We’re excited to share an interview that we recently did with Kat The Nurse Flipper, who shares some insight into how she grows her reselling business in the middle of nowhere and other flipping tips.
How Did You Get Started Reselling?
Kat has been reselling off and on since 1999, but she always did it in spurts. She took a break, then picked it up when her oldest son was born because she wanted to make some extra money while staying home with him. This time around, she’s been reselling for four years, a little over two and a half years full time. When she had her second son, she wanted to be home more with him so she started building up her business in hopes that she could quit nursing.
Her goal was to quit at the end of 2022 but she ended up quitting nursing in February 2022 and hasn’t looked back.
Where Are You Reselling?
Kat says eBay is her number one for sales. She also crossposts items on Mercari and Poshmark. Kat does live selling with primarily jewelry through Whatnot and Niknax. Niknax is a district marketplace. Kat says to think of it like an antique mall with little shops, and people have different shops there online. The benefit to selling on Niknax is there is a 300,000 following on there. Kat describes it as a smaller version of eBay, and she mainly uses it for the live sales.
What Do You Like To Source And Sell?
For live selling, Kat focuses on jewelry because she can sell 40-100 items in two hours and it’s easy to ship and store. She’s also done antique postcards, trading cards, and small linens like handkerchiefs.
On eBay, she will sell anything that makes her a profit and is legal. She purchases a lot from online auctions and has a thrifting channel. Since Kat lives in a rural area, a lot of what she finds at thrift stores is clothes so she tries to buy in bulk from an online antique dealer. One time she bought 1,200 vintage license plates. She’s also bought Harley pens and scarves in bulk. Kat says she tries not to limit herself to a specific item because of where she’s at and how hard it is to find inventory.
How Are You Getting People At Your Auctions?
When Kat first started, she was doing pop-ups. If people were following her, they got notified of it. She says more people attend if sales are scheduled though, so she typically puts something out ahead of time.
Where Do You Source Your Items?
Most of Kat’s higher end items comes from online auctions. Every auction she buys from ships her the items. She will also drive to go thrifting, up to an hour and a half to two hours. Generally she does this when she’s picking up high end items off an auction. And then while she’s on the trip, she’ll also thrift around for other pieces.
What Is Your Reselling Business Making Monthly?
When Kat first started reselling, her goal was to have $100,000 in income on eBay before she quit nursing. She was making about $10,000 a month when she decided she was quitting nursing and going all in. This month she’s at $13,000 to $14,000 on eBay. Poshmark and Mercari have been slow. Last year she did $230,000 on Whatnot sales so the live sales help.
Her profit margins are higher on eBay though, where she typically can 10x her profit. She says it’s the whole fast nickel over a slow dime when it comes to reselling platforms. On Whatnot she can sell an item in a day, but profit margins are lower. She also has employees helping her catalog some items for live sales.
What Advice Do You Have For Someone New To Reselling?
Kat says to figure out how to do what works for you. She says people have told her they can’t find anything because of where they live. There’s a way to make it work no matter where you live. You might have to source online or drive further to find items, but there is a way to do it. Mindset is a really big thing to your success.
Show Notes
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FURTHER RESOURCES
FREE Workshop How To Turn Your Passion of Flipping Items Into A Profitable Reselling Business
Download These 47 Household Items To Resell TODAY!
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