You don’t need a revolutionary new product idea to sell things online. In fact, you don’t even have to manufacture your own products to start your own ecommerce business. There are many business models you can adopt which put product development, manufacturing, and even fulfillment into others’ hands—and profits into your pocket.
Reselling is one such model. Becoming a reseller is a great way to start selling online without starting from square one.
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Shortcuts 📦
- What is a reseller?
- How to get a reseller permit: 4 steps
- Best places to find suppliers for your resale business
- Five reseller business opportunities
- How to choose a hosting plan for your reseller business
What is a reseller?
A reseller is a person who purchases products from manufacturers, liquidators, or other retailers and then sells them to their own customers. The permit—also known as a resale license, resale certificate, and tax exemption certificate—allows resellers to purchase certain items free of sales tax:
- Items to sell at wholesale
- Items to sell at retail
- Ingredients or components to manufacture and sell things
Reselling is a form of dropshipping, where companies source products and materials from a variety of suppliers and make them available to consumers in one place. This business model makes it easier for the average consumer to find and purchase products.
Resellers also often add some sort of value-add in terms of the customer experience. Buying directly from a supplier isn’t necessarily easy and often requires minimum purchase quantities. Resellers can sell individual units to customers (at a markup), as well as create a branded customer experience. Those elements may be as simple as in-depth product descriptions and reviews, a customer loyalty program, and customer support.
A reselling business has a number of benefits and can be a profitable business model, especially if you have niche expertise. You can launch an ecommerce business faster when you don’t have to go through all the steps of product development and building an audience.
Reselling is also a viable business pursuit for people who like and have success with marketing.
Because product reselling is a common type of dropshipping, it can be difficult to attract customers. If you can come up with effective marketing strategies, you’re more likely to have success with this type of dropshipping.
Straight product reselling is great for someone who has specific expertise or knowledge of an industry or demographic. For example, someone who knows about animal behavior could create a dropshipping business around the different toys that are best suited for pets.
Learn more: How to Start a Pet Business (Plus Ideas and Examples from Top Brands)
How to get a reseller permit: 4 steps
Generally speaking, you’ll follow these steps to get your reseller permit:
- Register your business. Get a business license where your business operates and/or is incorporated. In states outside of where a business is registered, you’ll need to have Foreign Qualification.
- Research state laws and regulations. Many states will let you use an out-of-state reseller’s permit to avoid paying sales tax on resale items. However, some won’t honor out-of-state permits. Research state law before buying across state lines, both for in-person and online sales.
- Gather your application materials. Once you know what you need to register and submit your application, prep all the necessary documentation.
- Get a resale permit. File for one in each state where you buy and sell goods. You might also have to pay associated fees.
The sales tax laws vary by state, and each state has its own sales tax rates. In some states, local sales taxes must be collected, too. According to the Tax Foundation, all 46 states and the District of Columbia collect statewide sales taxes, and 38 states collect local sales taxes. To find out your specific requirements, it’s best to check with your local jurisdiction.
In the United States, a business with a reseller permit doesn’t pay sales tax on the products it purchases for sale. But the reseller does have to collect the sales tax from customers and send it to the state.
Like a business license, you take out your resale permit where your resale business operates. If you incorporate in, say, Florida but have a store, online shipping location, or factory in Delaware, you need a Delaware reseller's permit. If you buy and sell goods in multiple states, you need a valid permit in each.
Note: Many states allow you to use an out-of-state sales tax permit when completing resale certificate documentation, so before you go out getting a permit for each state, so check before re-applying.
Best places to find suppliers for your resale business
To find a supplier for your resale business, start with identifying what types of products you want to sell and what kinds of customers you want to sell them to. Then you’ll need to determine if you want to find a supplier that operates as a distributor, providing wholesale products to you, or like a dropshipper, supplying products and taking care of order fulfillment.
To search for suppliers, you can look at online directories, do a Google search, or ask for referrals from within your network. Oberlo is an example of a product sourcing app perfect for Shopify merchants. It serves as a directory that makes it easy to find products to sell online.
With Oberlo, you can access a variety of products across all kinds of categories, such as electronics, toys, and cosmetics.
You can also work with well-known dropshipping suppliers like Worldwide Brands, SaleHoo, Doba, and AliExpress. Browse their websites to see what kinds of products are available for resale.
