Fast Nickel or Slow Dime

Happy weekend!

Would you rather have a fast nickel or a slow dime? This is a question I ask myself often in resale. Basically, would I rather make a little less money NOW or would I rather wait to make more money LATER…

And because answers in life are generally shades of gray, so is this.

When I prefer the fast nickel:

• If I acquired it very cheap or free
• If I’m having a slow sales month
• If the offer I’m receiving is reasonable
  

When I prefer the slow dime:

• When I’ve done my homework and I KNOW for a fact I have something of value
• When I’ve invested a lot into it

That’s pretty much it! But if I HAD to choose… I’d take the fast nickel all day long! I’m not the kind of reseller who goes back and forth over a couple of dollars. Your job as a reseller is to MAKE THE SALE! 

What about you? Do you prefer the fast nickel or the slow dime?

When you get paid: Kidizen vs eBay vs Poshmark

Today I am breaking down the MOST important aspect of reselling- getting paid!! 😉 ‘Cause we ain’t doing this for free, right??

Kidizen:

Getting paid on Kidizen depends on one thing- when your package gets scanned at the post office. That’s it! As a seller, you get 7 days to ship and then I’ve found that my packages don’t usually get scanned until overnight. So even if I ship an item the same day, I don’t actually get paid until overnight at some point.

Once your package is scanned, you are paid in “KidBucks”. These KidBucks can be used to either buy within the app, transferred to PayPal, or transferred to your bank account.

Sign up for Kidizen here: Get Kidizen

eBay:

When you make a sale on eBay, 9 times out of 10 you are paid immediately. The money goes right into your PayPal account. From there you can either spend it or transfer it to your bank account. I love how making sales on eBay is instant gratification!

Sign up for eBay here: Get eBay

Poshmark:

Poshmark is definitely the longest wait for getting paid. You do not get paid until your buyer rates/accepts your package OR 3 days after it is received by the buyer, should they not rate your package.

If you’ve never bought on Poshmark, it’s your responsibility to accept the package and rate the item and transaction. Doing this releases the fund to the seller. If, as a buyer, the transaction is never rated or accepted, Poshmark will just automatically release the funds to you. So if you ship immediately, it takes 2 days to reach your buyer, and then they never rate the transaction, you are looking at about a 5-6 day wait for payment.

Once paid, you can either use your funds to shop through Poshmark, or transfer the funds to your bank account.

Sign up for Poshmark here: Get Poshmark

Money Maker: Vintage Children’s Books

Hey everyone! Back with another quick money maker post for you! This time I want to talk about vintage children’s books. Books are a bit of a rabbit hole for me… meaning you can really get suckered into thinking about all the different editions, formats, etc. I’m a big fan of keeping it simple, and when it comes to books, children’s books are a super simple sale.

Here are some great sales I’ve made from children’s books:

Disney’s Gummi Bears: purchased for $1.15 and sold for $18.99

Vintage paper dolls book: purchased for $1.15 and sold for $28

Bony-Legs: Acquired free and sold for $16.99

The Wuzzles: purchased for $1.15 and sold for $10.75

When selling books it is very important to protect them possible inclement weather during the shipping process. Books should always be double bagged! I like to use simple clear plastic bags inside a durable polymailer.

clear plastic bags for inside

durable polymailer bags for shipping

Lastly, make sure that on EBay, you change your shipping selection to Media Mail! When an item is purchased you must ship it exactly the way it was advertised. You can’t choose the cheaper option (media mail) if your buyer pays for first class!

Each of these books were listed on both Kidizen and EBay.

Read reviews here: Kidizen   |   EBay

Sign up for Kidizen here: http://get.kidizen.com#trw8q

This post contains referral and affiliate links.

Money Maker: Tommy Bahama

Recently, someone came to me asking for help with selling her father-in-law’s clothes. The majority of his clothes were Tommy Bahama, which of course I’ve heard of, but when it comes to resale, it was a new brand for me. Tommy Bahama is known to be a great resale brand when it comes to Hawaiian shirts, however, there weren’t any in this batch.

So is Tommy Bahama worth reselling?

Well, I had the most luck with bundles. I recommend this a lot. Grouping things together allows the buyer to feel like they get a deal while you get to move more inventory. It’s a win-win!

My best bundle sale was 10 pairs of shorts which sold for $99.99 (with free shipping)! And two of those pairs of shorts had a couple of bleach spots!

Making a sale for almost $100 is certainly nothing to scoff at, but keep in mind there was no initial investment in these shorts. If you have 10 pairs of Tommy Bahama shorts just laying around in your house, then YES list them! But are they worth buying to sell them? Let’s look at the math.

