Reselling clothes is one of the best side gigs anyone can do.
If you’re unsure where to buy clothes to resell and want to make sure you get the best prices possible, you’re not alone!
The better the deal, the more money you can make. Your days of hunting for where to buy wholesale clothing for a boutique are over; consider any of these options!
1. Curated Second Hand Stores
Main item inventory: clothing
Where to find it: in person
Curated second-hand stores offer customers the chance to look through items that are clean, well cared for, and from brands that show they’re well made and valuable.
Although most of these stores offer their products beneath the original purchase price, you should be wary of any store that tries to upsell since there’s no profit.
If you are able to purchase name-brand clothes at a discounted price, this can be one of the best things to resell for profit.
Tactic for Success
Curated stores are often more expensive, so you must research every item before buying. Don’t buy anything you can’t make at least a 30% return on.
2. Craigslist
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: online, sales in person
Craigslist is ranked among the best wholesale websites for clothing because so many people let go of clothes for next to nothing here.
Although most clothing available isn’t worth trying to resell, if you know what to look for, you may find lots offering large amounts of designer and name brand items for sale as a lot.
But that’s just one of many tips for selling on Craigslist.
Get to know the brands and know what to look for in fakes to make the most of this popular website to sell things.
3. Discount Retail Stores
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: in person
Discount retail stores, also known as wholesale or surplus stores, offer deals you can’t find anywhere else.
Discounted between twenty to eighty percent, you can find name brands for cheap. You must recognize what issues may have caused an item to end up in these stores to avoid buying flops.
Once you have the product in hand, make sure you follow these tips on how to package clothes to sell to appear professional and earn top profits.
Most Popular Discount Retail Stores
- T.J. Maxx – The average buyer, saves nearly 20% off of their total here.
- Ross – You can expect a 20% to 60% discount here.
- Wayfair – Customers save an average of $25 per purchase.
- Romwe – Customers can save an average of 20% per purchase.
4. Thrift Stores
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: in person
Thrift stores are the best friend of any reseller. Classics like GoodWill and the Salvation Army have stores where you can find an abundance of clothing in varied styles and values, and it can feel like treasure hunting.
Get to know when your local thrift stores restock and don’t be afraid to stop and Google brands while in-store. Flipping items from stores is called retail arbitrage.
Trend on the Rise
Thrift stores like Goodwill saw a massive surge in donations and goods from 2020 to 2022, as many people turned to declutter. The average savings on an item can be 10% to 60%, depending on when and where you buy it.
5. Garage Sales
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: in person
Garage sales are a mixed bag, depending on whether or not the sellers know what they have.
Most garage sale items are priced to go since they’re a product of getting rid of clutter: but occasionally, you may find a seller that tries to get you to pay as close to their purchase price as possible.
Beware haggling to a price you can’t make a return on.
6. Flyp
Main item inventory: clothing
Where to find it: online
This second-hand consignment app helps you connect with sellers worldwide who are selling their old clothes and bags in lots.
This allows you to use the app like an international garage sale, enabling you to pick up deals, get them mailed to you, and then resell them at a decent markup.
This is one of the many sites to buy and sell clothes online that many have not heard of, but that offers great opportunities for resellers.
7. Liquidation Sellers
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: in person
When stores are closing or have too large of an inventory, they may turn to liquidation sellers to move as much product out as possible.
These sellers unload large amounts of product at a time, which gives you the chance to buy in bulk.
8. eBay
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: online
eBay is one of the best-known websites for buying second-hand. When purchasing through eBay, go for lots and large clothing selections at a time.
If you can recognize a few brands from these lots, you’ll be far more likely to be able to sell them as separate pieces for a good return.
To this day, making money on eBay selling clothing is still a huge business.
9. Clothing Swaps
Main item inventory: clothing
Where to find it: in person
Clothing swaps are a severely underutilized tool in the reselling industry.
You can bring pieces you want to get rid of at clothing swaps and trade them for details you think you can sell.
This is an awesome choice for anyone who ends up with many multiples of one item and wants to get more unique items.
10. Estate Sales
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: in person
Estate sales are a great space to find great second-hand high-quality items that are often vintage or retro.
This gives you the chance to lean into selling from a specific era and may give your store more legitimacy than it would otherwise have.
Estate sales often offer auctions and lot sales, which give you the chance to grab as many items at once as you want.
Tactic For Success
Estate sales go quickly, so try to get there as early as possible to scope out what’s there or possibly get in early purchases and bids. Some will accept a lower price if you buy in bulk.
11. BStock
Main item inventory: clothing
Where to find it: online
If you want to buy second-hand and lightly used in bulk, check out BStock.
This site connects buyers with second-hand pallets of used or returned items from stores like Amazon and many others.
Most are labeled with the available inventory of what’s in them, allowing you to targe pallets full of lightly used clothing.
12. Church Sales
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: in person
Church sales are a community gathering that allows a huge selection of clothing and outfits from around your city at a discounted price.
The money here goes to supporting the community, and many items are marked far below the average retail selling price, making this an awesome location to grab a good deal.
13. Facebook Marketplace
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: online, sales in person
Facebook Marketplace has been a powerhouse in selling and getting rid of items for the last four years.
Through this part of Facebook, you can contact people in your area and buy in bulk or buy one-off items that you think you can gain money on.
Facebook Marketplace is a smart place to start your resale if you follow these Facebook Marketplace selling etiquette tips.
How to Buy Better on Facebook Marketplace
- Avoid Immediate Reselling – Sellers will be less likely to want to sell to you or offer you a good price if they know you’ll be turning around to sell it for more.
- Talk to Sellers Professionally – Keep a professional and upbeat tone, and they’ll be more willing to work out a deal.
- Know When to Leave a Deal – Don’t deal with sellers that go back and forth a thousand times; know when to drop it.
- Pay Attention to Busier Days – More people create listings on weekends and Mondays than on any other days; get on then for deals.
14. Nextdoor
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: online, sales in person
Nextdoor is similar to Facebook Marketplace yet is still growing.
Currently outpacing Craigslist, this app and site allows you to connect with people in your area and buy clothing at extremely discounted prices.
The support on this app, and the highly discounted goods, make it worth looking into.
Trend on the Rise
Nextdoor is used by nearly 33% of households in the USA and offers sellers more options in 2022. This is available on more devices and is becoming more popular than Craigslist.
15. Storage Unit Auctions
Main item inventory: home goods and clothing
Where to find it: in person
If someone abandons their storage unit, the company that owns it will often auction off the contents rather than having to empty it out and clean it themselves.
If you can get a look at the contents of storage lockers in your area and place some choice bids on promising lockers: you could end up with a large amount of name-brand clothing for cheap.
16. ThredUp
Main item inventory: clothing
Where to find it: online
Another online consignment store, ThredUp, offers deals on clothing and jewelry that you won’t find anywhere else.
Although the prices can vary depending on which seller listed them, most are still below retail.
Wrapping Up
Reselling clothes gives you the chance to make the most money possible while working with existing products, cutting down the amount of fast fashion currently rampaging the world.
Consider sourcing your clothes from some of these locations soon!
Erin is a business teacher and mother of three. When she’s not in the classroom or fulfilling her obligations as an A+ hockey and lacrosse mom, she’s working on her latest article.
