I figured out how to make extra money by accident one day. I was browsing my local Target store, killing time waiting to pick my kids up from school. I noticed all the clearanced items that had been marked down for quicker sales.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed the little red clearance tag showed the percentage off that the item had been marked. A "30" in the upper right corner meant the item had been marked 30 percent off of the retail price. Then I stumbled upon an item that had a 75. Sure enough, it had been retailed at $100 and now was on sale for $25.

Most people probably would have thought about how great of a bargain that would be to purchase for personal use. I immediately began running the mental numbers on how much profit margin could be made by reselling this item to the general public.

Having been on ebay for a few years and selling my extra junk on craigslist, I knew a handful of outlets for reselling items. I made some notes about which items where clearanced and went home to research the items. By using PriceGrabber and Froogle I could determine which items had the most potential for selling at a large profit.

I returned to Target and bought only the items with the most potential. I listed them all on ebay (minimal fees) and craigslist (free.) I sold almost everything for a profit withing two weeks and returned the items that did not sell to Target for a complete refund.

This experiment has gone on for two years now and I can tell you it works like a charm. You can even use this strategy to bargain hunt other retail outlets that mark down their products. Just make sure you keep your receipt to return your items in case they don't sell.

Learn more about this author, Ron Jones.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about How to earn more money ?
We want to hear your view. Write now!