How to Start a Reselling Business: Our Step-by-Step Guide
The first steps to creating a successful reselling business
In this episode, we break down exactly how to start a reselling business from deciding what to sell to choosing the right platform and gathering essential supplies. We share our best reselling tips for beginners to help you navigate through the first steps of getting your online reselling business started so that you can learn from our mistakes and hit the ground running with confidence.
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Episode Transcript:
Amber:
Welcome to Episode 2 of the Gem Finders Podcast. Where we chat about all things vintage and antiques - whether it's buying or reselling.
Amber:
I'm Amber.
Shaun:
I am Shaun.
Amber:
In this episode, we are going all the way back to the basics. And starting from the very first step of things that you may need to know or be aware of if you are thinking about starting an online reselling business.
Shaun:
So in the first episode, we kind of touched on our journey, you know, how we got started. But we wanted to give a more like step-by-step guide on how you could start your own. Not just vintage reselling. I think this applies to just any sort of reselling business. So we wanted to break it down and hopefully give you some useful information, tips, and tricks, and you know, some things that helped us along the way that probably would have been nice to know before we went through a lot of trial and error.
Amber:
Yes, but before we get started, the most important thing about this is that you set your business up in a way that works for you. So this is just kind of, it's a general roadmap of one way that you could get there. But if you follow the exact steps that I took, that we took, you're probably not going to set up a business that feels good for you. You don't need to follow every single one of these steps. Just take what sounds good to you and leave behind what doesn't. I cannot emphasize that enough, that you have to make this work for you. Otherwise, you're going to hate doing it. Because it's a lot of work.
Shaun:
It is a lot of work and even though we have had success. I don't wanna speak for you, but I would not consider us experts. There is not just any one way, one right way, or wrong way to do this. There are lots of different paths. This is just kind of the path that we took, and it worked for us. So we want to give you some of that information. And like Amber said, you can use it how you want. You don't have to follow this step-by-step exactly the way that we did it. It's just some information that helped us that we think can help some of you along the way.
Amber:
The first step is deciding what you're going to sell and how you are going to sell it. And even if you already have a place that you want to start, or if you know that you want to start a certain type of shop, I really think the best place to begin is looking at your own house. Look around and find things that you can get rid of. Whether it's clothing, action figures, Grandma's vintage glassware, home decor you don't want, or even items from your kitchen. Just look around your house and ask what you don't need anymore. And in my early eBay days, I think I literally sold like a knee brace on eBay for $10. So just look around, because this isn't about profit yet. It's just about getting yourself in the flow of how this is going to work for you.
Shaun:
Almost all of us accumulate junk along the way. I don't know anybody personally—I'm sure there are some people that are very good at decluttering, but -
Amber:
We're not them.
Shaun:
Yeah, we're definitely not them. I don't know any of those people. So, you know, it's really easy to accumulate stuff that you can list. And if you don't accumulate it, chances are somebody that you know has accumulated it. And there's also a good chance that they don't want to go through the process of listing them and selling them themselves. So if you ask somebody—family, friends—there's a very high chance that they'll give you some inventory to sell along the way.
Amber:
Yes, so once you have some stuff that you no longer want, you need to figure out how you're going to sell it. And for us, that started as eBay for both of us. And then I also listed a bunch of items on Poshmark and Mercari. But those aren't the only options. You could get a booth at your local flea market. You could sell things on Facebook Marketplace. You could get a booth at your local antique store or Fleatique. You could do Etsy. So there are so many different platforms that you can test the waters on. So just do a little bit of research on what you think might sound good to you.
But if you're overwhelmed and you're not sure where to start, I would absolutely recommend eBay because it has such a wide variety of potential customers that you can reach. And it's—I would say it's probably the most, like, user-friendly out of all of the different platforms, at least from my experience. Their support can be very helpful. So if you're like, "I want to start doing this, but I have no idea where to start," start listing things on eBay and try to list one to five things a day. No matter where you're listing, that consistency is really going to help, not only get you out there consistently but it's also going to give you a good idea of how much time goes into a business like this—whether it's a side hustle or a full-time job. Listing every day is going to make you realize how much you can fit into your life and on what kind of scale you can create a reselling business.
