Strategy for Level 13

Strategy for Level 13

Now that I have reached $20, looking for bottles isn't as profitable. Last level each bottle I found brought me 1% closer to the goal. Now that I need to gain $20, each bottle will only bring me 0.5% closer to my goal. Since it took me 22 days to double this past level, it should take me 44 days to double. This is ok, but I should be able to double much faster if I concentrate on buying and selling items instead. I have done flipping in the past on my old blogs so I am already experienced. If I can land the right item it is possible to double up with one or two flips.

What am I looking for? I need something that fits all or most of the below list:

- I must believe it is significantly underpriced - you make your money when you buy, not when you sell.
- It must be something that many people are looking for - it helps when you double your investment, but now when it takes you a year to make the sale.
- It should hopefully be somewhat small in case I need to resort to Ebay to sell it to keep shipping costs down. This isn't critical if it is a hot item and I expect it to sell fast.
- It should hopefully be an item I am familiar with or have sold before. In the past I have ran home to do some quick research before buying an item.
- I'd rather miss out on 5 good deals and make a bunch on the 6th one than end up with a product I can't sell. The key is NOT tying up your money on unsellable junk.
- Don't feel pressured to buy SOMETHING. If no deals are there that is ok.
- Having said that - try not to be so conservative that you never buy anything. You can't double up if you never buy anything.

I'll mostly be biking in my area to try and save gas money - 10c/km as usual. I might change my mind on this though if I find I am always running home to check the internet for prices. It might be worth a $1 investment in gas to make sure I buy that $5 item I sell for $20. You never know.

As far as a due date goes, I think three months is a nice non-stressful choice again. I may be on vacation for 2 weeks so I will give myself 3 months and 2 weeks so I don't stress over things throughout my vacation. That makes my due date August 7th, 2010.

The other thing I now have to start thinking about is taxes. You aren't taxed for finding beer bottles or coins on the ground, but you are taxed for buying something and selling it for profit. I need to review how to correctly present this on my taxes - not sure if I can claim expenses for driving around, etc. or if I need to declare myself as a sole proprietor - or if I can just say this is a hobby and what the implications of that would be. I will give myself the same due date - Aug 7, 2010 to learn how this all works. In the mean time I will withhold 45% for taxes and not include that in the next doubling step. Very painful, but at the end of the year this will stop me from dropping a level due to the tax man - and I might end up with a refund for the project!

It's nice to get out of the ditches and to the garage sales - and just in time for garage sale season.