This Is How People Quietly Get Rich Reselling Clothes — Transcript

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1. 0:00This guy makes $120,000
2. 0:02a month reselling clothes online and he
3. 0:05only started last year. Believe it or
4. 0:07not, this is the only business where you
5. 0:09can actually start with zero dollars. I
6. 0:11knew nothing about clothes when I first
7. 0:12started. This month alone we listed over
8. 0:144,000 items on eBay completely on
9. 0:16autopilot.
10. 0:17>> But where do all these clothes come
11. 0:18from? Americans are discarding over 90
12. 0:21million pounds of clothing every single
13. 0:23day. This is about getting our little
14. 0:24piece of the pie.
15. 0:25>> And who's buying all this used stuff?
16. 0:28The key to selling high volume on eBay
17. 0:30is by finding mid-grade items.
18. 0:32>> I'm here to find out how he turns
19. 0:34literal rags into riches.
20. 0:39David, you make mad money, but before we
21. 0:41get to the juicy part, tell us and our
22. 0:43audience how you got started in this
23. 0:44business. Yeah, so I started by coming
24. 0:47to flea markets and thrift stores.
25. 0:48Picked up my very first item here at
26. 0:50this flea market. Picked it up for $1,
27. 0:52sold it for 35. It just opened my eyes
28. 0:54to the possibilities of it and then I
29. 0:56kept doing it and it kept working. So
30. 0:58we're trying to spend as little as
31. 0:59possible and make $600 right now. We're
32. 1:02going to show you exactly how that
33. 1:03happens right on the go.
34. 1:05Good morning. Our suit jackets are five
35. 1:07bucks each. Jackets five bucks, okay. So
36. 1:09we're looking for brand, we're looking
37. 1:10for
38. 1:11condition. This is a vintage Columbia.
39. 1:14This is a vintage Eddie Bauer. This one
40. 1:17is really good. Is it right?
41. 1:18>> It's a Rocawear. Big sizes sell very
42. 1:20well on eBay. So once you buy these
43. 1:21items, David, how much prep work are we
44. 1:23talking about? Do we wash it? Do all
45. 1:25gets washed, ironed, etc.? Try to make
46. 1:28sure everything is clean and washed. So
47. 1:29we got a washing machine on site. All
48. 1:31right, so we're at the actual flea
49. 1:33market where you got started years and
50. 1:34years ago. Walk me through the process.
51. 1:36Like what are some hidden opportunities
52. 1:38that somebody less experienced might not
53. 1:40notice being here? Yeah, I think a lot
54. 1:42of people overlook a lot of very common
55. 1:44items that they don't see the value in.
56. 1:47So the more you learn, the more you
57. 1:48search up, you get more knowledge and
58. 1:50find a hidden opportunity within
59. 1:52anything in here and flip it on on eBay
60. 1:55for a profit, you know. This is our
61. 1:56haul. How many items? I got 15 items in
62. 1:59what, 10 minutes? Yep, and we spent 75
63. 2:01bucks. Right here I'm projected to make
64. 2:02about 450 bucks on my $75 investment in
65. 2:05like 10 minutes. That's pretty epic.
66. 2:11All right, so we just came from the flea
67. 2:12market.
68. 2:13>> Yep.
69. 2:13>> Next thing we're going to do, assuming
70. 2:14we clean them, wash them, is take
71. 2:16photos. And I want to ask what are the
72. 2:17best practices specifically for eBay
73. 2:19photos? Yeah, so you want to have nice
74. 2:21clear pictures of any flaws. You want to
75. 2:24have a nice presentation. Honestly, most
76. 2:26people don't have a photo station. So
77. 2:28the best practice is just to use the
78. 2:30floor at the house. You know, if you
79. 2:32want to invest 20 bucks into a little
80. 2:33ring light, you can, but it's not
81. 2:35necessary. We're just going to set this
82. 2:36up right here. Assuming everything's
83. 2:38ready to go. I can't believe you're
84. 2:40putting it on a dirty floor, David.
85. 2:41>> Yeah, it's going to get washed. Okay,
86. 2:43there you go. I try to take about 12
87. 2:45pictures for each item. We're just going
88. 2:46to take a nice clear picture of the
89. 2:48front, the sides, the arms, and then we
90. 2:51do the tag to show the size.
91. 2:54I was going to say, besides photos, what
92. 2:56else do our viewers need to know when it
93. 2:57comes to taking photos, listing properly
94. 2:59on eBay? What else are we throwing in
95. 3:01there?
96. 3:01>> keywords on the title is very, very
97. 3:03important when it comes to clothing on
98. 3:05eBay. This is a parka military jacket.
99. 3:07If you don't add parka military on the
100. 3:09title, it's not going to cause it to pop
101. 3:12up on eBay and sell faster. So keywords
102. 3:14are very, very important for each item.
103. 3:16All right, you ready to go pack
104. 3:17something and ship it? Absolutely.
105. 3:19>> Let's see how you do it. Yeah.
