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Reselling | A Father-Son Reselling Side Hustle with Scuba Steve · The Truth About Reselling

• speaker-0: Scuba Steve, welcome to the podcast. speaker-1: How are we doing today? speaker-2: I'm so glad you're here. speaker-1: Finally get to get back together here after the Dallas meeting up. speaker-2: I know. That was so fun. We speaker-0: That one. speaker-2: keep we're like, Okay, we need to do more, we wanna plan more. It was so fun to like be all together with people who you can actually talk to about what you do and they know and they get it. So speaker-1: Yeah, no, it was it was it was fun. I had a good time meeting and 'cause there was nobody there that I knew. Yeah. Which and there were some Dallas people there and it was that that kinda made it fun. speaker-2: Yeah. Yeah, that is really cool. I feel like that's w I hadn't met anyone in person until Dallas either. It feels like I knew a lot of them, but yeah, we had not actually met. speaker-1: Cause 'cause didn't I hear you say that y'all two had not ever physically met? speaker-0: Mm-hmm. And we shared a hotel room this the moment we met and it was like nothing it was like, and I was telling Amanda because we also hadn't met Becca and we were sharing a hotel room too. And I was like, it was easier traveling with you guys than it was like with my best friends. Like it's so speaker-2: similar and so chill and it was just like easy and fun and that's honestly how I felt about everyone that we met at the Dallas event though is it was just easy and it felt like we all knew each other and I think that social media does help with that. Because you feel like I feel like I know you even though I had speaker-1: I say that all the time. You know, and I it's it's kind of funny. I in the last two weeks, every s every single Goodwill or the Benz trip that I've been on, somebody has come up to me. speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-0: I've been wondering if you've run into anyone that was at the brunch out and about like an estate sample. speaker-1: Actually haven't. I haven't seen any of them. 'cause, you know, I would recognize them and everything, but haven't seen any of them. but but yeah, it's it's been kinda funny. I d I don't know what changed or what happened, but yeah, all of a sudden speaker-2: Now all of a sudden. speaker-0: Ten thousand, right? Isn't that what happened? Now you're getting pushed out 'cause I'm seeing your content way more than I ever was. speaker-1: Right, right. And maybe that's maybe that's the deal they're pushing it out a whole lot more 'cause yeah. Yeah, it's growing it's growing a lot lately. speaker-2: That's so awesome. Have you had any weird interactions with people or has it all been good? speaker-1: No, honestly no. it's been it's been all good. Everybody's just like I mean, when I was at the Benz a couple trips ago, I was there's no carts always. If you're if you're not like the first fifty people through the door, there's no carts. You're never gonna get And there was a guy checking out and I was just kind of lurking just behind him a little bit, you know, after you checked out, I like, Hey, I'm just gonna follow you get your cart. And he like, Hey, you're scoops here. So we ended up being super cool. We walked out and and and talked a little bit, but but yeah, so it's been it's been funny. speaker-2: That is really cool. Yeah. It's always too surreal when that happens too. You're like, wait. speaker-0: Does it happen to you, Amanda? speaker-2: it does. I live in a fairly small town, but every once in a while it will. I had a lady one time, it was when I was making a lot of videos of the like bin store, which was like the Amazon bin store. yeah. And I had someone come up and she like wrapped me in a hug, and I was like, speaker-1: Whoa whoa speaker-2: And she was so nice. Like it was not it, but I was just like, I didn't know who she was. So I and she was like, hi, follow you. And she was very, very sweet. But nothing, nothing too weird. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: That would freak me out. speaker-2: And no, I was just like, wait, and I'm not really like a touchy filly person. So I kind of was like taken aback. But she was just so kind. She was just happy. But it is kind of weird when you're like, I don't know these people, but they feel like they know us. And I feel that same way. Like, I feel like I know people because I see so much of their lives. So I get it. I get it. But it is, it's always it. Yeah. speaker-0: One thing I will say about like content creators in the reselling space, because I'm not a content creator, but I like you all. it's very different from the mommy influencer space. Like people on the mommy influencer space, in my experience, are not who they are online. Like it's a curated persona. They're kind of mean in person and they're like looking over your shoulder for the n person who has the bigger followers. Like and so that was speaker-2: What's most advantageous for them? See, I did not feel that way at all when we were in Dallas. Like being surrounded with so many people. I was just like, I love everyone and everyone is exactly as I would have expected. And I yeah. So that that's kind of crazy. I'm glad we're not a part of that because I I don't know. I told Becca I was like, the worst thing someone could say to is like, wow, Amanda is not what I expected. She's way worse than I expected. That would be so offensive. I would feel so bad. Like speaker-1: Hundred percent, hundred percent. And they're like yeah that's not who who you yeah play on T V kind of thing. Yeah. speaker-2: Exactly. I would be like, Okay, I'm doing something wrong, like speaker-0: Yeah, no, for anyone listening, these people who we're interviewing and who are on here are exactly who they are. and what was really cool, Steve, is you brought your son because he's also into reselling. I thought that was the coolest thing. So you have you have a landscaping business, right? But you've been reselling on and off for what, twenty, twenty-five years? speaker-1: Yeah, I mean I started started back well put it this way, I was always actually a user of eBay. I w I would buy stuff off of eBay just rent like not ever not ever clothes. I've never never bought clothes off of there, but I have bought some some boots, things like that. anything that I buy, I do buy new most of the time. Yeah. If it if it has to be that kind of a product on there. But I have bought like I Lot of people don't like it, whatever, but I bow hunt and I bought my bow back a few weeks ago off of eBay. It's perfect. And I say thousands. But yeah. So I I started in so I think it was about 2003. randomly we went out to dinner and the couple we were with, the husband, had just started selling jeans on eBay. And I was like, wait, what? You know, just it the whole concept, just nothing about it. It's like I said, this is before. YouTube, this is before anything, two thousand, you know, early two thousands. And I was like, this is what piqued my interest, of course. I'm that kind of guy, I'm an entrepreneur, that's just my my nature. And so I had an old pair of seven for all mankind bootcut jeans that didn't fit me anymore, but they were a great size. And I was like, I'll put on here. And you everything was auction back then. And so it was like Every day I was like, my gosh. it's still going. And it went up to it still to like sixty seven dollars or something like that. And I was like, speaker-2: Hooked wow. speaker-0: You're you're like, I'm hooked. speaker-1: So yeah, went went through the closet, got some of the random stuff out of there, and then started, you know, he I was like, Well, he went to Goodwill's. I'll try that. So I I just sold jeans for a few years, then had baby and stuff, and we stopped. And then when my son he got into the vintage craze back three or speaker-2: Thank you. speaker-1: four, whatever years ago, and I was just he took me to some of these like resale kind of vintage shops and I was just like, This is all junk and you're paying forty dollars for and so speaker-2: Just the markup's crazy. speaker-1: I told him I was like, Look, I'm gonna take you to the source. So I started taking him thrifting and of course me being in there, I started looking at stuff and be like, Well I could I could sell that. speaker-2: You're like, wait, this is good stuff. speaker-1: So that's it just it the snowball started again. So speaker-2: That's so fun. That's speaker-0: That's also really cool thing to get into with your kid. Like it teaches them about money, it teaches them about business and discipline and speaker-1: Well and for me, he was fourteen at the time. And what kind of job can you get at fourteen? Not really anything. Not much. speaker-0: Restaurant. Can't do that anymore? speaker-2: No, I think most of it's fifteen or sixteen. speaker-1: Fifteen and up. And so, you know, other than mowing people's yards and that industry is totally gone. You know, it's like you could do this and make some serious cash. And so he started on just Deepop. We had separate businesses, and he was on Deepop. And then he started seeing all the stuff that I was selling on eBay. And he's like, Well, wait a minute. And so we decided finally just to kind of put it together and Yeah. speaker-2: Okay, so you guys have combined. speaker-1: And so so he'll he'll source, he'll Like he consolidated all my inventory, the stuff so so it's exactly speaker-0: That's how you got it like that. needs to come and do mine. speaker-1: it's it's a pain. You know, and we I think he cleared out like twenty nine boxes, which is wild. speaker-0: Honestly, a business is sorting resellers' inventory and itemizing it. Like I would pay for that. I'm gonna pay for Amanda and Becca to come and do what not shows for my storage unit. I'm not kidding. speaker-1: Yeah, you you might need to do that. speaker-0: Yeah. And then he can come and organize it for me. Is he still doing this? 