What if you could have 50% off everything you ever wanted?
Oh, and what if there was also no sales tax? Of course, this sale has existed forever with people selling things that they hardly used. How different is a well-maintained, year-old tennis racket from a new one? What’s likely to go wrong with a 3-year-old coffee table? Fender Guitars claims that 41% of the people buying new guitars are beginners and that 90% give up playing within a year. That’s a lot of beautiful guitars on sale at about 50% off. And with no tax. There’s just one issue: how do you find this stuff?
Yard Sales are Hit or Miss.
One approach is to hunt yard sales in the spring. The bargains are all there, often at more than 50% off. But the logistics are bad. Driving around, sifting through lots of salt and pepper shakers and ashtrays (remember those?) to find that vintage turntable you’re after. Then there’s the issue of buying extra junk that seemed like a good idea at the time. You know, the type of junk that makes it to the curb of your own yard sale a year later. Yes, the pricing is often 50% off, but good luck finding exactly what you want. And if you want something in the fall, you need to wait for the spring. Painful.
Craigslist and Kijiji Have the Goods. Somewhere.
As yard sales moved online, the driving went away and the selection blossomed. Maybe too much though. Searching for, say, exercise gear means reading dozens of online pages, combing through each one for exactly the right equipment. Getting the full picture involves clicking into each ad to get the details, the location and the item condition. Not so fun.
And then you need to actually contact the seller, hope they respond, and set up a time to actually see and test out the stuff. How is this better than a yard sale again?
Then, when you inevitably fail at finding what you’re looking for the first few times you check, you’re stuck continuously checking back for new listings. And what about trying to keep track of the listings you found earlier. Is the stuff still available? Oh, and did you already respond to that one out in the West end?
Put Your Online Shopping on Autopilot
Buried somewhere in most of these online classifieds is an Alert function. Beautiful. Do some digging. It is in there on most of the online classified tools. Once you find it, you can start a search for exactly what you need (or want). Maybe it’s a pre-1969 Dylan vinyl, or a KitchenAid blender, or a log splitter for the cottage, or a set of 205/55/17 Michelin X-Ice snow tires on VW factory rims. Or maybe you’re hunting some vintage gold jewelry for your anniversary. Whatever it is, you can set up the Alert just how you like it. It only takes about a minute. Then you can go about your business, whatever it is that you do do.
Call Me When It’s Ready
A week or a month later, up it will pop in your inbox. A little alert that someone has the thing you crave. Have a peek! Delete it if something isn’t quite right, and maybe refine the alert. But sooner or later it will arrive. Exactly what you wanted. Just like my Fender Stratocaster with the maple neck and the Sienna finish. It took about a minute to set up the alert, and just a couple of weeks for the good news to arrive. After an hour of driving and $1,000 cash, voila! I saved $1,400 on my new guitar. An amount that continues to grow in my TFSA.
Buying high quality pre-owned items is a great way to free up cash to invest and build a path to financial independence.
If you really need a new one or can’t find a used one, maybe think about shopping off-season. Learn more about that here.
