Tents pitched in the yard before listing, tackle sold live in lots, and a floor scale for the family tent that needs a bigger box and a carrier quote.
Built forYou buy camping, hiking and fishing gear at garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores, store it in a garage or a dry shed, and sell 15 to 60 items a week: tents, stoves and boots on eBay, tackle boxes broken into lots on Whatnot, and kayaks or cabin tents on Facebook Marketplace for local pickup.
Kit total
$419 to $796
Running cost
$211 to $355 a month
Consumables at 38 orders a week
- Orders a week
- 15–60
- Space
- Garage or storage unit
- Budget
- $650
Why this setup
You buy camping, hiking and fishing gear at garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores, store it in a garage or a dry shed, and sell 15 to 60 items a week: tents, stoves and boots on eBay, tackle boxes broken into lots on Whatnot, and kayaks or cabin tents on Facebook Marketplace for local pickup.
A buyer can't see a tent in its bag, so pitch every tent in the yard first, photograph it standing and count its poles and stakes back into the bag as it comes down.
Fishing tackle comes the opposite way: hundreds of bobbers, hooks, sinkers and lures in one tackle box. Split into lots on a Whatnot show, they sell faster than they would as single listings. The garage takes both: bulky gear on shelves, small tackle in tubs.
The kit
Every item, why it’s here and what it typically costs in the US.
5-tier steel shelving, 72 in×2
Floor space runs out first, so build up instead. Number the shelves and give each item an address you can pick from.
Typical price$80 to $180
See on Amazon
Clear stackable 32 qt bins, 4 pack×3
Mark each bin with a shelf code and record the code against the listing. When an item sells, the code in the listing tells you which bin to open.
Typical price$90 to $165
See on Amazon110 lb shipping scale with fold-up display
A wrong weight gets you an adjustment charge from the carrier or postage you overpaid. This platform scale takes up to 110 lb, and its backlit display folds up 90 degrees, so you can still read it when a box hangs over the top.
Typical price$18 to $30
See on AmazonMUNBYN thermal label printer
It takes the standard 4 × 6 inch labels that eBay, Poshmark, Mercari and Whatnot all generate, and generic labels work, so the running cost stays low.
Typical price$60 to $100
See on AmazonTape gun dispenser
Once you ship more than a handful of boxes a week, a tape gun saves minutes on every session and stops tape ends sticking to themselves.
Typical price$10 to $20
See on Amazon60-inch phone tripod with remote
Clothing and sneaker shows need a full-body or full-shoe shot from the front. A tripod gets the phone to eye level and the remote starts recording from across the room.
Typical price$15 to $35
See on Amazon
Buy this kit
Copy the full list to take shopping, or print it.
Shipping per order
What most orders like these ship by, at today’s published rates. Rates checked October 7, 2026.
USPS Ground Advantage, up to 3 lbUsual$8.64 to $16.30
TrackedUp to 3 lbHeavier clothing bundles and boxed items up to 3 lb, tracked.
UPS Ground, up to 5 lb$12.00 to $25.00
TrackedUp to 5 lbTracked UPS Ground for boxed items up to 5 lb, for when it costs less than USPS.
FedEx Home Delivery, up to 5 lb$12.00 to $25.00
TrackedUp to 5 lbBoxed items up to 5 lb to a home address, tracked, with drop-off at FedEx locations.
About $1,423 to $2,684 a month in shipping at 38 orders a week On most marketplaces the buyer pays shipping; this is the cost when you pay it.
How to lay it out
Where everything goes, so each order moves one way through the room.
- 1
Shelves along the dry wall
Put two steel units against the wall furthest from the door, where condensation is lower. Tents and sleeping bags on the top shelves in breathable bags, boots and stoves at waist height, heavy cookware at the bottom.
- 2
Tackle tubs on a bench
Three clear tubs for sorted tackle: terminal tackle, lures and bobbers. You run each show from one tub, and film it at the bench.
- 3
Show corner by the window
Mount the phone on its tripod over the bench with an LED panel either side. Use daylight from the window during the day, and switch to the LED panels for evening shows.
- 4
Packing by the door
Boxes flat against the wall, the floor scale by the door and the printer on a shelf above it. Lift a packed tent off the scale and carry it straight out of the door.
The guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
Working to the outdoor calendar
List tents, stoves and coolers from February so they are live before spring break and Memorial Day. List hiking boots and rain gear by September, and keep the stock you buy at spring yard sales for the fall shelf.
