Three Surprising Crossover Skills For Reselling And Design
Who did you envision as a cool adult when you were a kid?
Famous athletes? Rock stars? Marine biologists?
For me, it was vintage store owners. They just oozed cool and of course their outfits were always amazing.
About 2 months ago, I started my most profitable side hustle, reselling clothes online. I just wanted to get rid of some of my clothes that didn't fit anymore. Once I started I loved it.
I renamed my eBay account The Retro Rabbit Hole which combines my love of vintage with going down research rabbit holes online. I’m already working on branding because of my combination of neurodivergence, boredom, and being a brand strategist.
Here are the 3 intersecting skills that build off my special interests, like web design and branding, that make reselling clothes the perfect side hustle for me.
Research Deep Dives
Every job, side hustle or creative side quest that I've really enjoyed involves doing research. I love learning new things and research is a crucial part of that process.
For reselling, searching for items other people have listed and sold aka comps helps narrow down why something might be valuable to the right buyer. One example of this is when I listed Alo leggings on Poshmark. I knew it was a popular athleisure brand but I was still surprised with how quickly they sold!
There are a bunch of paid apps for resellers now which I'm not using yet. Maybe when I've scaled up and want to save more time. I enjoy doing the research part so I don't need to outsource or automate it yet.
Free Research Apps
Here are a few of the free apps I use to do research on how much to price clothes, what platform I should list it on and if I should pick something up at the thrift store.
Gem
I use this for personal secondhand shopping and comps for items I'm selling. It also gives me a good idea of how popular or rare an item is. The app finds listings from all the major reselling platforms like eBay, Poshmark and depop. It has all the typical filters like size and pricing.
Google Lens
I use this to find similar or the same listings based on a photo of the item I own or I'm considering buying. It’s a hit or miss depending on the online results. This can also help identify the brand if the tags are missing.
Searching the Platform
Finding comps on the platforms you're using can help you with pricing and see demand for the item you're listing. I don't buy items solely based on comps or brands but it is part of my strategy when choosing what to buy and list.
Shopping
I've been an avid shopper ever since my first paycheck hit my bank account, lifeguard summer fun money! It’s funny that something I’ve done for free is a skill to make money instead.
Since I've put in the hours already it isn't hard for me to pick out a few gems at the thrift store without spending hours combing the racks. Some people can spend hours in a thrift store but my capacity is an hour max depending the crowds.
I've also learned it's ok to pick items based on style instead of brand names. I've picked up some no name or not common brands at the thrift store because I thought the item was cute and would sell well on one of the platforms I use.
I've always been a strategic shopper and now it's paying me back. Like a creator on TikTok said, “I'm getting paid to shop. Who doesn't love that?”
Writing and Photos
This is the part where some people can get bogged down or discouraged. I've seen amazing items look horrible because of bad lighting and I've seen okay items look amazing because they are styled well and in good lighting.
Basically all you need is a place to hang your items near a window or other source of natural light or a place to lay them flat. That's it! You don't need a mannequin, unless you already have one, or any other fancy equipment.
Writing can also be a challenge especially now that most of these platforms have AI built in to "help" you write descriptions. They are usually boring, too descriptive and sometimes absoultely wrong!
You don't need much to write a description. I like to rephrase the item description from the title, say a few occasions you could wear it, include any flaws, and provide measurements. That's it!
I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to buy something secondhand and there are no measurements in the description. Sizing is so varied across brands and time periods. You can't rely on a size staying the same over the years.
A great example with this is vintage sizing. I've listed a few vintage graphic tees in sizes large and extra large. I always include measurements because compared to these sizes in garments today they usually run small. A few of them fit closer to a women's medium.
Is reselling the right side hustle for you?
I would say yes if you:
Own clothes
Can photograph them
Write descriptions
Negotiate with people
Have a post office nearby
The great thing about reselling is you can do it very part time to start, only listing a few items whenever you want them out of your closet, or you can scale it up to a full time! I'm currently in between the two and trying to continue to grow sustainably to avoid burnout while eventually doing it full time.
Check out my items if you shop secondhand under the usernames in the thank you note prototype above.
The funny thing is all of these skills, minus shopping, are also why I love creating websites and brands. If you want my design and reselling expertise for your site check out the Untangle Call.
