How To Get Started In Reselling/Picking Part 5

April is almost over now but one thing that is picking up for us is our sources, especially garage/yard sales.  We apologize it has been over two months since our last blog but we have been getting ready to move to our new apartment. 

This last part for the "How To Get Started In Reselling/Picking" Part 5 will focus on your customer base as well as staying established as a reseller.

Regardless of your selling venue online or local, the most important thing to your business is your customer base.  Return business is a great thing and in order to establish this, you will need to make sure you keep your customers happy and keep them coming back for more!

Honest Service With A Smile

The one thing that we have discovered since we have been reselling for almost 2 years now is this: Keep Your Customers Happy! as well as: Honest Service With A Smile!  But, you say, some customers are dishonest and even try to scam you, especially on eBay!  We have run into a couple of these types of customers since we have been reselling.  And we have dealt with them in the most polite/accommodating manner that we can without bending too much on our side.


Communication is a big key to customer satisfaction.  We sell mostly on eBay but we know that eBay keeps track of all messages that we send to customers as well as messages that customers send to us.  Keeping this in mind, we make sure to have all our communication via the eBay messages so there is a record of what is being said back and forth.  We also feel that honesty is huge with all the customers.  We try to describe all our items as accurately as possible and provide plenty of pictures, including flaws, damage etc. that might be on our items.  In addition to this, we always include a packing slip along with a handwritten note of thanks to each customer we sell to!  Every little bit to show that your customer matters does help!

Staying Established

How do you stay established as a reseller?  That question will depend on many factors and each individual is different so there is no real true answer.  The only advice we can give you is that you have to Hustle Hard for everything that you want to sell! Most assume that reselling doesn't take much work or is easy to do.  This is very far from the truth!  It is work - hard work at that, but if you enjoy self-employment and its perks, you must also realize the work and motivation that goes with it.  You are your own motivator.  If you don't put the time and effort into it, you will get nothing.  We work 7 days a week (although it is part-time) we put in as much work as we can when we have the extra time away from our real jobs.  We enjoy it and look forward to the future!  Our goal is to be able to work full-time as resellers.  We believe that we will achieve this!  Believe in yourself!! Good Luck All!  Keep those Cha-Chings coming!

Thank you for reading our last part in the "How To Get Started In Reselling/Picking" Part 5. We welcome any comments, questions or suggestions.  Have a wonderful week!

How To Get Started In Reselling/Picking Part 4

We hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Holiday and a Happy New Year!  We have been extremely busy since our last part of this series so we apologize for the lapse of time between the last one and this one.
Please note that we do not consider or promote ourselves as "experts" in the field of reselling but are simply sharing tips and suggestions that may work for you or that has worked for us in our reselling journey.

This next part for the "How To Get Started In Reselling/Picking" Part 4 will focus on where you should start selling your items.  Where do you want to sell online?  We have sold all of our items online via eBay.  This post is a simple and easy description of eBay and Amazon.  For more in-depth information, please visit the links we have provided in the descriptions.

Selling on eBAy

Selling on eBay has been great for us but there are some re-sellers who prefer other online avenues to sell.  At first we sold on eBay without an eBay store but found that we had a better deal having the store instead of listing items.  Not to mention there are a lot of specials we get almost on a monthly basis that allows us to list even more items.  There are currently three different types of eBay stores available:


Basic - Allows up to 200 free fixed price listings and 100 auction style listings for $19.95 per month

Premium - Allows up to 500 free fixed price listings and 100 auction style listings for $49.95 per month

Anchor - Allows up to 2500 free fixed price listings and 100 auction style listings for $179.95 per month

We have the Basic store and it fits our budget as well as what we list on a monthly basis.

Fixed Price Listings are Buy It Now/Best Offer.

Auction Style Listings can be bid on for as low/high of a starting price that you desire although you can also put a Buy It Now on Auctions as well.

There are certain categories that fall into the free listings for auctions.  Please see the link here for that list as well as insertion fees:  eBay Store Fees

Other Online Selling Avenues

 There are many other online selling avenues to choose from.  The biggest one being Amazon which we have yet to delve into.  We will probably check out Amazon soon since Amazon has introduced Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).  From what we have heard from other re-sellers and have read on our own, Amazon FBA is a great way to sell new items as well as used items (certain restrictions apply in this category).  According to Amazon, there are 5 easy steps on how to use FBA:


1. You send your products to Amazon 
2. Amazon receives and stores your products
3. Customers order your products
4. Amazon picks and packs your products
5. Amazon ships your products

For more information about Amazon FBA, please check out their link:
Amazon FBA

Even though ETSY is one of the top 3 online selling venues, we have only dabbled a bit in that venue.  We have also tried Bonanza but have not had luck with that venue. You can google online selling sites and check out what works best for you.  Experiment and see which selling venue will be the best choice! 

