Will 24 hour Facebook Auction Pages Make You Rich? : The Saturday Weekend Review #122

SELL ITEMS ON FACEBOOK

 

What started as a place to connect with family and friends has turned into a money-making venture with Facebook Auction pages popping up all over the free social networking service.

The 24 hour Facebook Auction pages have quickly become some of the best auction sites around because of the sheer volume of people who use Facebook.

My wife and I are not shy to say that we love second-hand shops. We hardly buy anything new unless we need to because most often we can find it used for quite a bit less than retail or sale prices.

If we aren’t scouring through the second-hand shops we are checking out Kijiji which is an online buying and selling website where you can post your Wanted or For Sale ads for free. Kijiji is much more than buying and selling though since it’s branched out to include vacations and employment as well.

Over the years we have purchased so much from Kijiji we’re safe to say that most of the contents of our home has been previously loved. Another way we would score great deals was from the more traditional route in the form of a garage sale.

Heading out at the crack of dawn on a Saturday with a travel map in our hands would soon find us visiting house after house looking through the bargains set out for sale on long tables or simply laying on the ground.

Garage sales are a great way to sell stuff you no longer want or use in the house BUT you won’t get near as much money as you would if you used a Facebook Auction page.

It’s true, at a garage sale you sell your stuff at rock bottom prices and at the end of the day I’d have to say most people don’t even earn back what their time is worth trying to sell it all.

The goal for many is not always the money, it’s to get rid of the stuff so they don’t have to look at it anymore. For that reason alone they don’t care if it takes them half the afternoon to give it away or they leave it with a “Free Sign” if it hasn’t sold.

The other option for homeowners is to just donate it all but why do that when you can try and score some money out of the deal. Again, unless you have some quality items it may not even be worth your time.

 

Facebook Auctions

 

What are 24 hour Facebook Auctions? How do online auctions work?

I know you want to understand how to get rich and believe me there are people who are making cash from these Facebook Auction pages. They not become second-hand millionaires BUT some are earning a cozy living with their new found hobby.

A 24 hour Facebook Auction page is simply what you think, an auction page. You list an item that you want to auction off and from the time that it is posted the 24 hour clock starts ticking.

In your post you will list what the product is, the starting bid and increment bids. You may even list the pick-up location and when it needs to be picked up by.

You can bump your Facebook auction post typically once a day so it jumps to the top of the Facebook Auction page where more fans of the page will see it and potentially increase the bids.

Once more items are posted your Facebook Auction item will get buried down the list so it’s important to bump it. Sometimes you don’t have to if it’s a HOT item and tonnes of people are bidding on it.

So, how are some people getting rich from selling on a Facebook Auction page?

Easy…

1. The get free stuff and re-sell it for a profit
2. They sell stuff they own and make more than what it’s worth or what they paid for it

That’s it!

As long as you are organized you can run many auctions at the same time and watch the cash roll in as long as you have the product.

 

Money to be made

 

I know it sounds daft but some people literally are addicted to Facebook Auction pages and watch them day and night so they don’t miss an item or lose out on bidding for something.

I’ve seen some items posted and people start bidding like crazy with-in the first 5 minutes so an item that had a 24 hour starting bid of $5 with $1 increments is now at $50 with-in minutes yet there is still over 23 hours to go.

Fans go nuts and drive the price so fast that the seller is making a fortune especially from the people who have it in their heads that “they won’t lose” to anyone!

Typically in the last-minute of a Facebook Auction you will see the price go higher and higher sometimes in a mad dash to outbid the highest bid no matter what the price.

We won a Facebook Auction for our iPhone 4 but we only paid $72 for it. We were lucky that the other people who put bids on it either forgot or lost interest.

At the end it was just us and we won the Facebook Auction and now have a new to us Smartphone for a fraction of the cost to buy it new.

I often wonder if people who are placing bids on items are actually sourcing the original retail price and potential sale price to buy it new. I’ve seen so many used items get so high in bids you could have bought 2 new products for that winning bid.

No word of a lie. Check it out for yourself to see how many people fight over bids and go nutty to win a Facebook auction. The sellers see this and know it’s a goldmine for them.

Some may say it’s not ethical selling stuff they got free from someone else such as clothes BUT they don’t give a rats bottom what anyone says. If there is money to be made, they will make it and no one will tell them to stop.

There are times when a Facebook Auction can tank on the seller because no one bids on the item or it gets lost on the page because they didn’t bump it. That means that if the seller was trying to catch attention by listing the product for a $1 starting bid they may end up giving away a bargain to someone.

We’ve seen lots of clothing and boxes of DVD’s go for $1 because there were no other bids. It’s all risk but for the most part the bids are steady for most items we’ve seen especially if it is a hot item.

There are many Facebook groups or pages that are free pages where you can join and nothing is to be sold only given for free. Facebook Pages such as Freecycle or even Frugal Mommy has thousands of fans all over Canada.

