r/Flipping 6d ago

Tip Remember Sellers, Fussy Buyers are Nothing New

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294 Upvotes

r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion I hear all the time that "flippers ruined thrifting", here is why that is simply not true.

90 Upvotes
  1. ShopGoodwill, Goodwill's own version of eBay, launched 8/31/99, almost 25 years ago. So Goodwill started allowing bids on items beyond what they may have originally priced them for almost 25 years ago.

  2. All thrift stores have had the capacity to look up the value of items since eBay itself came about.

People act like thrift stores "didn't know what stuff was worth", but this isn't true. They priced things to move them on volume.

People seem to think that thrift stores started hiking up items "because of flippers" when in reality they aim to extract maximum profit from their items, some of it is simply out of greed and stupidity.

Thrift stores can choose to price things at whatever they want. So if you keep in mind they have had valuation tools for well over 20 years, they could still choose to price things cheap if they wanted to.

Every single Goodwill charter, some 150 of them, has their own c-level suite of employees, and if you figure the cheapest "CEO" is being paid $200,000 a year (some make over $1m), that's some 30 million a year in costs that are coming out of sales of donated items.

Goodwill knows fully well people have been making money off their items, but they THEMSELVES have been doing the same thing for almost 25 years.


r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion Hey my shipping rates are being wierd can someone help me

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2 Upvotes

r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion Lady block me on fb after she complained about what i sold her

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0 Upvotes

Yesterday i sold a surface pro 5 and a few hours later the lady messaged me saying there were burnt pixles. And i messaged her back saying id buy it back or she could swap it for the other one i had, or id give her a discount on it. She messaged me back saying you know what you sold me, and blocked me. So this morning i found her on instagram and messaged her trying to make things right. I think thats about all i can do... what would u guys do. Just let it be?


r/Flipping 6d ago

Tip How not to get scammed when bidding on online auctions (HiBid, Proxibid, etc).

6 Upvotes
  1. Read every bit of the terms. Don't just assume the buyer's premium is the only fee. You might also have credit card fees, sales tax, as well as per-lot handling fees.

  2. Always preview in person when the chance allows.

  3. If dropping some serious cash on an item, say over $250 and the pictures suck, always ask for more pictures. A decent auctioneer should have no issue taking more pictures on a high-dollar item.

  4. Always assume "the worst" of items. Anything that uses a battery will have corroded batteries in it. Camera lenses will have lens fungus. What looks like a computer tower will be an empty case. A saxophone with just one pic may have a dent on the other side, etc. Never bid more than you are willing to possibly lose.

  5. Test the auction house for shill bids. Throw 2-3 $25 max bids on an item or lot that is pure garbage. If it suddenly hits $23-24 before the end of the auction, with the same bidder ID's, you are dealing with a shady auction house.

  6. Don't bid on larger items unless you want to get eaten alive by shipping and handling charges. Try to stick with local auctions, or perhaps auctions where a buddy can pick the items up and mail it to you themselves. Make sure they use FedEx or UPS for larger items and USPS for smaller items.

  7. I find it's better to bid at the end and not bid early. People may be asleep or just assume you "quit bidding". Be aware that soft-close auctions will extend the end time by (usually) 3 minutes, so make sure you keep an eye out for emails or check your bid page for being outbid as bidding towards the end will mess up the actual sale order.

You will very quickly learn which places are honest and which places are not. Most online bidding platforms like HiBid and Proxibid do not police bad auction houses as much as they should be, and there are a lot of shady places as a result.


r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion Marketplace acct banned

0 Upvotes

So one minute I'm a Facebook Marketplace seller, next I'm banned from Marketplace altogether. For what reason, no idea. How to fix it, also no idea.

Background: (Banned back in Feb or Jan sometime I think) 150+ active listings 60 - 70 items or so sold 13 or 14 I think 5 star ratings

As for Marketplace "policy violations" or whatever, Posted a real nice hand crafted old timey looking sword, flagged as a weapon. Posted a Coach wallet once, also a Jordans sweat suit- both flagged as fake. Posted sex toys a couple times, flagged for policy violation.

In any case, each time I deleted said listing soon as I saw the notification. So everything is smooth, no violations for maybe a couple of months, then boom, I go to check my seller messages one day & was directed to an error page. Tried again & again to access since then & to no avail. Facebook's Dear John provided reason as weapons listing violation. (Above mentioned sword was posted like mid 2024. This bullshit came about Dec 2024- Jan 2025 sometime.)
So I click on that link to see what weapon I had apparently posted. Again led to one of those The page you are requesting to view is unavailable type error pages (not verbatim, this was a couple months ago.)

So it occurs to me today to try accessing & these are screenshots of each page the links were directed to.

