothers' Day is around the corner too! I know I have plenty of interesting and unique gifts for moms - artwork, glassware, and knick-knacks. Since the holiday is fast approaching, I want to make a full-fledged effort to get some stuff moving.
In the meantime, the big question remains - How do I continue to turn this into a full-fledged business?
I've been talking about it for months but I think it's become even more clear that specialization is essential. I want to be able to use my x-ray vision and find the value sitting there on the shelves or tables. To see what most others can't and strike.
With that being said, I need to continue studying. Even in these weird times, there is no shortage of products you can find for cheap and flip for profit. That doesn't mean you need to buy it all. They might only cost a little bit of money, but where they hurt most is in the clock. Having a deeper sense of what's valuable to those with money is the main idea.
In May, I want to research toys. They don’t need to be extremely vintage either. There are tons of modern toys out there worth way more than you think. From Power Ranger zords to Fisher Price Little People, I’ve always wanted to know more about the toys I saw on the thrift store shelves. What better time than now?
Plus, at the end of the day, there is the concept of renting time. The physical demands of thrifting were always the challenge. There is only one Flipshark and I couldn't be everywhere all at once. And then to spend my time researching products, taking good photos, listing things on different platforms, and shipping them all out - it was a hassle and a hustle. Why not create something that can repeatedly provide value, especially while I'm out there shopping?
If I can make some kind of content worthy of eyeballs, there might be a new avenue. Even studying glass this past month has shown me that there are no clean resources for learning. The videos are amateur. The blogs are full of ads and poor navigation. There is opportunity to educate.
I'm not quite 100 percent sure about these plans just like I'm not 100 percent sure what's going on outside my apartment. But, as they say, if you want to make God laugh, make some plans. Why not just dive in and have some fun swimming? Summer sun is around the corner, baby!
