We interviewed Flipper University alumni Beau Hunter at the Reseller Summit and he had some great information about how to find and flip shoes on eBay.
How Long Have You Been Flipping Shoes?
Beau started flipping shoes six or seven years ago. He got married eight years ago and had some student debt. It was a priority to get that debt down and Beau had always loved flipping. After a bit of dabbling, he was sucked into the world of shoes.
How Long Had You Been Dabbling In Reselling Before Shoes?
Beau is a musician and band director and sold instruments. He bought them cheap on eBay and sold them for a good profit as a hobby. He loved instruments so it was fun to see how much he could make. It got hard to do that when the economy was bad in 2008-2009 because people stopped buying instruments.
Fast forward and he got into selling random things. Beau sold an empty gun box from the 1960s for $70 on eBay and only paid $0.25 for it. He got really excited about the possibility of what could be out there. At every garage sale or thrift store he went to, he found shoes. They were everywhere. At first Beau ignored them because he wasn’t into fashion, but he later took note.
After looking around on YouTube, he saw people were making money with shoes. Beau started with his wife’s closet with some shoes she no longer wanted. He put them on eBay and they sold. Then he experimented with going out and looking for shoes he thought would be valuable. He tried to spend $5 to make $25 or more because you couldn’t really lose much money on $5.
Did You Gravitate To A Certain Type Of Shoe?
Beau says the sneakerhead market is more like the stock market. You have to be current and lucky and smart. A lot of people are good at that, but it doesn’t interest him. He prefers to look for men’s shoes. Men’s shoes cost a lot more, especially the nice ones. With women’s shoes, there are a lot of junk brands and there are so many of them, so women’s shoes don’t do well on eBay. With women’s shoes you have to be really dialed in on the style and the brand. The men’s shoes are more classic. A great men’s shoe made in the 1970s is a great men’s shoe now.
How Can Someone Getting Started Avoid Getting Overwhelmed?
Beau says the first step if you want to flip shoes is to start with your family. Ask if anyone has shoes they don’t want anymore. They might have hiking boots they wore one time. Start by finding inventory from your family.
Every time you go into a thrift store, you can look up a couple of shoes. Then you start learning what shoes are a waste of your time and you know that for the next time you look. Something that’s never out of style is a men’s wingtip Oxford.
Buy the winter boots in the summer, because they’re going to sell. Just go to the thrift store. You might not find anything, but you’re learning all the time.
What’s Been Your Biggest Flip?
The number one flip Beau had was from a garage sale in a neighborhood with $400,000 homes six or seven years ago. He walked in and women were drinking beer and hanging out. He made at least $2,000 off purchases from this garage sale. There was one pair of shoes that looked like some sort of reptile. It was a Salvatore Ferragamo pair. She wanted $5 and Beau offered $2 and ended up selling them for $650.
How Do You Deal With Returns?
Beau says returns are almost always about fit, so you do have to accept returns on shoes. His rule of thumb is 3-4% of returns as the max. If he gets close to that he has to re-evaluate his process. Putting in measurements really helps avoid those though. Most people know the brand they want, they just don’t want to pay a premium for it.
For shoes that are old or vintage, Beau does a shoe test where he bends and flexes it to make sure it’s not going to crumble before he buys it. Beau tries not to buy shoes that need fixed, but he does know a cobbler he works with when needed.
How Much Time Are You Spending On This Reselling Business?
Beau spends part-time hours on it. He toko a new job with a different school district this year and is teaching full-time. Flipping shoes is a good supplemental income.
How Do You Streamline Your Process?
Beau has a template for shoes and boots with all the measurements. He knows what size box everything fits in, so it makes packaging and shipping a lot faster.
What Is A Mistake You See New Resellers Make?
Using bad pictures is a huge mistake new resellers make. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to do that. Dial in your titles with brand name, style of shoe, material, color and shoe size.
Show Notes
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FURTHER RESOURCES
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