Where to Buy Items to Resell: 15 Best Sourcing Strategies

Fifteen sourcing routes, grouped by capital required. Each includes what actually makes it hard, because the sourcing method that suits you depends far more on your constraints than on which one has the best margins in theory.

The principle underneath all of it: you make your money when you buy, not when you sell. Selling is largely mechanical. Sourcing is the skill that compounds, and it is the only real barrier to entry in reselling.

No capital, or nearly none

1. Your own possessions

Not a business, and the fastest first money available. It also teaches you the listing and shipping process at no risk.

Hard part: it runs out.

2. Free listings and giveaways

Local marketplace free sections, community groups, curbside items. People give away furniture, appliances and equipment constantly because moving it is inconvenient.

Hard part: transport, and the time cost of collection for uncertain value.

3. Retail arbitrage clearance

Buying marked-down retail stock and reselling at market. Requires only enough capital for one item at a time.

Hard part: margins are thin after fees, and it requires being in stores regularly. Some brands restrict reselling on certain marketplaces.

Small capital

4. Thrift and charity shops

The classic starting point. Clothing, books, homeware, occasionally something valuable that was not recognised.

Hard part: volume of time per find. Pricing knowledge is everything, and it takes months to develop.

5. Car boot sales and flea markets

Early mornings, cash, negotiation expected. Better prices than thrift shops because sellers want to go home.

Hard part: early starts, weather, and the need to assess quickly.

6. Estate and house clearance sales

Whole households at once, frequently including items nobody has assessed. One of the best sources for genuinely undervalued goods.

Hard part: competition from professional dealers, and you frequently buy in lots including things you do not want.

7. Online marketplace underpricing

Local listing sites where people price to sell quickly rather than to maximise. Searching for misspellings and poor descriptions finds items other buyers miss.

Hard part: speed. Good listings go within minutes, so this rewards being fast and persistent.

8. Auctions, general and specialist

Local auction houses, online auction platforms, storage unit auctions.

Hard part: buyer premiums add substantially to the hammer price, and it is easy to be caught up in bidding. Set a maximum before you start and hold it.

Moderate capital

9. Wholesale

Buying in bulk from distributors at trade prices.

Hard part: minimum order quantities, and margins compressed because every other reseller has access to the same suppliers. Requires business registration in most cases.

10. Liquidation and returned stock

Pallets and lots of customer returns, overstock and shelf-pull merchandise sold by volume.

Hard part: variable and frequently poor condition, manifests that overstate value, and a substantial share unsellable. See Amazon return pallets for how this actually works.

11. Closing-down and bankruptcy stock

Businesses closing sell inventory below cost.

Hard part: you usually buy the whole lot, including what nobody wanted.

12. Trade shows

Direct from manufacturers and small brands, frequently products not yet in your market.

Hard part: travel and time, and minimum orders.

Specialist and relationship-based

13. Consignment

Selling on behalf of owners for a percentage. No capital required at all.

Hard part: finding consignors, and the trust required. Excellent for high-value categories where owners lack the expertise or patience to sell themselves.

14. Direct sourcing from collectors and specialists

Buying from people in a category who are downsizing, upgrading or exiting.

Hard part: requires genuine category knowledge and reputation. Best margins available, because you are buying from people who value certainty over price.

15. Repeat suppliers

Cleaners, tradespeople, house clearance firms, small shops. People who encounter sellable goods in the course of other work and would rather sell to a known buyer than deal with listings.

Hard part: takes time to build and it is the most durable source there is. Resellers who last are usually the ones who built this.

The skill that determines everything

Knowing what things are worth. Every route above is easy to access and only profitable if you can identify value faster and more accurately than the person selling.

How to build it:

• Pick one category and learn it properly rather than buying everything.


• Check sold prices, not asking prices. Asking prices are aspirations.


• Track what you paid and what it sold for, per item, for months. This is how pricing intuition actually forms.


• Learn the condition grades that matter in your category, since condition frequently swings value more than the item itself.

The arithmetic before you buy anything

For every potential purchase:

• Purchase price


• Platform fees, which vary substantially by marketplace


• Payment processing


• Shipping, including materials, and note that dimensional weight makes bulky items expensive. See cheapest way to ship products


• Return risk


• Your time, at some rate

The item has to sell for enough to cover all of it and leave a margin. Many items that look profitable on the price difference are not once fees and shipping are counted.

Where this plateaus

Every route above is capped by your time. Sourcing does not scale, and the profit per hour stays roughly constant regardless of experience.

The resellers who get past that ceiling do it by adding something that is not sourcing: an audience, education, or recommendations that earn while they sleep. It is a different business built on the same knowledge, and it survives the weeks when sourcing is bad.

For starting out, reselling tips for beginners covers the first steps, and best items to flip for profit covers the categories with the best margins.