Rob and Melissa from Flea Market Flipper talk to reseller Rachel Strickland about how she sources in a small town and sells on eBay.
Check out our FREE Workshop: https://courses.fleamarketflipper.com/flipper-university-workshop-webinar
You can find us at: https://fleamarketflipper.com/
Follow Rachel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/resellerrachelstrickland/
Follow Rachel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RachelStrickland
Reseller Hangout Podcast - Interview with Rachel Strickland
Rob: What's up guys? Today we're super stoked to talk to Rachel Strickland. She is going to give us an insight to her business and some just great information that we'll be able to take away.
Melissa: Yes. Thanks for being here, Rachel.
Rachel: I'm super excited. I'm really, really stoked for today.
Rob: Awesome.
Melissa: Let's start off with just giving us a little bit. Let everybody know a little bit of your backstory. Like how did you get started in reselling and yeah, let us know about you.
Rachel: Sure. So I am a full-time reseller. And I originally started thrifting kind of at a necessity, just like low income. I was a young mother, had a young son, we needed things.
And so I would thrift, but occasionally I would find things that were like stellar brands, but I couldn't pick them up cause it wasn't my size or it wasn't something we needed. And it like, it pained me to leave them in a thrift store. And, as I advanced in my career, I didn't necessarily, it wasn't out of necessity to thrift, but I still wanted to save that money, but I was still finding things that I couldn't, I had no use for them. And then one day I stumbled upon this, she was actually a lifestyle YouTuber, not even a reseller. And she was talking about buying things at thrift stores and selling them. And I was like, what? Wait, wait a minute. And I'm like, rewinding this part of the video. What is the Goodwill bins?
Like, I don't understand what they're talking about, but this sounds cool. And about that time, I was actually pregnant with my second son so this is like 10 years later. And so like the timing was perfect to be able to resell now for necessity of staying home with my son. And I don't know, I, I, I got hooked.
I went to the Goodwill bins, which is three hours, one way from here, it's a six hour round trip and I went one time and then I came back and started listing that stuff and selling it. And I was like, oh, this is cool. I think, I think I wanted, I was actually probably meant to do this.
Melissa: Once it gets in your blood, you know, it's just like, ah.
Rob: So much fun! So the majority of your flips are they, are they the Goodwill bins?
Are they more clothes and stuff like that?
Rachel: Heck, no, I haven't been to the bins since, 2018 or 2019 legit. It's a six hour round trip, but I live in a town of 7,800 people. We have one major stoplight. We have one thrift store. If I can thrift from here and I'm in Southeast Missouri, a town nobody's ever heard of, like, if I can thrift from here, you can thrift and resell from anywhere.
I mean, there are always items that are undervalued everywhere or items that the people in your location don't see the value, but people elsewhere do. And so I kind of pride myself in picking those things up and I specialize in vintage. I'll pick up anything vintage to save it. And then, designer. I love, I love to pick up designer items cause vintage designer, the quality's already there.
So you, hardly have to market that item. I mean, it almost speaks for itself. People know if it's wood, metal or glass, or if it's Gucci or Chanel, like I'm not going to have to sell you on that. You already know what's good.
Melissa: They already want it.
Rob: I love it.
Rachel: Yeah.
Melissa: The part of being able to do it from anywhere, that's huge. A lot of people let that trip them up, like, okay, well, my town is small. I can't do it. And so that's a perfect example.
Rob: For sure. This sparks another question too, like designer, you're saying these high brand, are you ever worried about picking up fakes or anything like that when you're, when you're flipping this stuff?
Rachel: Absolutely because like, people in my town will wear fakes like a badge of honor. They don't even care. It grosses me out. I have a video, it doesn't gross me out for like, vanity's sake. It grosses me out because of the industry that is behind these counterfeit products. And I have a video that kind of exposes that over on YouTube.
Because people don't understand, they think it's harmless and it's not. And so to vet those items, means everything in what I'm doing, I will never pass along a counterfeit. And I actually started a video series where I'm destroying counterfeit items to show other people why they're fake and how they're fake and what to avoid picking up.
Rob: I love it. Yeah.
That's definitely my biggest fear on trying to do high brand names, stuff like that because I'm worried. Hey, I don't have the right knowledge to know, hey, is this a fake or is it real? So that's awesome that you're making people aware of it and you're teaching them how to pick it out.
So I love it. I love it.
Melissa: Yeah, that is a big, we don't do a lot of clothes, so we do like kind of random stuff. So that is one thing that and purses and stuff, that can be good, but you want to get the good brands for sure. Where are you selling most of your stuff?
Rachel: I sell primarily on eBay.
I think for what I am looking to sell, which is vintage and designer, they have the best fees and coupled with the best market, because other marketplaces may have lower fees, but they don't have as good of a marketplace. And other marketplaces, other platforms may have a great marketplace for designer items, but they want 50% of it.
