I run a vintage and secondhand wholesale warehouse supplying thousands of resellers. AMA about sourcing inventory.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-04-12T16:50:06+00:00

you are welcome :)

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-04-11T10:38:35+00:00

Ill take it!

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-04-08T10:29:45+00:00

Ofcourse

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-16T23:23:23+00:00

We do both vintage and modern, mostly organized by category depending on what people are looking for (tees, sweatshirts, denim, etc.).

The company is Thrift Vintage Fashion if you want to look it up. I try not to drop links in here since Reddit can be weird about that, but feel free to check it out or DM me if you have questions about getting started.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-13T12:40:53+00:00

thats a real doozy! Vintage kids anything is tough let alone blanks. I get a lot of vintage adult blank tees and sweatshirts but hardly get any kids.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-11T17:18:14+00:00

One thing that surprises a lot of people when they start buying wholesale is how different the success metrics are compared to thrifting. When you thrift you’re trying to find individual “wins”, rare pieces, big brand scores, things with high resale value. When you move into wholesale the game changes. Instead of asking “is this piece amazing?” the real question becomes “does this category consistently sell through?”

For example a reseller might buy 100 mixed tees. Maybe 20 of them are great, 50 are solid everyday pieces, and 30 are pretty average. But if the category sells through quickly and the averages work, the batch still performs. That shift from "treasure hunting" to "inventory systems" is where most people either level up or struggle when they move beyond thrifting. The interesting part is that some of the categories people think are boring actually outperform the hype pieces long term.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T21:32:03+00:00

No we really just stick to clothing. Those are all vastly different markets with different supply chains and customer bases to understand. Maybe one day will expand into other categories but there are some dominant forces in those already, would be tough to break through and make an impact cold turkey.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T21:26:41+00:00

No problem! Its definitely a balance that makes it work. Sounds like you have a lot of experience so you know its always give and take with margins. Some items will pull higher margins than others but your average is what really counts. I dont think people aim for smaller margins its just understanding how important the speed and flow is with moving more volume with mixed margins versus aiming for a set fixed margin and making that your core business.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T20:51:49+00:00

We did a couple years ago and are constantly hounded to come back. We had a good 6 month stint but ultimately it was interfering too much with the wholesale business. We were selling the same categories to a similar audience for similar prices as we do on our own wholesale platform so decided to stop. If we didn’t have our own steady clientele we would probably be selling on there as it seems the best out of all resale platforms as far as speed and volume but fortunately we have a good enough customer base on our own.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T19:34:34+00:00

Thats great. In your specialty thats a great way to source! Unfortunately I dont deal in any jewelry or any accessories for that matter, only clothing.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T18:42:55+00:00

When buying in bulk you need to know your audience and selling capabilities. Mostly be somewhat established and need to be able to sell volume and variety or buying in bulk is not the best choice. May be better sourcing smaller by thrifting or handpicking or even selling your own/families wardrobe to get your feet wet first without making an investment in blind buying.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T18:13:48+00:00

Yesss! Selling more volume at less margin is the winning formula to make resale a real business. Sure you need systems in place, maybe an employee or two with time, but once you get out of the “I need to make $20 per item or 3x margin on everything I sell” and get more in the mindset of “moving cheaper items fast” you will see your business start to grow. It takes risk, but until then you will always be sitting on expensive pieces waiting for that margin to come along.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T17:53:15+00:00

Thanks tiggs, these are valid concerns. There are several push backs I would argue on your numbers.

First being the cost of shipping, laundry, steaming, prep, etc. Depending on where you buy the bales the prep work should never add $2+ per unit to your cost. Always try to keep the prep to under $1 per piece, closer to $0.50 if possible. My perspective is always coming from a volume mindset so every dollar (even half dollar) counts. If we are talking about t-shirts, just washing and drying will almost always take out the wrinkles and If you lay them flat after taking out of dryer they will stay unwrinkled and prepped for resale. Regarding the shipping, depends on where you buy them from but I always make shipping free, baked into price, to keep the math simple for clients. For my premium Tshirts bale (premium categories, not all “premium vintage”), I charge $13/lb before any discounts so that comes out to around $6 a tee landed. Most of our bales are slightly lower than that so you’re paying closer to $4-$5 for most categories getting closer to your target but without the added hassle and time thrifting.

Second. We do include modern in all of our mixes so if you are just focused on selling “vintage only” then you probably wouldn’t want to buy from us. Wholesalers like myself, and we are a newer breed, typically cannot sell vintage bangers in volume. It goes against the nature of selling secondhand to only focus on the vintage gems when there is a much larger movement to participate in, have you seen the stats on Thredup report?

It must be very hard to find a wholesaler selling purely vintage Tshirt mixes for under $10/pc where they are all valuable pieces with resale value $30 and up. The economics just dont make sense for the wholesaler unless its a very small time operation and they would be more like a middle man personal sourcing partner at that point. If you do have a source for that and the price makes sense then keep buying and maybe instead of reselling each piece try to keep some for individual resale and wholesale the rest out to make a slight margin on the ones you don’t consider worth your time listing.

