I love reselling. Of course, you probably know that because that’s my full time job.
But really, I love it.
One of the most beautiful parts of reselling is that there are so many ways to do it. It doesn’t matter where you are in life, how much time you have, how old your children are, how much space you can afford to share with your reselling business, there is always someway to have a reselling business.
Whether you’ve already been reselling for a while, just recently started, or maybe you haven’t taken the plunge yet, it’s important to look at all the different ways you can expand your business. I try not to put all my “eggs in one basket”, that way… if something falls through, you’re not completely up the creek without a paddle.
Joe and I utilize multiple reselling strategies to help us reach our goals. Some worked for us, and some didn’t, but I don’t regret trying something new, because you’ll never know if it works unless you try!
1. Retail Arbitrage (also known as RA) – finding products at retail stores and reselling it for a higher price, then pocketing the profits.
PROS: You are selling well known products already so you don’t have to figure out who to market the product. The consumer trust for these brands is already there. Also, if you are couponer, this would be an AMAZING way to sell your extra product (as long as you’re not just buying it for yourself). You can purchase these items and sell it for profit! I would look into Amazon FBA, making sure you’re following the terms of service and not selling and banned items.
CONS: You’re only as successful as your ability to source your product. It can be hard to find items that make you a profit. Take the time to look and shop around. You’d be surprised what you can resell online, but it can take time and research to be truly proficient at this.
2. Thrifting – going to donation stores, second-hand stores, garage sales, etc., finding products that you can resell in used condition on eBay and other platforms, cleaning them up, and reselling them for profit.
PROS: You don’t need a huge investment to do this. Many people can easily turn $10 into $20 by going to Goodwill or another secondhand store and reselling clothing, kitchen supplies, toys, etc. You name it. It’s also A LOT of fun, and the treasure hunting can be somewhat addicting. The real kicker though, is that the profit margins are huge for thrifted items. You could double, triple, or even quadruple your money… easily.
CONS: Turn around time can be rather slow. It is generally slower to sell your products in used condition rather than new condition. And, your location can greatly affect the quality of the items you source. If you’re in a smaller town, you have less people donating at your donation centers, which means that the likelihood of finding good deals is going to be significantly less than if you were in a large city.
3. Liquidations – buying items in lots or pallets and reselling them for profit. These can be store returns, overstock, discontinued items, shelf pulls, etc.
PROS: Sourcing is made really easy because you’re getting a lot of product all at once, and most of the time, these lots and pallets can be shipped to you, meaning you don’t even have to leave home.
CONS: You don’t always know what you’re getting, so it’s kind of crapshoot on what kind of items you’ll get. Even in manifested pallets or lots (“manifested” means that the pallet or lot has a list of its contents), you don’t know the quality of the item. It can be broken, damaged, a result of return fraud, etc. Also, this is becoming a more popular way to source goods, so it’s getting rather competitive and the prices for lots and pallets are trending upwards due to the increased demand and popularity.
4. Dropshipping – purchasing goods directly from the manufacturer to the consumer. You never touch the product, and you ship it directly to them when they purchase it from you.
PROS: You never have to handle the product so you never have to stock product. This is perfect for people with limited space. All the work is done from a computer, so as long as you have a computer and decent internet, you don’t have to leave home.
CONS: There is a lack of control, since you don’t have the product in hand. The profit margins are pretty low, and it is a highly competitive market. Also, in many cases it is against the terms of service for many platforms and there are laws and rules regarding drop shipping. Make sure you’re familiar with that before you start!
5. Wholesale – purchasing items in bulk from a manufacturer and reselling them for a profit.
PROS: If you shop right and find the right wholesaler at the right price, you can stand to make quite a bit of profit. You could even utilize Amazon FBA (“FBA” – fulfilled by Amazon) and have them ship out your orders and make it easier on yourself.
CONS: Wholesale has much lower margins. The way you’d make decent profit from this strategy is volume selling– you’ll want to sell a large quantity of items.
Have you used any of these strategies before? What worked for you? What didn’t?
Are there any you’d be willing to try?
If you’ve never used any, which ones are you going to try out?
Look forward to hearing from you! As always, happy reselling!