'Cause I know he he's a senior, right? speaker-1: Guys a senior and and so with football and everything, time is very limited. but yeah, he's still he still really likes to go down to the bins with me. and then now that we have a goodwill literally on the corner of the house of the neighbor Yeah, speaker-2: I can't believe that. That's so lucky. speaker-1: he's he's been stopping in there and so he's more at this point into the sourcing one part. And then I'll make him do some stuff like this, but he hadn't he just doesn't have a lot of time to do listings and I and I get it, you know. speaker-2: Time consuming. So that makes sense. speaker-1: Yeah. So I'm like if you can take a few things and when he goes to the gym, he'll take packages to the mailbox, you know, things like that. Yeah. So speaker-2: That's I always Yeah, I always think though this is such a it's such a good skill to have in your back pocket, even if you're not actively using it. Like I've always said that if I even if I were to stop reselling, if I needed to make money, I would know exactly how to do it in a very efficient way. And it is genuinely a real way to make money. It is. And if you have the skills, you could pick that up at any time. And I think I I told my brother, my brother's 11 years younger than me. I'm the oldest, he's the youngest. And when he was in college, I was like Cause he was totally like he loved vintage. He was always thrifting. I'm like, you could do this from your dorm room. You could. Like you couldn't have a mass amount of inventory, but you could have two hundred items in a couple of bins. And as long as you were turning them over quick enough, you could have a real business from your dorm room and probably make more than you're making at a fast food restaurant. speaker-0: Yeah. Do you know some of the top Depop sellers are doing it from their dorm room? Like one have you seen the guy who he just graduated and his dorm room from top to bottom was jeans? And speaker-2: That is speaker-0: he didn't graduate. He's like one credit behind. I'm like, come on, buddy, just graduate. Just get that. Do speaker-2: Mm-hmm. speaker-0: it. And like, but no, a lot of the kids on Depop, I say kids like because they're under graduation. I mean they have great eyes and they're flipping things for way cheaper than maybe we might. speaker-2: And they also know what people want because they're wearing it. So I think that is like a little different. For me, it's like bread and butter brands make sense because that's what I wear. So, but for them, they're wearing the vintage stuff. They're wearing the Y2K stuff. So they know exactly what to pick up because they're exactly. speaker-1: The girl would want or something like that. speaker-0: When I sell something on Deepop, I get such a high 'cause I'm like, Yes, the young kids like me. No, I'm not even kidding. It feels like so good. And I'm like, and they they brought they like me. That's great. speaker-1: Yeah, and I I sell Deepop is by far my second best platform. ebay is still always king, you know, whether people people want to hate on it and I get it. But Deepop is Deepop is strong second. speaker-2: That's cool. I need to put more effort into Depop. I am the same way. I love eBay. eBay and Poshmark, I swear every month it's different. Like one time eBay's higher and the next Poshmark's higher. But I really like eBay. But I need to put more time and effort into Depop, I think. speaker-1: Yeah. It's you know, and I'm I think it helped when if they have a pretty easy milestone to make top seller in there. You know, it's like sell however many in, you know, three months, whatever it is, and make this amount of money. It's it's something it's very simple to do. You just have to keep that up for like it is the three months or something. And I think all those little things like that, and I promote in there, I d I do all the different things just because in the end, you know, everybody gets so hung up on The fees and the this and the promotion fee like they're like they're nickel and diamond and I and like I get it, but they don't under so many people don't understand. They never owned a business in speaker-2: I agree a hundred percent. speaker-1: Have to get customers. Ben speaker-2: I know. So Yeah, I have said that for years. I ran like a tiny little clothing boutique. It was like kids' clothing. And I'm like, but customer acquisition costs so much money. Having your own website costs so much money. And like the and also then you don't even can't even consider the time it takes to build up a customer base. I'm like, I will I'll give a twenty percent fee all day, every day if you are giving me customers. You're literally giving me a pool of customers. I will never shit on a fee that a come like that a platform that and they're also paying millions of dollars in advertisement. And yeah. So I'm just like I don't think yeah, I think the people that have those issues are like they've never had to acquire customers before and understand how expensive that is. speaker-1: Yeah, that's that's that's the key. And you know, the way honestly, the way I look at it, if I say, okay, at the end of the month, you know, I paid, you know, we're just gonna two hundred dollars, whatever in fees, in my mind, all I say is, okay, well I need to sell, you know, eight more items that month to just cover it, kind of thing. And that's kinda how I I look into the different speaker-2: Such a good way to look at it. speaker-1: It's just like, okay, I I just need to sell one more item and I'll make up for whatever fee that I had, things like that. So yeah. This is speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: how I look at it. speaker-0: I feel like if you're just getting started, Deepop and Poshmark are my two that I would recommend. I wouldn't used to recommend Deepop, but how easy it is now speaker-1: It's speaker-2: Yeah, it's it's just like it's continuing to trend upwards. I think it's becoming much more common, not just for Gen Z. Like we actually talked to Depop people and they're actively trying to acquire old like an older speaker-0: Folks like us. speaker-2: They don't want it just to be young, young kids. So I think I think Depop is only going to continue to get better and more competitive. speaker-1: Yeah. And everybody hates and including myself, the non binding. You know, speaker-2: That pisses I speaker-1: but I I did I did finally hear a reason for it because I just I never could understand. And what I heard was that when you know when eBay bought Depop there and everybody wanted that to happen, they looked at the demographic and it's un like it's it's something crazy, like ninety percent whatever is under eighteen. And so speaker-0: It's a speaker-1: legally bind an under a minor into a agreement, you know, so to speak, a a monetary agreement. Interesting. So they that's the reason why they can't do that binding thing on there for because they they're afraid they're gonna lose ninety percent of their customers. speaker-2: Yeah, most of their customer base. Interesting. speaker-0: You know, those used to bug me a lot more than they do now. I don't even care anymore. I'm like, Great, you gave me an offer, I just accept. Yeah. Great. See ya. If if you buy amazing. speaker-1: Then when I hear that little caching, I'm like, it worked. You know, that's speaker-2: You guys ever have one or two items that like you will get a million offers on and no one will buy? That happens to me on Depop and I don't understand. I'm like, why I will every once in a while there will be one item. I will get like twenty five offers on it and no one will buy it. Like why is it speaker-1: I've got speaker-2: this one? I don't know. Yeah. speaker-0: Pay attention to that. I don't I have no idea. I don't I should look at like what people are liking and sending offers on, but I I literally am just like excited. speaker-2: Every once in a while it'll just be like one where I'm like, I don't know if it's just like hitting the top of the search results or something, but like I will get so many offers on it and no one will buy it. speaker-1: Yeah. No, I I had a pair of like some Y2K girls, like they were airpostle or something, like flare leggings, like they're the super Y2K thing. And when I say I had hundreds of offers speaker-0: Billy. speaker-2: Yeah! speaker-1: And I w so many of them like say say they were thirty two bucks, so many of them were like eighteen dollar offer, and I'm like, no. No. You know, and so I would I would sit there and and you know Counter offer back, a reasonable offer. And it just went on and on. Finally, somebody paid full price in there. But I was like, speaker-2: Yeah it's interesting. speaker-0: Yeah. That is interesting. I've never I should pay attention to that, but I'm just like, ad admin's not my strong suit. Like I I just wish it was, but but maybe I could have like AI go through. What was light? What you know, like where did I get the most offers? your inventory system fascinates me, and I know that you just mentioned your son did it, but how is your inventory set up and Asking for a friend who might need inventory management. speaker-2: Teach us your ways. Yeah. You speaker-1: Okay, me. speaker-2: know. And also how many items do you have in your inventory? I'm always curious. speaker-1: Yeah, it's it's funny. I actually somebody comment yesterday, they're Hey, I see because I had it in the back of a TikTok or something like that. And they're like, I see a bunch of empty boxes over there. What's going on with your inventory? And that's the sad thing is that I've been so busy these last couple of weeks in the landscaping stuff that I haven't had time to list as much as what I normally would. Like I try and do 20 items a day, but here in the last couple of weeks, there's been numbers of days totally missed. And then on average, it was about 10 items that I put in there. And so, you know, I I sell a lot of stuff. And so I went from I was kind of hanging around sixteen hundred, seventeen hundred, 'cause I'm try I wanted like two thousand, like that's my kind of my store goal kind of thing. and so I should have this whole shelf over here on the side of me completely full, and it's completely empty right now. Wow. Steve needs