Charity Shop Sourcing Mistakes to Avoid

Five of our mistakes that you can avoid when sourcing stock to resell

Sourcing is one of the best parts of reselling. We love making plans to find new shops and explore new towns, and often spend hours flicking through rail after rail of clothing looking for treasure. But, we have made our share of mistakes over the past year. Some cost money, some are just annoying, all we could do without.

Here is a list of five mistakes that we hope to avoid making again.

#1 – Incomplete Items

I have talked before about looking for holes and stains to try to save money while sourcing. Its something I was not good at to begin with, but have been working on – and still manage to bring home items with marks or tears.

However, something that is easy to miss – and even more annoying – is the incomplete item.

By incomplete, I mean a missing belt or hood, or lining, or strap. Any detachable parts that might have become separated from the item before or during the donation process.

These are easy to miss because they are literally not there – you have to look for the thing that you can’t see, to know that it is missing!

I have lost track of the number of stunning dresses that I have brought home, only to discover the tiny belt loops that indicate a belt is missing.

Now, with a dress, it might not be too big a deal, as many people like to swap out the belts anyway, to customise their clothes to their own taste.

But if you are listing a dress that has belt loops and no belt, you have to add in your item description, “No belt,” or “Belt missing.” Your listing instantly looks a little less valuable because part of the item that should be there is lost. Even replacing with a belt that looks good with the dress won’t quite fix it, as you will still have to put “Not original belt,” in the listing.

More annoying than the missing belt is the missing hood. If a coat has one of those detachable hoods that rolls up into the collar, make sure to check it is there before buying!

#2 – Lookalike Labels

We are still learning about brands and labels, and I imagine we always will be. There are just so many names to remember, and more to look out for every day. So its easy to see how we (by we I mean I, it was me, ok) fell for one or two lookalike labels over the past year.

By “lookalike,” I don’t mean that the item is a fake or a replica. The clothing is genuine and of good quality and perfectly fine to buy or wear in its own right.

What I mean is that there are a number of clothing labels that are more affordable brand-new, with a lower resale value, that seem to fool me every single time. It might be that the font they use is the same as the one that I am looking for, or that the name is very similar, or that there is a distinctive “theme” to the clothing such as anchors or sausage dogs. It might just be that my brain is tired and I need more sleep followed by much caffeine. Maybe its a combination of those factors. But how annoying to get home and realise that what I thought was a big seller was actually just something that looked very like a big seller.

#3 – Getting a Little Bit Carried Away

I remember a shopping trip near the beginning of our reselling journey, that we still talk about today. We call it the Mish Mash Day, and we still don’t fully understand what happened.

We were still at the stage where we had to check each and every label that we came across to find out what the good brands were. One of us found a shirt by a brand that we had never heard of before called Mish Mash. Checking the solds on eBay, we were pleased to see that they were a good quality brand with a fairly good resale value.

What happened next is a bit of a blur but somehow we found a lot more Mish Mash and brought it all home. All of it.

And, as it turned out, they don’t sell very quickly at all. We still have some of them. Very nice shirts, very wearable and great quality, but we can’t pay the bills with a pile of shirts, unfortunately.

To make things worse, the market is now pretty flooded and the prices have dropped quite a bit.

Luckily for us that was a mistake we only made once, and a pretty good learning experience. We will put that one down to beginners’ excitement.

#4 – Beware the Burnout

Sourcing is easy. And fun.

Listing is not easy, or fun. And it takes a lot longer than sourcing.

It is very easy to fill your home with bags and boxes of stock that will make you a bazillionaire, and then… not list any of it.

We had a few moments of overwhelm over the past year when we realised that we had too much stock, and it was quite difficult to face up to the task of getting it listed.

Often, our way of dealing with the issue was to not deal with it at all.

Instead of listing what we had, we did more of the fun stuff. We sourced more stock. Went shopping. Added to the piles. Still didn’t list it.

So, as coping strategies go, that one wasn’t great. If we could offer one piece of advice if you are facing that kind of issue, its, “Don’t do that.”

If you are buying more than you are listing, stop!

Set yourself a target, and don’t bring any more stock into the house until you have met it.

Reselling is a great way to bring in an extra income but if you find yourself drowning in unlisted items, the fun evaporates pretty quick.

#5 – Saturday Sourcing

That was a mistake we made today, and not one we will be making again. It wasn’t a costly mistake, but it was not enjoyable.

Saturdays are busy shopping days at the best of times and today just seemed busier than most.

In one shop, I thought there was some kind of event or fundraiser going on, as there was a big crowd of people standing around as we walked in. No; no event. Just a big crowd of people.

If you struggle with being surrounded by people, Saturdays are not good sourcing days.

I could have coped with the crowds, even with a pushchair to try to squeeze around the shops. It was the lack of any personal space that got me.

Several times, as I was working my way along a rail, another shopper would come and stand in my little bubble and start looking at the very same piece of clothing that I had in my hands.

I know that charity shopping is different to regular shopping as there is only one of each item in stock, but if someone else has their hands on it then its theirs until they put it down and move on. I felt utterly crowded and rushed, and nobody needs that when they are on a sourcing trip.

Lesson learned, no more Saturday sourcing for us!

Conclusion

I’m hoping this doesn’t come across as a negative post, even though it is a list of mistakes that we have made while sourcing. Each mistake was a valuable learning experience, and if they help you on your reselling journey in any way, then they were doubly valuable.

Have you ever had a Mish Mash Day? What were the mistakes that you made when starting out? Get in touch, we would love to hear from you. Hit the subscribe button to keep up to date with our reselling life, and click here to see some of our favourite finds.