Dedicated Second Hand Store for Children

I have met many first time parents who are relatively young and not yet financially secure. Having a baby is a big task especially financially. As a new parent you firstly have to save up for hospitalisation fees when the baby first comes out and then spend a lot more for hospitalisation fees when the baby gets sick.

Then you have to buy baby medicine, nappies, toiletries and so on. You have to prepare the room for the baby, the cradle, toys, and other baby accessories needed. Then when the baby is a few years old new expenses comes up like more food and medicine. Then there is the issue of buying more toys and clothes. Raising a child is expensive!

There are Stores that Sell Secondhand Items for Children

I found a few articles and websites online that sell secondhand items for children. CBC Canada have a report titled Where to buy second-hand children’s clothes online — with style in mind. This the article cited a few stores that buy and sell secondhand clothes for children.

Another website I saw was from kidsoclock UK. They buy and sell secondhand clothes for children. One thing you would notice in their website is that they actively broadcast that they buy secondhand clothes. In many parts of the landing page of their websites they have icons/buttons that inform site visitors to sell their children’s clothes.

Of course charity and secondhand shops also sell secondhand children’s clothes although they do not specialise in it. Of course we could expect the specialist shops like the few mentioned above will sell more high quality secondhand clothes but will cost more as against children’s clothes being sold by generic charity and secondhand shops.

If there are stores selling it enough that they specialise in it then it means there is good money to be made from these products. One of the advantage of selling only clothes for children is that you become a hub for parents who specifically buy secondhand clothes for their children. It also simplifies your business operations.

For example the delivery process is simplified. Simply packaging clothes is easier than for example packaging clothes together with let us say toys or feeding bottles which are also products for children. Clothes can be compressed as well during packaging unlike toys or feeding bottles.

Do You Want to Specialise in Babies?

Babies are high maintenance and shopping for them could be a nightmare. That is why there are stores that specifically cater to babies. You could also find many online stores that sell second hand baby items. Google the search keyword “2nd hand baby store” and you would see plenty of online sellers.

Just like many of these stores you can sell secondhand baby clothes, toys and accessories. You can also sell nappies that are cheap especially when bought in bulk. I have seen a husband and wife team where they sell cheap nappies in bulk and this is their livelihood. The wife takes care of the online marketing and sales while the husband takes care of the bulk deliveries.

Why is this husband and wife successful? Because they cater to many parents who want to save on money and time. Nappies are a big expense and there are not many parents who have the time and resources to buy nappies in bulk by themselves. If this husband and wife team can successfully integrate other baby products in their business they would be more successful.

An Untapped Market

I have met many first time parents who despite having enough financial resources to afford new baby items such as trolleys and baby tubs prefer to ask their friends and relatives for their unused baby accessories. In fact I have seen many parents actively without solicitation donate their old baby clothes and accessories to their friends and relatives who are first time parents.

This is because children especially babies easily outgrow their clothes, toys and other accessories and parents know it. In the olden days marketers would advertise that the best products are the ones which are brand new and using secondhand items is akin to being a cheapskate.

However more and more people are beginning to be smart with their money and they are becoming popular. A person who would be categorised or called a cheapskate before would now be called wise if they know how to save money. There are many online sites especially dedicated to saving and frugality and saving is one of the most searched term online.

In fact I know of a trolley that have been used at least three (3) times by three (3) different families and is still intact today. Last time I knew it was donated to a fourth family. This does not mean that these families cannot afford a brand new trolley but rather these families see that buying brand new trolleys is a waste of money when a secondhand one will work just like new.

Do You Want to Specialise in Children?

You can also sell a lot of secondhand products related to all types of children. This is especially true if you cannot find sufficient sources for one type of children’s product only or if they are not selling well. For example you might sell secondhand children’s clothes but there could become a time when new children clothes would be sold at the same price you are selling your secondhand clothes.

