Selling and reselling side hustles, by cost and pay
Compare 16 selling and reselling side hustles on startup cost, hourly pay, hours and work mode. Every figure links to the creator or dataset it came from.
Startup costs in selling and reselling are reported at $0–$500 for drop shipping, $100–$1,000 for online marketplaces and $0–$5,400 for live selling.[1][3][4] The main difference is where the work happens: furniture flipping, local marketplaces and scrap metal recycling are local, while online marketplaces, live selling and sneaker trading are remote.[5][6][7][8][9][10] Reported hours differ too: 1–2 hours a week for collectibles, 3 hours for liquidation pallet reselling and 20 hours for used book reselling.[11][12][13] Time to a first dollar is 3–60 days for online marketplaces and 7–90 days for used book reselling.[2][14]
First published 2026-11-06 · Last reviewed 2026-11-06
Our picks
- Drop Shipping: Lowest startup cost reported: $0–$500 USD[1]
- Online Marketplaces: Fastest to a first payment: 3–60 days[2]
All 16 side hustles
- Collectibles: Buy and sell rare or nostalgic physical items Own schedule
- Drop Shipping: Sell products online without holding any inventory. $100 to $1,000 to start · Can go full-time
- Fulfillment-by-Amazon Reselling: Buy or private-label physical products, ship them to Amazon warehouses, and sell them on Amazon while Amazon handles storage, shipping, and customer service. Can go full-time · Own schedule
- Furniture Flipping Local · Needs a car · Own schedule
- Liquidation Pallet Reselling: Buy pallets or truckloads of overstock and customer-return merchandise at discount from liquidation sellers, then resell the items individually online or locally for profit. Can go full-time · Hybrid · Needs a car
- Live selling: Sell products in real time through livestreams Can go full-time · From home · Over $1,000 to start
- Local Marketplaces: Sell goods locally through peer-to-peer platforms. Can go full-time · No car needed
- Merchandise Over $1,000 to start
- Online Marketplaces $100 to $1,000 to start · Can go full-time · From home
- Reselling clothes: Flip used clothing for profit online or locally. Can go full-time · Needs a car · Own schedule
- Scrap Metal Recycling: Collect discarded metal items and appliances, then sell them by weight to scrapyards or recyclers for cash.
- Sneaker Trading: Buy, sell, or trade limited-edition sneakers for profit. From home
- Thrift Store Flipping: Buying undervalued items from thrift stores and resale outlets across many categories, then reselling them online or locally at a markup. Can go full-time · Own schedule
- Used Book Reselling: Source secondhand books from thrift stores, library sales, and book sales, then resell them online or locally for a profit. Can go full-time · From home · Own schedule
- Vending Machine Business: Buy, place, and stock vending machines in high-traffic locations to earn income from snack, drink, or product sales. Local · Own schedule
- Yard Sale Local
How do these compare?
| Side hustle | Startup cost | Typical hours per week | Time to first dollar | Work mode | Demand trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online Marketplaces | $100–$1,000 USD | 0–5 hours/week | 3–60 days | remote | — |
| Used Book Reselling | — | 20 hours/week | 7–90 days | remote | stable |
| Furniture Flipping | — | — | — | local | declining |
| Liquidation Pallet Reselling | — | 3 hours/week | — | hybrid | — |
| Live selling | $0–$5,400 USD | — | — | remote | — |
| Scrap Metal Recycling | — | — | — | local | stable |
| Vending Machine Business | — | — | — | local | declining |
| Collectibles | — | 1–2 hours/week | — | — | — |
| Drop Shipping | $0–$500 USD | — | — | — | — |
| Local Marketplaces | — | — | — | local | — |
Sources
- 758: From Zero to $120k/mo in 18 Months — The Side Hustle Show at 21:26
- Give me 20 minutes and I’ll teach you how to build a $30K/Mo Shop — Dylan Jahraus at 1:18
- Hunting for Video Games to Resell Online — Phoenix Resale at 37:57
- This Is Why Live Selling Is Exploding Right Now — The Koerner Office Highlights at 1:57
- I Bought $30,000 of Costco Liquidation Furniture for $8,000 — Mission Side Hustle at 8:50
- Episode 024: How To Make Money With Craigslist Arbitrage — Side Hustles To Earn Extra Cash at 3:46
- Episode 032: Recycle Metals for Money Across Different Scrap Yards — Side Hustles To Earn Extra Cash at 9:15
- How to Sell on Amazon FBA Q&A + Amazon Seller News | Ask Us Anything! — Clear the Shelf (Christopher Grant) at 19:03
- How to make 6 figures selling from home — Philly Phlipper at 9:05
- CASEY WOODARD Reveals Secrets to a Scalable Reselling Communities — The Side Hustle Experiment Podcast at 2:14
- How to Make Money Selling Legos on #AmazonFBA ... Shane Made over $500,000 in 2 years .. ep 31 — The Side Hustle Experiment Podcast at 20:13
- She Buys $1 Pallets And Sells Them For $5,000 (30 Mins/Day) — Chris Koerner on The Koerner Office Podcast at 18:05
- How to Make Money Selling Books on Amazon FBA With 6-Figure Seller Mike the Used Book Guy .. ep 32 — The Side Hustle Experiment Podcast at 1:01:18
- Book Reselling Business: From After-Work Hustle to $120K/Month #shorts — Romer the Roamer at 0:23