Latest / The Truth About Reselling / Reselling | Newbie Tips Shop Your House First and More Reselling Lessons w/ Amber Anderson
Transcript
- riverside edit 1 amber anderson reselling: Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. We are so happy to have Amber here today to chat with us about reselling and all the other things that she does too, because she has her hand in so many things. So welcome. Thank you guys for having me. We're so glad you're here. And Amber, you're telling us offline all of the things you do. And I know you have a little bit of a series that you're doing, like somebody who has multiple jobs. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do? We know you resell, which is why you're here. What else do you do? Yeah. So my primary job is I am a host in the country music space here in Nashville. And so, I host a podcast called Country Heat Weekly for Amazon Music. We are Amazon Music's global flagship podcast. And so it's just been such an honor to get to do that. We're going, I think we're in season seven. This is our fifth year doing Wow. And so any country star that you can probably think of, we've likely interviewed them. And so it has really been a dream come true of a job and an opportunity that, I just I don't take for granted any day of the week. But from that, I actually have spent the last year part-time at WSM radio, which is the radio home of the Grand Old Offrey. So I have a weekend show on WSM and do some hosting around the Offrey. So it is those two things taking up most of my time. when I'm not doing those things, that is when I'm typically at a thrift store, at the bin, at a yard sale, at an estate sale, because reselling has just been it has been the place that I go to escape like work work, even though I do more work. Like sometimes I come home and I'm like, This is not a hobby, this is a job. But the hobby part is shopping. And it's like yay, and then you come home and you're like, You're not seeing what's over here off camera because I've got to see it. I wanna see it. No, we all have those piles. And behind this door over here, this is like my reselling room. You can see my steaming mat right there and my steamer over here. But I I think it is a thing where all my jobs are fun. Yeah. That's how That's how all my jobs are fun. I think that's The thing that I've realized at this point in my life is that I, you know, I I've always worked, I'm an elder millennial. So like I have always worked a nine to five, you know, we've talked about this, I believe, Amanda, like nine to five, like stability. Stability, stability. You have somewhere you go every day. You know, that's just what you do. And it was kind of like not a thing. I mean, really until COVID. People were like, I can get stuff done at home. I can make money at home. There are, and it's only in the last six years since then, it's just becoming every day there's another opportunity to make a path for yourself. And I am telling people all around me, reselling's not just something that people are doing to make a full time income. People are doing it when they retire. Like yes, you know, I have my mom's best friend is getting into it and started asking me about what label printer I use and All of these things because people are just finding it, therapeutic in a way of yeah, I can do something fun. I don't have to just go shop and make money and fill my own closet, but I can help rescue things from the, from the landfill and I can help save the environment. Because when you walk into that good little outlet, you see exactly how much surfless and waste we have. And so there's just a lot of different elements to it, but I'm so glad that I've been able to have a a full time job that still allows me the freedom and flexibility to do this part time job of refilling on the side. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. The elder millennial thing of like, no, invest in your 401k. It do all this. How are you forty? Yes. I'm 43. Me too. my gosh, twins. Eighty three, baby? Yeah, yeah. July eighty three. I'm May eighty three. I love it. okay. We we have Amanda on here who is a bit younger than us. Just a little bit younger. Is it twelve years? Are you thirty one, Amanda? Ten. I'm thirty three. Yeah. Yeah. So like yeah, exactly ten. Yeah. But you know, you're right. Like that's what was always instilled in the I mean, you too, Amanda. Like I just feel like that is such a especially when you're like, I'm gonna resell clothes and make a living. Like Yeah. And people are like that Can you really like Can you really make a living doing that? But you can. You absolutely can. And you can do it at whatever level you want to as well, which is the media of it. Yeah. Did either of you ever watch that show? it was on Netflix, I think, called Nasty Gal, about Nasty Gal, the founder of Nasty Gal. Do you all know about her? No. Okay. So I heard about this, but never okay. Never watched it. So Girl Boss, that term was coined by Sophia Amaroso, who had a vintage shop called Nasty Gal down in LA, I believe. And I'm probably butchering this so people in the chat feel free to fact check me. But she was doing this business and then she got investment by private equity, by a VC firm and grew really fast and then bombed. So they just like bottomed out. I think they filed bankruptcy. It was just like a horrible thing. And then she started a then they turned it into a new clothing brand line. So that's like which is like fun, funky style. I do like nasty gals. So if you find it at the bins, I Suggest picking it up just because it is very funky and fun. Very Nashville vibes, actually. LA, I feel like West Hollywood and Nashville are similar in style. But yeah, obviously Nashville, a bit more country twist. But anyway, she started this brand. She had this book called Girl Boss and was like, here's how you girl boss, kind of like that lean in, like, here's how you have to do it. But she took investment and it just bottomed out. And I've taken investment before for a company. And the same thing happened. They want you to grow so fast. And it's like, no, invest all of the money that we just gave you into marketing to do this. And then you bought them out because you've like invested everything into it. Everything. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the difference with resale and why it's working for so many people now. And like you see, Reformation selling, you know, three hundred dollar vintage Talbot pants, like it's so weird. It they just like want you to do these crazy things. So anyway. I I don't remember how I got on this tangent. But you don't have to do it like that. You can do it slow and steady, is what I mean to say. No, and I think it is one of those things where you can it's like one thing rolls into the next. you never have to take debt, you never have to take on investment. You can just build it gradually to where it's always sustainable for you. Always. You never have to buy welding. Nope. You can go around your house and and that's kind of like, you know, the one thing that everybody it's so funny. Cause every time they're like, I see these if you wanna start reselling, just look around your house and I'm like, shopping for that one. Yeah. No exactly So I'm like, don't listen to us. Like if you if you don't have the cash flow to sustain that and I will say, like, we will probably get into this, but I'm I'm probably gonna jump ahead. But if I could go back to day one, I've been reselling on and off for over a decade. Like I think my my Poshmark says I opened it like fourteen years ago or something crazy like that. And my mom has always I grew up going to to garage sales. we did that every Saturday, me, my mom, my grandma. And so it's very nostalgic for me. It has a very warm, fuzzy, it's just it feels like it's a part of who I am and it's like in my nature. And my mom is a thrifter. We love going to thrift stores. We love doing that and shopping second hand. So it's never been like a weird foreign thing to me. People are like, you bought that from a thrift store? I'm like, Yeah, like I've done that's it's better in that way. Yeah. in my opinion. And so When somebody asked me if I could go back to day one and what I would do differently, I probably would shop from within my home because what I was doing is before I got educated on reselling and what that really means and the things that the resale market is not the real market. It's n it's not the same. So if you go into a store and see a Michael Kors blouse for $120, you're not gonna be able to pick up that Michael Kors blouse. if you paid fifty bucks for it, you're not gonna get fifty bucks for it on the resale market. Right. That's the hard part to explain to people who are starting out because they're like, have all this nice stuff new with tags. Yeah. It doesn't always translate. So if I were to go back to day one, I would say, find stuff with me in your house that you can test. So you can try to learn what works and what doesn't, what sits and what doesn't, because if you just go out and buy a bunch of stuff that you think you know, you're gonna end up like a storage unit in two weeks. yeah. there was stuff I've picked up the first couple months I or probably the first year I was reselling that I sat on for three years. This stuff's partly I was like, thank goodness, but it was it was because I was just picking up this seems cool. This seems like a good brand, but it wasn't desirable or it wasn't in good condition or whatever. Yeah. So I think I think that is such a good point. It's like do it so you can practice on stuff that's not costing you money. In your and then you know how to take p pictures, you know how to make listings, you know how to structure listings, you know like what your processes are without having the pressure of having to make back the money you spent. Absolutely. And tell