How to work out the most you should pay for something you will resell
Most people look at a price and ask “is this cheap?”. A reseller asks a better question: “what is the most I can pay and still make what I want?”. That number is worked out before you look at the price, not after.
Checked on 14 November 2026.
Work backwards from the sale
Start with what the item sells for, used, in the condition in front of you. Take off the fee and the postage you will pay when it sells. Take off the shipping to get it to you. Take off the profit you want. What is left is the most you should pay.
Most to pay = resale price − seller fee − shipping out − shipping to you − the profit you want.
Example: trainers resell for 90. The fee is 10% (9), posting them costs 4, getting them to you costs 4, and you want 20. Most to pay: 90 − 9 − 4 − 4 − 20 = 53. At 45 you buy. At 60 you make an offer or walk away.
Be honest about the resale price
The whole sum rests on one guess: what it will sell for. Use what the same item has actually sold for, not what people are asking. Asking prices are hopes. Search the same thing on two or three marketplaces and look at the lower end.
Set the profit you want before you look
Decide your number first: an amount, not a feeling. If you decide after you have seen the item, you will talk yourself into it. A fixed number also makes offers easy: you know exactly what to offer and when to stop.
When to walk away
Walk away when the price is over your number and the seller will not move, when you cannot tell the condition from the photos, and when you have never seen the item sell. There is always another one.