How do you measure your success?

batcap

Hero Member
Jun 22, 2010
684
131
Baltimore MD
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AT PRO
Let's not get all complicated.

Another post got me thinking. . .

Which is the most successful hunt?:

A)The guy that finds a ring on the sidewalk and sells it for $20.
B)The gal that buys a purse for $5 and sells it for $30.
C)The hunter that buys a metal detector for $100 and sells it for $200.

See the subtleties?
A) has infinite profit of $20
B) has 5 X investment for a profit of $25
C) Only doubled his investment for $100 profit.

So, as the title asks, how do you measure your success? Is finding a quarter on the sidewalk the same as finding a dollar-both infinityXinvestiment?
Would you rather risk$5 for a 500% return, or risk $100 on a 100% return on investment?
 

diggummup

Gold Member
Jul 15, 2004
17,815
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Somewhere in the woods
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The most successful "garage sale" hunt for me is finding something for less than $10 and selling it for more than $100 dollars. I have pretty good luck at picking out the unobvious. So... 1000% or more profit has been my luck. I don't run into too many $100 deals that I can resell for $200 or I would do that. Or maybe i'm too cheap to risk it?? :icon_scratch:
My best deals have always been between $1-$10. Over and over again.
I gotta go to work now or i'd be searching the sales today too. :( :( :(
 

SEANO

Sr. Member
Sep 16, 2010
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New England
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Sold them all.
Not a real answer to your question, but for me, when I find something to cover my gas for the week, I'm happy.
 

jerseyben

Gold Member
Nov 18, 2010
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NJ Pine Barrens
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When you find something with the highest return on investment that wasn't found by accident for free. Otherwise, that's not success, that's just luck.
 

Nov 17, 2010
404
110
Pittsburgh, PA
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Whites XLT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I will try not to make this complicated, but to me, it is a complicated question.

(A) If I find something of value for free that is great, but it is pure luck.

(B) A $5.00 buy with a $30.00 resale is a success in my book even if it isn't a huge profit.

(C) This one is tough. I like to switch it up and actually do this every once in awhile, but with that being said, investing $100 to make $100 when you could buy 10 items at $10.00 and have a 500% return makes less sense to me.

Call me a hybrid, but I do all 3. I think that if you want to be good at this kind of thing you have to be able to adapt to the situation. There is a lot of luck involved, but there is also a lot of skill and if you are not constantly learning then you are not moving forward.

Basically I measure my own success based on profit and the pleasure of the hunt and sale. I love the feeling of finding something worth money in a place no one would look. I love learning about new items and doing research which leads to me purchasing cheap items I can resell for profit. I love finding an okay deal on items I know others will enjoy, and make a slight profit while at the same time giving a quality product to someone else. For me, the combination of profit plus knowing I worked hard and did a good job and had fun doing it is how I measure success.
 

Nightowl 280

Full Member
Oct 16, 2010
108
1
land o lakes fl
Success for me on the reseller side is staying in the black at 4 way split with one split going back to the kiddy to buy stuff . Normally im alittle bit above this as of late . But to do it ive had to change the way we buy crap . Atleast once very 2-3 months we get that odd ball out of wack profit piece that gives some insane bought for $.50 sell for $60.00-200.00 thing .
 

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