Used Clothes Reselling : The Where, How & Why
Recently, I started writing about flipping thrift store items for profits on amazon and ebay.
Today, I want to dedicate a post to one of the most popular and easy to find items out-there : used clothes.
There is a lot of money to be made reselling used clothes online, and I would like to give you some tips and tricks I have been using, so you can join me on making money with them.
Wether you want to source used clothes from your own closet or thrift stores, today we will answer some important questions on reselling used clothes.
We will discuss 3 main subjects -
1.Where to buy clothes to resell on ebay or amazon ?
2.Where should you sell used clothes for the highest profits ?
3.How to pick the most profitable used clothes to resell ?
Where To Buy Clothes To Resell on eBay and Amazon -
When we’re talking about where to source used or even new clothes from, especially if you’re just beginning, my suggestion would be : start in your own closet.
Most of us have so many clothes we never even wear, and you’re forgetting something important : clothes = money.
I just recently scanned my closed and found a few Burberry shirts ( high-end brand) that I never even wore. I sold them on ebay for a total of about $400. Is that easy money or what ?
When you already sold all the extra clothes you don’t need or want, here are some places to get more clothes from :
Thrift stores, Flea Markets -
Go to your local thrift stores, these are awesome. I find so many great finds in thrift stores its unbelievable.
Most clothes are sold on thrift stores for a very cheap price, and most times they won’t even look at the value of the clothing beind sold.
I recently bought some Ralph Lauren shirts on one of my local thrift store for around $2 a piece, and resold them for $40 EACH. Pretty awesome, isn’t it ?
Flea markets are pretty similar, in my personal experience I have been more lucky with thrift stores though, maybe because the flea market sellers hafve more knowledge when it comes to clothes vs the thrift store workers that don’t really care if the piece have any value or not.
Pro tip : don’t get too excited in GoodWill. Recently I noticed they actually scan some items and look at their prices online, to get an idea of what to price the items for. That’s bad for us resellers. If they see an item is going for $40 on ebay, they won’t list it for $2. They list it for probably half the price, but when you consider the fees and work we have to put it in, it makes it a deal-breaker.
I recently decided to avoid goodwill, for me there are better thrift stores in the area that I can source from.
Garage Sales -
Garage sales are great because you usually meet an extra motivated seller that will let things go for dirt cheap. They are also less popular than thrift stores because they pop here and there. The down side of course, is that they don’t have a huge selection of items like a thrift store or the flea market will have.
Craigslist and local reselling apps -
Offerup type of apps and craigslist are also great sources to get used clothes to resell from. What I love about these is that you have more time to do your due delligence and determine whether you can make money on the items or not. Simply browse craigslist, see what clothes people are selling, find out what they are worth, and decide how much you will offer for them. Same applies for other items you might want to flip as well, not just clothes.
This advantage doesn’t exist in thrift stores or flea markets, sometimes you will have to make quick decisions as others might grab the item before you make up your mind.
Buying Bulk on Liquidation.com -
There are many liquidation type sites that offer clothes in bulk. The most popular one is liquidation.com, you will have to bid with other buyers on pallets or boxes of goods, but again, you can see the manifest and determine what they are worth before you even bid.
Where To Sell Used Clothes For Profits - eBay Vs. Amazon Vs. etsy
I get this question pretty often. The short answer is ebay.
The longer answer is : it depends.
I know some guys that resell clothing on amazon, the problem is its pretty hard getting accepted to resell used clothes on amazon. They have very high requirements and I personally don’t think their platform do justice to used clothes.
That’s why I only resell on ebay when it comes to clothes. You get your own listing on ebay, unlike amazon where you have to compete for the buy box on brand items, and its easier that way.
A lot of online sellers will tell you “how high ebay fees are ” to those people I love to say ” try to get tens of millions of visitors to your own ecommerece websites per week, and i’ll gladly give you 10% of my sales too “.
It’s worth it. eBay is HUGE. And they send you laser-targeted traffic to your listings. If you’re on ebay, you’re looking to buy something, no one goes on ebay when they want to get the latest NBA scores, or whatever. So in my personal opinion, 10% is fine.
What about etsy?
Well, on etsy you’re supposed to sell hand-made products and vintage items. If you pick up clothes that are hand-made, you might want to sell them on etsy, rather than on ebay, simply because etsy shoppers will pay more for these kind of items.
Think of it that way - if I had a basketball with Lebrons signature on it, would I try to sell it in a basketball game or in a tennis game ? I could probably find a buyer in both places, but which buyer will pay more ?
How to Pick the Most Profitable Used Clothes to Resell -
Thats the tricky part. But I will try to give you some of the tips I used when I pick used closed to resell on ebay -
Brand Names Clothes
Pretty much self-explanatory, pick up clothes that are brand name like Nike, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, and so on. I suggest you go on google and find out more on brands so that you will know what you’re looking for. Theres nothing better than getting a brand name for $2.90 only to find out you can resell it for $150 on ebay (true story).
Clothes with tags
You can’t go wrong with a brand new piece of clothing with tags. Well you can go wrong, but its hard. Is it a common size ?
Look it up online, what are these selling for ? Its rare to lose money when you buy a shirt with tags for $1.5, it almost doesn’t matter what brand it is, so look around for tags.
Vintage clothes
Theres are the hardest to find, yet they can make you the highest profits. Look for vintage type of clothings, if you see a leather jacket that looks old and dusty or a pair of jeans that looks like that - you might be on to something.
With time you’ll learn more on these types of clothes and get better, but you must get in the game in order to win the game. Go out there, look at some used clothes, look them up online and try to find patterns - where is the money at ?
LETS WRAP IT UP -
I hope you gained some value from reading this post. When it comes to where to sell used clothes, my suggestion is start with ebay. On vitange and hand-made items, try etsy, and on almost all cases, stay away from amazon.
When it comes to where to buy used clothes, we talked about flea markets and thrift stores, garage sales, craigslist and even offer-up type of apps, where you buy locally from others.
Reselling used clothes online can be very profitable, but it is definetly not a “get-rich-quick-scheme” it requieres work. In my opinion, every serious business does.
Start small, sell your used clothes on ebay, then go out and try to find items to flip.
Good luck, and please share this post if it helped you so we can help others as well.
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