Comment by jimt1234

After my little sister had her first child and realized how expensive baby stuff is, she started a lucrative side-hustle and ran with it for years. Basically, she bought baby stuff from a warehouse that got their inventory from returns at large retailers like Target and Walmart. She focused almost entirely on baby strollers, but also backyard swing sets for kids, and got it all for pennies-on-the-dollar. She became friendly with the customer service repos at the stroller manufacturers and could usually get replacement parts for free (it's a warranty replacement if the service rep says it is). She knew all the stroller model numbers and their associated various part numbers. She got really good at repairing the strollers in her garage, and then flipping them on Craigslist. Her garage looked like a baby stroller showroom. She made decent money doing it, but the best part is her "customers" (other new mothers, most of them poor) were always so happy and appreciative because of the deal they were getting. Everyone was happy.

The real secret sauce to her side-hustle was the relationship she had with the lady who managed the warehouse where she bought the baby stuff. The warehouses usually have auctions on large lots or pallets of stuff; you bid on whatever's on the pallet, you've got no choice. The lady used to let my sister come to the warehouse periodically (usually just before a big auction) and cherrypick what she wanted, which was always the baby strollers and swing sets. The side-hustle wouldn't have worked without that. (My sister (and her husband) used to flip houses, too, and I think she sold the warehouse lady a house.)