How Much Do Shoe Resellers Make

How Much Do Shoe Resellers Make

January 13, 2022
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How to Resell Sneakers: Beginner’s Guide to Flipping Shoes …

Learning how to resell sneakers isn’t a new hustle.
This has actually been a successful side gig for decades in many cities and the explosion of the Internet and online commerce has opened up more opportunities than ever for selling and reselling sneakers.
If you grew up when the first Air Jordans came out, this shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.
While sneakers are often seen as a fashion statement, with many people believing the kind of kicks you’re wearing describes the type of person you are, if your first thought when seeing a pile of really nice discounted sneakers or tennis shoes is “profit potential, ” then you’ve come to the right place.
However, you may have heard that there’s more money to make by reselling shoes than by wearing them. Good news: you’re probably an entrepreneur.
In this post, you will learn how to resell sneakers for a profit, including important information like:
What the sneakerhead culture is, how much the market is worth, and how much you can make by taking advantage of it
The most expensive and sought-after shoes and sneakers in the secondary market
How to find the best shoes to buy and where to sell them
The pitfalls of reselling shoes
Additional tips to help you make the most out of reselling shoes
Learn How to Resell Shoes
As a heads up, this post is a great overview of buying and selling shoes for profit. However, if you want to learn from the true expert and get much more depth for how to make this business work for you, I recommend checking out the Six Figure SneakerHead – HypeMaster Playbook Here.
Learn How a SneakerHead Makes Six Figures HereUse code NICHEMONEY to get an extra 10% off.
ContentsHow to Resell: Sneaker Reselling for BeginnersHow Much Can You Make Reselling Shoes? How to Buy & Sell the Most Expensive and Sought-After Shoes and SneakersThe Process of Reselling ShoesHow to Find Shoes to Buy and SellHow to Determine if the Shoes Are FakeShoe Reselling TipsWhere and How to Buy and Sell ShoesThe Cons of Reselling ShoesHow to Avoid Common Sneaker Reselling MistakesAre You Ready for the Rigors of Selling Used Shoes?
How to Resell: Sneaker Reselling for Beginners
The flipping sneaker business in many places has provided an avenue for hustlers to ethically and ingeniously make a quick buck. And what seemed to be footwear that keeps your feet safe and warm serve a different purpose to other people.
Compared to some other ways of making money online, the sneaker resale market is very profitable and valued at around $1 billion. While only 4% of shoes and sneakers are purchased upon release for resale, the market benefits from side hustlers and entrepreneurs who operate in different channels.
The sneaker market as a whole has opened up itself to more people with the help of online channels. However, back in the day when the internet didn’t exist, there was a competition within the different communities and tribes in the market. People scoured through a thrift store and flea markets to get shoes under their market price.
Others would run to their nearest Foot Locker to get the latest pair of shoes. Information was spread through word of mouth and Eastbay mail catalogs. In other words, reselling sneakerheads worked in isolation with their communities.
There was only so much distance and area you could cover in the early sneaker game. That shared common experience within a small group of people made the sneaker market what it is today.
To get your fix on the latest sneaker news, you just need to hop onto Hyperbeast and High Snobiety or other sites that keep track of the sneaker fashion market. Both are fashion sites that extensively cover information and news about the culture for sneakerheads of all levels.
If you want to get connected with fellow sneaker lovers, you need to attend SneakerCon that takes places in the different parts of the world.
How Much Can You Make Reselling Shoes?
The short answer? Millions.
JV is a guy making six figures a year reselling shoes. He got his start flipping sneakers as a side gig while working retail. After 4 months in, he was clearing over $10, 000 per month.
He’ll teach you how to do the same thing he does, clear the big bucks, in his online course. If you add the code NICHEMONEY, you can get an extra 10% off.
Reselling shoes isn’t a rare phenomenon. A quick look at Amazon and eBay will reveal you a secondhand pair of sneakers up for grabs for every brand new pair. The process of shoe selling is all too common that there are people who made reselling shoes a profitable full-time job.
However, there are only a handful of people who have built an empire as shoe resellers. Arguably the most successful sneaker reseller is Benjamin Kapelushnik. Also known as Benjamin Kickz and owner of the sneaker marketplace Sneaker Don, he started in the business at 13 in 2013 and made it big two years after.