Shaun:
I do agree that I think eBay is probably the best place to start. I think that it is very user-friendly. It kind of guides you through the process without you having to figure it out yourself. It kind of takes you through step-by-step. But I will say, for me, when I first started listing on eBay, I was not prepared for the fees and the cost of shipping. So I think that is something that a lot of people starting a business like this don't really take into account. Or if they do take it into account, maybe they underestimate how much those fees are going to add up to.
So I would just say, you know, be cautious of that. I still would recommend starting with eBay, but I would say, you know, do a little bit of research into how much those fees and how much shipping is going to cost so you can kind of, you know, figure out how much your profit is actually going to end up being.
Amber:
Yeah, and I think that a good kind of mental place to start is just have the expectation that you're not going to make any money. You don't want to lose money, so don't, like, buy things yet. Just start listing and don't have any expectations. That way, when you get that first sale that comes in and you get 20 extra dollars in your pocket, you're like, "Oh yay." Don't get discouraged if you're listing every day, if you're listing consistently, and those sales aren't coming in yet. Because you have to play the long-term game, and you have to be consistent, and you have to kind of keep that up for quite a few weeks, maybe even months, before you're really going to start to see consistent money come in.
So just lower your expectations. Just say, "I'm just gonna start to get rid of my old stuff. List it on Facebook Marketplace, list it on the platforms, wherever you decide you want to do it, and then kind of figure it out as you go." Just don't put too much pressure on it because if you have unrealistic expectations, you're only going to set yourself up for it to not feel fun.
Shaun:
And if you try one platform and you don’t like it, try the other ones. Try another one. There are so many, like you can do the Ebays and Mercaris, you know, the sites that are set up for that. You can do Marketplace, where it’s much more, I mean, you can ship on Marketplace, but I consider it a much more local list-and-pickup site. There are also the live sale options with WhatNot and Instagram if you want to explore that. So, there are so many different routes that if you try one and you don’t like it, don’t get discouraged. Just try another one, and it might be better for you.
Amber:
One we didn’t mention earlier is live selling, which you can do on WhatNot and Poshmark. If you’re just getting started, obviously, there are also Instagram live sales, but that’s kind of a little bit down the road.
Shaun:
I didn’t even know that Poshmark did live sales!
Amber:
So, so okay. Once you kind of have an idea of what you’re ready to get rid of and where you want to list it and sell it on, you need to start thinking about the supplies that you’re going to need to execute that vintage reselling business—whatever level you’re going to resell on right now.
So, those supplies are going to be packing and shipping supplies. They’re going to be products you need to clean the items. That is really important if you want to set yourself apart from a random person who’s listing on eBay versus somebody who is trying to establish a business. You have to clean your items thoroughly. That’s a really, really big deal.
And if you are not cleaning your items, if you’re selling them as is, make sure that that is clear in the description. I used to list clothing, and I didn’t clean most of it, but I was very clear in my descriptions that these items are sold as found. So keep that in mind. That way, when somebody gets your item, if it is dirty, they already expected that. It’s not a surprise to them because that is not fun when you order an item and it comes filthy, and you’re like, “I did not pay $40 so that I could clean this too.”
Shaun:
Yeah, I agree. That is a very big negative that we constantly experience. We do get some inventory from eBay—not much—but we do occasionally order some inventory from eBay, maybe Mercari once in a while. But so often, we get these items that are filthy, and they don’t look dirty in the pictures, usually. So, I don’t know if it’s something that had been listed for a while, that, you know, sat in a dirty location or, you know, accumulated dust while it was waiting to get shipped out. But regardless, take a few seconds to wipe it off before you pack it. It doesn’t take much time, and it really does make a huge difference for whoever you’re shipping it to for them to open that package and unwrap that item and see, like, a shiny, clean item versus a dirty item. It completely changes the way that you feel about that item from the get-go and the way that you feel about the experience and the seller overall.
