Idea: Buy, repair, sell

Another small town small business idea:

Buy damaged items from online auction sites, repair them, and then resell them.

I got this idea from a student in one of my eBay classes. She would search eBay for broken china dolls. Her search keywords included "needs help" and "poor thing". These broken dolls came at a steep discount. She would then repair them. I don't think she was intending to make a profit, but you might!

If you consider this idea, here are a few suggestions:

• Specialize! Focus only on items you can repair well, and that have a strong resale market.
  
• Track your time, and carefully evaluate your profit potential.
• Be absolutely honest about repairs when you resell.
  

Do you have business ideas to share? We'd love to hear it.

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