Reseller Rodeo: The Ethics of Reselling Online
The first time I heard about “reselling,” I was reading #Girlboss. (Yes, I own a copy of #Girlboss. I also watched the Netflix show. Twice. We don’t have to talk about it.) In the book, Sophia Amoruso describes her admittedly meteoric rise in success with the humble beginnings of her going through rack after rack in her local thrift to find vintage clothing to resell on eBay. Throughout #Girlboss, Amoruso encourages her reader to follow in her footsteps by hocking old clothing online at a premium.
Source: Business of Fashion
Source: Reddit
As we exit the #Girlboss era, people have begun to question the ethicality of reselling full-time. Are Depop sellers to blame for Goodwill raising their prices? Is it Poshmark’s fault that you can’t find pants in your size? Well…it’s complicated. Goodwill has been looking to raise their revenue for years, moving to selling their higher end goods online to compete with luxury consignment shops such as TheRealReal in 2019. Local thrift shops raising prices is mostly due to corporate greed, not because of an increase in value. But the encouragement for overconsumption is still there. It’s a buy more, sell more mentality that emboldens resellers to buy more clothing than they need to resell online for double or triple the cost. And as Vox points out, many “thrift flippers” will purchase plus sized garments to cut up and turn into multiple straight sized outfits, leaving plus size shoppers with fewer options.
Source: The Daily Californian
So if you find the perfect vintage Yves Saint Laurent jacket at Beacon’s Closet, what’s the most ethical thing to do? For starters, make sure you’ll wear it. If it doesn’t fit, there’s no use in purchasing it for it to sit on a hanger and collect dust while you daydream of the day you can wear it. And if you’re reselling? Make sure you can give that item another opportunity at life. Are you charging triple what you paid just because you can? Rethink that, and see what the lowest you can afford to sell for would be. Meet somewhere in the middle, so that someone else can find just as much joy in shopping, as you do in selling.