How We Flipped a Free Chair into $103,000

Hello! Today I’m sharing a fantastic story from Melissa. You may remember her from the post “How Melissa Made $40,000 In One Year Flipping Items.” She recently launched a fun challenge and asked to share her journey—enjoy!

Have you ever taken something old and worn and made it desirable again?

Do you enjoy finding items other people no longer value—or that they’ve thrown away—and placing them where they’re wanted and appreciated?

My husband and I do this every day.

Hello—I’m Melissa Stephenson, and my husband Rob and I flip items full-time.

Rob has been flipping for 22 years and I joined him 12 years ago. It was a part-time hustle for a long time, but three years ago we switched to flipping full-time while raising our three young children.

What is flipping?

Flipping, or reselling, means finding undervalued items in one market and moving them to another market where they’re worth more.

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For example:

Every Saturday we go to our local flea market and walk the booths, looking for items priced below market value. When something catches our eye we check comparable sales on eBay to decide if it’s worth buying. If it is, we purchase it, list it on a selling platform, and sell it for a profit.

Most vendors are doing the same thing: buying at auctions or thrift stores—or even picking up items from the curb—and reselling for more. It’s the life cycle of the flipper.

Over the years we’ve bought and sold countless items, and we now teach others through our site, Flea Market Flipper. We also offer a free workshop if you want to see whether flipping is a good fit for you.

You know the phrase, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” We’ve leaned into that idea this year.

In January we launched a flipping challenge for our audience. We started with a chair found in the trash and, through reinvesting profits, turned it into $103,000 of inventory.

Here are the simple rules of our challenge:

1. Find an item for $25 or less (from a thrift store, yard sale, flea market, or curbside).
2. Resell that item using platforms like eBay, OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, etc.
3. Reinvest the proceeds into more items to resell.
4. Keep reinvesting until the end of the year and track how much you accumulate.

We began with a small accent chair from Target we spotted on the curb during an evening walk with our kids. It still looked great, so Rob drove back and picked it up. At home we discovered a broken piece of wood underneath; he cut and attached a tiny replacement—a $2 fix that took five minutes.

We listed the chair on Facebook Marketplace and sold it for $50 within a few days.

We then used that $50 to buy two exercise bikes—$15 and $25—and sold both on eBay for $500 each. Because they required freight shipping on pallets, our net profit for those two combined was $473. All that started from a chair pulled from the curb.

We didn’t stop there. By continuously reinvesting our profits, in under five months we made over $11,000 in cash and built more than $100,000 in inventory. Our goal is to reach $150,000 in cash by year-end and use the money to buy another rental property.

We already own our home and one rental property, and our long-term objective is to own 10 rental properties in 10 years. We’re on track to buy a second property this year—again, all sparked by a chair rescued from the trash.

People discard useful items all the time. On our daily walks we’ve found many things we later resold. Why do people toss perfectly good pieces? Sometimes they’re renovating, sometimes they’re simplifying their homes, sometimes items are slightly damaged and the owner doesn’t want to repair them. Occasionally people just don’t want the hassle of donating; instead they put items curbside knowing someone might take them.

Recently we found a bed on the curb, cleaned it up, and sold it on Facebook Marketplace for $100 in a few days. It’s surprising how much value sits on the sidewalk.

We think of ourselves as resellers and recyclers. Instead of letting useful items go to waste, we repair or repurpose them and connect them with people who’ll appreciate them—while earning money for our time.

We’re excited to see how our challenge ends this year—and anyone can join at any time. You don’t need to start in January to begin. Imagine starting today with $25 and growing it into $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, or more. With some effort, that’s achievable.

What would you do with extra cash? Take a family trip, pay down debt, buy a car? It’s possible to get there with a little work.

People often ask if anyone can do this. Our answer is yes—absolutely. You don’t need a special degree or fancy tools. If you have a smartphone and transportation, you can start today.

Where to begin? We’ve distilled our process into ten steps for a flipping side hustle. Here are the top three:

1. Clear out your closet

Start by selling your unwanted items. Get comfortable with reselling apps by listing things you no longer use. A practical rule: if you haven’t used or worn something in over a year, you probably don’t need it. Wouldn’t you prefer cash on your nightstand instead of items gathering dust?

2. Take good pictures

You don’t need professional gear, but clean, well-lit photos make a big difference. A phone camera and a plain wall or sheet work well. Tips:

• Avoid cluttered backgrounds
• Photograph all angles and highlight any imperfections
• Keep pets out of listing photos

Recommended reading: 15 Best Places To Sell Used Furniture For Cash

3. Cross-post items

List items across multiple platforms to increase your chances of selling. Local apps include Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, LetGo, and Craigslist. Global platforms include eBay, Amazon, Mercari, and Poshmark. We sell about 80% of our items on eBay, 15% on Facebook Marketplace, and the rest on OfferUp and Craigslist. You don’t have to be on every app—find the ones you like and focus on them.

If you’re ready to build a side income or even a full-time business from flipping and want the full list of our ten steps, we offer a free workshop to help you decide if flipping is right for you. And join our flipping challenge to see how much you could save by year-end—we can’t wait to hear about your success!

Thanks so much to Michelle for having me!

Interested in learning how to buy and sell items?