- 5 months ago
NYC, Entrepreneurship, & Healthy Living
Howdy, I'm Taylor. I'm a 20 something former management consultant and ivy-league grad from California turned solopreneur in New York City, and I love making videos that follow all of the above. Stick around 😊
Howdy, I'm Taylor. I'm a 20 something former management consultant and ivy-league grad from California turned solopreneur in New York City, and I love making videos that follow all of the above. Stick around 😊
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LearningTranscript
00:00Is that I screwed up by whispering?
00:02Yes.
00:03See you later.
00:03Bye.
00:04You don't have to whisper, just get out.
00:06Get out!
00:07Search engine optimiz-
00:08Voice crack.
00:15What's up guys?
00:16My name is Taylor Bell and if you're new here, I make videos on general business tips as
00:21well as reselling videos and some lifestyle and travel vlogs in there too.
00:25But today I'm going to do a video that I have had requested a lot recently and that
00:29is a reselling 101 type video.
00:31So basically how to get into reselling and just how to start if you know nothing about
00:35it or if you're just looking to sell a few things from your closet and do like a closet
00:39clean out.
00:40So my past reselling videos are a little bit more of a deep dive, a little more detailed
00:43than this one's going to be.
00:44This one is mainly made for a wider audience, both men and women who don't really know much
00:49about reselling or who are interested a little bit by it but want to learn more and just
00:53kind of know how to get started.
00:54And even if you've already dabbled in reselling a little bit, this video should deliver some
00:58value still and maybe teach you a little thing or two that maybe you didn't know.
01:02All right, so first of all, some of you guys might know that you want to start reselling
01:05or you would like to sell a few things out of your closet.
01:07But if you're still not quite convinced that reselling might be something that you want
01:10to try out, here are some signs that you know that reselling might be the right way
01:14to go for you.
01:15Number one, you have a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear.
01:18That's a pretty clear indicator that you just don't like the things that you have in
01:22your closet anymore.
01:22Number two, kind of similar, you have a closet full of clothes that you just know you're not
01:26going to wear anymore. You could just donate them but some of them are still high quality
01:30or kind of trendy brands and you're wondering in a perfect world if you could get a little
01:34bit of money for them if you try to sell them online.
01:36And that is exactly what happened to me. I had a lot of clothes when I came home from
01:39college that I just knew I wasn't going to wear again or that I hadn't worn in a couple
01:43years anyway. And to procrastinate cleaning my room, I decided to see if I could get some
01:46money for these clothes. And that's how this all started.
01:48But anyway, we're going to get into the three reselling platforms, three of many out there
01:53that exist and the ones that I would recommend you start with. Not that you should start
01:56with three, but these are the three that I know and love.
01:58But first, we need to decide what clothes you're going to sell out of your closet.
02:02So first, evaluate in your closet what you think you're not going to wear anymore and
02:05really be honest with yourself. I know sometimes we kind of have an emotional attachment to
02:09some of our clothes and it's different if it's something like actually, you know, with
02:12sentimental value from your grandma or grandfather or something that's like vintage and that's
02:16different. I'm talking things that, you know, at one time you really loved it but
02:19you just don't anymore and you might still feel a little bit of attachment towards it.
02:22But really, you have to be honest with yourself and try to get rid of that emotional attachment.
02:28So if it's been a year or two since you wore it, if it's something that's a cute or trendy
02:32style still on trend but there's something, there's a little thing about it that's a little
02:35bit uncomfortable to you so you always find excuses not to wear it, or if it's something
02:39that you actually still like a lot and you've got a lot of years out of it but it's time
02:43to upgrade or get a new one of those items, these are some signs that maybe it's time to start
02:47reselling some items. Or I guess selling. I'm like conditioned to say reselling because
02:50I actually go and buy things to resell, but selling in this case, you're selling your
02:54items. So grab those clothes that we just talked about, decide which ones out of your closet
02:58you think you're ready to let go of, and of course photograph them. So no matter what
03:02platform you use, you're going to need to include photographs of the item. Make sure
03:05to take a picture of the front of the item, the back of the item, any accent details or something
03:09on the item that makes it more interesting and not just like a plain old t-shirt, such as
03:13like an accent collar or some kind of like lace design, whatever it is. A picture of the brand
03:17and size tag. A picture of the content fabric tag, so just the one that's usually on the
03:22left inside of a shirt at least. And then of course take pictures of any flaws or imperfections,
03:27signs of wear in the item because there's no point in trying to hide these. You shouldn't anyway,
03:32but there's no point because if you sell the item and the buyer sees that it's not as described,
03:35they're just going to try to return it and it's going to be a huge headache for you. So be very
03:39transparent if the item has any flaws. All right, those are the pictures of the items that you're going to
03:42want to take. You can also model the items if you're feeling ambitious and I think that modeling does help the
03:47items sell faster and at a higher price, but it is not totally necessary and it does take a little
03:51bit of extra time. Also my setup here might look fancy, but it's really not. I just hang a white
03:56bed sheet and it's kind of like a fuzzy fleece texture, so it has some texture to it. It wouldn't
04:00wrinkle as easily as like a linen sheet, let's say. I just use that as my backdrop, but you can totally
04:05just lay the clothes on the floor or against one of your bedroom doors. It really doesn't have to be
04:09a fancy setup, but the one thing I would universally recommend to you whether you have a fancy backdrop or not
04:14is to make sure your lighting is good. I know everyone says that, but it's true. Make sure you
04:17either have some nice direct sunlight or if you're using an external light source, have like a ring
04:21light or something like that. Just make sure that the lighting is even and good because that is so
04:25important. That's what will make your items stand out amongst other poorly lit or like not so great
04:30photos. So after this, after you've taken your photos and maybe edited them to make the lighting look
04:34a little bit more crisp, which you don't have to do if you have good lighting in the first place.