106. 3:20How do you decide what goes on eBay
107. 3:23versus wholesaling? It's actually the
108. 3:24same exact kind of product. All the
109. 3:26stuff that I throw into wholesale
110. 3:27pallets, it's exactly the same what I
111. 3:30would list. I just keep the thousand
112. 3:32dollar things on top. I keep it 100%
113. 3:34honest. Anything from 20 to 80 dollars
114. 3:36is what I sell. Anything that I sell in
115. 3:38pallets is 20 to 80 dollars. All right,
116. 3:41so I mean, this is my shoe. You tell me
117. 3:43I could list this on eBay right now and
118. 3:45and and make a profit. You can
119. 3:47absolutely sell this. This is the kind
120. 3:49of stuff I sell every single day. My dad
121. 3:51sells a ton of shoes just like that.
122. 3:53Tell us a little bit about your
123. 3:54upbringing. Do you come from money and
124. 3:56where does your entrepreneurial drive
125. 3:57and spirit come from? We came from
126. 3:59absolutely nothing. My parents are from
127. 4:01Mexico.
128. 4:02When I grew up, my dad rented out a shed
129. 4:04for my mom and myself when I was a baby.
130. 4:07So like that's where we come from, but
131. 4:09my dad always had the knack for being a
132. 4:11businessman. So growing up that's all I
133. 4:13saw. He he ran businesses and I just
134. 4:15knew that's what I wanted to do. Can you
135. 4:17think of your first transaction ever?
136. 4:19Maybe it was in when you were five, six
137. 4:20years old, maybe later?
138. 4:21>> That was in middle school. All my
139. 4:23friends were in basketball, were in
140. 4:25baseball, or in football. One time my
141. 4:27dad sold me
142. 4:29Under Armour
143. 4:30shirts like long sleeves and football
144. 4:33cleats. He was like, "Hey, if you can
145. 4:34sell these, you keep the profit." So I
146. 4:36sold the entire football team the same
147. 4:38cleats and I sold a bunch of Under
148. 4:40Armour shirts to all the basketball
149. 4:41team. That's That was in 13 years old.
150. 4:44It was like three bucks a pop, maybe.
151. 4:46True hustler right here.
152. 4:48All right, how many items a month do you
153. 4:49ship?
154. 4:50>> So right now we have like about 9,000
155. 4:52items going out across the whole
156. 4:53business going out every month. 9,000?
157. 4:56That's insane. Walk us through the exact
158. 4:58shipping process. So I believe we just
159. 5:00You just got an order. Yeah.
160. 5:01>> Walk us through the process. We just
161. 5:03pulled the item out of the inventory. So
162. 5:05this is a Mountain Hardware
163. 5:07little hiking jacket, snow jacket. And
164. 5:10we just try to weigh out every single
165. 5:11item to get the accurate shipping price.
166. 5:14And what do we got? 202 ounces? Yes, and
167. 5:17I always round up, so I'll just put 2.3.
168. 5:19So when it comes to shipping, what makes
169. 5:20clothes more attractive as opposed to
170. 5:22anything else? So I used to do
171. 5:23electronics and when you have 40
172. 5:25electronics to ship in a day, boxes,
173. 5:27bubble wrap, big heavy things is much,
174. 5:30much difficult than just This already
175. 5:32packed. Putting it in there, closing it,
176. 5:34it's done. That's it. No tape, no bubble
177. 5:37wrap, 7 cents. That's it. How many were
178. 5:40you able to do on your own, David,
179. 5:42before you're like, "Man, I need to hire
180. 5:43because I want to scale"? I would do
181. 5:44like a thousand a month in the past.
182. 5:47Going out on your own?
183. 5:48>> All by myself. And listing the items,
184. 5:50prepping them, going out and buying
185. 5:51them, doing everything by myself, just
186. 5:54working really hard. But once you really
187. 5:55want to scale more than that, you do
188. 5:57need the help, you know. Okay, when I'm
189. 5:59first starting out, obviously I'm not
190. 6:00going to have probably somebody pick it
191. 6:01up from my home, right? Cuz you do. You
192. 6:03have a lot of volume here, guys. But why
193. 6:05don't we hit the hit the road and go
194. 6:06visit a post office and send this thing
195. 6:08out.
196. 6:09So you mentioned starting this business
197. 6:11takes almost zero dollars to get going.
198. 6:13What do you mean by that? Can you Can
199. 6:14you share more details? You don't really
200. 6:15have to invest in any racking system,
201. 6:18picture station, or even a shipping
202. 6:19label printer. You don't have to do any
203. 6:21of that. Where do I get going? Start
204. 6:23with your closet. Start one by one. You
205. 6:25probably have three, five thousand
206. 6:26dollars worth of clothes in your closet.
207. 6:29>> How much is this jacket? How much did
208. 6:30you pay for it?
209. 6:31>> Retail. God, I love it too much. It's
210. 6:32been a while. Let's say in five years
211. 6:34you don't want it. Paid 100 bucks plus,
212. 6:35you could sell it for 50 in five years.
