June 19, 2016

Cashing In on Craigslist: Case Studies (One Week Profits)

By AJ Hakimi (The Flipping Ninja)

Can you make a full time living off of Craigslist?

Absolutely.

And I want to show you how YOU can do it.

I want to train you to become a MASTER of flipping. A true, flipping ninja who can thrive and kill it in the market — all on your own.

Want a second income stream?

Want a complete, paid-for vacation through flipping?

Want to make some FAST COLD CASH for a down payment for a house?

I got you covered.

My goal of creating The Flipping Ninja© was to train people all over the world, whether you’re a college student, a working professional, or a stay-at-home parent — to be able to make hundreds, and preferably thousands of dollars flipping things.

I’ve been flipping things for years now. It started small, but after thousands of deals and years of in-the-trenches experience — I’ve got lots of tips and wisdom to make you successful — fast.

Making over $2,700 in PROFITS per MONTH (over $40,000 in sales per year) is standard now. But it wasn’t always that way.

I decided I will start creating Case Studies of as many deals as I can for you. I think it’ll really paint a picture and open your mind to what is possible — both profits wise, and item-wise.

Ready?!

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Case Study 1:

“The Mystery Chair” by Flexsteel.

See that sold sticker? That’s me. Bought this badboy from a Thrift Store for $10.

Looks like an old, normal chair right? Well I got a surprise for ya. Take a closer look… (or just keep reading and you’ll see, lol).

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This Mystery Chair has a hidden recliner in it! Did some more research and found an uber old newspaper ad on it… Not to mention how awesome it is period. I knew I could flip this.

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Took it home, did some marketing magic to it, and sold it for $200 about 19 minutes later.

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Profit: $190

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Case Study 2:

Saw this Crate & Barrel Chair at a Thrift Store for $30.

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Took it home, re-posted it for $150.

Sold for $130.

Profit: $100

Bonus Tip: When you’re out at Thrift Stores looking at furniture specifically — make sure you always look at the name brand. WAY too often do I come across high-end name brand furniture being sold for dirt cheap. Get your hands on a high end brand (Google it while you’re there), and you can demand higher prices. Furniture especially is one of those niches where quality MATTERS, and the better the brand, the better the quality, the higher you can charge and sell it for.

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Case Study 3:

Office Chairs sell. Period. And like many items in the furniture niche, the nice part is that you can actually USE them while you wait for them to sell.

Got this for $15. Sold for $60.

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Profit: $45

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Case Study 4:

I actually didn’t end up buying this at all because I didn’t feel like it. *spoiled*. But I wanted to show you anyway, because you EASILY could have made a killing on this. A dresser and a night stand. Dressers are HOT, and they will ALWAYS be selling because people always… need dressers. I’ve sold a ton.

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You’d pay $36 bucks for both.

I would have easily been able to sell the two for $120-$185.

Potential Profit: $84 – $149

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Case Study 5:

These were 2 couches I came across at a Thrift Store that I knew would sell for a lot. Not to mention the brand name was American Home Collection by La-Z-Boy. Anything by Lazy Boy is MONEY.

The big one was $35 and the smaller one was $20. So $50 bucks for both! Nice.

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Took them home and snapped them. I expect them to sell for $250 – $400. I’ll come back and update this once it sells with exactly how much I made in profits.

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Profit: $200- $350

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Case Study 6:

Once you make a decision to jump into the flipping business, you’ll start coming across killer deals all day long. There’s really no shortage. Here’s one of them:

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This is a perfectly functional, 50″ Samsung flatscreen TV I found at a Thrift store. Sure, it’s an older model, but heck, I’d still use it. If I’d use it, that means many others would too. And for how much? $7.99.

This TV had just come in; the guy working at the thrift store said it was JUST dropped off that same morning by a woman who was in the middle of a divorce and looking to get rid of everything.

Crazy stories, eh?

Ended up selling it for $180.

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Profit: $172

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Case Study 7: 

This Foosball Table by Sportcraft was $20 at a local Goodwill. They usually go for $150-$500+ depending on the model. Either way — there was definitely some profit here.

It happened to be 50% off day for everything — so I snagged it for $10 bucks.

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Sold it quickly for $50.

Profit: $40

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Case Study 8: 

Remember how I talked about dressers and how well they sell? Here’s a wicker wood dresser I got for $80 bucks.

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I expect this to sell for at least $150.

Profit: $70

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Case Study 9: 

Here’s a red and white, two-toned 2 piece sectional sofa I came across at another thrift store. This thing was literally staged and displayed right as I walked in. It had a $350 price tag on it:

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I wanted it. I knew I could sell it for much more. $$$ is all I saw around it.

I asked the manager about; she said people have been looking and asking about it all day, and 5 or 6 people said they wanted it, but TOMORROW happened to be 25% off day so they were going to try and snag it early the next day.

