A common question I hear in the magnet fishing community is whether or not it's profitable. Usually, this comes from someone that hasn't been magnet fishing yet. They are just speculating, trying to decide whether or not it's worth it to get into.
I think it's definitely worth it. It's fun, and it's great for the environment. Keeping your local oceans and lakes clean, while having fun at the same time, sounds like a profitable experience to me. But let's talk about if there are any actual monetary gains.
It's possible to profit from magnet fishing. You can scrap the junk metal for a small amount of cash. You could find, restore, and sell treasures. You could sell your services, using your magnet fishing skills to find people's lost items. Finally, you could create a YouTube channel.
All of these ideas are possible, but how much money could they actually make? Are they actually ROI positive? Is the money per hour worth it? Let's take a look and hopefully answer all of your questions in the following article.
Image by: u/TecRobot
Can you Profit from Magnet Fishing and How?
You can profit from magnet fishing, it's not easy but it's possible. Here are a few ways that might just work with a bit of luck:
Sell the Scrap Metal
The first idea for making money magnet fishing is to simply sell the metal you get to a scrapyard. This is probably the first thing many people think of when trying to make money with this hobby.
While it's possible to make a little bit of extra change, the truth is, you really won't make much. It is very debatable whether the time required to gather enough junk metal to make a dollar is worth it.
In the US, scrap metal can be sold for about 10 to 15 cents per pound. This means you need about a hundred pounds of scrap to make a dollar. That is a lot of scrap to pull out of the water.
If you're lucky, you could pull up old tire rims that weigh about 50 lbs. That would be an easy $0.50. However, more then likely you will pull out some small items which will take a few hours to gather $1 worth of metal.
You will also need to consider the amount of time it takes to load the metal into your truck, haul it to the scrapyard, and unload it. On top of that, you will be using a decent amount of fuel during this whole process.
So, can you make money with this method? Sure, with some luck you might make a couple of dollars but most likely you will come out negative. It's probably not worth trying this method if you're only in it for the money.
If your magnet fishing for fun then it doesn't hurt to gather up the junk metal and turn it in for a little bit of profit. Best case scenario, you make your money back that you spent to start magnet fishing. If you're really lucky it'll pay for lunch too!
Find and Sell Treasures
Often times while magnet fishing you may retrieve some valuable items such as coins, jewelry, gold, or even historical items. It's possible you found something valuable and don't even know it.
A few people in the magnet fishing community have combined this hobby with the hobby of restoring old rusted metal objects. I've seen someone take an old rusted crossbow and make it look brand new.
If you want to sell items you find, check out this guide I made on how to restore rusted magnet fishing finds. That should provide you with everything you need to know to turn old junk into a treasure worth selling.
If you don't want to restore the items yourself, maybe you could sell the items to somebody else at a cheaper price and they could restore it themselves.
Sell your Services
This is an interesting one. You might be able to sell your services as a magnet Fisher. What does this mean exactly?
Well, if someone loses something either in the lake, river, ocean, or even a storm drain, you could help retrieve that item. If the item they lost is valuable they would be willing to pay a price to get it back.
How much you could charge for something like this is unknown. I'm not sure if you would charge by the hour or by a completed job. Or maybe the price is based on the price of the item you retrieve.
For example, if someone lost their set of keys it would be pretty expensive to replace. If you were able to collect that item for them and charge them a fraction of the price for a spare key then you'd be in business.
Buy and Resell Magnet Fishing Gear
This one is technically related to magnet fishing, but it's less about the fishing and more about owning a “store”. So the goal of this is to resell equipment to other hobbyists.
You should be able to purchase magnet fishing gear in bulk from China. You would then sell it individually at a markup.
If you had a YouTube channel, which we will talk about next, you can link to your store page in the description. Also, if you didn't want to own your own products you could instead become an affiliate for someone else that does, like Amazon.
Make a YouTube Channel
This is another great idea but it's definitely not for everyone. You could create a YouTube channel all about magnet fishing. This isn't unique and has been done by plenty of others already. Here is a list of a few successful YouTube channels all about magnet fishing:
You could do the same thing they do and become successful, or you could try something a little different. Most of these YouTubers only film the magnet fishing part but not the “cash-in” part.