And so I feel like, it couples the lower fees for vintage and designer along with an international audience that, I mean, there are more people than I could ever imagine looking at my products every day, as long as they have that good title and nice pictures.
Rob: Yeah. I love it. Such great advice. Yeah. We as well sell on eBay, the majority of what we do, and it is because of how many people it reaches.
So that's awesome. That's really, really cool.
Melissa: And people get upset about the fees, but really, I mean, if you have the right item, you're getting it at the right cost, it's worth it to reach those people.
Rob: Absolutely.
Melissa: So, and how long did you do it part-time before you jumped in full-time? What was that transition like?
Rachel: So what I did previously is real estate. I've been a full-time realtor for, let's see, like 15 years and just this past year, I decided to just completely walk away from that. I did everything, but make my license inactive. I, just refer out my business, the neighbor down the road actually called last week and was like, will you list my property?
I said, nope, but my friend will, and that's the first one that I officially turned down because I am so in love with what I do today that to offer real estate service to anyone would be a disservice to them at this point. My heart's not in that. I want to go find Chanel.
Rob: I love it. It is, it is a different breed of person who really likes, that's what we say too. We'll be doing this the rest of our lives, no matter what, as long as I'm able, physically able to do what we do. There's just something to that hunt for that deal. It is just so much fun at what we do. I love it. I totally love it.
Rachel: Yeah. People will ask they're like, what is it? You know, since you're self employed, what is your retirement plan?
I'm like this. Why would I do something other than this? Like, it's confusing to people that clock in and give a third of their day to someone else's dream that you would actually want to do what you do the rest of your life. Like you wouldn't ask, you wouldn't ask an actor or a singer or something, what their retirement plan is.
I mean, God willing, they're going to do it the rest of their life, you know?
Rob: Absolutely. That is awesome.
Melissa: A lot of people, we notice too that jump into this in retirement, because it is so fun. It's something that you can do and you have your own hours and you're still doing something you're not just not doing anything.
Rob: That's right.
Melissa: Yeah. And it's so much fun to hunt for that stuff. So, what is your average monthly income from reselling if you're comfortable with sharing that?
Rachel: Sure. I remember when I first started reselling and this is like, kind of right after I'd had my son, I'm staying at home, but I'm still trying to go show houses.
Like I would literally nurse the baby and go show a house. And then I was like, I got to start reselling and I want to be taken seriously. I wanted my husband to take it seriously, which he's super supportive, but I like, I needed to validate it. I remember saying if I could make the grocery bill, if I can make a hundred dollars a week, that was what we were spending on groceries at the time.
Then I would consider it like a valid thing and I would start pouring more time into it. And I remember last year when I started this, trading in my death pile for a car, the first time that I, netted a thousand dollars in a week and I was like this is 10 times what I originally wanted it to be. And that's when I really started looking and thinking maybe I needed to step back from real estate.
So I haven't had a whole lot of average, since then, because I am in the middle of trading in all this stuff around me for a car. This week, they are making a car. I've never had a brand new car in my life. And my husband and I ordered a car they're making it this week. And the goal is to walk into the dealership and lay down cash for this brand new car that we traded in thrift store junk, you know, is what people would think, but it's not, it's treasure. So things haven't quite been average. So, but if, you know, if I'm at least netting a thousand dollars a week to me, it's a little crazy cause a lot of people are going to be like, that's a part-time job, but it it's all relative to what your outgoing is. You know, if you live a pretty modest lifestyle, if you live a low-income lifestyle, regardless of what your bills are, then I think you can get away with more, you know, you have more leniency.
So as far as like my contribution in the family, I feel like it's only that car right now because we don't spend my money on hardly anything, but we're right there. Like, it'll be about another three weeks really to deliver it. And it's going to happen. Like I'm going to blog about it. It'll be up on the YouTube.
I'm not telling anyone the type of car it is right now, but they've been along on the journey, the whole way through.
Rob: That's so awesome. I love it. What a cool concept to take your death pile and trade it in for a car. I love it.
Melissa: Yeah. And a thousand dollars a week, that is a legit, you know, income for no matter what.
Rob: Yeah. But definitely. And some people don't realize as when you're thrifty, you can get away with a lot, like our whole house. We don't have like junk, but our refrigerators, our oven, you know, our dishwasher, everything is secondhand, but you're able to get that at like pennies on the dollar. And it's really, really cool stuff to where I don't have to go out and finance a refrigerator or a dishwasher or something like that.
You can pay cash for it, get it very, very reasonable secondhand. So, no, that's really cool. I love that. I totally love it.
Rachel: Yeah, we're really passionate at my house about living debt-free. We're debt free outside of our mortgage. And that was the trouble was the vehicle that I had was debt-free and then it started acting up and we poured cash into it and we just kept pouring cash into it.