Please check back for the next part in our "How to Get Started In Reselling/Picking" blog. We welcome any comments, questions or suggestions. Remember, we are still new to this so we are always open to learning more about this and sharing with others. Thank you for viewing our blog.

How To Get Started In Reselling/Picking Part 3

Sorry we haven't had time to post more in our "How To Get Started In Reselling/Picking" blogs but we have been extremely busy with listing and selling as well as normal daily life issues.  This is our part 3 in this blog series.  Please note that these blogs are written from our own personal experiences as a helpful guide and in no way guarantee the same results we have received.  We enjoy sharing this information with others who might not know where/how to start in reselling.  In addition, we are always learning new things every day!

What Do I Source?

 

This is probably the most popular question for anyone new to reselling.  We asked this question many times when we were first starting out.  Even though we have a few niches that work for us, we are always looking to new things/ideas for sourcing as everyone should.  Evolution in this business is a must since nothing is guaranteed and changes occur quicker than you know.  

When we first started reselling, we mostly focused on video games/toys as well as some vintage items.  As we progressed a bit more, we started looking at ceramics/mugs.  We never thought we would start selling clothing but eventually we did.  As of today, we pretty much focus on anything that we feel we can make a profit on.  We started on what we knew and enjoyed but then we branched out into other types of items and kept branching out.  Even today, we are always looking at new things that we never thought of selling before!

"Anything can sell".  This is very vast and open but so true in this business.  We have watched other videos in our community and read posts on Facebook of items that we never even imagined could sell.  

So the key here is to find things you know about and enjoy first to start selling.  Once you have established a niche of your own, then you can branch out and expand to other categories of items to resell.  The one thing we do enjoy about branching out is that we learn something new about all kinds of things.  To us, that is the most fun (other than a profit of course!)  

As an example, simply look around your house and pick up an item that you have lying around.  Open one of your apps and search the item whether it be eBay or Amazon or ETSY.  

If you are looking into retail arbitrage, check back on one of our future blogs about this one.  It's a bit different than finding items at a garage sale or thrift store.

Using Apps To Help Source

Almost everyone has a smartphone nowadays.  If you are thinking about reselling, this is a must have for your ventures in sourcing at least.  Using apps to help source is great for looking for items at garage sales, estate sales, yard sales, thrift shops etc.  When you are out sourcing for items to resell, you can always pull out your trusty cellphone and look it up on your selling platform of choice. 

There are many apps you can use.  This will be dependent on what platform you decide to sell on. 

If you are selling on eBay or Amazon, you will want to download those apps to keep track of what your selling as well as looking up items that you are sourcing to sell.

If you are selling on Amazon, you might also want to check out the Profit Bandit app- You can have Unlimited Scanning for $9.99 per month.  This is one of the most used sourcing/scanning apps for Amazon.

You can also download apps for Craigslist or OfferUp which are two sites that you can buy sell trade locally in your area.

We will have more about what online platforms you can sell on in Part 4 of this blog series.

Please check back for the next part in our "How to Get Started In Reselling/Picking" blog. We welcome any comments, questions or suggestions. Remember, we are still new to this so we are always open to learning more about this and sharing with others. Thank you for viewing our blog.

Our Monthly Finds/Hauls August 2015

Hello again!  Thanks for stopping by to check out our new blog.  This past month has been fun and educational for us.  We have mostly been visiting our local Salvation Army and our local thrift store.  We have found many nice "gems" (plenty of mugs) and we would like to share some of our favorite finds for the month of August.  

 We seem to gravitate towards mugs/cups wherever we go.  Possibly because we enjoy them so much!  This nice mug/cup was a must buy.  

Microsoft Forest Green Coffee Mug Cup (Microsoft can sell especially if it's a rare/unique type of mug/cup).

Paid: $0.25

This very small but beautiful mini lighthouse figurine called out to me (Yes, I am a bit dramatic when I write).  