Pshhh. Aint’ nobody got time fo dat.

I had a 30%-off coupon for this particular thrift store. I reached into my back pocket and pulled it out like a ninja star and flashed it. She says “Ooh, even better.”

Grabbed it immediately for $263 (a whopping $87 back in my pocket!).

I expect this to sell for $500 – $700. I haven’t gotten around to taking professional pics of it yet but here’s where it currently stands at my place:

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Edited thrift store shot:

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Here is a stock image of the original that I found which I also included in my ad:

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Profit: $237 – $437

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Case Study 10: 

I love art. But even more than art, I love to sell. This baby right here gave me the best of both worlds. It’s an AWESOME art piece that I will love having at home, and that I know I can flip for some cash.

It had a $50 price tag on it, but I was able to get it for $35 since I had a 30% off coupon.

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After some poking around I saw that this thing retails for $199.99 on Amazon.

I’m expecting to sell it for $100 – $200, however I might just keep it around for a while!

Potential Profit: $65 – $165

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Conclusion:

Total profits from JUST the above case studies come out to be approx. $1,466, give or take. Now keep in mind; I didn’t put much energy, time or resources into the above items. I went through all those items in less than 2 weeks.

I spent no more than 5 hours or so doing it. Now can you imagine if you’re putting in 40-60 hour weeks into flipping? You can do a lot of damage and that’s what I love about sales. There really is no ceiling to how much you can make and it’s completely in your control once you really learn to master it.

In fact, a proud moment was last week when I did $1,675 in sales in one day. I plan to start scaling my business and putting more energy and time into my flipping. I’d like to start making thousand dollar days a regular thing and am currently creating a strategy to reach this goal.

If you want to start getting into flipping things, here are some key tips I’d recommend:

1. Don’t be afraid to buy. So many people are afraid to spend money on something or buy something, they start having thoughts like “What if it doesn’t sell?” They can’t decide whether or not they should buy something because they’re nervous and paralyzed by fear and uncertainty.

The truth is, to really make forward movement in the flipping business and large profits very quickly, you need to move quickly and buy without hesitation. Obviously don’t just start buying random things aimlessly without doing your research on whether there’s a profit, but you need to start making decisions and buying. Don’t let doubt overcome you because that’s how you miss out on deals. Have the balls, courage, confidence – whatever you want to call it – to buy. Trust me.

2. Move fast. Speed will get you rich. If you can move quickly, you’ll spot deals quickly, acquire them quickly, and flip them faster than the next guy. Think about it this way. Would you rather make $500 in one month, or $500 in one week? OR, even better, $500 in a weekend? How about in a single day? How fast you move will determine this. How fast can you buy the item? How fast can you get it ready/staged/cleaned to take photos? How quickly can you post up the ad? You also want to STRIKE FAST when opportunity comes along. One of the top issues most folks have is they see a deal, but then they spend too much time over-analyzing it, researching it, and before you know it, self-doubt creeps in and they end up not buying, violating tip #1. Well; when you’re stuck trying to decide if you should buy something (when you know there is SOME profit in it), a Flipping Ninja might just come along and snag that deal from ya. ;)

3. Know that everything sells. Once you truly understand this fact, you will explode. #1, #2, both tie into #3. Once you have the balls to buy, and once you move quickly, all while knowing that everything sells, you’ll enter a whole new playing field of flipping. The truth is, someone, somewhere, will pay you money for your item. Now we’re not talking about how much it’ll sell for right now, we’re strictly trying to get it into your head that EVERYTHING SELLS.

Once you understand that everything sells, going back to #1, you’ll have the courage to buy. You won’t be afraid to throw $50 bucks on that dresser because you know everything sells.

You won’t have a problem spending $150 on that Yamaha Keyboard because you know it’ll sell.

Now you just have to fine tune your knowledge in every differnet category of items and niches and learn to determine values ninja-fast, so that you can start getting ideas for what something might sell for. I train you to do this step-by-step quickly in my Flipping Ninja Blueprint.

4. Negotiate with sellers. Never offer full asking price, UNLESS you absolutely know that it is a steal deal. In that case, I wouldn’t even bother risking trying to negotiate with the seller because someone else may come and grab it! But in most cases, when you see an ad for an item, don’t be afraid to offer less. Never feel like you’re insulting a seller by offering a lower price. Try offering $25 or even $100 less than the item. If it’s a bigger ticket item like a car/vehicle you’re trying to get, it’s completely normal to offer several hundred to even a thousand dollars less than their asking price. This will add up long term, and every $25 (or more) you save here and there will add up to hundreds and thousands of dollars back in your pocket over the course of a year. Every dollar saved matters in every deal.

The secret to negotiation is really detaching yourself from all emotion. Never get emotional and go all in with your offer. Sure – every now and then a seller may feel offended. But we’re not running for president here. We’re in business. Counter offer, accept, or move on to the next deal.

