Sober,
To answer your question, (at least here in PA), the owner has to receive a notice via certified mail that the account is past due and the contents will be auctioned on a certain date if payment is not made or an agreement for payment reached. A notice must also be published in a local newspaper's "Legal Announcements" section at least twice, and at least a week prior to the auction. It has to list the storage unit number and the registered owner, as well as the date of the auction.

This also serves as the advertisement for most of the storage places. They know people watch the legal notices for upcoming auctions.

And for the record, $4500 is the price we agreed on. We both knew it was worth much more. He wasn't upset with me at all...he knew where his anger belonged. He also knew that I had bought it all legally, and it was mine fair and square. He was actually quite happy that I sold it back so cheap. Do I feel bad? Not one bit. I know I could have gotten twice that much easily, but I do have a bit of a heart, and saw no reason to totally screw the guy. He had enough problems. Then again, I'm not a sucker, either. I wasn't about to just give it back with a handshake.

I guess I could have been a bastard or a chump. I chose something in the middle. Others may have handled it differently, and I have no problem with someone else choosing either of the extremes.

__________________
I was certified as a Forum VIP by my score in the GIM Aptitude Test (Score: 64)
When things go bad, you can't make paper bullets.

Agnut, Awesome thread!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!

Hi again sober. I would never want to insult any posters here. I respect your feelings and wanted to clarify silverbullet’s transaction by examining it from different angles. I sure had to think what I would have done were I in his situation. I asked my 19 year old son what he would have done and he adamantly said that if the pizza shop owner had offered him $4500, he would have taken it. He also said that the problem was between this guy and his angry wife and why should he lose because they were fighting.

We are all after a common goal; learning how to better deal in this crazy world. One of the beauties of this type of thread is that we are all in the boat together and our experiences shared are like old friends discussing our personal lives. Forty five years ago and I still can remember my English teacher, Mr. Kramer. He had a way of leading his students that made us want to learn more. That’s the way I would like this thread to operate.

Life is like a merry-go-round and we only get so many chances at the brass ring (gold and silver in my mind). Of course, RiverRat would probably say that he wants to own the concession itself. And that is the ultimate attitude to have; that the possibilities are practically unlimited. America is made up of dreamers and inventors wanting to better their lives. Most business in America comes from the small businessman, not big corporations. A corporation was just a small business that got too big for its britches.

As to these storage units, the laws vary by state. And they vary by the storage company. You could ask local storage companies when they hold auctions. You may be able to get on a mailing list. Sometimes they hire an outside auctioneer who travels from one storage company to the next. As I said before, many times the company owner has gone through the container and picked out all of the cherries. Sometimes when I have won a container, a buyer will ask me if I want to sell part of it. I usually don’t since they have seen how cheap I have gotten it for and think that one item shouldn’t be that expensive. Be careful here because this buyer is often looking to take your best items and leave you with the rest. While it may seem a good idea at the time, you will have plenty of time later to kick yourself.

The original renters are notified and have had adequate time to pay the rent. Once in a while they will contact you with a sob story, wanting everything back for what you paid. The legitimate ones will only be interested in sentimental items like family photo albums, etc. I give those items back and will leave them at the storage company’s desk. In some states the storage company is not supposed to give out your phone number to the previous owners. Some of them do it anyway.

Some areas have military bases and the storage lockers are auctioned because the person got stationed somewhere far away. Many storage lockers have been abandoned but having first been emptied of the valuable items. Even if they look full, they may be full of crap disguised as real merchandise. I know, I have won such auctions in the beginning and was lucky to break even. They were what we call a setup. Looks good from what can be seen from the container door but is really an accumulation of unwanted broken junk and just plain stinky stuff from other past container auctions. This was my experience in San Diego over 10 years ago. Who knows, maybe everybody got honest since then. Yeah, right.

It would be best to go to a few auctions and watch the bidding before getting your feet wet. As I said, do your homework first. Watch who is bidding and how much. These people will often travel to the other storage auctions and are making it a small business.

Remember that the items from the auctions you win will have to be stored somewhere. If you fill your garage and house too full, your spouse may not have room for you in the sack. Something to consider while you still have an uncluttered life.

I haven’t looked into it but I understand that Bekins and Mayflower movers will sell their unclaimed storage boxes full of household items. Maybe another source for goodies.

Beyond the grocery shopping and retail bargain hunting there is the garage and estate sale. And beyond that, there is used cars and large items. And beyond that, there is buying out defunct companies’ inventories and mass accumulations. Beyond that probably gets illegal or immoral or both.

Best wishes,

agnut

agnut, RiverRat, Fasttcar,

This (for me) is the most inspiring thread I have read in a long time. I see that I am a sheeple and am involved in a self-shearing operation. I pay retail and devil-may-care. I am trapped in a conventional 40 hour per week job that I am long burned out on yet I feel trapped like a moron with no way out (the job does pay well). I drive 52 miles each way so throw in 2 more hours per day on top of the 8 hours "working" and I'm thrashing away 50 hours a week like a slave-boy. The rest of the time, in the context of this thread, I'm busy throwing the money all away.

The thread is inspiring me to THINK. Still high from our Minnesota get-together I am open to thinking about LEAPing.

I can tell you guys are the real deal so I will sit back and read and learn and THINK (and DO).

Agnut, and everyone contributing to this thread are performing a real public service. I can't thank you enough. I have some thinking to do.

A short story. Sometimes there are moments in life that end up becoming a turning point (for me). Before I was into PM's and macroeconomics, etc. I was talking to my boss's boss one day. We were just chatting idly about this and that. In the course of the conversation he said to me: "I'm not really a money guy.. are you?" And I said that no, I was not a money guy. The implications were that we didn't know much about stocks, investments, and such sort of thing.

Now I'm the kind of guy that will reflect upon a conversation and turn an idea over in my mind. As I reflected upon this conversation and my answer that I was NOT a "money guy", it dawned on me. WHY NOT???

I'm not a stupid person, and my obsessive personality allows me to super focus at times and learn pretty much whatever I set out to learn -- but it has to be interesting -- but I can do it.

So I decided to obsess about macroeconomics, money, precious metals, even technical analysis, and guess what? Now, I am a money guy!!

The reason I told that story, is that I am having that feeling again. This fine thread has lights popping in my head. While I am still at this giddy "first realization" stage, I have a feeling that this thread could change my life. We'll see.

I think this thread is going to open a bunch of people's minds. :bowdown:

PS. I got a chance to meet fasTTcar this weekend, and he is the real deal, and a heckofa smart guy! It was a real pleasure to be able to hear his valuable and well home-worked thoughts.

__________________
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.

Many thanks to the previous instructors in bartering 101. I have learned much from you all already. I have limited experience in this field but I will share what I know.

For reference, I only took the red pill about a year ago, so I have a lot of bad history as far as money goes.

A few months ago, I was chatting with a friend and she was telling me about her ebay exploits. She was buying and selling all manner of things, mostly just to get the things she wanted. Now I used ebay a while back and I saw ebay and paypal for the shady thugs that they are, so I stopped ebaying when they started requiring bank information.

Shortly after chatting with said friend, I was in the process of moving to a new place. While I was packing up I realized the ungodly amount of JUNK that I had. Now most of this was quality stuff, but junk to me, and some of it just outdated. I made it a mission to simplify my life and my move by liquidating this stuff, or doing whatever I could to get some value out of it.

The first thing I did was to go to the swap meet. I loaded a 4runner to the gills with the castaways, and set up early in the morning. One great thing about the swap meet is that the wheel n' dealers come snap up a lot of the choice stuff before it's even open to the public. I managed, without getting ripped off, to sell over half of the stuff before the place even opened up. By the end of the short Saturday I had over $400 in my pocket and a far lighter load to be moved.

Later, after the move, I realized that I still had some things that were useless to me, so I utilized my second favorite website, craigslist, to finalize the liquidation. In the end I had made a couple hundred more, and had bartered my way into a new laptop I had been wanting for a long time and not deemed worth it to buy retail.

The moral of my story is that not only did I simplify my life, but I made money and I even got some bonuses while I was doing it.

---

My question is, where are the 10 baggers. 20 baggers. 100 baggers. Now THAT'S where I want to be. The day job isn't cutting it.