04:37But after this, regardless of what platform you're going to sell on, you are going to write a
04:40description of the item. So in that description, you're going to include, well, first you're going
04:44to write a title and that title should have keywords such as of course what the item actually
04:48is, the brand, maybe the color and the size, and a few keyword details that are really like integral
04:53to what the item is. So for example, like for an H&M, just regular long sleeve t-shirt, I would
04:57write, start with the brand, H&M, long sleeve t-shirt, cotton, crew neck, pullover, size extra small,
05:03or like XS at the end, something like that. But then in your description, which is where you actually
05:07write out all the details of the item, you're going to want to include a few very important things.
05:11First, again, I would repeat what the item is. You don't have to use the same exact words as what
05:14you used in the title, but do kind of repeat, find a way to use those same keywords throughout
05:18the description. So what the item is, what the condition of the item is, whether it's brand new
05:22with tags or like in new condition, or whether there's some signs of wear on it or some flaws,
05:26you want to make sure you disclose the condition of the item. And then of course, the size,
05:30the color, the fabric content, and just a few more little details. You don't have to go
05:34so in depth, but it does help with the search engine optimization if you are as detailed as
05:37possible. But those most important things, if you don't want to spend a ton of time on your
05:40description, is of course the brand, what the item actually is, the size, and the condition.
05:44Those are the most important things in my mind. Then depending on what platform you use from there,
05:48you'll maybe have to include a few additional details, but likely you will input the brand,
05:51the condition of the item, and of course the price that you're selling it for. So in my
05:55how I make $110 an hour video, I actually kind of, well, I talk about how much I make when I'm actually
05:59working. But I also kind of go through a step-by-step process of like what the process looks like for me.
06:03You can check that out if you want to see in a little more detail what my process looks like,
06:06and how I try to keep it as efficient as possible. And of course, I'm sure you have questions on
06:10shipping, and I will go over that at the end. But for now, the platforms. So there are so many
06:14platforms out there. There's Poshmark, eBay, Mercari, Kitizen, Tradesy, and Depop, just to name a few.
06:20But we're going to go over the three that I'm most familiar with, and the three that I would
06:23actually recommend to you guys. And that is Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari. So beginning with Poshmark,
06:28it has 50 million users in the US, so it's a big platform. And I make by far the
06:32most sales on Poshmark. I think it's the most user-friendly and intuitive to get started right
06:36away. And it's also got an intuitive and easy to understand user interface on like, well,
06:40we'll get into it. Also with Poshmark, it is easy to curate a closet that kind of has a consistent
06:45theme. As you can see here, I've obviously spent a lot of time trying to have this consistent theme,
06:48or I hope it's obvious. Maybe it's not. I don't know. But something that really sets Poshmark apart,
06:52I would say that makes it the most different from these other platforms, is the sharing feature. So Poshmark
06:57really doesn't have an algorithm to speak of. There is a feed, but forget the feed. It's absolutely
07:01useless. Because the way people buy things on Poshmark is by either if they know me, let's use
07:05me as an example. If they know me and they go to my closet and they see something they like,
07:08that's one way. But most of the time, people buy things on Poshmark by typing in the specific thing
07:12they want, such as H&M long sleeve t-shirt. And when they see that one they like, they're going to buy
07:16it that way. So really, sharing is your form of SEO on Poshmark, search engine optimization.