Five reseller business opportunities/ideas
Reselling opens the doors to a lot of new business opportunities, as you don’t have to invest in product development and manufacturing. These qualities also make reselling a great home business idea to start as a side gig and grow as you see fit.
1. Dropshipping business
You can start a dropshipping business which gives you the ability to offer a wide range of products without stocking any inventory. In a dropshipping business model, all you have to do is market and sell the products. Your dropshipping supplier handles everything product-related, from product development to warehousing and tracking, and even through to order fulfillment.
Dropshipping is an ideal low-risk business model because it doesn’t require investment in inventory, not to mention the costs associated with holding that stock. Plus, the supplier ships products for you, so you don’t even have to deal with the logistics associated with that.
2. Sneaker business
Shoes offer a wide range of niches—from athletic shoes to stylish heels to trendy sneakers and everything in between. People always need shoes, and you can keep things fresh by launching seasonal designs. There’s ample opportunity to start your own shoe business.
New Jersey-based Shopify merchant Packer Shoes started as a small neighborhood custom shoe shop. The company has grown since its humble beginnings in 1907, largely thanks to its omnichannel approach. Now, Packer Shoes sells more than shoes, including their own designs and reselling others, like sneakers from household name brands like Adidas.
3. Vintage boutique
The used goods resale industry is huge: in the U.S. alone, there are more than 20,000 stores that sell used goods, amounting to a combined annual revenue of about $17.6 billion. A vintage boutique is a great reselling business idea to take advantage of this opportunity. And there are so many ways you can take it.
You can go by the technical definition of goods that are older than 50 years and younger than 100, or you can take inspiration from vintage trends. COAL N TERRY does the latter with their vintage clothing collection.
You can sell vintage clothing, antique furniture, or any knick-knacks you can find. The key to a successful vintage reselling business is to know what items people look for. For example, vintage Corningware is in high demand for a niche market of customers.
4. Consignment
Similar to the opportunities that come with a vintage boutique, you can also open a consignment shop. Consignment shops sell upscale or luxury used goods, and not everything is antique or vintage—some items are newer.
Love that Bag etc, for example, is a Shopify merchant that operates an online consignment shop. Though they resell high-quality designer bags for less than brand new, they’re more expensive than bags you might find at a vintage shop.
5. Subscription box
Subscription boxes reached peak popularity when brands like Birchbox hit the ecommerce scene. It’s a flexible business model that lends itself well to a reseller. You can curate an assortment of goods and package them into a single box.
To start your own subscription business, first determine your target market and then look for goods that fit their wants and needs. You can assemble the goods in themed boxes and launch a new one each week, month, quarter, or whatever cadence you want to hit.
How to choose a hosting plan for your reseller business
Your web hosting provider is what enables you to make your website accessible to internet users. It acts as digital storage for the information and content associated with your online store. If you use Shopify for your reselling business, web hosting is included. But some ecommerce platforms (like WooCommerce) require third-party hosting, in which case you’ll need to set that up with a separate hosting provider.
Start your reselling business today
Resellers purchase products at discounted wholesale prices and then sell them directly to consumers. This business model is a low-risk way to dip your toes into owning and operating a product-based business. You don’t have to invest in product development or inventory upfront inventory, and your supplier ships products for you.
How to Start a Reselling Business (tips for success)
If you want to start making money from home then it might be time to start a reselling business. Reselling items online (or even locally) is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to start making money online or from home. Not to mention one of the quickest ways. With things like blogging, youtube or starting a service-based business it can take some time to build up, but with a reselling business, you can generally start making money within a few days to a week and then build it up from there.
Stick with me because in this post I’m going to go over everything you need to know to start a reselling business. If you’ve been wanting to see what it takes to be a reseller, then this ones for you!
I started selling on ebay back in 2016 when I was a full time stay at home mom to my son who was a year old at the time. From there I grew it to be a pretty good part time income and then into enough money that my husband was able to work at home with me. We recently transitioned away from reselling because we moved into a travel trailer to travel full time, but I have no doubt we’ll be reselling again as soon as we have a home. For now, I’ll help others start and grow their own resale businesses!
This article contains affiliate links. See bottom of the page for full disclosure.
First I wanted to go over some frequently asked questions that I get from those who are looking to start a reselling business.