__________________
"Belief is the wound that knowledge heals."
- Ursula K. LeGuin

I enjoyed reading some of the trading, wheeling and dealing stategies, I'm in sales myself, manufacturers rep, self-employed, sell some of my own products, and do shows, lots of dealing.

Good Read

Thanks for the encouragement gpond. You may want to reread A Simple Beginning part 1 and try the examples there in the real world. And put away the money you save in cash. After it becomes obvious that you are on the road to control of your finances, I can guarantee you that it will become a habit to examine every purchase as an adventure. As it has been said here, this is like a game. A game to see how far you can make a buck go as well as how much money you can sock away. But it doesn’t end there. This is just the first step; I call it passive moneymaking. It involves nothing more than looking for bargains in daily purchases. And a desire to change your life for the better. You don’t need to negotiate with sellers; that comes in part 2. With the money you have socked away, money from using your brain (the best electron-ic money), you can use that money to fund what we will be talking about in part 2.

Now this is just an example but it works for me. Throughout the year while shopping I keep an eye out for possible Christmas presents for family and friends. A 30 LCD work light that may retail for $40 will go on sale for $20 and I will pick up a couple. A enamel box may go for cheap on Ebay that I would never see in a store. It could be any number of things that cause a light to go on in my head that this would be perfect for someone on my gift list. I have been doing it for years and have gotten lazy now and just put away interesting items that most anyone would like. I pick up DVDs of great movies and hold them until the time comes. I don’t recommend that you do this in the beginning as the money you save will be needed for part 2, active moneymaking. And after you have developed these skills, you will have money that you can buy and hold bargain items longer term.

I recommend that you keep records of your money saving activity. For instance, if you like albacore tuna and consume it regularly, buy a case of 12 on sale for 50 cents off and put the $6 cash away. Then mark it down in your record book. Do this with all of your purchases that you would have bought anyway because you needed them.

Your early results must include the increased items in your possession. Several cases of tuna bought on sale will probably go up in price by the time you consume it all. So inflation can be lessened with some bulk purchases. The more long term you buy for, the less cash you will have now. It will be a valuable asset, especially if there is a food crisis. So try to not overspend so that you have available cash for the deal making which is the next step.

I know I’m getting ahead of myself but I can’t resist. If you need a winter coat that would cost $50 in a store, buy it at a garage sale for $5 in the spring and summer when they are around. It doesn’t have to be a worn out coat; my son bought a really nice winter coat last summer for $2. It looked like it had never been worn. He loves it and wears it all the time. I got a laugh out of him the day he got the coat. The first thing he asked when we got in the truck was, “Hey dad, what do you think I could get for this coat on Ebay ?” I was so proud of him for he was thinking like a real horse trader. I sometimes call him Shylock because he used to charge his older brother interest on loans. Now that his older brother is into his own deal making, he no longer borrows money. It is wonderful to teach these skills to our children. They will remember what I taught them long after I am gone.

Get over this crazy mentality that you have to buy everything new. I know a lot of people like this and their house is full of things that were once new (now ALL used) but their bank account is empty or worse in debt. As I have said, the difference between new and used is a marketing illusion. New is when the item is in the store and used is after you have paid for it at the checkout stand. To make the attitude leap to finding used items that you need is in reality a mere step in a better direction.

I began with A Simple Beginning part 1… because if any reader can’t do these simple things in the beginning, they don’t really want to take control of their financial lives. It isn’t a matter of courage to try something new or doubt that it will succeed; it takes no courage AND there is no doubt that it will succeed. Smart shoppers are doing it all over the place. If you can walk and chew gum at the same time, you qualify.

How does it feel when shopping and seeing prices going up all the time while your wages are going nowhere ? Afraid you will find yourself shopping in the pet food section when you have no pets ? Remember Alice In Wonderland where she had to run to stay in the same place ? That is the inflation treadmill. Learning to handle money wisely can slow down this treadmill and bartering and horse trading can reverse direction.

As we proceed with this thread into deal making and greater profits, there will be rules to go by but they are all as simple as smart grocery shopping. It doesn’t get complicated and there should be no one who drops out of this journey to financial freedom.

We live in a nation of extreme excess. And this excess merchandise is available for the wise shopper/ barterer/horse trader. Those living in poor countries don’t have the great number of bargains that we do and therefore their opportunities are limited. I have always said that if you can’t succeed in America, you can’t succeed anywhere. It is so easy if we will only try. I should tell you that after you have been deal making a while that you will look back and wonder what you must have been thinking to have allowed yourself to have felt trapped and defeated.

I am most fortunate to have had a mom who bargain hunted. It became a way of life from early on and I have refined and expanded it to all sorts of activities. I grew up from humble beginnings but over the years my parents became like the book, The Millionaire Next Door. I hadn’t really thought about it in this way until now and wanted to share with you that this has been another example of what can be done if we head in the right direction. And the sooner the better.

Gpond, I can tell you that as you begin on this path, your head will spin with all the opportunities you will see out there. From the first sale items you buy, you will feel the liberating effect of taking control over your life. An attitude of bargain hunting, deal making and money saving is one of the few ways to beat the system. The government and marketers aren’t geared for restricting you from using your imagination.

People work for money, people work with money and money works for people. The first is most everybody with a job. I haven’t worked for someone else in 25 years and that was only part time while I grew my own business. The second are the deal makers and small business owners. And the third are wise investors but there are many who lose in the manipulated stock and bond markets. That is why I stay in the second area; I don’t like anyone having control of my future. I take full responsibility for whether I succeed or fail and would have it no other way.

Putting ourselves in a position to blame others for our failure is lame. So many people blame their job or their boss or their circumstances. I guess the saying, “better to live with the devil you know than to take chances with one you don’t“, has been sufficient to prevent many from attaining freedom in their lives. But it is a huge lie. For the chances we take when intelligently considered are affirming in our abilities. This is why I had to begin with the simplest transactions we do on a daily basis. Where we were poorly deal making in the supermarket, we can learn to be wisely deal making and saving money. This is the foundation for what is to come. Can you clip coupons and watch for what is on sale and bulk buy bargains ? It isn’t much different than going out in the used markets for the great bargains offered. There is serious money to be saved as well as made.

I was at a garage sale with my son a while ago and the seller had a car in back that had a sign that said “Free car”. I saw it and asked him why he was giving it away. He said it was in the way and he had lost interest. It is a 1987 VW Scirocco and sitting on my back lot. The body is straight and the interior is perfect. Since I have only the tow bill invested, I will fix it up when I get the time. I also have 3 VW diesel Rabbits that I got for about $200 each. I wish I had 40 or 50 of them. I look into the future and see oil prices going up and while they are down now, I can find these cheap cars that get 50 MPG. I saw a 1982 VW diesel sell on Ebay for $8,000. It was restored. I used to restore Jaguars so this kind of work was in my past experience.

Two points here. If you don’t get out there and beat the bushes, you won’t flush out any deals. You go to the deals, the deals don’t rarely come to you. And with experience, you will be able to undertake repairs on some items that others overlook. I had a neighbor who found antique furniture pieces and fixed them up. She was making a bundle.

As you can see, I am already talking about active deal making and bargain hunting. The grocery shopping is self evident and doesn’t need much further study although it would be nice if some readers would contribute their good finds so that we can all become aware and possibly take advantage ourselves. I was reading on a website the other day that there was a sale for 5 LED flashlights for $5at Home Depot but people were complaining that they couldn’t find any in stock at their local store. I went to my local Home Depot for some other items I needed and there was a pallet load of these flashlights. I wish I had bought more for gifts. They work great.

We are moving on to non store bargains and deal making. It is different in some ways but can be much more rewarding than saving money in stores. What stores charge at retail or even on sale is far beyond what you can find elsewhere. The retail stores are a good price reference when buying used items. A matched pair of couches in my living room that would cost over $600 new were bought for $25 each at a garage sale.

I don’t put money in the bank and get interest that doesn’t even keep up with inflation. That seems crazy to me in the first place. I can have that money in hand to make all kinds of deals. I have furnished my house and business almost entirely with used items, many at 10 percent of new prices.

