Start a Reselling Business: What Would I Do If I Started Over? (Steal My Strategy!)

The world of reselling is always changing and it’s hard to know where to start if you’re a beginner. I’ve been reselling for years and actually did it full-time for two years after starting with $0 upfront! I took some time off and now I’m going to show you what I’m going to do as I start completely from scratch. If you want to start a reselling business, this post is a great place to start so you can steal my strategy and make any changes needed to make work for you.

What is a reselling business?

So there are many different ways you can have a reselling business. However, I’m specifically talking about reselling on marketplaces like Ebay, Poshmark, Mecari, and Facebook Marketplace. I buy things, mostly one item at a time, list them and sell them individually. Technically, any store is reselling items, but I’m not buying items wholesale in bulk and selling in that capacity. I’m mostly selling secondhand items from thrift stores and yard sales.

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How to have a successful reselling business

Honestly, now that I know what I know my main focus is efficiently, simplicity, and profit. I’m not trying to bury myself in thousands of pieces of inventory or have a huge storage area in my garage. I’m doing small scale, simple, profitable. These are the things that I encourage people to start with as well as it can be easy to fall into the trap of buying too much stuff that may or may not sell if you don’t know what you’re doing.

What reselling tools will I be using?

• Small closet in my office to store inventory (will probably hold 100-200 items max)
• White wall in my office with a hook to hang clothing for photos
• Ring light for clear, bright photos
• iPhone
• Vendoo for cross posting
• Dymo label printer

Where will I be listing items for sale?

I am going to be focusing on cross posting my items on four different marketplaces. Since I’m going to have low inventory, I’m going to prioritize getting it in front of as many people as possible so that I can sell it fast.

I will be listing my items on:

• Ebay
• Poshmark (sign up and use code AILEENBARKER for $10 credit)
• Mercari (sign up with this link to get a credit)
• Facebook Marketplace

I will be using Vendoo to crosspost items quickly and efficiently as well as remove them quickly when they’ve sold so I don’t accidentally sell them more than once.

Where will I source inventory to resell?

The majority of the items I purchase will be from yard sales and thrift stores. At the time of writing this, it’s yard sale season and we go to them on Friday and Saturday mornings so I haven’t even stepped foot in a thrift store lately. But those are the two main sources of inventory. At some point, when I have some capital saved up, I’d love to try out liquidation pallets but that’s several months down the road when I have the funds.

What will I be reselling?

I don’t have any specific plans to stick to one category. I sell a lot of clothes and shoes just because I’ve gained the knowledge of what sells well over the years. I’ll pick up anything I know will bring a good profit. So far I’ve picked up clothing, shoes, crafting supplies, electronics and more.

What is my criteria when sourcing inventory to resell?

This is an important section so please pay attention! You need to have some pretty clear criteria set for what you will invest your money in or else it becomes easy to waste money on inventory that either won’t sell or won’t bring enough profit.

My criteria for inventory:

• No flaws because I know I won’t take time to fix them
• Reseach shows it will sell (several sold items)
• $20 profit minimum
• Easy to store (or will sell very quickly)

My goal this time around is to buy less and pass on more items that are a “maybe”. If it’s not a “hell yes” then I’m going to try and leave it behind. I only want exceptional inventory. With limited space and time, I just don’t want to waste my time or money on inventory that isn’t an excellent investment.

How much time am I spending on my reselling business?

My plan is to spend about 5 hours or less each week on my reselling business. This doesn’t include the time it takes to source at yard sales or thrift stores because I do that anyway. So 5 hours or less taking photos, listing items, shipping, etc. is the goal. So far I’m spending less than two hours per week.

Right now, with limited space for storage and less time available, my goal to start a reselling business to make some extra money and prove that you can make a decide side income by reselling items online.

If you want to read more about starting a reselling business make sure you check out this post that goes more in depth. Or if you want step-by-step instructions, make sure you check out my course Reseller Roadmap which walks you through how to start and grow a reselling business.