your friends too. I think that's the other thing is tell your friends, hey, instead of donating your stuff, can you drop it off at my house? Because I've been thinking about this a lot too. And Amber, I came to the exact same conclusion last week because I was like, what would I do differently? I'm like, I would have looked around my house because now I have all this stuff around my house that needed to be sold three years ago. that I haven't even touched because I have so much stuff that I invested in. Exactly. Yeah. So I yeah, definitely do that. But the thing that people get really frustrated with is when they list things, they're sitting. And I I remember the first time that I started doing this because I I was unemployed for like two weeks and then I went to a thrift store and I was like, I'm gonna sell all this stuff. All but one piece of that collection has sold. But you know, like it it took me getting technology to send offers. To cross list because I was just listing on Poshmark. Cause like you, I've been on there for like fourteen years as well, selling my own stuff. And I think those are the two pieces. I would go around my house, ask my friends, but not for stuff that they want to consign. Don't do that. Just say donate. Especially not early when you're That's a great way down the road when you you you've got a stride going. you want to start diversifying what you're doing. But yeah, get to telling people. Yep. And you gotta get your technology in check. Like whether Whatever you want to use, get something that sends offers and get something that cross lists. I know people there's a lot. I don't know if y'all have been seeing this on social media where people are like, cross listing is actually costing you money because you're listing it and it could sell here. And I'm like I couldn't disagree more. I could not disagree. I am like, no, cross listing is yeah, is everything to me. Yeah. and I and again, like technology is like If I don't put systems in place, and that's with anything, even if that's o you opening a Google sheet and typing in all of the inventory you have and where it's listed and if you want to do everything manually, that is fine. But I'm telling you, your success will double, triple if you automate some of these things because I don't know, especially me, yeah, you have your hands in too many things. Have time to go, somebody like I get the alerts all the time on Bpop. somebody likes your item when you like to send them an offer. And I'm like, if I had to take time every time to actually physically click that and go send the offer, I I wouldn't sell anything. And then you would just lose out on sales because that offers generate the majority of people's sales on platforms. 1000% deep. So yeah, yeah, I'm right. But I I do think that like cross-listing has not only helped me get my items in all the places I want. them to be at one time. but also it's like my inventory management. I'm able to go, someone says like sometimes I'll get like, you know, a like or a favorite on an item that I'm like, I think I sold that. Yeah. That's still listed on V Cons. I'm able to go right over and see like, no, it's not sold. And I'm able to go back once a year. I do that. The end of every year I go and just try to go through all my inventory and go, Yeah, what's listed, what's not. I will check my like I use the box method. I will go and check to make sure if I'm question, you know, questioning anything, I have a source of truth that I can always go back to because I at the beginning I tried to build my own inventory management system and it did not work. So it's not working. how how many pieces do you have in your inventory right now? that's a very good question. last I checked, I had probably 300 to 500. I think that's a sweet spot. I think. And now again, you can't see what's on my floor right here. I I actually you can see a little bit of this basket right here. So what I've started to do is you're gonna hear me talk a lot about my ADHD on this. it's gonna resonate with it. So you're but who doesn't have it at this point in this industry? Right. Crazy. But I think that the thing that overwhelms me is when I feel like because I again I am gonna be completely one hundred percent truthful. I th I source too much. I do. Who doesn't? Who doesn't mean right? it's very Amanda doesn't. Amanda and Becca do not source too much. So I will say that I I used to though. I used to. But you put but you put systems and plans in place so you can specifically being a palette buyer, yeah, in those days where you're like, Okay, I'm buying a palette, I have to have a place for this place to go. You already have wethouse shows scheduled for those things. Right. And I am I get very overwhelmed by volume, which is funny 'cause I sort too much. So what I started to do is I'm like, Okay, I took all of my kind of like stuff that I knew I'm like, I'm not gonna be able to list all this stuff in the next few weeks. I pulled that all out and started making piles. So I have a donation pile of stuff that's like a zipper was broken. y'all in this donation pile, there's a pair of good American jeans in there. But the zipper is so messed up. I'm like, I shall get the zipper fixed. But the value is will you? Right. And that's exactly what the these jeans have been in a pile because I'm like, I've never taken them. And I'm like, but I can donate them. Somebody else is gonna probably get at right at Goodwill or actually I take all my stuff to our rescue mission here. And I'm like, the button works just fine. Yeah, so at that point it's not worth it. Not worth it. Yeah. So it's it's it's good for a personal pair of pants. Exactly. And so I think that that is another point to make to people that have questions about reselling. It's like those are the decisions you have to learn to make. Yeah. Because it's like, yeah, I got those jeans for a dollar and fifty cents at the bins. But if I paid thirty dollars, I'm not gonna make my money back. Or I might break even. So then I'm like, nope, I'm not gonna make my money back because the time to list those exactly. Yep. Yep. The label, the things that I'm putting in. I think that's where the nitty gritty of reselling really gets lost on people because they're not equating supplies, time, all of that into your cost. And that's where things get dangerous because people are like, you you have all that extra stuff, just list it. And I'm like, other stuff to list that's like higher priority. Yeah. Right. That's gonna and also your time is so worth so much. So yeah, if I can list it but I'm only making five dollars, I don't need five dollars for an hour of my time. You know what I mean? that's not I'm not going to do that. That's not like an equal trade. Yeah, exactly. All that to say I have all these different piles where I have a vented pile, which again I've been using vintage in the last three weeks just to if it's stuck, I don't feel like actually listing on a major platform. Yeah. And taking all the detail and stuff. Yep. I literally have a hanger on my door right here that goes to my washer and dryer. I put it up on the hanger. I take a picture of the front, the back, and the tag. That's it. And then I have a pricing structure of $3, $5, maybe $10 if it's something really nice. Like the other day I I've lifted just maxi velvet gown that had like wardrobe tape kind of stuck to the inside. And I'm like, I'm not gonna get top dollar for that on an eBay or by where I have to take measurements and all that stuff. Cause like vintage, I don't measurements, but I don't do anything. Yeah. I just put that stuff up, knowing that most of the stuff I don't buy anything. My sourcing constitution is typically I don't spend more than five dollars on anything. Yeah. I'm at that point in my That's really nice. Yeah. Your cost of goods are very low. I am crazy about keeping my cost of goods low because I'm like, I don't need more inventory. If I can find it for cheap, that's great. But I'm not spending more than five dollars. So I know that if I most of my stuff averages, I don't it's probably like a dollar fifty, two dollars a piece. If I sell that for five bucks, three dollars, like it It stacks up and it's stuff that I like that's like donating back. So I I say all that to say and then I'm being like But say all that to say is like I'm trying to discover new ways to liquidate inventory and not sit on piles of stuff because again, volume gives me riety and this has really worked out really well. Like I list Are you selling things fast on vintage? Because I think of people just being like, I post it and twenty minutes later it sold or an hour later it sold. It's crazy. I list two things on vented every day, they are likely sold by the time I wake up. I'm gonna sell my personal stuff on there because I've been trying to figure out where to sell my personal stuff. Yeah, and like that's perfect because again, that's like if you have no no cost of goods into that, right? Yeah. It's like the shipping conversations are about Yeah, the buyer pays the shipping and the buyer pays the fee. So like they're not charging sellers right now. They're not carrying seller speed. So that's why I'm able to sell let's see, this week I sold an athleta jogger top. I sold that for five bucks. I think I got it for a dollar at a yard sale. So great. Yeah. I sold a gimbere dress for three bucks. That stuff sells real fast. Okay. It's gonna be fun. And then I sold a a boho dress for five dollars and I sold another kid's a Zara, a kid's Zara little party dress for three dollars. And again, it's not earth shattering, but that stuff's gonna it's gonna add up. And what you could do is then you could just like kind of pour that money invented and then you could go and source off of there if you wanted to. And now to get stuff that is actually good that you know will resell on other