If you could find a good way to make money magnet fishing, you might be able to make some interesting videos. Similar to the show “American Pickers” you could film yourself going to a jeweler, pawnshop, or scrapyard and seeing how much all your finds are worth.
Even if it's less than a dollar, it could still be interesting to watch. Nobody else is doing this which is perfect for a new YouTuber to come in and fill the space.
Start a TV Show
This one is similar to a YouTube channel. I'm not even sure if it's actually viable. But who knows, there are some crazy TV shows airing nowadays.
If your personality is good enough, and you found a way to make this hobby super exciting, you might just be able to make it happen. It's probably a long shot, but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and sell a show about magnet fishing.
Potential Profit from these Ideas
| Money Idea | Potential Profit 1-10 |
|---|---|
| Scrap Metal | 1 – Hard to profit at all |
| Find and Sell Treasures | 4 – There's some potential here |
| Sell your Services | 2 – Not sure if there's a market or not |
| Buy/Sell Gear | 6 – Basically owning a store which is definately profitable |
| Make a Youtube Channel | 8 – With dedication you could make lots of money |
| TV Show | 10? – If it's possible, lots of luck! |
Why it Would be Bad if Magnet Fishing was More Profitable
If you could get rich by throwing a magnet into a body of water how amazing would that be? It sounds cool on the surface, but it probably wouldn't be as great as it sounds, here's why:
Greedy People will Ruin the Experience
If you could make some decent profits from this hobby, it would become very saturated. People that never even had an interest would soon start purchasing their own magnet fishing kit. This would be bad.
Many greedy people would ruin the experience for others that are magnet fishing just to enjoy the experience. More than likely, these people would not be friendly. They wouldn't want you fishing near them.
This type of behavior would probably look bad if done near certain businesses. I could see magnet fishing being banned at certain locations if this were to happen.
Governments Might Step in
If magnet fishing was profitable and became very popular, more than likely it would become regulated. Just like when regular fishing and hunting became more popular, the government decided they wanted a cut from the profits.
The same thing could happen to magnet fishing. Soon, you would need to purchase a permit to get started. You might also have to apply for the privilege of using different fishing locations. Government intervention would ruin this hobby.
Cost to Magnet Fish Might go up
If more and more people got into this hobby to try and make a profit the demand for magnet fishing equipment would also increase. Of course, basic supply and demand would cause the cost of magnet fishing to go up.
Worst case scenario, big businesses would be created all around the world. They would buy up all the magnets to try and turn a profit. In the end, no magnets would be left for a regular consumer, unless they were willing to pay a lot of money.
Is Magnet Fishing Worth it?
So, you might be wondering if magnet fishing is even worth it. And the answer is, it depends.
If you're just looking to invest in some magnet fishing gear, go find a body of water, and come home profitable you'll probably be disappointed.
Making money that way is hard and takes a bit of luck too. Plus, if you do make money, the amount you make per hour would probably be less than minimum wage.
If you decided to film yourself and post it online you could end up with a successful YouTube channel. This would definitely earn you a good amount of money, however, again, it would take a lot of luck.
If you're looking to get into magnet fishing just for the fun of it, it is definitely worth it. Similar to metal detecting the fun comes from the hunt, you never know what you might find.
Most days, you will come home empty-handed, or with a bucket of junk scrap metal. Eventually, you will get really lucky and find some sweet treasure that makes you glad you decided to magnet fish at that particular spot.
Conclusion
In the end, you probably won't profit from magnet fishing. There are ways that you could try, like scrapping the junk metal, or creating a YouTube channel, but it will be challenging.
The point in magnet fishing isn't to try and make money from it, it's to enjoy the experience. Each time you toss the magnet into the water you never know what you might pull out. That is where the excitement comes from.
On top of that, even if you find nothing, you still achieved something. You removed some junk out of the water and made the Earth just a little bit more beautiful.
Enjoy your magnet fishing adventure! If you find anything cool please send us a picture! Tell us your story so we can share it with the other readers!
Email us at – magnetfishingadventure@gmail.com
