Sharetown: Profit From Returned Goods

Got a gift for reselling used products? Sharetown may be worth a look. This site helps you profit from reselling returned goods.

What is Sharetown?

Sharetown helps online retailers handle bulky returns — things like mattresses, furniture and gym equipment. But, in reality, “return” is a bit of a misnomer. Many of these items really can’t be returned to store shelves. After all, you can’t re-sell a used mattress as if it were new.

Thus, instead of returning items to a store, Sharetown enlists freelancers to pick up, clean and resell that bulky item as used in exchange for a portion of the sales proceeds.

 How it Works (for freelancers)

To join Sharetown as a freelancer, you must:

• be over the age of 18,
• have a truck, van, SUV or trailer that can carry bulky items,
• have the ability to lift large and heavy items alone or with a helper (who you hire yourself)
• have a clean, dry and secure storage space to store items until they sell
• be willing to drive up to 50 miles per pick-up

If you meet those requirements, you sign up to get notified when someone has a bulky return in your market area. You’ll coordinate directly with the customer to schedule a good day and time for you to pick up the item.

Once you’ve got the returned item, you inspect and clean it as necessary and then take photos to post on resale sites, such as Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp.

The final sales price is ultimately up to you, but Sharetown has a minimum advertised price that you can’t go below. (This is to keep you from undercutting the sales prices of other Sharetown sellers that might be in your area.) If an item isn’t selling, you can privately agree to sell it for less than the advertised price. You just can’t say that in your advertisements.

Once goods are sold, you remit a portion of the sales proceeds to Sharetown and keep the rest.

Sharetown review

To understand what makes Sharetown tick, you have to understand the massive shift in retail sales over the past two decades. Where only 1.4% of all retail sales were made through online retailers in 2000, some 22% of sales moved online by the end of 2024. That massive and still growing online market share calls for an online strategy even for products that were traditionally tough to sell without a showroom.

What’s tough to tell online? Big ticket items, like mattresses, that you’d want to test out in person and are hard to return if you’re dissatisfied. To counter buyer reluctance, many online mattress sellers now offer extended trial offers, where you can test the mattress at home for a month or more. And some offer long-term warranties. 

Industry experts estimate that roughly 10% of mattresses sold online are returned, which is when Sharetown steps in.

Reselling returns

Sharetown enlists freelancers, with trucks and storage space, to pick up, clean and resell “returned” mattresses and other big ticket items, such as furniture and gym equipment. When freelancers get notified that there’s a qualifying item in their market area, they accept it, contact the customer directly to arrange the pick-up, evaluate and clean the item for resale.

The freelancer then list the item for sale on popular local sales sites like Facebook Marketplace, CraigsList and OfferUp and waits for a buyer. There’s no need to pay Sharetown for your inventory until after the item is sold.

Sharetown’s take

The amount that must be remitted to Sharetown following the sale varies based on the specific item sold, its original retail price, it’s current condition and other factors. However, freelancers report earning about 40% to 50% of the sales proceeds or roughly $100 to $250 per sale, before costs.

You get the payment upfront from your buyer. You remit Sharetown’s take once a week, after you’ve reported one or more sales in the site’s app. 

Sharetown Pros…

Flexibility: You set your schedule and work as much or as little as you want. This makes it ideal for side hustlers or anyone craving independence.

Profitability: Many reps report making $150 to $250 per flipped item, with some seeing monthly revenues exceeding $2,000.

No-cost inventory: You don’t pay for your inventory until it sells.

Independence: Many reps praise Sharetown for truly helping freelancers be their own bosses.

Sharetown’s cons…

Costs: While you don’t have to pay for inventory, the cost of picking up, cleaning and storing Sharetown returns are shouldered by the freelancer. And, those costs are not always incidental, particularly with pick-ups.

Specifically, the site requires that you take returns that are within a 50-mile radius of your home. Since these are big items, you’re likely driving a large vehicle with low gas mileage. To get a perspective, the IRS mileage deduction is 70 cents per mile. So, if you’re picking up an item 50 miles away, you’re driving 100 miles roundtrip. That costs you roughly $70 based on this IRS rate. To mitigate this often substantial expense, experienced reps recommend scheduling multiple pickups in a day to reduce the per-pick-up costs.

Physical demands & help: Additionally, the physical demands of lifting and storing large items can be substantial. Sharetown suggests that freelancers hire — at their own expense — an assistant to help you with pick ups. 

Time: You need to budget time to handle pick-ups, cleaning, photographing and listing Sharetown items for sale. You also need to meet potential buyers and answer their questions. If the items don’t sell promptly, you could have additional storage costs. And, naturally, you may need to spend more time spent to take down and re-list the stale items. So while Sharetown estimates you can earn $50 an hour with this gig, that’s based on a best-case scenario. In other words, you’d only make that much if the pick-up was close; the item was relatively clean and it sold relatively quickly.

Growth: The growth of your Sharetown side hustle is really not up to you. While you can increase your chance of getting items for sale by responding promptly to offers on the app, whether or not there are offers in your area is out of your control. Some areas support steady business, others do not. The same holds true with sales. Some markets support brisk resales. In others, freelancers sit on unsold inventory for months.

Recommendations

Many reps like the opportunity to be their own boss without having to worry about inventory costs. And overall, this can be a better-than-average side gig if you have all the right elements. Such as? Muscle, a large vehicle, inexpensive storage space, resale talent and live near a large metro area that has plenty of potential customers. (Reps in rural markets complain that sales are slow and it’s hard to get close to Sharetown’s suggested price.) Have all that? You can sign up with Sharetown here.

Other gigs that might interest you include moving gigs with GoShare and Citizen Shipper and resale opportunities with Poshmark and eBay.

What their freelance reps say (from Indeed)

You are your own boss. No money upfront you schedule pickups on your time and make income based on your sales. Its all up to you. Do it part time or full time.

It is a great side hustle to make some extra money & depending on where you are located you may even be able to do it full-time if the area is busy & has a lot of work. As an independent contractor, you can set your own schedule/pick up appointments which is nice. The account managers are very supportive & are always willing to help you out and work with you if you have any issues. Very positive work culture. This is definitely the best side hustle I have ever had.

I love Sharetown! We stumbled upon ad for Sharetown and have loved it as a side hustle! We would love to make it full-time but unfortunately we live in a rural area that makes that hard. Our manager is always trying to support us and are paid well per hour of the work we do! Even in our rural area we make $1,000 to $2,000 working like 10 hours a month.

(from Reddit):

I’m actually on my way out as a ST rep. To start, they are a legit company and it’s a good opportunity for the right person. I’m stepping away from it because inventory was just not moving where I live – didn’t get a single hit on my online postings. I live in a small city (~150k metro area) The cost to store the items, in addition to the time required to pick up, clean, and list the items just wasn’t worth it to me.

I’ve been doing it for two years now. It’s been ok. Last year I made over $12k in profit after deducting costs like gas and packing supplies. I don’t like doing it and would love to have my garage and time back, but it’s decent income for the few hours I put in. But, I scoff at the praises of people in large metro areas that sell like 15+ mattress per month or something. I’m like, guys, I live in an area with less than a quarter million people. Most of my mattresses sit for at least a month before they sell, despite updating ads and making them appealing. It is what it is with different areas and demographics.