Amber:
So, if for some reason you are not going to clean your items—which is fine because sometimes it is hard to find something and to source it, and then you know that you can’t really make a lot more by cleaning it—I don’t think there’s anything wrong with selling it as is, but you need to make sure that that is crystal clear upfront to your buyer.
Shaun:
Definitely. Transparency is huge.
Amber:
Not only about the condition and the cleanliness but also transparency about any flaws. From day one, make sure that you are noting any flaws, whether it’s a small stain, whether it’s a small rip, whether it is a little watermark on a page of a comic book, whether it is a crack. Just make sure that you’re upfront. It will set you up for success because it will establish trust, and it will also help people come back because they trust you. And you’re going to get repeat customers because they know that you’re going to be upfront about those items.
So, we talked about cleaning supplies. For us, with our glassware and our vintage that we sell, that is like glass cleaner, that’s alcohol, that is Q-tips,
Shaun:
Magic erasers
Amber:
Things like that. That all goes into the supplies. But depending on what items you’re selling, you might need different items to clean them.
We also have shipping supplies. So, the very first thing that you need is a shipping scale. This is what it looks like. It was like $12 on Amazon for the one that we bought, and it will save you so much time because you’ll be able to figure out how much the item weighs before you ship it. And that is key to not only making sure that you get accurate shipping rates but also to saving you time.
Shaun:
And then another item before we get into the actual packing supplies is a label printer. We have one. I don’t know how we used to survive without one. We would print labels out on sheets of paper and cut them out and tape them on. And thinking about that gives me nightmares now.
Amber:
Before that, I would go to the library.
Shaun:
Oh, I didn’t even know this.
Amber:
Yeah, at our old house, I would go to the library and print the label for—I think it was like 25 cents. So, I would go to the library and then I would go to the post office because we didn’t have a printer that worked for a while at our old house. And, like, we also didn’t have the budget to be able to buy one.
Shaun:
Yeah, that’s true. I mean, I do understand not having the budget to get one from the get-go. But if you can afford one, I would definitely recommend prioritizing it. It makes things so much easier.
I didn’t know about going to the library. I didn’t even know that was an option.
We’re revealing secrets on this podcast apparently.
Amber:
And then another thing that you can consider in the supplies category is how you’re going to photograph your items. You do not need to get fancy here. If you just have a smartphone, that is going to be just fine. And if you think that I’m wrong about that, I encourage you to go look at the sold listings on eBay because 90% of the photos are awful.
Shaun:
She has very high standards for her photos.
So, I don’t know that I would say that they are all awful, but the majority of them are definitely on the lower end of the quality spectrum.
Amber:
So, don’t let that hold you up. You do not need any photography equipment to start. A ring light is really nice because you can use it for so many different things. You can use it for product photography, you could use it for live sales, you can use it for filming content if you’re going down that road. You don’t even need anything like that. You could just find a spot in your house that has decent natural lighting. It doesn’t even have to be a completely white background or a plain background. Just find a simple background to take your photos on. And if you do want that white background look, there are so many apps, and I even think you could do it right in eBay now.
Shaun:
Yeah, eBay has an option to remove the background. I don’t like the way it looks personally, but it is an option if you have a busy background and you want to showcase the item more.
Amber:
Or, if you work full time and you’re not really home during the day when there is natural light, and you have no choice but to photograph things in the evening, you could definitely use a ring light and then an app like that that’s going to take away the background. If you feel like you want to just kind of refine your photography a little bit. But again, you don’t have to. You don’t need any fancy props. You don’t need any fancy equipment. If you just have a smartphone, that will be just fine.
The last thing that you really need to start a business like this is your shipping and packing supplies. So if that is anything fragile, you need to make sure you have bubble wrap, that you have packing paper, that you have sturdy boxes. But if you’re selling something like clothing, something that’s less fragile, you could get away with poly mailers. You could get away with smaller boxes. We reuse so many boxes, and we have a lot of people in our lives that will give us boxes, and that is really nice. But I know a lot of shops prefer to use new boxes too. So again, do what works for you.
