Five Retail Sales Training Tips From Selling Shoes
I’ll get to my tips for selling shoes, but first, a story about how my knowledge of retail sales training began at the feet of others.
I put myself through college in the ’70s as a men’s shoe salesman. My shoe store was run by a sales manager whose simple motto was, “Sell shoes.”
There were five of us on the floor at any time which was a problem for a 700 sq. ft. shop. We were all commissioned, working against an hourly wage Because of this, we had an ups system, much like in baseball. The process worked like this…
Once you engaged a customer, you went to the bottom of the order. As enough customers came through, you progressed up the order. When it was your “up” that meant you got to wait on the next customer.
Best For Designer Bridal Shoes: Once Wed
Website No Android App No iOS App
- Listing fee: $5 for shoes, $19.95 for dresses
- Their commission: None
- Payment: Sellers choice, but Once Wed recommends PayPal or Escrow.com
Once Wed is pretty simple: You create a listing and pay your listing fee . Once Wed publishes your listing in its marketplace. Everything that happens after that communication with buyers, invoicing, payment processing, etc., is up to you.
What you need to know: They offer an escrow option, which helps buyers feel more secure about purchasing unseen items online.
Check out this video for tips on how to get started when selling items online:
Best For Sneakers: Flight Club
Website No Android App No iOS Link for the US
- Listing fee: $5
- Their commission: 9.5%
- Payment: Bank Transfer or PayPal
To sell on Flight Club, you submit your listing via the sites online form. Then you ship your shoes to the company. They will evaluate your shoes for authenticity, wear/tear, etc. and then list them either on Flight Club or the GOAT app.
What you need to know: You have to hand over the shoes to Flight Club, where they will be evaluated. They will need to be well-known brands in excellent condition in order to be accepted.
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Ups Systems In Selling Don’t Work
An Ups system is a pecking order of who waits on the next customer. The last one to interact with a customer is “up” for the next person that walks in the door. But the next salesperson doesnt work to juice sales.
Sale staff needs training, direction, and strategy – who is the best person to serve the customer that just sat down? Also note, that wealthy Muslim women dont like their feet being touched by a strange man. Give them a female sales associate.
Best Place To Sell Shoes Online For Cash
This brings us to the vital question: where to sell shoes and get cash? Actually, its possible to sell your old shoes online and get cash almost instantly nowadays. In this article, I will list some of the places where you could sell your shoes online for cash or trade them off for shopping vouchers to buy newer ones.
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Best For No Fees: Vinted
- Their commission: None
- Payment: Store credit, direct deposit
Vinted is one of the few online marketplaces that doesnt charge sellers any listing or commission fees. Sellers get to keep everything they earn. The money they make gets deposited first into their Vinted Wallet . From there sellers can choose whether to send their funds to their bank accounts or spend it on-site.
What you need to know: The site is easy to navigate and listing items for sale is simple, but some sellers say the platform doesnt back them up when a buyer complains about a purchase.
Dotte Sell Your Kids Outgrown Designer Clothes
Kids grow fast. As soon as you purchase a wardrobe full of clothes, they have already grown out of them.
Often, the items have hardly been worn especially if it was a garment purchased for a special occasion and it makes sense to sell it on for another child to love while making some money. This only really works with designer clothes, but as long as your childs items are designer and in excellent condition, then Dotte will help you make the most of the original purchase.
Dotte specialises in selling clothing for babies through to pre-teens. It features popular kids labels, including Billieblush, Chloe Kids, Monnalisa and Fendi Kids.
Sustainability features heavily on the agenda with Dotte as a kids clothing seller they are all about creating a better planet for the little ones who wear their clothes. The site charges a commission of 15% per transaction, so youll get 85% of the purchase price.
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Set Your Personal Preferences Aside
Who buys shoes? Customers do, so dont prioritize your sneaker preferences when scouring the market. Instead, focus on shoes that you can flip.
For instance, lets say you wear size 8 shoes. Considering that the most common shoe sizes globally range from 9 to 12, stay within this range.
Sure, you can get a few size-8 pairs now and then. However, keep in mind that they might not sell as quickly as youd want them to.
Tips For Selling Shoes Online
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How Do You Manage Inventory
The short answer is I dont I try and sell each pair as quickly as I buy them!