I feel that money is used for two things. Power over other people or freedom in our own lives. The first is evil and selfish and is populated by vampires. The second is what decent living is about. Money is the life blood flowing through society. It is the intermediary between buyer and seller. But fiat money loses purchasing power through time due the over issuance. The GIM website clearly addresses this in stating that only gold and silver are real wealth. Unbacked fiat currency is just future toilet paper in disguise.

Gotta go now. Wish I could have made the midwest get together.

Best wishes,

agnut


P.S. Ponce says that the garbage dumps of today will be the gold mines of tomorrow especially since oil makes 90 percent of the products we use today.

AgNut - I wasn't gonna add my thanks just because I didn't want to clutter the thread up with thank you's that I know many of us feel for your efforts here. One of my resolutions this year was to 'get cheap' and I'm beating my wife over the head to do the same, so this information is timely and very helpful. But I decided to respond to suggest , and it may sound hokey or something , but you should eventually put all your thoughts, experiences and recommendations together and see if you can't get it published somwhere. Stanley probably just had the same ideas and practices and said , hey why not share it and at the same time get paid for it. Or Kiyosaki , though I didn't believe a lot of his stuff. Sort of an updated and more proactive Millionaire Next Door. You certainly have the expertise and write well enough also. Hey you never know. Be okay to get some royalty checks to supplement the wheeling dealing I guess. Just a thought. Again , thank you.

Even when I was a little kid I was always looking for a way to make a buck. Some of my earliest memories of money making were when I was 7 or 8 years old. My grandmother had horses and had a huge horse pasture across the street from a 18 hole golf course. I would go there a few times a week and search for all the lost golf balls that would fly across the road and into the swampy part of the pasture. It wasnt uncommon for me to find 50 or more golf balls in a single search. I would then bring them in the house and scrub them as clean as I could and head over to the golf course. I had my spot right on the edge of this neat old covered bridge that was part of the course. I remember selling them for .25 to .75 cents depending on the brand and condition. A few hours work (i shouldnt even say work because all i remember of it was fun) and I could make an easy $20 to $50. Thats some serious doe at that age.

I was always a collector of things growing up and would always be on the look out for new additions. My greatest find was when I was 11 years old. I went to my local sports card shop but to my dismay they were closed. Next door was an antique shop so figured what the heck. I was poking around in there when I found a box with about half a dozen comics inside. I knew I had found something special. I asked how much and the guy told me $10 for the bunch of them. I couldnt believe it. There was a Donald Duck from 1938. One of his first's. It actually featured the introduction of huey dewey and louie. I couldnt wait to get home to my price guide. The value ended up varying from $500 to $2800 depending on condition. I ended up selling it for $600. Not bad for an 11 year old huh.

Now on to how I ended up with my first car. Keep in mind that my family was not very well off as far as money went. I knew that if I wanted a car when I turned 16 it was going to take some work. A friend of mine had a 1985 Honda 200x 3 wheeler totally dismantled in about 4 boxes of parts. My cost was $50. It was all there, just needed some cleaning up and some various bearings and a tire. After about a month and another $150 I had a great running, decent looking 3 wheeler. I then found someone who had 1982 volkswagon rabbit with 80k miles and they were asking $600 but I talked them into a trade straight up for the trike. Meanwhile I was 15with no license so the rabbit sat. While I was happy I had a car I wasn't that excited that it was a rabbit. Not exactly a chick magnet. By the time I turned 16 i had managed to trade the rabbit for a vw scirroco that was mint and much "cooler" than the rabbit.

This thread has brought back some great memories for me and helped remind me how I got to where I am today. I look forward to reading more here. Thanks

Here is a newby question. My diet consists of mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, raw. Quality and freshness is an issue. It is not practical to "stock up" beyond a certain level. Any suggestions or ideas to mitigate that lack of opportunity in the grocery store? I suppose we could still use the same principles but only for non-perishables like foot powder, toothpaste, that sort of thing...

__________________
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.

Hiya gpond.

The vast majority of opportunities come from being able to buy right and in scale, which goes against fresh produce. You really only have two options. 1. Learn to can. 2. Eat within the seasons.

At our house, we do both. And we do it because we love to cook (and more importantly, eat).

We are no where near TN Andy's stockpile, but, as an example, when it is tomato season, we buy a few bushel's and make chili sauce, pasta sauce, salsa etc... and put it in the cold cellar. I can buy that bushel for about $8 locally and pick the best from the vendors at the farmers market.

Most rural European's eat with the seasons. If you go to Italy and eat with a local, all the food will consist of pasta, olive oil, possibly some meat (all stored stuff) and whatever is in season. No more than two or three fresh ingredients. But it tastes like heaven.

Start living with the seasons and you can buy the very best, cheap, and enjoy variations of it all year long.

__________________

Hi buff01. It sounds like you know how to get rid of unwanted junk. A good start. As I said, America is a land of extreme excess. People throw away tons of perfectly good items when they could sell them for cash. People also sell used items for less than they are worth. Both of these are opportunities to make and pyramid money yourself.

I know this pyramid word carries ugly connotations of the pyramid schemes we all have heard about through the years. What I write about is more like working with money in order to get a high return in as short a time as possible. And then plowing that profit into more and larger deals. It is an extreme method of getting a high percentage return in a short time period. We are all familiar with the other extreme of putting money in a bank and getting interest that doesn’t even keep up with the ravages of inflation and taxes.

For example, you buy an item for $5 and triple you money when you sell it as Masonic Plot does. And you have done this in a month. That is 200% profit on your investment times 12 months equals 2,400% on a annual basis. You are probably saying to yourself here that a $10 profit in a month is small potatoes but this is only an example of one item at $5 being turned into $15 in a month.

In the deal making world however, the experienced person is turning, for example, a $1,000 investment into $3,000 in a month. Some deals are small and some deals are large but that 200% profit return is the same. As this profit accumulates in 6 months he has $12,000 profit, this person has more money than he can put to work. He can continue making the same profit and there are many doing this as a sideline to supplement wages. Or he could move on to larger deals that yield the same 200% profit.

These larger deals could be cars, boats, art, defunct business inventories, real estate, or any number of big ticket items. Many years ago a business associate told me that it was the same amount of work to make a $10,000 deal as a $100,000 deal. I have learned that this is pretty much true and have looked for the bigger deals when I had the funds available. I once bought an electronic company’s inventory and sold it in a couple of weeks for 20 times what I paid. And I had a lot of shelving and office equipment left over to furnish my expanding business. Another time I bought out a repair shop’s inventory. I also made about 20 times my investment.

These are extreme examples that got 20 times investment. They don’t come along too often but we must be open to their appearance in our search. There are many times the deals that get 100% or thereabouts than there are ones that get 2,000%. In the larger deals, I have learned that 100% is better than making a lot of small deals at 200% because time is money. If I can make one deal that involves my investing $1,000 and nets 100% profit, I will rather do this than to turn 200 $5 different items and net 200% profit. Because time is money and selling 200 items takes much more time than selling one item.

I know this may seem like radical thinking but in order to move on to larger deals, this must be understood. What I am showing is that there is a progression from
1.store bargains to
2.garage, estate and thrift store deals to
3.larger deals

In my opinion this is the safest way to go. It will build a foundation through time that can be relied upon. Jumping to the large deals first without accumulating experience and knowledge of the rules that need to be learned along the way opens one to too many risks.

I have had to think back to the days when I began to see the potential and I have to be honest with you; it came naturally out of necessity. I was in 7th grade and the year was 1959. We were living on a military base far out in the Aleutian islands. My dad ran the repair facility at the airbase. I made money bagging groceries for tips. And we used to take the groceries out to the cars and load them. Little did I know that all the dimes, quarters and half dollar were 90% silver. We never got a half dollar tip as that was a lot of money in those days. A different world then.

I also set pins in a bowling alley. We had two lanes to reset and when someone had to go to the head, we had to set their alleys while they were gone. Imagine yourself a 12 year old setting 4 bowling alleys at a time. And with these big bruiser sailors throwing the ball so hard that we joked that the ball hit the pins before it touched the alley. They came through like a cannon ball and we had to quickly jump behind the wooden stop wall to avoid getting killed. Many pin setters had their fingers split open at one time or other. We got 10 cents a game. At the end of a bowler’s games, he would roll a silver dollar down the alley as a tip if he was happy with our work.

