Idea: Buy, repair, sell

Another small town small business idea:

Buy damaged items from online auction sites, repair them, and then resell them.

I got this idea from a student in one of my eBay classes. She would search eBay for broken china dolls. Her search keywords included “needs help” and “poor thing”. These broken dolls came at a steep discount. She would then repair them. I don’t think she was intending to make a profit, but you might!

If you consider this idea, here are a few suggestions:

  • Specialize! Focus only on items you can repair well, and that have a strong resale market.
  • Track your time, and carefully evaluate your profit potential.
  • Be absolutely honest about repairs when you resell.

Do you have business ideas to share? We’d love to hear it.

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  • About the Author
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Becky McCray wearing long braids and a professional outfit smiles as she stands on a rural downtown street with twinkling lights in the background.

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

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