When selling shoes, it can be easy to amass a bulky collection that you have to keep somewhere. To avoid that, I focus on brand new releases or shoes that are really hot classics I know will sell quickly.
This strategy translated into less headache and hassle storing and tracking the inventory, and also let me turn my cash over to reinvest in the next flip faster.
Best For Menswear: Grailed
- Their commission: 9%
- Payment: PayPal
Grailed is to menswear what ThredUp is to womens wear. They accept new and gently used clothing . The site brags that it has the lowest commission rates, but it also has a higher payment processing fee than other marketplaces. U.S. domestic payments are charged 3.49% + $0.49. International payments are charged 4.99% + $0.49. Grailed recently absorbed its sister site Heroine.
What you need to know: Of all the sites listed here, Graileds customer service team earns the most rave reviews. Unfortunately, there are some scam sellers who try to pass off fakes as designer goods, so just be prepared in case buyers ask you to verify the authenticity of the item.
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Best For Volume Sellers: Asos Marketplace
- Their commission: 20%
- Payment: PayPal or bank/debit card transfer via Stripe
Youll need to have at least 15 items ready to sell to get started with ASOS. In order to keep selling with this site, youll need to keep your customer feedback rating higher than 90%. ASOS also has stricter rules and requirements than other sites. You either have to design the clothing yourself or, if youre reselling, it has to be made before January 1, 2000.
What you need to know: This is a good option if you have a lot of older, vintage items that are back in fashion, particularly if theyre from independent brands. Customer service has gotten a lot of complaints, though, and sizing issues are rampant because this is a global platform and different countries have different sizing standards.
How Do You Deal With Fakes
Although there are plenty of fakes on the market, there are also plenty of resources that will educate you on fakes and how to spot the differences.
As a buyer, you can ask for detailed, tagged pictures and compare them to the numerous tutorials on YouTube or on sneaker forums that will give you a good idea of whether theyre authentic or not.
Also, if its a new release, only deal with people who include the receipt from the store that they purchased. That way youll know theyre real and also if its your intention to turn around and resell them, then you can prove to buyers theyre the real deal as well.
Another issue when dealing with fakes is selling authentic shoes but having the buyer try to claim that theyre fake. This can be solved by including a receipt as mentioned previously, or you can take detailed pictures as youre shipping to prove that you are in fact shipping authentic shoes.
Be sure to include tracking with signature required and insurance so the buyer also cannot claim that he or she never got the kicks.
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Tips For Selling Shoes
As you can see, there are a lot of apps, websites and places where you can sell your shoes for cash quickly and easily.
But to get the most money for your pair or pairs of shoes whether they are dress shoes, sneakers, designer shoes, tennis shoes or any other kind you need to do what the pros do.
You need to list the same shoe on multiple platforms. This has two benefits:More potential buyers will see your shoes for sale.
You end up selling them for the most cash!
So if you want to sell your shoes fast and for the highest price, use this tip.
How Do I Sell Shoes On Goat
The first step to selling shoes on Goat would be to make an application. Once the company verifies your identity, you will be approved to become an authorized seller.
After making a sale, you will need to ship the order directly to Goats warehouse. The primary goal is to verify the authenticity of your item.
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Trends & Limited Edition
Some shoes are in high demand depending on the season or the collection theyre a part of. This is why a lot of people make money flipping brands like Supreme or more exclusive brands.
Buying to resell is usually the most lucrative when you focus your energy on the stuff thats trendy and will move quickly.
Take High Quality Photos
When it comes to photos, you can learn a lot by studying the ultra-clean images of mega shoe sites like Zappos and StockX. That said, as an amateur seller, you need to focus less on perfection and more on basic clarity. By that I mean proper lighting / exposure, correct color and attractive subject framing.
Start by dusting and cleaning off the shoes. Set your camera white balance to Auto mode. Place the shoes outdoors or in the natural light of a window. Remove any distracting junk from the area, and then capture photos. Dont use a flash and dont rely on indoor light bulbs.
Capture your cover photo by isolating one or both shoes with nothing else in the photo that means no box, and no clutter .