For entertainment I would take the bus up to the rec. center where there were 5 pinball machines. Mid century version of current video games. We would parley a nickel game into 20 games and sell them to the sailors for a dollar. We learned to put our shoes under the front two legs to tilt back the machine to make the balls play slower. Even back then at 12 years old I was looking for an edge.

Additionally, I became the bubble gum salesman in high school. It was a small school; five students graduated that year. My class had 6th and 7th grades taught by one teacher. She would go to one side of the class and give assignments and to the other and give other assignments. Her name was Miss. Witherspoon and she was a strict disciplinarian. She must have loved food as she almost as wide as she was tall. I remember cutting the pockets of my winter coat to hold more packs of bubble gum and cutting out a book to hold additional bubble gum. I would buy this bubble gum by the case for 5 cents per long piece and sell them for 10 cents to students. I guess you could say that I was an early drug dealer; sugar and spice. I got caught a few times and was made to eat a tablespoon of cayenne pepper as punishment. Funny that I only now realized the connection Witherspoon and tablespoon.

And where would I spend my profits ? Well, I loved pizza and I could get a pepperoni pizza for one dollar with as much pepperoni as I wanted. I also bought a Wollensak tape recorder and listened to music and Red Foxx dirty joke tapes.

My dad loved a bargain and would buy these large bottles of soda for a nickel. He also would buy these frozen king crab sections. These things were our after school snacks. When my sisters and I got home from school we would turn on the TV to the only station where it opened with a man with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder. He would sing the song “Yellow Bird”, and off key at that. Looking back, this must have seemed somewhat sadistic to viewers who were watching a tropical paradise on TV while living on an island better described as a deep freezer.

Just before we were transferred there was a sale in the exchange of Wilson first baseman’s gloves that had been erroneously shipped to us in Alaska. Nobody would buy them; playing ball (a white ball, mind you) in ass deep snow didn’t seem like too appealing a sport. In desperation, the exchange kept dropping the price. Finally the price dropped to 25 cents and my dad bought all of them. Our next home was Miami Florida. Alaska to Florida ? Hello ?

The baseball gloves were later sold at a healthy profit. There is a lot more I remember but I shouldn’t bore you with details. Looking back I have a lot of fond and funny memories of the money making thread that ran through my life.

I thought I would write this to show how and when I first began dealing. Anyone can begin when they want. There is no time like right now.

I hope I have answered buff01’s query. Where are the 10, 20, 100 baggers ? They are made by the compounding of the 3, 5 and greater baggers. The 20 baggers aren’t commonly found and the 100 baggers are indeed rare. It is this making deals in short time spans and plowing the profits back in that yields the accumulative 20 and 100 baggers by the time a year has passed. And if you do find a one shot deal 20 or 100 bagger, don’t tell anyone until the deal is over with. You can’t believe the people who get curious when you are kicking some financial butt.

By the way, don’t give up your day job. It will provide you with money for day to day expenses and the money you make in shopping saving and deal making can be put away for future deals and real wealth building aka. Gold and silver. My father, a good old country boy, said to never eat your “seed corn”. Trying full time deal making first is not a good idea until your day job is getting in the way and you really know what you‘re doing. Be patient and build like a pyramid with broad knowledge and experiences at the base. You never saw a pyramid fall over did you ? Or anyone run a plane into it to make it topple.

Best wishes,

Agnut

Hi Magnes. I would like to hear more of your experiences. I also have done trade shows but with all the effort it takes, the return wasn't worth it as much as one on one contacting new accounts. I'm sure trade shows work well for many products, just not mine. There may be several readers here who would want to hear more.

Best wishes,

agnut

Hi momopanda. I noticed that you said, “One of my resolutions this year was to 'get cheap' and I'm beating my wife over the head to do the same, so this information is timely and very helpful.”

I thought that was very interesting. We are taught that getting cheap is somehow low class and denigrating. And who tells us this lie ? The media and those who buy into this falsehood. Our society runs on rampant consumerism. That is why I state that we are a nation of extreme excess. Things, things, things; we are awash in possessions to the point that we ourselves are possessed by our possessions.

Perhaps a better way to think is that you and your wife are “wising up” to the truth and acting on this knowledge. Is it cheap or wise to get the best value for your money ? And therefore next we can turn on those erroneously calling us cheap and translate it to wise instead. Thus, those NOT wisely spending their money are ? (pause here for effect) That’s right, they are stupid !

As soon as your wife begins to see the benefit of wisely buying and later dealing, she will probably be beating you over the head for not making more deals. HaHa Tables can quickly turn. Nothing succeeds like success.

As for a book, I don’t know. I have to give credit to G-Khan, one of the founders of the GIM website, who posted my first writings on another website just before he left to start the one on which you are reading this now. I found his new website and have made it a cozy home since then. My silver musings series is over at the editorial section and I need to update it because some of the more recent articles are not listed there. You might want to read them (if you have that much time and are capable of being that bored). If you do decide to schlepp on over there, look at silver musing VI Think 10 Times. It is particularly germane to this thread. Don’t be a schlemiel any longer. I’m not Jewish but love slanging words around.

I suppose that many people feel that they have a book in them that wants to get out. I have a few in mind myself but there is no guarantee that they would ever be published. I have had a few others who have encouraged me to write a book and one who even offered to handle the publishing. If I could be guaranteed that it would be financially worthwhile, I would do it.

In my post to buff01 I wrote about some of my past with you in mind. I have had a pretty colorful life. However, I feel that at the heart of writing something that others would want to read is how we perceive what we go through. I guess this is what is called a writing style. I see myself as a cross between an Irma Bombeck in drag and a Mogambo Guru wannabe. My writing seems to write itself and I am just along for the ride, stream of consciousness. Problem is, I have to focus on the subject at hand and continually beat down the other thoughts that are fighting for first place.

Best wishes and thanks for your post,

agnut

P.S. Hey ! I just thought of a title for my book, "That Cheap Bastard Next Door". An autobiography of course.

Great thread.

I was about to start a new one, but I think this is on topic!

I live in London, and have a market in Eastern Europe for radar detectors.

They need to be new, and shipped to London for me to distribute.

If anyone can get me these at a good price please send me a PM and we can discuss models and money.

Cheers all,

C.

Thanks for the post RichyRich. Many seasoned deal makers began when young. And the desire to have money for things wanted was a strong motivator. If a child is handed everything he wants, he has no incentive to get out there and beat the bushes. I think one of the best lessons for our children is to teach them these deal making skills. Both of my sons have years of experience in this deal making. When I see what they have bought or sold, I can’t help but feel proud. They will have a lifetime of opportunities that many others will never understand.

When you found those old Donald Duck comic books you were on the search for unrecognized value. This is at the heart of deal making. You didn’t just go home because the sports card shop was closed but instead looked through the nearby antique store. It is funny but this seemingly serendipitous activity often yields some screaming deals.

You won’t find a bear with his paw poised to scoop up salmon in a dry wash in the Arizona desert. He is doing the right thing but in the wrong place. It was fortunate for you RichyRich that the sports card shop was closed. There are few if any screaming deals to be made with a knowledgeable professional seller.

The mind of the deal maker is like a calculator that figures the buy cost, the sell price, the time involved and the expenses in moving the items and storage. The bottom line is the net profit. He also considers the worst possible case as to how his deal can go wrong. This is a characteristic of wealthy people who have made their fortune themselves rather than inherited it or won the lottery.

I remember when I was first married and living in a converted warehouse in Meadville, Pennsylvania. It was about an hour drive south of Erie. My landlord had the wholesale distributorship for candy and cigarettes for the surrounding area His warehouse had forklifts busily loading semi trucks. He had his own airstrip with a twin engine Cessna and a hangar. This was back in 1971 when millionaires weren’t a dime a dozen. He took me on a tour of his warehouse and one thing he said stuck in my mind. He said that it was easier to have made his fortune than to keep it. In later years I found this to be all too true.

The Millionaire Next Door and the sequel, The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley, PHD are great books to have in anyone’s library who wants to make AND keep their wealth.

