It is an age-old argument in the reselling world. That we should not tell others what we do when sourcing (buying product to resell). People in the reselling world will tell you that this is how you kill your own golden goose so to speak. That you are creating new competition for yourself. I am of the mindset that this is simply not true. I do this to help, not only my customers but people I meet while sourcing.
While I can understand the idea behind not telling people that I am a reseller, I don’t agree with it. The numbers simply do not work out in a way that it is a negative for others to know. Let’s look at those numbers, shall we?
Over the years I have been told over and over by successful people to not be shy about what I do to make money. They said be shy about certain details but for the most part, let the world know the bigger picture.
The formula I heard most often was the 10/10/10/10 formula.
Ten percent of the people you tell about something will investigate it or do a cursory search on it. Ten percent of them will follow through on most of that research. Ten percent of those people will attempt to act on what they learn. Finally, ten percent of those people will work at it and not give up.
Do the numbers. Even if I told one million people about reselling that is about 100 that will research it, work at it, and push forward with the information they learned.
This is one reason I am quite open about my reselling activities. For the most part, the person I am talking to will, statistically, not go any farther with that information and thinks I am crazy for buying all this stuff.
Then there are those few people, the ones that work for stores for instance, that take this seriously. They see me too often for me to just be a crazy middle-aged man collecting toys.
Those are the people that I have come to rely upon for help in getting deals. I am not talking about underhanded stuff like hiding product for me. Instead I mean the type of help such as alerting me to recent markdowns that just hit the discount shelves.
What is “Hustle 2 Help”?
That is a term I have coined to describe what I do. I sell snack foods a lot – such as sugar free candies. I have a lot of family members, and friends, over the years that were diabetic, or simply preferred sugar free candies.
I watched as they had to deal with subpar candies because of health issues. That is why when I discovered some good sugar free options, I checked their prices on eBay and was horrified at what I saw.
There were tons of resellers gouging this community. Resellers selling four small bags of sugar free candies for $23.95 shipped. I was looking at the exact same candies locally at nowhere near that price.
I decided to enter the market and offer five bags for $15.95 shipped. I later raised the price a buck due to having to travel farther to source the candy.
This got me to thinking about how else I can help others with reselling. Being a toy, video game, and movie fan, I started researching those areas as well.
I still sell sugar free candies, but I also sell toys and video games now as well.
My biggest seller right now is the Minion Mineez line of toys. Last month and all throughout May was Dr. Pepper Cotton Candy. Here soon, I expect video games to pick up as we enter the holiday season.
You may be thinking, how does selling that stuff help anyone? The actual sale may not be all that helping but the money earned is put to beneficial use. I donate 10% of my profits to local charities and such.
The reason I want more people to resell is because I can see how it has changed my life. I want to help others achieve that improvement in theirs as well.
On one hand, yes, that is more competition for product and there is only so much product available to go around. That is why most buyers pay what they pay for these items.
One way that I help others to improve their lives through reselling is by running a group on Facebook called Resellers and Thrifters Collaborative. In that group we share tips and tricks on all things reselling. Whether it is eBay, Amazon, or sites like Upwork, we discuss It there.
I look at helping others to learn to resell as maybe being their chance to get out of a job they hate or improve their lives in some way. Maybe it opens their eyes to being able to earn just a bit more money and pay off some bills. Maybe they can take a trip they wanted to. Visit family they have not been able to. Whatever it is, I hope those that take on the challenges of reselling can improve their lives doing it.
It is not always about money though. Some of us resellers truly want to help others in some way.
I have had people tell me to not tell store employees that you are a reseller. I have never been shy about this.
I openly tell store employees that I am a reseller when asked in whatever manner they choose to phrase their question. Most of the time it is simply “my you must be a fan buying 50+ Hot Wheels cars”.
I tell them nope, not really (because I am not). That these are all either sold or being sold on eBay or Amazon.
Most resellers will tell you that stores will ban you from buying there if they know you are a reseller. I have yet to have this happen at any store except one a week ago.