There are a lot of different options here. You could charge people packing supplies if they want to come over to your house, be like, "You can come over, but you gotta bring some boxes!" Haha. So you can really do a lot of different things here depending on what your budget is and also how convenient it is for you to get boxes from other people. Or, you also have to think about storing them. That is definitely a point of stress. But you can really do whatever works for you, depending on your situation and how much space you have, and if you want to use new supplies or not.
So we like to recycle everything as much as possible. I have a lot of guilt about how much bubble wrap we use, so I really try to reuse all the supplies that we possibly can as long as it’s in good condition and it’s not dirty or stinky. I throw anything like that away.
Shaun:
We’re going to cover this more in-depth in our next episode—Episode 3. But I don’t think we go a traditional route with how most people find their inventory. For a reselling business. We do not do the thrift stores. Very rarely do we find anything in a thrift store. We hardly even ever go anymore because we never found anything.
We primarily source from antique stores, so we do pay up a good bit for our inventory. Which again, I don’t think that’s the traditional way to go. I wouldn’t recommend that to start either, because we spend a lot of money on inventory.
Amber:
Yes, and like Shaun said, I would not recommend starting at antique stores, and that’s not where we started either. We started buying things at flea markets, at thrift stores, at garage sales, at estate sales, at community garage sales-
Shaun:
And getting things from our family and friends.
Amber:
So for a while, I didn’t even spend more than like $5 on an item. Like, if I spent $5 on a vase, I was big spending.
Shaun:
That’s true, and that wasn’t that long ago.
Amber:
No. I take a lot of pride in the inventory that we have, and everyone says, "Oh, you find such amazing things," but we are buying them from antique stores, and that’s not where we started. We started buying 50 cent milk glass at the flea market. We started buying teacups at Goodwill. Like, it did not start here. And you can go back to our page on Instagram and see where we started because our inventory was completely different, and I highly recommend that you start there, too.
So if you have exhausted all of your free options—so if you’ve already listed things around your house, if you’ve already asked your friends and family members if they have anything that they’re getting rid of—and now you kind of have an idea of what you want to sell, then that’s when you’re ready to start investing in some inventory. And before you invest in any inventory, I would recommend that you really take a look at what you enjoy listing and what you don’t.
So think back to all of that free stuff that you listed. What did you hate listing? What did you dislike cleaning? What was frustrating? What were you like, "Okay, I like this. This is fun to list." Make sure that you pick a category and a topic and an item that you are passionate about that doesn’t feel like it’s super challenging for you to list continuously.
Because I used to do a lot of clothing, and one day, I was just like, "I really hate doing this. I hate cleaning it. I hate measuring it. I hate photographing it." And I think that honestly, when I let that go and when I really leaned into the vintage home decor, that was a really big step in taking the business to another level.
Shaun:
I agree. And you’re just setting yourself up for success when you can recognize what you enjoy listing and what you enjoy selling. You don’t want to have any job that you don’t enjoy, but you especially don’t want to start, own, and run a business that you don’t enjoy. You’re setting yourself up for disaster that way. So I think that it is really important, and that’s not even something that I really thought about. But really identifying what you want to sell. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be items that you enjoy personally. It’s what you don’t mind or don’t hate wrapping and cleaning and sending off.
Because I was in—I mentioned last episode—I was into action figures for a long time, and I started trying to sell those for a while. Even though it wasn’t a difficult task, I really didn’t enjoy the process of wrapping those up with the packaging. Like, if I had an action figure that was still in the packaging and stuff like that, I didn’t enjoy that because it made me nervous about, you know, "Well, this is going to get bent, and then it’s going to arrive in a different condition than it was listed." And then it’s going to be a whole process of asking for a refund or money back, so on and so forth.
So I think that finding things that you don’t mind the process of getting them ready to ship and shipping them off—I think that is really important. So it might take some trial and error. It might be things that you didn’t expect, things that you weren’t even into before. But I think that it’s worth exploring those different options because it could make a world of difference in how you set yourself up for success.
