I came across Freecycle about 1 year ago or more. If you've never heard of it, it is an online community where items are listed on a Bulletin Board for potential takers before being taken to the skip. As would be expected, most of the stuff is junk but I was amazed to find that on occasion people are listing perfectly fine white goods. It is usually the case that people have been keeping up with Jones' and need to clear some space for an upgraded mod-con.
I thought of the idea of uplifting all the Washing Machines that come up for grans with the idea of cleaning them up and selling them on.
Taking this a step further a placed an ad on Ebay Classified saying that I would uplift an Washing Machines that would otherwise be going to the tip. I got 3 working machines within a week! Shortly after this I lost my access to a van so I never reran the ad but I was heartened by the results to say the least.
To make a business of this I'd combine classifieds with Freecycle to build up stock of machines and then employ a mechanic on a piecework basis to get the machines up to scratch.
The machines could then be sold again via classifieds - or even better, to some of the people you have uplifted from. You see, I found that people were asking me if I also sold machines when I was picking the old ones up.
If you are wondering, I got the name of Hotpoint Willie as it was the nickname of an old customer of mine at a former workplace. I thought it was catchy so I ripped it off. Willie, if you are reading this, I'll buy you a pint to say thanks!
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