There is nothing inherently wrong in running a business that deals in buying and selling of second-hand goods. It can be small items, such as collectible items, or bigger household furniture like a four-post bed. Establishments such as these are usually more open to haggling over price since they’re not selling anything that hasn’t already been owned, according to the most common perception. They’re great places to go for finding good stuff to fill out that new home or just looking around for collectibles or rare items that the original owners aren’t interested in having anymore. However, there is the perennial problem of the owner of such a store not having enough stuff to keep it in business for long. Where, then, does one get second-hand stuff?

As the show “Storage Wars” shows people, one good source is abandoned storage lockers. Perhaps their owners died. Perhaps they simply stopped paying rent on the storage space. Perhaps people just forgot about them. Whatever the reason, these lockers are a potential goldmine of second-hand items that can be sold, provided one is willing to go through the auction process for them. The show does tend to dramatize a little bit, but for the most part, there really is a risk of taking a loss when getting storage space or locker contents. However, just like the show, there is the chance of someone walking away with a huge profit – or at least a collectible that might sell well to the right buyer.

Garage sales and the like are also an interesting place to go for second-hand goods. As a rule of thumb, a lot of people have no idea how valuable anything they have actually is. In most cases, something that doesn’t have much value in itself might turn out to be holding something that is priceless. Stories about people finding well-preserved original copies of the US Declaration of Independence in old paintings in the attic aren’t all false. The best part is there are a lot of people that do this for a variety of reasons. There are people moving from big houses to furnished apartments or folks going to a different state to get away from an annoying ex.

Then, of course, there are the customers themselves. Some people might look towards a second-hand goods store to unload some of the stuff they no longer want. A pawn shop might be a better choice, but sometimes they might think otherwise. Provided they feel they can get good value for what they’re trying to sell out of the store owner, then they might be inclined to sell. Naturally, the owner must negotiate for a price that’s still reasonable, but doesn’t become a “virtual loss” because nobody is going to buy that item second-hand for too high a cost.