OP -- I do what you do, except with vintage furniture. The ROI is much higher (if you know what era and what to look for), although you'd need some kind of transport and storage.

And obv you owe your friend nothing.

How did you get into that line of business? How often do you find vintage furniture worth anything? What's your best find? Are you strictly furniture or do you pick up other random stuff if recognize a good deal?

OP sounds like a freak and a very weird dude

The other friend's position hasn't fully been explained. If he didn't want to take the big $20 punt that's his fault. The fact that it was an option makes it bad business proposition that probably shows that the partner really was freerolling.

Got into it same way you did. Started with FBA and also flipping stuff on ebay like shoes etc. Realized that it took a lot of time to accumulate money that way. Started flipping bigger furniture after I realized that there's a whole world of collectors out there.

I also sell random homegoods from the same era (Mirrors, pottery, dinnerware, barware, etc).

Best finds:

Rosewood desk worth 2-4k for 12.99

Dresser set worth 4500 for $350


I find stuff nearly every day. I pass up a lot of free money because it's just not worth my time to grab 100 dollar flips etc. I work full time, so I only go after the highest ROI stuff.

I'd also make more money if I didn't fall in love with what I sell. I'm now a collector too.

I don’t think you owe

You took a gamble here and it paid off. You could have easily ended up with $20 of junk / hard to move items.

Friend presumably had a chance to get in on half of this lot for $10 and passed


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Was the desk worth $2,000 or $4,000?

Interesting in more furniture stuff! What era! Who are the collectors typically? What do you look for? How do you deal with S&H? Are there any holy Grail pieces?

I sell mid century modern (So roughly 1948-1969), as well as some 1970s.

Who are the collectors? Do you mean who is a typical collector? Well, the space is dominated by people in my age group I'd say. Mid century stuff is hugely popular among people in their late 20s thru late 40s.

What I look for is a tough question. Stuff I know that will sell. After you've been doing this for awhile, you start to get an eye for what works and what doesn't.

I also obviously look for the high end designer pieces, but they're few and far between (Designers like George Nelson, Charles Eames, Harvey Probber, Alexander Girard, Vladimir Kagan, Kai Kristiansen etc etc). It's a rush of emotion and excitement when you do happen to come across a cool one.

Holy grail pieces -- would love a rosewood Eames chair for my personal collection, and maybe a Cado wall unit. There are really too many to name, but those two things stick out as things I'm looking for personally.

I love this business, so let me know if you have any additional questions!

Also if I'm hijacking the thread, I can start my own.

Shippin tho

Also, thoughts on Etsy? Garbage or a goldmine?

Sorry, missed that one.

I generally sell local, otherwise buyer pays shipping. I mostly have used a service called U-ship. It's a site where shipping companies bid on your job. You can get pretty good deals.


Etsy has not worked at all for me. That's not to say it doesn't work, but it deffo doesn't work for me.

Chaos - for yard sales and the like - is there an ideal neighborhood demographic that would have a higher hit rate than average on your furniture targets? Like would an upscale older neighborhood be an ideal place to target?

Older neighborhoods for sure. Actually the older middle blue collar class neighborhoods are the best for some reason. Seems like the middle class people took care of the few possessions they had during that time.

I don't feel its that much of hijack. The original topic has largely been covered, and another reseller has interesting information to offer. Keep it here if its easier.

Also, what do you use for transportation? And for storage? How much stuff do you have on hand? What's your average turn-around time on most items?

I use my Jeep Cherokee primarily for transport. It's surprisingly spacious for that purpose. I rent a Home Depot pickup for larger items (20 bucks for 90 minutes). Ideally I'd like a work van for furniture. I'm in the process of moving to a house, so maybe after that, heh.

I rent a 10 x 30' storage unit at public storage because I got an amazing deal. I think I pay 140/mo for that.

I've been pretty lazy and distracted with listing stuff, so I've got a lot of pieces on hand at the moment. I'd say I probably have around 20-25 pieces currently.

Average turn around for an average piece is probably under two weeks. I'll generally have several pieces listed at once. The higher end stuff usually takes a bit longer to sell, because they are catering to a smaller audience at a higher price point. Some of those pieces can take a few months or longer to sell.

The furniture business is cyclical, too. The seasons dictate when things sell for the most part. Obviously outdoor furniture sells best in the spring, for example.

Also, none of these pieces hold inherent value -- you basically sell them for what people are willing to pay for them.

"I give you half what's that buy you? A day? No I give it to you I'm wasting it."