Amber:
Yeah, but on that same note, packing up the vintage glassware is also very challenging. But because of how much I love it and how interested I am in finding it and kind of discovering the stories behind it, it makes it all worth it. So you kind of have to weigh the challenges with how much passion you have for those items. So again, like Shaun said, it doesn’t have to be something you love, but you kind of have to find that balance where, "Where is this going to be doable, and where is this line between what’s going to make it worth it?"
And I think we found that.
Shaun:
I think—well, I think we found that. I still don’t necessarily enjoy wrapping up all of the glassware. It is a very long process with the way that we wrap things. I think that there is a balance to find because I think it depends on what platform you think you’re going to prefer. If you are going to go more of, like, the social media route or live sales, I think that it probably is pretty important that you do feel pretty passionate about the items that you’re showing and selling. If you’re just doing eBay, Mercari, things like that, where you don’t really have that one-on-one interaction with the customers, I don’t think that’s as important. I think that’s where you can look more into things that you just don’t hate shipping out.
So I definitely think there is a balance to find there. And again, more trial and error—finding what platforms you prefer, what items you prefer. It’s a lot of finding what works for you.
Amber:
Again, make the business work for you. I cannot emphasize or say that enough.
And then something else that I find very interesting, but also extremely important, is the geographical location that you’re in can have a huge impact on the types of items you’re able to source and find consistently. So we are on the East Coast, and there is a lot of glassware here. So we have really had great luck with finding and sourcing glassware consistently, especially the colored glass. That is what is kind of like the heart of our business. However, I look at resellers in Arizona and California, and they find so many stone pieces, and I would never be able to build a business around reselling vintage stone items here because it’s just not something that we come across a lot.
So, you really need to think about where you’re at and what you’re going to be able to find consistently. That’s another very important factor. And that also can kind of trickle down to the estate sales that you’re going to and the yard sales that you’re going to. Because we have been in a lot of newer neighborhoods, and they have some very valuable items, but they don’t have any of the vintage items that we’re looking for. If you’re in a geographical location that has more history, and homes have been built there for a really long time, or if you’re going to neighborhood garage sales where the homes are a lot older, where the people who live there are not as young, you’re gonna find different items. So make sure that you consider that one, overall, consider your overall geographic location, but also consider that when you see a garage sale or yard sale sign or a community yard sale.
We have spent a lot of time at community sales that had nothing because we weren’t being strategic about the areas that we were going to. So, just something to consider when you’re trying to find what’s going to be the best category of items for you to sell.
Shaun:
Yes, do some research. Do some exploring. Figure out what your area is known for, what it primarily has. Like Amber said, go to some estate sales and see what they have. And again, you are going to find different items at different types of estate sales depending on what the neighborhood is, how old the house is, how old the family that lived there is. There are lots of different factors.
But if you take the time to figure out what sort of items are primarily around you, again, it’s just another way to set yourself up for success. We are around a lot of glassware. We are around where a lot of it was made, so it is very easy for us to find. But we send a lot to the West Coast because they don’t have it. It’s very rare for them to come across a lot of these colored art glass pieces that we find regularly. But to them, it’s like this incredibly rare item.
So, figure out what you can find easily and what is more easy to find in your area that is much rarer in other areas of the world. I think that there are some items that might be easy to find in your area that might also be easy to find in a lot of other areas. So, those might not be the items that you want to look for. But again, do some research. Figure out what you can find easily that will be worth more in other areas of the country or the world, depending on how far you choose you want to ship things out.
Amber:
And you can even take some time before you start investing in inventory to go to the antique stores around you, go to the thrift stores. Don’t even buy anything yet. Just kind of go consistently and see what they have. Make kind of mental notes or even a note in your phone of what you see often. What do you see often at good prices? What do you see that you’re going to be able to source consistently? And then kind of look at that list and figure out where those alignments are with your passion and also what you think you could build a business around that is gonna have some demand, like I said, in other areas of the country or other areas of the world.