Crop the image to effectively zoom in on the product profile, but dont cut the border too close. Allow some room for the product to breathe in the frame. Add detail shots of the bottom , insole, and branding. Thats it! Keep it simple, with a few clean photos, and dont apply any Instagram style filters to the image.
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Products We Stock On Our Webpage
Be sure of a safe online shopping experience with Modsie: find rare vintage bags and high-end designer products at a low price e.g. Chanel Timeless bag, Vuitton Speedy 30, Dior Lady and other used luxury bags.
The authenticity and compliance of all products sold on Modsie are physically checked by our Quality Team before it reaches the wardrobe of its new owner.
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How To Resell Sneakers For Beginners
The sneaker flipping business attracts hustlers of all ages. From the schoolyard and the streets to online marketplaces, sneaker enthusiasts connect over their passion for fashion and make a quick buck.
Compared to some other options for how to make extra money online, the sneaker resale market is actually very profitable. It’s currently valued at around $1 billion.
While only 4% of shoes and sneakers are purchased upon release for resale, the market benefits from side hustlers and entrepreneurs who operate in different channels.
The sneaker market has expanded and grown exponentially since online channels began gaining traction though .
Back in the day, people had to scour through thrift stores and flea markets looking for buried treasure .
Others would run to their nearest Foot Locker to get the latest pair of shoes.
In these days, news spread through word of mouth and Eastbay mail catalogues.
Now you just need to hop onto Hyperbeast, Stock X, Highsnobiety, Sole Supremacy and many other sites to keep track of the sneaker fashion market.
Many of these extensively cover the needs of sneakerheads at all levels.
And if you want to connect with fellow sneaker lovers in person, try SneakerCon.
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Scaling Up The Sneaker Flipping Operation
I kept reselling pairs in that range until I had enough money saved to buy a pair of shoes for $900. After a few anxious days of waiting, I was able to flip them at $1200 for a profit of about $200. I also began to learn how to secure these $1000 shoes at retail for insane profit margins of over $500 per shoe.
I started as an absolute outsider and 4 months in I cleared $10,000 for the month.
Once you know what youre doing and you take the time to build your reputation and stay on top with sneaker news, the consistency and ease of selling aftermarket sneakers amazes me to this day.
How To Price Your Bags
This is where most people get it wrong.
Look, just because you bought the bag for $2000 5 years ago and you think it is at least worth $1800 now, doesnt mean people are actually going to pay that much for it.
But I saw eBay listings for the exact same bag for $1900, so Im sure I can sell mine for $1800.
I have heard this more times than I care to remember, and not just about used bags and purses, but about almost anything people want to get rid of.
And thats one of the main reasons why a lot of people end up not being able to sell their stuff.
Just because there are listings with those prices, doesnt mean people will actually pay for it that much.
So how do you price your designer bags?
Easy, look at eBays Completed Listings!
The best way to do that is to find out how much people who have already bought the same used bags have paid for it.
And you can get that information by looking at eBays Completed Listings for similar items.
Heres how to do it:
The results will be only items that have already sold.
Itll show you exactly how much to price your bag.
Just look at a few dozen ended auctions and how much each item has sold for. Then price your bag based on the average prices of already sold bags.
Rating
eBay is a go-to place for many people when they want to sell used stuff.
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Selling Shoes Can Teach You A Lot About Selling Everything Else
I know a lot of people who made money selling in the retail industry – particularly in shoes. The whole experience was one of pampering and catering to the customer.
Contrast that to the selling process now – that you have to try on your own shoes after asking for your size and trying to figure out if they fit. No wonder so many shoestore owners are nervous about online shoe retailers!
‘Cause here’s the thing: if all your clerk can do is run and fetch products from a stockroom – either aided by an iPad or not – they add no value to the transaction.
That part-time job selling shoes is where I first learned much of what I still teach today about persuasion, presentation skills, energy, sales techniques in retail, teamwork, and success.
Nowadays, I study and question what seemed so simple and try to put into words what is so very hard for so many.
That’s because…
Customers don’t realize that when they have an exceptional experience it is not by chance, but by the training given to the sales team.
Retailers of all sizes need to get back to basics and look at who they hire for the sales floor, how they are onboarded, and how retail sales training can be mutually beneficial for all.
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