For example you opened up a physical shop and naturally people from the area would be your first contacts and customers. Depending on the area not many people would be first time parents. One of the first thing you could sell would be nappies in bulk. In fact I saw a charitable organisation in America giving away nappies to financially needy parents in communities.

If a first world country like America has a need for cheap nappies so much so that they are being donated to aid the needy then lesser developed countries have huge demand for it. This is especially true in places like Asia and Africa where these continents are experiencing rapid population growth especially from financially needy families.

You could advertise online and in the local community that you buy products especially for children. These include clothes, shoes, toys, trinkets, trolleys, books and so on. You can also source them from generic charity and secondhand shops. I am assuming that you have some capital for buying secondhand items.

If you do not have capital try selling products on a Consignment Basis. This means that sellers bring their items for you to sell and you get a percentage when you sell their products. Starting this setup requires very little capital and you can easily create a simple excel spreadsheet to manage your income sharing with your sellers.

You could start real small. You could build a cheap website and sell products online. You could deliver or ask them to come to you especially if they are buying in bulk like first time parents. I checked online and I found out that you can get into legal trouble if you sell physical items from your house without a permit so be sure to get one if you are selling from your house.

Sanitising Your Products

Perhaps one of the best marketing activity you can do is to make a video or a writeup showing how you sanitise your products. There are many information online on how to sanitise used items like clothes and toys and other products. Parents are especially protective of their children especially babies and would like to know that they are buying clean and hygienic products of which secondhand goods are not known for.

I used to visit a lot of secondhand and charity shops and one thing that always prevents me from even touching the products on sale is not because they look old or used but because they look dirty. I also saw in several instances were parents would warn and prevent their children from touching toys and other products because they think they are unhygienic.

Selling to Adult Collectors

Products made for children are also collected by adult collectors especially toys. Children easily outgrow their toys and many families usually have large inventories of toys that their children no longer play with. Selling secondhand toys are popular even in large e-commerce sites. I see secondhand toys for example being sold in eBay and Etsy.

Selling items online however is not easy especially if you have to sell them one by one. It is no surprise however that there are online sellers who sell their assorted toys in bulk. This could be an advantage for you if you have a physical store as you enable your buyers to actually physically inspect the products they are buying.

This is especially true if you have sellers that have no time or find little value in selling their assorted used toys online. There are secondhand toy sellers who purchase used toys in bulk. When I mean in bulk I mean by the bagful. These are usually parents who are doing general cleanup in their houses and who are too busy to look up the value of their used toys.

There are even secondhand toy sellers who sell One Dollar Toy Bags. These are bags of assorted used toys usually not in their best condition which are usually sold for one dollar. This is how cheap toys can get. However even these kind of toys have buyers. These buyers usually use these toys as spare parts or redo them into custom and more expensive toys.

Be a Hub for All Things Childlike

Imagine capturing a customer for a lifetime. It begins when the parents of your customer buys their secondhand baby products from you. As your customer grows up they buy secondhand clothes, toys, books and so on from you. They then grow up to become collectors of toys and other child items that due to age becomes expensive.

For example I once went to an auction were there was an old victorian baby trolley for sale for $100.00 . I knew that these items are rare and could become expensive. I did not buy it because e-commerce sites were not yet the norm during those days. Today that same trolley is worth more than $500.00 . Antique toys are also worth a lot of money these days.

Your customer who are children now would become parents themselves one day if not them then their relatives and friends. If you can setup a system where you buy and sell and then buy and sell again the same item all the while making money at each process then you have a continuous business especially if you add in very repeat products like nappies.

Conclusion

A business where you sell secondhand children’s products can be setup inexpensively. You can start with a website, do consignments, and sell repeat products that children need. This can be a buy and sell process that repeats itself over and over again. It is important that you establish an early connection with your customers who could be children now but would be adults and parents later.

The important thing is that you ensure that your customers are aware that you are selling quality and hygienic products even though they are secondhand products. You could also setup a referral and supplier system where your customers not only spend but also earn money from your business.