Reselling as a profession has existed for as long as commerce has. The profession of buying anything low and selling it for a higher value has always been around in some form or another. In today’s world we have the Internet and a huge array of marketplaces to choose from to sell practically anything you can think of.

It is that “anything” that begs extra thought. What should you sell?

If you are like me, when you started, you bought anything that was profitable. It didn’t matter what it was. Maybe it was the dude in me that looked at an entire train track set or bowling ball and said “yeah, I can totally figure out how to ship that when I get home.”

But, I think there is a point where you get used to reselling that you may start asking, should I niche down? Or continue selling anything and everything?

I’d like to explore some of the key components to each style of reselling and share some pros and cons for both types.

General Everything Reselling

Being a general everything reseller means that you don’t mind selling across a huge array of categories. At the end of the day, for a everything reseller it is about the hunt and the profit.

I feel like most people do start out as everything resellers, but do not mistake. There is serious money to be made as a general everything reseller.

Typically everything resellers are people who hit up garage sales, thrift stores, estate sales, and more on a constant basis. These people are extremely knowledgeable in lots of areas, typically vintage, antique, and retro. The sourcing aspect of reselling becomes the most integral part of an everything reseller’s success.

Here are some of the key components to succeed being an everything reseller:

• A vast knowledge of many categories in order to pick out the most profitable items
• The ability to package and ship a large array of items that may be large, breakable, or otherwise just hard to ship
• To be able to source inventory in a wide range in order to find good items

Of course with most things in life, there are some pros and cons:

Pros

• Potential for huge profits
• Can source anywhere and everywhere
• Not hindered by market trends of one category
• Lots of room for experimentation

Cons

• Harder to get repeat customers
• Shipping large, heavy, or breakable items take up more time and have potential for breakage
• Can’t create streamlined routines and processes
• Complex inventory management that can be more time consuming and take more space

Niche Category Reselling

Niche or Category reselling is where you are only selling in a couple or even just one singular category. You avoid items that don’t fit into your already streamlined system, and you are an expert in your specific niche.

Hardcore niche resellers literally sell in one category. It may simply be men’s shoes, baseball cards, or vintage postcards. The idea is that these people know their niche they’ve built a weekly route to source inventory. Most of the time they can thumb through thousands of items in their category and know the value without ever picking up their phone. They’ve created a routine that produces results and they run with it.

These are what I feel are the key components of being a niche category reseller:

• Enjoyment of routine and creating streamlined processes that value time above all else
• Reliable sourcing route for inventory within niche
• Extensive knowledge in a singular niche

And again, with all things there are some pros and cons to this type of reselling as well:

Pros

• Fast streamlined processes for listings, inventory, and shipping
• Build up of expertise and authority in a market
• Targeted marketing and sales based on your niche
• Less overwhelming as you are concentrated in one specific area

Cons

• May pass up valuable items when they don’t fit into your niche
• Chosen category or niche may be oversaturated
• Sourcing can be limited if you can’t find reliable spots
• There could be seasonal ups and downs

Finding Your Path

You can create a successful reselling business in many ways. In this post, I’ve brushed a very broad stroke on two types of reselling, but I felt it was a question pops up regularly enough to shed some light on.

I’ve personally found myself in a limbo between the two which is partially why I found myself writing this post. I started out reselling anything and everything I could find just to build my inventory. Now three years in I’ve slowly eliminated many types of items from my shopping list.

At the moment my main category is hats. My secondary categories are CDs, rubber stamps, and VHS. I’m still very much in a experimental phase and still figuring out what works, and that is okay for me and for your business. One of the most powerful things about being a entrepreneur is you can always adjust and makes changes.

I hope this post helped display some of the differences in each style of selling and give you something to think about for your reselling business.