In my local thrift store men’s shorts are $3.99. Let’s make it easy and say $4. Ten pairs of TB shorts would cost me $40. After fees and shipping, that $99.99 sale became about $80. If you didn’t offer free shipping, then you are looking at about $88.

Spending $40 in order to make $80 is great. Doubling your money is nothing to scoff at!

BUT, would I have bought these in the store in order to resell them? The answer is no and here’s why:

1- They were bulky and took up A LOT of space. (For me, space and time are two non-monetary ways I consider items to resell. I’m actually kind of a minimalist if you can believe it!)
2- I prefer to at least triple my initial investment. That’s just my general rule of thumb. So yes, doubling my money would have been wonderful but that’s just not enough for me. 🙂

All of the Tommy Bahama items were listed on both Poshmark andEBay, but they all sold on EBay. See my reviews here: Poshmark   /   eBay

Have you ever had any luck selling Tommy Bahama? Drop me a line!

How To Ship A Racket

When I first started reselling, I was very adamant about only listing items with easy shipping. Soft and lightweight things, like clothes, are extremely simple to mail. No worrying about boxes, broken items, or high shipping fees. However, if you keep this line of thought for too long you are leaving good money on the table! Unless you are consistently listing very high end clothing pieces, there is almost certainly a cap on how much someone will pay. But stuff, that’s a different story!

Recently I sold a vintage 70s squash racket. Weird, right? Even weirder is that it went to Brazil and the buyer paid over $50! With just a couple of extra steps, shipping something this rigid (it’s not like I can fold it up!) is really no biggie!

Here’s how I shipped it! (Warning: crappy nighttime pics ahead!):

• First, I used a thicker box to create 2 sleeves. I created one for the actual net part of the racket, then a slimmer one to put the wooden handle into.
• Then, I used a thinner and more pliable box to place the racket into. Note: I took the cardboard sleeves off during this picture.

• Put the sleeves back on and just wrap the top box around the racket until you are creating a custom box. TAPE TAPE TAPE!

  

Voila! Now, maybe some of you wandered onto this post because you were genuinely curious how to ship a racket. If so, hey! Hope this helped! But regardless, I hope you can see that selling “tricky” things is really no big deal at all!

Have you sold anything “tricky” lately?? Drop me a comment!

Happy selling!

Sourcing Inventory: Thrift Stores

Once you get started on the resale journey and feel the satisfaction of making those first few sales, it’s time to start thinking about your inventory. In a perfect world you are listing something everyday. Yep. That keeps you “fresh” in the algorithms and in the newly listed sections.

Unless you have a secret room full of valuable treasures, you need to replenish your inventory. After your own home, thrift stores are the next logical place to start.

Here are my thrift store tips and tricks:

• Use a cart. I like to shop first and evaluate later. So if something catches my eye and I don’t notice any glaring problems, I stick it in my cart. Once I’m done shopping I find a quiet area of the store and look at everything very carefully. Be nice and return any unwanted items where they belong.
• Check the new racks first. Thrift stores are putting out items non-stop and the newest stuff is usually hanging on wheeled racks in the walkways. Keep an eye open for when new racks come out and check them out as quick as you can.
• Try to look at as much as you can, but understand there is no way you will see it all. How much you shop/see will probably change each visit, but I never attempt to look at everything. That’s just crazy!
• Think about your return on investment before you check out. Okay, this one comes with some experience, but if I choose to buy an item it’s because I’ve looked at it and said “I can make ___ dollars on this as a FINAL profit.” Final profit means you’ve thought about initial investment (how much are you paying for it?), fees (how much will you have to pay to sell it?), and shipping (how much will it cost to get to my buyer?). I ballpark estimate all of these answers, but definitely take a moment or else you might find yourself losing money.
• Go as often as you can! Sometimes that means a quick stop when you can only cruise the new racks, and that’s okay! Going frequently helps to hone your picking skills AND you have a much better chance of snagging the good stuff.
• Lastly, have fun! Seriously! I’ve shopped around other resellers who really make the whole experience a drag for everyone. Wait your turn, be nice, and if you didn’t get what you wanted, there’s always next time!

Now that you’ve got some ideas, check out my reviews for where and how to sell.

Kidizen – children’s clothing, shoes, and accessories

Poshmark – children’s, women’s and men’s clothing, shoes, and accessories

EBay – almost everything

2018 Postage Rates

Hey there! Just a quick post to let you know (or remind you!) that United States Postal Service rates bump up a little starting today.

I always recommend buying your postage online as opposed to in the Post Office. You save time (valuable!) and some money. Win win for me.

Happy selling!

