Even better: No ongoing costs until you make a sale
There's only so much you can keep going at once.
I'm convinced, though, that you can have more side hustles going on if they're mostly “set and forget.”
Nice surprises
The kind of side hustle that gives you a nice surprise once in a while:
“Oh, I sold another one!”
There are certainly worse surprises than making money, right?
If you like flipping (selling for profit) low-ticket items that don't take up a lot of space, then this can be one of those set and forget income streams that put money in your pocket.
One of mine is selling cool serial number bills.
I check in once in a while to see if anyone has shown interest in the bills, and send them a small discount.
If they've been sitting there a while, I'll lower the Buy It Now price. I have wiggle room.
Otherwise, I just wait for sales to happen.
One came in a couple of weeks ago, and I sent it out.
Now I go about my business until the next one comes in.
Back burner.
Here's what to do
Nice and easy:
1. Get set up to sell on eBay
This involves signing up for eBay if you haven't already.
Then you can make a listing if you're in an allowed country (most are allowed).
To get paid, you'll link a bank account. It used to be PayPal, but that's not a thing anymore.
2. Price your items to sell at a nice profit
Set your sale price and work backward.
Subtract out the final value fee, payment processing fee, shipping, materials, and the cost of the item.
That needs to be greater than zero, or you're losing money.
Make it worth your time. If it sits a while, that's all right because you …
3. Use your no-insertion-fee listings
You can list up to 250 items per month without any insertion fees.
This means that you can let things ride until they sell, and you pay fees only when they sell.
Your only cost until that point is time.
Now, eBay will invite you to upgrade your listing. Make sure the fee is $0.00 before you submit the listing.
I do fixed-price listings and allow offers. I also set listings to renew automatically.
I can have 250 items listed all the time, with no store fees and no insertion fees.
Set and forget.
I recommend not doing auction-style listings. You probably won't get a bidding war, and you'll end up losing money.
4. Check in once in a while to adjust pricing
If there's interest in some of the items, then you'll be allowed to send those prospective buyers a better deal.
This is good to do once in a while.
Also, if items have been sitting for a bit, you can lower the price if you have wiggle room.
5. Wait for sales, and ship them when they sell
Store your items in a place so you can find them easily!
Then ship them out so they get there in one piece when they sell!
Your items don't have to be dollar bills
Most of what I have for sale now are dollar bills with cool serial numbers on them.
They don't have to be currency. You can sell whatever you like. Starting out, though, smaller is better so that you're not needing to rent storage or use up an entire bedroom for your stuff.
If you're interested in learning more about cool serial numbers and how to sell them, then check out Fancy Serial Numbers for Fun and Profit) for more information and tips!
Header Photo by Pixabay
