Easy Ways to Price Items with Confidence
Feb 18, 2025
Pricing can make or break your reselling business. Set prices too high, and items sit unsold, eating up space and cash flow. Set them too low, and you lose the profit margins that keep your business thriving. Successful resellers strike a balance—prices that move inventory while leaving enough room for healthy profits. The key is using comps, condition, and fees strategically, while keeping track of costs in one place so you always know exactly where your margins stand.
Start with Comps (Comparable Sales)
Comps are the foundation of confident pricing. By analyzing what similar items have sold for, you get a data-driven basis for pricing your own. That way, your strategy isn’t just guesswork.
Source Comparable Data: Search sold listings on eBay, Mercari, Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, or even niche forums to see real, completed transactions.
Match Item Details: Make sure you’re comparing like-for-like. Brand, size, edition, color, and model year all matter.
Look for Trends: Rather than just copying the lowest price, observe averages over time. This helps you avoid underpricing based on outliers.
A quick way to strengthen comps is to maintain a personal database of what you’ve sold and for how much. Over time, your own transactions will become the most reliable guide for future pricing decisions.
Factor in Item Condition
Condition directly impacts value and should always be part of your pricing process. Clear grading not only informs your decisions but also builds trust with buyers.
Mint/New: Rarely discounted, often priced at or above market averages.
Gently Used: Discount slightly but lean toward the upper midrange of comps if well cared for.
Defects/Wear: Document flaws carefully, price at the lower end of completed sales, and ensure photos reflect the description.
When listing, transparent condition notes can justify your price and help prevent disputes. Buyers will often pay more for an honest description paired with accurate photos.
Calculate All Fees and Costs
Too many resellers underestimate how much platform fees, shipping, and even payment processing chips away at margins. To price smart, you must calculate these every time:
Platform Seller Fees: Marketplaces usually take 10–15% of the sale price.
Payment Processor Fee: Platforms like PayPal or Stripe often add around 3% + a transaction fee.
Shipping Costs: Decide if shipping is free (buyer-friendly but cuts into margins) or calculated (protects your profit but can deter impulse buys).
Storage or Handling Costs: Think poly mailers, boxes, tape, or storage units.
Having everything recorded in one place is essential. A tool like Gavelbase can help keep fees and costs organized in real-time and allows you to see if your pricing is aligned with profit goals. Even a spreadsheet works, but the point is: make hidden costs visible, so you don’t find yourself selling at break-even.
Set Target Margins Upfront
The best way to avoid disappointment is to price with your profit goals in mind. Instead of pricing reactively, predefine your margin requirements:
Set a minimum profit percentage (e.g., 30%).
Back into your price by adding expected fees and costs to your target profit.
Compare with live comp data to make sure the price is competitive while sustainable.
This approach turns pricing into a formula rather than a guess. If comps don’t support your target margin, you might need to reconsider sourcing that item again.
Track Performance to Refine Strategy
Good pricing evolves with experience. By tracking your sold items and costs, you’ll spot patterns—like which categories bring stronger margins or how condition affects speed of sale. Tracking tools and spreadsheets can reveal if you’re consistently underestimating fees or leaving money on the table.
Some sellers even run periodic pricing audits, reviewing sold inventory every quarter to check how often items sold at or above target profit. Over time, feedback loops like this sharpen instincts and inform smarter sourcing decisions.
Practical Example
Imagine you’re selling a pair of vintage Nike sneakers. You see comps ranging from $90 to $120 for similar pairs in comparable condition. Your pair has slight scuffing, so you price near the midrange at $105. Factoring in 13% marketplace fees ($13.65), $3 in PayPal processing, and $12 for shipping (which you offer free to remain competitive), your net revenue is about $76. With your sourcing cost of $40, that leaves $36 profit—or a 47% margin. This confirms you’re covering all costs and still hitting a comfortable profit rate.
Final Thoughts
Confident pricing for resellers isn’t about hunches—it’s about process. Use comps for a baseline, adjust for condition, account for every fee and expense, then check against your target margins. Keep everything tracked in one central place, and your pricing decisions become less stressful and more reliable. Over time, this disciplined approach builds not only profit but also trust and reputation with buyers who know they’re paying fair market value for your items.