07:22Poshmark's default sort by option is by just shared. So when you share an item in your closet,
07:28when you press the share button, it goes to the top of the search. So if someone types in H&M
07:32long sleeve t-shirt and you've just shared your H&M long sleeve t-shirt from your closet,
07:36that is what's going to show up first when someone types it in. So it goes without saying that sharing
07:39your closet every single day is very important. I think Poshmark is the easiest to understand and
07:43grasp really quickly right off the bat. That being said, they do take a 20% selling fee,
07:48unless it's an item under $15, in which case they take a flat rate of $2.95. All right,
07:53so moving on to Mercari. Mercari is actually Japanese, a Japanese e-commerce site, but it
07:57also operates in the US with millions of users. And like Poshmark, I actually find Mercari very easy
08:02to use as well. There are some key differences between Poshmark and Mercari, but since this video
08:06is really not a deep dive on comparing the platforms, I'm just trying to give a general idea of what a
08:11first time user on these platforms, what their experience would look like. So maybe I can save that for
08:15another video, the actual comparisons. But of course, I will say that Mercari doesn't have the sharing
08:20feature that Poshmark does for better or for worse. You have to rank in SEO in a different way, such as
08:24having a strong title with a lot of keywords and a really good description. Mercari takes a 12.9%
08:30selling fee plus a 30 cent flat rate processing fee for any item that you sell. So lower than Poshmark.
08:36And eBay, good old eBay. So I actually sold a few things on eBay back in high school before I started this
08:42reselling business because eBay is what I'd heard of. Everyone knows what eBay is. It's the biggest.
08:46But eBay, I will say, can be very confusing, at least to a first time user. I think the experience
08:52is actually a little bit overwhelming because one, the user interface is a little bit outdated,
08:56in my opinion. I mean, it's not like as bad as Craigslist or anything, but it's certainly not as
09:00meant for like millennial types as like Poshmark and Mercari are. That being said, of course, like anything,
09:05once you get to know how to use it, it really isn't all that bad, but it is a little scary at first.
09:09So an upside though is that eBay has 183 million users worldwide, which of course that makes it
09:16the biggest platform of these three. And just those sheer numbers means that you're going to have more
09:20opportunities to get more eyes on your items. Anyway, the listing process for listing an item
09:24on eBay can be, like I said, a little bit confusing because they want you to include a lot of details
09:29of your item that you don't technically have to include. They want you to include, well, I won't even
09:33get into it, but like I said, it can be a little bit confusing and scary at first. And in terms of SEO,
09:38eBay does not have like the share function that Poshmark has. You have to rank an SEO in different
09:43ways, such as again, having a strong title, a strong description, but eBay also looks at your
09:47selling record. I'm sure all these other apps do too, but they check to make sure that you're a
09:50reputable seller, that you don't rip people off and things like that. And that's taking all those
09:54factors into consideration. Many, many more that I didn't mention. That's how you're going to rank an
09:58SEO on eBay rather than on Poshmark, which is by sharing your closet manually. However, once you get past
10:04this initial kind of confusion and scariness that is eBay and its interface, it is obviously a huge
10:09platform that I think is very important to be on as a reseller if you're actually trying to make a
10:13business of it and really scale your sales. And the fee on eBay can be a little bit confusing as well,
10:18because the selling fee kind of varies depending on the category of items that you're selling.
10:22But for clothing, let's say it is usually within the 10% range, right about 10%. So if you're the person who
10:28just wants to get rid of a few things in your closet that you know might be worth a little bit of money,
10:32and you don't just want to donate right off the bat, here is my advice. I personally would choose
10:36Poshmark to start. I think it's a very user-friendly option with a lot of users, so you're going to get
10:41a lot of opportunities to have eyeballs on your items. Plus, you can control your search engine
10:45optimization for better or for worse by sharing your own items. And if you're someone who's really just
10:49looking to share 10 or 15 items, you can share your closet all the time if you want. Also, shipping.
10:54Let's talk about shipping for a second. Shipping is so easy on Poshmark. For anything under 5 pounds,
10:59which you'd be surprised how heavy 5 pounds is when it comes to clothing. Anything under 5 pounds
11:04is a flat shipping fee of $7.11 at the moment. I'm sure it will be more expensive in the future
11:09if you're watching this way down the road. The buyer pays for shipping unless you give a shipping
11:13discount to the buyer, which really just means that some of the money comes out of your sale price.