ABEBooks.com has The Millionaire Mind from $1.15 used and The Millionaire Next Door from $2.04 used. A good place to find cheap books as well as rare books. I also use them for price and availability reference when buying old books.

On pages 366 and 367 of The Millionaire Mind are charts of how millionaires spend their lifestyle activities in 27 categories in order of ranking. The first and second involve socializing with children/grandchildren (93 percent) and entertaining close friends (88 percent). Also high on the list are planning and studying investments. Eating at McDonalds or Burger King and shopping at Wal Mart, K Mart, Sears and Penneys are also a considerable part of their lifestyle. 22 percent shop on the internet, 19 percent shop at Brooks Brothers and 26 percent shop at Saks Fifth Avenue.

Their first priorities are family and close friends. And many shop at the discount stores. I was at first surprised to find that some shopped at the upscale stores until I realized that they probably buy from the bargain rack and hit the sales. Quality clothing, unlike household items, is worn out there for everyone to see. Image is important in the types of dealings in which many of them engage.

In my own case, I have several pairs of Bally shoes of which some retailed for $400 but I bought them for as little as $40 on a clearance sale at an outlet mall. These quality shoes will probably last me a lifetime. My first pair I bought about 25 years ago and I still wear them. At the same outlet mall I bought 10 high quality flannel shirts that had been $40 retail and were marked down to $3.60. Why were they so cheap ? It was early summer and nobody wanted winter clothing going into the summer months. I still wear them and they are 15 years old now. Sometimes buying quality is the best bargain out there. Don’t assume that the best bargains are at the Wal Marts or K Marts. Bargains will be where you find them.

We will get to studying cars but first we need to discuss garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores. For most people cars are the second biggest expense, after housing. Cars don’t have to be with the knowledge that can be learned on this thread. This is a favorite topic since it has been my career for 35 years. There is so much money to be saved as well as made that it deserves as complete a study as possible.

Best wishes,

agnut

Goes to the old saying, it is not what you make, it is what you spend.

__________________

Hi CJul. I have private messaged you with a few questions.

If all this is legal, there may be some good money to be made if there are mass numbers involved.

You reminded me of a time about 35 years ago when I lived in Erie Pennsylvania. I was in management training at W.T.Grant, a chain retailer like Penneys or Sears. I often ate lunch at an oriental restaurant named Chai”s Bali Hai. The owner would talk to me over lunch sometimes and he was actually rich and retired. He said he had the restaurant to give him something to do. It seems that he had been the first importer of real hair wigs from the orient and that was the source of his wealth. I can still remember Chai strolling through his restaurant, talking to customers. He had arrived to the place where he could do what he wanted. He had made his fortune AND was smart enough to be able to hold onto it. All it took was one good large deal and he was set for life.

As I wrote previously, making a fortune is one thing. Hanging onto it is completely another. That is why I have recommended the books, The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind, both by Thomas Stanley. They are available used as low as a couple of bucks each plus shipping from ABEbooks.com. They have 45 million books available. Amazon books is also good. If you buy books, this information alone should be worth a lot of savings.

Whether we get our deal making knowledge from books, advisors or an internet thread such as this one, we must move on to gaining experience out there in the real world. I have begun readers with small steps first, saving money by wisely purchasing. Garage sale, estate sales, and thrift stores are bigger steps. With the experience gained there, it is easy to move on to larger deal making.

In later years, I personally learned that to be the first to provide a product could be immensely profitable. No competition and selling price at what the market would bear. Of course, there is a limited time to take advantage of this until someone does the “monkey see monkey do” and drives prices down. Strike while the iron is hot is an appropriate axiom.

An old friend told me of an acquaintance who was a retired Harvard business school professor. I could have a meeting with him for $50. This was in the late 1970s. This friend and I went over to his home high on a hill overlooking the ocean with one of those million dollar views (probably a $100,000 view in those days but you know inflation). I paid him in advance, cash of course. What he advised me was to not think of a market in my town or a market in my county or a market in my state or a market in my country but a worldwide market. He purposely phrased it this way to watch how I absorbed this information. Looking back on how he advised me, I can now see his educating style was to speak and then watch for signs of his students’ “ah so” reaction. He was watching for feedback before he proceeded further. A great teacher. The best fifty bucks I ever spent.

Years later I put that knowledge to work when I was shipping goods all over the world. This was before the internet and advertising in trade magazines was the most effective way to offer my goods. With the internet now being global, I believe that all markets can more easily be reached.

I have been thinking of a new product that could go worldwide but I have to develop it first. I will let you know if it is successful afterwards. At this point I don’t even know if there will be a large demand for it but think it is worth a try. Did you think I would tell you what it is now ? Do I look crazy ? A new product has to be developed in secrecy and marketed on a large scale before the competition catches on. Even patented products are not safe from someone altering the product 10 percent and getting their own patent and putting someone out of business before they could recoup their investment.

This also applies to used items where you may be picking up local bargains and reselling them to a wider market like on Ebay or auction houses. You should play your cards close to your chest. Tell no one of your deal making unless you want the competition.

This will be covered later in the larger deal making; I call it brokering items.

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. Anybody think there may be a demand for early computers in the collectable market ? If not now, perhaps after most of them have been tossed in the trash bin and the remaining ones become rare. Just a thought. This is part and parcel of used items; as they become outmoded and discarded, people look back to their early days and yearn for the feeling they had which were associated with these now outmoded items.

I saw this happen years ago when the model A Fords were restored and in demand. But as the years passed, the people who had driven these cars in their youth got older and no longer yearned. So guess what ? There became a surplus of this vintage of cars and the price dropped. Supply and demand in action. There was also a surge of demand for 1950s cars a while back and I expect it is in the process of fading as buyers age. I see a current demand for the muscle cars of the 60s and early 70s. It too will probably fade in time. I write this to give you a perspective that things have different demands and values through time.

Baseball trading cards, Barbie dolls, Jim Beam bottles and other collectibles can also rise, peak and fall through time. The bottom line if you are going to deal in this type of item is to know where the demand is on its time line.

The thread is moving along nicely and I am really enjoying all of the new ideas people are offering.

One of the things that works to my advantage is that I live close to the Mexican border. Every Friday morning around 9 am many, many deal making people from Mexico arrive at the local swap meet here looking to fill up their vans with goods to take back and sell in Mexico. I can pull up at 9 am and be out of there before 2 pm. The swap meet doesnt even open until 4 pm and I am out of there, paid no fee, and ive tripled my money or more.

Some more good examples of products that make me money:

Your average joe 6 pack has just went out and bought himself a shiney new set of cordless power tools, drills, saws, sander the whole works. Probably dropped 500 bucks on the junk. When he has a yard sale he wants to get rid of the old power tools because he doesnt need them anymore. Drill? Take it for 3 bucks. Saw? You can have that for 2 bucks. You get the idea. I can take these power tools, good power tools, not this cheap cordless stuff you see at walmart, and resell them to the Mexican dealers for 30 bucks each. That is making money. Those people in Mexico are glad to have them.

Also, everyone is upgrading to the new fancy flat screen TVs, DVDs, CD players etc and they are basically GIVING AWAY their old TVs, their old VCRS, their old cassette boom boxes, STILL very good quality high end stuff, going for a 5-10 dollars at a yard sale. Poor Mexican people still use VCRS, cassette players etc. They appreciate them. I can get 10 dollars for a working VCR that someone gave to me for 2 dollars because they got a new DVD player. I can get 40 dollars for a small TV set that someone sold me at a yard sale for 10 dollars because they got a new 1500 dollar flat screen. People who go to swap meets appreciate things like that, they dont need the fancy stuff, as long as it works. One rule I have is that I never sell ANYTHING that doesnt work properly. I keep a good reputation and I am not out there to RIP PEOPLE OFF. I am out there to gather up GOOD quality working products and bring them to the swap meet for the buyer who doesnt have time to drive around the city going to yard sales and simply cant afford to buy new. I provide a service. I am not taking money from anyone in a dishonest manner, I do the leg work and they get a decent product out of it. Always be honest with people, never try and rip them off or get more than what your product is worth. If you do this people will come back for more and you will build their trust. Your reputation is everything in the deal making world. There is nothing I dislike more than con artists and scammers trying to make a buck off people in a dishonest way. It gives us all a bad name.

