Starting your couch flipping side hustle

1
Starting your couch flipping side hustle

• Alright, lets get right into it. Furniture
  flipping (especially couch flipping) is a highly
  rewarding and lucrative side-hustle. In future
  blog posts my wife, Emma, will share her success
  with flipping other types of furniture including
  shelves, dressers, and tables.
• Below I will share the best strategy for getting
  into couch flipping. Getting Started
• Like all things, you must start small and scale
  over time. Below, I outlined a few things to
  consider before picking up your first couch
• Whats your personal goal for spending time on a
  side-hustle (saving for a trip, moving towards
  financial freedom, giving back to others, etc.)?
• This is one of the most important steps since
  this will feed your motivation to persevere even
  if you bump into challenges.
• Who will be helping you with this side hustle or
  is it something you will attempt alone?
• You can make a lot more money tackling this
  alone, but we highly
• recommend working on this with a partner. When
  moving furniture, you

2

• wont always be able to get the seller to help
  you move their old piece of furniture to your
  vehicle.
• Where will you be storing furniture you pick up?
• Andrew and I started in our garage, but storage
  units are also a viable option in the instance
  you live in an apartment.
• How much you are willing to spend on a couch?
• To start, we limited purchases to 50 or less for
  a single couch and 100 or less for a couch set
  or sectional.
• How will you split income?
• We chose to put 50 aside for expenses (gas,
  cleaning supplies, etc.) and split the remaining
  50 50/50. In the instance, one partner is using
  their vehicle you may opt to give them a higher
  percentage.
• How will you transport purchased and sold
  furniture (e.g. truck, tie down straps, etc.)?
• Because you obviously cant strap a sectional to
  the top of your Ford Focusat least, its not
  encouraged.

Finding Picking Up Your First Couch Once you
figure out how to tackle all the above its time
to schedule your first pickup. When we first
started we exclusively surfed Craigslist, Offer
Up, and Facebook Marketplace to find couches
that fit our budget. We would set alerts based on
the distance from where we lived and the price
so we could easily track newly posted furniture.
The secret here is being the first to reach out
to the seller and offering pick-up ASAP. It is a
huge inconvenience to the
3

• seller when the buyer cant pick up or asks to
  pick up in a few days. Get ahead of this by
  offering to pick up the same day.
• We recommend using our tactic of having a budget
  for each couch but be respectful to sellers.
  Never low ball a seller with your only intent
  being to resell (e.g., Offering 50 for a
• 400 couch). Its just rude.
• Instead, focus on finding cheap or free couches
  that have potential to be flipped for a lot more
  once cleaned up.
• Once a seller has agreed to sell you their couch
  and you arrive for pick up there are a few
  things to do before paying them
• Check the overall condition of the couch (dont
  be afraid to ask them if there are any issues).
• Was the couch previously in a home with pets?
• Is there any structural damage (e.g., broken
  frame)?
• Are there any bug infestations (e.g., carpet
  beetles or bed bugs)?
• This is the most important one and you can see a
  video of how to check for bugs here or this
  article here.
• Dont be afraid to turn down a couch if you dont
  like the quality. Worst thing you can do when
  you have limited space is to buy a couch that is
  tough to sell. If you like the couch but there
  are issues not mentioned in the post negotiate
  the price further in person.
• Ask them to help clear a space for you to move
  the couch to the door (you can
• also message them in advance to request this).
• I cant tell you how many things I have bumped
  into while moving bulky furniture from the
  living room to the front door. Best to be safe
  by ensuring there is a path cleared.
• Assuming everything looks good, move your new
  couch down to you vehicle, make sure its
  secured, and youre good to go.

4

• Once the covers are in the wash you still need to
  clean the armrests and backrests. Start with
  vacuuming the whole couch. We found that warm
  water and a drop of dish soap was sufficient to
  help us spot clean any small non-permanent stains
  out of the couch. Avoid using too much dish soap
  as this can lead to some spots or discoloration
  once it dries. If discoloration occurs just
  re-clean with warm water only and wait for it to
  dry.
• After everything is dry put the cushion covers
  back on and get ready for taking photos.
• Taking Pictures
• This step is straightforward, but there are a few
  pointers that help ensure the photos you take
  will maximize the offers you get once you post it
  for sale
• Make sure you have great lighting. Since we
  started in our garage, we would move the couches
  outside around noon to take photos. This helped
  us get great lighting while avoiding shadows
  that occur when snapping photos in the evening.
• Take photos straight on and get photos all around
  the couch (armrests, cushions, backrest, etc.).
• Take photos of all issues with the couch (stains
  etc.). Being honest about the issues is not only
  the right thing to do, but helps buyers be
  confident about putting an offer on your post.
• Below is a photo of the very first couch we
  picked up, cleaned and resold.

Posting
5
Once you have all the pictures, we recommend
posting across all platforms to ensure potential
buyers find your post regardless of where they
shop (Craigslist, Offer Up, and Facebook
Marketplace). As mentioned above, an honest
description is important. Call out any issues and
mention that you are open to any questions about
your posting. To increase the chances of selling
the couch quickly we also recommend offering free
delivery near you. Most people wont buy a couch
they want if delivery isnt available. Reinvestin
g Finding Your Next Couch After your first
sale be careful about immediately spending all
the money you just made. With our first few
sales Andrew and I reinvested into our
side-hustle by purchasing professional cleaning
supplies (vacuum, upholstery cleaner, steam
cleaner, etc.) to help simplify cleaning for
future couches. On a future blog post, we will
outline some of the supplies we purchased when
we first got started. Andthats it! This form
of income is not truly passive but you will
have the chance to earn significant side income.
Time to repeat and find your next couch. Feel
free to post in the comments below and we will
follow up as soon as we can to answer your
questions about starting your side
hustle. Subscribe to our RSS feed to get
notified of future postings around cleaning
supplies, cleaning tactics, and other successful
side hustles and hobbies. About the
Author Roman is the co-owner of Couch Cycled
which he started with Andrew Muniz in 2021.
Professionally, Roman has a background in
software sales and has worked for companies
ranging from small startups up to large companies
like Cisco. Outside of work, Roman has always
had a passion for the outdoors and regularly
spends time camping and fly fishing. Dont
hesitate to reach out over text or email if you
have any questions about Couch Cycled or just
want to connect. About Couch Cycled CouchCycled
offers free in-home couch and furniture removal
to reduce furniture waste in Dallas/Fort Worth
while giving back to the community. All removed
couches are renewed and resold at an affordable
price. A percentage of all sales are donated.