He rose to fame as the shoe supplier to DJ Khaled who referred him to his friends in the music and entertainment industry. He made his first million in 2016 and had been reselling rare and expensive shoes and sneakers to high-ticket clients since then.
Sneaker collecting is a thing and for individuals who can get a good deal on rare or hard to find sneakers like a limited release commemorative pair of Nike Air Jordan 2 Just Don, the Nike SB Dunk, or others, it can be ridiculously profitable to be reselling sneakers.
However, if we’re being more realistic, unless you know someone like DJ Khaled, it will likely be impossible for you to make that much money in two years. That doesn’t mean you should stay out of the sneaker resale game, though! If you follow the process of flipping shoes, you can get around $80-100 per pair for starters.
You can work your way to generating higher margins if you get better sneakers to resell, maybe around $500 per pair.
This is not a bad way to make money, and you’ll learn the exact process later on.
If you want to take a look at what some of these shoes are selling for, take a quick peak at eBay. Type in “Limited edition sneakers. ” Some of those options sell for hundreds of dollars!
How to Buy & Sell the Most Expensive and Sought-After Shoes and Sneakers
Ever since the 70s, there are only two brands that mattered to most sneakerheads: Nike and Adidas.
Both brands have produced lines of sneakers and shoes for athletes and artists. Some of those lines have withstood time and exponentially increased their value since their release. Some brands have made waves (Reebok) and are poised to make one (Under Armour, Big Baller Brand). However, if you’re in the sneaker industry, you can’t go wrong with these two brands.
Below are some of the more popular expensive shoes in the market pioneered by the two brands:
Most Popular Expensive Shoes to Resell
Air Jordan 12 ($100, 000+) – Michael Jordan needs no introduction. Aside from his accomplishments as a basketball player, he established the Jordan brand that comprises his line of Nike shoes. In fact, you can quickly make a list of most expensive sneakers based on his shoes alone. The most affordable pair of Jordan shoes could go for $4, 500 (Jordan III OG) on resale. However, the Jordan 12 collection is easily the most expensive pair of shoes in the Jordan line. In particular, the Jordan 12 Flu Game shoes, where he willed his body to score 38 points in a pivotal game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, tops the list at a whopping $104, 000.
Nike Air Yeezy 2 “Red October” ($6, 000) – Kanye West is one of the most popular artists to date. His fame prompted Nike to launch their first non-athlete collaboration pair of sneakers. Released in 2009, Red October was initially sold for $250. Since then, the pair is resold between $5, 600 to $6, 400. West collaborated with other footwear such as Louis Vuitton, BAPE, and Adidas. The latter started their partnership with West that ended up being the Adidas Yeezy Boost line. In fact, a pair of Yeezys is some of the most coveted shoes in the market outside of Jordans.
Nike Air Mag Back to the Future ($10, 000+) – Inspired by the sneakers worn by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in Back to the Future 2, there are only 1, 500 pairs manufactured by Nike. However, none of them made over to stores as all pairs were sold through auction. Proceeds went to Fox’s foundation for Parkinson’s disease research. The pair has glowing LED panels and upper contour.
As mentioned, there are other up-and-comer brands with pairs of sneakers worth looking into. Thanks to Stephen Curry, Under Armour’s stock is rising. And while Big Baller Brand built their brand around hype (for the time being until Lonzo Ball achieves greatness), the $500 pair of kicks they’re selling is interesting to say very least.
That being said, when you’re starting out with flipping sneakers and learning about the resale market for popular sneakers, you should stick with the most popular brands.
In the beginning, learning about the sneaker resale market, secondary markets, and spotting fake sneakers will take up plenty of time and energy. You don’t need to be speculating until you get your sneaker game up to snuff!
The Process of Reselling Shoes
While earning over a million dollars for reselling shoes at this stage is still possible, there are lots of obstacles you must overcome to reach that goal. Aside from bagging clients willing to shell out serious dough for sneakers, you need to learn where to find and acquire the most sought-after shoes.
The competition nowadays is fierce as you’ll be lucky to establish a client base as a beginner.
Therefore, you need to immerse yourself in the sneakerhead culture and apply yourself 100% to have a fighting chance. There are more individuals than ever involved in sneaker collecting so the sneaker resale market has room for more entrepreneurs (or sneaker hustlers, whatever term you prefer).
