Via Trading Wholesale Clothing Lot – 6-Month Selling Update
Earlier this year I purchased a Via Trading wholesale clothing box. I hadn’t purchased many wholesale or liquidation lots before that, but like most sellers, I’m always on the lookout for new sources of inventory that will sell well.
You’ll see lots of unboxing posts and videos online. Today I wanted to do something different, which is to give a 6-month update on how the clothing lot sold because that’s what most sellers want to know.
Is the Via Trading wholesale clothing lot profitable and should other sellers get one too?
Let’s get into the details…
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Style & Co dress - Sold: $20
Background
You can read my initial review of the wholesale box where I detail exactly what I received and my impression of the lot. Here’s a quick overview:
I purchased the Via Trading HE Department Store Assorted Everyday & Casual Women’s Mostly Fall/Winter Clothing Lot.
The lot cost $299.25 for 75 items. Shipping would’ve been about $50, and sales tax would’ve been $20+.
I used a coupon code for first-time buyers that covered most of the cost of shipping. Sales tax was removed because I have a CA seller’s license.
Total Cost: $312.01
No. of items: 75
Cost per item: $4.16
Style & Co sweater - Sold: $19
Items I received
Honestly, I loved what I received! Macy’s is one of my favorite places to shop, so naturally, I liked the items in the lot. It was full of warm and pretty sweaters, casual tops, and comfortable-looking pants. I even kept a few of the items in my size for myself.
But just because I like something doesn’t mean that others will like it or that they’ll pay top dollar for it. And after inspecting the items closely, I ended up donating three items because they were damaged beyond what I felt comfortable selling. I held on to two of the items possibly to keep or sell later.
That left 70 items to sell.
Alfani lace bubble top - Sold: $22
How did the lot sell?
I sold only a few of the items in the first several months after listing. I have guesses as to why.
Maybe it was because I listed items at the end of May, and summer tends to be when sales slow down. It could be that people were wary of spending money due to job loss and other effects of the coronavirus.
I suspect though that it was more due to the brands and types of items. They’re not items that fly off the shelves.
The lot was also fall- and winter-themed with several cold-weather items like sweaters in it. So I struggled to sell these items.
It’s not for lack of trying either. I shared my items on Poshmark and made offers to likers on multiple platforms.
The only thing I didn’t do is relist the items often because that was too time-consuming to do manually for so many items. I didn’t want to spend an extraordinary amount of time sharing and relisting the items, especially knowing that they probably would not sell for a lot.
I think I did a reasonable amount of promotion for these items. Many items got likes, but rarely got offers and even rarer sales.
Sales started picking up toward the fall months, possibly because people wanted to buy warmer clothes. Here are my numbers in the first week of December.
No. of sold items: 29/70 or 41%
Sales by month
End of May – 2
June – 5
July – 1
August – 4
Sept – 5
Oct – 5
Nov – 7
Beginning of Dec – 0
Highest sale: $22 for an Alfani lace bubble top
Lowest sale: $6 for a Style & Co blouse with mild damage
Average sale price: ~$12.44 per item
Commission was taken out from the sale price. That varied by platform.
So far I’m close to covering the cost of the box but haven’t broken even yet. I think I’ll break even with a few more sales and then start to profit from there. It won’t be much or fast at the rate things are going.
When I think about the amount of time and effort required to review the items, take pictures, list them, and promote them, I’ll probably end up making pennies per hour.
Another aspect of selling wholesale lots that is sometimes overlooked is how much storage space you need. If space is tight for you, you won’t want all those items sitting taking up space for months. I had enough space for the items and am still happy to see them sell so that I can have my shelf space back.
Karen Scott cardigan - Sold: $19
Conclusion
My purchase of the Via Trading HE Department Store Assorted Everyday & Casual Women’s Mostly Fall/Winter Clothing Lot didn’t make for a good reseller wholesale lot. I haven’t recovered the cost of it or made a profit after 6 months of selling the items.
I still love the items I received. I enjoyed chatting with the Via Trading employees and had a great experience buying from them. This has been a useful endeavor in my reselling experience too. But I wouldn’t do it again because it’s not profitable enough to be worth it to me.
I hope that more of the items will sell in the coming weeks and months as winter comes. I’m donating some of the items to a Christmas clothing drive. I plan to sell the rest at a neighborhood yard sale in the spring.
Style & Co top - Sold: $9
Have you tried selling wholesale lots? What has been your experience selling one?
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