Why You Should Sell Shoes

I love selling shoes! I prefer selling kid shoes over adult shoes, if I’m being specific, but they can all bring in good money.

I think when some people start out in resale, they think “Who wants someone else’s dirty shoes?” but the answer is, A LOT of people! Everyone has to wear shoes, they are expensive, and with a little elbow grease, you can make used shoes look great.

Cleaning used shoes:

• • If at all possible, I just throw them in the wash! Definitely a no no for certain materials, but if it’s just a basic tennis shoe I always start with the washing machine on cold, delicate, and with a bunch of towels.
  • Use magic erasers! These are great for any rubber areas. Converse shoes clean up SO NICE when you use these guys.

Sometimes, there are shoes that may require a little more work. If I think it’s worth my time (remember time = money), then I do it. If not, I do the minimum above and list as is. I’m always clear about flaws and even add suggestions like, “if you swap the laces out, these will look brand new!”.

Here are some great used shoes I’ve made money on:

 

For more on shoes, check out this post:

https://amomsguidetoresale.wordpress.com/2017/10/04/mini-melissa-real-versus-fake/

this post contains affiliate links

What I Don’t Sell

Usually when I get to talking to someone about my resale business, eventually they ask “What do you sell?” and my immediate reply tends to be something like “anything!”, but really that’s not entirely accurate. There are plenty of things I don’t like to sell because the numbers just don’t add up. Of course sometimes I end up with a very tiny profit anyway (have you read about my 77 cent profit yet??) but it’s not something I try to do often. Here’s a bit of a list of what I don’t sell and why:

Itty bitty baby clothes:

When someone is having a baby, part of that excitement is the anticipation and the careful and deliberate planning. It’s fun! It’s new! And guess what? No one wants your used onesies! There are some higher end brands that I do look out for (Kissy Kissy is one), but otherwise I don’t bother. Even bundling these items means they will sit for much longer than I want and then sell for much less than I want.

Cheap denim:

Denim is a heavy fabric whether it’s high end or low end. Shipping a pair of jeans will automatically dip into your profits just because of the weight and this is true regardless of whether they are children’s jeans or adult’s jeans. Sure, children’s jeans might eat into your profits a little less, but heavy is heavy. Cheaper denim brands aren’t worth it.

Fragile items:

I’ve learned during my resale time there is a lot of money to be made in place settings and coffee mugs, but there’s are just not my cup of tea (GET IT???). I try not to sell many things that have a higher likelihood of breaking in transit. No matter how well I pack, there’s no way to know how it will get treated in transit.

Clothes from “big box” stores:

Yes, I’m looking at you Target! Ok, some may disagree with me on this but I do not resell anything from Target. As adorable as it is, it’s too cheap to make a profit that I’m happy with. The only time I sell Target clothes is when it’s from my own children and therefore, “free”. Same goes for Walmart, Kohl’s, etc.

Remember, these are just recommendations based on my preferences. Have I at one time or another sold something from each of these categories?? Definitely, but based off of previous experiences, I make a conscious effort not to.

*This article mainly applies to Kidizen and eBay in which sellers are (or may be) responsible for shipping. On Poshmark, buyers pay a flat shipping rate which can make it easier to sell heavier or bulkier items.*

Working Through The Overwhelm In Resale

Happy November! Hope you had a wonderfully candy-filled Halloween! I think I’m still recovering…

So, full disclosure, the last 10 days or so I have just been feeling OVERWHELMED (hence, no posts). We just had a lot going on at home and then I had 2 clients drop off consignment items in the same week. Of course I’m not complaining about opportunities to make money and progress my business, BUT getting a total of 8 bags in 2 days had me feeling totally paralyzed.

I am definitely a sufferer of “analysis paralysis”. I spend a lot of time analyzing, and normally I’m okay with it (it’s just how I am!), but this week I really needed to make some decisions.

So, how do you work through the overwhelm in resale?

Basically, I needed to prioritize. Here’s what I decided:

• Put my own items aside for a bit and focus on my clients
• Focus on client #1 in order to finish organizing and itemizing within the 7-10 day window
• If necessary, push towards the end of my 7-10 window with client #2
• Take heaps of photos
• Start writing eBay drafts in one sitting

Phew! The reason I focus on taking lots of pictures and writing lots of drafts is that I am able to quickly list anytime or anywhere once the draft is written. Waiting for the school bus? List! Waiting for my pot to boil? List! Kids in the tub? List!

Things are taking a little longer than I had hoped, but at least the feelings of overwhelm are mostly gone. I’m just keeping my eye on the prize (it’s Q4!) and plugging along.

If you are feeling overwhelmed in resale, what do you do? Any tips? How is your Q4 shaping up??