to get to listing is the bottom line. speaker-2: Do you have a lot of inventory at your house that you could list? No. speaker-1: So well, I mean I I actually I'm one of those people that I'm not like Sam. I don't have this giant death pile of clothing to list. Like when I go to the bins, I usually get one or two Hulkin bags completely full. That's kind of usually my standard. And that will last that could last a week. but you know, I try and go, my my goal is usually sourcing twice a week. that's just kind of how I do it. That's good. And so between two trips to the bins, and then I'll hit the little Goodwill on the corner for new racks coming out. But that's kind of how I do it. And I don't keep like a lot of death pile by any means. I wish I had more, but I just I try and listen, I try and go through as much as possible. speaker-0: What about knickknacks in your house and like your wife's stuff or your son's stuff? speaker-1: we I I try not to pull out of there. speaker-0: Maybe you guys aren't that cluttered. Like I could look around my house and be like, here's fifty things I could sell from this room alone. Like speaker-1: No, my my wife is one of these very neat, clean type A kind of people and so clutter doesn't doesn't last very long in our house. Now my mom, my god. speaker-2: Let's go. speaker-1: I go over there and I'm like, that's that you know, the the Pyrex stuff that has a little speaker-0: yeah. speaker-1: I'm like, She's got all those, she's got all the hummels, all the I mean you speaker-0: Be like, Can I have this? I'll give you some money. speaker-1: Yeah, I'm just I'm just walking through, I'm like, every single thing that this speaker-2: No, I do that at my grandparents' house all the time. I'm like, there's a lot of it's stuff that's just old, but it's now valuable, but they don't know. They don't know that it's valuable, but I'm sitting here and I'm like, You guys, there's so much valuable stuff in here. speaker-0: Do you not ask them to sell? Whenever I go into my mother in law's I'm like, Can I sell this for you? And she's like, no, I'm not even joking and She's speaker-2: She's like checked out. speaker-0: like, Sure Or she'll be like, No, I don't wanna sell that, I like it and I'm like, Come on, you don't use it, like give 'cause her closet is like, you know, Johnny was, Saint John, all this stuff and I'm like Mackenzie Child. So I I'm like speaker-2: It's like a dream. speaker-1: I take one piece of the side. speaker-0: I know, I'm like, I could open up literally a boutique. I'm like, could we do a state sale? But like while you're alive and and she's like, No, stop it speaker-2: It's like leave me alone. speaker-0: Okay, so your inventory. I know you put it in your nifty and you number it. So i in each box, is it just like you get an item and you put it in an empty box, or do you get an item and you put it in one of those boxes behind you? speaker-1: So so how it works is and that's the reason we have to do this last week in the consolidation, is that you start at box one and the first number would be number one. It's not number one anymore, but 'cause it's sold a million years ago, but it starts there and it goes back. And then you go to the next box and you go up. And so you're constantly like I'm currently on six thousand nine hundred. Right now. That's that's you've sold a lot. And so that's two racks. So that tells you how much has sold, you know, over since I started the numbering system there. You know, there's boxes that'll s have like a hundred in between, you know, that's nothing there. but so yeah, so you just you get a new number, just sequential going up, and they just get behind each one that you've just done. And so eBay and Poshmark. Have an area for a custom SKU number in the item description. It's like the very, very last little box you can fill in and down there. And it's not visible to buyers. That's one of the ones that isn't visible to buyers. So you can put that in there on those two platforms. I also take a picture. I like kind of some checks and balances in this because it's just with that much stuff. You got to keep stuff pretty organized. And so I take a picture of it as well and I put that in the listing. That's the very last picture in the listing is a picture of just that the bag with the SKU number on there. So on Depop, they don't have a custom SKU number on there. And so if you're not using something like Nifty, it speaker-0: Yeah, I gonna say there'sn't your cross lister. speaker-1: it has it in there, you have to have a picture of it. Or somewhere in the description, you write, you know, number six eight four nine or whatever. speaker-0: Or a spreadsheet if you're gonna do it that way. speaker-1: Yeah, and that would be hard. I mean, just because then you'd have to kind of go through and it would just be a pain. It's I I anything I can do to speed up the process, that's what I do. speaker-2: I the picture idea. I think that's really nice. Knowing it's just gonna be on every no matter where you list it, it's the last picture. I think that's so smart. speaker-1: And the the one little issue, it's it's all of it was depop. Depop only allows what like eight pictures now. It used to be like five. It was ridiculous. And now now it's eight. And so I I take a decent amount of pictures of each listing. And so there's been times when the number didn't get in the depop listing because there just wasn't room and I may have to take something out or something like that and and replace it in there just to make sure I know for for certain that is that item. speaker-0: Wait, but don't you put it in your nifty? Don't you do your listing from your nifty? So you can go back your nifty. Okay. speaker-1: I I do it like that, but if somebody didn't have nifty or a Vindu or anything like that and they were just trying to cross list or list stuff, you know, on different platforms by by manual, you know, it you'd really need to have it in there somewhere. speaker-2: Yeah. speaker-0: Another reason to get a cross list or whatever platform you go with. It it's so helpful. have you noticed changes in eBay and Deepop since the acquisition of Deepop? speaker-1: It's no f like physical changes that I can tell, but I mean, just like everybody said, I this year has been down in sales compared to last year the same time and everything. Yeah. Fairly dramatically, honestly. Like mine's down like thirty percent. speaker-0: Buy something on Poshmark, buy something on each platform. I bought something this weekend, my sales skyrocketed. Just buy something small. It pushes you up into the algorithm because instead of and this is allegedly, okay, everyone, I'm not I I don't I don't work on the product team. but yeah, I've noticed any time things are going slow, I just buy something. And my sales speaker-1: You're the first one I've ever heard say that at all. speaker-0: yeah, buy something cheap. I bought a pair of boots for myself and yeah, well, maybe for myself, we'll see if they're cute. and but I did it on different platforms and it pushes you up because it turns you from a reseller into a customer. And so you're like you're more integrated with the system. So try it and report back, especially on Poshmark, it'll work. speaker-2: Interesting. speaker-0: and again speaker-1: Talk about one thing on Poshmark. speaker-0: Do speaker-2: Never happened. speaker-0: it? Do it as an experiment. Do it as an experiment. Buy a shirt for your wife or something. Or I I'm telling you, if you are having slow sales, you have to and it's so counterintuitive, right? Because you're like, I want to save money because I'm not making so buy something that you really want or that's cheap or something like that. speaker-2: something on there if we can find a good deal. speaker-0: Exactly. and there are really good items to source right now. Yeah. But I bought stuff and it was just like bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And I mean I all I also listed things, but I list things every day. So speaker-1: N nothing changed with that. speaker-0: Yeah, and every time, every time I buy something on the platform, that happens to me. So same with eBay, same with ZB. speaker-1: That's I I've never thought or even heard that before. I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to give that a shot. speaker-2: Yeah, me and Steve are gonna go test that and we'll report back. speaker-0: I know. I wanna hear no, because I I have tested this multiple times and so maybe it's just a fluke, but I don't know. I don't think it is. I think it's an algorithm thing where they want you to participate in the whole loop rather speaker-1: I mean it's always been known that eBay wants you to be active on their platform. Yep. They reward that with sales. Like, you know, I I used to tell people back, you know, last year and stuff. I'm like, if you haven't had any sales, ship your old sales and it's almost guaranteed when you s go through there and ship some stuff, you'll get another sale. speaker-0: That's the same on Poshmark. If you're not shipping, it like won't give you new sales. Yeah. But unless you buy speaker-2: I always feel irritated by Poshmark a little bit because I feel like they really just make you play the game. And it is it's annoying and it's unnecessary because it's like we just want to sell stuff and people want to buy stuff, but you kind of make us jump through stupid hoops to get it. And it's like we will do it. If it means we're gonna sell more, we'll do it. But it's annoying and I don't I don't know how necessary that is. speaker-1: I think you can understand it to be speaker-0: I think it's for their board. Like to be honest, I think it's when they present to their board and their investors, they're saying, Hey, here's the engagement we have. Here's how many people buy. Like I truly think it's for their board deck every month would be my guess. Because they need to show engagement, especially against each other. at least based on my experience, that's the stuff we used to have to do. And so speaker-1: That makes sense. I mean that's th honestly, that's one of the big things that sold me on