This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
How do you start a reselling business without using eBay? I love this question. We're gonna look at some alternatives to eBay for starting a reselling business. And we might talk about Facebook Marketplace. We might talk about OfferUp, Craigslist, maybe something else.
The whole point is we've got a listener who wants to do reselling. We often talk about how this is a really accessible business model, something that anybody can start. Even if you don't wanna become a full-time reseller, even if you don't think about being an entrepreneur, it's something anybody can do to make extra money. So if you don't have a lot of experience, I always recommend this as one of our starter business models. Well, it's not mine.
It's just a starter business model that anyone can try. So we're gonna hear from Ricardo in Fort Lauderdale. As noted, he is interested in starting a reselling business but wants to avoid using eBay for whatever reason. I used to sell on eBay many, many years ago when I was a baby side hustler, a baby entrepreneur. But he wants something different.
So let's talk about pros and cons of alternatives. If you like the idea of doing this, or you're just kind of exploring different ideas in general, that's totally great. That's what we're all about. Side Hustle School for more than 2,800 episodes, giving you different ideas that you can hopefully turn into action. I love when our listeners go from idea to action.
So let's talk about the best platforms for reselling and how they compare to eBay. [Music]
Hello, Chris, I'm Ricardo, listening in to Fort Lauderdale. I'm interested in starting a reselling business by wanting to avoid using eBay. You know, I had a bad experience with them a while back. Now I've been exploring other platforms and would love to hear your thoughts on them.
What are the pros and cons of these alternatives compared to eBay? I'm thinking about Facebook Marketplace, but it could be something else if you think there's a better idea. Thank you. [Music]
Hey Ricardo, sorry to hear about the bad experience with eBay. Good news is there's lots of other platforms.
So you've already been exploring some, you might have some ideas already, but when you think about the pros and cons, I just encourage people to think every platform when it comes to reselling, or this is also for other business models as well, if you're thinking about social media, if you're thinking about a content-based business, if you're thinking about, you know, do I share my videos on YouTube? Do I share them somewhere else? Well, every platform has pros and cons. And so you just want to figure out what is best for me, what is best for this particular business idea. And for reselling, perhaps, you know, you want to ask what is best for this category?
Like, what am I reselling? Like, where do buyers go? That's really what matters in terms of a reselling business. You want to be where buyers are. And one of those questions is, you know, are they everywhere?
Are they like across the country or around the world? Or are they mostly in my local area? So Facebook Marketplace can be great, especially if you're looking to sell locally, because that's what the whole platform is built for. Everybody's used to it. It was pretty simple to jump on and figure out, right?
It's designed for anybody to get on and start selling, buying and selling. Some other options might be more topically focused, like Poshmark, we've talked about a good bit recently, Poshmark and Depop, some clothing reselling platforms, Etsy, if your reselling business involves vintage items or handmade goods. And Etsy recently made some changes to categories to allow other items there. That could be a great fit. Offer Up, it's kind of like local sales, similar to Facebook Marketplace.
I've used Offer Up as a buyer a couple of different times to get plants and other fun stuff. And of course, depending on where you are located, there might be something totally different. So the pros and cons are mostly like who is going there. You know, if it's a platform that doesn't have enough buyers or enough buyers for your category or whatever you're selling, it's not a good platform for you. If it is a platform where people are used to transacting and you can see that there are lots of completed sales, then it might be good.
But the only way to figure it out is to just start doing it. And the opportunity cost is really low. If you try it, you don't like it. You're not out a lot of money. You're probably not out any money.
In fact, you just move on to something different. So I encourage you in this case, you know, it's good to ask questions and to do some research, but I wouldn't do a ton of research. I would just start experimenting and see how things go. Ricardo, everybody else out there wishing you the best, let me know how we can best help you with your side hustle ideas and projects, sidehustleschool.com. There's some resources and notes page for every episode.
This episode was, let's see, 2822. How about that? But much more are coming up always completely free. You can listen wherever you want. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
