The concept of promoting used or overstock items just isn’t new. Secondhand and thrift procuring is as outdated as commerce itself.
What has modified is resale quantity and the operational challenges which have emerged. Outlets that need to promote used, refurbished, and overstock objects ought to set up repeatable methods for dealing with sourcing, consumption, authentication, grading, and pricing.
Repeatable Recommerce
Sourcing
The preliminary problem is persistently discovering fascinating items.
The intention is predictable methods for procuring merchandise that flip over shortly and profitably.
- Returns as stock. Don’t overlook returned objects. They’re a dependable supply of secondhand inventory.
- Buyer trade-ins. Purchase-back applications additionally present a predictable provide of stock and encourage repeat purchases. Retailers can let customers commerce in and commerce up attire, out of doors gear, electronics, and luxurious equipment. Rigorously outline what your small business accepts and the way credit score is issued.
- Liquidation sourcing. Platforms equivalent to B-Inventory, Bulq, and Liquidation.com provide bulk pallets from main retailers. The situation varies broadly, usually with incomplete manifests. Nonetheless, pallet sourcing stays a low-cost solution to study recommerce, particularly in attire and residential items.
- Partnerships. Lastly, many secondhand ecommerce companies develop sourcing partnerships with producers or different retailers to buy clearance, end-of-season, or returned items.
Consumption
In round commerce, consumption drives items towards a sale.
An efficient consumption workflow ought to transfer each merchandise by means of a repeatable course of, to:
- Establish,
- Clear,
- Measure or take a look at,
- Doc situation,
- {Photograph},
- Authenticate,
- Assign a grade,
- Record.
Every step is a chance to scale back the time from sourcing to sale. The higher the consumption course of, the higher the money circulate.
Whereas every of those duties is crucial, the final three require additional consideration.
Authenticate
Some classes of secondhand merchandise require authentication or certification.
For instance, a store that lists a big Prada Galleria bag (which sells new in 2025 for $5,100) had higher guarantee it’s a real Prada. Counterfeits can kill a recommerce enterprise.
Companies equivalent to Entrupy, Certilogo, and category-specific verification instruments may help. Typically, submitting images will probably be sufficient to authenticate an merchandise.
A purchaser for a used Prada bag seeks high quality and model recognition.
Grading
Recommerce grading can take two varieties.
First, the outline for each merchandise ought to tackle its situation. Grading could possibly be so simple as “like new” or “honest.” For such subjective grades, attempt to have a repeatable customary. For instance, attire with stitching wants can solely be labeled “honest.”
Mistake in grading — an excessive amount of or too little — erodes belief.
A second type of grading applies to collectible items. Books, for instance, usually have grades equivalent to “mint,” “fantastic,” and “close to fantastic,” every with a selected definition.
When merchandise have an ordinary and accepted grading system, use it.
Itemizing
The place to record — provide or sale — a secondhand, refurbished, or overstock merchandise requires market consciousness and understanding, and a little bit of talent.
The itemizing needs to be priced competitively for a given market. A refurbished Xbox juxtaposed with a brand new one on a retailer’s web site might promote at a better value than on Fb Market or eBay.
The value distinction amongst markets mustn’t discourage a vendor from itemizing on all or a lot of them. As a substitute, it implies the necessity to use completely different itemizing methods, every emphasizing completely different options or values.
Product descriptions on Amazon Renewed may deal with the knowledgeable refurbishing or like-new efficiency, whereas attire listings on ThreadUp might stress environmental sustainability.
An Amazon Renew shopper possible differs from one on Threadup targeted on environmental sustainability.
Recommerce Success
Recommerce can complement a retailer’s major gross sales channel by extracting worth from returns, trade-ups, and overstock stock.
It could possibly additionally grow to be a standalone enterprise mannequin, the place retailers purchase and promote throughout a number of marketplaces.
Success in both mannequin is determined by processes and workflows. Outlets that standardize consumption, grading, authentication, and itemizing practices earn shopper belief, leading to quicker turnover and decrease returns.
