How to Make Money Thrift Store Flipping
You’ve heard that people are making hundreds or even thousands of dollars selling things from home, and you want to get in on the action.
Whether you want to make a few hundred dollars of fun money or you have dreams of earning a full-time income, this post will to show you how to get started making money flipping your finds at the thrift store.
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This post is in several parts:
Where to source items
Types of items to buy
Researching your finds
How to resell your items
Sourcing
Where to source
Now if you’ve never sold anything online and you have no experience flipping, I suggest that your first source be your house. Almost everyone has things that they don’t need or use but are still in great condition and may hold some resale value.
Start by selling things that you have at home, so you don’t spend money right out of the gate buying things that might not sell well. This gives you practice to get familiar with the tasks and platforms involved in selling as well.
Once you’ve listed a few of your own items and hopefully made a few sales, then move on to buying inventory to resell. You’ll also have the money from those sales to reinvest into inventory, which is important if you’re cash-strapped.
Where can you buy things to resell?
1) Traditional thrift stores
Goodwill
Savers
Salvation Army
Thrift stores vary widely in the price of their items, the types of items they sell, and their return policies. The thrift stores in my area are relatively expensive compared to other sources and locations in the country.
Some people who find thrift stores too expensive go to the Goodwill outlets also known as the bins. Goodwill outlets sell items by the pound. You can get several pieces of clothing for less than a dollar!
The outlet experience is not for everyone. You have to be willing to spend a few hours searching through bins of items and even get a little dirty.
If you have one close by, it’s worth checking out at least once because you can’t beat those prices. That means more profit for you when those items sell.
Ready to head to the thrift store? Read these top thrift shopping tips first to make the most of your time and money.
2) Independent thrift stores
Church stores
One-off privately-owned stores
Most resellers I’ve talked to love going to church stores. They tend to sell items very low-priced making them great sources of inventory. I find privately owned thrift stores to be hit or miss in terms of their items and pricing.
3) Yards sales
Yard sales are another popular place to find items. They’re usually cheaper than thrift stores and you can negotiate prices with sellers.
4) Estate sales
Estate sales are an interesting source. In some places, items are priced so high that it’s not worth your time to visit those sales. You’ll have difficulty finding anything cheap enough to resell.
If that’s the case in your area, you might find the prices marked down at the end of the sales. Sellers want to get rid of as much as possible. They’ll be more willing to negotiate too.
5) Discount retail stores
Retail stores are stores like Ross, TJ Maxx, and HomeGoods where things are new but cheaper than at retail. The inventory may be out of season or extra stock.
I like discount retail stores because the items are new and authentic. I don’t worry as much about the items being damaged or counterfeit.
I once bought a Stella McCartney chemise at one of those stores for less than $20 and sold it for $125. Those flips don’t always happen but they are possible.
6) Online
You can find many places to source online. Facebook Marketplace is a good place to start. People who are trying to get rid of their stuff list at low prices like it’s a yard sale. They don’t know or care about the real resale value of the items.
Facebook groups focusing on buying, selling, and trading certain items or upcycling items are another source. Check out community websites such as Nextdoor too. I’ve heard of sellers posting there to see if anyone will donate items for them to resell.
Check out this in-depth guide of 20+ places to find items to resell for more ideas!
Inventory
You’ll want to buy items that you can resell for a profit. When you’re new, you may not know what has a high profit margin. You’ll learn with research and time the more you sell.
What to buy to resell
1) In-demand clothing, handbags, and shoes
I look for top brands, popular brands, and luxury brand items in new or good condition to resell.
Know that note every brand that sells for a lot of money at retail will resell for a lot. Don’t make that correlation.
Look at these sold prices of items online. That’s the best way to determine if an item is worth buying or not.
There are hundreds if not thousands of brands that will resell well.
Even common brands like Target and Old Navy will sell. They may just take a long time to sell and sell for not very much.
That might be okay if you’re selling something from your own closet or you got something for $.50. It’s no big deal to sell something for a few dollars because you’re still making a profit.
I prefer to sell higher-end brands and more in-demand items because you get more profit for the amount of time and effort that you put into selling them.
Some of my favorite brands to resell:
Workout wear – Lululemon, Athleta, Peloton, ALO yoga
Reformation
Mother jeans
Farm Rio
Johnny Was
Betabrand
Check out these top-selling brands on Poshmark and this post for more brand ideas.