platforms. Yeah. Now, I will give you guys one disclaimer about vintage is I unfortunately made a decision to join all these like vintage groups on Facebook when I was like j when I was like considering doing it. Cause I'm like because the lore was like they don't like resellers. Yeah. And they ban people. Yeah, they do ban people quickly. And so like I'm also like not listing things of like high value because There are a lot of scammers on there where people are selling things that are like, I sold this for $50. And then they got it like a pair of OnClouds, right? They sold a pair of OnClouds. Someone clearly had the same pair of OnClouds that had been chewed up by their dog. The wrong ones. And they're like, somebody sent me these. And Vented takes the side of the seller or the side of the buyer every time. And then somebody's like, I'm out $50 and my shoes. I'm not, I'm not willing. They don't have the stuff in place yet to suffice. To s protect sellers enough. Yeah. Yeah. I so I had I sold, I've only sold four things on Vinted. I sold a four four hundred dollar blazer. my which I think I learned my lesson. They the it's a whole thing. I can't remember if I've already told this on the podcast, but I sold it. It was like an overseas buyer. What was the brand? And I can't I can't even say it's like like smites or something. Okay. No, it starts with a B, but it's an Italian blazer. It was 14, no, it was $1,700. I got it out of the palette and it just hadn't sold on Poshmark or eBay. And I think I had it priced around six hundred dollars on other platforms. And someone sent me an offer for $400 on vintage. And I was like, Well, no fees. So absolutely, I'll take it. that's great. sent it. They were like, it's green, it's not blue. And I'm like, it's the tag, it still has the original tags on it. It literally says light blue. And he's like, It's green. And so Vincent is like somebody's colorblind. Right, right. And he's and so like then Vintage is like, Well, you didn't describe it correctly. And I'm like, No, I did. Look at the tag in the picture and it was automated. So then they kept saying, No, you didn't describe it correct. And I would be like, I would like to talk to a human. No, you didn't describe it correctly. And it's like they're sending me the same paragraph just over and over and over again and I can't actually get into contact. So then they send me alert. They're like, If you don't, if you don't accept this return within twenty four hours, we're just going to let them keep it and we're going to refund them. So then I was like, okay, whatever. I just need it back. So at least I can resell it because then I would be out the seventeen hundred dollar breaker and and I but I was panicked about that because then I was like crap. So I think I even videoed myself opening the box when it got back because I'm like, this is valuable. Someone could have swapped it, you know, but he he was honest. He just didn't like the color. So I got that okay. But he was but Ned did teach me my lesson. I don't think my product from my palette is vintage. It just I I don't think I have my stuff is too expensive to put on vintage. Yeah. so even if I have to wait longer on Poshmark and eBay. But for me, I don't know that vintage has a true space in my business because I think I would just put stuff like that on w whatnot then. You know, like I put my personal stuff on whatnot. Right. Like when I clear out my closet, I just do a pre on whatnot show. So I don't think I would I don't know that what vinted has like a super good spot, but I do think it does for other people, for sure. I was even talking I ran into my aunt the other day at lunch and she was like, Do you still do all that? And I was like, Yeah, and she's What about vintage? I was No, you should do vintage. If you are clearing out your closet, just instead of taking it to an uptown cheapskate or something, vintage is great. You're gonna get better more money, most likely. And it's I I from my experience it was really user friendly. Like very easy to just list things quickly. So it's not super complicated like eBay with all the different categories and stuff. So For somebody who's just starting out, again, reselling things around your house, I think vintage is a great place to start because you're getting used to the process of listing things now again, just literally taking pictures on your door. And that's I feel like that's a whole nother podcast episode we could do about like all of like the miss the mis like you have to have a clean because I have a photo booth in there. But somebody I'm like I'm not Going in there and turn on the lights and doing all these things and just want to hang on the back of the door and take the picture. This stuff sells regardless. But I do think clean good pictures matter. But on Vented, the reason I didn't use my photo booth was because I was told they don't like resellers. And so I like, I'm trying to make it look like it's just a normal person, which again it is. Well, you are a normal person. I am, but I'm like everybody that's selling on here is a reseller. we're all exactly like it doesn't make sense. So I don't do measurements. I don't do again for the cost and the return I'm getting. I also ordered, I had ordered these cheap, I have nice poly mailers for my other reselling. But I had ordered these cheap Amazon polymailers, which are still good, but they're just plain color. Yeah. Yeah. Just very simple. I use those because again, those are nine cents. Yeah. Yeah. wow. That's so cheap. I'm trying to you have to still in those moments make those better business decisions. I even told my mom who's a casual reseller. Mom started selling stuff on Vented and like She's like, I need to put thank you cart and I'm like, No, no, no. You don't use your paper because you're making three dollars. Like also I hate getting those papers. I'm like, Why are you doing this? Please don't do this. Like I'm buying stuff so that I'm not polluting and stop. when they said the free gifts, have you heard when people send chocolate and it melts all over the items? No. Or the candy gets sticky and then just don't do it. Reseller you resellers, don't do it. You don't need to. It's gonna turn people. I do you don't do it. Don't do it. Well it's working for you. So it's sorry, give me one second. It's just habit At this point, I think that's another elder millennial thing, always send a thank, always, I think that is something that was drilled into us as well. And I wonder, I kind of like have thought about this about like buyer psychology. And I would love to like see if somebody like could study this one day. Right. But it kind of sometimes feels like when you put a thank you in there, it feels like you're buying from a person. Like, and I look at mine as like a small business. And so because I also sell on Etsy too. And so I think I carry I carry some of those like I'm a small business, you're buying from a small business, this is a small business. Yeah. It doesn't feel like you're just buying from Doshmo in Alaska. Like it yeah, I don't know. I think that's where my but you're right. I know people just throw it away and it's it's probably but I don't know. I mean but I also think I think that yeah, and I think that some people really do like it and some people really don't. Yeah. And I I do think I don't know that it's necessarily like More people hate it than like it. I asked this was forever ago, probably like last year. I asked on my TikTok, like, what makes you return to buyers on whatnot? Like I was curious. And there were multiple people that said how my item is packaged. And I thought, interesting, because I don't give a crap how my item's packaged. Truly. I'm like, if it gets to me safely, I just don't care. Like put it in a cereal box. As long as it's taped up and it's not wet when it gets here. I it just doesn't bug me. But there were multiple people that were like, no, like I want it. wrapped up nicely in tissue wrap and I'm like, don't buy for because I'm not gonna do that. I I'm very quick, especially when I'm packaging four hundred items. all right, nuts. I'm just I fold it. I fold but it is, it's like I think it's everyone has different preferences. Yeah. Truly. No, I don't I don't think you're hurting anything by doing that by any means. Yeah. I think it's so funny because I've gotten numerous reviews from people. And the review says it came package so nice. no that's so good. But I'm like It's because I I love I love the cute polymailers and like I'm not selling s excuse me, keep grouping. I'm not selling at such a high volume that I can't like put that at that's just like something that matters to me and it like it gives me I'm like, ooh, I get to use my like polyboilers with orange slices on the front. Like my nod to being a Floridian, you know, like it's kind of one of those things. And my mom is the same way, so I'm like, the apple doesn't fall far because she loves to take you notes. She loves a cute polymailer. That's why I was like, Don't use your cute polymailers for your three dollar vintage order. I'm like, but you said it's so funny. They can ship in a cereal box. That is on the vintage group on Facebook. People always post like the way they get items and people are shipping stuff in cereal boxes, in tampon boxes. my gosh. Like I feel like I've seen some of that happen on Deep Coffee. Deep people are just like, do this! Do this. Like for the care of the item. The care of the item, I think, is the only thing. Just put it in like for me, I'm like, make sure that it's you're not. Yeah. Or just like don't just put a vintage item in a cereal box and ship it. Like put it in a bag in a cereal box and I'm fine with that. It's just exactly as long as it's gonna get to me safe, I don't really care. I had I don't know if you saw it at TikTok, but when I had those Maui gym gyms returned to