We’ve already discussed the sneaker industry in general above. Now, it’s time to delve into the process of the actual process of reselling shoes and sneakers.
How to Find Shoes to Buy and Sell
Before you can even begin finding shoes to buy and resell, you need to understand the market better.
Reselling shoes are similar to the stock market. There are pairs of shoes that don’t start out too hot but eventually accumulate value later on. Conversely, some sneakers generate lots of attention only to fizzle out as time goes by.
Want even more step by step details on how to find great shoes you can sell for a profit? Check out the Hypemaster Playbook for a great course into the shoe reseller world.
To truly benefit from learning how to resell sneakers, you need to purchase products that are sold on the cheap but have lasting value in the long run. One way of doing so is by buying the sneaker on release day at retail prices, which is where they are at their most affordable.
However, instead of lining up to store for hours to buy them, you can quickly place your orders on Frenzy, a Shopify-owned app.
It will notify you of the release dates of the latest sneakers from the biggest brands. From there, you can place your orders (ideally in bulk) and make a profit by reselling them. The goal of the app is to reduce that friction between retailers and consumers so both can seamlessly make transactions and make money faster.
However, new pairs of shoes come far and few in between. To make money in reselling shoes, you need to find pairs sold under reseller price so you can profit off them. But how can you know how much a pair of shoes cost?
This is where StockX comes in. The site shows how much the shoes and sneaker cost over a 12-month period.
Just like a stock market index graph, you will see the movement of price over time, thus giving you information on which shoes to acquire for reselling. It also serves as a consignment store where people can bid or ask for shoes for resale. If you got a pair of sneakers you want to sale, you could do so through the site.
Once you have the information you need, it’s time to search for those shoes online.
If you want to automate the process of finding the shoes that you want to purchase and flip, then use AIO Bot. Upon buying and installing on your computer, you can choose which shops you want to cop from. Enter the shoe you’re looking for, the size, and color and the bot will take care of searching the sites for you.
This is one of a couple of bots to help you efficiently find shoes for you to increase your chances of finding one without having to look for it personally.
However, before you get help from a bot, you may want to roll up your sleeves to do thing manually. A quick search on eBay for Air Jordan 12 yield these results:
There’s a chance you will see shoes way below market reseller price and sell them more than 10x you bought for them. Between StockX checking the price on StockX and buying/flipping on eBay, you can get started right now.
So your journey as a sneaker reseller begins. But how do you know that those aren’t fake sneakers?
How to Determine if the Shoes Are Fake
The last thing you want to happen is for you to purchase fake shoes mistakenly. This is a problem that pervades in online marketplaces without a middleman like Amazon or eBay. If the price is too good for its good, then maybe it’s a fake. But before making that conclusion, you need to learn how to find out if the sneakers are legit or not.
Below are ways that you can check if a pair of sneakers or shoes you’re trying to buy is genuine or not:
Criteria to Determine if Shoes are Fakes
Ask for tagged photos – The price should normally be enough to persuade you to purchase an item. However, you need to consider other factors that go into the sale of the sneakers. Tagged, hi-res pictures of the item are one way to account if the kicks are legit or not. Ask the seller to take multiple photos of the sneakers with the latest edition of the newspaper to see if it’s for real. You can then cross-reference the pictures with the actual version of the shoes on their official site. Refer to Fake Education on Instagram to find tips and information on how to spot fake ones.
Ask for the receipts – For new purchases, you must request for the receipt of the item to verify the authenticity of the sneakers. It the receipt proves that the shoes were acquired from the official stores, then it’ll be much easier for you to sell the sneakers since you have tangible proof that the shoes are indeed real.
Do your research – For Amazon and eBay sellers you can check their seller rating on their profile. Anything lower than 95% is to be avoided. Also, read the comments and reviews of other buyers. Some may just be complaining about relatively trivial stuff like slow delivery time and those that have nothing to do with the actual shoes. Lastly, check if the reviews were from real buyers and not profiles that were created to help hike up the seller’s rating.
Trust your instinct – If you did your homework and had all the facts that point to the authenticity of the sneakers but you still have doubts about the seller and shoes, then don’t proceed with the transaction. At first, you probably don’t have the intuition yet to determine if there’s something wrong with the shoes or seller. In time and with enough practice of buying and selling, you will be able to discern much easier.