213. 6:37>> Wow. Yeah, easy. That's pretty dope.
214. 6:39What if I don't want to part with my
215. 6:40clothes? I don't want I don't have extra
216. 6:42cash to spend on buying at thrift
217. 6:44stores. What are other creative ways to
218. 6:47get going at the very basic level? Go
219. 6:49and ask all your relatives if they have
220. 6:51extra clothes that they don't want to
221. 6:52use anymore, that they want to donate to
222. 6:54you. You can start a whole business with
223. 6:56that. Over eight years doing this, have
224. 6:58you ever lost faith in yourself, your
225. 6:59business? Can you think of a specific
226. 7:01example and how did you overcome it? Um
227. 7:03yes, absolutely. So a year ago, um I
228. 7:06lost my wholesale supplier for
229. 7:08electronics. I used to do electronics
230. 7:09mainly and my eBay went totally down. I
231. 7:11was almost considering not doing eBay
232. 7:13anymore and potentially getting a job.
233. 7:15And I've completely like got to the
234. 7:18point where I was about to quit, lost
235. 7:19faith, and then I was like, "Okay, I'm
236. 7:21going to give this one more shot. How
237. 7:23about I try clothing?" That was one year
238. 7:24ago and here we are right now, one year
239. 7:26later. You're killing it, bro.
240. 7:28It's amazing. What did you learn from
241. 7:30that one experience, losing the
242. 7:32supplier? I want to That you can't rely
243. 7:33on one supplier for your whole business
244. 7:36model. You need many avenues to get
245. 7:38product. You can't rely on thrift store,
246. 7:39you can't rely on one flea market
247. 7:41vendor, one flea market. You need to
248. 7:43expand the way of getting product from
249. 7:45all the different areas. That's how you
250. 7:47win in this business, you know.
251. 7:50So this is shipping, receiving. Guys, if
252. 7:53this isn't impressive, I don't know what
253. 7:54it is. Okay, be honest. How many stuff
254. 7:56do you actually keep for yourself? I
255. 7:57mean, is this coat
256. 8:01something you found in a flea market? I
257. 8:02didn't find this in here, but I do keep
258. 8:05quite a bit of things here and there
259. 8:07that fits me good. I just always keep
260. 8:08jeans,
261. 8:09I don't have to go to the mall anymore,
262. 8:11you know, cuz we got Santa Claus at
263. 8:13home, you know.
264. 8:14All right, can we go check out the
265. 8:15inventory? Absolutely.
266. 8:16>> Want to show your our audience kind of
267. 8:18how you set it up. It looks pretty
268. 8:19simple, but want to see if there's
269. 8:20anything behind the scenes. Absolutely.
270. 8:22Let's go.
271. 8:26How are you able to sell so many items,
272. 8:28so much inventory on eBay? Yeah, so I I
273. 8:31follow a 80/20 rule when it comes to my
274. 8:33eBay store. 80% of my store is full of
275. 8:35medium grade items. They go for from 20
276. 8:38to 30 dollars, very simple everyday
277. 8:40value stuff. And then the 20% of my
278. 8:43store is like 80, 100 dollar things, 500
279. 8:46dollar things, 600 Louis Vuitton. That's
280. 8:48a very small percentage of my store.
281. 8:50Everything is numbered. Can you Can you
282. 8:52help us understand how your inventory
283. 8:53system works? Yeah, so it starts from
284. 8:55001 to infinity. No numbers ever repeat
285. 8:59themselves. So that way within this, you
286. 9:02know, little space that we have here, we
287. 9:04consolidate and move back all the
288. 9:06inventory. Last month we sold this
289. 9:09entire rack was empty once we
290. 9:11consolidated. That's how much stuff we
291. 9:13sold within like one month.
292. 9:14>> So then what would you recommend who
293. 9:15doesn't want to sell and move this much
294. 9:17volume in terms of getting started?
295. 9:19Yeah, so when I first started, I focused
296. 9:21on 100 dollar things, 200 dollar things,
297. 9:23500 dollar things only and only selling
298. 9:26a few of those.
299. 9:27But it's very difficult to get that many
300. 9:29of those in order to really grow a
301. 9:31business. It's It's harder to come by
302. 9:33those kinds of items. But if you're just
303. 9:34trying to make extra an extra 3,000,
304. 9:375,000 dollars a month, selling 20 things
305. 9:40can result in that result of gaining
306. 9:425,000 dollars a month. So I tell people
307. 9:45when they're first starting out, if they
308. 9:46want to keep it small, focus on high end
309. 9:48things, turning five into 200 if
310. 9:51possible. It doesn't come often. It does
311. 9:53happen. You got to really treasure hunt
312. 9:56and be out actively for those deals.
313. 9:58This is more predictable. This is
314. 10:00infinite. I can get an infinite amount
315. 10:02of these kinds of things. So, it's more
316. 10:04scalable.
