It started with one phone. Just one. Sold my old iPhone when I upgraded, made Rs.18000, and thought that was easy. Then I noticed my wife had two old phones in her nightstand. Then I remembered my dad mentioning an old iPad somewhere. Then my neighbor asked if I knew what to do with electronics.
Six months later, I had accidentally created a side hustle bringing in Rs.40000-60000 monthly. This was never the plan.
The Accidental Beginning
After selling my phone so easily, I became that annoying person asking everyone about their old electronics. Family dinners turned into device inventory sessions.
My family thought I’d developed a weird hobby. They weren’t wrong.
Wife’s two old phones: Rs.32000 combined. Dad’s iPad: Rs.15000. His old laptop: Rs.13000. Brother’s phone: Rs.9500. Mom’s tablet: Rs.8500.
One month, just from family devices, made Rs.78000. Gave everyone their money, obviously. But the process fascinated me. Spending maybe an hour per device. Research, listing, selling, shipping. Easy money for minimal effort.
That’s when it hit me: what if I did this deliberately?
The Proposition
Started offering a service to friends and family. Give me your old electronics. I’ll sell them. I’ll take 25% as a finder’s fee. You get 75% of money you wouldn’t have had otherwise.
The response surprised me. People were thrilled. They had devices they didn’t know what to do with. Selling seemed complicated. Happy to outsource it for a quarter of the proceeds.
Friend Sarah: three old phones and a tablet. Total sale Rs.52000. My cut is Rs.13000. She cut Rs.39000 for devices sitting in a drawer.
Coworker: old laptop and two phones. Total Rs.38000. My cut is Rs.9500.
Neighbor: closet full of old tech. Nine devices. Sales Rs.1,14000. My cut is Rs.28500.
Adding up fast. Working maybe five hours weekly.
Building the System
Realized quickly I needed a system. Couldn’t just wing it. Built a process.
Step one: Device intake. Created a simple form. What device? Condition? Passwords? Original packaging?
Step two: Testing and assessment. Power everything on, check functionality, note cosmetic issues. Take photos. Be honest about conditions.
Step three: Research and pricing. Check multiple platforms, see what similar devices sold for recently.
Step four: Listing creation. Honest descriptions. Good photos. Competitive pricing. Developed templates for common devices.
Step five: Sale management. Answer questions, coordinate meetups or shipping.
Step six: Payment processing. Collect money, take my cut, pay the owner within 48 hours. Fast payment built trust.
The whole system took three weeks to develop. Once down, each device took 30-45 minutes of actual work spread over a few days.
The Platform Strategy
I learned fast that different devices sell better on different platforms.
Phones in good condition: Online buyback services. Quick quotes, prepaid shipping, fast payment. Lower prices than private sales but way more convenient.
Phones with issues: Local sales sometimes got better prices. People wanted to see and test devices with problems.
Laptops and tablets: Mix of both depending on condition and specs.
Bulk lots: Some companies bought multiple devices at once.
Kept spreadsheets tracking which platforms paid best for which devices. Optimize everything.
The Unexpected Challenges
Not everything went smoothly. Learned some lessons the expensive way.
Lesson one: Check for activation locks before taking devices. Once took three iPhones all locked to previous owners’ accounts. Couldn’t sell them. I had to track down passwords. Nightmare.
Lesson two: Test everything thoroughly. Once sold a laptop as fully functional and it died during the buyer’s test. I had to refund.
Lesson three: Underpromise, overdeliver. If a screen has minor scratches, mention them. Battery weak? Say so. Honesty prevented returns.
Lesson four: Don’t take devices from people you don’t trust. Once I took a batch from a friend-of-a-friend. Took twice as long as expected. They kept asking for updates. Exhausting.
Lesson five: Have clear terms upfront. Created a simple one-page agreement. Prevent misunderstandings.
The Growth Phase
After three months, word spread. People I didn’t know started reaching out.
Set boundaries. Maximum five clients at a time. Maximum two devices per person until I’d successfully sold one for them. Wasn’t trying to build a massive business. I wanted supplemental income without stress.
Monthly numbers started looking like this:
Month one: Rs.24500 in fees Month two: Rs.38000 in fees
Month three: Rs.52000 in fees Month four: Rs.61500 in fees
Making more than my car payment from other people’s old electronics.
