Freebie Flipping?

[flash]

Does anyone out there flip their freebies into profit? It's a great time of year for it with gifts and bazaars and fairs, but I haven't seen any threads on people doing this. I worked with a not for profit a few years ago and we turned a HUGE profit.

[34saving]

Occassionally I guess. For example, all those formula coupons they mailed me when I had a baby did really well on eBay. My $100 gift certificate to a restaurant I'll never go to will be flipped into a present for my parents. . . .but I don't know if that counts as a "for profit".

[sweeps]

Same here. Baby bottles from fairs, free formula and coupons in the mail. There's a decent market on eBay for that stuff.

Freebie flipping does border on the unethical though. Case in point: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/20...mre-ebay_x.htm

[flash]

I think there can be ethics involved. I wouldn't sell anything that was clearly a sample not intended for resale (we did sell gift baskets that had those as a minor addition, but as a donation from the seller for the charity).

I think flipping "free with purchase" is generally okay. They are standalone, UPC coded items that have a retail value, and are not simply a sample before you buy. I also think "flipping" to make personal gifts of anything is okay. An example, I received 3 Philosophy bubble baths free that will make a great gift for a friend. Sometimes I donate to local hospitals and geriatric wards, etc.

[flash]

Oh, to answer about "freebie flipping". The professional flippers I know mainly do gift baskets on request, or to sell at silent auction/bazaar, etc., but also on eBay.

If I look at the current freebies list, I could easily come up with gift baskets for dogs (treats, food, toys free with purchase, etc), bath/spa baskets, even sports baskets (bottle of water, bottle of propel, MetRx bar, Luna bars, free body-shaping book with purchase, etc. and toss it into the free gym bag).

If you really want to get down to it, though, flipping is basically putting what you have to use. Example, I received the samples of cabinetry/closets. The samples are nice wood squares, and have no use after I'm done evaluating them. They could easily be put together to form a very nice trivet. Use it yourself, or add in the free spice, flavoring, baking mixes, etc., and you have a gift basket.

The display box the samples came in is also nice, and could be recovered with wallpaper samples that you can get free when they are discontinued at your local paint shop. The little cubbies could be used for different tea or coffee samples, or whatever, throw in a free Starbucks GC (from the dog chews sample), and its a gift package.

OR, take the free doctor bag. If I could not use it after I received it, I could take empty prescription containers (unused and free from most vet clinics) and put in bath salts, add a few free apothacary jars of bath products, etc. and call it "just what the doctor ordered" gift and sell it for a healthy profit.

Or the free tire gauge. Expensive item, free with purchase, put it with other freebies to make an emergency roadside kit.

These are NOT things I'm doing, but could be done as part of the savings challenge, I suppose.

A freebie isn't a savings unless it is money you would have otherwise spent, on face lotion, on bandaids, or craft materials, whatever. It may be interesting, but it's not a savings.

So, where do you draw the line on resale? What is ethical and unethical?