“Buy Low, Sell High” are the words to live by whenever you're flipping anything
– be it sports collectibles, stocks, or real estate. But today, we’re applying this
mantra to clothing items.
You can often find vintage and even designer clothing brand items for as little as a few
dollars. From there, you can flip those finds online at one of the many online clothing
marketplaces, often for massive profits. This is a great side hustle to get started with
because secondhand clothing is one of the cheapest things you can buy, due to the fact
that you’ll be finding most items at thrift stores, consignment stores and flea markets.
These characteristics also make it one of the most accessible side hustles to get into.
So in this video, we'll cover all of the basics of secondhand clothing arbitrage and how you
can flip clothes for profit. We’ll start by giving you the basics of this side hustle.
Then, we’ll discuss where you can find the best items to flip and what you should be
on the look-out for. Once you’ve found some great clothes, you’ll need to list them
on a marketplace, so we’ll cover the best platforms to use for listing your items. Finally,
we’ll wrap up with some tips for getting started so that you can maximize your profits
along the way. Don’t worry, even if you’ve only got a few dollars to get started, this
video should help you make that first successful flip and get the ball rolling on your clothes-flipping
journey. Let’s take a look. Flipping Clothes for Profit (The Basics)
Again, used clothing arbitrage is the practice of purchasing secondhand clothing, potentially
improving it or repurposing it, and then selling it for a profit online. This makes it pretty
similar to other kinds of businesses, because you’ll need to start with a general business
plan, you’ll need a budget and you’ll need to identify a target audience to sell
your products to. You’ll also need to establish a storefront on one of the online marketplaces.
Ecommerce marketplaces like Poshmark, Mercarri, and Etsy are excellent places to sell your
brand name, vintage, and upcycled clothing finds, but some people prefer to sell their
clothes on platforms like Amazon, eBay, or Facebook Marketplace. We'll cover some of
the pros- and cons of each of these later in the video.
Once you've figured out where you want to sell your clothing, it's best to test the
waters before investing too much money in your business. If you have a closet full of
brand-name clothes already, it might be a good idea to first try listing some of your
own items to see how they fare on the platform you've selected. Starting with what you already
own is also a great hack for getting started if you don’t have a budget. In doing so,
you can raise some money to go out and purchase items with the specific intention of flipping
them. Realizing that someone else may desire the clothes in your closet that you no longer
wear is a great lesson to start thinking about, because this applies to every piece of secondhand
clothing you’ll be dealing with. Sourcing Your Inventory
If you’re not interested in starting with your own clothing, you’ll need to start
by finding some clothes to flip. Again, we want to focus on the “buy low, and sell
high” motto, by seeking out items that are underpriced and undervalued. By connecting
these items with buyers who recognize the value in the item, we’re going to make a
profit. This means that oftentimes, we’ll be looking in places like thrift stores and
yard sales to find overlooked items that may have been forgotten about.
You can always start at thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army, as most cities
have at least one of these nearby with pretty sizable inventories. However, these stores
are also pretty well-known, so it’s possible that they’re already being picked through
by other flippers and thrifters. In fact, Goodwill in particular will not place its
valuable items in the store, and will instead list them online and auction them off to get
better prices for them.
All this means that you may be better off checking out local and independently operated
thrift stores. In these types of locations, there’s a better chance that trendy vintage
and designer clothing have slipped under the radar. Specifically, you’ll want to look
for those that are considered “bin digging” stores, which don’t even sort through their
own merchandise. In these stores, you’ll literally have to dig through inventory to
find items, but this means that you could potentially find valuable items that no one
else has come across. This will give you the opportunity to pluck those valuable items
at the lowest possible prices, especially because these stores don’t even bother pricing
individual items.
Beyond thrift stores, you may also want to check out peddlers malls, flea markets, and
garage sales. The former two, however, tend to be more curated and thus more expensive,
and garage sales are all about the luck of the draw. If you're trying to stock your shop
with garage sale finds, you'll need to get up early and hit sales as soon as they open
for the day if you want to beat out the competition. If this is something you’re interested in,
be sure to check out our previous video on a full guide for finding and flipping garage
sale items. Clothing to Look For
So now that you know where to go, you need to know what to look for. When you're out
looking for clothes to flip, it's important to first know your niche. You don't want to
start off selling just anything you find. If you have an Etsy shop, for example, it's
best just to focus on one category of items such as vintage, handmade, or upcycled items.