317. 10:05David's knack for turning rags into
318. 10:07riches led him to hitting six figures
319. 10:09within his first year. Now, he's making
320. 10:11that every month. That kind of growth
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348. 11:09eBay fees, I got to wonder, are they
349. 11:11worth it? Talk to us about that. Yeah,
350. 11:13so eBay fees are 100% worth it. I paid
351. 11:156,000 last month in pure eBay fees,
352. 11:18which is like a 12.5% something like
353. 11:19that. eBay spends billions of dollars on
354. 11:22marketing, so that all you have to do is
355. 11:24take a picture, post it onto eBay, and
356. 11:27you get customers through their
357. 11:28platform, through their marketing. They
358. 11:30get 100 million users a month on eBay,
359. 11:32and we get access to those people by
360. 11:35paying those fees. That's the way I look
361. 11:36at it.
362. 11:37>> Mhm. All right, let's go check out the
363. 11:38office a little bit up close. I know we
364. 11:39did some shipping there, but I want to
365. 11:40see what else you do. Yeah, absolutely.
366. 11:42Cool.
367. 11:43You are shipping an tremendous amount of
368. 11:45items, and it's hard to believe you can
369. 11:47source everything from a thrift store.
370. 11:49Can you Can you share more on that? I
371. 11:50buy from donation pickup centers,
372. 11:53recycling centers that I can get
373. 11:55clothing in massive quantities, raw
374. 11:57untouched clothing. Um and that's where
375. 12:00I buy it. I have my little people that I
376. 12:02call, and they fulfill a whole truck and
377. 12:05then get it delivered here. That's where
378. 12:07I'm at now.
379. 12:07>> To get to your scale, that's probably a
380. 12:09must then, right?
381. 12:10In bulk.
382. 12:11>> The only way to get to this point is
383. 12:13buying in massive quantities. What are
384. 12:15they charging to buy in bulk? It's
385. 12:16usually anywhere from 30 to 65 cents per
386. 12:20pound depending on where it's at, who
387. 12:22you're dealing with. Not everything is
388. 12:23good. If everything was good, I'd be
389. 12:25making a million dollars per truck,
390. 12:26right? But, um there's a lot of excess
391. 12:29stuff like baby clothing, but then
392. 12:31there's some really amazing things in
393. 12:33there, also. So, it's it's just all raw,
394. 12:36and then we sort it out, we separate it,
395. 12:38we wash it, we clean it, we prep it. So,
396. 12:40we get it extremely cheap, but there's a
397. 12:42lot of work that goes into it.
398. 12:43>> How much of it of it ends up in the
399. 12:44garbage? We try to only throw away stuff
400. 12:47that is like literally the bags that
401. 12:49goes in there. None of it gets
402. 12:50discarded. We try to make sure
403. 12:52everything is recycled properly. There's
404. 12:54a lot of rag houses, places that use
405. 12:58that stuff. They cut up old clothing,
406. 13:00turn it into rags, recycle it. I don't
407. 13:02like to throw anything in the dump. I
408. 13:03want to make sure that everything that
409. 13:05we get gets done properly, you know?
410. 13:08How much were you able to generate
411. 13:10revenue-wise if it's just thrift stores
412. 13:11or flea markets, for example? I got to
413. 13:1318,000 a month
414. 13:15with pure thrift stores and flea markets
415. 13:19by myself.
416. 13:20>> number for most people. Yeah,
417. 13:21absolutely. It just It was a lot of
418. 13:23effort.
419. 13:24If somebody wants to start buying in
420. 13:26bulk, what kind of supplier should they
421. 13:27be looking for? Yeah, so a really good
422. 13:29option
423. 13:30that's out there is a Goodwill Bins
424. 13:32Outlet. So, the Goodwill Bins Outlet is
425. 13:35a great way to get 100 lbs 200 lbs in a
426. 13:37day,
427. 13:38which it's a it's quite a bit of volume
428. 13:40for someone that does it out of their
429. 13:41house. You can go there, pay by the
430. 13:43pound a dollar 96 depending on where
431. 13:45you're at in the country, turn it into
432. 13:4730 if you focus on better stuff,
433. 13:50you know? So, one day you can spend 196,
434. 13:52make get $3,000 with the stuff. I mean,
435. 13:55we've mentioned this statistic, right?
436. 13:56Over 90 million pounds get dumped every
437. 13:59day in America.
438. 14:00>> Yeah. And yet, you make it sound like
439. 14:02finding bulk sellers, you know,
440. 14:04truckloads of clothes is is a little
441. 14:05tough. Why Why is that? A lot of stuff
442. 14:07gets exported out of the country. I see.
443. 14:09Most of the stuff, the bulk of the stuff
444. 14:12gets out of here. It doesn't stay in
445. 14:13here for some reason. A lot of it goes
446. 14:15to India, Pakistan, Africa, South
447. 14:18America, Europe. It's all exported
448. 14:21mainly.
449. 14:21>> serious money with that export.
450. 14:23Absolutely.