You can bet that there are people getting items for free then re-selling them for profit. It’s not everyone obviously, but more than likely it is happening. Don’t be fooled that everyone is in need as they will stop at nothing to get free stuff to resell.

Some will even travel from city to city to pick-up free stuff they get from the freebie Facebook pages to resell in their own community so it’s not so obvious.

There are also people who roam the streets every night looking for free stuff to sell online for profit. They are everywhere!

 

What can you sell on Facebook?

 

You can sell pretty much everything that is legal(of course) or that follows Health Canada regulations but there are some items that must be approved by the admin of the Facebook Auction page first such as knives.

It depends on the rules of the Facebook Auction page so it’s important to always read that which is clearly posted on just about every page.

What item(s) will make you the richest on the Facebook auctions?

By far it will be clothes. I don’t know about you but I don’t happen to have a mannequin hanging around our bedroom closet. Many of the clothes sellers will use mannequins or they will have endless amounts of clothes that they sell every single day.

Where they get all these clothes is a question they can answer but that’s not my business how they go about earning extra income. If anything I think they are smart finding that loop-hole that they can cash in on.

It’s insane the amount of money they make. Some of these smart sellers will go to second-hand shops on 50% off days and look through the entire store for all the name brand items they can find. They will pay the bottom of the barrel prices and resell them on Facebook for profit.

You may think it’s not worth it but trust me we know someone who does this and let’s just say they are doing alright financially.

There are no hard and fast rules about what you can and can’t do when it comes to selling stuff you got for free so people will take advantage of that.

The garage sale is still popular but you can bet that more of those items will end up on 24 hour Facebook Auction pages because the money is lucrative compared to the chump change they would get at a yard sale.

So the next time you see tonnes of traffic at your neighbour’s house don’t assume they are doing something illegal because they may just be getting rich selling stuff on the Facebook Auction pages.

Do you buy or sell on the 24-hour Facebook Auction pages?

 

CBB Week At A Glance

 

Happy Saturday everyone!

My parents arrived safe from the UK the other day so it’s been a busy couple of days in the CBB house.

So far they love Boston Cream and Canadian Maple Donuts from Tim Hortons with a cuppa coffee or tea. It’s the donuts that have won their heart though.

I’ll likely get them some bus tickets so while I’m at work they can tour around the city and go to the mall shopping.

I do have to work a few days but we will be going on day trips and likely one major destination in Ontario in the next couple of weeks. That’s the plan at least.

So far we managed to eat in and had family over who brought some groceries such as steak to BBQ up and we made some salads which worked out great. We hope to eat in as much as we can and BBQ as my parents don’t get that opportunity much in the UK with no BBQ.

This weekend the wife and my parents are going to garage sales in the neighbourhood while I rush off to work. I hope they bring something back for me to report on.

I managed to get the hanging baskets almost done this week in the front of the house. Everything is out now for summer apart from our clothes drying line which I will put up next week.

After my parents go I will focus on finishing the back garden and installing the spot lights out front. I will also be sealing the driveway again this year since I made a mess of it cutting tiles last year for the bathroom renovation.

Other than that it’s been a super busy week on the blog as we have seen a steady increase of visitors which is great. A big thanks to Rob Carrick for sharing a CBB post in his best reads of the week for the Globe and Mail online.

I’d love to see more fans get involved with commenting so if you have something to say… say it. I love to read your thoughts on my posts.

In the event I’m unavailable to post I may miss a day here and there so please bear with me until my parents are gone.

Have an awesome week everyone!

-Mr.CBB

 

Published This Week

 

Just in case you’ve missed any of my blog posts this week I will share them all below.

If you have a question that you would like to ask Mr.CBB fill out the Contact Mr.CBB form on the Home Page and send in your questions.

If you want to share a story via a Fan Question only please ensure that there is minimum 500-1000 words and details… we love details!

Right now CBB is posting Tuesday (Grocery Game Challenge) , Thursday (Personal Finance Post), Saturday (Personal Finance and Weekly Wrap-Up and a recipe on Sunday!

• Husband is Hoarding Money and Jeopardizing Relationship
• When to use Negotiation Strategies at the Grocery Store
• Milk Toffee (the Scottish Tablet)

 

Budget Brags

 

Submit your Deal or Brag:

Saving money while grocery shopping is essential in the CBB family and that’s why we share our grocery shops every week in The Grocery Game Challenge 2015.

What I love the most is when my fans share their amazing shops with me whether it be groceries or other deals they find at a garage sale, online or freebies!!!

If you have a brag that you want me to share email me at canadianbudgetbinder (@) [yahoo] [.ca] or fill out my contact form by Friday each week to have your brag considered for the Saturday post.

This week CBB fan Jen who you all know and love because she loves to budget and save money found these great deals.

