Flipping returned pallets from your driveway

Every big retailer ends up with a pile of returned and shelf-pulled stock they will never put back out. Liquidators buy it by the truckload and resell it by the pallet. You can buy one pallet.

What it actually looks like

A mixed pallet of general merchandise runs a few hundred dollars near most metro areas. You pick it up yourself, sort it on the driveway, and split it into three piles: sell online, sell local, throw away.

1. Find two or three liquidators within driving distance and get on their email list.
2. Buy one small pallet first. Not a truckload, not a "high value electronics" lot.
3. Photograph and list the top ten items the same weekend.
4. Move the rest local in one lot so it does not live in your garage.

Who this does not fit

If you do not have somewhere to put a pallet of stuff, skip it. If you hate photographing and packing, skip it. That part never gets fun.

The money is in the sorting speed, not in finding a magic pallet.

What I would try first

One small pallet, one weekend, one honest tally at the end. If you cleared your cost plus a day's pay, do it again. If you did not, you learned it for the price of a pallet.