11:17You don't have to go in and pay for shipping separately or anything like that. So literally,
11:21when you make a sale, whether it's from you sending an offer or a shipping discount to the buyer
11:25or them just buying it outright, you literally just have to print a shipping label. You don't have to weigh
11:29it as long as you know it's under 5 pounds, which clothing almost always is. Whereas for Mercari and
11:33eBay, once you get used to it, it's really not difficult at all. But you do have to have a scale,
11:37you have to know how much your items weigh, whether you're paying for the shipping or whether you're
11:40asking the buyers to pay for the shipping. There's just a few more intricacies and it's not quite as
11:44straightforward with eBay and Mercari. Though, once you do it a couple times, it is easy. But Poshmark is
11:48the easiest for shipping. For Poshmark though, some caveats. Do note that if you are planning on just
11:54listing an item and leaving it, meaning not really going on the app to share your items or to answer
11:58questions or to really kind of check things out, then Poshmark might not be the best option. However,
12:03out of these three, Poshmark, Mercari, and eBay, none of them really are platforms that you can just
12:08list it and leave it. To make good sales on any of these three platforms, you have to be listing items
12:12pretty consistently. On Poshmark, you have to be sharing your items. Same for Mercari and eBay,
12:16listing consistently and selling items keeps the algorithm alive. And especially for someone like me,
12:20who's a reseller with a reselling business, I have to be sharing my closet a lot and just maintaining
12:25my activity on all three of these platforms to keep the algorithm alive and to keep eyeballs on
12:30my items. So what you should do if you don't want to dedicate time to do those kind of ongoing things
12:34like sharing your items and listing new things all the time is to pull one of the other levers that you
12:39can control and that is the price that you're asking. So if you just want to list it and leave it,
12:43but you also want to sell it, you have to make sure you're pricing that item competitively.
12:47Don't expect someone to come into your closet and buy an H&M sweater for $30. Okay, if you want to
12:52sell it, if you don't want to do those ongoing tasks that I mentioned but you still want it to
12:56sell, you have to price it at a fairly low price or at least you have to kind of undercut the
12:59competition if you don't want to do those ongoing tasks. So for like an H&M t-shirt or sweater,
13:04I would go ahead and list it, I don't know, at like $12 depending on the condition in order for
13:08it to be at a competitive price where someone would actually come and maybe buy it outright.
13:12Also make sure your pictures look good in order to kind of beat the competition.
13:15So to reiterate, if you are just looking to clean out your closet, basically sell a couple of items
13:20because you're kind of curious if you can get money for them on these platforms. I'd start with
13:23Poshmark or Mercari personally. Take good pictures, you don't have to have a fancy setup but make sure
13:28your lighting is good and even. Have a solid title and description with good keywords that really
13:32describe your item well. And price your items competitively. If you just want to list it and leave
13:37it, price your items competitively. Don't price them too high. Obviously there are so many factors
13:42that go into reselling and what makes a reseller or seller successful in the first place. But like
13:47I said, I kind of wanted to center this video around what the experience of a first-time seller might
13:52look like rather than doing a deep dive into comparing all these platforms that I'm on. Please
13:57let me know if you guys have any questions. I know it can be a little confusing. It was hard for me to
14:01decide what information to include in this video and what info to omit because there is a lot to learn.
14:06But I hope this still gave you just enough information where you can get started if you
14:09want to and to kind of evaluate your own closet and lifestyle habits to know what items you can
14:14actually start selling out of your closet. Also if you are a reseller or if you have any experience
14:19whatsoever, your opinion very well might differ from mine on like which platforms are the easiest to use.
14:24That's obviously totally fine. My opinion is of course subjective. So go ahead and leave suggestions or
14:29other thoughts that you might have in the comments down below. Let's just get a kind of discourse going on
14:34this because a lot of people have a lot more experience than I do and of course opinions
14:38might differ and that is totally fine. I just want to say that I am on these three platforms but I by
14:42no means list on them individually. I use a cross-listing platform called Vendoo. This isn't
14:47sponsored. I'm an affiliate but it's not sponsored but I use this platform to list on all three of these
14:51platforms at one time. I do have to include a couple different details depending on the platform
14:56but it is so much easier than going and listing on these three separate platforms at individual times.
15:01So if you're interested in using a cross-listing platform I would highly recommend Vendoo. I have a
15:06affiliate link in the description down below for 25% off your first month. Again I highly recommend
15:11I think if you're trying to start a reselling business using a cross-listing platform is essential.
15:16Also all items that I use in my reselling process from the blanket that I use to hang up to a couple
15:22different other essential items such as my ring light, folding table, and a few other things I will
15:26include in the description down below. Also to promote Webull a little bit it is a stock trading platform that
15:31offers commission-free trading. They're having a promotion now until December 31st. They extended
15:35it to get four free stocks valued up to $3,700 total. So go ahead and use my link in the description
15:41down below if that is something that interests you. It's free money. All right guys thank you so much
15:45for watching. As always let me know in the comments down below what other videos you'd like to see from
15:49me. I am kind of curating my content calendar to get things kind of planned out for the next month or so
15:54and would love to hear suggestions. I love when you guys give me your input. All right I'm also making my
15:59brother get in the shot because he rudely interrupted me. Goodbye everyone. Oh I look at the camera here.
16:04Yeah the camera. See her camera's here but her rings light things up here. Yeah. Confusing. Is it?
16:09Maybe it's confusing. All right bye guys. Thanks for watching. I'll see you in a few days.
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