Resell Tips for Success

I was off from work for a few months and I was looking around to find out ways to make money mainly because I was unsure if I wanted to return to my full time job. Depending on the amount of money I earned, I planned to use that information to decide whether or not to return to work. (By the way, this is still up for grabs.) One of the things I started doing is re-selling our used and new items on multiple online resellers and found a bit of success. I don't know why I never considered giving this a try before, but everything happens in the right time. So for the last two months I have been active on resell sites like Poshmark, OfferUp, Facebook marketplace, and StockX. Here I outlined the ways I found success and what I like and dislike about each platform.

The rules for success seems to be based on the item and the platform. Each platform has a different target audience and thus provides a different experience. For success one must look at the items you want to sell and honestly check it for resell-ability. Is it fashion forward? Is it designer? Is it exclusive? Is it a popular necessity? Will it offer a benefit to someone? Is it worth your time and the payout? Asking and answering these questions will set you up for success.

Poshmark has a brand focused platform which has a more of a shopping experience centered on being fun and flirty. There are themed parties which are opportunities for you to share/market your available items. Then you can randomly share/highlight items from any other person's closet so that item is viewed by more, hopefully providing them with a sale. It is pretty easy to set up an account and to get started. The people who view your items have the opportunity to purchase the item at the price you have listed or they can make an offer to the seller who can accept, deny, or counter the offer. There are bundle deals that are available to entice multiple item purchases. There are tools to help one be successful on the platform. Of course as with anything these days there is a rating system where the buyer can rate the seller and the transaction. The things I like about Poshmark are its ease of use, the secure payment systems, everything is shipped, the provided prepaid shipping labels, verification of items over a certain amount, and the variety of items available for sale and purchase. The things I dislike about Poshmark are the fees which are deducted from your payout and there can be A LOT of notifications if you do not go through and customize them.

OfferUp is now one company made of the two companies Offer Up and LetGo. This platform focuses on a more local option offering local pickup and shipping options. This gives a bit more flexibility with what you offer. You can list less expensive or desirable items on here. This platform gives me the flea market vibe. There will be good, bad, and ugly things available. On OfferUp as a seller and buyer one has to be a little more careful because of the local pickup option which also gives the opportunity for an exchange of cash. What I like about OfferUp is that there is more flexibility with your listings, it is user friendly for both sellers and buyers, and the chat and communication is easy. What I don't like is that there is an abundance of spam and scams, the verified people all want to haggle way below fair market prices. Like I said, it's like a digital flea market.

Facebook marketplace is to me like OfferUp but with the "Facebook effect" added. The "Facebook effect" for me is the act of making things much more difficult more times, then being helpful or really good at one thing. That is the marketplace in a nutshell. It is easy to make a listing and set parameters. As with OfferUp, the seller can offer local pickup and shipping. What FB does that OfferUp does not is they have a review process for the items which are listed for sell to ensure their guidelines are met. I like the exposure that is gained by Facebook marketplace because it is a large platform. I also like the offer limit filter so it gets rid of the spam messages and insulting offers like in OfferUp, the payment processes and the flexibility between choosing prepaid shipping or self shipping. (Also for a limited time there are no seller fees on the items which were shipped!) I do not like the review process that FB uses because sometimes it gets the items wrong and you have to go through the process a few times before it is "approved" and the long time for payouts to be made is a bit of a deterrent.

StockX is a whole different approach to the resell "business" as it is driven by the market. StockX is for those who are looking for a hard to find item, something exclusive, and they do not mind paying a premium. The "inventory" is offered by people who buy hard to get things for the main purpose of an upsell. The buyers go there knowing this and can control how much "extra" the seller receives. Most recently, hundreds of the Sony Playstation 5 have been available since it's rollout but at quite an increased price. I like the transparency of StockX as both a buyer and a seller, the anonymity, and that they have a verification process. I do not like that it kind of makes it easier for people to be modern day scalpers and kind of encourages, but we live in a capitalist society so what's to it? I also dislike their payout process as it is also quite lengthy because of the verification process and it depends on the reliability of the shipping process.

The bottom line is to choose your items wisely because that is what will ultimately determine if they are sold. Also list the items on at least three of the platforms to get as much exposure as possible so you can sell the item(s) as quickly as possible. There are other options outside of these that I mentioned but I don't use those platforms.