STORAGE Hunters star Jesse McClure has made it his life's work to make money from nothing.
Speaking to The Sun the 34-year-old shares his tips on how to cultivate a pot of cash from scratch and it's mainly from items gathering dust in your own home.
From flogging unwanted CDs and videos through reselling apps, to upcycling furniture or finding rare coins among old cash, the reselling method is proof of the saying that “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure”.
While there is money to be made, McClure, who splits his time between LA, California and Hertford in the UK, stresses that his method is not a get rich quick scheme, and it will take time and effort for his tips to pay off.
However, some people have gone on to make hundreds or thousands of pounds by following his reselling tips, which he has revealed in his new book Never Go Broke.
McClure said: “If you want to make a couple of extra quid you can do it with the contents of your own home, or you can keep on going and building as you learn…and turn it into a full-fledged business”.
“That’s what I did with one of my buddies, [who] came up to me and said ‘please teach me everything you know’.
“And over the last six months he’s made over $10,000 (£7,000) buying and selling and so that has improved his life dramatically.
“He has made a significant amount of money just from these core concepts.”
You can make HUNDREDS from reselling junk
Selling old books, CDs and video games is also one of McClure’s top tips to make some quick cash – and it can be as simple as downloading an app.
He said: “One of the things I talk about is media, and how easy it is to download some apps and be able to scan your books, CDs and video games.
“Toss them in a box and ship them off and they’ll send you a cheque or Paypal.
“I did that with my mother and father in law who had an attic full of my wife’s old video games and CDs from when she was younger and they made an extra £150 by scanning using their phone and that’s it."
He recommends "barcode" apps like Music Magpie, We Buy Books and Ziffit.
"Each website – or app – will offer different prices, so it's vital you check more than one before committing to a sale to maximise profits," he added.
But one of the biggest mistakes that people make is not marketing themselves correctly.
He said: "Every single person you buy and sell from you should make a note of in a contact book.
"There is a very good chance an item you sold in the past, you will find and you will want to sell it again."
And he warns sellers to value their time: "Don't waste your time selling an item if it isn't going to way an hourly wage."
Reselling tier system
JESSE urges anyone who wants to resell junk to create a tier system.
Top tier: These should go to auction houses, antiques dealers or specialists. Find them on Google. A useful website is WorthPoint.com which lists millions of sold prices and there's a free seven day trial.
Second tier: Items you can list on websites specialising in reselling second-hand goods such as eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Shpock, or for clothes try Depop.
Tier three: Car boot sale finds. I LOVE a car boot sale.
Bottom tier: Items that have recycling value such as scrap metal. Get cash for your soda cans!
How to make money from your spare change
And it's not only junk that McClure resells, it's his spare change too.
He once spent £1,200 on a rare £5 note before selling it for £4,000 – but his tip for beginners is lower stakes and risk free.
Many of us will have heard stories of people who have discovered a coin they have been carrying around in their pocket is actually a rare 50p worth much more to some collectors.
We've previously revealed that the Kew Gardens 50p sells for hundreds of pounds.
McClure’s method is to take chance out of the equation.
He said: “People look at their change and say ‘ooo do I got one, do I got one’.
“My little secret is, if you have £200 or £500, go to your local bank branch, ask for it in just 50p coins and take them back home and go through them all.
“If it’s a normal 50p you can put it back into your bank account so it’s absolutely risk free.
“I did it with £500 and I got 50 to 52 different Olympics and Beatrix Potter designs, so I made an extra £32 on my own money and it was absolutely risk free.
“It’s little things like that, there truly is free money out there.”
Start small
Jesse urges people to start small and learn as they go along.
"Not every single thing is going to be a success, but you'll glean plenty of knowledge as you go along," he said.
"My bread and butter items are multimedia, vintage tools and converse shoes."
He adds that the best way to protect your cash is to grow a pot of money that you make from selling "junk" in your home.
"As you grow and learn by increasing your investment, your risk actually lowers, in a sense. Don't be afraid to bet on yourself."
Think outside the box
Viewers of Storage Hunters will know that his methods can throw up weird and wonderful items.
McClure has been in the business his whole life – his family owns one of the largest antique stores in Los Angeles – and he has uncovered some strange sights over the years.
He said: “I’m still struggling with taxidermy and human bones, things of that nature, it still always throws me off a little bit.
“At one point I bought a full size giraffe, which I thought was kind of fun.
“Also it’s one of those things where you think, who would want a dead animal? But there are people who are way into collecting taxidermy, and you can find those opportunities as they come along and build contacts.
But often it’s the more boring items that can deliver the highest returns as their value is overlooked by the less eagle-eyed bargain hunters.
McClure said: “It’s not ‘let’s find the most boring thing’, it’s ‘what do people overlook, and say oh that’s nothing’.
“The amount of money I’ve made on glass bottles is probably the biggest ratio of gains I’ve ever made.
“I bought a banana crate full of green bottles and half of them were broken but they were turn of the century apothecary bottles and I bought the whole box for £10 and sold it for £1,000.
“But someone overlooked it and said ‘I’m not going to go through all this broken glass to pull out the good ones’, having to clean over 100 years of dirt just to try and sell off.
“It’s that opportunity that you want to take advantage of.”
Never Go Broke: How To Make Money Out Of Just About Anything, by Lee Boyce and Jesse McClure (£9.99, Cassell), is out now.
We previously reported how Brit storage hunters make thousands by cashing in on junk.
Plus, we reveal the clever supermarket trick to make sure you stick to a budget.
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