Playbooks · Start here
Your first flip, in seven days
A week from never having done this to cash in hand. One category, one unit, one rule: never pay above the ceiling.
Day 1 — Pick one thing
Not five things. One. If you have never flipped, the Nintendo Switch OLED is the right first unit: cheap to buy, ten minutes to check, and it sells to a parent within days. If you have more cash and want the bigger margin, the PS5 Slim. Phones are for week two; they carry the most money and the most traps.
Read that playbook top to bottom. Then read "Inspect in person" and "Meet safely" once each.
Day 1 — Learn the ceiling
Every unit in First Pounce has one number: the most you can pay and still make money after fees, gas, a repair reserve and a margin worth your time. It comes from what the unit actually sells for, not from what sellers ask. You will be tempted to go $30 over for a nice one. The ceiling is the business; the temptation is the hobby.
Days 2–4 — Watch, message, do not drive yet
Turn on push alerts for your one target. Watch what comes through. Most listings are priced too high and the app says so; that is the point. When a unit lands under the ceiling, send the message the app writes (ask if it is available, cash today, your number). Most sellers do not answer. Some say it is gone. One says yes.
Ask for the thing the playbook says to ask for before driving: the IMEI, a photo of the ports, whether it is banned or financed.
Day 5 — The meet
Police station parking lot or a busy store entrance in daylight. Cash counted at home in an envelope; nothing else in your pockets. Do the checks in order, all of them, out loud if that helps. Pay after the reset. If anything on the list fails and the seller will not come down to the repaired price, say thank you and leave. Leaving is a skill; practice it early.
Day 6 — Clean, photograph, list
Compressed air, microfiber, stickers off. Photograph it powered on, on a plain surface, in daylight, with every included part laid out and the model / storage screen in the shot. Title with the exact model, storage, and the two words a buyer searches for. Price at the sells-for number in the app, "cash, local pickup".
Day 7 — Sell it and write it down
Meet the buyer the same way you met the seller. Then open Money in the app and enter what you paid and what you got. That number, not the feeling, is what tells you whether to do it again. Most first flips make $40–120. The second one is easier. The tenth one is a routine.
Next