2) Home goods & cookware
People will pay a lot of money for the right home goods. This could be vases, dishes, kitchenware, and decorations. A few items to be on the lookout for
Rae Dunn pottery – the older and rarer designs
Vintage Pyrex – whole sets or items with lids are better
Anthropologie Nathalie Lete dishes
3) Toys & games
Vintage dolls – Original My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch Kids, American Girl dolls
Original Lisa Frank stationery and other items
Model kits such as for model cars, trains, and airplanes
4) Electronics
There’s a huge market for second-hand electronics. This can be selling anything from the latest cellphones to old TV remote controls and VCRs and vintage calculators.
If you’re knowledgeable about electronics, you are already at an advantage to find items that are rare, underpriced, and otherwise just in demand and profitable.
No list will tell you everything to be on the lookout for. There are many more items not listed here.
Your best bet will be to research items as you find them and place them in your mental catalog of things to look for going forward.
How to research items
As I mentioned earlier, the best way to find the best items that will give you the most profit is to do your research. That might be during your shopping because you’re going to come across items that you don’t know and you’ll need to look them up on the spot.
I like to have my phone handy. Some people use a special barcode scanner if they are looking at books to resell on Amazon. Your phone can do that to an extent too but slower.
Here are a few ways to look up items on the spot:
1) Google search
Google search the name of the item or a description of the item. I play around with the brand name and any descriptors like the type of item (pants) and color (black).
Clothing sometimes has information on the inner fabric care tag. You can find the RN number to determine the brand and sometimes the style number. I’ll enter the style number for things that need it like Athleta pants because there are so many different styles. It’s hard to tell them apart just by their look.
Sometimes when you Google search the descriptors and the item doesn’t come up in the search results but if you go to the images you’ll find the exact item. And once in a while it will come up under the shopping tab.
2) Google Lens
Another option is to use Google Lens to try and locate the item. This works once in a while and more so for unique items.
Google Lens is probably not going to pull up the right pair of black pants if you search for that because so many brands sell basic black pants.
3) Look at comparables (comps)
Look up the item in Poshmark or eBay to see if there’s anything similar. Don’t be fooled by the listing price because very often the item will sell for less. Look at the sold listings for a more realistic idea of how much you might get for an item.
eBay and Amazon have the option to search for something by taking a picture of the item or bar code. This sometimes pulls up the exact item right away.
Tips for researching items
1) Decide on how much you’d like to earn with each flip.
There are different ways to go about flipping. Some people try to flip anything that will make a dollar or two. Other people only buy an item if they know they can make at least $25 or $50 off of it.
Decide if you want to go for every dollar or only higher profit-margin items. Remember that it usually takes the same amount of time to list something that’s going to make you $1 as it does something that will make you $50.
You can put back the items that you know won’t make you the profit you want.
2) Place items on hold.
Sometimes you’ll try to research something and you won’t come up with a comparable item.
At that point, you can decide if it’s worth the risk to pay however much the item is and take a chance that it’s going to sell for more. It’s not a big deal to take a chance on a $5 item compared to a $50 item.
Ask your store if they can hold items for you. The stores I go to might hold items during your shopping trip. Your store might hold items for a few hours or overnight. You can do more research during that time.
My family motto is “you snooze you lose.” That applies to food at the dinner table but it applies to thrift stores too. If you’re not fast to pick up a good item, someone else is going to get it.
Hold onto items even if you’re questioning purchasing them. Put them back when you decide you don’t want them.
3) Think about how to ship items.
Shipping can be a pain for large and/or heavy items. Items that are fragile, extra heavy, or overly large will probably take more time, care, and maybe even money to ship.
You also might not have access to boxes and packaging materials and might not know how shipping works with various carriers and on different platforms.
Some people aren’t deterred by this. Keep this in mind as you source items.
You have the option to try to sell locally too. Then you avoid the whole shipping issue.
Reselling
You’ve got the items. Now it’s time to get them listed and sold.
Online marketplaces to sell
1) eBay
eBay is one of my favorite places to sell. Despite its inconveniences, eBay reaches so many people that I think you can find a buyer for (almost) everything.
Pros:
Sell almost anything (legal) on the marketplace
Access millions of potential buyers in the US and internationally
250 free listings a month before having to pay for a store subscription
Phone customer service available
Cons:
Relatively complicated commission structure compared to other marketplaces
Listing can take a long time. eBay has a lot of required or suggested details for items.
Shipping can be a pain because you have to weigh items and calculate the cost. If you offer free shipping, you should build that into the price of your item.
Strong buyer protection and relatively weak seller protection. Buyers have been able to open cases and make returns 3+ months after an item is delivered.
eBay encourages sellers to provide free shipping and allow returns.
2) Mercari
I used to consider Mercari the Wild West of selling, but the marketplace has improved in recent years. There are now more tools, more pictures allowed, a seller analytics dashboard, and more.