Another excellent product is camping stuff. Families love to go camping but generally the types of families who do camp are not always real well off financially. I buy tents and sleeping bags and lanterns and fishing poles and fishing gear etc at yard sales real cheap, practically given away and I clean them up real nice, put some new line in the reel, wash the sleeping bags, make sure the tents are in sound order and I will sell them to families who cant afford to go to walmart and drop 500 bucks on a weekend camping trip. This makes them happy and it makes me enough money to maintian my freedom and sanity. Everyone comes out a winner. There is nothing dishonest about it. Its freedom and it is, above all, sane.

Of course there are many more products that make me money and I will be adding more to the thread as time permits.

These are just a few more examples of my own exeriences in the deal making world. Keep your ideas coming, I for one really appreciate any and all new ideas on how we can all stay free and live our lives in accord with our own principles and not those the society forces on us.

[QUOTE=Masonic Plot;482636
These are just a few more examples of my own exeriences in the deal making world. Keep your ideas coming, I for one really appreciate any and all new ideas on how we can all stay free and live our lives in accord with our own principles and not those the society forces on us.[/QUOTE]

Excellent stuff, keep it coming!!!!

This is an amazing thread. I have learned a tremendous amount about a way of life I am hoping to lead. I am getting married in June and have been trying to impart many of these ideals on the fiance. I have one big question though: How do you guys find a makret for the stuff you buy? This has always been my problem. I can find the deals, but finding a buyer has been difficult if not impossible. I am currently in the NY area and you wouldnt believe the stuff that people pracically throw away. but, I have found it exceddingly difficult to ove any of the items I acquire. Thanks in advance for any adivce you guys might have.

Ryan

Hi Masonic Plot. Keep up the great posts. Readers are encouraged when they see that others are making a contented living in bartering and horse trading. Rather than respond right away, I let your post sit for a while so that readers would better absorb your meaty message.

It sounds like you have a good niche market there with being near the Mexican border. And you know what is a fair price for your goods so that they keep coming back for more as well as telling their friends.

The best advertising is a happy customer.

Honesty is not only the best policy; it is the ONLY policy. There will be an occasional dissatisfied buyer but they must be made happy no matter who is in the wrong.

We sellers have to play the odds. There may be one in a hundred buyers who have to be satisfied by giving them the money back or a replacement. That is 1 percent for crying out loud ! And on top of that, the faulty item only cost you a third of that. So you lost one third of a percent of all your dealings. Big whoop.

And what was your cost ? A little effort and maybe a few bucks that should be calculated as part of the cost of doing business anyway.

And what have you gained ? A clear conscience and a happy customer who will be back for more since he now knows that he is more important to you than money.

Warrantees should be cheerfully satisfied or money refunded if necessary.

I began in automotive mechanics 35 years ago and have only been in litigation one time and the judge laughed it out of court. I know of several mechanics and shop owners who were regular defendants, year in and year out.

So why was I hardly ever in court ?

There is a customer technique that I discovered which has worked every time.

If there is a line of bottles on a fence and I am on one side shooting them with another person shooting them from the other side, everybody gets caught in the crossfire. The thing I do is to get on the same side. I don’t make him come to my side, I go to his side and join him. It is a mental image and it also works in all sorts of interpersonal relationships including marriage.

If a customer had had his car repaired by my shop and he came back upset, I would talk in a low, calm voice. First thing I would tell him is that whatever the problem is, it will be fixed. Next I would take him out to his car and ask him to show me the problem. No one can continue to lose their temper while telling of a problem that he knows will be fixed, so this has a tranquilizing effect. I would understand the problem and tell him that I was sorry for the inconvenience and would fix it right away. If it couldn’t be fixed on the spot, I would loan him one of my cars until we completed the repairs. I told him that it would cost him nothing.

I’m there to serve my customers and what success I have in business is a result of satisfying their needs. I see myself as a presenter rather than a salesman. A good item will sell itself.

“Your reputation is everything in the deal making world.” That’s so true. Buyers want to be treated fairly and with dignity. Actually, a couple of lifetime friendships began with repairing their cars. The first time we became best friends for 21 years until he passed away. The second best friend I have known for 25 years and still counting. So you see, there are some benefits that fill the heart more than any vault. I have heard it said that the best way to have a friend is to first be a friend.

This may sound a bit crazy but when I am buying or selling I will try to keep it light and make a few jokes about something or tell a story. I get to know the other person without prying into his life. I ask the other person questions that are appropriate to the situation.

The world of deal making can be fun if you will go into it with the right attitude. I remember seeing James Galway on the Tonight Show many years ago. He is one of the best flute players in the world. He showed his specialty which was accompanying himself with two flutes played at the same time, an amazing feat. Johnny Carson asked him something about how long he had been working in music. And he replied, “Well Johnny, where I come from in Ireland, if you are doing what you really love, it is not considered work”. Time seemed to stand still as the audience absorbed this simple but profound truth.

Most people work at regular jobs. Many feel trapped by their need to get that steady paycheck. I’m not proposing that readers quit their jobs but instead to look for the opportunities in both saving and making additional money. They can begin with wise buying and can go as far as they feel comfortable in deal making. This can be a healthy escape valve from the pressures of a regular job. Full time deal making is not for everyone but part time deal making can be done when the mood strikes. It gives one a sense of control in ones life.

Just from what you have written Masonic Plot, I can tell that you really love this dealing with others. I bet that you don’t have to drag yourself out of bed in the morning, but instead are looking forward to the opportunities/adventures that lie ahead.

Through the years I have spoken with many regular sellers at swap meets and they all had about the same attitude of being at peace with themselves. It didn’t matter whether they were selling clothes, antiques, toys, tools, etc. They were out in the fresh air amidst all the hustle and bustle. It was invigorating to be a part of the action.

Bazaars or fairs have been an integral part of mankind’s prosperity for thousands of years. Today we have swap meets where anyone with a dream can start with a minimum investment.

Unless you make the decision to head somewhere, you will go nowhere.

Life is an unending school. Failure is in not trying and learning.

Best wishes,

agnut

Hi Ryan. I will do my best to address your question of finding buyers but first I must cover some other aspects of deal making. The parameters in which we must work in order to maximize profit return percentages in the long haul.

It depends on what the item is. If it is large and heavy like a metal working lathe, it may be best to sell it as locally as possible.

I will use this lathe as an example of how to deal with one type of item, the big beast. It could be a car, a boat or anything large or heavy that cannot be shipped at a low cost. A distant buyer with a brain in his head will include shipping cost as part of his total cost and therefore you as the seller do not get this calculated shipping cost. But if the item can be sold to a distant buyer for a price that is significantly higher than what you can sell it for locally, it would be to your benefit to expose your item to a broad market.

Additionally, a big item shipped to a distant buyer is often sold as sight unseen and is therefore subject to buyer complaint as to its condition. Then you may have a problem, a big distantly shipped item of which the buyer wants an adjustment or heaven forbid, a return !

All of this must be considered as part of your investment in both time and money. In my experience, large dollar sale items which often include these heavy beast items will not give the multiple return profits of smaller items. In other words, it is hard to sell a lathe for 3 or more times what you paid. It does happen but if you have bought a lathe for $1,000, you may only be able to sell it for $2,000. A 1 times profit of 100%. This is nothing to sneeze at as long as you can tie up the money for what may require a longer time to get your sale transacted. One of the objectives of deal making is to have your items sell as quickly as possible. Turnaround to where you can move on to the next item should not be ignored.

It all boils down to what you bought the item for and what you can sell it for in a reasonable period of time. For TIME IS MONEY. At an extreme, say you bought 5 items and had all of your money tied up for a year. You doubled your money at the end of that year. Meanwhile, you didn’t have use of your investment money so that you could take advantage of other deals that appeared. Deals that may have been even better than the ones you had bought. I believe it is what accountants call “lost opportunity cost“. I use this term in deal making all the time. I have doubled my money in as little as an hour.

