How Much Money Can You Make

[PLC-Landscape]

OK, I love finding things. Over the winter while taking a hiatus from my landscaping company, I started selling things I find from dumpster diving, stuff I have laying around, and things my friends think are worthless. Needless to say, it took me a month to get the hang of finding, researching, photographing, posting, selling, and shipping - - - but once I did, I made about $8000.00 a month in the last 2 months. Landscaping starts April 15th or so around here, and I'm considering trading the weed wacker for a detector or 2, but I don't want just a hobby - - I want to add to my selling business.
I thought about looking for coins, gold, stones, anything to turn a profit. I even bought an old detector many years ago, but never used it - I got into construction instead. So, here's my question.
---How much money could someone make doing this full time?---
Like I said, I love finding things - and it sort of comes natural to me, so I do feel I'm the right type of person to get into the sport. I'm not talking about a Mel Fisher type launch or anything, basically coins, beaches, semi-local spots or day trips. Maybe gold, basically anything - I love the journey, the adventure of finding something, but I also have to make money. I'm self employed, and I need to pay rent, health insurance (ouch!), eat food-lol, buy clothes, you know, basic stuff - - the "S" word, security. I make about $80,0000 cutting grass, and thats decent for my area - New Jersey.
I know there's always the chance of finding that $500.00 or $1000.00 coin on any given day, but talking realistically, whats an average full time searchers make a year.
$10,000-$20,000
$20,000-$40,000
$40-000-$60,000
What does it take to make over $100,000/year doing this? Is it probable?
---If I can make $8,000.00 selling junk - (mostly right out of dumpsters), I would think coins, etc. would be pretty good. By the way NONE of my friends can believe how much I make selling these things, it's insane the amount of waste that goes on in the United States. - - But I do it, sometimes I'm up 12 hours getting things done, but I'm learning and developing systems to make it work faster. Hopefully some of you guys can open up a few ideas and thoughts. Thanks!

 

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[Gypsy Heart]

If you are making 8k a month dumpster diving ....thats 96k a year....Thats alot more than you are going to make metal detecting....
If you planned on making a profit from detecting ...you wont....unless you are digging up valuable relics that you can sell ....and with that comes alot of research....and property rights...Now you could get lucky and hit some hot spots , but unless you have a solid plan on where you know something of great value is stashed, or sunken, then the odds of making a killing in this business isnt there.... ....otherwise you will be nickel and diming it.
There are those detectorist that people seek out,due to their expertise on hunting and researching....where they will pay you for your services...but they arent going to hire a rookie when they are looking for grandpas buried silver...
Some of us get paid for writing or researching ......some of us are out digging in the mountains and deserts looking for the big cache...and many have found the big stash that has enabled them to live pretty good for the rest of their lives....but ...as for the average Joe with no detecting experience making a career out of it.....I dont think it could be done.
In 2006 I put over 600.00 junk clad in the bank from detecting and I hit it hard in the summer...granted I dont hunt alot of parks and beaches ...so maybe I could find more if I stayed out of the woods....but still...even doubled thats only 1200 bucks ...I do think if I lived in a more historically rich place I could be finding alot more due to the effort I put in.....but could I live off detecting alone?...I dont think so.... Even if I sold everything I did find....could I live off of that....yes....but not as well as I would want to....
It sounds like your dumpster diving business has great potential...are you selling this stuff on ebay or to dealers,etc?

 

[Stacylee926]

Gee - I made $1.47 last night in an hour at the elementary school!
Typically I average about .50cents an hr over the weekend.....
Maybe if I did it full time I could break $1.00/hr!! But then again, you can't go on school property when the kids are around.

99.9% of us here do it as a hobby - not so sure you could make a full time job out of it.

 

[jangles]

I've tripped on the same idea only I thought hey, why don't I sell everything drop out of society and live in my van down at the beach picking up coins and jewelry, Man I was thinking permenant vacation then reality jumped up and bit me in the butt...Oh well it's ok to dream alittle 8)

 

[Montana Jim]

Sell your trash.

Keep landscaping, probebly people depending on you?

Detect for a hobby. If you find something valuable sell that too.

I have years worth of relics and I don't even think it's worth 1000.00 at e-bay prices. But if your shooting for gold or a whole treasure searching way of life - it's out there.

I dunno... must be terrible to have your delema!

 

[txkickergirl]

I'm sorry I just can't imagine making 8k a month dumpster diving, maybe a year. Grant it, anything you stick on ebay some yoyo will bid on it, but unless you are pulling out toast with the virgin mary on it, or a ghost in a jar, not sure what you are finding in the dumpster worth selling. But hey if you are....that is beyond fantastic, because you are making a living and cleaning up the environment at the same time! I would be afraid of getting stuck by a needle infected by aids or something like that. I'm sure you take precautions. Instead of MD, maybe you ought to write a book about how to make a living from a dumpster.

 

[N.J.THer]

It would take a lot of research to make a living at it although it can be done.

