- Kendall VanGilder turned her eBay hustle into a full-time business in 2024.
- When she started selling clothing in 2022, she completely avoided start-up costs.
- She has made several strategic purchases that have helped her grow her business, including LED lights.
Reselling items like clothing and electronics is an effective way to earn extra money. It can even replace your full-time income.
Kendall VanGilder, who started listing clothing on eBay in 2022, turned her side hustle into a full-time business in 2024.
“I’ve had months where I’ve surpassed what I made from my previous job,” the former Lululemon employee told Business Insider.
Most of her income comes from her eBay store, Style Secondhand, but she also sells on Poshmark and earns money as a content creator. She has amassed more than 15,000 followers on TikTok, where she shares her thrifted finds and resale tips.
VanGilder said she prefers to schedule her day “like a corporate job” and works on her business between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. most days of the week. But in the early days of her reselling career, “I was as part-time as you could be. I was probably listing five things a week. I wasn’t consistent and lacked a little motivation, just because I was working a full-time job. “.
Her side hustle wasn’t tiring, nor did it cost her money to get up and running.
“I was taking pictures on my iPhone, I used natural sunlight, and you can list everything from your phone, so you don’t even need to have a table setup,” VanGilder said. As for inventory, “you can go into your closet or other places throughout your house and list things, and as long as you’re making money on what you’re listing, then you can get that money and reinvest them”.
VanGilder shops for inventory at Goodwill, Salvation Army and other thrift stores. Courtesy of Kendall VanGilder
The first item VanGilder sold was a pair of Urban Outfitters shorts for about $13. While she still occasionally sells items from her closet, she gets most of her inventory from Goodwill, The Salvation Army, Plato’s Closet, Uptown Cheapskate and Style Encore.
“You can really do it so you don’t have any upfront costs,” said VanGilder, who also took advantage of free shipping supplies from the USPS.
Purchases valid for a reseller: LED lights and a thermal printer
VanGilder says two business-related purchases have been totally worth it: LED lights and a thermal printer.
Before she bought the lights, she was limited when she could photograph her items.
“I couldn’t take pictures on days that were gloomy,” she said. “It was maybe $110, which is a lot, but not the prettiest lights you can get. It helped me with that hurdle that I would hit when it was a rainy day, and I wanted to work on my photos, but I couldn’t because I there was no sunlight.”
VanGilder packages and ships all of her orders. Courtesy of Kendall VanGilder
Photos are a key component of any strong listing, said VanGilder, who prefers to photograph her items against a clean, white background.
“Look at your listing as if you were a buyer: Would I want to buy it based on the photos and price?” she advised. “And if your answer is no, you need to understand why.”
Another item that has helped her buy time as her business has grown is a thermal printer, which is designed for printing labels.
“Cutting and pasting from a regular printer would take a lot of time if I was still doing it that way,” VanGilder said.