Beginners are probably best-off starting with secondhand name-brand clothing before getting
into anything more niche. These items will be the easiest to identify, research and price
for online marketplaces. Starting here will allow you to ease into the side hustle with
a high probability of success while you develop an eye for spotting items that your audience
will find valuable. Simply seek out the name-brand clothing you recognize, then look up completed
listings on eBay to see what similar items sell for. You can also check out listings
on Etsy, Poshmark or Mercari that have a lot of views and sales to get an idea of what
kinds of items are in demand.
Just keep in mind you’ll want to inspect the tags on these items closely and make sure
they’re legitimate. You’ll want to avoid fast-fashion brands like H&M or Forever 21,
which typically have a reputation for having cheaply made products. Instead, focus on those
legacy brands that are known to produce quality clothes like Patagonia, Under Armour and Adidas.
If vintage clothing is your niche, make sure that your items are actually vintage. A manufacturing
year will typically be listed on the tag, and if it's not, you generally can get a pretty
good idea of the approximate age of something based on its condition and style. A lot of
older clothes will be a bit more worn or pilled, so consider investing in a depiller to prep
your items for sale.
As far as upcycling or repurposing goes, it's good to be aware of ongoing trends. At the
moment, 'cottagecore', is a pretty popular consumer trend. People love quaint, folksy
items that remind them of simpler times. This often includes things like denim overalls
and sunflower patches. There’s a lot of money to be made in repurposing items if you
can adapt to current fashion trends, but this is also one of the toughest areas to succeed
in because it also requires a bit of skill with fabrics. You may need to apply patches,
mend fabrics, adjust the fitting of certain items and so on. Again, monitoring hot-selling
items on clothing marketplaces can be a great indicator of what to look out for here.
Listing Your Items
Now that you’ve found some items, you’ll need to list them online and start making
some sales. One of the biggest pitfalls that new clothing flippers succumb to is undervaluing
their clothes. People are willing to pay top dollar for well-curated secondhand clothing,
so don’t make the mistake of underpricing your items just because they’re used.
You may find an 'ugly Christmas sweater' at your local Goodwill for just a couple of bucks,
but that could be worth $20 or $30 to someone looking for the perfect thing to wear to an
ugly Christmas sweater party. Again, I’ll keep saying this, but monitoring what similar
items are selling for is the best way to get top dollar for your items. Keep an eye on
trends and don’t be shy about pricing your items to make a profit. If it doesn’t sell,
you can always accept offers or lower the price later.
As with selling anything online, you’ll always want to give your items a clear description
and tons of photos. Your description should highlight the features of the items, especially
if there is anything that’s not in great condition. Even the smallest tears, frills
and stains should be disclosed so your buyer knows exactly what they’re getting. Using
photos can help display the severity of any imperfections, and will again inform the buyer
of exactly what they’re getting. The good thing is that many people looking for secondhand
clothing are usually willing to accept small amounts of wear or damage, because that just
adds character to the vintage look. Even items that look a little worn can fetch a great
price and an excited buyer.
The only thing left to figure out is where to list these items, so let’s take a look
at the top platforms for flipping your secondhand clothing.
Poshmark Poshmark is extremely popular among the younger,
more fashion-forward consumers who prefer to shop for brand name and designer clothing
items. While you are limited to only selling trendier and more sought-after brand names
on their site, Poshmark offers clothing flippers an excellent place to sell their items at
a higher price tag.
Poshmark's fees, however, can be a bit steeper than some other marketplaces. For sales under
$15, for example, they take a flat commission of $2.95. For sales above $15, Poshmark will
receive a 20% cut of your sale. While this might sound a little excessive, the fact that
you're dealing in more valuable, designer products means that you'll likely still be
getting a pretty decent pay-off from each sale so long as you are finding high-quality
name-brand products. Mercari
Mercari promotes their popular marketplace as a place to buy and sell just about anything
– from electronics to memorabilia and, of course, clothes. The Mercari app has been
downloaded over 100 million times, so there are plenty of potential customers out there
to sell your secondhand clothing finds to.
Unlike Poshmark, which specializes in brand-name clothing, and Etsy, which focuses on vintage,
handmade, and upcycled items, you can sell pretty much anything and everything on Mercari.
So, if your niche is flipping fast-fashion or middle-of-the-road clothing brands, you
likely won't have much of a problem finding buyers on Mercari.