451. 14:24>> Is there an immediate step between
452. 14:25thrifting and then buying truckloads of
453. 14:28clothes? There's not a straight line to
454. 14:30follow to get to that point, but that's
455. 14:32where you start. If you build up a
456. 14:34relationship with someone that owns a
457. 14:36thrift store, that can maybe sell you
458. 14:38Goodwill overstock like a full truckload
459. 14:40of something, that's maybe where that
460. 14:41could go,
461. 14:42but there's not a step-by-step plan to
462. 14:44get to that point. You got to have to
463. 14:46kind of figure it out. Obviously, I
464. 14:49share as much as I possibly can, and I
465. 14:51help a lot of people find these kinds of
466. 14:52connections as well. Through like my
467. 14:54YouTube channel, I help a lot of people.
468. 14:55I give it out. I truly believe there's
469. 14:57so much out there for everyone that me
470. 15:00giving it out isn't going to affect me
471. 15:01too much. I just can't give out specific
472. 15:03phone numbers, but I can, you know,
473. 15:05point people in the right direction.
474. 15:06Yeah, the law of abundance, my friend.
475. 15:08Absolutely, it's true. Yeah. How did you
476. 15:10find your first bulk
477. 15:12seller? I started out with just doing
478. 15:14buyouts, people from flea markets that
479. 15:17just had like that guy today at the flea
480. 15:19market. He had a ton, and I'd be like,
481. 15:22"Hey, um
482. 15:23how much if you just like fill up my
483. 15:24whole truck and bring it to the shop?"
484. 15:26And I just buy out like 40 bags. That's
485. 15:29how I started buying in bulk like that.
486. 15:31You obviously understand your market
487. 15:33very, very well. What's your advice to
488. 15:35people new to this business to
489. 15:37to, you know, to get ahead and and know
490. 15:38how things work? Yeah, when I first
491. 15:40started, it was just literally searching
492. 15:42up item by item at the flea markets and
493. 15:44thrift stores, getting idea for what
494. 15:46something goes for, materials, brands,
495. 15:49styles, all that goes into it. Watching
496. 15:52a ton of videos, really like absorbing
497. 15:55all the knowledge possible and then
498. 15:57applying to that applying that right
499. 15:58away into the business. And trial and
500. 16:01error, going out to the flea market as I
501. 16:03said was just the the biggest thing
502. 16:04possible. You can watch stuff watch
503. 16:06videos all day long, but really just
504. 16:08getting out there physically and doing
505. 16:10it really moves the needle really
506. 16:11quickly. In addition to knowing your
507. 16:13marketplace, what other important skills
508. 16:15should you say would really be helpful
509. 16:16for this business? For this business,
510. 16:18you have to stay organized, have a nice
511. 16:20overall system, but being organized is
512. 16:22number one because if something isn't
513. 16:25organized, you're going to lose
514. 16:25packages, stuff is going to be late,
515. 16:27you're not going to know where stuff is,
516. 16:29and that's a very, very important in
517. 16:30this business. Any best practices you
518. 16:33can share with our viewers when it comes
519. 16:34to processing, especially for beginners?
520. 16:36Yeah, I would just say dissecting it
521. 16:38into categories very simply like jackets
522. 16:40and tops, shorts, jeans, and just
523. 16:43breaking it up like that, it looks less
524. 16:45overwhelming. When you get a bunch of
525. 16:46stuff, it's like, "Oh, what do I do with
526. 16:48all this?" Separating it, breaking it
527. 16:50into pieces, and just taking your time
528. 16:52with it as you go as you learn how to do
529. 16:54everything.
530. 16:55I think that's very good.
531. 16:57Is it possible to find bulk suppliers
532. 16:59online? Just chat GPT, Google?
533. 17:02Uh it's very difficult, but there is a
534. 17:03couple options. One idea is going on
535. 17:05Whatnot. Whatnot is a live streaming
536. 17:07platform. If I'm a seller and I have 100
537. 17:10items, you go on there and you have a a
538. 17:12bid for 10 seconds if you want, 6
539. 17:15seconds. Hey guys, we're going to start
540. 17:16this at three bucks, and it goes to 10,
541. 17:1815, 20 depending on how valuable the
542. 17:21item is. Whoever's in the live stream
543. 17:23can purchase the item at 6 seconds.
544. 17:25Yeah. Purchase paid for A4? All
545. 17:28everything. And yeah, you can sell a lot
546. 17:31of volume with that, also. Okay, I'll
547. 17:33have to check it out.
548. 17:34All right, my friend, when it comes to
549. 17:35buying from bulk suppliers, what's the
550. 17:37bare minimum orders that we need to be
551. 17:38prepared to pay? So, this is the bare
552. 17:40minimum order was 44,000 lbs, a full
553. 17:4353-footer. That was like $23,000. Can I
554. 17:46start smaller and buy 100 lbs from
555. 17:48someone or There's a lot of people that
556. 17:49buy stuff like this, separate all the
557. 17:51good stuff out at wholesale little
558. 17:52100-lb lots, 50-lb boxes. I personally
559. 17:55don't offer that. We only do like bigger
560. 17:57quantities. Both are hard. This is
561. 17:59harder. Almost no one has access to
562. 18:01this. There's no blueprint. There's no
563. 18:03website that you can find. It's actually
564. 18:05very difficult to get wholesale.