Shaun:
So, we touched on it earlier already a little bit, but the last item that we really wanted to talk about was selling on social media. Not necessarily making that your primary place of business, place to sell, but just kind of dabbling in it, you know, sticking your toes in the water, seeing how it feels. Because that is where most of our success has come from.
However, when Amber first started trying live sales, they were disasters. So again, it’s another thing—it’s going to take some trial and error. It’s going to take some finding what works for you, what you enjoy. But I mean, we have to recommend it because of how successful it’s been for us. I feel like we can’t ignore that. I think that it’s something that you should explore, even if it scares you.
Amber:
I agree, but on that same note, I also am aware of many, many, many sellers who never touch social media, and they build full businesses on just eBay alone, if not eBay and the other platforms. So, if you’re like, "No, social media is absolutely not for me," then that is okay. Then don’t go on social media. And we are going to do a full episode on selling on social media, but it is certainly worth keeping in the back of your head. And even if you don’t want to use the social media platforms for selling, it’s a great way to complement your eBay page or your Etsy shop.
Because you could just showcase items, and then you could link everything and say that you can find this all on my eBay shop, or you can find this on my Etsy page. So you don’t have to be the one managing all of the sales and the invoicing and the communication if you don’t want to. I mean, you have to communicate with customers regardless. That’s important. But I feel like on the platforms, on the reselling marketplace platforms, you don’t have to communicate quite as much as if you are an Instagram reseller. I think it’s a little bit different there.
But you can use social media to the extent that you want to. You don’t have to do live sales on Instagram. You don’t have to make it a goal to have 100,000 followers. You could just use it as another way to showcase what you have available right now on eBay. Especially once you kind of narrow down the category you want to be in, that’s really going to help those people find your items—the ones that are already looking for them and the ones that are looking for things that you already have. It’s a great way to showcase everything all in one place.
And it’s a really great idea once you kind of start to maybe dabble in building your social media platforms. Have cards made that say where people can find you and slide them in your eBay orders or your Poshmark, Mercari, Etsy orders, wherever you’re choosing to sell. Because that definitely worked out well for me in the beginning. I would see somebody review something on Poshmark, and then I could kind of tell by the username that that same person went to go and follow me on Instagram because I included a card in their order.
So, even if you don’t want to fully optimize social media yet, it’s a really great place to kind of complement whatever you’re already doing, whether this is just a side hustle for you or you’re looking to build a full business. So we will talk about this more, but it is something to consider. And I wish that I would have considered it earlier on in my journey. I wish that when I really started focusing on vintage items that I would have started my Instagram account then rather than waiting until I was ready to start a website.
Because I never planned to be on Instagram without having a website. And we talked a little bit more in Episode 1 about how that unfolded, but I wish I would have started social media sooner. So once you kind of have, "This is what I’m going to sell. This is what I want my focus to be. This is what I’m interested in learning and researching," that’s a great time to get your social media channel started.
Shaun:
I am not as fluent or willing to create social media content as she is. So, the thought of doing all of that on social media definitely overwhelms me. So I can understand why a lot of people don’t explore that route. Like Amber said, it’s not something that you have to do. You absolutely do not have to. There are so many other routes. But with the success that we’ve had, I do think that it’s worth a shot.
And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. No big deal. You can try the other platforms. But it’s not for everybody. It’s definitely not—to me, at least. I feel like you have to have a certain type of personality. You have to have a certain type of work ethic. Not saying that you don’t have to have a strong work ethic for the other platforms. I just think that it’s a different sort of work ethic that you have to have with the social media platforms. Because it’s more than just taking the pictures of the items and listing them.
It is creating different types of content around the items. It is focusing on certain types of items and making that your identity and targeting specific audiences to find those types of items. So it is—it’s just a different type of workload that I don’t think is for everybody. And that’s not—that’s not a bad thing. I’m not saying that as a negative. It’s just not—it’s not for me. I tried it with the action figures, and I did not enjoy it. It was overwhelming. It didn’t work out. And now I’m here doing this.
