Q&A: "I bought and sold 75 Peloton bikes…"

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

We're gonna hear today from the Peloton reseller, the pandemic Peloton reseller specifically. We're a few years past the pandemic, of course, now. But this guy got going in his reselling business focusing on used Peloton equipment, maybe some other stuff too. I think he specialized in Pelotons because he just found a way to make a lot of money from it. And we have a lot of resellers out there or people who are looking to resell.

And one of the most common questions I get is, well, what do I sell? Like I can learn how to buy and resell basic stuff. I can learn how to do the thing of going around to thrift stores or estate sales or then learning how to look online for inventory and such. But wouldn't it be better if I actually specialized in something? So today's caller has got a story for us.

He bought and resold dozens of Peloton bicycles. And now he's trying to figure out what comes next. Like, does he wait for another big opportunity or does he more proactively perhaps try to create an opportunity? I'll do my best to give him a helpful answer. His name is Mike.

You're gonna hear the detailed question from Mike and my answer right after this. [Music]

Hey Chris, it's Mike from Chicago. Thanks so much for the show. I started buying and reselling Pelotons during the pandemic and it worked really well. There was a time when people would pay higher than retail even for a used bike.

Then of course the price went in the other direction when there was a lot more sellers. On average, I made 250 per bike and I could move several of them a week. It was fun. I backed off because the situation is different now but I wanna keep doing some version of this idea. Do you think it's best for me to wait for another opportunity like I found with used Peloton bikes or more proactively search for something that I can sell in any market?

If I knew something big was coming, I'd rather wait but of course there's no way of north for sure. [Music]

First of all, well done, Mike. You definitely hit on a classic arbitrage opportunity. In this case, so many people wanted Pelotons and then they were in short supply. Of course the situation kind of flipped after that.

Peloton had this like big moment and then all of a sudden there was a surfeit of Pelotons in abundance, just like way too many. But this is how reselling works is it's all about supply and demand. And so you want to pay attention when there is demand and it's hard to access supply. Well, that is a potential arbitrage opportunity. Okay, so the Peloton thing, whatever that may be, it's definitely one of those stories that can be told like a long time from now, it's like a business case study.

It's not every day that a global pandemic creates a supply chain crisis. And so I worry if you keep waiting for an opportunity like that, then you might be waiting a while. So it kind of depends on what you want to do in your side hustle life. Some people are just kind of chilling and if there's an opportunity, they'll take advantage of it. Other people are like, no, I want to be proactive and I want to actively go out and do something.

So I tend to think much better to apply these skills to selling something that's evergreen and not seasonal, even if the profit margin is a bit lower. So Mike already knows how to do this. Like he knows how to write the listings, he knows how to communicate, work with buyers, presumably encourage them to post reviews, deal with any customer service issues that come up along the way. This is a valuable skill. And those skills can be applied to lots of markets.

So in my view, I think as long as Mike still likes the reselling world, I would not wait. I would just continue to research and educate myself and try to find another niche that as I said, is more evergreen and not seasonal, even if the profit margin is a bit lower. And as he gets better at it, maybe the profit margin will not be that lower. So I definitely don't think he has a lot to lose in this situation. If he gets tired of it, he can just move on to something else.

So that's not at all a bad situation. Listeners, what do you think? What's your experience been? Are you reselling anything? sidehustleschool.com.

We're gonna feature projects throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow. There's so many cool things people are doing out there. I just love sharing these stories. Tomorrow, we're gonna talk about chewable energy gum. Chewable energy gum.

That's the story coming up tomorrow. After that, balloon sculptures, crosswords, protein pancakes, much more in the days, weeks and months to come. So thank you for being out there. New episodes out every day. My name's Chris Guillebeau.

This is Cytosoulschool. [Music]