This consideration of time needed in completing a deal is a crucial factor in pyramiding a small amount of money into a fortune. It would be better to sell the $1,000 lathe for $1,500 if it could be sold immediately rather than to try to get a full boat price of $2,000 and take a year to find a buyer. Again, TIME IS MONEY ! I cannot emphasize this enough. An oversimplified example follows that shows the power of compounding deal making profits :

Start January 1 with $10,000

Buy 10 items at $1,000 each and sell them within a month at $1,500 each.

At end of first month, have $15,000. Buy 15 items and sell them within a month at $1,500 each.

Now at end of February, you have $22,500. You buy 22 ½ items for$1,000 each and sell them again for the 50% profit at $1.500 each rather than 100% which you calculate would take much more time.

Now at the end of March you have $33,750. You continue with this through the year until December 31. Here are the monthly amounts you pyramid :

End of April $50,625

End of May $75,937

End of June $113,906

End of July $170,859

End of August $256,289

End of September $384, 434

End of October $576, 650

End of November $864, 975

End of December $1, 297, 463

This is only an example of what theoretically can be accomplished in a year if you could find deals that you could turn within a month for a 50% profit rather that hold them for an extended period of time in trying to get maximum price of a 100% profit.

I’m not implying that you are buying and selling almost 865 $1,000 items in November in order to get to the OVER ONE AND A QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS PROFIT by December 31. You would be limited by your ability to find this many deals within a month as well as have the time to sell this many items within the same month.

So what is the answer ? As I wrote before, a deal for $1,000 can be the same work as a $10,000 deal that also can be the same work as a $100,000 deal. An example may be buying a yacht or exotic car at a bargain price and selling it quickly for a 50% profit. I have done it and had a neighbor who did it with restored classic cars.

Somewhere along this 12 month timeline you should move to larger dollar deals in order to reduce the quantity of monthly deals. Or you are going to be running yourself ragged.

There is a balance here that only you can determine as you go through your deal making process. Hand in hand with this time consideration is if you have other similar deals out there that can be bought for a 50% profit. I wrote this to illustrate that you don’t have to try to triple or better your money. These high percentage return deals do come along but you don’t have to depend on them for pyramiding a fortune.

About this time I can sense some skepticism from you readers. You are probably thinking, “Well, I have read enough and it is time to call in the white coat boys to haul agnut off to the funny farm.”

The point is, I have done it and seen others do it. It is not rocket science and only requires common sense and a desire for financial freedom.

I have made deals that made 20 times investment in a month and others that made 7 times investment every month for an extended period of time. As I said, these high return deals don’t come along often. But you should be made aware that they do exist and always be on the lookout for them as you pyramid your money at a sustainable percentage of 50%.

What I have explained here is a little known but immensely powerful secret of wealth building. It is turning compound interest to your benefit.

You may ask, “Yeah but what about the taxes I will have to pay ?”

Who cares what the taxes are on $1.3 million dollars ? Aren’t you left with almost a million dollars after taxes ?

Right now I am waiting for a warehouse to become available. The rent is dirt cheap and I anticipate the future need. I am at a different stage than most of you who are reading this and this is a big leap to those just beginning. I also may have to buy a big truck or trailer to haul the items.

Companies that go out of business will often sell their remaining inventory just to be rid of it. Storage space will be needed as well as a way to move the items. A U Haul rental truck may suffice for a while. Just don’t bite off more than you can chew.

I have tried to progress with this thread from a small beginning to great opportunities. I am probably getting ahead of myself in relating where all this deal making can ultimately end up but I think it is important for you to be aware of the whole enchilada.

Instead of saying, “this looks like a pipe dream”, you should be saying, “Why not me ?”

If you can save money buying groceries by wise buying, you have the first part understood. Second comes the wise buying with a profitable sale in mind. You can start this with garage sale items or things you find in searching around through the papers or thrift stores. With the accumulated capital, the third step is to find larger items to sell quickly at a reasonable profit percentage return.

You can stop on this progression any time you want. Masonic Plot makes a comfortable living in dealing at swap meets. The further possibilities I have shown in this post are for those who want to go all the way.

And now I finally (good Lord, I thought he was never get to the question asked in the first place) will attempt to give some places where bargain items may be sold.



But let’s start with the items you bought in the first place Ryan. What are they and what did you pay ? Are they small items that can be easily shipped. Or do you have a garage full of 400 pound antique credenzas ?

Have you researched what these items sell for in a worldwide market as well as what you could easily sell at a local swap meet or your own garage sale ? Ebay auctions can give some good indicators of the going price as well as the number of bidders (interest in the item in question). The newspaper classifieds and Craigslist.com can further fill you in.

Do the items you bought need repair work or at least cleaning them up ? Both of these require time and money.

Do you see the line of thinking here ? Before buying an item, it is best to know its potential. If you bought old jazz records from someone and knew what they were selling for on Ebay, you would know what you should have paid for them. This is an oversimplification but most items for resale are bought with this preparation. However I have bought a multitude of items that I wasn’t sure what they were worth. I just had a gut feeling. This is something that you will develop over time. Not bragging but I have never lost money when listening to this gut feeling. I have to admit that I am like a kid in a candy store when going to garage sales.

There is an old saying that “If it looks too good to be true, it usually is”. I hope most everyone continues to believe this as I don’t need the competition. I study every deal individually on its own merits and dive into deals that others have rejected. In fact these type of deals can be more negotiable on the buying price because others have passed them up and the seller may be uncertain if he can even get rid of the item at any price. And guess who is there to relieve him of his burden ? Me !

Twenty fishing rods with reels for $20 sounds too good to be true. Five new Hermes French silk ties for $2 each sounds too good to be true. I didn’t know what they were worth exactly but trusted my gut instinct. I just knew that I couldn’t lose and had a good potential for gain. The fishing items are for accumulating for future garage sales. The ties will sell on Ebay. I have seen new ties sell for as much as $120 each but would be happy with anything over $15 each. At least a 650% profit. Lost of wiggle room there for pleasant surprises to the upside. I put a painting on Ebay that I had earlier bought for $75 and put a reserve of $150. It sold for $510 !

I have been buying and selling on Ebay for several years. It is a great place to find things I need as well as a place to sell many items. I have rarely had any problems. Nothing is perfect but Ebay gets a big two thumbs up from me. So don’t be afraid to open an Ebay account to get your feet wet. There is a learning curve in selling effectively on Ebay and you must be patient with yourself.

Some time should be spent studying this Ebay phenomenon as it can be a major source of receiving the best price for an item.

It may be best to find a few specialties and focus here first. After having gained confidence, you could go as crazy as I am and buy anything that looks like a screaming steal. I accumulate these smaller items until I have enough for a big fat garage sale. Items that are worth enough I sell on Ebay.

And never, never, never feel that you are somehow cheating a seller. You have negotiated the price freely without duress. The seller will determine what he wants and what he will accept as his lowest price. He might have an item for $100 that you know you can sell slow for $200 and fast for $150 and you offer him $50 for it and he will immediately agree to let you have it. You may feel some regret for not having offered $20 instead. He might have accepted. But you might also piss him off and he won’t want anything to do with you after that. There is no need to get greedy in the above example; you were figuring to sell the item fast for $150 anyway and his letting you have it for $50 gives you a 200% profit, twice what you had planned.

There is the old used car saying that you make your money buying the car, not selling it. But if you offer too little and squash the deal, you don’t have the car to sell. So there is a limit to what you can offer to a seller. It is a matter of judgment and it varies greatly.

I hope that others will chime in here and add their experiences and wisdom. I am not a know it all, just someone who has learned through walking the walk and not just talking the talk. What’s that saying ? Money talks but bullshit walks. Deal making is another walk entirely but I won’t guarantee that you won’t occasionally get some poo on your shoes. For as they say, experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you were after.

This experience is gold (silver is better) and should be appreciated and added to your wisdom in deal making. Haven’t you noticed that young wise people are rare ? If I can teach this to my young sons, they will be on the road at an early age toward wise buying and selling. I will be 60 next month and I wish I had the experience in my youth that I have accumulated. As I keep saying TIME IS MONEY and there is no time to start like right now. To tarry even for a month can have an enormous impact on the final amount accumulated.

I began this thread three weeks ago. Has anyone saved any money or made any deals yet ? I don’t care if it is a can of beans on sale or a used car bargain, the principle is the same. Making money work for you instead of just working for money.

