Are you familiar with TJ Maxx? This popular company sells men’s and women’s athletic shoes in over thousands of locations. If you’re new to retail arbitrage, the concept of this pricing structure is fairly simple. Retailers buy in large quantities at certain prices, then they resell the items on discounts to their customers.
For example, a pair of discount Air Jordan sneakers might be priced at $13, then get sold by a retailer for $10 each. That retailer then takes the difference between the initial purchase price and the discounted price and adds it to the price of the sneakers. That markup is called retail arbitrage, and it is a common practice among retailers. There are tons of reasons why stores will do this, but one of the biggest incentives is that it guarantees them a profit every time they sell an item.
So how can you use this knowledge to beat the retail giants in the sneaker industry? One of the best ways is to find a good source of wholesale, discounted shoes. One of the places that you should check out is eBay. Here, you’ll find a ton of different sellers, many of which are able to offer amazing prices. Just make sure that you do your homework and do a little bit of comparison-shopping before making any purchases.
Another way to make some serious money through retail arbitrage is to visit an online store that is like eBay, but specializes in shoes. You’ll find specialty stores that sell only designer brands. These stores often have better prices than brick and mortar stores for the exact same shoes. When you can find shoes that retail for 50% less than those at your local store, you can see a significant amount of money-earning potential.
Online auctions are another great way to make a profit with retail arbitrage. There are literally thousands of places that you can auction off an item. Some of these places are specialized, such as eBay, while others are more generalized. For example, you could auction off an old pair of tennis shoes on Craiglist. Although you would most likely get a higher price for the item, it wouldn’t be at all uncommon for people to pay up to two-hundred dollars for a good pair of tennis shoes at a well-known department store.
If you don’t know anything about purchasing on eBay, you should really learn before you venture into it. Make sure that you understand payment methods and shipment times before you buy something on eBay. Even though most stores on eBay specialize in popular, trendy items, there is always the chance that they’re out of stock or that their shipping costs are outrageous. Don’t assume that just because you saw an item on eBay that it was in stock. Do some research and maybe ask the seller if they have a website or brick and mortar store.
You can also find great deals at outlet malls. Many times there are big sales at these locations and you can get the same clothing at half the retail price if you know where to look. For instance, when the store is having a big clearance sale, you can often find brand name, high quality TJ Maxx at a substantial discount from their regular prices.
The last method of retail arbitrage that we’ll discuss is purchasing at an on-line retail store. We will briefly touch upon how to do this in a moment, but for now we’ll just assume that you know how to do an eBay search for a specific brand or style. Once you’ve located the desired item on an on-line retail site, you’ll need to make sure that you know how to make a purchase. Sometimes the seller will require that you send them a payment method or provide them with your credit card information before you get your goods.
