Reselling mistakes to avoid: 11 that cost us thousands

Thirteen years of full-time reselling leaves a long list of things we got wrong, and one of them cost thousands, more than once. The full video is embedded above, and this is the written version with the numbers left in.

1. Doing none of your own research

When we started there was nobody making content about reselling, so we learnt by losing money. Now there is too much advice, and most of it tells you what to buy without telling you why.

Take a shoe that sold well and work out why. A new trend, the way ASICS was when those first started reselling? Limited numbers? A collaboration with a story? Once you can explain why an item made money, you can judge the next one yourself instead of trusting a screenshot.

2. Spending profit that has not landed

Buy an item for £50. See it selling on eBay for £100. Most beginners have spent the £50 in their head before the listing is live.

Nothing has sold yet, and when it does the costs come off the top: packaging, the trip to the post office, and a seller fee on any platform that charges one. eBay and Vinted charge private sellers nothing, but the £50 is still not £50.

Profit is not yours until it is in your bank account. Thirteen years in, we still catch ourselves doing this.

3. Paying too much

At retail this matters less: you can return it.

It matters a lot when you buy at resale price: a Pokémon or One Piece box from another reseller to hold, or a pair off Vinted. There is no return window on a private sale. If you overpaid, the loss is locked in the second you pay. Check sold prices, not asking prices, and walk away when the margin is thin.

4. Not picking a niche

A loose one, because later on we tell people to diversify. At the start, pick one thing. Pokémon. Or one brand in vintage, say Ralph Lauren. Learn it until you can price it from a photo.

That depth is what puts you a step ahead of everyone else in that corner. Once you have it, widen out.

5. Lazy listings

Five or six years ago sellers competed on photos. Ours was a sheet of chipboard painted white, shot in daylight. Daylight was the mistake: we had to wait for the sun, and the results were never consistent.

Then people stopped bothering, which is your opening. You do not need a camera or a light box. A phone, a £20 ring light and one background you use every time is enough. A clean, consistent listing wins the sale over stock images and dim kitchen photos.

6. Not checking condition on arrival

Nike ships pairs with glue stains and stitching faults. We have sold pairs where one shoe was a 9 and the other a 10, straight from the retailer, because we never opened the box.

The buyer is angry, you refund or part-refund, and the feedback hit stays. Open every item the day it arrives, while you can still go back to the retailer inside the return window.

7. Not reinvesting

The first £1,000 of profit lands. It goes on a holiday and a few meals out. A month later you are back to £500, or back on the credit card.

Keep the money separate. A second bank account is enough; a sole trader can do it without a limited company. Put a slice aside for tax. Set targets you can hit, an extra £500 a month, then £1,000, and leave the rest as capital, because the more you can spend on a release, the more you make on it.

Every time we have looked back at a drop and thought "an extra £5,000 there would have paid", it was because profit had been spent.

8. Giving up too early

Consistent profit can take months.

Five or six years ago a single pair could make £2,000 or £3,000. It was never common and it is rarer now. Social media shows the outliers. What is realistic is an hour a day for £500 a month profit, then £1,000. Reselling as a side hustle covers what that looks like per hour.

9. Procrastinating on postage

A sale comes in. "I'll drop it off tomorrow." Tomorrow becomes a week, then an open case, then a defect on the account.

eBay's cycle of late shipments and bad feedback is hard to climb out of. Post the same day where you can. When you cannot, message the buyer and say when.

10. No systems

Before the first purchase: a spreadsheet, accounts set up on eBay, Vinted, Laced, StockX and GOAT, boxes and tape in the cupboard.

One item becomes two, and two weeks later there are 50 boxes of Pokémon in the spare room. Reselling snowballs faster than anyone expects, and a tax deadline with no records means a bad January.

11. Not returning stock in the window

The biggest one, and the one that cost us thousands of pounds, more than once.

UK retailers have to accept returns on online orders. Fourteen days from delivery is the legal baseline, most fashion and footwear retailers give 30, and over Christmas some stretch to 60 or 90. That window is what makes buying at retail close to risk-free.

The routine: list the item the day it arrives. At day 10 or 12, if it has not sold, check the sold prices and how many are selling. If the honest answer is "this will take six months", return it. Otherwise it sits on a shelf for two years and sells for half of what you paid.

Two examples from our own shelves: Adidas Sambas bought at around £100 that are now £40 to £50 in the shops, and a run of Labubus that made money at the peak and left a pile we will probably sell for what we paid. An item can have 50 sales on release day and none a week later.

The exception people cling to is the Sean Wotherspoon Air Max 97: £300, then £600, then £1,000 within a few months. That rarely happens now. Put return dates in a spreadsheet or a calendar alarm, and return.

Common questions

What is the most common reselling mistake?

Holding stock past the return window. Buying at retail in the UK is close to risk-free because retailers must accept online returns, usually within 14 to 30 days. Resellers lose money when they miss that window and end up selling a dead item for less than they paid.

Why do resellers lose money?

Mostly by paying too much, holding too long, or spending profit before it has landed. Checking sold prices before you buy and setting a return-date reminder removes most of the risk.

How long do UK retailers give you to return an item?

For online orders the legal baseline is 14 days from delivery. Most fashion and footwear retailers give 30, and many extend to 60 or 90 days over Christmas. Check each retailer's policy and write the date down the day the parcel arrives.

Should I hold stock and wait for the price to go up?

Not as a beginner. Prices that climb for months, like the Sean Wotherspoon 97 did, are rare now. Hold only when the sold prices and the volume both justify it. If you are guessing or hoping, return the item and put the money into the next release.

Do I need a limited company to keep reselling money separate?

No. A separate bank account is enough, and a sole trader can run it that way. Keep profit in that account as capital, set aside money for tax, and only move out what you have planned to take.

Where this fits

If you are starting from zero, read how to start reselling in the UK first and come back to this list before your first buy. For the tax side of mistakes seven and ten, see do you pay tax on reselling and sole trader versus limited company. To see the same rules applied to a real week, read what a full-time reseller does all day, and for the category that taught us most of these lessons, sneaker reselling in the UK.