I know what you might be thinking, what a weird title for an article. Right? Why would I buy something if I just want to borrow it? Well, it’s so you don’t end up having to really pay for it. If you want to borrow something, almost anything really, for free then the best way to do it is to buy it for the right price, use it, and then resell it. I’ve done this with all sorts of stuff that I want to “borrow”. Sometimes I borrow things for years before I sell them back for even money (sometimes a profit too)
If you want to borrow something that is brand new this isn’t going to work really because when it comes time to sell it back you won’t get what you paid for it usually. The key thing to understand is that you need to find the item you want for the right price. When you do that you can be sure to keep it for a while, use it, and then resell it to break even. If you’re really good at finding deals then you’ll be able to use it and then resell it later for profit.
Where do you find something you want to buy to “borrow”?
First you need to find the item you want. The best places to look are local classified ad sites like Craigslist. If you want a Craigslist alternative then simple google “Craigslist alternative” and you’ll find a bunch of them. However, with my experience with all of them I usually find the best selection on Craigslist. I’ve had some luck with eBay, eBay Classifieds, facebook, and OfferUp, but I’ve had the most success with Craigslist.
So if you want to borrow something like a chainsaw for a one time job, a shampoo cleaner to use on your dirty carpet, or a bike to use for the summer then just head over to Craigslist and do a quick search.
I’m going to just walk you through it so you can follow along. That should make it easy for you to do it for whatever you want. I’m going to look for a Trek bike that I want to try out. So I’m heading over to Craigslist, and in the search field I’m going to put in “Trek”. I’ve been wanting to try out some road biking so I’m going to “borrow” a bike for a while to see if I like it.
Once you find the bike (or item) you want check for a fair price
I found a nice Trek bike that I want to try out, but I’m not sure if the price is right or not. I need to make sure that I will be able to sell the bike for at least what I paid for it after I “borrow” it for a while. So, how do I do that? One of the best ways is to use google to check what other bikes like it are selling for across the country. This should give you a good idea on price. If your bike (or item) is selling for a lot more than what you’re seeing at other places then you need to bargain down the price or find something else.
I found a Trek 1200 for $125. To find out what they’re selling for around the country you can use google to search for what others are selling for on Craigslist. To do this you just need to do a quick search using the correct syntax.
I would go to google and put this into the search field (without the quotes)
“trek 1200 site:craigslist.org”
After checking a few of the listings I find that there are Trek 1200’s going for anything between $150 and $500 depending on the year of the bike. This is a wide range because they are different bikes from different years, so of course if you can find the exact bike with the exact year you would be better off with the comparison, however, with this sample of prices I can already tell that I won’t have any problem reselling the Trek bike for $125 if I were to purchase it. It is well into the low range of prices that I found and that’s usually a good indication of a good buy.
All that’s left to do is to go buy it and use it. Then I can resell it to break even and I would have paid nothing for “borrowing” it.
How long can you keep something before you resell it?
What you need to learn though is how long you can keep something before you resell it. With something like a bike, with my experience you can usually safely keep it for a few months, even years, before you have to worry about too much depreciation in value. For other things, like electronics, you’ll need to hold onto it for less time.
Here’s a quick list of items you can “borrow for free” and for how long you can borrow them before you have to resell them in order to break even. Of course, a great deal on a buy will extend your “borrowing” time.
Bikes – months to years
Furniture – months to years
Tools without electronics – months
Human propelled boats, kayaks – months
Electronics, Computers – weeks (not more than 3-6 months)
Tools with electronics – weeks (not more than 3-6 months)