me and they returned them in a a Texas Roadhouse to-go box and then put it was a plastic to-go box. They put the $200 Maui gyms in there, and then they just put them inside a polybag. And so they were crushed when I got them back. And they were brand new when I sent them to him. eBay took care of it and it was five minutes. What the heck? Like why why are we doing that? Why can't be doing that? That's that's different because it was like It's a delicate item that can get crushed. Put that in. I'm like, also I was like, where did the box go that I sent it to you in? why couldn't you just return it in the box I sent it to you in? It's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy. But I think that the moral of the story is you you can find ways in your business to, you know, my first stop was like buy sell trade stores. But unfortunately, here we don't have a ton. But think I started with buy sell trade stores. We don't have a ton. We don't have many. and I was driving to like Clarksville, Tennessee, to Huntsville, Alabama, to like a clothes mentor and a stylon court, which is fine because I love making little day trips and I go thrifting and like the whole thing. But it just was like the stuff was piling up because I can't do that every day. Right. So I'm like, how I need a place to sell this stuff at like three to five dollars Right. Absolutely. I tried to do whatnot. I like whatnot. But I think my issue is that as a host, I have to be on. And when I'm not hosting, I don't want to be hosting more. That's so valid. I didn't think about that because I've told my sisters that that like sometimes it's just like so exhausting to have to turn on the camera and be in front of the camera for hours at a time. So I didn't even think about that. Like You already do that and you already have to be on insult in your professional life to maybe just not want to do that. Yeah. And I love it. And that's what's crazy is yeah, why don't I enjoy doing this? why what is and and the other problem is is it's very hard for me to con to keep a consistent schedule because typically Tuesday nights are free for me. But Tuesday nights are Opry nights. And like last night we had an Opry induction and I had to host a live stream for that. And so like If I had a show and that I was asked to do that, late. you know, my boss was like, Hey, can you help with this? Can you host this? And I was Yeah, if I had had a whatnot show scheduled, I would have had to move it. And I started finding there was a period of time, I think last year, that I scheduled like six or seven shows out, and I ended up having to move over half of them. And that not good either. And I'm like, I want I want to build a following. It's the only way to be successful and whatnot. And so I I'm glad we're talking about this because I wanted to bring this up and get your thoughts on it as a whatnot seller. But recently I have found a couple sellers that do kind of a closet clean out like things that you send you send your stuff to them. It's kind of like a wholesale type of situation. But you sell your you send your stuff to them. They will sell it on whatnot for you. Yeah. It's almost like this idea we've been talking about, Amanda. Yeah, we met someone in Dallas and she was like, Come and just do what knocks out of my garage. And me too. I want to I don't want to. Me too. Yeah. Well because I want we can talk offline about this. but there's a guy here in Nashville that runs a business like this. That's so cool. Where and it worked out because I saw I found him on TikTok and I was like, Hey, do you sell other people's stuff? And he's like, Yeah, we do. we have this whole platform. So he sends me the website. I went on, I dropped off a bag to him last Thursday. He ran my show yesterday morning and I think I gave him twenty five items and I made like w they do a fifty fifty split. Like just straight down. That's how I do an old all consignment too, yeah. Yeah, and which is great. and I made like seventy seven bucks. And it was and you did no work. Like it's and I did no work other than pulling old stuff out of inventory that I did not So happy to talk to you all about that because then I then there's another couple that does the same thing. So I found these two people on like three days apart. I found this couple in Orlando, Which is so funny because one guy lives in Nashville, the other guy is in Orlando where I used to live. So it's just funny. but they do the same thing. The difference is is they have two different like levels of like brands. So like the guy here in Nashville likes, you know, higher brands like Aloe, anthropology, yeah, yeah, like Reformation, stuff like that. The guy in Orlando is much more like volume, volume, volume. So I can send him all my Airy, my A Abercie, Hollister, stuff like that. So I have a giant like this edge of the green bag that you see, that's stuff that I have set aside for my next box to him. They've not run my show yet, so I need to see what that return is gonna be. And I was gonna see which one works better. That's what I need though, because I this is kind of blowing my mind. It's almost making me feel like They're gonna put places like ThreadUp out of business. Threat up success. People, what not sellers like that? Yeah, ThreadUp sucks. We're on the Thread Up. We send in a stuff that we we went sourcing together specifically to go send stuff into ThreadUp. Yeah. What and I use the premium bag and everything, and they're giving us less than we paid for every ad. I'm like, like this is crazy. Like a pair of Uggs are giving us, I wanna say like four dollars. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm just gonna do it. Do it. Send it to a real person. Who is running a business that you can create a relationship with, yeah. You could go source. If you love sourcing and you have access to really cheap inventory, go source just for fun as your hobby because that's the part you love, and then send your stuff, let them sell it for you and you get a payout. That's that is exactly that's OG the method that I want to follow because I love it. My busy season is the first half of the year. Mm-hmm. Like, and I say first half meaning like March. through June. Because we have sports and and country mus or country music because everything kinda goes completely silent in December and stays that way through mid February because it's cold, it's dark here. Everyone is like coming off holidays. Music row kinda shuts down in December completely. And then it takes a little time for us to get ramped up. So our first event of the year is called Country Radio Seminar. It's like a big country radio conference here in Nashville. That kicks off our year. We host a big we host typically a big showcase there. And then from there we have Stage Coach Music Festival in California. And the last four years we've posted the live stream on Prime Video for that. And so that's a whole week of time. But even prepping to get ready to go to that, we've got podcast episodes we have to record to promote, we have all of these things. Two weeks later after we come home from Stagecoach, we typically fly back to Vegas for the ACM Awards. so we're there for a week. Then two weeks after that is CNA Music Fest here in Nashville that we host live podcasts and we host the big concert in Bason Stadium. And like so reselling is like the last thing on my mind during that stretch. Yeah. But I also am thinking about it because I don't want my business to die. Okay. So my idea is what if we do Western shows? So I have a ton of Western gear and stuff like that, but get ready for CMAs, stagecoach, all of these whatnot shows where selling stuff focused around those events. That's so cool. That's a great idea. And the festival is already such a big aesthetic. Yeah. and I know. Only a cucella, everything out here. Yep. Yep. And so like if you I know in like my I'm a part of a reseller mentorship group, which has been just the big that's the other biggest thing I will say. you are starting out in reselling, finding it's called REU, resellers at university. We have the best community. We have that's how cool. The best I've gained the best groundwork for learning to make decisions for my business every single day that move my business forward. And so yeah, just like ha knowing that I have support. Beyond just my reseller friends, just built in support with other people that are experiencing things. And also real time support, which is harder to get. Yeah. And just people going in within a few minutes. A hundred percent. Yeah, people that have done this longer than me and then have experienced this stuff and people are like, don't worry about it. or we've got a guy who is really into selling blazers. And so we do these things, like these member led calls sometimes because Like Amanda, you could talk for hours about buying palette or doing whatnot. Right. I could talk about like selling women's clothes or, you know, all the different things that I've tried that have not worked. And then like this guy is like blazers is his expertise. And it's all he sells. And he does really well. So he's so well. They sell so well. But I don't touch blazers because I'm like, I don't want to package them up. I don't wanna like it's a lot for my brain. Like But that's the beauty is it's like this all the time. Like, you know, it's kind of like I get to go, well I've never thought about conflict before. Yeah, like, that's a really good idea. I didn't used to touch jeans and then I started, you know, watching videos of like prairie dust online and learning how to measure properly and all of that. So that is something that's really important for blazers and jeans and all of that. Yeah. I know this is a question we're gonna get asked from our audience about you. Cause you say this is a hobby, right? And it ramps up sometimes and it doesn't ramp up. what do