The Journey to Becoming a Reseller

Four prom dresses; that’s how my journey to becoming a reseller began. I didn’t intend for it to happen. The motivating factor was four prom dresses that were taking up space at the back of my daughter’s closet. These were not the off-the-rack type of prom dress but rather mail-order and sometimes quite expensive prom dresses. Knowing their initial value caused us to store the dresses in the hope of selling them in the future. I had been kicking around the idea of selling the dresses on eBay for a couple of months and would watch YouTube videos and read resellers’ blogs on how to list items on eBay.

I finally had to courage to start so I took the necessary measurements and pictures and announced my intentions to my daughter who promptly suggested that I list the dresses on Poshmark. I had never heard of the website but I trusted her suggestion and listed the dresses. I still wanted to list the dresses on eBay so by the night’s end, I had 4 dresses listed on two platforms. After realizing how easy it was to list on eBay and Poshmark, I started looking for items around my house to sell including my daughter’s SAT study book. After about 1 week of being listed, I heard the proverbial cash register noise emit from my phone. The SAT book had sold.

After several weeks of selling items from around the house, including prom dresses. I started to realize that I was running out of items to list and sell and began searching for items in thrift stores and the occasional garage sale. Going out to source items was like a treasure hunt. Constantly looking for the one thing that would cause the cash register sound to play from my cell phone.

It took several months for me to embrace calling myself a reseller fully. I am still reserved when telling others what I do in my spare time but if they ask I will share my story. Reselling has given me more than just clearing out my closet and clutter. It allowed me to pay for all the extras of being a single mom taking care of two kids. The confidence and reassurance that we would be ok was a bonus.

I never thought that my reselling journey would have started with just four prom dresses that were taking up space in my daughter’s closet. But here I am. If you’re thinking about starting a reselling business, my advice would be to start small and see where it takes you. Who knows, you might just surprise yourself.