Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
I’m not talking about your basic bring money, get items, exchange money for items, and go home. No, I’m going to give you all the inside reseller secrets like wearing all your sharpest rings in case someone starts something! Just kidding. Usually…
I do have real advice for you, some of it might be surprising.
Give yourself plenty of time
Thrifting for profit is very different from thrifting for personal clothing. For one thing, it takes a lot longer. You have to go down nearly every aisle and touch nearly every item to come away with only a select few. On some trips, I spend hours and touch around 3,000 pieces and end up only buying 5 or 6. Impromptu trips to the thrift store can be really fun, especially if it’s a treat you give yourself while waiting for a karate lesson or dance class to end. When you’re doing a serious buying trip, give yourself a few hours. It’s also a good idea to go early in the morning, or right after 1:00 p.m. That tends to be when thrift stores bring out racks of new items.
Fill your cart first
You’re probably not the only one shopping for diamonds in the rough. When I shop, I fill my cart with anything interesting and go through them at the end. If you check comps for each piece as you go, you’re going to have a very long day, and you risk missing out on some good scores.
Charge your phone
Investing in your business is important. In fact, there’s a whole chapter about it later on. But you don’t want to needlessly spend money. However, that can happen if your phone dies during your trip. If you have no phone, you have no way to check comps, so make sure it’s charged. I also recommend checking out a store beforehand to make sure you have decent internet access for the same reason.
Double check your pieces
We all know the heartbreak of finding a great piece, getting it home, then discovering a flaw. It’s always worth it to double-check your pieces before you buy; otherwise, you might end up with a very expensive dust rag. Be extra careful with cashmere, there are so many secret holes in cashmere…
Another piece of weird advice, check in random pockets. I’ve found hundreds of dollars in pockets, especially in jeans, jackets, and purses. Of course, I’ve also found a number of drugs and associated paraphernalia, but that’s why we wear gloves, people.
Bring a tide pen
A lot of donated items have small flaws like a missing button or small stains. Some people possess that weird clairvoyant/mom ability to know, really know, whether or not a stain will come out, but I don’t. The easiest solution is to bring a Tide pen and see if you can get the stain out right there. If you can’t, then leave it behind. Unless the item is insanely special, there are a lot more pieces out there.
Strategize
I’m lazy, but if you’re type A enough, it’s not a bad idea to write out a plan. Decide ahead of time how much time you have, how much you want to spend, and the relative portion of goods you want to buy. I wear a lot of maxi dresses, but I don’t sell a lot of them. I just feel this magnetic pull towards them because they’re more fun for me. I never wear pants, so I have to talk myself into going through them, even though I know they are far more profitable. I write a list when I go to the store and I write “pants” on it every time. Like Kelly Kapoor, I am very difficult to manage. Lists help.
It’s also worth it to look up any sales or discount days ahead of time. I once saw on a store’s website that all red tags were on sale for a dollar. After almost two hours of shopping, I had a cart full of red-tagged clothing. At the register, what should have been about a $50 bill was over $200. I remained as calm as my hummingbird heart would allow, and politely asked what gives? They told me that their store did not participate in the sales advertised online. I didn’t even know that was a thing.
I wish I had confirmed the sale as soon as I walked in the store. It would have saved me hours of time, because I would have shopped differently.
I want to leave on a positive note though, so here goes:
At the same store, I bought a discontinued Frye tote bag. When they rang it up, the cashier told me that because it was a tote, not a regular purse, it would cost $11 instead of the usual $8. I nodded and tried to make polite conversation while she finished the transaction, but I’m pretty sure I looked like a drug dealer walking past a line of cops. I sold it later that night for $250 plus shipping. It was magical.
