Earning extra money seems like such a hard thing to do. Who wants to trade in their valuable time to go work for someone else? If you are in dire need of extra cash, getting a second job is an option. However, it is not the only option. What if you could earn extra income while doing something that you love? Clothing resale is a lucrative side hustle that can earn you hundreds or even thousands of extra dollars per month.
I first began selling my old clothes on Poshmark as a way to earn extra money to purchase clothes that I actually wanted. Thrift shopping has become a mass market with online retailers being the biggest source of inventory. And its not just the tattered flannels from your neighborhood thrift store. Online thrift retailers such as The Real Real take thrift shopping to luxury heights by making luxury clothing accessible to more shoppers.
Online thrift retailers such as The Real Real take thrift shopping to luxury heights by making luxury clothing accessible to more shoppers.
How to Get Started
The great thing about reselling is you don’t need a lot to get started. You can create your own resale boutique from the comfort of your own home using the clothes that you already have. All that is required is a camera, internet, a smart phone or a computer, and inventory. With a little planning and a few hours of initial leg work, you can have your resale boutique up and running and earning you money in one day.
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This is how I prepare my clothes for resale. Please be sure to subscribe for more tips on how to earn money by reselling your clothes.
How to Build Your Inventory
Your starting inventory can be what you currently have in your own closet, or your friends and families closets. Take stock of what gently used clothes you have that you think are on trend with the current fashion. You’ll need to examine your clothes for wear and tear. Ideally, you want clothing items that are gently worn or like new. And you get bonus points (and bonus dollar$) if they still have the tags. Do you have friends or family members with closets full of old clothes that they refuse to take to Goodwill? Offer them a few bucks to take them off their hand and add to your resell inventory.
If you want to take your boutique a step further, try to add as much variety as possible. Some items you can include are shoes, skirts, shirts, jeans, pants, dresses, purses, and accessories. The more variety you have, the more potential buyers you will attract to your boutique. Don’t stress if you only have five items to sell. I will teach you how to increase your inventory in another way.
Purchasing clothes for resell is an option if you want to increase your inventory fast. Serious resellers are actively purchasing clothing for their inventory weekly or daily. As with any retail store, inventory needs to be constantly changing as buyers love the variety and are always looking for something new that they have not seen.
In order to ensure that you are making a profit from the clothing that you purchase, you will need to buy your clothes for the lowest possible amount. You will then make a profit from the price mark up once the item sells.
For example, if you purchase a top from your local thrift store for $3.00 and you sell it for $12.00 you made net $9.00 from that sell. This translates to a 400% markup on the price for a 300% profit.
Lastly, once you have your inventory, you’ll need to take some photos of each item so that they can be posted online and you can begin selling.
Where to Sell Your Used Clothes
There are numerous platforms to sell clothes and each platform has a unique client base. You will need to decide which platform is best for selling your inventory. Tip! Listing your items on more than one platform increases the chances that they will sell! Here are a few online selling platforms and the types of customers that they cater to:
1. Poshmark is a resell favorite. They have gained a lot of popularity through the years and have a huge following. You can sell a variety of clothing and accessories on Poshmark, and they have even added home goods to the list of things that can be sold on their platform. This platform is great for selling men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing. Poshmark is also a great platform to sell luxury and name-brand goods. .
2. Ebay is an oldie but goodie. Ebay uses auction-style selling that allows shoppers to bid for items. Ebay is best for name brand and luxury clothing items.
3. Mercari is a newer resell platform that I have grown to love. In my first month of using the platform, I sold over $80 worth of clothing. One of the perks of using Mercari is how fast you can sell on the platform. They will show you items that have recently sold and what price they sold for. This helps when it comes to pricing your own items. Some brands that do well on Mercari are Brandy Melville, Champion, and Michael Kors. Learn more about what’s selling on Mercari in this short video.
4. Facebook Marketplace is another great resell tool. They recently added the shipping feature which allows you to ship items whereas, in the past, you’d sell your items locally. I’ve had some success on Facebook Marketplace, but because it is not specific to clothing, sales can be slow. Generally, I think most buyers are more trusting of more established platforms such as Poshmark when it comes to buying used clothing.
5. The Real Real is a luxury consignment online store where you can sell and/or purchase gently used luxury clothing and accessories. The Real Real is extremely particular about what brands they will accept and clothing must undergo verification for authentication before being accepted for sale. Once accepted you can earn money on the items that you sell on their website.
Once you have your inventory and you’ve decided which platform(s) is best, you will need to begin preparing your clothes for reselling. This process is fairly easy and you can watch how I prepare my clothes for resell by watching this short video. Basically, you’ll need to make sure the clothes are washed and steamed/ironed. You want to sell clean clothes without wrinkles. If you are selling shoes, you can wipe them down and put a dryer sheet inside to give them a fresh clean smell. The little details matter and can determine how much you sell in the long run.
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What’s next?
In the next article in this series, I’ll dive deeper into how to maximize your sales and earn more cash selling gently used clothes. I will cover how to take photos that will increase your sales, you’ll learn how to competitively price your inventory, and you’ll learn how to sell items seasonally to increase your profits. So, for more information on how to increase your income with a clothing reselling boutique, be sure to subscribe to my email list.