you consider a hobby job? what are we talking about in terms of revenue? Because it is also like you're it's a hobby, but you also take it very seriously, which I'm like I'm learning so much from And you love it. And you love it. That's what I think too. Yeah. Well, the funniest thing is that you asked this question because I think I shared something on my Instagram the other day that it not all of your hobbies have to be businesses. Again, a millennial thing. Everything has to be monetized, right? I don't think I have a hobby right now that is not monetized in some way. But yeah, I will say, reselling is a business for me. It is, but it is also a hobby. I'm a big grandma hobby girl. Big grandma hobby girl. I'm learning to sew. I am I have an embroidery machine, so I've been embroidering more. I those are expensive. Facebook marketplace. Sorry. So smart. I just upgraded. again, hobbies are monetized. It is a hobby for me, but I'm a freelancer. So I'm like, I feel like I'm wasting time if I'm just making a bunch of stuff and not making money on it. But I get to do my hobby while I make money, which is what reselling is anyway. So it kind of all works together where I love making gifts for people too. So if I'm doing it for hobby, I'm typically making stuff for other people because God knows I don't need more stuff in this house. but I I also think there is a element to making things that is therapeutic for me. Totally. But I also have to do something with it. I gotta give it away. I gotta sell it. I gotta do afford it. Yeah. So you can't afford it. Yeah. Yeah, but I do my hobby is literally washing women's basketball, needle pointing. Not so fun. Road tripping, usually to thrift. the other thing that I've I've done too is like I want to challenge people to if you have other hobbies, you can combine things. Like estate sales have been fun for me because I'm now finding these like old like I go in the linen room, right? Which I'm like, I don't resell linen. usually I walk past them. Well now I've been buying old pillow shams and making them into tote bags. Because it's like super easy to super easy to sew together. Yeah. And add some straps. I love that. And I gift them. And like that's really fun. And I actually have a pile where I'm like, if I do what dot shows I like give these away. That's more more to shit. But but I think that like finding something that marries all the things I do together makes them even more rewarding at the end, needle minders, I started thrifting old enamel pens or brooches and I made them Yeah. And I put magnets on the back and you put it on your needlepoint canvas and it holds your needle. And it's something that's sold in a lot of needlepoint stores, but they're like a lot of them are mass produced and they say like And now you're getting secondhand ones and turning them into something I love it. Yeah. And that's so cool. And my friend is selling them in her store. So this is cool. Needle miner. Yeah. Okay. I I'm just Googling stuff as we're going through it because I'm like, I this is like so So do your do your reselling in your needle point it all pays for itself, right? Because you're doing all of this. That's the goal. I I try. But I'm you know, and again that's another thing to challenge, you know, new resellers is like, again, if I could go back to day one, find a bookkeeping system, find a tracking system. That works for you. I don't have it figured out, but I do again software. There is plenty of software available. I've started using Seller Ledger. Okay. I haven't heard of that one. I I don't remember where I found it or how, but I think it's what I've been using the most to see everything at a glance, is specifically because it also integrates Etsy, and that's where I'm being I'm making a lot of of profit on Etsy right now. but I I think that even like Kaylee from REU, like she has a Google sheet that she built herself. And she it it works for her. So like you don't have to pay for something. That's the one thing they always teach us in REU. Like you don't have to pay for stuff. they give us a lot of resources and like here's my template or whatever. But like there are other Ask your reseller friends like what they use and use that network of of of community. This community is incredible. People usually don't gatekeep. So finding and asking those questions to get yourself set up for success from the beginning, because if you can like I'm really bad at like tracking my cost of goods. I just am like the p the one that comes home from the bin, counts how many things I have, divides it, and it's like, it was 148 a piece. But that makes sense for the bins. Like that and if you're keeping all of your cost of goods five bucks, then that everything not from the bins is five bucks or less. So to me that actually makes sense. It's like a simple way of accounting. Yeah. Yeah. And I know that I can't do anything more complicated than that because I would get lost. Like I just know myself. Yeah. So check in with yourself. Know what you can and like honestly keeping I I say the word sourcing constitution because again, that's kind of what we've been taught and are you. another thing to have a very basic foundation is knowing what you are going to spend what your max is because of the way that you're going to flip it. So like Amanda, what is your sourcing constitution for palette buying? Like because you know like you've done whatnot long enough to know and you know the brands you're gonna get, you know what your audience is looking for. Do you go in and say we're not buying anything above this because the risk is too high. I've always been curious about buying stuff at high volume, how that differs from what I do as like just a regular women's clothing seller at the men. Yeah. So it's it's tricky and it's such a gamble because you will sometimes say I go in, I I probably on average I spend probably fifteen hundred dollars on a palette. Sometimes I spent way more than that. Sometimes I spent way less. But that's probably about an average. So You can go in and spend $1,700 on a palette and think it's gonna have really good stuff in it and it will have really bad stuff in it. And maybe had two or three of the good things you thought it was gonna have in it when most of it's Amazon stuff. So it is quite a gamble and I have had to learn just through trial and error, like there have been times where I've spent way, way too much. Also because I buy them at auction. So I can't go in and know what I'm gonna spend. I have to put my sights on a couple of palettes that look decent. And then I know what I have in my bank account, what I can spend, you know what I mean? Yeah. So and I always try and say, like, I don't want to spend over X amount, but then you also have to take in like to consideration taxes and they have buyer premiums and all this stuff. Anyway, so it always ends up being fairly expensive. So I feel like I'm in a unique like that is unique to palette buying because you're it's a gamble and it's hard to make like really educated decisions. The only way You can make an educated decision, I feel like, is through experience. so now I know, generally, I've never not made my money back on a palette. So I can make my money back, but I have to consider how much time I'm investing to barely break even on some palettes. Or sometimes it's like I make money, but it's like, I don't know, it's $500 worth all the time and effort and driving and gas and you know what I mean? And time away from my kids. To do it. So I I think that is different. But palettes buying palettes has totally changed the way that I source for my business outside of palettes because now I value my time so much more than I did when I was just reselling before I got into palettes. And I really consider like how much can I sell this for? I'm very picky when I'm at the thrift store now. like I would be yeah, very, very I would be more likely to spend $15 on an item. If I know it can sell for $7,500 plus, I don't list many things that are selling for under $50. I would say I don't list many things that are selling for under $100 at this point, just because and I also it's because I have access to a lot of that through my palettes and I don't put the things that are gonna resell very well in my whatnot shows. but it has it's also just some though, like your reformation stuff. That stuff. Yeah, yeah, and I do. I I'm really picky with like I know what my customers. my customers will buy. So I know I've gotten $190 for a reformation dress on whatnot. That is probably more than I would have gotten on eBay. 1000%. Yeah. So so it's like I know the brands that my people on Whatnot will buy. So I can put it on there, but also I only know those brands because I've tried with items that sold for twenty dollars and then I had to say, never again, because I could have caught could have gotten five times that on eBay and Poshmark. So a lot of it is just through experience. but yeah. I am a lot more picky now about what I like thrift to resell. Cross list it all. And you put it on like Amanda loves eBay. That is her favorite. I love eBay. Other than whatnot. What is your favorite, Amber? It needs to be eBay. It needs to be eBay. I think it ebbs and flows. I have had no luck on eBay. Like It's so wild the way everything people saying that lately. It almost feels like a switch got clipped. Yep. And I sell most of my stuff now on Poshmark and Etsy sounds like. Well, the doormat, yes. Yeah, but like that's crazy. Yeah, if you find a product that works, it works. it works. Like I'm so grateful. but I think it just depends on what it is. Like I think that sometimes definitely Poshmark and Depop right now are my top two. And then Depop is coming up hot. Yeah. It is a lot of people are having a lot of luck on Depop later. You know, which is really interesting because you know when I noticed the