While these tips will help you avoid purchasing bogus shoes, it’s not foolproof that you will entirely avoid such purchases. Just make sure to ma careful and alert enough to keep these provisions in mind when buying.
Shoe Reselling Tips
Below are a few tips for reselling shoes for top dollar. First you need to figure out where to buy the show and then you need to figure out how to actually sell the shoes for a profit.
We will also quickly review some of the dark sides of selling shoes and a few mistakes to avoid when you are getting started.
Where and How to Buy and Sell Shoes
Now that you have the shoes, you must find the best channels where you can sell them to turn in a profit.
You can start by creating an account on a consignment shop like StockX to resell the shoes there. Both sites serve as middlemen between buyer and seller. Therefore, you deal directly with either website to sell your shoes. Send them the sneakers when you’ve chosen the highest bid, and they will take care of the rest.
Sites like StockX are convenient ways to sell your shoes and ensures buyers that they won’t be duped by fake sneakers.
On the flipside, you don’t get the personal touch from consignment stores that go with seller-to-buyer transactions. However, if you’re not much of a salesman or a people person, then this shouldn’t be a problem.
If you want the traditional way of reselling shoes, you can always go the way of Facebook Groups, Craigslist, and eBay. These sites allow you to put your personal touch on your pair’s product page.
As a best practice, you need to be descriptive and detailed as possible about the sneakers. Leave no stone unturned and make sure that you are honest in your description. Assuming that you’re a new seller, it’ll take time before buyers warm up to you. Therefore, you need to keep working on gaining the trust of buyers and continue marching forward.
It may be a good idea to start small when you buy and sell shoes. This keeps your initial investment low, allows you to learn the game, and your buyers are more likely to take a risk when their investment is low too.
For more informal selling like in Facebook Groups and even in Sneaker Con, expect to encounter shady people who might show interest in buying your kicks. As mentioned earlier, you need to discern which among the buyers are trustworthy.
About the price, you need to check StockX to see the range of how much the shoes are sold in the market. You must also check the trend and volatility of the sneakers to come up with a price that will make you and your buyer happy. The market dictates the price, and the only unfair price is the one that no one is buying.
When it comes to your inventory, you may want to reinvest your earnings on another pair or pairs of shoes. Don’t cash out early in the game just yet. Do your research and find available shoes that you can purchase even before you have the money to buy them.
There are also more tools that you should look at including the GOAT app which is an app solely dedicated to buying and selling sneakers and is huge among sneaker resellers. This is another place where authentic sneakers can potentially be bought or sold, making this a great tool to find sneakers you couldn’t find in the secondary market, or to sell those that you did.
What you want is an efficient process where your money comes and goes to another and more expensive pair so you can exponentially increase your income. If done successfully, you can purchase items in bulk and multiply your earnings even more!
The Cons of Reselling Shoes
As a hustler, you need to be aware of the potential problems you will be facing with every venture you undertake. And as profitable as reselling shoes can be, it also has another side of the coin that you need to know before diving deep into the sneaker business.
Below are some of the more pressing issues:
Cons to Consider when Reselling Sneakers
Complicated marketing – Apps like Frenzy solves the problem of lining up for hours waiting for the store to open so you can become one of the first to get a pair. However, it also pushes the limit on how resellers can maximize the opportunity to get their hands on the latest pair of hyped sneakers. Apps that let you reserve shoes and sneakers before their release date and social media contests and raffles are just the tip of the iceberg. Over time, new ways of marketing to resellers will increase and become needlessly more complex, and there’s nothing you can do but keep up with the changes.
Sneaker violence – Resellers indirectly have a part to play in the constant violence that surrounds sneakers, just as much as consumers and retailers are culpable. Due to their high price tag and increasing value of sneakers, no thanks to resellers who exacerbate the issue, some people will go to great lengths and get their pair even if it means breaking the law. However, the sneaker culture is ingrained deep in the society that it will be impossible to remove malice and violence from the equation. It is something that comes with the job and perhaps a burden that every reseller has to bear.