So I still—I help with creating some content, but I could never be the one who’s fully in charge of that and being the constant face behind that and putting all of that together. It’s not for me.
Amber:
It is a lot of work, but I also—I do think that it is something anyone can do if you decide to take that route. Because I don’t really feel like I have the personality for it either, but somehow I dig it out inside of me. So, I do think that there are a lot of ways to break it down and to start small, and we will discuss all of that in later episodes.
Shaun:
I think that she’s being modest because she definitely has the personality for it. When I met her, she was super outgoing -
Amber:
But I feel like that’s fizzled away. Now I want nothing to do with people.
Shaun:
She definitely has changed a bit over the years, but I think that personality has always been in you. I don’t think that, even though you’ve changed, that that has left. You’ve always—since I’ve known you, I shouldn’t say always—but since I’ve known you, you have had that in you. And I mean, you’ve always wanted to be present on social media in some way. Like, that’s always been a priority for you.
Amber:
Because I knew the benefits of adding social media to a business.
Amber:
We really have so many things that we can talk to you about, but to recap this episode, we talked to you about the importance of setting your business up in a way that works for you. Whether you’re going to do this for five hours a week or 50 hours a week, make sure that you’re making decisions that are going to work for you, that seem manageable and doable to you, and adjust accordingly. I have changed and molded and adjusted so many things along the way. So just because you decide on one route does not mean that you cannot switch or add another platform.
Just continue to follow your gut and do more of what’s working. I think it’s a really important rule: do more of what’s working, do less of what’s not. So we talked about
Shaun:
What to sell and where to sell it.
Amber:
The different supplies that you need to consider when you’re starting. So that’s going to be photography supplies—again, don’t get fancy. That’s going to be cleaning supplies, and that’s going to be shipping supplies.
Shaun:
We talked about packing that we’re going to talk about much more in-depth in another episode, but we did touch on it in this episode. But again, stay tuned. There will be a full episode about how we pack items. We’re also planning on making a video showing the process of when we find an item, how we clean an item, how we photograph an item, how we list an item, how we pack an item, and how it gets shipped out to the customer. So I think that’ll be a really fun video to show everybody our process and our mindset behind how we approach the journey of an item from the first step to the last step.
Amber:
Yes, and we also discussed how to start finding inventory and some things to consider when you’re looking for what you want to sell. And something that really compliments this well is inventory management, which we will also do a full episode on—how we manage our inventory, what we use, the software we use, how we keep track of it all—because that needs to be a top priority when you’re first starting out. You need to know what you have available. You need to make sure that if you’re listing on various platforms that you are deleting what sold, that everything that’s still available is up, and that you don’t cross those paths or get anything confused. So that’s something really important that we will discuss later.
And then, things to consider if you want to take your business on social media.
Shun:
Yes, leveling up.
Amber:
Leveling up. So, make sure that in the comments you let us know which of these ideas you are most excited to hear us talk more about because we’ll make sure that we prioritize those episodes so that we can get more information that you want out to you.
Shaun:
Yes, and Amber hates this, but it really does help us if you give us—if we’re on YouTube—a like and a subscribe.
Amber:
Only if you want to.
Shaun:
We’re not forcing you. I didn’t say that they had to.
Shaun:
It just helps us. If you enjoy it, it helps us. I don’t know how all of the different audio podcast platforms work, but I’m sure there’s a way to like and subscribe in some way.
Amber:
Only follow us if you like what we have to say.
Shaun:
Or if you just like us in general. If you think we’re cool, I don’t know. It doesn’t just have to be if you like what we say. Maybe you just like looking at us. I don’t know; there could be other…
Amber:
If you don’t like us, don’t follow us.
Shaun:
I think that’s it. So...
Amber"
We’ll see you back for Episode 3, and that is going to be all on where we find our inventory and the pros and cons of the different places that we find our items.
Shaun:
And...
Amber:
I don’t know…
Shaun:
What’s your tagline? Oh…
Amber:
Let’s go find some vintage!