Buying Shoes for Resale, Part 1 (Brands to Watch For)

Lesley's done a great job the last couple weeks showing us exactly which toys are great to pick up for resale. I thought I'd do the same with shoes. I currently have close to 150 pairs of shoes listed, and I've got a bin with about 30 more pairs to get listed. Shoes are my top-performing category, so I thought I'd share with you some of what I know.

At the top of my list are Clarks.

I have more of these listed than any other brand. They are a popular brand, because they are very comfortable. They aren't necessarily high sellers, but they are very steady, consistent sellers. After you've found several pairs of these, you'll see that you can spot them from a mile away. They just have a "look" to them. Take a look at my Clarks listings and you'll see what I mean.

I buy pretty much any Clarks I come across. I've even sold purple fake-snakeskin Clarks sandals! I will pay $5-7 for a pair of Clarks. I am in the middle of changing my pricing strategy, but I now list them for $39.99 or best offer, and I will take offers of $30 and up. Even at my highest buying price and lowest selling price, I'm still more than tripling my investment. More often than not, though, I can find these for $3.97 and sell them for $35, which is almost nine times my investment.

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Next up, I buy Borns.

I haven't been finding quite as many of these lately, but I smile when I do find them. They are a bit of a slower seller than Clarks, but they also sell for a slightly higher price than Clarks, so I'm willing to sit on them a little longer. I will admit, I think I can spot a pair of Borns from a mile away, but I am VERY often fooled by Cherokees. See the similarities?

I buy all Borns that I find. I prefer the $5-7 limit, but I'll go a few dollars higher for them if they are in excellent condition. In fact, I have a pair sitting beside me to list today that I paid $8.90 for. Everything about them looks like new, so I'm ok with a higher price.

Under my new pricing strategy, I will be pricing my Borns at $44.99 or best offer and accepting offers of $35 and up. With this strategy, even my most expensive pair (the $8.90 ones above) will still earn quadruple their purchase price.

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Eccos aren't a very fast seller for me, but I always buy them if they are in good condition.

I'll be pricing my Eccos at $39.99 and accepting $30+ offers for them.

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Merrells, on the other hand, sell extremely quickly for me. The last couple pairs of Merrells I've listed have sold within days of listing.

I love listing Merrells. Everything you need to know is right on the underside of the tongue. There is a tag there that will tell you if they are men's or women's, it tells you US, UK, and EUR sizes, and it even tells you the style name!! What more do you need? They make it so easy!

Depending on condition, I'll list these for $29.99-$39.99. Some of their tennis shoes get pretty beat up, but are still sellable! The price that I'll accept on these really depends on the shoes and their condition.

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I haven't had much luck selling Tevas, but I really think that's because I have so few of them listed. As with anything, the more choices you have, the more likely someone will buy something from you. I only have three pairs of Tevas listed, and they've all been sitting for quite some time. I will continue to buy them though, because they seem to be popular, and like I said, I'd like to build up my selection of Tevas to increase my sales of them.

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This is only the first half of my list, but it should be enough to get you started. Hopefully the images will give you some idea of what to look for when you are searching for these names. I'll post the second half of my list later this week. I'm not sure how long this series will be, but I do know that I will be covering cleaning, photographing, listing, and shipping. If there is any other topic about selling shoes that you'd like to know more about, please let me know in the comments and I'll be glad to add that into my series.

In the meantime, stop by our Facebook Group and join other sellers in talking about everything eBay-related, not just shoes :)