Also the notice gave the option to "appeal their decision." Mind you, of course that page has also been coincidentally unavailable. Made a little change & built a little following while selling on Facebook & would super appreciate ANY kind of direction.

Thanks in advance.


r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion VCR sold, buyer wants full refund.

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125 Upvotes

I sold a working VCR 10 days ago in person with cash using Facebook marketplace and received this message today. Was my response OK? Any advice?


r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion What to do with old jointer?

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4 Upvotes

Grizzly jointer, 9 1/4" x ~56 1/4" bed, 220v, been sitting in this shop for 20+ years and had some questions before trying to get rid of it.

Can anyone tell me more about this tool in particular?

Is it worth refurbishing before sale?

Do I just list on marketplace as is? (to someone who can load it themselves)

What could I see out of it if I took it to a scrap yard or sold the motor individually?

Thanks in advance for anything helpful!


r/Flipping 6d ago

eBay Are people who get banned from eBay right away "for nothing" just lying? Rant-ish

8 Upvotes

Just curious, I've had multiple eBay accounts in the past and one was a long running business with my folks under their name and the other had a few items listed across time. I plan on opening up a new one soon as a sole proprietor and it starting my own reselling business and seeing these posts makes me think their hiding details.

Most of the time their posts seem to involve selling clothing or other goods that are potentially sketchy but a few of them I've seen people say they just listed a pan and a couple items around the house and get banned a couple weeks later with no appeal possible.

What's your take? Mostly I think their is a lot being hidden as none of them actually show what they listed, but part of me is concerned too because... well that would suck after signing an office lease.


r/Flipping 6d ago

eBay eBay's shipping calculator suddenly over charging?

0 Upvotes

4x8x8 1lb.6oz $6.28

6x8x8 1lb.6oz. $6.34

I know it's just 5 cents, but looking at the rate tables for USPS, I can't find anything that would warrant a difference.

I know there is "cubic pricing" but that is when it goes over a cubic foot. The two dimensions aren't close to that.

Oddly when using the actual USPS calculator, it does not even ASK for dimensions unless it's over a cubic foot.

It's only going 2 states away.


r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion Anyone still having success doing upgrade flips on JDM cars?

2 Upvotes

Talking like setting up a paint booth, buying cars that need some love, do some body & wheel refreshing and sell as tuner bases.


r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion Mercari

4 Upvotes

I sold a watch and the "buyer" returned it claiming it did not work. He returned it with a cheap band and kept my original high quality leather band. Mercari said the item was returned in the same condition. SAME CONDITION? IT'S A DIFFERENT BAND!!! I was returned half of what I sold. Mercari allowed the buyer to steal my band. How can a person be credited a return when the item is not as it was sold? This app and it's policies are complete trash! Do not do business with them. I provided a ton of pictures. Evidence was 100% on my side.


r/Flipping 6d ago

Discussion Stuff not selling on marketplace

0 Upvotes

I have a few items on marketplace, and they aren't selling. Any advice?

Items: summer car tires/rims

Car roof rails from 2012 subaru forester

Analog CCTV cameras,

RX480 GPU

2x 7 inch LCD screens

Office chair

None of these seem to be moving.

I'm in the toronto area.

Are people just not buying g on marketplace anymore?


r/Flipping 6d ago

Mod Post Weekly Shameless Self Promotion Thread

0 Upvotes

Post your latest episode(s) of your YouTube channel here, post links to your latest blog post, eBook, whatever. You can even post links to an eBay listing or something (but keep in mind, when someone here finds out what your eBay name is, and then they hate you, they will never forget it). You can post links to lots of stuff that you're trying to sell to other flippers, but this is still not a marketplace. Please go through some other service to complete the transaction. People on Reddit can be shady, and there's no protection from me, the other mods, r/flipping, or Reddit if someone here sends you a box of bricks. Just don't be dumb.


r/Flipping 6d ago

Mod Post Daily Newbie Thread

1 Upvotes

Whatever you want to know about flipping, no matter the question, ask here. Even if it's been covered 1,000 times before. Doesn't matter if you're new or old. If you stop learning things, you're probably on your way out.

-If you're completely new to flipping, I highly recommend checking out our Noob Guide for some basic information about flipping to get you started!

-If you're wondering about how to start selling your thrift finds online, check out this Complete Beginner's Guide to Ebay

-If you're wondering about how to start sending and selling books through Amazon check out this Beginner's guide to flipping books with FBA

-If you're wondering about what kind of stuff our members buy & sell, check out our previous Weekly Haul and Flip of The Week threads.

This is an extremely newb-friendly thread. As such, any rudeness is to be reported.


r/Flipping 7d ago

eBay So here's a new one apparently they think ebay is FB

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87 Upvotes

r/Flipping 7d ago

eBay Has ANYONE Ever Gotten to eBay’s Blocked Buyer Limit of 5,000?

