Is Reselling a Mental or Physical Job?

Hey guys! I’ve been having some difficulties recently due to a minor arm injury, and have been realizing how physical this job of ours can actually be. Let’s talk more today about how reselling is both a mental, AND a physical job and how we can make the processes easier for ourselves.

• Related: 3 Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Reseller

Mental Work is Still Work.

Ahh yes, the old, “but you didn’t actually dooo anything today” phrase. Am I right resellers?

Taking care of a business big or small, takes more mental capacity than I had previously thought. Let’s make a quick list of all of the tasks that currently take up their fare share of mental space inside our brains.

• Answering questions about items
• Answering questions about items again…even though you listed these answers in the description
• Sending out offers and figuring out percentages in your head
• Deciding whether to accept or counter offers coming in
• Spending time perfecting your customer service with each and every buyer
• Finding the right keywords and researching online for comps while listing
• Re-doing your item specifics when eBay decides to randomly update
• Making sure you know what all of the item specifics are
• Pricing your items accordingly to ensure steady profits
• Trying out new shipping and return policies to better suit your business
• Finding ways to manage hundreds or thousands of pieces of inventory

Related: 3 Reasons to List in Every Season

Physical Requirements Weren’t Part of this Job Description…Were They?

Whether or not you knew it when you started, you’ve probably realized by now that being a reseller sure does require a whole lot of physical work around the office or warehouse you’re operating out of.

If you have any sort of bin system going on, or have unloaded a few cars full of inventory from an estate sale lately, I have no doubt you can relate. Here’s a few things that came to mind when thinking about the physical tasks required on an almost daily basis as a reseller.

• Lifting/moving bins from shelf to shelf or onto tables, etc.
• Dragging new giant bags full of inventory into your space, (sometimes even up the stairs, I recommend having your storage space on the first floor!)
• Lifting heavy boxes that have been packed full of shipping supplies
• Moving shipping supplies stacked on shelves over your head
• Moving lighting equipment around
• That back pain that just lingers when you decide the floor is best for photographing (I’m wondering if this was the best decision, but gosh that new flooring looks stellar as my background)
• Straining your poor eyeballs after listing for hours
• Hand cramps if you share on platforms like Poshmark

Related: Here’s The BEST Way to Ship as a Reseller

Pro Tip: If you sell on Poshmark, there’s now a quicker way to share! Simply click on your Tools button in the top right corner of your closet, and choose Share My Closet. Then, you can just click each item twice, making the process much quicker!

Improve & Upgrade Your Systems on a Daily Basis

If you’ve been considering whether or not reselling is the right career path for you, just remember what it takes and that consistency is always key. Lastly, let’s touch on a few ways to improve these situations and how to make our lives easier!

• Try to focus on sending/receiving/countering offers all at once, and the same goes for answering questions
• Keep a list of pre-populated or pre-written blurbs that you can insert into those questions and offers
• Stay on top of your pricing strategies and understand what sells the best
• List a regular inflow of “like” items, so that you can simply hit Sell Similar (on eBay) when it’s time to do so
• Keep an updated spreadsheet to track your profits/losses/sales, etc. or invest in a VA service to do it for you

 

• Keep everything tidy in your office, so that you’re not constantly tripping over items or unlisted inventory
• Get a stool and use a table, to get the same effect for photos as on the floor and save your back the stress
• Invest in some blue light glasses online, to protect your eyes from the constant computer glare
• Do you business on the 1st floor, so that you don’t have to move things as far
• Set your photo area up and leave it that way, this way you’re not always needing to move your lights around

 

Hopefully these quick tips will be helpful in growing and managing your business! Keep kicking butt!

Please don’t hesitate with any questions or suggestions in the comment section below! Thanks for reading! -Shelby

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 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!

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Happy selling friends!

-Shelby

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