2000 Harbour Lights St. Augustine Mini Lighthouse Collectible Figurine.

Paid: $1.00

If you live on the West Coast or close to it, you might have heard of the famous California Burger Joint called: In-N-Out.  I have been there on numerous occasions when I lived in Arizona.  They have awesome fries and their burgers are tasty as well.  

2015 Authentic In-N-Out California Burger White T-Shirt! 

 

 Paid: $0.50

Jennifer is big into vintage and antiques even more than me.  So when she found this next item, she was very happy! 

Vintage Porcelain Egg Cups with gold trim from Austria. 

Paid: $2.00 (for the pair)

We haven't really dabbled that much in sourcing for bags/backpacks but we found this nice vintage-looking (still not sure if it is truly vintage or not) bag.

Black Vinyl Polaroid Camera Bag

Paid: $2.00

We have bought some caps/hats in the past but haven't really sold as many as we would like to.  Still, we couldn't pass up on this very nice and clean baseball cap.  

Brooklyn Dodgers Fitted Grey Velvet American Needle Cap

Paid: $1.00

This item didn't seem like a big deal when Jennifer first showed it to me.  So, I looked it up on eBay to see what it was bringing.  I only found 1 up.  We decided to buy it.  

Favorite Things Ceramic Leaf-Shaped Dragonfly Soap/Trinket Dish

Paid: $1.50

Now lately, we have been getting into more T-Shirts than mugs/cups.  We found a nice place to source for these. 

Authentic Star Wars R2-D2/Boba Fett Quilt Pattern T-Shirt

Paid: $0.50

Yes, we had to buy another mug/cup.  But in our defense, this mug is very cool and unique.  

Authentic Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child Raised Design Brown/Orange Ceramic Mug/Cup

Paid: $0.50

Last but not least, we found this in a box on the second to top shelf in our local Salvation Army.  It didn't really look significant but when we opened it we found a great (in our opinion) find. This item looked brand new in the box. 

Paul Cardew 2010 Novel-Tea Porcelain Teapot 

Paid: $3.50

We will probably start doing a monthly blog about our hauls/finds as well as our sales.  However, we might throw in a couple of blogs in between as time permits.  We are approaching Q4 (fourth quarter) which will probably be one of our busiest times with the holidays coming up.  We hope you enjoyed our blog.

Please visit us on Facebook at Cauldron Of Collectibles

Like and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: Cauldron Of Collectibles

Follow us on Twitter: @IzzyNBella (we are still a bit new at Twitter but hope to get better with time)

Take our Monthly Poll if you haven't already.  We look forward to hearing from all!  Have a wonderful month!

Items We Sold On Ebay #4

We would like to share items that we sold on eBay recently!  We got all the items listed below at thrift stores, Salvation Army and garage sales.

Topps Football Factory Set 1992 Series 1 and Series 1

Found at: Garage Sale

Paid: $2.00

Sold For: $15.00

 Starplast 32 Cupcake Carrier Storage

Found at: Given To Us

Paid: $0

Sold For: $15.25

PSVita Jak & Daxter Empty Game Case

Found at: Dumpster Dive

Paid: $0

Sold For: $4.50

Marble Stone Drink Coaster Set of 6

Found at: Given To Us

Paid: $0

Sold for: $17.99

Sega Genesis 6-Pk Game Set: Sonic/Golden Axe/Shinobi

Found at: Garage Sale

Paid: $.50

Sold For: $5.99

Loch Carron Old Course St. Andrews Plaid Golf Hat Scotland

Found at: Garage Sale

Paid: $1.00

Sold For: $10.00

We are getting more consistent sales, especially between Friday and Monday.  We are gearing up for the end of summer and the beginning of the 4th Quarter for Sales.  Thanks for stopping by to view our blog.  Please take our newest poll located on the Home page.  Check back weekly or sign up to be on our email list for future notifications of our new blogs.

Please check out our videos on our YouTube Channel
Subscribe to our YouTube to see our newest videos.  Also, give us a thumbs-up if you enjoy our videos.

Please like us on Facebook


Follow us on Twitter @IzzyNBella
We enjoy meeting new people in the reselling community

 

We welcome all comments, questions and suggestions!

Items We Sold On Ebay/Etsy #3

We would like to share items that we sold on eBay along with our first sales on ETSY!  We got all the items listed below at thrift stores, Salvation Army and a rummage sale.