Best wishes,

agnut

Agnut and others,

I think it would be enormously helpful to possibly lay out where one can find such things as estate sales, repo sales, out-of-business, auctions, etc.

From my experience, finding the cheap items for resale is far more difficult than selling them. Oftentimes it also takes some inside information as well.

Specifics or anecdotes with some detail would be very helpful as well.

Thanks again for the great advice and info.

__________________
"Belief is the wound that knowledge heals."
- Ursula K. LeGuin

I can chime in on this one.

One source of interesting stuff I have found in the past are restaurant auctions. It is amazing what they have, and occassionally, how cheap it goes for. Over the years I have went to many and found the same group of buyers at each one. However, if you are buying for yourself or have an idea for a market on some items, you can do pretty well.

My very best score was from an old grocery store that went out of business. I bought a 40" x 30" x 16" deep hard rock maple butcher block that is now my kitchen island. Grand total cost - $25 plus a beer for my buddy with the pickup truck.

Spend a little time at different kinds of auctions and find out what is generally available and if you can see an outside market for them. It is a bit of an adventure, usually entertaining, and can be profitable.

Happy hunting.

__________________

Thanks for the reply agnut. buff01, that surprises me. I usually find it much easier to buy the deals than sell. Although, I solved a portion of my problem today. I found a guy that has little to no capital and no experince buying, but that can sell anythingg to anyone. Just that personality type. so, he has started to sell my stuff for me and take a cut. Soon, he will be buying from me and reselling. This allows me to focus on what I do best. BTW, a little off topic, but does anyone have a market for pashmina scarves? There is a glut of them locally and can be had very cheap. I think this board could become a great way to get items to the right resaler to make a tidy profit for those involved. If anyone is interested in something like this send me a PM. Anyways, I implore all to keep posting to this thread so that I and others may learn and earn from your experience. Thanks again.

Ryan

Just a short message to look at this article, The Majority, by Don Stott. Some things to think about.

http://www.gold-eagle.com/gold_diges...t020107pv.html

Best wishes to fellow minority members,

Agnut

P.S. If you don’t think for yourself, there is always someone who will do it for you. This article ties in with the topic of this thread; taking control of our financial lives.

Good morning all. So anybody find any deals last weekend ?

My son and I went to two garage sales and an estate sale. We got 8 prerecorded audio cassettes for 25 cents each. I wanted them for music at my workshop. I can sell them for 50 cents or more at a garage sale. Not a big deal but the principle of buying cheap and selling for more applies even in the smallest purchases.

The second garage sale we bought two backpacks for $5 each. One was a Kelty, a top brand and the other was a lesser quality but in new condition. I have been looking for a couple of bugout bags and these are just what I wanted. I can sell them for more but I need them more than the profit potential.

The third was advertised as a garage sale but when we got there it became apparent that it was actually an estate sale. This is where deal makers can find some of these estate sales; they are advertised as garage sales. Sometimes the newspaper ad will give some clue as to what is really going on. I have gone to several garage sales that were actually estate sales for a relative who had passed away and the family was liquidating items rather than taking them to the dump or donating them to charity. These have often had some of the best items. In this estate sale we found a group of 7 American metalworking punches, a medium crowbar, a Nicholson file and handle and a large bag of steel wool. Total price was $2. New price would have been about $70. Probably more. And don’t forget that there was no sales tax on the $2 purchase whereas if I had bought the items new I would have paid 8% which is $5.60 on top of the $70 or so new price. These items are older when high quality was the accepted norm, not like the foreign junk we see today. To find their relative new price, they may be found in some hardware stores and tool trucks. And most definitely not at Wally World. Sure the 7 I bought had some surface rust on them but the new ones in the stores will also have surface rust as soon as you have them for a while.

So I spent a total of $14 at the three garage sales. Big whoop. But there is more to this than meets the eye.

At the first garage sale I asked if there were any vinyl records and one lady said that her son was supposed to bring over several boxes and didn’t. I got her phone number and may go to her house where I can go through her collection. I may also ask what else she has for sale.

At the second garage sale I missed a nice boat and trailer with a 40 HP motor for $500. It would sell for $1500 to $1800. Someone beat me to it by 5 minutes. A good lesson here to hit the garage sales as early as possible. Be there when they open or a bit before they open and the best deals are still available. I asked what else they had for sale and he took me behind the fence where he had a 5’ X 8” trailer that he wanted $300 and would sell for $200. I also got his phone number for later.

At the third garage sale that was actually an estate sale I looked at all of the hundreds of odds and ends. There were a lot of hand tools and many glass jars full of screws and hardware. He just wanted to get rid of as much as possible and would let large quantities go for practically nothing. I may go back for a truck load later. Of course I got his phone number. He is a car nut as I am and we talked for a while as I learned of what he had. An antique VW convertible with only 60K miles on it. It was unrestored and he wanted to bring it up to where he could use it as a daily driver. If I have a chance I may be able to guide him to selling it and getting a later more reliable model. Some things are not for sale but there is no harm in helping others when possible. And who knows, he might even become a friend down the road. I also gave him my phone number and offered to help him since I have owned so many VWs and worked on them for the past 30+ years. He told me of a Jaguar XJ12 that was sitting in someone’s back yard. He said that I could have it for free if I would haul it away. I went over and looked at it and the body was straight with a reasonably clean interior. I may get it if it is worth the time to take it apart. The V12 engine isn’t worth much as far as I know but the rest may get a thousand or two for parts. He also knows where there are some cheap VW diesel cars needing repair, something that I am always looking for.

Beginning to see how garage sales can be more than they appear ?

Ask questions and take numbers and doors will open that other buyers miss the opportunity. After all, you are at a garage sale and the folks there are willing sellers. What do they have to sell that IS NOT there ? Some of my best deals have been by this method of talking to the sellers and meeting them later. Additionally, you are in a better position on a one to one with the seller rather than with a lot of other potential buyers swirling around at their garage sale.

By the way I communicate with sellers I am networking, building a base of people I can deal with later. Also I am asking about what I want the most. I often offer a finders fee if they know of something that I later buy. Believe me, this is money well spent. Using others eyes and ears opens possibilities that I would have never known about.

Cash talks; don’t use checks. Sellers eyes light up with cash; the deal is complete in their eyes and they will be more negotiable with cash, especially larger sales.

Gotta go build some transmissions and tear some cars apart.

Best wishes,

agnut

AgNut, I forgot all about this. Anyhow, here is the Tony Romas Rib recipes.


Tony Roma Ribs

Great way to cook them at home.

Preheat oven to 300 F.
Tear off aluminum foil roughly 6 inches longer than racks.
Coat ribs back and front with barbecue sauce wrap tightly in foil.
Cook 2 - 2 1/2 hours or until you see the meat shrinking back from the ends of the bone by 1/2 inch.
Long cooking time ensures meat will be tender and fall off the bone.
Toward end of cooking time get your barbecue ready.
Remove ribs from foil and coat with more sauce.
Grill the ribs 2-4 minutes each side. or just til seeing several spots of charred sauce.

Note: Marinating ribs in sauce 24 hours before cooking if you have time is extraordinary

Sauce

Original Barbecue

1 cup ketchup 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vinegar 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup dark corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco pepper sauce

4 lbs. ribs

Combine all ingredients in saucepan over high heat. Whisk blend until smooth.
When mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered.
In 30-45 minutes, when the mixture thickens, remove from heat.
Thicker sauce, heat it longer. If you make too thick, thin with more vinegar.



Carolina Honeys

1 cup ketchup 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vinegar 1/4 teaspoon garlic
1/2 cup molasses 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup honey 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Prepare same as above


Red Hots

1 cup ketchup 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vinegar 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup dark corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons molasses 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
1 teaspoon liquid smoke 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 tablespoon finely diced 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
red bell pepper 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons sugar

Prepare same as above

__________________
Silver is the clear leader.:D jmo
Determination will take you from the outhouse to the penthouse...........

AGNUT,

What's your interest in vinyl? Do you prefer the analog sound or do have a market for it? I have alot from my collection in the 70's and 80's. Alot of early stuff too, i.e. 60's, but can't find any interest in it. I also have more than a few 78's.

Mike