Buy under-priced furniture, appliances, tools or electronics from estate sales, auctions and listings, clean or fix them, and resell them at a fair profit on Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree.
- Who it suits
Bargain hunters with an eye for value, some storage space and a way to move bulky items.
- Who pays
Students, young families and renters furnishing a home on a budget.
- What they get
Good second-hand goods at fair prices, checked and cleaned.
- Is there demand?
Facebook Marketplace charges no fee for local pickup sales and most Gumtree ads are free, so the cost of listing is low. Demand for second-hand furniture and appliances is steady, but we found no published data on typical flipping margins in SA.
- Real examples
- Facebook Marketplace
- Gumtree
- Estate and garage sales
- Auction houses
- Community buy-and-sell WhatsApp groups
A good sign: three flips in a month that each cover costs plus your time.