Reselling Sourcing Guide: Places to go and pricing.

Sourcing like what you pay is always a personal preference but here are some of the places I source from, along with some bonus tips and what I am happy to pay for items, assuming what they will sell for.

Home

Home is always a great place to start, there are many unused items around the home that we often throw away that still have great value to others. I can’t tell you how many things I have donated and thrown away that I now know had plenty of value.

Op shops

Op shops are my go too as they are always available and open (excluding lockdowns of course). Some are more expense than others so I recommend checking out many to find your favourites. Don’t go past the church ones as they usually have the best prices and are not visited as frequently by the masses. Outside of the church ones, I find that set price shops like Good Sammy’s are great as you always know what you are up for and of course $2 day at Salvo’s, which in WA is Monday and Tuesdays, with other items 1/2 price all week.

Markets

Markets are very dependant on the weather and can be massive hits or epic failures. I highly recommend the trash and treasure ones as that’s where the best deals can be found. We often pack some food and head off early on a Sunday with our homemade cuppas as a family event with a side of sourcing, so either way it’s a win. IT also helps us teach our son about cash money and finding bargains.

Garage Sales

Garage sales are also season and weather dependent, Spring being the best time as people often do a spring clean and follow up with a garage sale. You can find them advertised on FB Marketplace and Gumtree and I recommend doing some research the night before to find a hot spot and work out a route. It is always however fun when you see a random sign on the street and venture off in search of it.

Also don’t hesitate to ask what for what you are looking for as again many people don’t have everything out for sale as they don’t believe others will find value in it or want to purchase it. I can’t tell you how many times I have asked about something and people have had them in their trash / donate pile.

Other Resellers

Other resellers are also a good option, especially in times of lockdown as some can source others can’t. There are also the resellers that pack it in as it’s harder than expected or get overwhelmed with the quantity of stock they have acquired and are happy to sell bundles at decent prices. Often, you can find these via the communities on Instagram, or Facebook, possibly even Gumtree.

Retail Arbitrage

Retail Arbitrage (RA) is another option, albeit not one I use often as I’m a cost as low as possible kinda girl, but some people do it super effectively. Summer from The Profit Collective on Instagram is one for example and with lockdowns due to Covid many a cautious resellers have had a dabble in the last few years.

While this isn’t technically RA, recently I have been checking eBay, my selling platform of choice for other sellers that have under priced high end items.

Kerbside

Kerbside rubbish is another option, not my cup of tea as time is limited and searching through a pile of ‘rubbish’ for the hidden gems but I’ll happily buy from people on Marketplace that has done the dumper diving for me, especially VCRs, which are often thrown out as trash.

Facebook Marketplace & Gumtree etc.

While I only use these options sparingly as I do find some good wins, this morning I got a HDMI VCR / DVD combo for $40, that will sell for $300 plus. I also find some good DVD bundles although this is getting much harder as resellers are using this fee free platform to sell more frequently. So it really is all about timing and checking frequently or having alerts set up and notifications turned on.

Friends, Family & Colleagues

Other sourcing options could be friends, family and work colleagues, this does require that you actually tell them what you do. Many people just give us stuff because they were going to take it to the op shop and know I am happy to look though it, sort and dispose of the rest, often to the op shop if in good quality for a stamp*. (*Collect enough and you can get 20% or 50% off future op shop purchases).

Commission

If the items are given it to me, I will put 50% of any profits into my sons bank account for his future. Otherwise I’ll sell it on commission for them with the same deal 50% after all costs except for super high end which I lower my commission rates. See below for my current commission rates.

Note I include postage in the costs as I also include the postage paid in the sold value, as a small amount of profit can be made on postage due to Australia Post band savings. Currently with the volume I send I receive a 20% discount on costs and I share that with the client.

Price Guide

Like where you source, what you pay is also a personal choice but this is the guide I like to follow when sourcing regardless of where I buy stock from.

Majority of the stock I find is $2-$5 as I prefer to keep my costs as low as possible, my average sale price is $50 and to the contrary I frequently find $50 items on the $2 rack. My most recent $2 find selling for $99 within the week. While this isn’t normal it’s doable if you do the research and don’t under price your stock, as others may profit from your mistake and just because some one sold a similar item on bid for $10 doesn’t mean you can’t get $35.

A good tip is when you are searching sold comparisons on eBay make sure you switch the filter to highest paid first. This will give you a price people are willing to pay instead of what people are willing to sell it for.

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