Your post gave me an idea!!! If I could design a metal detector that looked like a weed whacker then instead of asking people to detect their lawn I just offer to weed whack it for free. Who would turn down that?? Follow that up with the ride on lawn mower and edger versions I could cover the whole property before they were even on to me. LOL

Good luck.

NJ

 

[Monk]

Gypsy said it right! Don't give up your day job.---- BUT! You might start to ask around, Friends, neighbors, Ect. where you could go with your detector and find a $1.000.000! They likely will laugh at you and say if they new of something like that they would go get it. However then some will say something like, BUT! If I was looking or why dont you check, Or I heard this or that person buried this or that. Other words get onto a legend and research it out. You could hit enough to carry you awhile and take a year off the job and go full time for awhile. Untill then keep the day job. Only maybe slow down. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Metal Detecting is a hobby. You cannot make a living here in the U.S. Most of us do not even want to sell our finds unless desperate.

Dumpster diving is much more consitant and profitable in my opinion.

 

[PLC-Landscape]

Thanks everyone! - I think I'll buy a detector and give it a shot. Just as a hobby, and keep the landscape business and the selling business, the only thing is, I need more hours in the day! - - - Landscaping is probably the most stable of the 3, but I've always been a dreamer, and I started with just a truck and a mower, and I also started finding stuff to sell really by accident. Both grew to something decent, so I think I'll try my hand at detecting and see what happens. New Jersey and Pennsylvania have some historically decent spots..... Maybe my next post will read - - Make $80,000.00 With Your Metal Detector! - -

 

[jorge del norte]

like i've said before, i think it is possible to be a metal detectorist and a drunk.

first find enough coins for batteries, then find enough coins for the beer.....i think it is possible......but some bum might steal your MD stuff when you pass out.....

for me it's a hobby.........i have always made better scores while "junkin" for ebay.

i had a friend who found clock at a estate sale and sold it on ebay for 5000.00
it was quite rare.........

peas

mws

 

[PLC-Landscape]

That's what I'm talkin about! - 5K from a clock.....awesome! The trick is to know what old/vintage stuff is worth. - Find it, clean it, and eBay it. 9 times out of 10 someone will buy it. It's a numbers game, similar to MD'ing - the more you do it, the better the odds of finding items worth money.

 

[transplant]

I know that you can make Good living Dumpster divering . Would go by the Dumpster in our area and it was a small one average about 200. per month just selling the lamps that I found .some of the other that I talk to were making about 4-500. per week just diving once a week, at a number of differ sites

 

[swingman]

I'm retired, yet put in only ~ 300 hours detecting a year (I want to keep the hobby 'fresh'!). If I can average $1 an hour, that's pretty good. Of course, a lot of my time is spent detecting hammered sites where the coin count is low (and they're deep). I go for quality now, over quantity.
My silver ring count is around 10 per year - gold around 3/year. But I do very little beach hunting, except in the winter.

 

[DFX-SE Gregg]

I am tired of seeing people making things up! I usually average between 2-$5 that is it! This is a hobby , so if you are planning on getting rich I doubt it will happen! Stick to digging in the garbage!

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Your chance of finding a coin in the ground that will sell for $1,000 is about 1/2 that of winning a state lottery in your lifetime. People find them, but lots & lots more people win state lotteries every year. Most coin shops won't touch a dug coin with any dirt left (none of the professional grading services will), and you have to clean it to remove that. Any evidence of cleaning will ruin the value. Finding a cache in a bottle or lead box is also a once in a lifetime occurance if you are extremely lucky.

Jewelry is wide open. Follow Zha Zha Gabor around at the beach and you'll do OK.

Live where there is natural gold? Detect nuggets.

Know how much medical insurance costs? Find a job with benefits and detect or dumpster dive nights and weekends.

Moderate on a MD forum. THAT'S where the money is.

 

[garbage digger]

You may run across a ring worth a couple hundred here and there or some desirable relics, but even with the occasional hot spots making a living at this HOBBY is next to impossible. Heck there is sometimes I hit bad streaks where I barely pay for my batteries

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Just take a look at the "Finds" section of this site. As detectorists
we are thrilled when we find a Buffalo nickel. Why? Because we
found it, and it's a little piece of history in our hand. That's what
treasure hunting is all about. If you go out expecting to make a
living, I'm afraid you wont enjoy it for long.

 

[Ray S ECenFL]

May be I should start dumpster diving, if it pays that much.

Metal detecting is a hobby and you would be hard pressed to make a living at it. Just my opinion.

Get a MD and use it to get a break from you normal job and dumster diving. It is a fun hobby.

Happy Hunting

 

[slowreaper]

Agree with what everyone is saying.
I started treasure hunting in 1976, in all that time maybe have brought in maybe $9500 including one good $8000 cache. Still enjoy it and will probably do it for many more years to come, but don't bet the farm on a big score.

Brad