shift, I feel like, with eBay is when eBay acquired Depop. That's when I noticed it too. And that and then in the last probably th three weeks I've noticed Depop has shot up. But It it's a very yeah, but that's when I noticed the eBay switch as well. Interesting. Yeah, it was the acquisition. Not to get into weeds, but like I'm curious now, eBay is how so many of us check comps because it's kind of been the source of truth. And I'm like, is that gonna change? Because quite you can use gem too to check comps in a different way now. Have y'all used gem? I just do like a reverse image search. Yeah. gem pops up so you can see because a lot of the stuff I sell is more high end and vintage. And so it pulls up first dibs and all these other places too rather than just eBay. Okay. Mm-hmm. I use a thing called Thriftwise, I think is the app that I did that one. so I obviously have Google Lens, but like Thriftwise I like because it I can take the picture in the app and then it'll let me there's a button for sold comps on eBay. Yeah. And and listed like active lists on Poshmark. That's so I can kinda like check and if then I can fact check it on eBay if it's worth it. Like I'm not having to go every single time. Yeah. Yeah. If I don't if it's not pulling up like exact soul comp, I'm like, mm, and then I'll like go look. but it gives me self-through rate too, and again, as an RU student, like self-through rate has always been my source of truth. So Yeah. I actually feel like I would be interested if 'cause you said thriftwise and Jim, I am someone who is like skeptical. I need to see with my own eyes what something is worth. I don't want someone like guessing, like saying, this is the estimated price it should sell out. Cause I just don't I don't trust that. Right. But would love, I would love if someone could come out with software. I would literally pay money if it could check comps for me that I could actually trust and like I could fact check. Because I tried somewhere. It's like, here's your estimated price, like that we and then I go and look and I'm like, that's forty dollars less than the majority of the sold. I don't want to take your advice if it's gonna make me less money. Well, I will say the one thing I'll show you here. Okay, so like this is a top that I listed the other day. So this is like inside Thriftwise, right? And it says like us like estimated retail new thirty eight dollars, it estimated resale call like fourteen. So like I don't take that. I look down here and it'll like show me 'cause it's an apartment nine brand. So this is a very much a style based listing for me. But there's a button here that says sold comps on eBay and there's an active asks on Poshmark. So when I click that, it opens eBay sold. that's cool. But it says no exact matches. Mm-hmm. Sure. So then that's where your gut feeling and your expertise and So then I go down and I say, Okay, this apartment nine like Y2K tank top sold for fifteen bucks. Mine is baby doll, mine is whimsy goth, mine's like fairy goth, whatever. I think it's still worth me listing. And I think I listed it like nineteen ninety nine. I paid a dollar for it at a yard sale. I think so that's kind of like the reason I like it is because it does take me to the active eBay solds page and I'm not having to like go to eBay and type it in myself when I'm in the store or at a yard sale. And then go and check on Poshmark too just to make sure. Yeah, and I can I'm really interested in that. So I don't know who's behind that app. I have no idea. I just tried a bunch and that that one is one that I was like, okay, I feel like this is worth it because I'm with you. All the other ones that I were f I was finding is like just giving me random guesses. And I'm like, Yeah no, I wanna get where are you getting full eBay sold? Like I wanna see that. But you're right. If somebody would come up with a crisp clean eBay sold comp checker. You know, Amanda, we gotta check because Vendu Go has a price recommender. So on their Vendu Go app. And I don't know where they get the numbers from because when regular I'm just so skeptical, it goes into and it shows me Depop. And what I should price at. And I I price everything way higher. I'm I'm like the opposite of y'all. I do not check sell through rate. I do not check she does not check cons. She is I love it. I love this for you. I have storage units and stuff, but I also have sold like bolo ties for four hundred dollars that people would sell for twenty five. You know, so it Sam has the audacity to do it and it works out for her. You know what, Sam? I love this. And I love the way that like again, this is showing people that like there's no one right way. Exactly. To run your business, you have to run it. And it's so funny because again, I'm in a a liquidation season. So last week I have my vintage pile. I have a Facebook marketplace pile where I can lock things together because apparently that's a no no unvented. Learn that. that can get you banned because you're you're reselling stuff from pallets or something. I don't know. AI is weird triggering things on vintage. So a friend of mine To your point, Sam. A friend of mine said, Hey, here's a bunch of stuff I was gonna donate. Look through it. If there's anything you wanna sell, sell it. If not, donate it for me. I'm like, got it. She gave me four to five really nice loft and J. Crew skirts that I'm like, I'm not gonna list loft. Not my thing, but I'm gonna sell it in a lot on on marketplace. So I've got a l yeah, like I've got a thing for that. I also have a I also have a sports bu bucket because right now it's sport season and people are getting into football and all that stuff is really selling right now. So it's finding the things. what I was gonna say is vintage. I had a pile of vintage. I don't know vintage. I know things. No one knows 'cause I mean there are like experts. I'm not that. I'm not that. It gives me ridey. I know I'm probably selling something for twenty five dollars. It should be sold for two hundred. So I let My friend who owns a vintage shop, she buys from me. And then I let her sell it. I actually found another vintage shop here in Nashville that buys. So whatever she didn't want, I took over there. They paid me fifty bucks. So it's like those things, finding what you're good at and what you have the audacity to do and like what you want to lean in and learn or like what you're willing to take a risk on. I'm not willing to take a risk on how I don't have the cash flow. So is just I think that's the beauty of it is that everybody can do something different and I think there's a misconception that it's super oversaturated and there's not room for what you want to do. I almost feel like it's less saturated now than it was five years ago because there's so many more buyers these days. For sure. Truly. there's more lease sellers too, but there are so many more buyers. People are truly trending towards secondhand first. Yeah. I really think there's yeah. Amanda, did you start I going to the bin store, the Amazon bin store and flipping? So I did that. I started with thrifting. I lived in a tiny, tiny town in Idaho. it's like an hour and a half from where I'm at now. And we had one thrift store, it was a senior center thrift store, but there was like the best vintage and like western. Yeah. So it because it was like gen like genuine cowboys, people that lived on ranches and farms in Idaho, they would donate their old stuff. So it was like such good with like Western vintage. I would find like Furs and anyway, so that was the first item I ever listed was a vintage fringe leather jacket. Ugh. And would you sell it for you're gonna tell me you sold it for fifty dollars and I'm gonna be like No, I think I did sell it for over a hundred dollars, but the fringe was Still too cheap on the bottom. It was. It was, but it was beautiful. And that was like where I like, my gosh. Like this and also it was so fun. It was so fun to find something that was like funky and different. So I started there and then when I moved to where I'm at now. I s there's a bin store that opened up almost as soon as we moved here and it was new and it was like they were all over TikTok. And so then I started going there. But for that, I would generally just grab that stuff and I would go straight to Plato's closet and I would drop my stuff off there. That's when I think I found you on TikTok. Yeah. And I remember being like, my gosh, I love her. but I was like so invested. But the reason like I wanted I made a mental note to ask you that today because I was like, wait, I can't remember if that's the way she started. But that's when I found you. So that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. That is that series is pretty much what blew my TikTok up. Yeah. my TikTok was getting general traction from resellers and stuff. But that was probably my first viral videos and stuff came from that. Because people would they'd be like, Can you really do that? And yeah, they would hate on me so bad. They'd be like, That's the mean I would get in fights with people because they would be like, You're taking from poor people and I'm like, No, it's just it's not I still have to deal with that with family members, with where they're like, Don't say that that's thrifted. You took it from somebody who's poor. And I'm like, No. So I had to explain, like, no, at maximum, it's going to be in the thrift store for four weeks. Then it is going to either be sold overseas or go to the landfill or go to the bins for a day and then go to the landfill or go overseas. So it's I think And then when we were in Dallas and we drove past the bins and there's like forty-five semi trucks in the back. And I was just like, No one can ever find a ballast. Yeah. Yo, okay. We gotta talk about ballast bins for a second. No, that place. Yeah. I didn't like it. I didn't either. So I have