you know, my the nifty thing is that the automation side of it, not the cross session side the automation, it does all the shares and the likes and all that junk for I there's no way I'm gonna do that. I would I'd never touched it. You know, like speaker-2: No, exactly. speaker-0: Time and you don't like who wants to sit in front of your computer like we're doing this so we can have a life? speaker-1: Yeah, sharing, sharing, liking eye that's speaker-2: I don't I know I wish there was a way to track on either nifty or Vendu or Primelist or whatever you use of like how much you've made specifically based on their actions because I'm sure it's very significant for anyone that uses one. speaker-1: I I guarantee. speaker-0: I wonder if they track that on the back end. We should see. speaker-2: I know. No, because it would be so interesting to know how much 'cause I know I know there's like already a lot of statistics out there that like the majority of sales come from offers, whether they're giving sending you an offer or you're sending it out. But speaker-0: I also experimented with turning my offers off last week. How did you end? Great. Still speaker-2: Really? You still were selling speaker-0: we're sell I was selling stuff for buy now. So hold on, let me pull up on my Poshmark real quick. Because I was like, am I leaving money on the table? And ever since we dropped my my prices when we were in Dallas, I haven't gone in to fix them. And I guess my Prime Lister didn't fix them. So hold on, let me. speaker-2: So Steve, what do you what's your offer that you send out on Nifty? speaker-1: ten percent off. Okay. Yeah. speaker-2: twenty. And then I I dropped it down to fifteen. But I'm like, twenty's a lot. That's a big especially if they still want to negotiate with you. speaker-1: That's that's my whole deal. The way the way I look at it is that if if somebody is tr and and you'll you'll know if somebody is truly interested in a product, they they saw your original price and they were more or less okay with it and enough to make an offer. So if they're gonna put in the little bit of effort to make an offer, if they're a realistic buyer, not just some thirteen year old putting in a thing on on D pop, but if they're realistic and they think that that was just a little bit too high. They'll come back with a counter offer and then you can accept or something there. speaker-2: Yeah, I totally agree. speaker-1: 'Cause I think ninety nine percent of the people that don't accept an offer or counter or something, they weren't they weren't real buyers no matter what. They weren't gonna buy it. speaker-2: That's true. They were just lurking, seeing if they could send you like a get a crazy, crazy deal on it. But yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. I there's tons of people that, you know, they'll offer some crazy lowball and I know it's them just saying, Well shoot, if he accepts it I'll take it, but I don't really care. speaker-2: Right. I mean I've done that before where I'm like, Well, I'm not gonna spend sixty dollars on it, but I mean if they give it to me for thirty five speaker-0: yeah. I think and a lot of people like you said want to buy it regardless. So if you send them an offer, I actually just changed mine to 10% before turning it off. But look at my screen. This is from this month. I don't know if you can see it, but it's nearly a quarter. And speaker-2: Wow. speaker-0: something I realized in just talking to my friends who don't resell is they don't they don't expect offers. They're like, wait, what? Like people send offers, so I think it's like They're excited to get one, but they're not expecting one. And so I was like speaker-2: I speaker-0: an experiment. speaker-2: I I think it's smart. I just bought a bagu bag off of Poshmark. I sent her an offer. She declined it and I just bought it full price because I wanted you know, like I was like, I want that bag. Obviously I'm gonna try and get a lower price, but I wanted the bag. I was gonna buy the bag anyway. speaker-1: Did you lowball it? speaker-2: No, not at all. I think I I think I only sent her like eight bucks off. speaker-1: And she declined it. Then why would you have an offer speaker-2: I will say her she must be like just selling her own stuff. So I don't think she she's not a reseller. Her closet was very small, like twenty items or something. So I think she was just someone selling her own stuff. So maybe didn't understand kind of that because when she declined it, I was kinda like, I don't know that I've ever had an offer declined. Ever. And I we buy quite a bit of stuff on Poshmark. I'm the type of person that like, if my son needs new cleats, we let him pick out his cleats, he goes and tries them on, and then we go to Poshmark and find a brand new. And I buy there. So because I'm like I and also I would love to give someone that's selling something money my money instead of going to the store. So we do my husband does that all the time. He'll like have Beckett, he'll try him on, make sure we know what size he needs, and then he goes straight to Poshmark. So but yeah, I don't think I've ever had someone decline an offer, especially a reasonable offer. Like I I don't try I try not to lowball because I know how annoying that is. Yeah. So like I don't I try not to lowball too often. Unless someone has something priced outrageously where I'm like, you don't understand the market. speaker-1: And that I think that's where I come from. It's like I I'm looking I'm like I know this is nowhere near this, so my speaker-2: You're not going to get speaker-1: my my speaker-0: I don't know guys. You know how I sell. just the audacity. I mean speaker-2: I know. speaker-0: people tell me I get messages all the time. People are like that will never sell for that. And then it sells for full offer. So I'm like, you can go fuck yourself. Watch you guys have been messaging me not realizing how I speaker-2: Like Sam. speaker-0: Like it'll never but I think everyone's business is different and so that's like I mean, you guys know my storage unit situation, so so maybe the I dus Audacity isn't working that well. speaker-2: It is working. It's working. You're getting way more than what other people would get simply because you care to try for that. I think that and this is something we want with this podcast is to say like look at how all of these different ways that you can do it and you can still be successful. speaker-1: That's that's so so true out there. Cause you know, I tell people all the time, like when you go to the thrift store, get the very best of the best. Don't just get some okay stuff. Like if you're if you're just starting out and money's tight and you want quick turnover, then be super picky. speaker-0: Yeah, get one good item, maybe even pay more for it. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. speaker-2: Mm. Yeah. Hundred percent. Do you check sell through rate? speaker-1: Every well, if I don't know it, which now obviously I know a lot of things. Yeah. But yeah, I still look up I mean I happened to I stopped by Goodwill this morning and I I there was a pair of I don't have the bag here. They were called like Kilt K I L T. It's like a mountain performance hiking camp. I didn't know Kilt. speaker-2: Yeah, I've never heard of that brand. speaker-1: Never seen it, never heard of it before. I looked it up and yeah, it sells great. So yeah, I I still look up stuff. All the time. speaker-2: Same. I'm the same way. And Sam is the opposite. So like Sam never touches. speaker-0: I've never looked it up. speaker-2: But for me, it's like I live and breathe by sell-through rate. Like I'm not going to pick something up. And sometimes I almost wonder if it's to my detriment that like maybe I should still try, especially with palette stuff. Sometimes I'm like, I'll just throw it in a whatnot show then. Right. When it probably would have been worth it. But I'm like, if the sell-through rate's under 50% or whatever, like I yeah, I I really love. speaker-1: I can see that. That's that that would not be a bat like if it's under fifty percent, put it on a whatnot show. speaker-2: 'cause I don't want to hold on to it. I'm not I'm gonna get more inventory. I'm not gonna hold on to it. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. Inventory's not your your problem. speaker-2: Yeah, exactly. speaker-0: You know what's interesting talking about this? I don't even I don't even think I know how to look up your salt through rate, like honestly. But I had no I know this is you guys, this is why I say we're not experts. These two might be, but I'm not an expert. I'm just doing this. But like I had this pair of jeans I picked up the literally like two days ago. A pair of barrel jean pistola. speaker-2: Good s speaker-0: A decent size and I was like, I'll list I'll list at one thirty five. They're currently selling at like one seventy five or one eighty five. Somebody bought full price. But if I went kidding me. No, I'm telling you, you guys, you just have speaker-2: You would have here this is this is the thing though. Pistola jeans would have sold, I would have listed them for like 65. So speaker-0: That's the thing. Guys, speaker-1: I'm assuming Amanda. speaker-0: you have to just like something to learn from people. There's I'm around a lot of wealthy people and so like I'm like, they're buying these things, I'm sure someone and it literally was like forty eight hour sale. speaker-2: See, what is shocking to me is not even necessarily that you got that price, it's how fast you got that price. That's blowing my mind. Because like I could see I mean, barrel leg, pistola is a good brand. Barrel leg is like the hottest style of jeans. So like you had a lot of good stuff working for you, but the fact that they sold that fast, I'm like, were there not other ones in the same style, same size, like price lower? Cause you would think I don't know. I just I think it's cool. I think you're proving that like there's other ways to do it. speaker-0: There are. speaker-2: Sam is really good at going off of her gut instincts though. And I think there's something