Etsy Contrary to popular opinion, this platform
is not just for crafts. You can also use it to sell all of your secondhand clothes. Millions
of people turn to Etsy every day looking for clothes, but it's important to realize that
you can't sell everything there. Etsy primarily wants it's sellers to only list vintage, handmade,
or upcycled clothes, but there is a little bit of wiggle room there, especially for clothing
items that don't necessarily meet their criteria for what constitutes as vintage.
A vintage item is something that is at least 20 years old, but sometimes sellers will pass
things off as vintage by simply removing their tag or by crossing their fingers and hoping
that Etsy won't give them a hard time for selling something that is slightly newer.
But for the most part, you'll want to make sure that a majority of your listings don't
violate their policies if you want to keep your shop in the clear.
If you're a crafty type, then Etsy is the perfect place to flip handmade or upcycled
clothes. Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming products
into new items that are perceived as being of greater quality.
Ebay eBay is the most widely used site for reselling
items online. It’s a great option for sellers who wish to either put their items up for
auction or set a fixed 'buy now' price to flip their clothing a bit quicker. While there
are thousands, if not millions, of clothing items listed on eBay at any given time, it's
important to know that they will charge a 10% fee on clothes that are priced for less
than $100. Anything priced above $100, however, has a 0% fee.
One of the benefits of listing your items on eBay is the freedom that the platform offers
to sell any sort of clothes that you desire. You aren't limited to selling vintage, handmade,
brand name, or upcycled items like some other marketplaces. So, that's a pretty big selling
point for some. Facebook Marketplace
Facebook marketplace allows anyone with a Facebook account to sell virtually anything
they want. What makes it stand out among the competition is the fact that they don't charge
users a listing fee, and when you do make a sale, they only charge a 5% transaction
fee.
The main advantage here is visibility. Facebook has literally billions of users at this point,
allowing for a large segment of the population to see your listings. While Etsy and Poshmark
are great platforms for specialty and niche items, Facebook Marketplace is ideal for selling
clothing items that don't necessarily fall within those categories. It should be kept
in mind, though, that the majority of consumers shopping on Facebook Marketplace are looking
for the best deals possible. Since there are so many listings on the platform, you'll need
to price your products competitively if you want to actually move them, which may mean
lower profit margins. Tips & Tricks for Flipping Clothes
By now you should be ready to find, buy and list items for sale on your marketplace of
choice. But, here are a few final tips for success with flipping clothes.
First, keep all of your clothing as clean and pristine as possible. Buyers won’t want
to receive items covered in hair, dust or other debris. You may want to wash your items
before listing and selling them so they’re as clean as possible. Afterwards, you may
want to hang them somewhere out of the way or keep them organized in bags or boxes where
they’ll be protected from pets or anything else.
Next, keep your shop consistently stocked. If you have a lot of items in your inventory,
people will be more likely to view your shop as legitimate, and make more than one purchase.
If you have lots of listings, this will drive up views, and the marketplace algorithms will
be more likely to bring traffic your way.
Be sure to respond to all questions submitted by buyers. People want to have their inquiries
answered as soon as possible, and many platforms display these questions publicly, which can
help further legitimize your shop and entice other people to purchase something. You could
easily lose a sale if you aren't on top of things, and if you are prompt to reply, people
will be a lot more inclined to lock in their purchase.
Keep an eye on items that are sitting around in your shop for a while. If something has
been listed for quite some time without many views, you might want to consider lowering
its price. You can also use the “sale” feature on the app of your choice, which can
indicate to buyers that the discount might not last long, resulting in an even quicker
sale.
When you do make a sale, remember that people love a personal touch, especially with secondhand
and repurposed clothing. Consider making handwritten 'thank you' notes to include with your shipments,
and don't forget to leave a space to write in your customer's names. This can go a long
way to encourage repeat customers.
Finally, it’s important both for tax purposes and your own records to keep track of all
of your sales and expenses. Consider using something like a spreadsheet or even a bookkeeping
application to keep track of all of this data. This will help you run your business efficiently,
and can also help you track trends within your sales to identify the items that bring
in the most profit.
While we certainly haven't covered every last detail of clothing flipping, this should be
plenty to go off of to get started on this side hustle yourself. Again, you can get started
for free with your own closet, work your way up to your first few items and then continue
to scale your business and develop your online store. Before you know it, this simple side
hustle could turn into a full-time income.
And again, if you want to learn how to flip garage sale items straight from the master,
be sure to check out our previous video on doing garage sale arbitrage like GaryVee.
We’ll see you in the next video!