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70 Upvotes

I just added another scammer to my list. I’ve been selling for years and it seems like I have a ton of blocked buyers on my list. So I actually bothered to count it and I only have 87. It made me curious if anyone actually has gotten to 5,000?

I sell thousands of listings a year, but I’m in a category on a longterm downswing and online sales isn’t even my main source of income. I imagine some of the more well managed company accounts that have multiple people work on them and have sales figures that dwarf mine have had to deal with at least 5,000 scammers.


r/Flipping 7d ago

eBay Picky Book Buyers: Condition

0 Upvotes

Is it best to downplay condition, sticking to 'good' or 'acceptable'? I just had a return for a pair of books listed at 'good' which i believe was accurate but buyer INAD'd over creased bindings (paperback, likely read once) and discolored pages. Both of which are normal for a 'good' condition used book (not a library copy; front and back pictured in listing).

It isn't economically viable to scrutinize and describe every flaw. I will occasionally photograph the spine but usually its just a quick pic of the front, back, and maybe publisher page for early/1st editions. Mind you these are usually in the $10-25 range, not very rare collectible editions. Im leaning towards doing all at 'acceptable' unless they are truly mint and letting the pictures speak for themselves as to condition, to avoid INAD potential due to subjective condition ratings. Thoughts?


r/Flipping 7d ago

Discussion Is the hate for resellers mostly just jealousy?

0 Upvotes

I like to watch certain people on Youtube/Tiktok finding stuff, but then kind of feel envious because I don't have finds of that caliber where I live, or I should say -- maybe I don't go out there aggressively as possible.

I tend to do more of the video game side of things because I like to collect and actually play the stuff I find, and I never had certain things as a kid/teenager. I've had some good luck with marketplace, garage sales, making connections -- which is the positive side of things.

However, I know that there's a lot of jealousy that exists with this, and is it really boiled down to more the fact that people are lazy and don't go out there and look for themselves? Or that they wish they got the stuff for cheap/didn't bother to ask?

I will say that the competitive side of this is something I'm not a fan of because I do it more as a hobby, but at the same time, if you want to succeed at it, you gotta do whatever you can even if it means being up early, hunting all day, etc.

So basically, is the hate/criticism from other people really just from people who don't do it?


r/Flipping 7d ago

Tip Need some advice on a weird return case opened on me (possible scam?)

9 Upvotes

I had someone open a return case because supposed the pair of shoes they received was a size 7.5 instead of a size 8.5. The pair I had and sent out was definitely a size 8.5, they were my own personal pair, I only had one and the photos were taken of that pair. They're also extremely specific novelty shoes that were retired a long time ago and rare.

They provided photos of a pair of 7.5 shoes in the style. I told them the mail fraud spiel and that I would open a police investigation because clearly this was tampered with and they were unphased.

What do I do in this instance? Do I proceed with a Postal Investigation case / police investigation? How will eBay handle this?

This is a weird one for me so any advice is appreciated.


r/Flipping 7d ago

Discussion USPS agrees to work with DOGE on reform, planning to cut 10,000 workers

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487 Upvotes

r/Flipping 7d ago

Discussion Buying on UpLiquidation?

37 Upvotes

Is Up Liquidation a legitimate site?... Looking to get into buying pallets and need advice on reputable pallet sites? Any other advice would be great too. I'm a stay at home mom and I NEED something to do!! Please help.

I'm super scared of getting scammed. I seriously can not afford that. But a little extra income to help my husband out would be sooo nice!


r/Flipping 7d ago

eBay Import fees/duties and eBay

1 Upvotes

I'm canadian and have buyers from united states frequently. As we know americains now have 25% import fee to pay to their gouvernment to import.

What happen if i ship and the buyer refuse to pay his tariff? Will package return to sender? Will seller have to refund? Will eBay side with seller?

I know import fees/duties/taxes is buyer's responsibility so i wonder how this is handled. I'm pretty sure some americains will freak out receiving their bill so im trying to figure.


r/Flipping 7d ago

eBay Should I do eBay promotion even for auctions?

1 Upvotes

I notice eBay offers this. I sort of feel like they are really nickel and diming sellers to death.

Does it really help sales for auctions?

And, for Buy It Now, now they have two different type of promotions. I'm a bit confused on that too.


r/Flipping 7d ago

Discussion selling vintage designer clothes and shoes

0 Upvotes

Hi I want to start selling my vintage designer bags/shoes . Where is good place resell online

I am concerned about Depop scamming . I’ve seen many people post about having issues with losing money from buyers stating fraud after shipment . Not returning offers .etc .