Ebay Sales:

KOM Triangle Shaped Barcelona Mugs

Found at: Local Thrift Store
Paid: $1.00
Sold For: 19.99

Michael Jordan Black T-Shirt Dissing Lebron "The Real King"

Found at: Salvation Army
Paid: $0.75
Sold For: $19.99

California Pottery Deviled Egg Dish

Found at: Given to us
Paid: $0
Sold For: $10.00

ETSY Sales:

Frankoma C1 Thunderbird Forest Green Pottery Mugs Set of 2

Found at: Salvation Army
Paid: $1.00
Sold for: $19.99

Hawaiian Turtle Handmade Photo Album

Found at: Rummage Sale
Paid: $1.00
Sold For: $14.99



Once again we had decent profits the past couple of weeks off a small amount of money invested.  Hopefully things will pick up again for us during the next month.  We wish everyone a safe and Happy 4th of July.

Please check out our videos on our YouTube Channel
Like and Subscribe!

Please like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter @IzzyNBella

We welcome all comments, questions and suggestions!

Thanks for stopping by and reading our new post!  Check back weekly or sign up to be on our email list.  Also, please take our monthly poll if you haven't already. 

Our Monthly Finds/Haul #2

Hello again!  Thanks for stopping by to check out our new blog.  This past month has been a bit slower than usual but we haven't had a chance to do very many garage sales.  However, we have been visiting our local thrift stores and Salvation Army.  Here are a few of our highlighted finds within the last month.

Local Thrift Store Finds

We have enjoyed nice finds at our local thrift store.  

We found this nice (Ashtrays are collectibles that can bring a bit of profit too) Vintage German Ashtray for $.99

Our local thrift store usually sells magazines for $.15 and sometimes has books at 10 for $1.00.  Jennifer found these nice (these magazines have garnered interest on Ebay for us) Sewing Magazine Back Issues for $.15 each

Salvation Army Finds

Salvation Army has brought us better finds with other items.  

We found this nice (Rare) Amore Mio Ritzenhoff Porcelain Cup and Saucer for $1.50

We found this unique (really sweet looking) Spaceform London Flamingo Silhouette Glass Paperweight for $.50

We accidentally found this cool (Lebron James haters unite) Michael Jordan Zombie "The Real King" Black T-Shirt for $.75

The best find that we have found recently was another accident.  I saw this interesting Black Shirt.  It had a graphic of a pin-up lady on the front and resembled a bowling/lounge shirt.  I told Jennifer about it and she told me it was the famous Bettie Page on the shirt! Since it was 50% off day for clothing, we picked this nice and awesome (this might be a very great find and bring us a good profit) Bettie Page Bowling/Lounge Black Shirt for $3.50!

 

Hopefully, we will make good profits from these along with other items that we picked up within the last month.  Please check out our other blog posts about "What We Sold On Ebay".  We welcome any comments, questions or suggestions.

Please visit us on Facebook at Cauldron Of Collectibles

Like and Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: Cauldron Of Collectibles

Follow us on Twitter: @IzzyNBella

Take our Monthly Poll if you haven't already.  We look forward to hearing from all!  Have a wonderful month!

Items We Sold On Ebay #2

Items We Sold On Ebay #2:

We would like to share items that we have sold on eBay recently.  Most of the items we got at garage sales/thrift stores, but we did find a nice gem in a dumpster dive.

Under Armour Rally Volleyball Knee Pads New in Box

Found at: Garage Sale
Paid: $1.00
Sold For: $14.99

Yugioh! Dark Magician Girl Unlimited Super Rare Card

Found at: Free via my good friend Jacob
Paid: $0
Sold For: $19.99

Tabasco McIlheny & Co. Fly Fishing Polo Shirt Size XL

Found at: Salvation Army Thrift Store
Paid: $2.00
Sold For: $12.00

 Babar 2 Book Lot French Children's Book

Found at: Local Thrift Store
Paid: $.30
Sold For: $6.00

Deery Lou Sanrio Collectible Glass

Found at: Salvation Army Thrift Store
Paid: $.50
Sold For: $9.99

Vintage Tiki Farm Orchids of Hawaii R91 Made in Japan Mug

Found at: Local Thrift Store
Paid: $.40
Sold For: $9.99

New Balance 574 Red/White/Blue Size 12 Running Shoes

Found at: Dumpster Dive
Paid: $0
Sold For: $49.99

 

We made a good profit off a small amount of money invested.  Since we do this part-time, this works for us.  You have to do what works best for your situation.  Find your niche, but be open to new horizons in reselling.

Please check out our videos on our YouTube Channel
Like and Subscribe!

