Years ago when I began my journey into reselling, I didn’t know what to expect under the umbrella of reselling platforms with all the options of listings and cross-listings. A lot of time has passed since then, and I now have a hefty handful of new knowledge that I apply to my current strategies, along with wanting to perfect them so that I can then pass these on to you! Today, we’ll dive into how many platforms I’m still holding onto, and how I’ve gotten to this decision. So let’s get after it!
Several Reselling Platforms Still Exist
Although I do not plan to currently pursue any of the newer reselling platforms that have since arisen in the last few years, I would like to talk more about the ones that I still am on, and why it is that I’ll remain doing so.
There are so many new ones that have popped up over this time, from Whatnot to Grailed to Vestiaire. There’s also some others that are still around such as Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and ThredUp.
Of course, the list goes on, but these are the ones most talked about. I’ve tried my best to steer clear of the Facebook world, and that goes for both personal and professional reasons. I’ve been Facebook-free since 2013, and plan to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
Sure, that may not be the case for some resellers. I know one that primarily uses this reselling platform along with eBay to make 90% of her sales. It’s just not for me, and that’s the beauty of having several platforms to choose from in 2023!
Which Platforms I Love The Most
I have been going back and forth for some time now about which strategy would suit my business best. Whether that be working from just one platform and maxing out my listings, (which of course would decrease the possibility of double selling, yay!), or using one platform as a “hub” of sorts and spreading the rest out onto the specific platforms that I deemed worthy.
Now that I’ve got some experience underway, I’m changing things up once again. Trial and error is something we as resellers are going to have to go through now and then, so don’t knock something new until you try it out for yourself. You may not see the benefit of it yet, but change can be a good thing every so often when you find a new route to take!
I’ll be continuing on my path that I started way back when. That includes cross-listing on 6 platforms, which are listed below.
Why not stick with just one? I’ll explain that more in the section below!
Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
We’ve all heard that saying. But do we stick to it? Often, no. I decided to follow a few different sellers on YouTube about a year into my journey, (at the highest my sales have ever been, mind you), and took a shot at deleting all of my listings on any platform except for eBay.
That was what we call in my family, an Oops.
For a little while, my sales kept increasing since I was adding more and more listings to one reselling platform alone. It definitely had its pros, being that delisting just didn’t exist. That was great in itself.
However, after things started to smooth out, my items started to just sit. Let me tell you why.
With an increasing demand to invest in additional inventory, I decided the best and only option at the time was to start seeking out wholesalers. This, of course, went well for the first few months as mentioned earlier, but after some time, it started becoming an added expense, for mediocre items. Which was no bueno, my friends.
Wholesaling Is Not The Best Option For All Resellers
Sure, going the wholesale route can work out really great for bigger resellers, or resellers who want to pursue something on a larger and industrial level scale. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the option for most of us newbies or small sellers out there in the world. (Me, being one of them)!
I don’t have the storage for additional inventory, and my boxes upon boxes were starting to pile up. Meaning, we needed to continuously add more bins, take additional time spent on taking inventory so things didn’t get lost, and spend more of our revenue on additional shelves.
After some time, these things began taking over my home, and that was something I didn’t want to happen from day one.
Not only were they beginning to take over my home, but they began sitting and becoming stale inside their designated bins. This was also no bueno!
Why Did Things Stop Selling?
I know exactly why, and I’m here today to tell you.
Things stopped selling a few months in, (or slowing drastically rather), because my business started becoming something else. It became less of an everyday grind of finding value in thrifted items and more of just listing whatever came in the boxes to my doorstep.
It morphed into this warehouse-looking mess of piles here and piles there, causing more and more stress to my husband and me on where items began getting lost, or which pile was listed or unlisted or flawed.
No longer did I have time to spend on each garment or hard good I found to spruce it up and add an extra touch because listings and more listings were all that mattered anymore. Surely, the lack of listing, even MORE, was definitely the problem, right?
Wrong.
I call it a journey because that is exactly what it has been. There has been a ton of ups and downs and banging my head against the wall wanting to quit and sell everything to some other crazy person with some other ridiculous entrepreneurial dream. I was so over it at times I just wanted to shut the door on it all.
But I didn’t, and I don’t want you to, either.
How I Brought My Business Back To Life
A little at a time, day after day, I started to realize something. Things were changing because I was changing. My business was in the dumps because I was in the dumps. My sales were depressing because I was depressed.
It all started to click after that.
Soon enough, I began to realize that the reason I started this whole journey, to begin with, was all thrown out the door. I noticed that I had been so obsessed with numbers and more listings that my actual morals had gone out the window.
I no longer spent time hand writing my messages to each buyer thanking them for their purchase, I simply threw in a printed in-bulk thank you card and called it a day.
Nor did I spend extra time interacting with each and every question that came through, because I felt that I “just didn’t have time for that.”
I knew I was at a crossroads where I needed to make some changes before it was too late.
I went through the remaining boxes of wholesale and stopped buying any more of it. Then I was itching for yard sales and the thrift, but I already had too much inventory than I knew what to do with. I started listing the best items out of every box and tried to bundle up the rest to try and recoup the cost.
Once that was taken care of, I began spending more time rephotographing and relisting certain items that I knew could work with a second life. I removed a lot of inventory that was just okay and started focusing again on what items brought me actual joy. If they made me happy, they’d most likely make someone else happy as well.
I remembered the experience I wanted to provide, not just the item.
My Journey Today
I’ve been able to slowly and painfully reduce my inventory from nearly 4,000 items to around 2,500. This took forever, and I had a lot of slow days because of it. I listed only now and then in hopes that I’d sell more than I listed to make a dent in our storage space. We are in the reselling business, remember! Not the storage business!!
Once I got down to a manageable 2,500 for my space, the hubs and I got back to business on the basics. We organized what we had left, did inventory to ensure everything was listed, and got rid of the broken bins and tattered clothing that probably shouldn’t have been listed in the first place.
I went back to writing out my thank you cards, relishing the moment that I get to work for myself, from home with my pets and best friend. I went back to spending time making my packages presentable and exciting for each buyer to open.
These are the parts of this business that I truly love, and that I have missed so dearly. It’s amazing how quickly we forget about these things, and that (as someone reminds me quite often), we’re human first, and co-workers/customers & buyers second.
Everyone loves feeling good about how their hard-earned money’s spent, including me. And the fact that I have the opportunity to create an engaging experience with the person on the other end even without the ability to shake their hand or be face-to-face is an incredibly rewarding one.
(And The Rest Of 2023)
This is why I’ll be continuing on with multiple reselling platforms in 2023, going back to the beginning where I used one reselling platform as a hub, (eBay in this case), and meticulously choosing where others are cross-listed to.
Spending actual time on your business is extremely important, so don’t let the videos and blogs, and shorts online fool you. Passive income is a real thing, but getting to that point takes solid effort and a very long road. I’d love to join you in that journey, so if revamping or starting up your reselling business is something that brings you joy, allow me to take that road together with you in my new coaching program.
Thank you. Thank you for being a part of this exciting trip so far, and thank you for being there along the way in the future. I’m so eager to be on it with you all and hope that we can together, continue creating more and better ways to help new and smaller resellers succeed.
Thank You!
A giant thanks to everyone that has supported me this far into my journey! I greatly appreciate you returning to read my posts and hope that you will continue to drop by in the future.
Please feel free to drop any comments below that you would like to add! I am always open to advice, suggestions, or even hearing related stories of your own!
I stay as active as possible in the comment section, therefore I will reply to any questions asap.
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Happy selling friends!
-Shelby