MONEY MAESTRO - Man Makes £1,000s Re-Selling Thrown Out Music Instruments
- 25-year-old Christopher Manning has made over £1,000 on eBay
- Tips and tricks including buying cheaply at auction houses
- Christopher makes most of his profits from posters and musical instruments
Many of us flog our old clothes and shoes on eBay, but one savvy shopper has taken things to the next level by buying musical instruments for next to nothing and selling them for hundreds of pounds.
Christopher Manning, 25, from Sunderland, says he has made a “small fortune” from buying items at auction houses and reselling them on eBay. He says he has made over £1,000 over the last three years after paying eBay and Paypal fees.
Christopher says: “I started buying and selling from Boldon Auction House in Sunderland in 2017. I would go along to the open viewings on a Tuesday afternoon from four to six and view the lots that were for sale.
“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.
“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.
“Some of the items I've bought from the auction have been great bargains: I bought a Boosey and Hawkes Trumpet for £35 and later found after doing some research online it was worth just over £300, so I put it up for auction starting at £100 and it went for £290 after eBay took their cut. It was posted to a man in China who paid an extra £200 for postage!
“I also bought ABBA posters, which were in a bundle for £15. There were 4 posters and each of them sold for between £60 and £80.”
Christopher, who is unemployed due to epilepsy and an accident that left him in a wheelchair with a damaged spine, says he had some background knowledge about instruments due to playing the trumpet when he was a teenager.
"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 says.
“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.
“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.”
Christopher says he prefers eBay to Facebook Marketplace as he finds there are fewer time-wasters and that he can find a wider audience on eBay, and that while there are countless ways to make profits on eBay, he’s stuck to posters and musical instruments as his foolproof money-maker.
“I have only ever known how to deal with musical instruments and posters to make profits so that is all I have stuck to,” Christopher says. “However, if there are people out there who know how to deal in other items that they know the value of, and can buy cheap from charity shops and car boot sales and then sell them for a profit at a higher price on eBay then they should do so.
“At the end of the day, hunting for a bargain is an enjoyable hobby and I’ve found some things in the past that have cost me next to nothing and have made me a small fortune!”
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