One of the easiest ways to make extra money as a side hustle is reselling. If you are not familiar with the term, reselling is buying an item for a deep discount and reselling for a higher price. But how can you apply this for what you know to make money reselling in person and online? We will go over what you need to know about making money reselling and how you can make extra income doing it.
Can You Really Make Money Reselling?
Reselling is also as known as flipping in the reselling community. Some people make money reselling to supplement their income or as a full-time business. Just a quick YouTube search will give you channels of people that resell online.
How Much Can You Make Reselling?
One of the most common questions about reselling is how much can you actually make? Selling anything, whether you are selling or reselling, follows the basics of economics: supply versus demand. If you are planning to sell sweaters and coats in the spring and summer, you would not be very successful. However, if you wait until late summer to fall, you will find that a lot more people are willing to buy them for more money.
How much you can make reselling also depends on what you are selling in popularity and niche. Since the past year, Pokemon cards suddenly made a huge come-back, demanding even up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per card. The rarer the card, the higher the price. We bought a stack of Pokemon cards in 2013 for $10 at a garage sale and now each has been selling from $2 to $350 per card. So far, we have made about $800 out of the cards that we have been reselling.
The best way to find out how much you can make reselling is by going on marketplaces like eBay and searching listed items versus what they are sold for. For example, a common item that you can buy for cheap at the thrift stores is a golf club. You can type in “golf club” on eBay, go “Filter”, and scroll down “Sold Items”. You will see the brand and condition of golf clubs that have sold. That will give you an idea of how much you can expect to make, depending on what you resell.
Where Can You Resell To Make Money?
E-commerce platforms like eBay, Amazon, Shopify, and a slew of other websites offer the means for people to be able to resell. We actually have a blog post here to go over the best places to sell, depending on the type of items that you are planning to resell.
Reselling online will fetch you significantly more than holding a garage sale, for example. If you want to be more proactive and not want to bother with shipping, selling on Facebook marketplace or OfferUp will be your best options. While you still have to list the items, it is much faster when the buyer picks up the item. However, you are limited to the population nearby.
What Can You Resell Online?
You will be surprised what you can resell online. If you visited your grandma and she still has an old VHS player around, you can fetch over a hundred dollars if it still works. That old Gameboy or My Little Pony plush doll, you will see there are people with nostalgia looking to buy. What is junk to you may not necessarily be junk to others. The best way to find out to see active listings and similar “Sold” items to see.
You can also resell designer shoe boxes or bags that came with the purchase. There is not really a limit to what you can resell as long as it is legal. If you are on the hunt for items to resell, check on “Sold” listings on eBay or similar items on amazon. If you are looking to resell clothing, check eBay or Poshmark.
Where To Buy Items To Resell?
Before you go out and spend money to resell, first start with what you already have. You can look for items around the house that you are no longer using or wearing. Why this approach? So that you are familiar with how to navigate the platform and how sales work. For guidance with shipping your online sales, we have a ton of resources. A few examples can be found here, here, and here.
When you are reading to take the next step, thrift stores are a great place to find items for a few dollars. Garage sales are also great because you can find items for even cheaper. You can start with a small budget at first and use the profit of each sale to buy more inventory as you go.
If you are familiar with a certain niche, you can also find inventory from retailers. Places like TJ Maxx, Ross, and Nordstrom Rack can hold deep clearance that can give you enough margins for profit. You can do the math of what percentage of your return in investment is good enough.
ROI = (Profit earned – Cost of investment)/Cost of investment x 100
Another way to think about it is whether you want to spend $5 and profit $5 or spend $25 and profit $15. What would be worth your time and effort? Many people that buy a bunch of lower-valued items will spend more time listing than some that buy for a bit more but have fewer items to process. There will be a learning curve at first. However, your time is money too so think about the method you would like to take.
How To Make Money Reselling
Reselling online will require you to have an account with the platform of your choosing. There are a ton of resources on google and YouTube for how to list an item with your chosen platform. Make sure that the item is in as good of a condition as you can make it because the better the condition, the more it will sell for. Take as many clear, well-lit pictures as you can with detailed descriptions of any flaws to avoid unhappy customers and a bad rating.
Then, make sure that you are optimizing your shipping process. You will need a shipping scale and a measuring tape. This is so that you are not guessing on packages and having to pay unnecessary fees. We have tips to find FREE resources for your shipping needs here. Additional tips on anything shipping-related to help you save money can be found under “Shipping” in Categories on our webpage or click here.
How you can make money reselling is not limited to you personally buying a product and then reselling it to a customer. You can resell by buying items at a deep discount and then selling them for significantly more. However, you can also resell without having a physical product via dropshipping. How does dropshipping work?
People that use drop shipping will post a listing on platforms like eBay and Amazon for a certain price. When someone buys that item, they will order the same item from a third party for a cheaper price. Then they will have the third-party ship the item directly to the customer. There is no need for storing items or having to deal with shipping.
Another method of reselling is by buying in bulk directly from a supplier or a wholesaler. This takes considerable more risk since you will have a large inventory of the same item. So make sure that the item will not phase out in a year since you may be having to hold on to them for much longer.
Last Thoughts About Reselling
Reselling to make money can be a learning process as you make your sales. You will find what you like to sell, how you like to sell (bundles or individuals), and what online platform works best for you. While reselling is a great way to make extra money, you must have the patience to learn the process and to deal with your customers.
You can be as little or be very involved. The time and effort that you put into researching what items are in demand and how much you can buy them for will determine how much you can make money reselling.