The Relationship Building
The interesting part was building repeat clients. People who upgraded phones regularly. Families with multiple devices are aging out. Small business owners with old company devices.
One client, a photographer, upgraded gear constantly. Every six months he’d have something to sell. Old cameras, lenses, laptops, tablets. Became his go-to person.
Another client was a teacher who spread word at her school. Suddenly there was a pipeline of teachers selling old classroom technology. Volume added up.
A local small business owner started using me to liquidate old office equipment. Twice yearly, I’d get a batch of laptops and phones. Biggest single payday: Rs.42000 in fees.
The Time Management Reality
Honest truth: this took time. Not a lot, but consistent time. Five to eight hours weekly on average.
I worked on it during lunch breaks. Evenings after dinner. Saturday mornings while my wife went to yoga. Fit into the margins of my schedule.
Is it worth it? Making Rs.400-600 monthly for maybe 25-30 hours of work. That’s Rs.1500-2000 per hour for flexible work from home. Better than most side hustles I’d tried.
Plus, helping people. They got money for devices they weren’t using. I got paid for knowledge and effort. Everyone won.
The Scaling Question
Thought about scaling up. More clients. Hiring help. Building a real business. My wife encouraged it.
I thought about it hard. Then I decided no.
Why? Scaling would mean more stress, more time, more complexity. Need to incorporate, handle taxes differently, maybe get insurance. Would stop being a side hustle and become a real business.
I liked it as a side hustle. I liked the flexibility. I liked helping people I knew or who came through referrals.
Stayed small. Five clients maximum. Word-of-mouth only. No advertising. No website.
The Financial Impact
Over a full year:
Total devices sold: 127 Total sales value: Rs.23,85000 My total fees: Rs.5,96200.50 Average time per device: 40 minutes Total time invested: 85 hours approximately
That’s Rs.7000 per hour for flexible work around my main job. Meaningful money. Not quit-your-job money, but definitely makes-life-easier money.
Used it for:
- Emergency fund Rs.2,00000
- Credit card debt Rs.1,50000
- Weekend trip with wife Rs.60000
- New laptop Rs.80000
- Saving the rest Rs.1,06200.50
Money that wouldn’t have existed otherwise.
The Lessons Learned
Building this taught me more than just how to sell electronics.
Small opportunities exist everywhere. Most people see old tech as junk. I saw the inventory.
Taking a percentage of someone else’s gain is often easier than creating value from scratch.
Systems matter. Once I had my process down, everything became easier.
Reputation is everything. One bad transaction could cost multiple future clients.
Staying small can be smart. Not everything needs to scale. Sometimes good enough is actually perfect.
The Current State
Still do this. Eighteen months now. Still five clients maximum. Still 25% fee. Still making Rs.40000-60000 monthly.
Become routine. Know the platforms. Know the pricing. Know which devices sell fast and which take patience. Sold probably 200+ devices at this point.
Some months slower. Some busier. Averages out. Income is reliable enough to budget around, flexible enough to not stress about.
My wife jokes that I’ve become the neighborhood electronics guy. People stop me at the store: Hey, I heard you sell old phones?
The Advice
If you’re thinking about doing something similar:
Start small. Sell your own stuff first. Learn the process.
Build systems early. Templates, forms, processes. Make it repeatable.
Be honest about everything. Condition, timelines, fees.
Set clear boundaries. Don’t let this consume your life.
Choose your clients carefully. Problem clients aren’t worth any amount of money.
Track everything. Know your numbers.
Stay flexible. Platforms change. Markets shift.
Don’t scale until you’re sure you want to. Small and manageable beats large and stressful.
The Unexpected Gift
The best part isn’t the money, though money’s great. It’s the relationships and skills.
Become someone people trust with their valuable but unwanted items.
Learned negotiation, assessment, marketing, customer service, logistics. Skills that apply way beyond selling old phones.
Helped dozens of people recover hundreds or thousands from devices they thought were worthless. They’re genuinely grateful.
I made good money doing something I find interesting and manageable.
I started with one phone. One sale. One moment of thinking that was easy. Turned into consistent side income running for a year and a half with no signs of stopping.
Your old tech is someone else’s good deal. My skill at connecting those dots became my unexpected side hustle.
Not bad for something that started by accident.
