We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brenden Rivera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brenden, appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Yes. I take a lot of vacations. Most people who know me can vouch for that. The thing is that 99% of my vacations are business related. I go to many meetups with other people have businesses like mine, seminars would I can hone my skills and/or learn new ones, and other events to network with people in the industry. What I do is putting extended shipping on my item listings so I can ship them when I come home without any penalties. I also sell items on Walmart and in that case it’s all automatic. I make shipments to their warehouses where they take care of everything from that point. My advice to entrepreneurs would be to put any e-commerce stores you may have on vacation mode. That way you don’t have anything to worry about. Otherwise I would suggest to out systems in place so that things are automated. If you find yourself still needing additional help hiring and training an employee would be my recommendation. Train them in the most efficient methods that you would use yourself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I start reselling items for a short time after high school. Years later a friend of mine got me back into it. He learned from watching others on YouTube do the same thing and so I started to do the same. I worked at a concert venue at the time and was buying and selling on the side. Then 2020 happened and everyone knows how well that year went. The venue shut down with no timeline for opening back up. When it did re-open over a year later I found out that the department I worked in was consolidated and my job position was gone. I didn’t know where to go from there as the field I worked in is what I wanted to do as a career. I gave it some thought and decided to scale my business and try reselling full time. I had never taken a risk like that before and it was terrifying. Ultimately it was the best decision I ever made as I found I loved working for myself instead of someone else.
By no means has it been a perfect journey but I thinking learning additional skills and platforms has really helped me along the way. I offer a variety of different products from cleats to video games to vintage clothes to ordinary, everyday items. I also sell one of a kind items that may be hard to find otherwise. I think what sets me apart is that I sell a little bit of everything and not just in one place. I’m on a variety of platforms to get my inventory in front of as many eyes as possible. Some people may only shop in one place and don’t want to go out of their way for their wants and needs. Customers value finding exactly what they are looking for and the ability to buy it with ease.
For those who are interested in what I do I’d just like to say this isn’t as easy as it may sound. There’s a whole lot more that goes into this than buying something, taking pictures of it, posting it on a platform and then BOOM! it sells. It takes time, looking items up, researching them, making sure you have your item specifics filled out as throughly as you can, picture quality, etc. I could go on and on. You get out of this business what you put into it. The more in demand items that you list the more you will sell. This business is as lucrative as you want it to be. Just don’t let it consume your life because it’s really easy for that to happen. Don’t quit, keep making mistakes and learn for them. Keep pushing and you will succeed.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I sell on a variety of platforms. Those include eBay, Mercari, Poshmark, Grailed, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, and Walmart. I will say that my three best platforms are eBay, Etsy, and Walmart. Those are where I have the most traffic and sales. I sell everywhere else though because you never know who is on what platform and where it might sell.
The biggest advantage of selling on these sites is that they already have a built in clientele and they are bringing them right to you. It’s up to you to provide the goods that each demographic is looking for. The better you know your customer the more you will be able to sell. Another benefit is that each platform makes shipping easy for the seller. You put in the dimensions of your item with packaging and its weight and each website will give you a discounted shipping rate for it. Print the label for the item and you’re done.
However, there are two major cons that comes from using selling platforms. The first one is that you have to pay fees to the platform for selling your items. Each one has their own fee percentage and some are higher than others. So if you have inventory with low values it’s probably not worth your item to sell them with the amount of fees that are taken out. You want to make sure that you’re listing items that have enough “meat on the bone” after fees and shipping are accounted for. The other disadvantage of using selling platforms is that you have to deal with things such as cancellations, returns, and people no showing if you offer local pickup. With returns you have people who might return an item in a different condition than what you sold it. At that point you may have to sell the item for a lesser price or write it off if it is in bad condition. I offer local pickup on Facebook Marketplace and I’d say over 50% of people never show up to buy what they want. It’s a good platform to get rid of inventory fast but I don’t give Marketplace too much attention anymore. The time I dedicate to waiting for people who don’t show up could be used for something else to help further my business.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

It’s not a story but I am actively pivoting in my business as I type this. I will be the first to admit that reselling is getting harder in my area. Sources are drying up and there are more resellers than ever in my opinion. There are a lot of beginners and many others who think it’s a get rich quick scheme. Many people quit after a few months when they realize how much work reselling actually requires. In addition to reselling I’ve added being an Amazon Influencer and UGC Creator to my job titles. I’m in a program called the Amazon Influencer Program. Basically I make review videos for items that have Amazon listings. When someone watches my video and makes a purchase I earn a commission. I’ve just begun the program but already have around 100 videos done. It’s a numbers game but I know people who only do AIP and have been very successful with it. Being a UGC is similar to AIP. It stands for User Generated Content. You make reviews for brands who want their items promoted to bigger audiences such as social media platforms. You can earn bonuses and commissions from the item when people make purchases from your videos. I will continue to both resell and make content but I foresee making content a bigger part of my business in the future.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigtimeflipsllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brenden.rivera.3/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bigtimeflips
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bigtimeflips