5. Stay strong when selling. Buyers will try and negotiate the hell out of you. They will test you hard. Via email, via text, via phone, and in person. Most times you must stay stone cold and firm on price. Especially if you can see that the buyer is emotionally attached to your item. They’ll pay whatever asking price. Learn to say no to low offers. It’ll train you to be tough.

Now this isn’t a complete strict rule. A lot of times, I DO accept lower offers if an item has been sitting on the market for weeks and hasn’t been selling for example. Or if I just want to get rid of it quickly. But – when you DO accept a lower offer, make sure it’s not just because you feel obligated or pressured. Don’t let emotion get in the way of your profits. You must detach all emotion and stay firm.

Just like #4, giving in to lowball offers frequently will add up and you’ll be missing out on thousands of dollars in the long run.

6. Develop The Eye for the Deal©. Craigslist is a high traffic website and market. It gets over 50 BILLION page views per month. More than 60 million people use it per month in the US alone. There are deals CONSTANTLY being posted, 24/7. You want to be on the lookout at all times and as often as possible to be able to spot these deals and act quickly. There are tips and tricks to be finding deals and being successful on Craigslist.

One tip is to setup alerts for certain keywords. For example, I’ve got an alert setup for the keywords: “yamaha keyboard”. This means that anytime someone posts a new ad with the words “yamaha keyboard” in it, I get an email immediately. I can then quickly check the deal out and analyze it to see if I can make money from it. This is great because you can setup alerts for MULTIPLE different things, and have first dibs on them when people post them. You’re automating the process which is key to being successful. The more you can automate, the more time you’re getting back, and the faster and bigger you can scale.

With practice and experience, the Eye for the Deal© becomes a reflex, as natural as blinking, but infinitely more profitable.

If you found even ONE of these tips helpful, please share it with your friends or anyone you feel might benefit from making more money flipping things!

Did You Know That You Could Easily Start Earning Thousands Of Dollars Within The Next Few Weeks — All From Flipping Things?
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A lot of people who know me think I’m crazy for doing this…

And if you’re reading this now — boy you’re in luck.

So here’s the deal:

You can only learn so much by reading Blog posts on the Web about others flipping things.

Sure, it might help you.

You can definitely go out there and start trying yourself.

But here’s the deal:

You see, it takes more than just sitting on the sidelines, watching somebody else do it.

If you want to OFFICIALLY learn how to properly do this and make money… it’s 100x more effective (and damn profitable) for you to actually learn from a professional. 

Real strategy, tactics, and training.

This is where it’s at. The Flipping Ninja Blueprint is IT. And I want to give you it for FREE.

How for free?

I’m doing something freakin’ crazy. In fact, this is…

The Most Outrageous Guarantee Ever.

The complete Flipping Ninja Blueprint is GUARANTEED to cost you nothing because I’m gonna give you…

 One-Year 100% Unconditional Money Back Guarantee If You Are Unsatisfied In Any Way!

Put The Flipping Ninja Blueprint to the test for the next 12 months. (There’s a ton of great information to go through, read, watch and listen to, and I want you to be relaxed about it.)

Then – on the 365th day – if you’re unsatisfied for any reason or no reason at all…just let me know… And I’ll return your original investment – no questions asked!

I personally guarantee that if you use even just a couple of the secrets revealed in The Flipping Ninja Blueprint, you’ll get at least 1,000% return on your investment (that’s right, $5,000 income you never would have had before discovering the secrets in my course), or I’ll give you a full and prompt refund of all your money back.

        “Why on earth would I offer such a wide-open, generous guarantee? Am I nuts?

Please know…the only reason why I can make this kind of outrageous guarantee is because…I really do have the ‘goods’. My course delivers on all the promises I make. And I know there’s no way you can use the secrets my program contains and not put tons of cold, hard cash in your pocket!

In fact, once you start applying these never-before-disclosed, proprietary secrets and see the huge jump in your profits, I’m betting someone would have to wrestle you to the ground to get you to let go of this course!

        “I’ll say it again, I’m making The Flipping Ninja Blueprint available to you for a full year at no risk to your satisfaction and without risking a penny of your money. Just click here to order.

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featured image by: TraderGroup Signal

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

AJ Hakimi (The Flipping Ninja)

Hey there, I'm AJ, also known as 'The Flipping Ninja'. My flipping journey has been transformative, allowing me to buy sleek cars, indulge in exotic vacations, and even purchase my first house at 24, which I turned into a passive income source. With over 3,000+ items flipped and sales surpassing $300k, it's not just about the numbers. It's about the freedom and empowerment flipping brings.

After years of experience, my mission is to share this life-changing skill. I believe flipping is a powerful side hustle for anyone, from college students to working professionals. Ready to transform your life with flipping? Let's embark on this journey together.

Interested in my full journey? Read More about how I became 'The Flipping Ninja'.

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