$10k Challenge: Make Money at Auctions

I'm on a quest to raise an additional $10k this year in income -- extra income outside my regular job. The numbers I ran show that making this amount and socking it away year after year can yield quite a sizeable next egg.

I've already suggested ways I'm working on this $10k including turning a hobby into an income, making money with credit cards and selling stuff you own. Today's suggested idea for those of you playing along: make money at auctions.

I've detailed a couple times how this can be done. In Another Way to Make Money at Auctions, I highlighted a comment where a reader turned a quick $300 by seeing something he knew was valuable but was at a bargain-bin price. And in Make Extra Money at Estate Auctions and Garage Sales, another reader's grandfather "made a small fortune" doing something similar.

And, if you don't want to buy at auctions and then re-sell, going to auctions and getting stuff you need is still a great idea as it can save you 30% or more.

A few keys to be successful using this approach:

• You have to have the time to go to the auctions.
• You have to have knowledge about the cost/value of the items you're looking for.
• The auction has to have these items (this can probably be found out in advance by calling the auctioneer.)
• You need a situation when someone else is not going to bid the item up too high for you to be able to re-sell it. The "bad weather" strategy seems like a good idea (fewer bidders when the weather is bad.)
• You have to have a way to sell the item for a profit. (such as on eBay)

Comments

[angie]

I actually made over $400 in a month by selling stuff on ebay from around my house that I simply wasn't using anymore. But I did research first to see if similar items were getting bids and how much they were selling for so I wouldn't be out any seller fees. It pays to do your homework.