my favorite. I have this little series that I've done two episodes of and they go crazy every time. And I have them in my drafts and I need to list I need to post one one a month. Yeah. But I do this thing called Binfluencer and I like will tell you the lay of the land of that particular bins location because I road trip everywhere and that's I always stop at the bins. But I have one that I did in Dallas like a couple months ago. You guys, as I'm wearing my Dolly shirt today, I was driving to the Dallas Benz that was at the stoplight and my phone like I got an alert from threads or whatever and I clicked it and it was the announcement that Dolly had passed away. And I was literally like two stoplights from the Dallas bin. So I'm like, this cannot be real. So I pull in, I park. I'm like bawling in the parking lot. Had to text all my people. because we we thankfully got to interview her in twenty twenty two. And it was like the most it was like such a dream. and so we were like, We definitely have to like post that. And so I'm like, they're like, Where are you right now? And I'm like, So I will say my mental state was not top notch going in there. But I was like, you know what, I'm already here. I had already all my stuff stuff planned to film this influencer thing. And so I usually like walk in, say, like, here's the price thing. I noticed it was a dollar higher than it is here in Nashville. It's a dollar higher than Nashville. Nashville's lower. That was one one seventy nine. And they're doing This was one eighty nine. It was two now. It was two. I think it was two seventy nine. Ours is three ninety-nine. California was the highest. When I went to OC, I went to Orange County and I was like, ooh, but I would go back every day because like indoor outdoor and I'm like this. but I would I the thing that I noticed is I got yelled at or got screamed at actually which made me cry more You're like don't hurt my feelings I've already Dolly just died like what's wrong with you? but one of the things that I like to say in the video is like what the rotation is like and like what you need to do because it's probably the most fast. And it's like one of the most intimidating things for somebody new in the in the bins, because they're like, what do we do? Where are all these people lining up? what's happening? And there's all these rules that you do get real difference. You do get them if you don't do it properly. Exactly. So I'm standing, everybody's standing. They place the bins. And then they're like, you know, go ahead. And everybody starts walking. Well, in Nashville, you line up, they roll the bins, and as soon as they put that last brake on, you can go. So like they let everybody go. And so I just walked up to the bin and just saw a pair of jeans and like went in and these people started screaming at me, the customers. Yeah. They're like, don't touch that. And I was like, my god, you're like what the hell? and then they were like, You have to wait until they tell you you can. That's how it is in California too. Yeah. We are. Yeah. Yeah, that's not how it is in Utah. The one the only other bins I've been to is in Utah and they're like as soon as they're like, go ahead. They literally chain you off. So they draw off the chain and then you can it's fair game. They have they have conveyor belts in Indiana. that's cool. Wow. Which I have a bin fluencer up about that one. watch it. It it's very fascinating. So they put everything on a conveyor belt and they roll it out. But they do have you chained back. Then they draw off the chain and you can go to the conveyor belt. But then whenever they're ready to switch it out, they just roll it back. And then they roll out these things. This such a weird, I had no idea. I always feel like a seagull when I go to the bins. then so I never go to the new bins. I'm always like, No, I'm like, this is insane. Cause the same thing at the Colorado bins is you have like they are very strict. Like my sister in law probably got yelled at three times and they're like, We're gonna kick you out. Like If you because she just couldn't you're like no. She just couldn't figure out like to stay behind the line. She just couldn't she cause she wasn't paying attention. And it is so strict in a lot of these places. But don't be intimidated by everything we're saying, because they are fun. Although my thrifting got broken when we're in Dallas. I have only had the call to go thrifting once in three weeks since we've been back because Amanda and Becca shot me into the ground and I was like sitting there. And so that was so hard. That was one of the last stops we went to was the Dallas bins and then the Goodwill right next to it. Amanda, those red leather pants I got had mold. Yeah. So I had to toss them because you can't you can't get mold out of leather and I don't want to spray like There were these like suede red leather pants with blue. Yeah. Anyway, I had to toss them yesterday. I did find a really good thrift store in Dallas that I really liked. which one? I actually have a a piece of content sitting in my drafts about it too. It's called Family Place Resale. we didn't go to that one. It was and what I like to do and I I am curious to see how you guys do this, but like any time I see a thrift store being talked about in a city, like I have a travel principle, you know. and so that's why I'm like I like to try to tell other people when I like some place because I look for that for myself. I'm going to Atlanta this weekend for a family birthday party and I already know where I'm going Friday morning. It's this place that I've had saved for forever. She's like, I have the plan. Some girl did a video on this little this little family re resale shop. and all of the clothes were two dollars, but it was like fifty percent off. So everything was like a butt. That's right. and I found Diane von Furstenberg and I found Dave McLaughlin and brands that I know that sell for me really well. Yeah. and I ended up with a pile of stuff. Much much better stuff than I found at the bins there. but that whole like the bins, like the back side where it's just like they're just constantly dumping stuff the whole time. I'm like my like bales of stuff. Bales crazy. Yeah. It's smashing. Because a lot of places have a wall. Most of the places the Dallas one, no wall. It's all I've never been more overwhelmed than that. I just it was very overstimulating. Yeah. Very much. I got back from a thrift store. I got back from Vegas the other week. And there's this thrift store. I guess it's a chain called Santa thrift, and they sanitize everything. And it's like these warehouses. So I went to this like deserted mall and we used to go there. It used to be the outlets, and on your way from California to Vegas, and It's the only thing there other than food. There's the Santa thrift, and that's it. And it is a warehouse. I'll send you all some pictures where it's just like everything is steamed, everything is categorized, everything is hung up. I was walking around. They didn't have the best stuff because I mean they had good stuff, but a lot had flaws. Cause you can tell they get it at the bins, right? They're selling it for six dollars for a shirt, six dollars for a pair of pants. So they go to the bins, they get all this stuff. Cause Vegas also has a Salvation Army outlet, which I went to. Not a big fan of, but it was fine. Okay. But they and that it was very chill there, not like your typical bins situation. and so we went there and we were shopping for hours, but I was like, I feel like this is crazy. And I guess it's a chain because people don't like to buy things that aren't cleaned. But I'm like looking at that was their differentiation. So that's the whole differentiator is it's all been steamed, but it hasn't been washed. So I'm curious your thoughts on that. Cause I'm like, anything I got, I gotta just now go wash because it's only been steamed. So what are your what your thoughts? Do you do you all launder your stuff if you buy it at the thrift store? Do you launder it? Do you steam it? What do you do? How do you before you wear it, what do you do? And before you sell it, what do you do? Before I wear it, I wash it, obviously. What about if we what if you buy on Poshmark? Are you washing that stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I don't and no, I think a lot of people don't. I don't I used to launder everything. Mm-hmm. Same. I used to launder in everything. Yep. Same. But then I realized I think I ruined like I'm not a laundry. So many, so many things. I've ruined so many vintage. So many things. And I mean, even down to like I've I will say, okay, first off, I stopped laundering because of time. And two, I stopped laundering because I know people are very sensitive to detergent and stuff like that. Yeah. I do I do if I do launder anything, I use free and clear and I don't use my detergent. so I I'm very but I learned quickly that I'm like most people are gonna wash it anyway. I put it in my description. I say please launder because Yeah. I like that. Yeah, like please laund Yeah. I've had friends come to the bins with me and put their stuff on right after and I'm like, get that off of your body. And they're like, Really? And they're like, Yes, what are you doing? Yeah. That's gross. I mean and I mean now, sometimes I have tried things on in the bins. That's different. But like you're in my friends are like, sitting in your house. Sitting in your house wearing something you got from the bins, just sitting around. Yeah. Yeah. And then you don't I hear all the time. Every time I every time I go to the bins and I post content. For the love of God, please put gloves on. And I'm like, I hear you. No, never. However, the day that I reached in there and pulled out a new tags Jenny Kane hundred percent cashmere sweater that I felt specifically because I didn't have