565. 18:06Actually, a lot of people struggle with
566. 18:07that. That's why I saw a a demand for
567. 18:09that as well because I was trying to
568. 18:10find some myself. I was like, "There's
569. 18:11no one I No one's offering this." So, I
570. 18:14saw a hole in the market. All right,
571. 18:15blitz time with David. You ready? Mhm.
572. 18:17Let's do it. Are there any types of
573. 18:18clothing you stay away from and why? I
574. 18:20try to avoid baby clothing and kids
575. 18:22clothing. It sells a lot slower. When
576. 18:24you sell on eBay, is it auctions or buy
577. 18:26now? It's all buy it now. Out of all the
578. 18:28listings Every single one is buy it now.
579. 18:30Yeah. That's cool. What's your biggest
580. 18:32strength and weakness? My biggest
581. 18:33strength and weakness is that I'm very
582. 18:35impulsive, so sometimes I got to hold
583. 18:36myself back from growing a little too
584. 18:38fast or just being a little aggressive
585. 18:40buying stuff. So, that's that's it. How
586. 18:42do you avoid wasting time answering lots
587. 18:44of questions from buyers? I make sure we
588. 18:46have very great pictures, very good
589. 18:47descriptions, and great titles to really
590. 18:50know to let people know what the item
591. 18:52is, and then they don't even ask
592. 18:53questions cuz it's all answered. Makes
593. 18:55sense. You obviously are a hard worker,
594. 18:56but how do you work But do you work
595. 18:58weekends? I don't work weekends. Last
596. 19:01one, what's a telltale sign that tells
597. 19:02you someone isn't right for this
598. 19:05business? Um if they can't just wake up
599. 19:07and motivate themselves to get up and
600. 19:09get after it,
601. 19:10you know, not everyone is built for
602. 19:12that. They just don't take action. Yeah.
603. 19:14That's a wrap.
604. 19:15You started as a sole operator. Now,
605. 19:17you've got a team, team of five people.
606. 19:18Can you tell us who they are and what
607. 19:20are they doing? Yeah, so one is my
608. 19:22cousin Richie, my sister's boyfriend.
609. 19:24They both help me sort and separate all
610. 19:26the truckloads. They are kind of a Swiss
611. 19:29Army knife. They help me out with a lot
612. 19:30of different tasks. And then I have my
613. 19:32two sisters that are pretty much
614. 19:34part-time. I have three photographers,
615. 19:37my other sister's boyfriend. So, we got
616. 19:39two potential brothers-in-law's in here,
617. 19:41my two sisters, and the boyfriends. They
618. 19:43all take pictures. They're all pretty
619. 19:45much part-time. I know this is out of
620. 19:46out of topic, but how many photos can
621. 19:49they take or how many pieces of clothing
622. 19:50can they go through in a day
623. 19:52realistically? Every single day we're
624. 19:54doing 200 a day and I I want to do more,
625. 19:58but it is a little difficult to do that
626. 19:59much. It takes a lot of hours, manpower,
627. 20:01staying consistent, but we will get
628. 20:02there. 200 is a lot, you know, every
629. 20:05single day. Prepped, washed, cleaned,
630. 20:06ready, photographed, listed, all that
631. 20:09stuff every single day.
632. 20:10What were your initial startup costs? I
633. 20:12started off with zero dollars. I had a
634. 20:13little small sneaker collection that was
635. 20:16my personal use and I was like, "Hey
636. 20:18man, I don't even use these anymore.
637. 20:19Let's just start listing them up." And
638. 20:21then I even quickly made 3,500 bucks
639. 20:23with just a few sneakers. What did it
640. 20:25cost you to hire your first employee? So
641. 20:26yeah, it was mainly paying out the
642. 20:28minimum wage at the time was like 16
643. 20:30bucks an hour and then I had them
644. 20:31part-time, 20 hours a week. So that was
645. 20:34the cost right there. How many employees
646. 20:36do you have as of today? Right now we
647. 20:37have five. So across five employees,
648. 20:40what's your total payroll expense as of
649. 20:41today? It's about $17,000 in a month.
650. 20:44Yeah.
651. 20:45What are your total monthly expenses?
652. 20:47Right now we're spending at about 50 to
653. 20:4960,000 dollars a month overall. Wait, on
654. 20:52on what? Uh the inventory, to buy a
655. 20:55truck like this, the payroll like we
656. 20:56talked about. I just bought a forklift.
657. 20:59I'm about to buy a box truck. We're
658. 21:00growing a lot right now. So obviously
659. 21:03we generate 120 while we're growing.
660. 21:05That's a beautiful thing. So whenever
661. 21:07everything is nice and set up,
662. 21:08everything's invested and stuff like
663. 21:10that. I'm not buying a forklift every
664. 21:11month. Once that's all taken care of, we
665. 21:13put more cash in the bank account.
