They’ve flipped everything from condoms to nit combs
A couple’s side hustle makes them £25,000 a year buying discounted clearance items – including reduced condoms – and reselling them on Amazon. Sam Bayliss, 24, and partner Beth Jones, 25, scour clearance shelves in stores such as Boots and Superdrug before listing the products on Amazon.
The pair, who both run their own separate businesses alongside the venture, use specialist software to research which reduced products are in high demand online before snapping them up. Among their most successful flips was a haul of 38 boxes of condoms bought from a Boots clearance sale for £111.75.
After relabelling the products and sending them to Amazon’s fulfilment centres, the couple sold the entire batch within a week – making £124.20 profit.
Sam, who works in online software and lives with Beth in Manchester city centre, said: “We sell everything and anything. We never know what we’re going to sell, as long as it’s selling and we can make a profit.
“With the condoms, we found them on Boots clearance shelves and scanned the barcode using our software. It showed us the sales data and return rates, so we knew they would sell quickly.”
The couple use a programme called SellerAmp SAS, which costs £16.74 a month, to analyse products before buying them. The software shows how many times a product sells on Amazon each month, allowing them to estimate how quickly stock will move. Sam said the condoms were likely discounted because the packaging was being updated.
He added: “The expiry dates were still 2027 to 2028, so there was loads of time left on them. During that period Boots and Superdrug had loads of stock because the branding was changing.”
Once they buy the products, the couple attach Amazon-generated SKU labels before sending them to Amazon warehouses using UPS collection services.
Sam said: “Amazon keeps the stock until it sells. They give you a shipping label and UPS collects it from your front door.”
The pair have also made hundreds from selling Brita water filters after finding 80 heavily reduced units.
Sam said: “We bought 80 of them and made £637.60 profit after fees. They all sold out within four or five days because the software told us they sell around 9,000 times a month.”
Other products they have resold include PS5 and Xbox games, vacuum cleaners, skincare, stationery, computer accessories and washing-up products. Beth runs her own catering company while Sam works in online software, but the pair say the side hustle has helped ease financial pressures.
Sam said: “We are not making millions from this, but if we can put money aside to help with bills it takes the pressure off full-time work.”
The couple now use the money to pay off their mortgage and any unexpected costs they might find: “I put this off for so long because I worried about the upfront money and what would happen if it went wrong. But once I started, I kicked myself for not doing it sooner.”
The couple currently pay £30 a month for an Amazon seller subscription alongside their product research software. Despite some criticism online, Sam insists they are simply meeting customer demand.
He said: “Some people say we’re contributing to the cost-of-living crisis, but people on Amazon are paying for convenience. If they want it cheaper, they can still go into the shop themselves. We’re very small fish in a very large pond – if we don’t do it, somebody else will.”
The pair are now looking to scale the business further by moving into wholesale deals directly with brands and suppliers.
Sam added: “We’re not trying to sell anything to people. We just document what we do because if it helps or inspires someone else, that’s enough for us. I always try to help people because I needed guidance when I started too.”
Sam and Beth’s top five sellers this year
Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb
Buy price: £1
Sell price: £12.99
Profit per unit after fees: £7.02 (702%ROI)
Retailer: Superdrug Clearance
Braun Silk-épil 9 Epilator
Buy price: £29.99
Sell price: £114.75
Profit per unit after fees: £59.79 (199% ROI)
Retailer: Boots clearance
Nuby RapidSterilise Portable UV Steriliser
Buy price: £6
Sell price: £29.89
Profit after fees: £14.55 (242% ROI)
Retailer: Smyths
Nicorette Microtab 2mg Sublingual Tablet
Buy price: £5.50
Sell price: £21.50
Profit per unit after fees: £8.40 (152% ROI)
Retailer: Tesco
Nicorette 15mg Inhalator
Buy price: £7.50
Sell price: £39.99
Profit per unit after fees: £21.50 (286% ROI)
Retailer: Boots clearance
