No Shame in the Reselling Game

I have been reselling my old stuff online for about 5 or 6 years now. Starting with eBay and now mostly Poshmark, I have really been able to make some cash by getting rid of gently used clothing, shoes, bags and jewelry from my own closet. A few years ago, I started selling things, that weren't from my closet but gems none the less, I found at local thrift stores.

I didn't not realize that there was apparently some shame attached to this. Watching a sitcom recently, a comment was made about one of the characters now being so broke that she had to sell her clothes online. This statement gave me pause. I had been reselling goodies online for over half a decade. Was I doing something wrong? Was it some sort of social faux pas?

At one point historically, there was shame associated with having to sell your things. I remember one scene from the movie Titanic where Rose was arguing with her mother about her upcoming marriage to a wealthy man and her mother prattling on about how she would have to sell off all of their things if Rose did not go through with their marriage and the shame that would descend upon their family for it.

But that was over a hundred years ago. Times have certainly changed! There is literally no shame in reselling. The benefits are obvious. The sale of preloved items keeps great clothes and accessories out of landfills, thus is very eco friendly.

But beyond that, the online resale retail market is certainly not shameful. In fact, it's booming.

Online resale empowers business small and big. The larger online ateliers make millions of dollars each year. The reigning queen of this empire is The RealReal who has reportedly made over 173 Million dollars reselling luxury goods. ThreadUp, a literal online mega thrift store has made $131 Million to date. My favorite resale platform, Poshmark, has already made over $85 million in the mere short years its been active and growing.

The money being made on these platforms have certainly has trickled down. One woman literally made millions from her own eBay account. One 28 year old man literally shops at Walmart and makes millions listing his finds on Amazon. Another young woman makes $100K just from listing her finds her Poshmark.

These entrepreneurs are proof there is money to be made in dusting off those old duds and uploading them stat.

There is literally no shame to the resale game.