gloves on. Exactly. Exactly. Yep. That's why I don't wear gloves. I'm not gross. I wash my hands, hand sanitizer, but I'm not wearing gloves. So all that to say I'm I'm a germaphobe when it comes to people coughing and sneezing and stuff, but I'm not necessarily a dermaphobe about textiles. Betting. I don't do betting. But like clothes I can bring home and I can wash, right? If it's me, I'll wash it. If not, for time, I do not launder anymore. People are allergic. The other thing I will say, I've even gotten very, very, very real with myself. We were talking about earlier, like knowing what you will and won't do and knowing what like You're gonna bring that home and it's gonna sit with a broken zipper. Don't bring it home. Just don't know it. No projects. No projects. That's what we kept saying. We said that so many times in Dallas. We're like, no projects. We're not taking home projects. I am not a I'm not a stain remover girl. Yeah. It never works for me. I've watched so many videos. I have a collection on Instagram called cleaning, where I watch people overseas clean stains out of stuff or like whiten the bottom of like knifey shoes. Yeah. And I'm like I can't, it doesn't work for me. So now I know if it's something that like I cannot deny and it's like a $200 thing that I know that has like one little spot on it, I will just disclose the flaw. I'm not gonna try to get it out and make it worse. Yep. so make that decision for yourself. If you're gonna buy something flawed, if you think that you can list it by disclosing the flaw or you are a staying whisperer and you can get it out. Then get it. But if not, leave it where it is. Because And also people will buy it. People will buy it. If they're if it's a little stained, I have never had an issue. I don't I honestly don't think there's ever been anything I've listed with a flaw that hasn't sold. Because I don't have any used items in my inventory. And yeah. It will be quite a of stuff. I ha I just sold a leather skirt with broken zipper last week. So Yeah. Yeah, exactly. People know how to there's a lot of people getting back into sewing, I think too, is the other thing. And so they're learning how to do these things. There's a push for that. I just looked at the time and we are very over time. We can do the parts forever. But I have we have a question that we like to ask at the end of every episode. So I'm going to ask y'all, what is your rows and thorns or your high and low as a reseller this week? Would say my rose is I I am loving finding these new ways to supplement my business and like complement my business with the things that I struggle with and like kind of turning the thorn being I would say in the same breath. My thorn would be like the amount of things that I have, but it's also a rose because that means I've been finding because I know that I'm very selective about what I've got. I know that to be true, but I have been finding we are in really good, we've had hotter weather. So we're in really good yard sales season right now. And I've come across a bunch of yard sales in the last month where stuff has just been green. So I have a lot of stuff because I've gotten it for free. Yeah. but that is a thorn because I'm like, what do I do about all this stuff? Now I'm sitting in the middle of it and it's taking up space on my forehead and my closets and in in my retail rooms that it's like I can't keep this stuff. But I have been able to find ways of doing this closet clean out with whatnot and vintage and there are ways to to do this. And then if that doesn't work, I can go give it one last shot of the buy sell trade. And if not, it gets donated and I don't feel I don't lose sleep about that at night. so I think it's just like, you know, the rose is like finding really good inventory and finding good what things to do with it. Yeah. there I don't even want to call it a thorn because I love free stuff. But yeah. It's just like, you know Admin. The admin of the admin of doing it and like making time to like you know making time to make sure that I stay on top of the momentum that I'm gaining from doing all of this. Yeah. What about you, Amanda? My brose is, I think I'm getting back to whatnot this week. Thank goodness. I have never ever in almost two years taken off this much time. But I went straight from Dallas, then I got sick, and then I had shingles. no. Now my daughter's sick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now my daughter's sick. So, but my mom, she was like, if you want to do a show, as long as I can get my shit organized, because my thorn is that my garage is an absolute disaster. It is. I have just For the last almost four weeks. I don't believe you. I will send you a video. No, it really is. I've just been throwing stuff in there and then I can just shut the door and I don't have to look at it. That's like my ADHD. I've had people come in my house, they're like, house is clean. I'm like, just don't look in my closet, okay? Don't look in there. I can't like visual clutter makes me crazy. Same. But I do shove crap where I can't see it. That's what's my garage in. So if I can get through my garage, I'm gonna do a whatnot show tomorrow and I'm so excited because I genuinely miss it and I think I needed a little time off to miss it. I needed to have a break. Making a break so that I can be so excited. So you had shingles. Yeah. let's be real. I know. Yeah. Is there stuff a Yeah. So I'm like, okay, I think I'm ready and I'm really excited and I miss my people and I think it's gonna be fun. So bookmark. Wait, so that's your thorn is that you've been sick, and your rose is that you're not sick. And my and my thorn is that my garage needs a lot of help. So my rose and thorn are connected. I found Alexander McQueen and a McDougall knew a tags dress. I found those two at the thrift last week. Both have flaws. So those are, it's my Rosenthorn. The McDougal is easy. You can't even see it. It's like this tool, like very whimsicoth punk rock, like sequin dress. And there's a flaw in the tool. And I wish I had somewhere to wear it because it's so sick. and then the Alexander McQueen. I don't know if it's authentic, but it looks authentic. But there's two flaws. And so I'm like. Do I list it like what do I do? So I'm just gonna list them. I'm just gonna list the Alexander McCoon low and just see, just see what happens because it feels real to me. So though that's my rose and thorn. Yeah. Always authenticate, people. Always authenticate. Maybe I'll just do it. But I'll do authenticate real quick. That way you're just covered. Yeah. That way I know I can return it if not, like, hey, this is on not on the Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. And that way you're like, I feel like there's nothing again. I just feel like there's nothing with being able to just confidently because I hate That's true. I'll I'll do a quick step. But yeah. Do you use really quick, do you what platform do you use that to authenticate? what is the one that I've used in the past? I know Becca's using one. I don't use legit mark. I what is I used check check. That's what I use. I use authentic detective. I've had I like them. I cannot remember the last one. I Typically I buy most of my stuff authenticated because I source a lot online and so I won't buy laundry unless it's authenticated. smart. And then if I find something in the store, I can usually tell if it's authentic or not. But this one, this one has me a little tripped up with like, is it authentic? So it just doesn't have the interior tags, right? Which is a weird interior tags. But I also know people cut their tags out. yeah, exactly. Especially because it's a jumpsuit, isn't it? All the time. Yeah. Amber, what do you use? Check check. Check, check. I'll I'll I'll check. Check into that. Check check. the only reason I asked is because I saw some people in a reseller group on Facebook this week asking, like, if I wanted to get something authenticated, where should I go? And I'm like, there are so many. So I was just curious. There are. I'm gonna show Some of them will only like some won't authenticate certain things and well, I have Cartier glasses I got in a palette like over a year ago and I need to get them authenticated, but I guess Cartier, a lot of people won't. Authenticate Cartier because it's duped so often and so well. Yep. And so I'm like, I I'm too scared to yeah, I'm too scared to sell it because I don't want to sell something. Yeah. I need I need to look up jewelry. I don't buy jewelry, but I found this this cutie. Pretty it's an omega. wow. And it's got like it you can't see it, but it's got like It's got a little omega up here. It's got an omega on the little turn. got it for five dollars. That's crazy at a yard sale. But I'm like, who who can tell me how much this is worth? Like I can look on eBay, but I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. First Ibs. Who to go? First Ibs. Go to First Ibs. Look up first Ibs. and you know who else authenticates everything is Bestiaire. So I might just send it into them. yeah. Bestia Authenticates. They're my favorite platform. That's true. That's a good idea, Sam. Yeah. Or maybe I'll send it into the row just to have fun. But anyway, okay. Well, we're gonna do a part two of this because clearly that's okay. I can talk. And thank you all for listening. and Amber, where can I find you? We'll also link you in the show notes. Yes, I am at hey, it's Amber A on Instagram. And I'm at Amber Sand. Ampersand, but with a B. Amber Sand Projects on TikTok. Perfect. We're gonna leave all of that. And we are so grateful that you were able to make this happen with your 20 other jobs. I'm honored. I am honored. I am a ch I am a chatterbox. So it literally feels just like talking to a friend. So it's totally we appreciate you. I love it. Thank you guys. And thank you all for listening. Yeah.