Pros:
No listing fees
Low commission compared to other marketplaces (currently 10% seller fee and 2.9% +$0.50 payment processing fee)
Cons:
Very strict about following the rules. This can be both good and bad. If you ever get banned, good luck getting reinstated!
Shipping items over 1 lb can more expensive than on other marketplaces.
Listing items can be annoying: certain brands aren’t available to choose, categories and size options are missing, and certain details are required but you have to pick from the limited options.
** On Mercari, you can get $10 when you sign up with the code JENMHM.
3) Facebook Marketplace & groups
Facebook Marketplace is the new Wild West of selling. Lots of sellers from other marketplaces are trying FBMP and seeing success with it.
Pros:
No listing fees
Lowest commission of the major marketplaces
Lots of potential buyers
Ability to offer local pick-up and/or to ship items
Cons:
Local buyers can be flaky.
No seller protection. It’s well known among sellers that buyers can complain about an item and request a refund. FB will grant the refund, sometimes without notifying the seller, and let the buyer keep the item.
Little to no customer support. You’re on your own most of the time.
4) Poshmark
Poshmark has over 60 million users in the U.S. and Canada and is growing.
Pros:
No listing fees
Straight-forward shipping with USPS Priority Mail. No need to calculate postage for items up to 5 lb.
No returns. Sellers get paid 3 days after an item is delivered as long as the buyer doesn’t open a case.
Cons:
High commission ($2.95 on items below $15. 20% on items $15 and over.)
Can be time-consuming to be social and active on the platform to maximize sales
Customer support is via email only. There’s no phone support. It can take 24-48 hours to receive a response.
** If you don’t have a Poshmark account, you can receive a free $10 bonus when you sign up with my code SFGIRL2015.
5) Instagram
Pros:
No commission on sales depending on how you sell on IG.
You set the terms on your sales.
Multiple ways to sell on IG. Some sellers do really well with Instagram Stories and hosting regular live sales.
Cons:
You have to set up and market your profile or closet to bring in buyers.
You have to collect and remit taxes for sales on your own.
6) Amazon
Pros:
Reaches millions of users worldwide
Buyers trust Amazon so are more likely to buy
Amazon can store your inventory for you and send your items off to buyers when they sell (Fulfillment by Amazon)
Cons:
Seller fees can be high and eat away at your profits
Many items are not permitted to be sold if they are used, and thrift store finds are often used.
Sellers can be limited to selling in certain categories. It can be difficult to get ungated for additional categories.
Tips for listing and selling
1) Price with room to negotiate.
On some marketplaces like Amazon, you set a price and the buyer pays that price if they want the item.
On others like Poshmark and Mercari, buyers are allowed to make offers and have come to expect to negotiate prices to get a better deal.
Set your starting price higher than you want the item to sell for. Then you can negotiate, run sales, or make offers to people who show interest in your items.
2) Know your shipping options.
You have to be knowledgeable about shipping on sites like eBay or you can lose a lot of money.
I’ve heard so many stories of people who misjudged the size or weight of an item and charged too little for shipping or offered free shipping for the item.
Know that there may be size and weight limits depending on the carrier you use. Weigh your item and know how you’re going to package to ship it so you can have an idea of its weight and size.
PayPal shipping and PirateShip are good places to get better shipping rates.
You don’t have to worry about this as much on sites like Poshmark, where you can ship any item up to 5 lb without upgrading the shipping label.
Additional tips for reselling
1) Do the hustle.
Thrift store flipping is usually time and labor intensive for most people. This is especially true at the beginning of your business when you are learning what sells, learning the marketplaces, listing items without help, and trying to put business processes into place.
Thrift store flipping is rarely passive because once you sell the items that you have, you have to go out and get more inventory. You have to be willing to hustle to keep the money coming in.
2) Be okay with mistakes.
If you’re new to the thrift store flipping, know that you’re going to make some mistakes sometimes and forgive yourself for that.
Every seller has paid too much for an item at some point thinking that it was going to resell well. Or they purchased something that they thought was in great condition only to come home and find that it was damaged and couldn’t be returned.
Recognize that these things happen. Try to recoup whatever money you can from those mistakes and then move on to making your next sale.
3) Taxes!
You’ll hear different information about whether or not you need to pay taxes. I’m not an accountant so don’t hold me to this.
If you are selling with the intention of making money from this venture, you need to pay taxes on your earnings. Keep track of
the cost of your inventory
any business expenses including platform fees, shipping fees that you pay for, and shipping supplies
how much you make in sales
gas mileage
Thrift shopping and flipping items is one of my favorite ways to make extra money. Use the tips in this guide and you’ll soon be making extra money too!
What questions do you have about thrift store flipping? What are some of your best finds?
