When waiting for larger items to sell, smaller items add up fast, or they simply keep me moving forward — a good thing.
When something’s small (low storage), and light (cheap shipping), I can’t say no. Realistically, nor should I, unless they’re not in demand.
Generally, when I find something that’s too big to take, or if it’s damaged/incomplete, I’ll strip parts. If the item is big, I’ll do this on the curbs. If I can carry it, I’ll do it at home so I don’t damage anything. Most parts can be decently valuable if I choose the right ones. However, sometimes I take some smaller parts since I’m already at work with the screwdriver, or because they’re super easy to retrieve.
Without further delay, here are 11 smaller items I’ve salvaged and sold, getting a little more creative... but not my best work by any means.
Christmas Roller Coaster Collectible Motor:
- Sold online for $31.50.
- The motor worked, but the gears on the motor were cracked.
- The entire roller coaster sells for $150 during the holidays, and is a discontinued item, so this was a fairly easy thing to sell.
- I extracted several other smaller parts, some which have sold and will be included in future “small item” posts.
Stroller Canopy Clips:
- Sold online for $27.
- Stripped off a stroller on the street that was in bad shape.
- I’ve sold these over and over again throughout the years.
More Stroller Canopy Clips:
- Sold online for $30.
- Different day, different stroller, same easy profit.
- They pop off instantly and are easy to toss in my backpack to keep on walking.
Shark Vacuum Charger x2:
- Sold online for $40 and $40.
- I left the vacuums and took two of these.
- It was clear that they worked because the vacuum still had a charge.
- These sell almost instantly as they’re a popular model.
Small Scanner Glass Part:
- Sold online for parts/repair for $40.
- The scanner was $300 if working, but something was causing an error.
- I pulled about 8 parts out of it and will sell them for more than $300.
Roomba Vacuum Dust Bin:
- Sold online for $42.50.
- I found the entire vacuum set, but the battery was bad.
- I took out my screwdriver and parted it out.
- This is one of the more common parts to sell.
Printer Motherboard:
- Sold for parts/repair online for $45.
- Removed from a printer that had a printer error, which is rarely a motherboard issue.
- The customer was happy, so it worked, and they got a great price.
Miele Vacuum Attachment:
- Sold online for $27.
- I’d usually sell this with my Miele vacuum sets for cash, but this was better to sell separately.
- It was in perfect condition, that also made me decide to sell it online.
Miele Dishwasher Component:
- Sold online for parts/repair for $33.
- This was an extra part I removed from the full unit just because I know someone would eventually need it.
- The other parts were much more valuable, but I was already inside the unit and it was easy to extract.
Phone System Cover:
- Sold online for $35.
- I found the entire system with 3 phones, but while it turned on fine, I couldn’t fully test it.
- Instead of selling the entire unit at a heavy parts/repair discount, I parted it out.
- If I could’ve tested the unit, the base item excluding the phones was worth $150-$200.
- The other items will sell very slowly, but this cover sold in under 24 hours. Looks like I solved someone’s missing or broken cover dilemma.
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11 items / $391 revenue = $35.55 per item.
No fireworks to break the bank, but it’s good to practically keep as many items as I can alive.
While the money isn’t substantial individually, they can be nice cherries on top on days that I have big sales, or even modest positive results I can be happy about on a slow day.
While I barely show these on Hive, I have endless examples of smaller items like these that I’ve sold over the years. I could literally blog daily for months about these and not run out... that’s how many. I just elect not to show them because the value isn’t that much.
However, like my recent post of where I showed what I’ve given away to friends for free, I’ll try to diversify what I blog about a little bit to show different sides of my game.
**I have two other active posts out now. Please check them out for more examples.
Thanks for your interest and support,
Matt