 

• Catelli pasta PM No Frills 6 x $1.00 – 3 x $1.00 wub2 coupons=$3.00 – 3 x $1.00 Checkout 51 rebates = FREE
• Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce 7 x $2.00 – 7 x $2.00 coupons = FREE (6 in pic as I have one to my sister)
• Fleecy dryer sheets PM Giant Tiger 3 x $2.97 – 3 x $2.00 Checkout 51 rebates = $2.91
  Total OOP $4.07

-Jen.P

 

Making A Difference (MAD)

 

Note: If you are a personal finance blogger (anywhere around the world) and would like your blog to be MAD featured simply drop me an email and I’ll explain the process to you.

This is my way of giving back to the personal finance community through networking and sharing knowledge with my fans.

Today I’d like to welcome Personal Finance Blog- Running of the Fools

Greetings, Mr. CBB readers! My name is Matt, affectionately known as MattTheFool from Running Of The Fools. Along with KeithTheConfused and DavidTheDoofus, we write about early retirement, financial independence, and personal finance with a twist.

Do you ever feel like you’re caught in a roiling sea of people and you don’t quite know how you got there? Your eyes constantly focus down the road, trying to pick out someone to follow so you don’t get trampled. But your reflexes aren’t quite as quick as they used to be. People fall around you, but the crowd forces you onward.

You see, this is Pamplona, and everyone is afraid that the bull will gore them. The worst part? You can’t even remember how or why you’re here.

That’s often how we feel about our lives at least. We’re stuck in a mass of people chasing the ever-elusive American dream. But instead of getting out, we mindlessly keep running with the crowd, too afraid that we’ll be gored by the mythical beast.

Why? Is there a way to get out of the race? Is there more than simply pursuing possessions and accumulating crap? That’s what we want to explore at Running of the Fools.

You see, we believe that our entire lives matter. We are created in a way that makes it damn near impossible to separate the different parts of our being. So wouldn’t we be best served to talk about finances in the context of these other interlocking pieces?

The stark reality is that financial independence and early retirement are great. But they’re not the end goal. Accumulating wealth is great, but it’s not the end goal either. Being generous and charitable is important, but we’re not even sure that is the end goal.

We want to explore now just how to retire early, but why you want to retire early. We also explore what you might do once you’ve retired early to best serve yourself and your community. That’s not to say we’re all about philosophy.

We constantly have great articles about becoming a budgeting ninja, hacking your savings rate, and generally becoming a financial whiz.

Ultimately, though, we want you to join us as we journey and explore how to quit running, how our finances affect our whole lives, how to get out of the rat race, and how to avoid being gored by the American dream.

 

Top Recipe

 

Food  and grocery shopping is a BIG part of CBB because food is a large part of the budget which people struggle the most with.

If you are someone who would rather buy convenience meals or products consider cooking homemade meals or baking from scratch.

Not only will you save money but you will be proud of what you accomplished and you’ll see that from the smiles on those you feed.

If you don’t already know I have a second Facebook page called The Free Recipe Depot where I share recipes from other Food Bloggers from around the world.

I created this second Facebook page because I love food so much and I wanted to showcase only food 24/7 and this is where I do it.

I also share recipes on CBB once a week on Sundays either made by me or my in-house home blog cook Nicola Don!

This week our Top Recipe Pick goes to Kris over at Ally’s Kitchen- Big Rigs ‘n Lil Cookies for this amazing yet simple Italian Cookie recipe that looks great for dunking!!

 

Editor’s Pick

 

Every week I will pick a blog post of the week from around the web that I found interesting and want to share with you and an Editor’s top blog post pick.

Editor’s blog post pick this week goes to Femme Frugality because we get to decide how to use the failure tool in our lives. A great read about failure and how we respond to it in our career, personal finance, business and the stock market. Failure = opportunity but only if you accept it and learn from it.

 

Google Search Terms

 

Every week I get thousands of people visit Canadian Budget Binder because they did a search online and found my blog. Keep in mind any spelling errors below are because I share with you the exact way they typed their search engine query to land on my blog.

• Someone willing to pay my student debt–  Nice try…. get out there and pay it yourself.
• VH Butter Chicken Expiry Date– How am I supposed to know?
• Make big money in Canada– Once you do let me know your secret.
• How to steal food from grocery store- Really people are searching how to do this online?
• Is it better to obtain a loan to pay off OSAP instead of paying off OSAP? – So should you get a loan to pay off a loan? Well, if the interest rate is lower than why not you’ll be saving. It also means that you should know if the interest rate will stay lower because if not then stick with OSAP as you will always know the rate.

Thanks for reading The Saturday Weekend Review and Welcome to 2015 on Canadian Budget Binder!! Don’t forget to subscribe to my daily blog post by entering your email address on the home page and verifying the subscription email once it is sent to you.

-Mr.CBB

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• The Saturday Weekend Review #118: Can your budget handle the new TFSA 2015 Increase?
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• The Saturday Weekend Review #120: Couple on the Debt Binge Train to rid of $40,000
• The Saturday Weekend Review #121: Is Reducing Homelessness by creating housing worth it?

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