Please like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter @IzzyNBella

We welcome all comments, questions and suggestions!

Thanks for stopping by and reading our new post!  Check back weekly or sign up to be on our email list.  Also, please take our monthly poll. 

How To Get Started In Reselling/Picking Part 2

So now that you have decided what items you might want to invest in for reselling, the next thing you need to do is find places where you can source these items.  Will you go to Garage Sales?  Estate Sales? Thrift Stores? Goodwill? 

Where To Source and How?

This will depend on what items you are looking for and how much time you want to spend on sourcing.  "Time is money" is what the old saying is.  True.  Very true.  If you are sourcing for hours upon hours and come up with a few items that will net you small/minimal profits, then you might be shortchanging yourself in the long run.  Make your time count.  If you doing this full-time, then this must be treated like a full-time job.  Put in your hours and find things worth it within those hours.  It's no surprise that most full-time resellers put in more hours than your average 40 hour work week.  The serious ones can put in up to 60-70 hours a week. 

My suggestion is to decide how much money you want to spend sourcing, where you want to go and how much time you want to spend doing this?  Once you have some goals in mind, you can set out and venture into the Big Bad World of Sourcing! 

Garage Sales/Moving Sale

Garage Sales/Moving Sales are a great place to source if there is an abundance of them in your area.  You can negotiate or make deals at Garage Sales that you can't do in Goodwill or Thrift Stores.  You can also find great treasures that people are willing to sell for good prices. 

Estate Sales

Estate Sales can also be a good place to source.  Mostly, because they usually have a larger selection of items than Garage Sales.  The best thing to do in either of these two types of sales is to go early and see what deals you can find, then find out when the last day of the sale is and go back and rummage through.  The last day of a Garage Sale or Estate Sale can be worth it.  Sometimes, people at the Garage Sales want to get rid of items and will lower the prices or even give it away.  Estate sales also can lower prices on the last day of the sale.

Thrift Stores

Thrift Stores are nice to visit as well due to the consistent incoming of items every week.  Our local thrift store usually has nice finds for what we are looking for, although lately they have been raising the prices on things.

Goodwill

Goodwill is a whole other story.  We like to go when there are Colored Tag sales since the prices have also been raised significantly at our local Goodwill.  Nevertheless, you can still find great items to resell at Goodwill.

Other Options

One place we have found some great items to resell is Salvation Army.  Our local Salvation Army has 50% off clothes every Wednesday and Saturday.  This past weekend, they had a 50% off everything sale excluding Furniture.  We stocked up on a few items which could prove to be a lucrative haul for us!


Craigslist can be a good place to find items as well.  We don't use our local Craigslist much because we don't really see as many deals.  We have heard other people in different areas/states that find many great deals on Craigslist.  Basically, find what works for you and go for it!


Sourcing is the one thing we enjoy more than anything!  I suppose it is because both Jennifer and I enjoy "Treasure Hunting".  It is like a new adventure each time we go out and source.  All you have to do is have a passion for reselling and you can create your new adventures while sourcing!

So don't be shy or afraid to unlock that large treasure chest and dig in!  You never know what you might find!

Please check back for the next part in our "How to Get Started In Reselling/Picking" blog. We welcome any comments, questions or suggestions. Remember, we are still new to this so we are always open to learning more about this and sharing with others. Thank you for viewing our blog. Please check out our poll and vote.

Items We Sold On Ebay #1

Items We Sold On Ebay:

We would like to share items that we have sold on eBay recently.  A couple of these items were given to us through a friend and the rest we picked up at Garage Sales/Thrift Stores.  

Nintendo Uno Special Edition Card Game

Paid: $2.00
Sold for: $35.00 

Whisker City Cat Dish/Bowl

Paid: $1.00
Sold for: $12.99

J. Crew Embroidered Scarf - Rare

Paid: $2.00
Sold for: $29.99


Danbury Mint North Carolina Lighthouse Figurine

Paid: $1.00
Sold for: $14.99

Mortal Kombat Gold Limited Edition 1994

Paid: 0.00
Sold for: $49.99


We made a nice little profit off a little money.  We are always looking to expand into a different variety of new items to test them out on the reselling market.

Please check out our videos on our YouTube Channel
Like and Subscribe!

Please like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter @IzzyNBella

We welcome all comments, questions and suggestions!

Thanks for stopping by and reading our new post!  Check back weekly or sign up to be on our email list.