My Five Favorite Flips

When I was first starting out as a reseller, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just tried to source cute clothes and tried not to pay too much so I’d have a profit. After about a year at this and after taking some valuable training, I’ve gotten better at sourcing and my per item profit is starting to increase. In this blog post, I thought I’d share some of my favorite flips from the last couple of months. I’ve included items that were sourced from a few different places at a variety of costs. My intent is to inspire and educate and help you make betting sourcing decisions for the most profit. 

I found this Karen Millen dress at one of my local Goodwill stores. I don’t typically source at Goodwill but lately several of my recent higher-profit items have come from there. So, I’ve been visiting more often. When I first came across this dress I didn’t recognize the label. But, the dress FELT like it was a nice quality fabric so I tossed it into my cart to research. I searched about the brand and looked for SOLD comps on Poshmark. I didn’t find the exact dress initially but I saw that similar dresses from this brand had good sold prices so I decided to pick it up.

This sale was a rare gem – a full-priced outright purchase. So, there was no Offer to Likers and no shipping discount. Now, I got nervous because USPS was slow to track this package and the buyer was messaging me wondering if I’d shipped it yet. Fortunately, I did show up about a week later and the buyer gave me a 5-star rating! Happy seller, happy customer! Nothing better!

My favorite little local “charity shop” was a weekly sidewalk sale and this is where I do most of my sourcing. I came across these really cute baby pink shorts from Lovers + Friends. They are an XXS and those tend to take longer to sell. But, when I searched this item it was a current style that was sold out online. These shorts retailed at $128 and I originally had them listed around $65 but I had posted in a Facebook group that I wanted to sell for at least $50. A couple of weeks later a $50 offer came in! The buyer was so happy and she asked if I could ship the same day. Which of course I did! But, I had to let her know that USPS was a bit slow so I couldn’t guarantee she’d get it when she wanted it. She received the shorts about 5 days later and gave me another 5-star rating!

One day at the Casa Teresa sidewalk sale they were clearing out their shoes and they had a bunch of shoes for just $1! I don’t typically have good luck in sourcing shoes. They tend to be too expensive in my area for me to make a decent profit. So on this particular day I dug through all those nasty shoe bins. At first I only found 1 shoe from this pair. But when I saw they were Jordans I knew I had to keep looking. So I dug, and dug until I found its mate. These are a men’s size 8, and they’re not exactly new. But they still were in good enough condition I figured I’d better be able to make a profit. At first I listed them around $100, based on the other active listings and comps. I did drop the price a little bit and then one day I got an offer for $45 which I enthusiastically accepted! Another 5-star rating and happy customer! The fact that I only paid $1 for these and they only required minimal clean up is what made this one of my five favorite flips. 

When we first went into lockdown in March and all the thrift stores were closed, I decided to try another Thredup Rescue. I had purchased a mixed clothing box earlier in the year and got some decent stuff. When I saw they had a Coach Rescue box I figured it was worth a try. The box was $90 for 5 bags. This was the nicest of the group. This was an Offer to Liker with free shipping discount. It was also another package that USPS did not scan. The buyer reached out to me several times asking for a status. I filed a case with USPS and they actually called me when it was delivered. It took about 10 days to get to its destination and I was worried it was lost. The package was damaged when the buyer received it but fortunately, I had wrapped the bag in plastic and it was untouched. Another happy buyer and 5-star rating!

Every once in a while my husband will clean out his drawers and give me the stuff to sell. Anytime that I have posted a soccer jersey or any athletic wear, it sells super fast. So, when I saw this jersey at the $2 sidewalk sale, I thought it was worth investigating. I am not a sports fan at all but I didn’t let that stop me! Searches for comps showed most of the similar jerseys on Poshmark were New With Tags (NWT). This was not, but this was in good shape and at only $2 it was worth taking a chance. I did what I always do and posted to Poshmark first and then cross-listed to Mercari. I had it listed around $40 and I got an offer of $32 within an hour so of course, I accepted. The speed of the sale is what made it one of my five favorite flips.

Hopefully, this provided a little insight into the process of sourcing and flipping thrift store finds. If you’d like. to learn more, check out my blog post with my best tips for flipping your thrift store finds. You can also enter your info below to get the free guide.