to learn from that too. That like we can have all the analytics right in front of us, but like sometimes you have to have a gut feeling that like this is a good item, this is on brand, I have my knowledge, like I'm gonna use what I know and from my experience and just like price it high. I don't think speaker-1: And I see me in Vermont all the time. That's that's so important. Like I know because I I sell mainly men's stuff and I n it's it's kind of become a joke now. If it's something that I would really want or keep or wear, it will sell the next day. speaker-2: Yeah, 'cause you have the taste and also you know a lot of brands. Yep. speaker-1: The stuff that's in my wheelhouse that I know that I like I said I would wear or something like that that I think, that looks really good, whatever. Guaranteed. Because I'll a lot of times I'll take something that'll be like, I may wear this a couple times. I'll go ahead and list it while I'm wearing it. Yeah. And we'll sell sell the next day. Hands down. Every time. speaker-2: And that's always so gratifying when you know. When you're when you pick something up and you're like, I know this is gonna do well. And then when it does, you're just like, see, I'm good at this. Like I know what I'm doing. speaker-1: No, that's so true though, actually. speaker-0: That is the best when you're like, thank goodness I know. Yeah. I will also say Texas has amazing thrifting. Like speaker-2: Really do. speaker-1: It's pretty good, it really is. You know, I have not had the opportunity to travel drifting around very much. just kinda we go down to Louisiana and I'll hit those down there and it's actually Baton Rouge area and stuff like that. It's actually really good. we've done we've done quite well down there and but yeah, all over Texas is just we've just got a lot. I mean, down in Houston alone, they have like what, four or something bins locations. Wow. I mean, that's crazy. speaker-2: I mean, when we pulled into the bins in Dallas, I was like, the forty five semi trucks full of shit behind I was like, this is wild. It is so crazy. speaker-1: It's so much stuff that comes through that. It's just absolutely wild. speaker-2: Yeah, it's insane. speaker-0: I mean, we're trying to come back. Honestly, we're trying to figure out how to come back because it was like Austin also has great thrifting. their prices are definitely higher though. Yeah. Their prices are Bay Area prices. speaker-2: This is like something I think is interesting and I've been thinking a lot about this is like people will complain like I don't have good thrifting but then you go to the Bay Area by Sam and it's like she has good thrifting but the prices are a lot higher. speaker-0: All the jeans were thirty five dollars. I picked them up for thirty five dollars. And speaker-2: That's see. speaker-0: I sold them for one thirty five. speaker-2: I think I'm kind of sick of people complaining and like using their, you know, like using their circumstances to like say why they can't be successful. Because Idaho, like Sam and Becca like, we'll come to Idaho. And I'm like, you're not gonna be thrilled with the thrifting in Idaho. It takes a lot more digging here, but my prices are probably the cheapest I've ever seen. Well, we like my goodwill still has set prices for like $4.99 for any jeans. Like they don't they don't price things individually. So like you can when you exactly and when you find good stuff, like yes, it takes more digging, but when you find good stuff, you can like I found a Magnolia Pearl cardigan. It was $3.99 because it was just on the cardigan aisle. You know what I mean? If if you were at a bigger city, they would have priced that at a hundred bucks because they would know what they have. So I think like you kind of just have to take your circumstances and make the best of it. speaker-0: Totally. speaker-2: And because everyone has like different pros and different cons, depending on where you live. It's not the reason you're not successful. It's not. You can be successful with whatever you have access to. You just have to figure out how. speaker-1: Yeah. No, I I I get I had a I remember I had a lady that commented she was like people always see my Benz halls and think they're so great, where I look at some of these other people I'm like, no theirs is great. Mine's a per speaker-2: Is that speaker-1: and you know, people one lady was like I think it was like some it was something winter patagony or whatever, something like that that I had gotten. She was like she was like, I live in Florida, I never get anything good like that. What Florida? I'm like, but wait, you live in Florida, so you've got unlimited Tommy Bahama, unlimited all of the golf apparel that you could possibly think of. I was like speaker-2: So why does it matter? It doesn't matter if Steve can get Patagonia. Like for me, like I can get a lot of Western wear because there's a lot of cowboys near. Like I can get a lot of that. Or I can get a lot of like I get a lot of gore core outdoorsy stuff because everyone fights here and everyone camps here and everyone speaker-1: And that's where speaker-0: Hun. speaker-2: Yeah. So it's like, but also I don't hardly ever see Lily Pulitzer in Idaho. Like almost never. It's just not people don't wear it here. So it is like I think you're just proving the point of like you just use what you have at your disposal. And you be successful with that and don't compare yourself to people that have other things. It doesn't matter. speaker-1: Yeah, there's there's going to be something like I 'cause I hear that so often. My my thrift stores in my area suck. They're terrible. And I'm just like I would love I would love to have a little YouTube challenge of going to say where do you live? And go within a hour, two hour, whatever drive of that and see what I could get in a weekend kind of speaker-0: Steve, you should do that. Wait. speaker-2: That would be so sad. speaker-0: We could re okay. Amanda doesn't want to be everyone's stage manager. We could reach out to all the visit whatever towns and you could have them sponsor you to go out there and do these challenges. I would love that content. I would say speaker-1: I guarantee you that there's stuff. speaker-2: There is. It is undeniably there is stuff. speaker-0: Your neighbors, go to your neighbor's house, tell your neighbors what you're doing. People are so embarrassed to tell people they sell things on the internet. Yeah. Amanda, do you need to go? Because I know speaker-2: You guys keep talking. You guys are totally fine. My son has a dentist appointment and part two that I have to get to. So speaker-0: Good luck. Good luck. speaker-1: Stuff. speaker-2: Yes. Thank you. Steve, it's nice to talk to you again. I'm so excited. This episode's gonna be great. We'll definitely have to do a part two. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay, see you guys. speaker-0: Definitely. So something that I'm always curious about, especially with you know, you are an entrepreneur, you have a successful landscaping business. Is this like a side hustle for you? Do you make meaningful revenue from reselling or do you make more content creation? Or is it just like a fun, hey, I'm gonna make a hundred bucks a week and we're gonna go out to dinner type of thing? speaker-1: So here's how it works for me. I have and do make what most people would consider as a considerable amount of money thrifting, you know. So it's is it full time money? No, not in my life. It's it's it's not, you know, my lifestyle right here. W what kind of our goal is, so I just just turned fifty this last speaker-0: Hap that you fifty, that was your birthday? Happy birthday. That speaker-1: Yeah, so retirement is close in the future here, coming up. And so the whole thought was what if I build this up to where this is the retirement type business side money, whatever you want to call it. So that's that's the goal, is that you know it was it was working with my son, making just a little extra money here and there, and it's built and it's built and it's built. And so now the idea is okay. Let's have this be kind of just the retirement funds money kind of thing. speaker-0: Yeah, my sister in law resells she used to do it back in the day, her and my brother in law selling like Echo jeans and, you know, all of that stuff and Jenga jeans. and I got her back into this a couple of years ago and it's her travel funds. And so they don't have they get to save their money and you know, she earns a couple extra grand a month and that is what they sell. I mean that's what they travel on and so she never has speaker-1: And I I think that's where most people start and where you should start in this game is say, okay, I want to pay for my car note. I want to pay for my insurance. I I wanna I wanna pay off my house. You know, I hear people say stuff like that. Or just this is my play money, my vacation money, something like that. Do it like that, build it up and get to where you're doing that, and then you can say, Okay, well What about a little bit more? Because you're always gonna if you don't strive for more, I don't relate to you. if if you're one of these people that just reaches one goal and just says, All right, I made it and stops, that would be totally bizarre to me. I couldn't imagine that. So I'm always like 'cause I I've started to finally make a little bit money on this social media aspect. And so, you know, the first thing was like, Man, if I could make a hundred dollars. Mm-hmm. Wow, that would be awesome. Now it's like, you know, what what is the ceiling? What what could it possibly be out there? And so that's why I'm really kind of pursuing just as much in the social media aspect as I am with this. This will never stop. But it's kind of fun, something that runs right along with it because like all my videos and stuff like that are just me doing my thing in here. Yeah. You know, it's it's either I'm sourcing, I'm packing, I'm sorting, I'm listing whatever it is, and just giving kind of little tips and tricks that I've learned over the years. speaker-0: kind of Yeah. Yeah. They can I mean Amanda and Beck and a and a lot of the people we talk to in Dallas, it's the same way, right? Where it's like, yes, they're monetizing content creation. And honestly, some of them now earn more on content creation than reselling. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's evolving. speaker-1: Like I don't think I would I I I do not see that in my future by any means because I like I like this too much. But I would love if they just built together. Yeah. That would be that would be my kind of kind of goal out there because it like it's a lot of time and effort. It's not a lot of money that I put into the social media aspect, but it's a lot of it's a lot of time. And it's a lot of effort. And I do feel like I'm helping a lot, you know, out there to because The reason I started doing social media at all is because there was when I first started to get back into it with my son, I didn't when I used to do it, there was no Amazon, there was no poly mailers, there was no none of that existed. And so we had to figure out how to jing a fold jeans and put them into the flat rate, like thin flat rate paper cardboard envelopes. That was the only way you because back then flat rate was like $4.99 or $599. And so a pair of jeans, if you get them in there and get anything in there, it's sold for that. But if you had to go into a box or something, it was just crazy expensive. And so I I asked somebody, you know, I was watching YouTube, and I they had a Instagram, and so I went to their Instagram and they were just they're full-time resellers. And so I started messing her, asking her general questions about the shipping and stuff like that. And she was nice enough to help me with any question that I had out there and never asked for anything, you know, in exchange or whatever, then I subscribe subscribe to our YouTube channel. and so that's kind of my way of paying it forward, I guess, is like somebody help me and if they're if I can help somebody else, great. You know, that's that's kind of the goal. speaker-0: Yeah, that's really cool. And I feel like a lot of resellers in the space are like that. It's like, no, let me show you how to do this. It's easier like it's a lot of hard work, but it's easier than you think. speaker-1: Yeah. It could be just I I I guess to a lot of people they really overcomplicate a lot of this. Like everybody the most common thing I hear is that I'm so scared of eBay. Which kind of blows me away because I feel like I heard eBay is super, super easy and fast. But then when I look at Deepop and I'm like, no, that's really easy. speaker-0: Poshmark. So when you start on those and then you move to eBay, it's like I have to shut set shipping profiles and I have to make a store because I was looking back at when I first started and I didn't have a store, I was paying like three hundred dollars a month just for my listings. And I'm like, wait a minute, that's less than I was making. Like so there's all these like things you have to learn and speaker-1: Yeah, I just had a had a video on do you need a store or not kind of thing. Just because Yeah, I mean, that's what somebody somebody had messaged me, and the reason I even brought it up was they messaged me and they're like, they're like, I they're like, I love my nifty, it's helping out so much, but the recreation is costing me I'm going over yeah my allotted amount. You know, I think she had one of the basic store or something like that, or didn't have a store, whichever one it was. And she's like, I'm paying, you know, 30 cents per per insertion. And she's like When you start doing the math on that in a month, that's it's like said, three hundred something dollars or whatever it can be. speaker-0: Which was mine, yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, so it's like, no, you really need that unlimited, you know, the store where you can get the unlimited thing and you get the coupon, you get this, that, and the other. And so speaker-0: You get and I think it's really scary. I know it was scary for me when I was starting out. I was like, Do I really pay Prime Lister and Vendu? Like that's like sixty dollars a month. Am I gonna make that? And it's so weird like the speaker-1: I battled it for when I say almost a year. I just in my mind because at that time every YouTuber, whatever that I would hear talk about, would say, well, it it definitely pays for itself. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: And so in my mind, I'm like, Well, that's not worth it. If it's just paying for itself, it's a whole nother step I need to take. Why why would I ever want to do that? And so I I used that as you know the reason not to do it. And then it was like, man, and it's like almost $90 a month. I'm like, that's crazy. You know it's worth it. I'm gonna have to sell another, you know, handful of things just to cover that. But finally, just I don't remember why. I just finally broke down like speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I'm gonna try it. And 100% I paid for that month subscription within the free week trial thing. And I was like speaker-0: That's what Becca did too. We finally got her on to cr we got her on a Venue and she texted me the next day and was like, Well, just made a sale on Depop that pays for the entire month. Yeah. And it is one of those things where you don't know what you're missing until you do it. And it doesn't matter. Like, you know, I love Vendue. I know you love nifty. It doesn't matter as much what you're using, just that you're using something. And then you'll figure out what works best for your brain, just kind of like your inventory system, right? Like For me, your inventory system would be difficult for me because my brain thinks differently. Should I use it? Probably. Mine is more like, okay, all my Levi's are here and I have them in order of type and size. yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a shelf and it's like, okay, my five ones are here and it goes up by number. That's how I have my Levi's done. My genes are alphabetical. speaker-1: That drove me crazy. speaker-0: But but every I think this is the thing. Amanda and I always talk about reselling like parenting. Like you have to do it your own way for what works for you. And if you fight that, it's like when people tell me you have to be consistent and do listings every day for my life, that's not always the case. Like I can't always do it. And I think if you like trust other people fully and like other people's systems and think that you don't have value and what you your instincts are, I think you can get really hung up and trying to be perfect. But speaker-1: Yeah. It it has to be what works and I I say that with with everything, with the amount of listings you do, with inventory, whatever. It's whatever works for you in your life, you know, in your storage. Like I built this whole office shed thing just for this. speaker-0: That's so cool. It's just speaker-1: Yeah, and it's just it's in my outside office, it's right here connect the house. So it's got all the inventory, it's it's the shipping, it's everything that's one spot. speaker-0: I want that I want that picture, your frame thing, I want that. You should speaker-1: Did you hear what it is? speaker-0: No. speaker-1: So this is an so my my wife's an art teacher and so she's an artist of easel? This is it's it's not an easel, but it's a art canvas. It's this right here is a four foot by six foot art canvas. So it's just stretched so it weighs nothing. speaker-0: What is it do you have like felt stretched over it? speaker-1: And so I put I put fleece. I got I got Yeah, speaker-0: Please that's smart. speaker-1: like three yards or whatever it was of fleece at Michael's when when we got this and just wrap it around and staple gun it on there. speaker-0: What is holding it up? speaker-1: So these are just some little like little sticks here. And so this it's hinged at the top hold on. It's hinged. That's my little air conditioner. speaker-0: my speaker-1: but yeah, so it's got a hinge right there, and so you pull out these two little legs and it plays flat. up against the up against the wall. I never do it, but that's always the idea is that should I need the space or whatever, I could just fold that up and it goes right against the wall. And it weighs nothing. Like I said, it's an art canvas. So speaker-0: That's cool. Have you gotten into like TikTok shop? They're allowing pre owned now. speaker-1: I have not done I I got offered a thermal printer to do some ads for that or whatever. And so that's kind of the only TikTok shop that I've even messed with. I've never bought anything on there. speaker-0: Interesting you've n you where did you buy your thermal printer? speaker-1: It they the company just reached out to me. speaker-0: so you've never yeah, TikTok shop I buy more than Amazon at this point. I even checked comps I was buying my son a little like boneless couch for his room 'cause I'm trying to get him into reading. And I was like, let me check Amazon and I'm like, well, Amazon's more expensive. Like, why am I gonna speaker-1: Well, TikTok shop started off as I don't want to call it a gimmick, but kinda like speaker-0: Junk. speaker-1: the junk gimmicky kind of things. And now it's I mean, every brand just about out there has a TikTok shop now. Like it's become like Amazon. speaker-0: So all those Charmi sells on there now. Yeah. Like the whole thing. Thread up sells on there. yeah, I could see you doing like a live show in there and just doing like random pulls, hey who wants this? Who wants this? Who wants this? I don't understand live selling at all, but speaker-1: Amanda's the queen, but not me. I've never done it. I just I have watched so many shows where they're like whatever and it sells for four dollars and I'm just like, No speaker-0: Nope, I won't. You know, we talked to a lady last week and she sells luxury goods. She sets her price on whatnot though. So like she sold a twenty six thousand dollar birkin on whatnot. Yeah. She's like, no, these are just my prices. She'll have like thirteen people in the room and they show up and they know what purses