How to Make Money Selling Used Golfballs
By Steve Silverman
You may not want to quit your day job, but if you have extra time and extra energy you have a chance to make extra money by collecting and selling used golf balls with a minimal investment. Golf courses attract lost golf balls. Go to a challenging course and you are likely to find a water hazard every other hole. Those hazards attract golf balls and if you are resourceful you can collect those golf balls and sell them.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Go to the local golf course or country club and make a deal with management. Tell them you sell "after market" golf balls and that you would like to use their club as a resource. You will only come after hours -- when the course is closed to golfers -- and that you will give them 25 percent of your revenues. If you don't come to such an agreement, you will be trespassing. So making this kind of deal is in your best interests.
Find your golf balls with a golf ball retriever. This is a bucket-like device that works by sweeping it along the lower regions of the water hazard. This can be a very efficient way of wrangling golf balls. You can also take a more hands on approach by investing in snorkeling equipment and diving in the hazard and collecting them by hand.
Clean off the golf balls you have found. You want them to be in as good a shape as they can possibly be when you take them to market. Sitting in the bottom of a lake or water hazard will make them very dirty and messy but cleaning them should be easy. Dry them with a rag or a towel.
Separate your golf balls by category. Name brand golf balls in good shape are graded "A." Golf balls that are second-line brands but are in good shape are graded "B." Balls that have cuts or marks are graded "C." The "A" balls can be sold for $1 each, the "B" balls are .50 and the "C" balls are .25.
Sell your golf balls in lots of 500 on eBay or another online location. You will get quick response and if the grades you have assigned your golf balls are accurate you will quickly earn a reputation as a trusted seller. This will allow you to make extra money selling used golf balls.
Tips & Warnings
Don't shortchange the golf course. They are allowing you access to their course and can bar you at any time for any reason. Build an association with a number of courses in your area.
This is a safer job in northern states. If you are wrangling golf balls in states like Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana, you may find yourself face-to-face with alligators or poisonous snakes.
About The Author
Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman authored The Minnesota Vikings: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Who's Better, Who's Best in Football -- The Top 60 Players of All-Time, among others, and placed in the Pro Football Writers of America awards three times. Silverman holds a Master of Science in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism.
