What’s up guys!

If you want to become a successful reseller of shoes or other rare items on eBay, using arbitrage (Arbitrage is simply the process of taking advantage of price differences in a market to profit by buying low and sell high), you need to have the correct tools.

One of the most effective ways to play this profitable game is to secure limited items from lesser known sources and to distribute them independently online. Limited release sheos are some of the best items to sell on eBay (if you don̵7;t know what those are, check out posts like this that will show you the best shoes of this year to buy for profit).

Let’s get into the dirty work of the actual distributing, given that you have put in the homework and built the knowledge base to secure these rare goods.

You’re a professional!

Since you want to make reselling your day job, giving you newfound freedom, you will want to be equipped with the right tools to have an efficient operation.

Being a full time eBay reseller is one of the most rewarding jobs that you can have. You’re totally self employed, you’re in control of your financial future and you’re an at home shoe or clothing entrepreneur.

The more professional you are about this hustle, the more likely you are to succeed.

So if you want to make more than just a few bucks and more like a few thousand dollars a month selling shoes, you need the correct toolbelt!

I remember being newer to selling kicks and whenever I would sell a pair online, whether directly through social media or through sites like eBay or GOAT, I would be simultaneously super pumped that I brought in a couple hundred dollars but also roll my eyes and fret over the fact that I have to actually pack and ship the item.

This is the part of entrepreneurship that people don’t really talk about, the non glamorous, day to day mundane things like properly packaging and shipping out a pair of shoes in an accurate and efficient manner. You need to do this to ensure great customer service and less of a headache for yourself once you have a nice method you can go to every time you prepare to send a shipment out the door!

The easier you can make these tasks, the more easily you can operate on a daily basis, and the more easily you can scale your shoe game. With scaling comes profits, and making it as easy as possible is the goal.

I remember that I would literally just show up at the post office with my shoe box and the buyer’s address, and scramble there for materials to ship my shoes.

I would either overpay for all the boxes, tape, and even the shipping, or I would be unsuccessful altogether at the post office and have to scramble over to some department or hardware store nearby to try and find some shoe reselling materials.

Sometimes this would delay my shipment another day, and when you’re dealing with thousand dollar kicks like Yeezy’s, 1 extra day makes the difference between decent customer service and excellent customer service that’s memorable and causes repeat business.

The ideal method, and the method that I’m at now, is that you have all of the prep materials at home and you can quickly ready your kicks into a nice package and simply drop off your prepaid package at the post office or even schedule for a pick up. Don’t ever wait in line at the post office, and don’t ever pay full price for shipping (more on that in a bit.)

Here are a couple tools for a shoe or clothing eBay reseller that will make your life a WHOLE lot easier.

 

1. Shipping scale

Each package weighs differently and if you’re a noob with online sales and shipping, you might not think about how weight affects the price of the shipping for your item.

You probably are used to just going to the post office and having them weigh it. Also, if you are just guessing the weight with the hopes of it being right, you are risking the chance of you underpaying for the package and having the post office sending it back, which will totally lose your customer and might even cause a refund request. So make sure you have the accurate weight so you’re not over or underpaying for package!

The scale above is the one I use. You can just go on Amazon and search whatever one you want, but this one has been sufficient for me and is the perfect size and fairly priced.

2. Boxes

uline.com check it out guys! These boxes above will fit most shoes and are priced well, and are just one of their MANY sizes.They even have boxes that are adjustable in size that you can customize. They’re also way cheaper than the boxes you’ll find in  the post office, and more of a custom size that is fit for shipping a shoebox. I remember reusing boxes from old Amazon purchases when I was new to reselling and cutting them down to fit the size of the shoe box, and although it worked functionally, I got occasional complaints and had to use way more tape.

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So have a process and buy at least 25 boxes! Not only will this make your life a whole lot easier, but it can give you a goal to work to use up all the boxes, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you can start running out of 25 boxes every month or even every week when you start moving the right shoes.

3. Bubble wrap

This is a really nice touch.It’s $20 for 350 feet of it, so it’ll take a while to run out. everyone does this so it’s memorable. I like this black bubble wrap to make it even more memorable. In fact, some online retailers don’t even do this, they just throw the shoe box right in the other box.

Take the time to bubble wrap the shoebox before you throw it in the shipping box so the box arrives in absolute pristine condition. I remember a time when I received a pair of Yeezy Boost 750’s (super big and heavy shoe/box) from an eBay seller and he just threw it in another box and the Yeezy shoe box arrived damaged.

I was really disappointed with this and made a note to never do business with him again and left him a neutral review on eBay.

Don’t be that guy! Be someone that customers want to do repeat business with. Some people even throw in personal cards or thank yous but I personally think this is cheesy and have never done it but still had repeat buyers.

 

4. Tape!

I use this stuff. It’s easy to dispense. You can buy a 4 pack of refill tape for less than $10 at a store like Walmart. Way, way cheaper than the tape sold at your post office.

5. USPS online account!

OK this really isn’t a physical material, but having an account will give you 20% off shipping when you print a prepaid label through their site. When shipping can cost $20, this is a $4 savings, which adds up when you’re moving shoes. When you sell through eBay they offer the same discount through USPS, so just be sure to print your label at home.


So that’s about it for the physical materials. One thing I did omit was a label printer which will save you printer paper and tape, but for a newer reseller and for the sake of simplicity and the upfront investment, I decided not to mention it but Brother makes a pretty good printer for about $70, but the labels are on the more expensive side. You can get a sublimating printer made by brands like Dymo and not have to worry about buying expensive ink or paper when you move on to higher heights as a retail arbitrage reseller.

All the materials I listed can be had for less than $100 total, and the time you’ll save and the new professional mindset you’ll develop because of these shoe reselling materials makes these purchases well worth the investment.

With the correct knowledge and mindset you are now well on your way to making thousands reselling Yeezy’s and Jordans and all kinds of shoes! You now have the basic set up that will put you on your way to become a six figure shoe reseller.

Take care and as always, I wish you all the best!

Take your reselling game to the next level

Author

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JVG

JV was inspired to start Six Figure Sneakerhead after having more people asking questions than he could answer about sneaker reselling when they saw the success he was having. His intention is to create the top resource for sneaker resale education worldwide and loves to see when customers succeed, and he's always accepting feedback for all offerings which are constantly updated to suit the customer needs and the current times.

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