666. 21:15Do you sell any other kind of clothing
667. 21:17versus medium grade? And you mentioned
668. 21:19that. Yeah, absolutely. I do sell a good
669. 21:21amount of high-end stuff. It's very
670. 21:23expensive, a thousand-dollar pieces. I
671. 21:25just found a $1,500 t-shirt, AC/DC
672. 21:28vintage 1992 original t-shirt from their
673. 21:31tour. That's insane. So what percentage
674. 21:34of your business is the, you know, the
675. 21:35higher-end items?
676. 21:36>> Uh like 8% if that of high-end stuff
677. 21:39like that, but that's just cherry on
678. 21:41top. What would be the profit margins
679. 21:43then on mid-grade as opposed to
680. 21:44high-end? Quite different? I make all my
681. 21:46money back on mid-grade. When I sell
682. 21:49something very expensive, it's usually
683. 21:50pure profit, cherry on top. You did
684. 21:53$120,000
685. 21:54last month. How much of it was profit?
686. 21:56So it was about 50 to 60% profit margins
687. 21:59doing this.
688. 22:00>> That's insane. I love anything over 30%.
689. 22:03>> Anything over 30 is is golden. It's rare
690. 22:06in in in business, for sure.
691. 22:08Can you think of any specific values,
692. 22:10lessons from childhood that you still
693. 22:11carry forward in business today? Uh I
694. 22:14think good old-fashioned hard work. You
695. 22:15know, right now the business is growing
696. 22:17exponentially and like right now my
697. 22:19workers, they do a lot of the stuff in
698. 22:21the back end, but it is important for me
699. 22:23to be working hard consistently even
700. 22:26when stuff is going great and not lose
701. 22:28that competitive edge and always stay
702. 22:30hungry, always want more, always
703. 22:32continue growing and get better and that
704. 22:34is the number one thing because in the
705. 22:36past I would get complacent. I'd be very
706. 22:38happy with where I was at and that's
707. 22:40when stuff would slow down and that's my
708. 22:42mentality.
709. 22:43>> Complacency equals failure in other
710. 22:44words.
711. 22:45>> Yeah, that's exactly how I look at it
712. 22:47now.
713. 22:48Do you ever accept offers from customers
714. 22:50who want to pay way less than your
715. 22:51listing price? Absolutely. I always
716. 22:53accept offers because the name of this
717. 22:55game is moving product, moving product
718. 22:56consistently. I always give amazing
719. 22:58deals and people always come back and
720. 23:00buy more. People always love a good deal
721. 23:02on eBay and since I get my stuff so
722. 23:04cheap, I have the luxury to do that.
723. 23:07>> So is there like way too low number that
724. 23:09you just won't accept? Absolutely.
725. 23:11>> I think more than 40% off is a little
726. 23:13too much unless it's a really expensive
727. 23:15item that I just marked up too much cuz
728. 23:17it was rare. Yeah. But for the most
729. 23:19part, more than 50 is pushing it, you
730. 23:21know. Like it's already a good deal
731. 23:23compared to like retail. So 50 is the
732. 23:25max. Yeah.
733. 23:26>> That's fair.
734. 23:27What's your approach to getting great
735. 23:29reviews? Yeah, so I just make sure we we
736. 23:32sell what we're saying that we're going
737. 23:33to sell on the title, that the condition
738. 23:35is exactly how it is and that ensures
739. 23:37the customer's going to be happy and by
740. 23:39default we get a lot of reviews. We have
741. 23:42like over 8,000 reviews on my eBay store
742. 23:43right now. Well, how does that work for
743. 23:45eBay? Can you share any insights as far
744. 23:46as their policy, negative, positive
745. 23:49reviews, how to deal with it?
746. 23:50>> A lot of people think that getting a
747. 23:52negative review is a death sentence.
748. 23:53Actually doesn't affect you your sales
749. 23:55at all. You want as many positives as
750. 23:57possible, but eBay just looks at it for
751. 24:00people to gauge whether they buy from
752. 24:02you or not.
753. 24:02>> Good to know. Yeah. And if they don't
754. 24:03leave you a review or anything, what is
755. 24:05what does eBay do? eBay just changed the
756. 24:06policy to where if someone doesn't leave
757. 24:09a review within a month, you
758. 24:10automatically get a positive. That's
759. 24:12something they just added. What perks
760. 24:14has owning a business, operating a
761. 24:17successful business brought you? Uh it's
762. 24:19just the freedom of knowing that I don't
763. 24:21depend on money now. I don't look at
764. 24:23money the same way. I look at money as a
765. 24:25tool to save time and generate more
766. 24:27money. I don't look at it as survival
767. 24:29anymore. Where do you want to be like a
768. 24:31year or two from now? I want to do 6
769. 24:32million next year overall with all the
770. 24:34business, just selling clothing online
771. 24:37and we're setting systems up for that
772. 24:39now. Wow, that's amazing.