Sneakers as an investment than footwear – Given the nature of reselling shoes, this question comes to mind: who is the market for sneakers? On the one hand, some consumers have a passion for sneakers and use them to promote their fashion sense. On the other, resellers try to get their hands on the most hyped shoes and resell them above their retail price. There’s nothing wrong with reselling as a hustle, but it potentially robs people who are genuinely interested in the kicks and plan on collecting and wearing them. In other words, the sneaker reselling business robs collectors from pursuing their passions righteously. Retailers do more marketing and promotional campaigns geared to resellers.
How to Avoid Common Sneaker Reselling Mistakes
While it’s important to be excited and have the energy to really jump into the sneaker resale game, sometimes you need to slow down. Jump on good deals. But any time you feel that something is off or there’s a red flag – listen to those instincts.
Even the top shoe reselling hustlers have been taken in by fake sneakers before. While in theory PayPal or other services have a money protection guarantee, getting your money back can be a hassle.
For anyone who has ever dealt with PayPal returns, it’s not a guarantee, either. If you get into a “he said, she said” argument with the seller of fake shoes a PayPal customer service rep is not the one you want making a final decision on hundreds of dollars.
Another common mistake, is not warning PayPal about a surge in transactions.
If they’re not used to seeing a lot of movement in your PayPal account, many transactions in the thousands of dollars for used sneakers could get the account flagged. This is a headache, but it is one you can work around.
If you have to upgrade to a business account, so be it. Better than losing out on deals. Or having your hard earned money frozen in the account.
Finally, have a plan for management.
Do you have a good bank roll and plan on buying a large number of authentic sneakers before selling? Are you planning to buy shoes and then flip them quickly? You need to know how much space you have, have a plan for tracking inventory as well as expenses and profits, and manage your process.
Taking time up front to make sure you have the space, tracking setup, and a backup plan in case things go sideways will save you a lot of headaches in the future.
Are You Ready for the Rigors of Selling Used Shoes?
This post offers a great overview, but you will need more if you’re getting into the game of buying and selling sneakers. If you want to learn from the true expert and get much more depth for how to make this business work for you, you don’t need to start as a newbie.
Without a mentor, your chances of losing money and wasting time are higher since you’re competing with the experts.
If you’re ready to learn how to become a sneaker reseller, you’re going to want a mentor to speed up the process.
How to Learn More About Reselling Shoes
I recommend taking a look at the Six Figure SneakerHead – HypeMaster Playbook Here.
Make Up To six figures a month reselling shoesUse coupon code NICHEMONEY for an extra 10% off.
Reselling shoes is a fun way to make money as a part-time job, if not as a full-time one, and regardless of your age. If you are into basketball and hip-hop or if you have experience in flipping items before, then you are already a step ahead of other beginners in the game.
If you’re looking for other ways to make some money, look at buying and selling concert tickets.
The Tricky Business of Reselling — and How You Can Get Good at It

The Tricky Business of Reselling — and How You Can Get Good at It

RyanJLane / Getty Images
Close to half of Americans considered taking on a side gig after the pandemic began, according to an October 2020 LendingTree survey. And side hustlers believe the key to making money is spending money. According to the survey, 45% of those with a side gig took on debt to finance it. So if you’re planning to start a reselling business, you should have some funds on hand.
Read: Best Side Hustles for People Over 50Check Out: 40 Legit Companies That Will Pay You To Work From Home
Because reselling can equal a lot of upfront costs and effort, how can you come out ahead? To find out, GOBankingRates interviewed the experts. Here’s everything you need to know.
How To Get Started
At first, you may not have a lot of money to invest in a reselling business and that’s OK. There’s a workaround.
Tegan Phelps, personal finance expert and author of The Blissful Budget, runs a full-time eBay business from her home with her husband and had this advice: “The key to growing a successful reselling business is to start small, ” Phelps said. “For instance, instead of trying to buy a ton of inventory upfront, consider selling some of your own household items that you no longer use. Then use that money you already earned to buy more items to resell. ”
See: 22 Side Gigs That Can Make You Richer Than a Full-Time Job
What Sites To Use
When it comes to listing your items for resale online, there are plenty of sites to choose from — from eBay to OfferUp. So which ones should you use?
Phelps has some firsthand insight: “As a reseller, you will want to choose one or two platforms to use and stick with it. EBay is the most profitable place to resell for smaller, easy-to-ship items, while Facebook Marketplace is the best place to locally resell large, heavy items. If you list your items on too many platforms, you will quickly become unorganized and will forget where you have items listed. It’s important to keep track of what you are selling and where you are selling each item. ”
Check Out: How To Make Extra Cash While Decluttering Your House
Time Commitment Involved
If you’re doing this business as a side gig at first, you likely don’t have unlimited time to invest in it. The good news is that you can put as much or as little time as you want into it.
