You buy sneakers, vintage clothes, cards or collectibles cheaply and sell them online for more. Mostly a side income.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$3,000
Most people
$0
Full-time few
$60,000
There is no wage survey for resellers. Most do it part time and clear a few hundred dollars a month after fees and stock, so about $3,000 a year is a fair typical figure. Full-time resellers who source every day can reach $40,000 to $60,000 of profit, working more than full-time hours.
Often $5 to $30 profit an item
Thrifted clothing, books and household goods
A $6 jacket sold for $40 leaves about $25 after eBay's fee and shipping. Volume, not big wins, is what makes the money: full-timers list dozens of items a day.
About 10% to 20% of each sale
Taken by the marketplace, plus shipping
eBay takes 13.6% plus 30 or 40 cents in most categories. Poshmark takes about 20%. StockX charges about 9% plus 3% for payment at the first seller level. Facebook Marketplace is free for local pickup.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is flipping things from thrift stores and garage sales with the phone you already have, about $100 of first stock and some shipping supplies. The high end is starting in sneakers or graded cards, where single items cost hundreds of dollars, plus a scale, a label printer, lighting for photos and crosslisting software. Expensive stock is the risk: one fake or one price crash can wipe out months of profit.
Start with cheap stock so your mistakes are cheap too.
Unsold stock
Items that sit for months tie up cash and space.
Returns and disputes
Buyers can claim an item was not as described, and platforms often side with buyers.
Price crashes
Hyped sneakers and cards can lose half their value in weeks when a trend ends.
Fakes
Buy one counterfeit and you lose the money. Sell one and you can lose your account.
Your time
Sourcing, photos, listing and packing. Many people earn less than minimum wage per hour.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
No degree or licence. You learn what sells by selling.
Sell what you already own
1 month
Clear out your closet first. It teaches you photos, pricing and shipping with no risk.
Pick a niche
1 to 3 months
Vintage clothing, sneakers, trading cards, books or electronics. Knowing one category well beats knowing a little about everything.
Learn to price from sold listings
Ongoing
Check what items actually sold for, not what people are asking.
Build a sourcing routine
6 to 12 months
Thrift stores, estate sales, garage sales, liquidation pallets and card shows on a regular schedule.
Grow or stay a side hustle
1 to 3 years
Full-time resellers keep hundreds or thousands of items listed on several sites at once.
Math
Fees, shipping and profit per item, done fast in your head at a thrift store.
Business or marketing
Pricing, buyer behavior and keeping records.
Photography or media arts
Good photos sell items faster and for more.
History or art
Vintage resellers who can date a garment or spot a maker find the bargains.
No licence is needed, though some states want a sales tax permit or a business licence. Reselling for profit is self-employment income for the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), and the profit is taxable whether or not you get a form. Payment apps and marketplaces send a 1099-K form only above $20,000 and 200 sales a year, a rule reinstated in 2025. Selling your own used things for less than you paid is not taxable income. Keep receipts for what you buy.
Fake sneakers, bags and cards are everywhere, and many look perfect. Selling counterfeits is illegal even if you did not know, and platforms ban accounts for it. eBay and StockX check many high-value sneakers before they reach the buyer. The INFORM Consumers Act (a 2023 law) makes marketplaces verify anyone with 200 or more sales of new items and $5,000 a year, partly to stop fakes. Buy from sources you trust and keep proof.
Things you don't need, but that help.
eBay
Everything, with the biggest audience of collectors.
Poshmark and Depop
Clothing. Depop skews young and vintage.
StockX
Sneakers and streetwear, checked for fakes, with set prices.
Whatnot
Live video auctions, strongest for cards, toys and collectibles.
Facebook Marketplace
Local and free, good for furniture and bulky items.
Spotting value fast
Brands, materials and makers that sell, seen in seconds on a rack.
Photos and listings
Clean backgrounds, measurements and honest flaws.
Live selling
Talking on camera for hours keeps a Whatnot show moving.
Card grading
Sending cards to a grader such as PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) can multiply value, but costs money per card and takes weeks.
Social videos show huge sneaker and card flips. They are real, but rare, and the people posting often earn more from the videos or a paid group than from flipping. Hype items are crowded with bots and big buyers, and prices fall fast. Steady resellers mostly sell ordinary things, like brand-name clothing and books, at small profits in large numbers.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Mornings are sourcing: two or three thrift stores, or an estate sale that opens early. Back home you clean, measure and photograph what you bought, then list it on two or three sites. Afternoons are packing yesterday's sales and a post office run. Some evenings are a live show on Whatnot. Weekends are garage sales and card shows.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The tax form for online sales was due to start at just $600. It was delayed, set at $5,000 for 2024, then a 2025 law put it back to $20,000 and 200 sales. The tax you owe on profit never changed.
Under the 2023 law that targets stolen and fake goods, a marketplace that fails to verify its high-volume sellers faces civil penalties of $53,088 per violation. That is why selling apps ask for your ID and bank details.
Since June 2023, marketplaces must collect and verify the bank, tax and contact details of high-volume sellers, and show buyers the name and address of the biggest ones.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Online business first, then the rest of the field. See all online and self-made careers.
Last checked October 2026. This is self-employment, so there is no government wage data for it. The income figures come from the studies and platform data listed above.