Retro TV Side Hustle Turns Old Sets Into Cash

A CRT TV found beside the road or bought for ten dollars can sometimes sell for a hundred or two. That is the math behind one teenager's buying and selling in Waxahachie. Most people see an old television that is bulky and difficult to move. He sees equipment that retro gamers still want.

Wes Wilson's youngest son has turned that knowledge into a business. He buys old VCRs and CRT TVs, keeps selected sets for himself, and sells most of what he finds. He did not start with a conventional job or wait for someone to offer him one. When he could not find a job, he made one for himself.

When he could not find a job, he made one for himself.

Before the business, Wes had to understand his son

Wes describes his youngest son as autistic and very high functioning. He is now a high school senior, but it took years for Wes to understand how he processed instructions. When the boy was younger, Wes could tell him not to do something, then see him do it again later or the next day. His first reaction was frustration: the instruction had been clear, so why had it not settled the matter?

Wes changed his approach when he stopped treating repeated behavior as simple refusal and started asking how his son's brain worked. He believes the testing happened in second or third grade. He remembers labels including "oppositional defiant" and "emotionally disturbed," but he is careful about their limits. He is not a psychologist or doctor, and he does not pretend that a collection of labels explains everything about his son.

One family's experience cannot provide a universal account of autism. But the practical change in this household is clear. Wes had to reconsider what an instruction meant to his child and adjust his response. Raising his son taught him patience and perseverance, and made autism awareness near and dear to him. The business came later, after years of learning to recognize what this particular young man did well.

How the retro TV business works

The business began a couple of years ago and caters to a specific group of buyers. Wes initially wondered who would want bulky old CRT TVs. His son knew: retro gamers buy them. With the customer identified, an object left beside the road no longer has an automatic value of zero. It may be inventory.

Buying requires discipline. A free find can produce the best return, but even an item bought for ten dollars may sometimes sell for a hundred or two. That margin does not come merely from owning an old television. The work lies in recognizing the right VCR or CRT TV, acquiring it cheaply enough, and finding a buyer who already wants it. Without that knowledge, a room can fill up quickly.

With the customer identified, an object left beside the road no longer has an automatic value of zero.

His room has filled to a point because he has kept about a half a dozen televisions for himself. He is learning where to draw the line between collecting and selling. He keeps the pieces he values and moves most of the inventory. Plenty of people can accumulate old equipment. Fewer can consistently turn it back into cash. That little Dickens makes money, as Wes puts it. More importantly, the teenager created work for himself when conventional employment was unavailable.

A business class he could probably teach

One of his classes this semester covers business and how to run one. Wes jokes that his son could probably teach it. The joke works because the teenager already faces the questions that classroom exercises tend to tidy up: What is worth buying? Who wants it? How little can he pay? What can he realistically sell it for? Which pieces stay, and which must go?

Jesse Jackson sees a similar instinct in his friend Timothy, who visits garage sales and notices items other shoppers miss. Timothy can identify a Lego system with resale demand or find video game equipment worth flipping on eBay. On one occasion, he paid 500 bucks for a collection of games and systems, then sold the lot for about $2,000. Listing it online was only part of the job. The harder skill was recognizing that the collection was underpriced before handing over the 500 bucks.

The harder skill was recognizing that the collection was underpriced before handing over the 500 bucks.

Wes's pride is specific. His son did not find an ordinary opening and squeeze himself into it. He identified old VCRs and CRT TVs that he could buy cheaply, understood that retro gamers were willing customers, and began running his own business. Wes is very proud that his son made himself a job.