“Reselling is a job that can be done completely part-time, however the more time you put into it, the more potential profits you can earn, ” Phelps said. “Keep in mind the time it will take to drive around to garage sales and thrift stores, search for items to resell, and then come home to clean them up for photos. It also takes time to successfully research each item to understand how much to list it for. Then you need time to list the item correctly so that customers are tempted to click on your listing and buy your product. ”
More: How To Make Money by Being a Savvy Collector
Alene Laney, personal finance expert at Pennies to Paradise, spent a summer reselling items as a new stay-at-home mom. She offered some advice to keep in mind if you buy items to resale that need repairing.
“Be wary of the amount of time it will take to repair an item you want to resell, ” Laney said. “Refinishing furniture, for example, takes a lot of time and practice to get right. Plus, your tastes are going to be very different from a buyer’s, so you might as well just fix the drawer for $7, save yourself 10 hours of work, and call it good. ”
Rob Stephenson, owner of Flea Market Flipper, has been reselling for 25 years. He said that while reselling doesn’t have to take a huge time commitment, one of the most valuable lessons he’s learned is to be consistent with sourcing items and listing them.
Potential Costs
Here’s a look at the potential costs you’ll run into when you start a resale business. Unfortunately, there’s no way around it — you will have to spend money to make money.
Read: 27 Most Lucrative Side Hustles for People Over 50
“This business can get tricky because you need to continuously set money aside to buy more products, ” Phelps said. “How much you set aside for inventory strongly depends on how much you plan to sell and where you are looking for items. If you are visiting garage sales or thrift stores to find products to resell, you should try to keep at least a few hundred dollars in your pocket just in case. ”
But buying items for resale isn’t the only cost you’ll have to factor in.
“Additionally, you will need to make sure you are setting aside extra money for fees and taxes, ” Phelps said. “For example, eBay takes a percentage of every sale you make. ”
See: How One Person Turned a Side Hustle Into $100, 000 Per Year
Stephenson said that on eBay the selling fee is roughly 10% per item, but you can build those fees into your selling price to offset them.
“You also need to be mindful of shipping costs, ” Phelps said. “If you offer free shipping on your items, you need to determine the weight and measurements of the items you purchase to determine how much you will need to pay in shipping fees. ”
Phelps offered this final nugget of wisdom when it comes to reselling costs: “All of these costs and fees will eat into your profits, ” she said. “So to make sure you are profitable on each sale, it’s important to keep track of all your costs and understand how much you will earn on each sale. ”
More: How to Make Money Fast – 15 Ways to Earn $200 or More
Potential Financial Gain
Of course, the reason you’ll start this business is to earn money. Here’s what you can expect.
“After some experience, it’s typical to earn anywhere between $500-$1, 500 per month in profits if you are reselling part-time, ” Phelps said.
Stephenson said that back when he resold items as a side hustle, he invested five to 10 hours per week and made $40, 000 per year, which would equal about $3, 300 a month in profits.
Read: 50 Cities Where You Need a Side Hustle To Get By
How much you’ll make reselling depends on various factors, such as what you sell, the fees you pay and your profit margin.
Jim Pendergast, senior VP for AltLINE Sobanco, recommends aiming high and sticking to the 1-4 rule to maximize profits and defray expenses, “For any item you purchase, sell it for four times your purchase price, and any gadget that you can’t sell for four times the amount, put aside, ” he said. “Though you (ultimately) may not get the amount you want, by charging four times as much, you’ll have wiggle room for your new expenses. ”
More From GOBankingRates
Last updated: June 14, 2021
Cynthia Measom is a personal finance writer and editor with over 12 years of collective experience. Her articles have been featured in MSN, Aol, Yahoo Finance, INSIDER, Houston Chronicle, The Seattle Times and The Network Journal. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
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How to Start a Reseller Business (Plus 5 Opportunities) (2021)

How to Start a Reseller Business (Plus 5 Opportunities) (2021)

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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Illustration by Gracia Lam
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Frequently Asked Questions about how much do shoe resellers make