Wayzata's Best of Shareware PC/Windows 1/Wayzata's Best of Shareware for PC-Windows - Release 1 - Wayzata Technology (1993).iso/mac/DOS/HOME/MONEY401/CHAPTER.1

Text File | 1993-01-02 | 8KB | 182 lines

     The  money-making  technique  covered  in  this chapter
requires nothing, no special training, and no investment.

     Well, not exactly nothing.  Do you have a dollar? Let's
start by tripling it into three dollars. What you are  about
to read works as well with one dollar as with $500+. We used
to  do it every week. We spent over $500 per week and turned
it into over $1500 per week! (We recommend  that  you  start
small, however, with $1 to $100, until you gain experience.)

      As the weekend approaches, your  newspaper  will  list
yard  sales in the classified section.  These sales occur on
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from early in the morning until
the middle of the day. Even if you work on the weekend,  you
can  probably  go  to  many of the early sales.  Do so.  Buy
anything that looks like it can be sold for at  least  three
times more than you have to pay.

     You  can  buy  rocking chairs for $5-10 which are worth
$35; you can get blue jeans for 25 cents that are worth  $5,
you can get books for 5 cents each. You get the idea.

     Of  course  not every sale you go to will be great, but
at least 1/3 of all yard sales have incredible  deals.   The
reason: Lets say a homeowner just bought a new 32" color TV.
This  new  toy is very exciting, but the old one, the 25" TV
they bought last year now lives in the  garage.   It  is  no
longer  exciting  at all. They realize how much is is worth,
but they just want it out of the garage. They don't want  to
hassle with selling it properly. (If only they knew how easy
it is!) The first person with $35 gets it!

      I  have purchased a sewing machine for $5, a reclining
chair for $5, a great big wooden desk for $30, a blender for
$2, a computer printer for $15, table lamps for $1 each,  an
oxy-acetylene  welding  set with full tanks for $125, an air
conditioner for $35, even a  Mercedes-Benz  for  $500!   And
these  are  just a few things, just the things that cross my
mind right now.

      As tempting as it may be, do not keep these things for
yourself.

     If this only showed you that you can have  three  times
more  toys  with  the same amount of money when you buy used
things at yard sales instead of new  things  at  K-Mart,  if
would  be  well worth what you paid. But we'll go a big step
past that!

     How do you sell the things? I have some  systems.   The
first ones are great for those of you who do not like retail
selling:

*  Second-hand stores always need merchandise but don't want
to  risk  much  money.    They   love   consignments.    The
consignment  arrangement  works  like this: You bring things
into the store, but you get  no  money  until  one  of  your
things sells. Then you get all but a certain percentage. For
example: You buy a TV set for $10. It sells for $40, but the
store  charges  25%  commission.   You  get $30.  That's $20
profit, or 200% in one week!  You can do this with  hundreds
of  items,  and  at several stores. If you invested the same
$10 in a money market account, you would get $2,  (20%)  and
it  would  take a whole year!  Do not hesitate to ask stores
about consignment.  They want to make money with your  stuff
as much as you do.

*  Consignment  to  specialty  stores  works even better.  I
bought a Canon AE-1 35mm camera for $40. If I had sold it in
a second-hand store, it might have taken  two  weeks  for  a
customer  to  come  in  who  needed a camera.  This customer
might have paid $120. Instead, I took it to a  camera  store
who  sold  it in less than a week for $250. They exposed the
camera to many people who  needed  cameras,  and  they  were
capable of explaining the specific details of this camera to
close  the  sale.  After  the store's 25% commission, I made
$187.50; a profit of $147.50.

* You can hold your own yard  sales.   It  does  not  matter
where  you live, as long as you put an ad in the paper.  You
can make over $1000/day, but you can only have a  couple  of
sales per month. If you have too many sales, you may have to
deal with upset neighbors.

*  Selling  at  a  flea  market  works well. It helps if you
display your stuff well and make sure prices are  marked  on
everything.  As with most types of selling, state your price
right  up  front,  even  if  it seems too high.  People will
rationalize and arrange their mental budgeting to make  room
to  buy  your item. But if the price is not stated, they may
automatically assume it is too high and walk away.

* Starting your own second-hand store is a possibility.   We
recommend  that  you  get a lot of experience with the other
selling techniques first. You need  to  know  that  you  can
cover  the  large overheads of having a store before you try
it.  One tip: do as much yourself  as  you  can.   The  huge
expense that breaks many new retailers is employees.


                       SHOP CAREFULLY

     Knowing what to buy and what to turn down is 90% of the
reason you will succeed well.

*  Check  items  for  proper repair: Toaster ovens, cameras,
typewriters, bicycles  and  TV's  are  especially  prone  to
malfunction.  Clothing  that  is  stained or torn will never
sell.

     Don't buy broken things unless you know  that  you  can
fix  them.   If  parts are required, consider that the parts
may cost more than your profit.

     You can't sell  broken  things.   A  portable  cassette
player  ("ghetto-blaster")  that you could normally sell for
$35, with a knob missing will not sell for even $3.

* Consider style: 8-track stereo and Super-8 movie equipment
are dead in the marketplace. Nobody will  buy  these  things
because  they have been replaced with videotape and cassette
technology.  For the same  reason,  an  electric  typewriter
that  was $300 is now worth $25, because new electronic ones
cost less, yet have far more options.

* You must know what a thing is worth before you buy  it.  I
don't  buy clothing because I know little about clothes.  If
you are a photography buff, or if you  like  gardening,  you
read  the  magazines in your field, you know what's popular,
and what prices things go for.  In other words, if you are a
computer expert, you would recognize a modem, know  what  it
is worth, and how to sell it best.

     Get  a Sears catalog to use as your guide.  Never buy a
thing for more than 1/6 of its new price.

* When in doubt about a specific item, let it go, there will
be other deals.

* Never quietly pay the full price for an item.  Always  ask
the  seller  if  they  will take less than the stated price.
There is considerable art to this  "wheeling  and  dealing."
Generally,  open  the bargaining at 2/3 of the asking price.
Let the seller know that you can afford to pass up the offer
if the price doesn't meet your limit.  Take a little time to
wheel and deal on high-ticket items, but not  on  the  small
stuff.   It  is worth ten minutes of your time to reduce the
price of a piece of furniture by $100, but how much time  is
it  worth  to  reduce  the price of a paperback book from 15
cents down to 10 cents?

     For those of you considering  this  great  opportunity,
quit  considering and start doing it!  You may like to learn
even more (and increase  you  profit  even  more).   ANOTHER
COMPANY presents our new IBM-compatible tutorial disk:

              GARAGE SALES FOR FUN AND PROFIT

     This   disk   is   easy  to  use  and  works  with  any
IBM-compatible computer.  It teaches all  about  buying  and
selling  second-hand merchandise. It has guideline charts of
cost and markup. It tells you  all  about  the  pitfalls  to
avoid.  And it tells about detailing and repair for those of
you who would like to spruce up merchandise  for  even  more
profit.

Price: $19.95 (No extra charge for postage, handling or tax!)

Send to:

                      ANOTHER COMPANY
                       P. O. Box 298
                  Applegate, OR 97530 USA

Or call:
                        503-846-7884

          Please specify 5.25" or 3.5" disk size.
      (Outside USA: Send US funds drawn on a US bank)
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