they want and they buy them. And it's just so different. Where I'm like, I always thought you have to have dollar starts. And she's No, you just have I have really good inventory, but like twenty six thousand dollars. Yeah, on whatnot. And I'm speaker-1: That's insane. Whatnot is wild. Yeah, I cannot that that one would blow me away there. Yeah, it's just everybody says the whole key is you have to build a community of buyers that shop you and everything, and that's how you can finally get to where you're actually making money on whatnot. speaker-0: I agree. speaker-1: I I don't source enough to get that much inventory to justify the low sales. I would rather buy like we said earlier, I would rather buy two things with a crazy good sell through rate and listed on ebay and it sell the next day. And for sixty dollars. You know. speaker-0: Yeah. Totally. Yeah, I get that. I mean, I'm the same way. I I don't know that I'll ever be on any of those platforms because I'm like, no everyone is gonna laugh at me when they see my prices. Like you you all would have la I mean, but I pr I mean it people psychology of buying is great. speaker-1: that I I follow on TikTok that she's like a twenty something year old girl and she does ninety-nine percent just like Y2K like jeans and slack pants for girls. So they're the wide leg, they're the flares, whatever. And when you look at what she gets for them, like sixty-five dollars is just like average regular that she would get, and I would be selling them hopefully for like eighteen. speaker-0: Isn't that funny? speaker-1: And she's she's built up a big following. So she has all the TikTok and Instagram, whatever followers that shop her stuff. And then she just knows exactly what to buy. She has, I mean she wears it and so she knows what to buy. She models them so they people can see what they physically look like. Everything. And so she gets a premium. She c she kills it on speaker-0: That's so cool. Yeah, I know pr I don't know if you follow Prairie Desk, but she speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: she models all her stuff too. And I'm like, I will I get messages being like, Can you put this on a model for me? And I'm like, that no, like what? Like I no but I'm like it's so cool that you can, like you know, if if you have the right measurements. speaker-1: You know, and that's what when we were talking about, you know, different places get your different things, you know, around the country. Like she's up in Kansas. And so, you know, she gets a lot of old Levi's and Western wear and stuff like that. And some of that type vent. She doesn't do, you know, the T shirt vintage. She does more of the call it Western, whatever you want to call it, vintage and all the Levi's and five ones and stuff like that. speaker-0: Yeah, I I told her I was like I credit you with everything I know about jeans because I I was like you can look on the tag and then I did extra research after that because obviously she doesn't go over every single pair, but I'm like like I think that's what's so cool about every single person has their own you have your own special like advantage. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. Like I I know a lot of outdoorsy type brands and stuff where, you know, like said I'll I'll be picking up a a burley bow or marshware or some hunting stuff or whatever, and all these people are always like, I would have never picked that stuff up. I've never heard of those things. And I'm like, that's just that's that's my realm. That's the stuff that I know about. And so there's that across the board. I mean, you can find something in in everything. I guarantee you there's I I walk Guarantee I touch so many women's clothes that most people would probably freak out about. And speaker-0: I'm sure. speaker-1: I I just I don't know. And I'm not gonna know them all. speaker-0: And you don't want to. And that's the thing. You don't have to. Like that's not and I I think that would be I mean, the first advice I would give to someone, I saw a video that you did on this, start with stuff around your house because I did not do that. Well, I mean I did, and then I was like, I want to go to the thrift store. speaker-1: You heard me, my jeans up that's speaker-0: Yeah, start with what you have, but I would also say sell what you like. Like don't try to be like, this is because if you have to learn all that knowledge, like at least start with what you know. speaker-1: Hundred percent, hundred percent. I'm like, number one, don't start in activewear because it's terrible to look through. You're never gonna find find Lululemon. But I'm like, yeah, start like I I tell people all the time, start in like men's polos, like speaker-0: Focus, yeah. speaker-1: like something that is not endless. Cause the problem with like the women's department is that it's so random. Like there's so many variations of everything in there where men's, it's like you got long sleeve. Buttons, you got polos, you got t-shirt, or you got like sweater things, you know. So it's it's very it's very simple. So if you could just kind of pick one thing, because people ask me all the time, you know, what should I pick up? I'm like, my god, that's the most vague question in the world out there. But you know, just start with what you kind of know already. speaker-0: Yeah. 'Cause there are people like you, not exactly like you. I would also say natural fibers, like if you're if you really don't know where to start, fully cotton, fully silk. speaker-1: Anything linen. I I I I tell people all the time I will grab a pair of pants in the bins and it'll be if it's like a drawstring wide leg flowy linen pant, I don't care what brand it is, it will sell. speaker-0: That is true, yeah. speaker-1: It will sell. It's just whether whether somebody wants it for a beach vacation or it's a summertime they're wearing or whatever, loungewear, it's that's like the most guaranteed sale out there. Linen's linen's by far my number one seller in in fabric, I would say. If there's if you had to pick something up just because of the fabric, it would be linen for me for sure. speaker-0: Interesting. Yeah, I like linen, but I also sell a lot of cashmere and silk. speaker-1: Yes. Cas Cashmere's great, there's just holes in ninety nine percent of it. speaker-0: There holes in a lot of it. I just got this Quince cashmere shirt sweater yesterday and I tried it on because I'm like, I wanna wear cashmere, but it's just so itchy on me. I'm like I just can't do it. I don't know how people wear it. speaker-1: No, I'm the same way. I'm the same way. I'm like like for me, if if I had to pick what I I would pick Merino wool. Merino wool interest everything is No. No. It's like speaker-0: It's not itchy? Try that. Okay, I'm gonna try that because I like speaker-1: But it's expensive. I mean you'll see I mean speaker-0: So much though around here. speaker-1: pick up like Banana Republic merino wool sweaters and things like that. And one, they're just excellent quality, but you know, it's the fabric is just it it feels really, really speaker-0: Yeah, I think that's another good point you bring up is like the brand. Like some people just like crap on these brands, like, it's a mall brand. And it's like, well, why do you think it's in the mall? Like because people buy Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: Like you don't have to go and try to find the row. Well, you probably don't even know what that you know, like you don't have to you don't have to go and find these Robert Graham, for instance. although I did I was at there's this local charity shop by me that gives back to animals, so I like to go there to source and It was just like Robert Graham, Robert Graham, Robert Graham and it's just like, you know, those things are speaker-1: How are the prices in that kind of a shop for like a speaker-0: That's where got those jeans. but like I got a Zegna suit there, it was 70 bucks. So it's like one of those things where we're like, well, it's a eighteen hundred dollar suit or twenty five hundred dollar suit. So yes, the prices are high compared to what you're gonna get, but because it's curated and if I don't have time and I'm like I just wanna stop it and I wanna give back to that. speaker-1: Yeah, I would I would agree. 'Cause there's a lot of like I said, Robert Graham, you know, if it's the right speaker-0: Think they were forty dollars. I think w each of those rubber grams were forty dollars. speaker-1: Yes, that's I couldn't I wouldn't do that because the most you're probably gonna get out of those is about sixty five or so. speaker-0: Interesting. speaker-1: Most of the time, just in general. So yeah, that would not be that would that would I couldn't get myself to spend that much on on something like that. It would have to be if I'm spending forty dollars on something, it's gotta be well worth over a hundred and sell fairly quick, just because I don't want to speaker-0: Yeah, like the jeans I bought. Like yeah. speaker-1: Exactly. Exactly. That that would be totally worth it. But yeah. I it's hard for me to pay over twelve dollars for almost anything. speaker-0: Yeah, Amanda and them won't pay more than like four dollars. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. I mean 'cause sp like you know, she's buying the pallets, but like when I'm going to the bins, you know, I mean you're getting no matter what it is, it's usually under two dollars, no matter if it's a heavy pair of jeans kind of thing out there. And so, you know, at the thrift store, I look at it and I'm like, Oof, these jeans are twelve bucks, you know, and you got speaker-0: It does skew your perception. speaker-1: Yeah, you know, now if if it's a guaranteed you know, if it's seven for all mankind dojos that I know are gonna sell for seventy five, eighty, ninety, what or some mother jeans that are wide leg. You know, those two I will definitely pay up if I had to. I still wouldn't want to, but I I would if I had to, because I know those will sell for a premium and they'll sell fast. