Starting your Resell Business

6 months ago I was watching YouTube and stumbled on videos of people thrifting and garage saling and then turning around and selling those things for a profit. At first I thought ok that’s kind of weird but I loved thrifting so I was intrigued. At this point I really only thrifted books and home decor. I could not believe the kind of money they were getting on the most random things! I figured I was already thrifting for fun so why not take a closer look while I was out and see what I could find. I was very naive and a little too slap happy when I started lol. If it looked old or interesting I bought it. Now I’ve been doing this for a few months and I’ve learned a lot. I am obviously not an expert but like I said I have learned a lot and I thought I would share what I needed to start my business. First you will need a phone/computer. I do almost everything from my phone but I will occasionally use a computer. The phone is great for Googling things when thrifting and looking up comps. You’ll also need it to post your items for sale on whatever platforms you decided to use. I use a printer to print out packing slips but that isn’t necessarily needed as you can have the post office scan  it from your phone when you bring your package in. You will also want to figure out what you want to sell. Are you just going to focus on clothing? Will you niche down even further and just focus on shirts or jeans? Maybe you just want to do hard goods. Maybe you just want to do glassware or sneakers. Personally I prefer a variety because I like shopping for a variety of things. If I just sold jeans I would get so bored and I would begin to dread thrifting. On the other hand just selling jeans would mean you could streamline your thrift trips and shipping. Listing would be a heck of a lot easier too. I love a variety. It makes the hunt that much more fun. Yes this has become a “job” for me but it’s also a hobby, it’s something I thoroughly enjoy doing and I want to keep it that way. Something else I do think you should invest in are poly mailers for clothing or other items that don’t need to be shipped in boxes. I store all my clothing in clear plastic bags and then those go in stronger heavy duty mailers when they’re shipped out. Amazon has good ones, even Dollar Tree and I also order them from JiaroPack. I tend to use sizes around 13x15 for my storage bags and then my mailers I use 12x15.5 and 13x10 and then I have giant ones like 24x24 for things like blankets and pillows. Always be on the lookout for free boxes, bubble wrap etc if that’s something you’ll need. Places like Dollar General are good places to look at. USPS also offers free Priority Mail boxes which is amazing. However, if you are selling on platforms other than Poshmark you have to be really careful when you use those boxes. I used one once on Depop and the buyer ended up having to pay more when she picked up her package. Those boxes are only permitted if you are shopping via priority mail! So you need inventory, a phone or computer to sell, packing supplies, add in tape too, and really that’s all you need to start. As far as inventory goes, look in your closet. Go through and see what you were planning on donating and instead sell it! Again, not everything is worth selling but if it’s something you already own and were already planning on donating it’s probably worth it. Track your mileage and keep your receipts for everything. Every thrift trip, every item you purchase for your business etc. Even meals you buy during thrifting can be a write off. So it doesn’t take much to actually get started. You do not need much you just need to make the decision to start! Take the leap and do it. In my next post I will go over the platforms I use to sell on. I am new to this. I am not all knowing. There is so much information out there from folks who have been doing this for years but I can share my experience so far and what the pros and cons have been for me. If you have any questions let me know!