Reselling is a business method that allows people to earn money as a side hustle or even their main source of income.
To resell, one stocks up on items that suppliers sell in a bulk, which allow for a reseller to buy products for cheap. After, they are able to resell it for a higher amount than its original price to make a profit.
The more a person sells, the higher their profit margin as they continue to profit from every sale. Thus, one can wait for sales to happen after putting up their items on sale and don’t have to produce or create the product themselves.
There are some additional skills that can be learned to help one improve their sales. For example, communicating, which gets simpler as one becomes experienced.
Sophomore Christopher Fletcher who goes by @cf_resellz on Instagram, used his entrepreneurship skills to start his own reselling business.
“I started by finding someone who can supply the items to me, then I started to post the items on different apps like Depop, Offerup and Instagram,” Fletcher said.
There are several different apps or services available for resellers and buyers; Instagram, Depop and Facebook Marketplace allow the sellers to list items without adding a price, relying on communication to make offers and sales, while apps like eBay and Amazon focus on having direct transactions and immediate purchases.
There are different ways to list items up for sale. For Fletcher’s business, sales have been the most efficient on Instagram.
“On Instagram- if people reach out to me and they’re more local to me and it’s easier,” Fletcher said.
A risk in reselling and buying from resellers is verifying the authenticity of a transaction. A customer may end up paying without receiving the product if they buy from an unauthorized seller, or vice versa, the seller may end up countering a customer who does not pay after receiving the product or uses a false payment.
“Make sure shows you the product, they have an actual picture of it, not just one from online or something, and they actually show you the product in person. If they tell you to pay before… you shouldn’t really do it,” Fletcher said.
Additionally, the process of reselling cannot be rushed, as with any business. Fletcher advised to take it slow, especially when buying mass products from suppliers.
“Don’t try to be impatient because you might mess up… you might buy something, you’re gonna regret or you might buy it for a way expensive price because you want it,” Fletcher said.
In reselling, it’s essential to do research as one has to buy from another source first, so finding the best price to stock up on products is important.
One can also sell extra clothing from their closet. Senior Tony Hoang bases his business on current clothes he already owns.
“Clothes, a lot of pants… maybe I don’t wear it no more they take up space, and they’re ultimately wasting money, so I’m trying to… cut my loss there,” Hoang said.
Though, this method is less convenient as this process does not involve a supplier helping one restock.
Overall, reselling is a side hustle that can be profitable for anyone who is trying to get into business as a career. It comes with a process with steps, but the end result can be rewarding.
