How to Get Free Items to Sell on eBay for Profit

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By A. Suzanne Wells
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Get Free Items to Sell on eBay for Profit

Savvy shoppers know how to get items for free by combining sales, coupons, rebates, and discounts to get items for free. If you don't need them for yourself or your family, why not sell these free items on eBay and make some money?

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

eBay Account
Internet Connection
Time

Step 1

Participate in rebate and rewards programs. CVS has the Extra Bucks Program, Walgreens has the Easy Saver Program, Rite Aid has the Single Check Rebate Program, just to name a few. See my other eHow articles on how to get free items using each of these programs.
Step 2

Visit garage sales as the sale is ending. Many times, the person having the garage sale may be so exhausted from the whole day, she will just give away what is left, rather than drag it all back into the house or load up her car to take it to Goodwill. If you show up at the right time, you may be able to pick up some free items.
Step 3

Look for free items on Craigslist. See my eHow article titled, "How to Find Free Items on Craigslist to Resell for Profit on eBay" for the exact steps.
Step 4

Learn to combine discounts, rebates, and coupons to get free items. The magic comes when you learn how to combine all possible discounts on a single item. There are several blogs outlining the exact steps needed to get free items from local stores each week. For example, a drug store may have a particular item on sale buy one get one free. The blogger may note that Sunday's paper will have a coupon for the item, or she will have a link to an online coupon that you can print for an additional discount. There may also be an in-store coupon for another discount. On top of that, there may be a mail-in or online rebate on the item that you can redeem. Furthermore, if the store has special senior citizens day, and you know a senior who can go shopping with you, you can get an even deeper discount.

Visit websites like moneysavingmom and thegrocerygame for daily information about how to get free items. (You can always sell lots or batches of smaller items like cosmetics, baby needs, office supplies, etc.)
Step 5

Join coupon forums, groups, and discussion boards. The best information comes from the "Black Belt Couponers" who have been getting free products for years. They are happy to share their information - there are enough free products for everyone!
Step 6

Sign up for freebies on the internet. Many times, you can fill out a survey or sign up for a trial and receive a free item or gift card. I do this all the time. (Yes, you can sell gift cards on eBay.) Again, you can batch smaller items and sell as a lot once you have accumulated several similar items.
Step 7

Try dumpster diving. This is not for the faint of heart. Actually, many sellers find items next to dumpsters, not actually in them.
Step 8

See the resources section below for more strategies to get free items.

Comments

vjhoneycut said

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on 7/22/2009 Nice article, I've been meaning to write something similar but you beat me to the punch. Don't forget about www.freecycle.org. sign up in your hometown.
Look me up on Ebay- Bargaindiscounts4u