773. 24:42Can you clarify cuz I I was thinking
774. 24:43it's solely eBay, but you do wholesale,
775. 24:45you do sell bulk to others. Can you help
776. 24:47us kind of understand the process or the
777. 24:49business model, the structure?
778. 24:50>> Yeah. So I got to the point where
779. 24:53uh I'm getting so much inventory. That
780. 24:55truck you saw there, that's 44,000
781. 24:57pounds. I can buy one every day. Can I
782. 24:59list all that to eBay every day? No way.
783. 25:02No way, right? Right now I told you my
784. 25:04struggle is that 200 a day is a little
785. 25:05slow for us cuz we get so much. So I got
786. 25:08to the point where I got my stuff really
787. 25:09cheap in such large quantities that I
788. 25:12figured I can solve the problem for
789. 25:13other people and uh that
790. 25:15>> Guys like you who are doing you're doing
791. 25:16on a smaller scale?
792. 25:17>> There's so many people that do it just
793. 25:19like me across the nation.
794. 25:21Uh there's a whole community of people
795. 25:22that do this and I solve their sourcing
796. 25:25problem. They don't go out and hunt.
797. 25:27They don't have to source for three
798. 25:28months.
799. 25:28>> Stand in the frigid cold
800. 25:31in a nice coat. Yeah, and a lot of
801. 25:33people, they're paying $10 for the jeans
802. 25:35that I just paid and they get it for $5
803. 25:37when they buy it from me and they get it
804. 25:39in massive quantities so they can just
805. 25:41focus on listing, processing inventory
806. 25:43and not sourcing anymore. So I solve
807. 25:45that problem with a pallet. That's what
808. 25:47I love about what you're doing and what
809. 25:48we're doing, right? It's all about
810. 25:49starting a business with zero, growing
811. 25:51it, building it, scaling it and then
812. 25:52saying, "Hey, where else do I go with
813. 25:54this?"
814. 25:54>> Yeah, exactly.
815. 25:55>> It's not just eBay for you, but now
816. 25:56you're outsourcing to everybody else.
817. 25:58Yeah.
818. 25:59>> Pretty cool. Is there anything you wish
819. 26:00you'd know before you got into this
820. 26:02business? Yeah, so the very first thing
821. 26:04was cultivating relationships. That it
822. 26:06goes very far in this business. You saw
823. 26:08the flea market where that guy already
824. 26:10knew who I was. When I paid, he told me,
825. 26:12"Hey, I have five bags of Levi's in the
826. 26:14car. Do you want to buy them right now?"
827. 26:16But we're recording. I was like, "No,
828. 26:18I'll see you Monday." That's a
829. 26:19relationship and cultivating
830. 26:21relationships takes you very far in
831. 26:23business in general.
832. 26:24So aside from eBay, David, are you doing
833. 26:26any outside advertising to push your
834. 26:29eBay store? Yeah, so one thing I do do
835. 26:31is promoted listings through eBay and I
836. 26:34do add a percentage on top of my fees
837. 26:36and it pushes my listings way more. Last
838. 26:38month alone, 90% of my sales came from
839. 26:41promoted listings alone. So that is an
840. 26:43extra thing that I pay for, but it pays
841. 26:46dividends. It does an amazing job. Do
842. 26:48you always do that or certain slow
843. 26:49seasons to push sales? Like how what's
844. 26:51your thought process
845. 26:52>> year-round, day-to-day, every single
846. 26:54day, everything's promoted like that. In
847. 26:55the wintertime, like right now, you sell
848. 26:58more expensive coats.
849. 26:59People are in the holiday spirit buying
850. 27:01presents, but in the summertime, you
851. 27:03still sell a lot of stuff, you know. So
852. 27:06it's good to do that year-round.
853. 27:08What's been your smartest business move
854. 27:09so far, you would say? When I first
855. 27:11started out, I was listing 30 items in a
856. 27:13day. That takes all the day to do that
857. 27:15and I figured while I was listing, what
858. 27:17if there was someone right next to me
859. 27:18doing the same exact thing? So the first
860. 27:20thing I did was hire people to help me
861. 27:22list more items. Meanwhile, I was still
862. 27:24working. So I just duplicated myself. A
863. 27:27lot of people are hesitant to do that in
864. 27:28a business like this cuz it's a smaller
865. 27:30business, but I always push for getting
866. 27:33help and multiplying yourself and
867. 27:35delegating as quickly as possible as
868. 27:37soon as the money makes sense. At first,
869. 27:39you have to grind. You have to be just a
870. 27:41lone wolf and then once the money makes
871. 27:43sense, once you get some capital and you
872. 27:44want to expand, you get more inventory,
873. 27:46then it makes sense to get some help. If
874. 27:48you enjoyed this episode, make sure to
875. 27:50check out episode 244 with Chris Corner
876. 27:52who shares his secrets on how to spot
877. 27:54business opportunities that have led him
878. 27:56to starting over 75 businesses. Thank
879. 27:58you for watching. Take a second to like
880. 28:00and subscribe and we'll see you next
881. 28:02time.