And I was like, what are we going to do? And so, I was fearful and originally started saving up like $15,000, $20,000. And then we realized in today's market, you can't do anything with that. And I was like, this is not going to stop us being debt free. I'm just going to have to pour gasoline on it. Like I better work harder.
You know, it was one of those like nobody cares work harder. Like you better work and don't, don't blame the market on all of a sudden I have a car payment. I said, I wasn't gonna have a car payment. So by golly, that's what's going to happen.
Rob: That's awesome.
Melissa: I love it. I think too many people don't have that work ethic anymore. And you've got to just do and go do it. So, and you made a goal and you did it. So do you cross post? I know you do mostly on eBay. Do you cross post on any other platforms or do you mostly just eBay?
Rachel: I do. I list on Poshmark as well, and I'm using a cross lister right now to cross post over to Poshmark, but I'm just not seeing a whole lot of sales. I don't know if I need to get like a VA and it's one of those things. Again, that's another monthly bill. And I feel like if I'm paying like a cross listing and then I'm also going to pay a VA, you know, my first three sales every month, are just paying to list over there. And so I'm considering dropping the cross lister and just cross listing what I want to over there, because again, if my first three sales are selling or just paying for me to be on the platform, I'm not super into that.
I don't sell a whole lot there. I am on Poshmark. I've sold thousands there, but nothing compared to eBay. That's what it blows my mind when people are on Poshmark and have never listed on eBay. I'm like you are eating crumbs while we're having a feast up here. Yeah. I mean, I know everyone's business is different and some people love Poshmark for everything that it is.
And I, I would just hope that everyone would at least try a major platform if you're not on an eBay beyond Amazon. I don't like Amazon. I don't even shop there. So I'm on eBay, you know, like everybody's different, but try a big market.
Melissa: Yeah. Were you affected by the whole Poshmark algorithm stuff that went on?
Rachel: I'm selling like tens of items over there on Poshmark. So to be affected, I just hardly sell anything over there, but it'll surprise me though the things that sell over there that didn't get a bite over on eBay, you know, and I decided I was going to do Mercari this past year. And that was, that was the main reason that I got the cross poster is I thought, well, I'll do Poshmark, and Mercari, and look at this, like this, thing's going to blow up.
And the first night I got Mercari, I put a hundred listings on there. Don't do that. They wouldn't allow me to list anything else. And so they said you have to sell before you can list. And, I would sell one or two things. They were like, no, you have to sell. I still cannot list anything else on Mercari.
Melissa: Really just, you had a limit of a hundred and they said no more?
Rachel: Apparently. And one night anyway, they don't want you doing that. And I'm like.
Melissa: That's interesting.
Rachel: I was going to list like a thousand things over there, you know? And no.
Rob: Out of curiosity, how much do you keep on eBay? How many, items do you have listed on average?
Rachel: About 1,400.
Rob: Okay, cool.
Melissa: Awesome. Yeah. And how much of that in inventory is that about?
Rachel: I mean, I have 1400 active listings right now. Is that what you mean?
Melissa: No, like the money, like how much is it worth?
Rachel: Like $40,000 I think right now. Cause the other day I was like, you know, if I just take 50% of everything that is 20 grand, like. People make me offers.
Don't be stingy.
Melissa: Make me an offer. Do you have a memorable flip that like something that was a fun or interesting?
Rachel: For sure. So I was at an estate sale. I dropped my kids off in the morning and I typically don't even do that. My husband drops the kids off in the morning because he's the real MVP.
Okay. And I am leaving from dropping them off and I went a way I never go. And I'm driving down the highway. Like, I'm going to be candid here. Okay. Everyone listening to podcasts is going to know my dirty secret. I left in the house in such a hurry. I hadn't even brushed my teeth. Okay. And so I drive by and it says estate sale.
There's never any estate sales around here. Well, I hadn't brushed my teeth. So, you know, I did not stop. Okay. I went home, brushed my teeth and then came back. And so I'm surprised that there was even any deals left, but when I get there it's these girls are clear and everything out in like a family estate, it's just like a daughter and some cousins.
And I said, how much do you want for the silverware cause I found this silver plated silverware and it was like a whole set in this little vinyl bag and she said $5. And I'm thinking I can probably get $50 or $60 for it. I think it's most of the set and the cousins they're like, oh $5 and everyone was like that's kinda low and she wasn't gonna, she wasn't gonna come back off of that because she had already told me $5 and I was like, that is kinda low I'll double that.
I'll give you $10. And so I was, you know, thinking I'm doing her this huge favor, giving her $10, I'm gonna make $50 or $60. I get it home. And it's not silver plated. It's Sterling silver. And I sold it for a thousand dollars. From my $10 investment. Now I bought a lot of stuff at that yard sale and I did pay up for some items that like a few things I would probably break even on.