Many states open trout season in spring, and anglers stock up in the weeks before. Check your state's fishing season dates and run tackle shows in the month ahead of the opener.
Pitching and testing every tent
Pitch each tent before you list it, ideally on a dry day so it goes back in the bag dry. Check the zippers, the seams and the floor for holes against the light.
Count poles and stakes into a photo. Write the count on a tag tied to the bag, so a packed tent can be checked in seconds if a buyer asks.
Splitting a tackle box for a show
Empty the tackle box onto the bench and sort by type: hooks and terminal tackle, bobbers, sinkers, lures, and reels. Bag small items in counted lots and keep reels and rods for single eBay listings.
Remove anything with a blade, any lead sinkers you are unsure of, and old line that has gone brittle. Start each lot low and let the bidders set the price.
Kit for this step
Stoves, fuel and items that cannot ship
Strip every stove of propane, white gas or alcohol and wipe it clean. A post office clerk can refuse a box that smells of fuel, so leave the stove outside to air for a day.
Keep a box on the shelf for things you will not ship: fuel canisters, loose lithium cells, flares and bear spray. List the stove and keep those parts out of the package.
Packing tents, boots and long gear
Tents go in a double-wall box with the poles laid along one side so they cannot punch through. Boots need paper stuffed in the toes and the soles wrapped so mud cannot transfer.
Weigh and measure family tents before you choose a service. A six-person tent in a big box often prices by size, and UPS Ground can beat USPS at that weight, so get both quotes.
Keeping the garage dry
Garages and sheds sweat when the weather turns. Seal the door gap, keep stock off the floor and check the back wall for damp each month.
Air tents and sleeping bags after a pitch and before storing. A tent packed damp grows mildew.
Kit for this step
Common mistakes
Each one costs you money or reviews, and each has a fix.
- Listing a tent from the bag without pitching it, then refunding a buyer who finds a missing pole.
- Leaving a fuel canister screwed to a stove in the package and having it stopped or returned.
- Putting a fillet knife in a tackle lot sold live without checking the platform's blade rules.
- Storing sleeping bags in sealed plastic tubs in a damp garage until they smell of mildew.
- Quoting USPS shipping for a rod tube before measuring it, then paying an oversize charge out of the profit.
When to upgrade
At 30 orders a week, a free shipping tool such as Pirate Ship quotes USPS and UPS side by side for the heavy tents and rod tubes. At 40, add a folding table as a packing bench so the tackle bench stays set up for shows.
- 30+ ShipStation
- 40+ 6 ft folding table
Questions
Straight answers to what sellers ask about this.
Can I sell a stove with a fuel canister attached?
No. Unscrew it and leave all fuel out of the package. USPS restricts flammable gas, including camping canisters, and UPS and FedEx need a hazmat contract for it. Check USPS Publication 52 before you ship any stove. Say in the listing that the stove comes without fuel.
Can I sell knives from a tackle box?
Fillet knives and multi-tools ship legally in most of the US, but state and local knife laws vary, and eBay and Whatnot each set their own rules on blades and age. Read the platform's knife policy first, or take the blades out of the lot and keep them.
How do I photograph a tent nobody can see in the bag?
Pitch it in daylight and take one photo from each corner, then one inside. Lay out every pole, stake and guy line next to the bag and photograph the count. Mention any patch or seam tape.
Is a garage too damp for sleeping bags and tents?
It can be in humid months. Keep them off the floor in breathable cotton bags, not plastic, and air any tent fully before it goes on the shelf. A tent with mildew often comes back as a return.
How do I ship a long rod tube?
Measure the tube before you quote shipping. USPS limits length plus girth, and a long tube can hit oversize pricing, so compare USPS and UPS for that size. Plug both ends and pad each section.
Are fishing lots good for Whatnot?
Yes. Open and split a tackle box on camera, and sell small lots of bobbers or lures without a separate listing each. Size each lot to fit a padded mailer.
Can I ship a headlamp with batteries?
USPS accepts lithium batteries installed in a device within its limits, but spare lithium batteries are restricted. Check USPS Publication 52 before you ship. Take loose spares out, and ship AA or AAA headlamps without batteries.
Is it worth shipping a kayak or a cabin tent?
Freight eats the margin on most of them. List them on Facebook Marketplace for local pickup, show the tent pitched in one photo, and let the buyer check the hull or the poles in your driveway before paying.
Guides
Step-by-step help for the jobs that come next.
More setups
Updated October 8, 2026
