Flip Report #1: Car parts & mystery vending machine business

Hey {{first_name | there}},

There’s some exciting deals this week! Looking at a potential $12,000 in profit and the start of a small business if you play your cards right. Let’s get into it!

HUGE opportunity here with these clock springs!

Buy: I’ve worked with this seller before, and the reserve should be ~$1,000. You’d probably pay around $1,500 to freight it most places. You could probably slap a shipping label on each crate for cheaper though.
Sold comps: 2 of the same clock springs sold for $90 last month on Ebay. Currently none available, so you’d have 0 competition.
Net profit after fees: Selling these on Ebay for $90, you’re selling altogether for $18,000 before fees and shipping. Roughly $15,000 with those factored in. Assuming you bought for $1,500 and shipped to you for $1,500, that’s a $12,000 profit!! It’ll take a while to sell them all, but you have some margin to work with and you could make your money back FAST.
Why it works: Car parts are one of those “non-sexy” items that are great to look for. If you have an OEM like these, people trust them, and if your car needs it, you have to buy. That makes these items a slam dunk as long as the car these fit in are around.

You should know that I really love to buy and flip printers! Especially laser printers like this one.

Buy: Probably under $100
Local comps: ~$200
Net profit: ~$100
Why it works: This is a great entry point for people wanting to get their feet wet. Printers are consistent, almost nobody wants to pay full price for a new one, and laser printers are in high demand. Great way to make a cool $100+ next week if you live in kentucky!

I didn’t look at the sold comps for these speakers, and I don’t need to in order to tell that this is a bad deal.

Story time.

I once bought 16 JBL ceiling speakers for $200. They sell for $200 a piece online (or so I thought).

I couldn’t sell them. I brought them down to $40 a piece and still not a single bite. They sat in storage forever, and I eventually sold all of them for $100.

Why? Because when people buy speakers like these that go into the ceiling, they’re building a specific system they have in mind. Not only that, but speaker prices have dropped so much that people don’t want to risk buying a used speaker. Buyer beware!

I’ve been seeing electronic access cabinets like this one on auction sites and they’ve got me thinking. Maybe there’s a business here?

For context, this is a cabinet where people could access their library book by scaning their library card or entering a code or their info on the screen. It has the controller removed, but you could hire someone to replace that fairly easily.

It would be a fun business to get permission to post this outside somewhere with a credit card reader. People could pay to access one of the drawers. You could do random books outside a coffee shop, coupons/gift cards for local businesses, etc. All randomized and focused on the mystery factor. A “mystery vending machine” of sorts.

Let me know if any of you end up jumping on these! There’s a crazy amount of deals to be had out there. Go and get them!

— Lucas