I was at a local Best Buy location that is well known in the community to be closing soon (November 1st, I believe). This location is simply not getting the foot traffic, nor sales, they expected (or required) to stay open.
I was in the area already because there is a Target nearby. I had recently learned that Target has an exclusive set of Hot Wheels cars to collect and resell. While in the same parking lot as Target, I went over to Best Buy to see what they had.
I had already checked their website for some potential purchases, just wanted to see if they had them in stock (the site said this location did). It was Minion Mineez for anyone interested.
I was in the store for over an hour looking around at the stuff they had for sale (I am not in Best Buy that often). While there, I noticed maybe three other customers for nearly 20 employees walking the floor. I can see why they were closing this location.
I found what I was looking for and went to check out. Along with the Minion Mineez I planned on purchasing I also was going to buy a battery pack for my wife (her battery is constantly dying on her cell phone) and some other miscellaneous electronics. I had probably ten Minion Mineez capsules.
The clerk rang up a couple of Hot Wheels cars I had on the counter and when he got to the Minion Mineez he rang up three and stopped. I looked up, thinking he couldn’t reach the others so I slid them closer.
He told me he cannot sell me more than two of any one item (though later I saw that he scanned three Minion Mineez).
I asked why and as he was preparing to answer the manager walked over (slow day apparently).
The clerk told the manager I wanted to buy more than a couple of one item. The manager told me that they can only sell me two of any single item.
I asked why, and he said it was Best Buy’s policy. I asked the manager if that policy would be in effect if I was purchasing desktop or laptop computers. He said they would refer me to their “corporate” services to complete that purchase.
I paid for the items the clerk scanned and left. The manager stopped me at the door asking if I was going to put the stuff in my cart back up or not.
I told him no and that I don’t work there. I would gladly purchase all that stuff with the rest of the toys already on the counter. He said he cannot do that and glared at me as I walked out of the store.
The manager stood outside the store, arms crossed, watching me get into my car and then leave the parking lot. The whole time glaring at me with a scowl.
I don’t recommend anyone be a jerk to store employees but presented with the situation I was at that Best Buy location, there was no way I was going to put that stuff up. They took a stand, so did I. Besides, they had over 15 employees walking around looking for something to do.
Some reading this may think I was being a jerk in this situation. Maybe I was.
The thing is, I was not asked if I am a reseller or anything. I know many are thinking that is why this happened. Nope. Never was asked. The issue never came up.
I will not bother with sourcing at Best Buy from now on though.
While at Target the question about reselling did come up. I was there to purchase one set of their 50th Anniversary Throwback sets. I also picked up one extra Monte Carlo from this series and sent it to my oldest brother without him knowing as a gift. He has a Monte, same color, and I figured it would brighten his day a bit getting something in the mail unexpectedly like that.
Anyhow, while checking out the clerk noticed I bought two of that one car. He asked was that the one I was going to sell on eBay and just laughed because he took it as a light-hearted joke, I am sure.
I told him, no, that one is headed to my brother and the rest are going to be sold. He asked if they sell for decent prices and I showed him quick as I already had the eBay app open as I was waiting in line checking other things out.
He was impressed at the profit margins. He asked if I had a second and I said sure, thinking oh great, here we go – the manager is going to deny the sale or something. Sure enough, he called over a manager that was nearby and quickly explained I was a reseller.
Now, knowing the way Target feels about resellers based on the comments by others on Facebook I was expecting this to go bad for me.
Instead, the manager did not stop the sale and we had a short conversation that was quite fruitful.
He told me that they have plenty of old stock in the back that hasn’t sold and asked if I would be interested in coming by some time to look it over and maybe buy some of it. He said they can give me a good deal if I can take a good portion of it off their hands as it is just in the way right now.
So out of two new potential sourcing locations, one turned out to be a dud and the other seems to be a good one to add to my regular rotation.
No matter, I will continue to do my best to help others to better themselves through reselling. It is up to them at the end of the day to use the information or not.