Quick Lesson on Buying and Selling

Posted at October 19, 2009 // Random Thoughts

Stuffs are made and then sold.

Sometime, one person / organization takes care of this entire equation. Though, more often than not, someone makes the stuff and someone else sells the stuff.

I am on the making stuff side of the equation, and sometimes I forget how hard it is to be on the selling stuff side. However, this weekend, I got a good reminder of the fact that buyers are only as finicky as their end consumers. They say no to you because their end consumers have said no to them.

If you ever want a quick lesson for yourself, go sell a piece of clothing at one of those resale shops. This weekend, I decided to sell some old clothes that are now too big (small yay me!). It was an interesting experience. You could see the buyer right there evaluating the clothes. There was no sales pitch. The buyers decided what they would take and what they wouldn’t take right then and there. Of course, they had guidelines. For example, they memorized the labels, so they could quickly tell how old that piece of clothing is. They had a length requirement on tube tops. But, in general, it was fascinating to watch.

Bear in mind, they are not Wal-Mart. They could not just shoo you away if your clothes were crappy. You could be their next customer. So, even if they did not take the clothes, they would break the news to you gently. “They were just not styles that sell well for us here.” It was not a judgment on your clothes. It was a simple statement about their shop and their consumers.

It was a lesson on buying and selling, and it was a lesson on customer service all rolled into one.

Photo Credit: clothes, originally uploaded by Sean’s Camera.