I got into flipping clothes after trying to thrift for myself. I have a couple of thrift stores in my area, but I’ve noticed a drop in inventory quality over the past couple of years due to the oversaturation of fast fashion. As a result, this hustle is quite time-consuming: taking photos, paying for gas, packaging, and even cleaning dirty items—work that’s often obscured by the success of vendors you see online.

There were four things that first came to mind for how to go about all of this:

• A route that would take me to multiple stores and back in one go, ideally in four hours or less.
• Learning what times were best to go, especially when new racks come out the most and when the least amount of people go.
• Checking the brand and its original retail price for each piece of clothing or accessory that I decided was worth buying.
• Selling them as fast as possible due to my uncertain living circumstances (I may move out at any moment).

The first two were easy to grasp within the first week because I learned as I went (thanks to Google Maps and asking around). The third, however, required some digging on the internet.

The SellRaze Trap

I stumbled upon this app called SellRaze via Instagram ads. Lo and behold, it becomes paywalled after some time. I managed a good number of attempts and thorough testing, so I can say with certainty that it’s quite accurate at detecting apparel, but it gives somewhat unrealistic secondhand price valuations at times. Just because something is valued at $100 on the secondhand market does not mean it will sell for that; it needs to take into account the condition, how fast the seller wants the item gone, and the margin of offer price the seller is willing to accept. That’s the catch here — and that’s how these apps are advertised in the first place. Do not pay for this stuff.

I found myself better off using Google Lens. It requires a bit more work if it doesn’t detect an item well at first (more often than not). You’ll need to add additional prompts to the search, like “{Brand name} {apparel type} worth”. Results of an item listed on selling platforms or its original retail website will show up depending on what you are looking for.

The Results

I’ve had the most luck with Goodwill in my area, though I still visit Salvation Army, Thrift Giant, and locally owned thrift stores. Thrift Giant and Salvation Army sometimes run 50% off store-wide sales, so I go either right when they open or a few minutes before closing to avoid the crowd.

Estate sales are another interesting alternative. I recommend using an app called Estate Sales (estatesales.net) to find mansions, which tend to have luxury items.

So far, going 2 to 3 times a week, I’ve made around $615 from 32 items on Depop and $995 from 16 items on eBay. My pure profit is about half of total revenue—roughly $900—from 40 hours in August and 20 hours in the first half of September. Unfortunately, eBay’s fees are steep.

My biggest finds have come from formal, preppy, and vintage items, which all sold within a couple of days. Not that with all of my listings, I prioritized fast sales over profit, so I could only drool by imagining how much more I could have made:

• Church’s tassel loafers (+$144)
• Canali proposta suit (+$56)
• 90’s Chicago Bears leather bomber jacket (+$103)
• Sebago Classic Dan loafers (+$52)
• G.H Bass Weejun loafers (+$41)
• Eton dress shirt (+$32)
• Dale Earnhardt vintage tee (+$60)
• Tumi Messenger Bag (+$52)

In retrospect, it’s wild that I found those items within a month—and that doesn’t even include what I kept for myself.

Conclusion

I think I’m pretty much finished with reselling. For the amount of profit, it just simply isn’t worth the time, especially because I already spent all of that money on new clothes. I learned quite a lot during the process, but it’s more of a hobby now. It was fun while it lasted.