What is a reselling business?
A reselling business is basically any business where you buy items and resell them in an attempt to make a profit. You can resell almost anything, but it’s pretty popular to resell clothes, shoes, antiques, electronics and more.
Can you really make money reselling thrift store items?
You can definitely make money reselling items from thrift stores, yard sales, etc. Just because an item is used doesn’t mean it no longer has any value. Many people look for used items in order to save money, be more environmentally concious or to find something that is no longer made.
Can you really make money reselling?
Yes! While there are a lot of people out there who will say it’s too hard or that you can’t make money because fees are too high, it’s important to note that just because reselling isn’t for them doesn’t mean you can’t do it. It’s not for everyone and that’s ok. But there is definitely money to be made and many people make part-time and full-time incomes from reselling. You can see my previous income reports here.
Which is the best reselling app?
There are a lot of marketplaces to resell online. The best ones are Ebay, Poshmark and Mercari. They all have their pros and cons such as different fees, shipping, etc. so if youd’ like to see a comparison of the three you can find that here.
Who should start a reselling business?
Anyone can start a reselling business! When I started mine the first time I was just out of high school reselling vintage dresses on Etsy. That was a long time ago. Then about 10 years later, I was a stay at home mom and wanted to start a business I could work on while my son was asleep, but I didn’t want to take on clients. So I started a reselling business which eventually led to my husband being able to quit his job and though we no longer resell full time because we travel full time in a travel trailer, I still think reselling is one of the best side businesses out there!
If you’re willing to put the work in, have a little bit of money to invest (you can actually start with $0!) and are motivated to learn this business it can be a great income.
Steps to start a reselling business
Below I will go over the basic steps for starting your own reselling business! I honestly think that it’s one of the most accessible ways for someone to start a side hustle.
>> Want to know more, but don’t know how reselling works? I have a FREE Ebay Beginners training that you can watch here!
Decide what you want to sell
One of the first things you want to do is consider what it is you do and don’t want to sell. You don’t have to make a final decision to only sell one thing, but consider what types of items you have access to or have knowledge about.
If you have a love for women’s fashion then you might want to focus on that. If you know a lot about specific types of electronics, you could look into selling those types of items. It’s really about using the knowledge you have, or knowledge that you can build up, to find items other people are looking for.
Choose a marketplace. Start with one.
When you’re just getting started, it’s important to master one marketplace before expanding. Once you’re confidently selling on one marketplace, you can slowly start to build up another one.
Also keep in mind that what you’ll be selling will determine where you should sell. For example, on Ebay and Mercari you can sell almost anything. However, Poshmark is a little more strict and is more geared towards fashion, although they have recently added home goods to their allowed items.
Below you’ll find detailed beginners guides for the most popular selling platforms:
- Beginners Guide to Selling on Ebay
- Selling on Mercari: a Complete Guide
- How to Sell on Poshmark for Beginners
Open a separate bank account for your business.
If you’re really going to make this a side business (especially if you want to make it full time in the future!) it’s really important that you keep all of your personal finances separate from your business finances. The easiest way to do this is to simply have a separate checking account for your business.
Most of us already have a bank account, so you can just go to your local bank to open an additional account. Figure out what to bring in to start a business checking, but to be honest, when I started I just started with a personal account. Talk to your bank to see what is allowed.
Some banks will even let you just open an account online like Capital One and Ally.
Figure out if you need any licenses or permits
Whether you’ll need any special licenses or permits to resell online depends on your local area. I would check with your city and/or state. Most of the time all you have to do is apply, sometimes you may need to pay a very small fee. But this will ensure that your business is legally running.
Create a list of sourcing opportunities
Since every area is different, try to think of all the places you could source inventory to sell. The most popular places that resellers find their inventory when they start are thrift stores, yard sales, flea markets and clearance or discount stores. But there are so many opportunities out there that once you start reselling you’ll constantly be on the lookout for items you can sell.
To find thrift stores in your area you can google your city and the word “thrift store” and you should be able to get quite the list going. You can also do this for flea markets.
For yard sales, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and the Yard Sale Treasure Map app are all great places to look.
I recommend checking out a few to see how their pricing is, what kind of inventory they have, etc. Don’t write off a store just because they didn’t have anything good the first time you go there. For most thrift stores it’s all going to depend on donations, so trying the same one a few times will help you get a more accurate feel for the types of items you’ll be able to find.
