How I made đ° flipping smartphones
I got to enjoy the newest phones and profited off them.
Itâs no secret I have a love for smartphones. I work with them for a living, blog about them and I find myself switching phones very often.
Most people would assume this is an expensive addiction. What if I told you that I make money each time I buy a smartphone?
How does one profit off a (quickly) depreciating product like a phone? Itâs simple. I buy phones as cheap as possible, use them as long as I can and then resell them.
For example, shortly after launch I found a Samsung Galaxy S8 for sale $50 less than what the normal going price is. I enjoyed the phone for weeks, knowing that hype and short supply would keep the price on the S8 high. It worked. I sold the phone about six weeks into owning it for a $50 profit.
This is when I realized how easy it is to do this twice a week.
$50 per phone x 2 phones a week = $400 a month
The crazy thing is Iâve met people who sell far more than two phones a week. Itâs incredibly easy to sell two phones in a day.
Your next question is âwhere do you even find these phones?â.
Itâs quite simple. On all the apps youâre already using, just hidden.
There are a few places you can find deals on smartphones. This ranges from newly released phones to phones that been on the market for some years.
This depends on your locale but here are my favourite places:
· eBay deals: Not the auctions (these can be helpful sometimes). eBay has a deals section where wholesalers offer phones at discounted prices. Sometimes they even throw in extras such as screen protectors. The best phones I purchased were from here.
· Kijiji or Gumtree: Depending on your locale, these are great places to shop for used phones. Keep in mind, prices fluctuate on phones so act fast. Try and get a few bucks off. Itâs best to agree to meetup (somewhere safe like an Apple store), then try to see if the seller will give you a discount between $5â20. Asking for a cheaper price upfront rarely works.
· Facebook groups: If you are looking for distressed sellers and the lowest prices, Facebook groups is your best bet. People here can be so desperate and sell phones for $100 less than they should be sold for. Act fast and donât be a jerk. Just be very thorough with these phones. Watch out for stolen devices.
· Craigslist: Like Kijiji and Gumtree, Craigslist is a great place to find used phones at dirt cheap prices. You will likely run into a few oddballs here but most people Iâve dealt with were well meaning. People on Craigslist tend to be less techie and price obsessed.
Over the years of doing this I have learned some useful hacks to help you.
Admittedly, some of these hacks are kind of harsh. The tough thing is, all of your competition is doing it. Yes, even selling smartphones can be survival of the fittest.
Dark Hack #1: Post two ads with a price higher than what youâre aiming for.
If you post ads using different accounts, for the same phone youâre selling with a $50 higher price tag, youâll make your actual ad more enticing.
This is clever because youâll make your actual ad more appealing, over even end up selling the phone at the higher price!
This is a common trick real estate agents use. They post the ideal listing that doesn't actually exist. Itâs used to get you to contact them and make you a client.
Dark Hack #2: Use tourist tax refunds and low international pricing to fund your next vacation.
Awesome travel locations such as Singapore and even Tokyo allow tourists to get refunds on taxes for most purchases they made.
This means that you can go to Tokyo, buy an unlocked iPhone and get the taxes back when leaving the country (sometimes on the spot!). Yes this means you can buy a brand new iPhone from Apple TAX FREE. This is a brilliant hack as taxes alone on a 512GB iPhone XS Max is $259.87 in Canada.
Additionally, some markets like Japan will occasionally have slightly cheaper prices from the Apple Store. Some stores even offer additional discounts of up to 10%, for just paying with a Visa or MasterCard.
Just make sure youâre working with unlocked phones and you know the limits on tourist tax refunds. Buy as many iPhones as you can!
Dark Hack #3: Focus on mid-tier phones and models with increased storage capacity.
Okay so this isnât really âdarkâ but it is a hack! With the bottom tier of phones you run into a lot of desperation. People selling the lowest configuration iPhone at bottom of the barrels prices. Itâs a waste of time. Someone is more desperate to sell their phone than the person trying to make extra money.
Some people are selling their phone because they need money to survive or even stole it!
Youâll also face much more lowballers. People looking to buy a few years old phone for $50 less than the normal $200 price.
If you have a mid-tier phone with a decent storage capacity, youâll deal with better people and get better money for it.
Also, people who get phones from upgrades/trading in with their carrier tend to get the cheapest possible variant of a phone (16â64GB). These flood the resale market.
Exception: If you can find a super desperate seller, you might want to grab the phone if everything checks out and itâs dirt cheap.
AlsoâŠ
đ« DO NOT BUY A STOLEN PHONE đ«
It can be banned from connecting to cellular networks. Youâll feel line a con and youâll be left with a brick. If you scammed like this, you can sell the parts or use them to fix a broken phone that you buy afterwards.
There are other sneaky ways to get phones on the cheap such as buying damaged or locked phones and fixing them yourself. The problem is you need to assume you will get screwed on one or more of these phones.
This is not for beginners so avoid it until you have enough cash that a loss of $200+ wonât badly hurt you wallet (more importantly your motivation).
In conclusion đ± = đ”
Flip safely!
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