As a reseller, I’m always on the hunt for great deals. Summer is my absolute favorite season, so when the summer months roll around I’m always excited to start sourcing. Here are a couple things to keep in mind if you are anything like me and love looking for summer items!
When to start sourcing for summer:
While most stores opt to not have inventory lying around and liquidate their seasonal items at the end of the season, the best time to source for summer for resellers will be at the end of summer. Inventory is fairly high, and prices are usually lower.
Start looking around August when things start to go on sale and by September most of the summer items should be heavily discounted.
The only con to shopping at the end of a season is that you may have to hang on to what you find until the summer months roll around again. I would definitely still list the items you find but not expect too many sales until things heat up again.
If you’re shopping at the thrift store you will probably find summer items year-round. Although January and February may be great months to catch some summer items on sale as people are clearing out items and purging their closets to make room for what they received at Christmas and to usher in a new fresh year.
Another great time to find great summer clothes at the thrift store is at the beginning of spring and summer as people begin switching out the fall and winter clothes for summer and spring items and usually purge at this time.
What to source for the summer:
Clothing: While clothing may seem like a fairly obvious purchase the trick is to find unique clothing, those with themes or florals always seem to do well in summer. Be on the lookout for items you might not necessarily think to purchase like Hawaiian shirts, funny summer themed t-shirts, hiking shoes, and Bermuda shorts. You may be surprised at how well these things sell!
Swimsuits and swim trunks: While used swimsuits usually sit around for a long period of time, if can snag a couple of new swimsuits that are in style do so, you will probably find that they sell pretty quickly.
Shoes: shoes that are in style and in great shape are always snatched up fairly quickly if they are priced well
Accessories: look for accessories like sunglasses, beach bags, and even beach towels
When to start listing summer items
If you’re one of the many resellers that keep their summer items up year-round (because it’s usually hot somewhere right). People usually start ramping up their shopping for summer clothing, vacations, and beach wear at the end of spring. So, make sure you have all of your items up by no later than April and definitely May.
Part of the thrill of shopping is seeing something new, so if you do decide to list your items and leave them up year-round make sure to take multiple photos so that you can switch up the main photo from time to time and pique buyers’ interest again.
Where to find the best deals
If you’re looking to find the best deals on summer items, make sure to stop into these places often:
- Thrift stores: of course, thrift stores are at the top of my list. But you are bound to find great sales although you may not find a ton of new items.
- Estate sales and garage sales: people are purging items and getting rid of items and many times this will include summer items
- Facebook Marketplace & eBay: people sell many items or a large quantity of items in bulk on these sites fairly frequently. The plus is that you usually get a ton of items for a low price, the con is that many times you don’t know exactly what you’re getting
- Your closet: Just like many people are purging for the incoming season, you should be too! If you have items that are great condition, but you haven’t touched or worn in the past year or so, you may want to let it go to an owner that will get some use out of it.
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