Learn how to research what sells
On most marketplaces, you’re able to look at what has recently sold to give you an idea of what you should be looking for when you’re out. Another great website for eBay is CheckAFlip.com where you can put in keywords and see what has recently sold and what is listed. So if you want to check a specific brand or kind of item you can do that.
It’s important to remember that just because you like something, or it was expensive brand new, doesn’t mean it will sell. When you first start just spend a lot of time learning, looking up items and absorbing the knowledge. You’re still going to make mistakes and buy items that won’t sell for as much as you’d hoped (or at all), but over time you’ll learn how to avoid that.
Figure out an inventory system
Once you start buying items to resell it’s going to quickly become important that you have some sort of way to keep track of your inventory. As much as you’ll convince yourself that you know where stuff is, it can get overwhelming fast and spending an hour looking for that one thing that sold is never fun. But it happens to the best of us!
You’re going to want to figure out two things: how you’re going to store inventory and how you’re going to keep track of individual pieces.
If you want an in-depth look at how we organized our eBay inventory you can check out this post.
You can also get the free inventory spreadsheet here.
Some of the supplies we use for inventory:
- Shelving to store inventory in the garage
- Bins to put the inventory in
- Bags to keep the inventory organized in the bins
Take good photos
Good photos aren’t that hard because camera phones have come a long way. Back when I started reselling I had to actually use a digital camera, upload the photos, crop them and then upload them to the website. Now with a phone you can take much better quality photos and, with some apps, upload them directly to the listing.
For good photos you want: bright and even lighting, plain/clutter free background and to have the item in focus.
A simple trifold board on the floor near a window can work wonders, but there are tons of different options out there. It’s important not to jump in and spend a bunch of money if you don’t have it. Over time you can always add things like backdrops, ring lights and mannequins.
Learn how to list
Other than sourcing, listing will likely be what you’ll be spending most of your time on. This means uploading your item onto the marketplace of your choice.
Many people are a little put off by listing at first because it seems complicated, but I promise you after you’ve listed some items you will get used to it and it will get easier.
When listing make sure you include good keywords which are words that people will search for when looking for your item. It can help to pretend that you’re the buyer looking for the item you have and think about what you would search to find that item.
Here’s what your listings should include:
- Title with good keywords
- Condition (be honest!)
- Any flaws
- Measurements (if needed, depending on item)
- Any features such as material, etc. that you can note for the buyer
- Good photos (as many as posisble, but at least 4)
Have shipping supplies ready
When you sell your first items you don’t want to be scrambling trying to find shipping supplies. Make sure that you have some shipping supplies to get started. You can totally reuse boxes that you’ve received in the mail as long as they are clean, sturdy and still look good.
What you’ll need will truly depend on the items you’re selling.
If you’re mostly selling clothing you’ll probably be fine with just some polymailers.
If you’re shipping items that need to be boxed you will need boxes, tape and packing material.
Keep learning
One of the most important things is to keep learning! At first it seems hard because you don’t know what to buy, you don’t want to waste your money, etc. But as you gain knowledge and start to recognize things that sell without having to look them up it’ll become easier as with anything else.
Over time you’ll find better places to source inventory, you’ll change the way you ship, you may change what items you sell. Your business will evolve as you get used to it and start to gain that experience.
>> SIGN UP FOR MY FREE EBAY TRAINING FOR BEGINNERS
Best Reselling Tools & Supplies
While you definitely don’t need to go and spend a ton of money to get started, I did want to mention my favorite tools and supplies for reselling.
- Free USPS Priority Mail Supplies
- Vendoo (for crossposting – 25% off first month!)
- Free Inventory Tracking Spreadsheet
- Shipping scale
- Polymailers (cheap)
- Ring Light
- Polymailers (fun prints)
- Half sheet labels
- Suede brush
- Sweater shaver
- Leather cleaner/conditioner
- White paper background
- Stretch wrap
- Bubble wrap
- Dymo label printer
- Dymo shipping labels
- Inventory bags
- Giant lint roller
Like I said above, you don’t need all of this to get started! I literally started with $0 and just bought stuff as I had to. Starting a reselling business is one of the easiest ways to start making money from home, but you still have to be strategic and treat it like a business.