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, I will say being with so many other resellers in Dallas, it kind of like reset me, which has been really helpful. So now I'm like, I'm not going to the thrift store all the time. It's like if I go, I pick up a few things and I leave and I'll pay up, but I'm I'm just gonna leave. I'm gonna get really high quality. I'm not gonna get projects and you just there's one thirty five. speaker-1: Yeah. I mean speaker-0: Yeah. And so yeah. Anyone listening like That doesn't happen all the time. Like you're not seeing everything that's sitting in my inventory. You're not seeing all these things, but it does happen. And as you get better at this, and that's the piece of advice I would say, which I'm gonna ask you next, but it would be don't buy too much at the beginning because your eye is not as good at the beginning. I am still sitting on so much stuff from twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five. speaker-1: yeah. I've got like I mean this the first numbers over there is stuff. Now I did find out that a lot of the stuff that was early in my inventory either had major flaws that I didn't quite realize, the size or something was wrong in the listing, or the listing was completely gone. It speaker-0: Interesting. speaker-1: was like almost ninety percent. speaker-0: I need to go check mine. speaker-1: So that that made a huge difference because I was like, my god, you know this stuff. 'Cause people ask me like, you know, do you ever just like finally toss stuff or donate it after a certain amount of time? And I've I don't know that I've ever done it. speaker-0: I don't think I can unless it's flawed. I can't do it. speaker-1: That's that's that was gonna say. I'll if I find some hole that when I got it I thought it was okay and I see that it's been two years that hadn't sold, I'm like, Okay, people don't want a hole in this area, whatever. And so I'll I'll donate that. Or, you know, I saw stuff that just I got when I was first starting that has a stain somewhere that, you know, I probably thought, well it's still a Patagonia. It'll be okay. No, it's not okay. Nobody wants a speaker-0: Totally. Yeah. Or I'm running into the things where like purses I bought are deteriorating because it's been a year and I didn't know you're not supposed to have them touch one another. So I literally just learned that talking to Wild Ginger. So I'm like, I got all these desk bags and now I have to go like put them so they're not touching because my shoes and my speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: ruined. Yeah. So that's another reason why not to overbuy. but what would be your like top advice if you could go back and tell yourself something or you could tell somebody on here listening? What would be your top advice? speaker-1: Top advice and I preach this is look up the cell through weight. And I know you don't. speaker-0: Honestly though, I do think you should do that when you're starting. speaker-1: When you first start because you don't you just don't know you you don't know what you don't know and you know and you have to go off of facts and data. That's just the bottom line. Now I don't have to for a large part, but I still look up stuff every single time I go somewhere. So you have to look it up and don't buy like I said, don't buy as much stuff. Really buy top-notch stuff. Because when you're starting, usually for most people. The money is tight. They're doing this. Some are doing it out of, you know, necessity or desperation, whatever you want to call it. Some are doing as just a side hustle and they want to make a goal. Like I want to pay for our Disney trip in five months, whatever it is. And so if you get stuck with inventory, that's that's the decence. You've just all your money is tied up in inventory. So start with the best stuff and not as much stuff and just build small and just Slowly step your way up. speaker-0: I fully agree with that. And I did it the opposite way. But I think I did. I was looking up comps and things when I first started. So I was looking through sell through rate. I was looking through comps. and then my shopping addiction got a hold of me. But now it's now it's under control ever since Dallas because Becca and Amanda shot me to the ground. Never in my life have I been out shopped and I literally looked at them, I was like, I can't do it anymore. And I didn't go to a thrift store, I wanna say for two and a half weeks after. Wow. And now I'm even like I'll pop in and I'm like, that's cool and I like leave. speaker-1: So did you think that the Dallas thrifting was great or bad or good or speaker-0: Yeah, I thought was great. I thought Dallas is great. I went to Vegas after, not great. and yeah, no, I think Dallas thrifting is is great. The prices aren't that dissimilar from the Bay Area. At Thrift Giant they are, like you can find more discounted things, but speaker-1: It's very hit or miss. It's like I'll own I'll usually only go there on their like fifty off or something like that sales because it's pretty rarely you'll pick up something and it'll be like twenty four dollars. speaker-0: So we were running into a lot of that. There were like Uggs for sixty dollars. Yeah. And yeah. And so I think that was but it I will say, no, I thought I we wanna I'm not kidding. We wanna go back to Dallas. We wanna do because we had so much fun and it is so different there because it is centrally located. you have like the Western wear and the menswear, and then you also have fancy ladies' wear. speaker-1: Yeah, 'cause I mean we got Highland Park, we got all these places here that just I mean, super, super high end and all these suburbs that are super high end. And so you get it's kind of the best of all where like I said, you've got some vintagey western stuff, you've got all the golf stuff, you've got some high end women's where like you you do kind of get a little bit of everything. I d we don't get a lot of the outdoorsy stuff here. like what Amanda might get up there in in, you know, Idaho and Montana, all those kind of places. We don't get that kind of stuff, but it just it it works out, you know. speaker-0: Yeah, no, I thought it was like, I think Texas, Texas and California are my two favorite spots to thrift. I don't like to me they're very and the Bay Area too. So I'm the I I think they're very comparable. The bins prices at Dallas, amazing. I've never spent thirty seven dollars including a suitcase at a bins. Like, what? I like I like left the suitcase behind. So really I would have only spent twenty seven, you know, like on the stuff I got. And I'm like, what is happening? so I will say the bins pricing was good. I don't know, I got sick. Becca got the flu, Amanda got shingles, and then another gal we were with got a head cold and and the other gal we were with didn't dig and she's like, You guys got it from the bins. I was like, honestly I didn't speaker-1: Probably. Maybe. Yeah, no, I mean knock on wood, you know, there's people that wear gloves, masks, things like that there. I never do anything in I I've never speaker-0: Yeah, just wash your hands after. No, I am not. You know, it's so funny. I went from like never shopping secondhand in my life, like ever, until two years ago when I stopped working in tech. But for me it was normal to be like, I want this thing that's three hundred dollars. Okay, cool. I'm just gonna buy it. And now I'm like, Ew, why would I ever like that is such a waste of like, what was I thinking? speaker-1: It's it's it's got its good and its bad because I can't you know, my son was looking for a suit not too long ago for for homecoming or whatever it was, and we go in there and Dillard's now. I don't know if you've been in a Dillard's in long time. I I I have speaker-0: I love a delights though. I used to speaker-1: like just call it in the men's section. I mean it has every like all these like small shops, I'm just gonna call it, you know, it'll have a Peter Millar section, it'll have a Roback section, it'll have like it Yeah, it so it has like everything in there. And I'm just walking around and I'm looking at the prices and I'm like, Wow. speaker-0: What size is he? I got some suits, I can send one and then you can sell it after. You can sell it for me. speaker-1: It it was absolutely insane. I just I just I'm like, well this is this is why people buy second hand because I I I couldn't imagine going in here and dropping all that money on, you know, a few outfits or something like that. speaker-0: One of the one of the suits I found in Dallas was a Jay Hilburn. And I was looking up comps because some of the brands I do look up comps and I was like, I I remember this one being like eighteen hundred bucks and they are and they're custom and I'm like, who is spending that money? I don't understand. speaker-1: It's crazy. It's crazy. speaker-0: Yeah. I mean all the tech people out here only wear Patagonia and you know t-shirts. But I'm like where who but I guess if you go down a little bit south, they're all spending the money. But speaker-1: That's true. speaker-0: Yeah. So we are gonna do a part two because if you're open to it. speaker-1: Course, of course, always. speaker-0: because I have so many more questions to ask you and I know Amanda does as well. but where can people find you? We're also gonna link it in the show notes. And we'll tag you when it goes live. speaker-1: Yeah, everything I've I've kept it very across the board. It's just scuba Steve, you know, it I'm on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok and I I guess YouTube's coming soon. We'll we'll see. I I wanna do it. I want some meta glasses first before I jump into that 'cause I wanna do like some POV thriftingy kind of stuff and all that. That's fun. So so that's kind of the goal is to get those to get used to wearing them and then probably start up the YouTube stuff and see where it goes from there. speaker-0: That's awesome. Well, again, we will link it in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here and sharing all your tips. and I'm sure we'll talk to you in the next couple of weeks or months. So and thank you all for listening. speaker-1: Alright, thanks guys.