Know your real margin: costing stock properly as a UK Vinted reseller

Most resellers can quote their best flip from memory — and almost none can quote their average margin. The first number is a story; the second is a business. Here is how to know yours.

1. Every item needs a cost, even from a bale

Charity-shop finds are easy: the price is on the tag. Bales and job lots are where costing dies. The workable method: divide the bale price by the number of sellable items — not the number of items. A £120 bale of 100 pieces where 60 are listable = £2 per sellable item. The 40 duds are not free losses; they are baked into the £2.

2. The costs that hide

• Packaging — mailers, tape, tissue: 20-40p per parcel, thousands of parcels a year.
• Boosts and Spotlight — small, frequent, forgettable. They add up precisely because they are forgettable.
• Refunds and goodwill — the £4 label you covered to avoid a dispute is a real cost of that sale.
• Dead stock — items that never sell still cost what you paid. A 60% sell-through on a bale changes its true per-item cost by two-thirds.

3. The two numbers that matter

Margin per item: (sale price − item cost − share of overheads). Track the average, not the trophies. UK second-hand clothing typically runs healthy at 60-75% — if yours is 40%, your sourcing or pricing needs a look.

£ per hour: divide monthly profit by hours spent sourcing, photographing, listing and posting. This is the uncomfortable one — and the most useful. It tells you whether to raise prices, source better, or batch your workflow.

4. Speed is margin too

An item that sells in a week returns its cash for re-sourcing; an item that sells in six months is an interest-free loan you made to your own wardrobe. Watch days-to-sell by brand and category — it quietly decides how fast your profit compounds.