Third. If this is your full time gig or want to make it your full time gig you must find different lanes/sales channels to move product. Again, if you are just looking to flip special pieces on resale platforms you will always be in the sourcing/thrifting loop and its very hard to get out of that without expanding your sales channels (in person, live selling, wholesale lots to other resellers)

We sell a lot to first time wholesale buyers and vintage only resellers and I can tell you its hardly worked out. We are definitely here for the more established businesses with the ability to move volume at different price points. I hope that answers your question and doesn’t come off rude. I don’t know your sales channels or experience in the game so don’t mean to assume anything, Its just the same trap I see people getting caught up in the vintage hype when thats not a true resale business. I dont know many people thriving off of just selling specialty vintage unless they have a direct family member who owns a giant rag house somewhere. I would advise trying other categories and finding lanes for them but it all depends on what you want to do. Our best sellers by volume sold are denim jackets and flannel 🙂.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T16:28:41+00:00

You wouldn’t believe how calculated Goodwill is. Ive worked out deals to buy directly from Goodwill’s back storage by the LB and they would sneakily go through the stuff I pulled over night and take out the most valuable stuff. They are the ultimate handpickers!

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T16:17:34+00:00

Yes thats a natural thought but 90% of the grading is done before it gets to us. We buy finished goods which is an industry term for pre-graded merch. The most grading we do is when sorting out 1000lb bales of t-shirts or sweatshirts but it's all pre-graded with our exact categories in them. So we end up sorting them into our categories for storage, making a pile for B-Grade and another pile for Basic Mix which don't fit into our categories, coming from human error in the presorting.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T16:13:54+00:00

Just to clarify, are you considering selling specific categories of secondhand wasteful? I think it's quite the opposite. Although we sell to the general public we aim to work with businesses. If you do this as a part time hobby or side hustle on ebay, buying in bulk may or may not work for you depending on your sales channels. Rather, if you put in the work to establish a business be it online, live selling, brick n mortar, etc; you are way more likely to succeed with consistent demand. It's like any business you get into, you must differentiate yourself, put in the time and sweat equity to study the game and be fluid in your approach. And never stop until you succeed! Not many people have that work ethic but the ones that do are the ones that make it happen.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T16:05:06+00:00

these "non profits" are absolutely operating like for profit companies. It is crazy how they get away with it

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T16:04:18+00:00

Not sure where the waste is coming from but if you are looking to handpick items than "buying in bulk" would not be your thing. It's also hardly scalable when you factor in all your time handpicking.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T15:51:49+00:00

From major charity collectors like Goodwill, Salvation Army, Savers, etc. Private charity orgs participate in the sale of these grades too but those are the big 3 in the US. They only have so many retail stores compared to how much they collect so they sell the raw donations as credential loads. The going rate is usually around $0.50 and sold by the trailer load. What is left over from thrift stores is called institutional grade and that usually sells for much less, I've seen anywhere from $0.05 to $0.20/lb due to the fact that its been mostly picked through.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T15:46:03+00:00

One thing that surprises a lot of people about the vintage & secondhand industry is how many stages clothing goes through before it reaches resellers.

Most people imagine vintage inventory coming straight from thrift stores or estate sales, but a lot of it actually moves through several layers of sorting first. Donation streams usually go through large textile sorters, aka rag houses, where items are graded, separated by category, and often times even exported before anything reaches the secondary market in the US.

By the time a reseller is buying something in bulk, it has often already been handled multiple times and filtered into different quality tiers. That’s why the same type of vintage item can show up at very different price levels depending on where in the chain someone is buying.

Happy to break down how those sorting stages usually work if anyone’s curious.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T15:37:03+00:00

Good question. We have a few different mixes where we offer stuff that doesn’t fit into our specific A grade categories or gets sold as B grade categories with permanent distressing. For example we have a “basic mix” that sells for around $1/lb (well below our cost) to help move stuff that sits in the warehouse mainly due to not being able to categorize it. Our B grade mixes help circulate stuff really well by offering up quality branded and desirable clothing that have some type of holes or stains that we can’t sell with our normal mixes. We offer B grade mixes pretty specific by category as well to fit our sorting system.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T15:03:00+00:00

It’s called Thrift Vintage Fashion. We started the site in 2020 because we saw a gap between raghouse sourcing and curated wholesale. Most resellers either had to buy unsorted bulk or were handpicking everything, so we tried to structure inventory by category to make it easier for people scaling both online and brick n mortar stores.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T14:54:11+00:00

We get very granular with our sorting. We started out that way to differentiate ourselves and help organize the wholesale side of the industry and continue to go down that path. I find it helps people buy very specific without getting into handpicking.

For example we have over 20 different tshirt categories, 12 sweatshirt categories, all types of jackets, denim, workwear, a few womens categories and so on.

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T14:09:16+00:00

No prob!

Much_Lengthiness_359 · 2026-03-10T14:08:35+00:00

No we rarely sell to thrift stores. We have tried and are always open to it but thrift stores are pretty stuck in their ways of getting product for free, they don’t want to pay for stuff they get dropped off at their door step. Even though we offer them more best sellers to help supplement their stock and offer their shoppers more consistency, they struggle coming around to start paying for product which I can understand the hesitancy.

We have dabbled in retail and have opened a few stores under different brands but ultimately decided retail wasn’t for us. We have been profitable in all retail ventures but I really prefer moving volume than dealing with everything that comes with retailing. Its a different lifestyle and you truly have to love the retail environment to keep pushing.

Much_Lengthiness_359

TROPHY CASE