Christopher Manning has made a “small fortune” from buying items at auction houses and reselling them on eBay.
In fact, the 25-year-old has made more than Sh126,064 over the past three years.
Top finds include some old Abba posters bought for Sh1,890 then sold for more than Sh31,516 and a Sh 4,412 trumpet sold on for Sh36,558.
And now he's sharing exactly how he pulls it off.
“I started buying and selling from Boldon Auction House in Sunderland in 2017," Christopher, a member of money saving community LatestDeals.co.uk , said.
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"I would go along to the open viewings on a Tuesday afternoon from four to six and view the lots that were for sale."
Christopher, who is unemployed due to epilepsy and an accident that left him in a wheelchair, recommends sticking to what you know when hunting for goods to sell on.
"I played as part of The Boys Brigade in South Shields from the age of 13 to 15 playing the trumpet so I had some knowledge of brass instruments, and also I knew how profitable it could be if I could find the correct pieces at the right prices and clean and fix them then sell them on,” he said.
And that means he tend to focus on instruments.
“Normally I would look for vintage instruments such as accordions, trumpets, violins and dulcimers, or posters that had been hand-signed by bands or film producers," he said.
He has also learnt where to look to find the best stuff.
“The posters I would normally find would be hidden in the bottom of boxes that people hadn't searched properly before putting into the auction," he said.
And once he's tracked down a hidden gem, the profits can be big.
"Some of the items I've bought from the auction have been great bargains: I bought a Boosey and Hawkes Trumpet for Sh 4,412 and later found after doing some research online it was worth just over Sh 37,816, so I put it up for auction starting at Sh12,605 and it went for Sh36,557 after eBay took their cut. It was posted to a man in China who paid an extra Sh25,212 for postage!
“I also bought ABBA posters, which were in a bundle for Sh1,890. There were 4 posters and each of them sold for between Sh7,563 and Sh10,085.”
He also advises doing your homework before parting with cash.
“I would advise anyone else who wants to look into doing this to do a lot of research into buying from auction houses first - you can’t just buy online and hope for the best, you need to make sure you can view the items and know that they are working before you buy them," he said.
“You should also do your research on the item first once you've seen it to know your profit margins to make sure you don't bid too high and then make no profit on it.”