So trust me, I did well for those people. And then I came back and actually helped them to price stuff to put on eBay themselves. We met. Yeah, we met several times, but I just to be, what other business are you going to invest $10 and make a thousand dollars. It's it's incredible.
Rob: Such a cool story.
Rachel: There's no ceiling in reselling, except for the one that you give yourself. Truthfully. You can make as much money as you want.
Melissa: That's awesome. Yeah. Do you do like consignment for people like helping them sell on eBay or, like list for them?
Rachel: I have no desire because the inventory in my area is so plentiful. And I know that's crazy in a town of 7,800 people, but in a town of 7,800 people, there's maybe four of us that resell.
There's more stuff here than I could ever, and I could buy it myself and keep a hundred percent of it. So no, like I have, I've had people ask me and I'm like, I'm zero desire to consign.
Melissa: That's how we feel too. We don't really.
Rob: No, for sure.
Melissa: It's an extra way to make money if people are just starting out, but for us, it's not really that worth it for that.
And one thing about a small town, one thing we, my mom lives in this little tiny town in Colorado and every year we go for Christmas and we always find stuff, we always source everywhere. He goes, we bring our trailer and trailer and find good stuff. I'm like, there's good stuff out here. There's not as much.
Rob: You got to get out and find it.
Melissa: You just got to find it for sure. So we always find something.
That's awesome. And, what would you say, like would be a piece of advice that you would give to somebody maybe starting out or really wanting to jump into this reselling thing?
Rachel: I would actually maybe the opposite of what super positive advice I should be like pour gas on it and just go after it.
Well, I would have encourage people to pump the brakes just a little bit and be like, start by looking at things around your house because you will make mistakes. A thousand, a thousand percent you will make mistakes. And when you do, you don't want it to be on a hundred dollar doll house that you bought at an estate sale that you turns out is worth $75.
You want it to be on, like, when I first started out, I set a limit of $5 or less per item because that plentiful in my area. And that was all I allowed myself to invest. Now, as I grew in my knowledge of shipping and listing and cross-listing and grew in my recently business, I started to raise that and I was like, okay, I can, I can spend a little more on inventory now.
And like, I have had the confidence to go spend $200 on a pair of shoes. If I know that they're worth a thousand dollars now, and I have built up the business, like the base and the roots to be able to. So like, just understand that you will make mistakes. So make them calculable mistakes, I guess, and understand that if you lose money in the beginning, let it be on a $5 buy.
Melissa: Nice.
Rob: I love it. Such great advice for sure.
Melissa: Do you have any place like a storage facility or where do you keep your inventory?
Rachel: No, I can't let myself do that. We would be in so much trouble. The room that I'm talking to you in now is this, like, I don't know, 10 by 18 room. So this room is my unlisted inventory. My 1400 pieces of listed my shipping, my photography, my YouTube studio is all in this one bedroom.
Everything is in here. It is very, very tight, but here's the thing. I have a death pile in this tiny space. If I went and rented a storage unit, there would be items in there. I would forget about them before they would even deteriorate. Like it has to, it can not be out of sight out of mind for me.
Melissa: No, that's a good point.
Yeah. You see it and it's in your house, but that's another thing to know. Like you don't have to, a lot of people think you have to jump in and get a storage unit or get a warehouse and you don't have to have all that. Just using a small room in your house and it's all there.
Rob: And I do love it start small because if you make mistakes, which you will, it's a lot less painful on those small, flips than they are on the high profit flips. For sure. So great advice.
Rachel: It's like when people are thinking about getting a YouTube and they're like, but my videos might be stupid or cringy. I'm like, great. You don't have an audience. Yeah. Yeah, there's nobody to watch them. I'm like make all your dumb mistakes while just your family and your friends are watching you.
And by the time you get good at editing, you'll have an audience.
Rob: Absolutely.
Melissa: When did you start YouTube?
Rachel: So I had YouTube, but for whatever purpose, I don't know what I thought it was a diary, you know, someplace to throw random videos on and there was no direction. And then last January, I was like, you know what YouTube should be. I should put YouTube, reseller content on YouTube. And so last January I started started it really as a reseller channel. It's great. I love it.
Melissa: Yeah, that's awesome. That would be the best place for people to go find you, right, is YouTube?
Rachel: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like you get a little more in depth, in my Instagram, like if you want to know more like day to day what's going on, but then I'm on YouTube every single week.
Melissa: We'll put those links in the show notes below because go check her out on YouTube and on Instagram. And we'll put those links there.
Rob: Rachel, thank you so much for spending some time with us. We greatly appreciate your tips, your knowledge on this topic. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Melissa: And encouragement to people to get started and go do it and put in the work and you can do it.
Rachel: I appreciate you guys having me for sure.