Hi David
You are absolutely correct. I put things up on this board to convince others that it can be done (not to boast). If you stick to the following you really cannot go wrong.
As a beginner set a maximum you buy an item for. Mine is still around £3. I do make exceptions, but I have some years experience. I buy a lot of items at £1 or less. If you do lose out you are not losing much. My other criterion is that if I like it someone else will like it and give more than I paid.
I didn`t realise you was talking about buying and reselling. I`ve been doing it for about a year now with the same strategy you have. I didn`t have a lot of money when I started out so it was mainly £1 or £2, depends how much I earned on Qmee at the time, then I relaxed a little now and what I do is pay with the money in my Paypal account, I don`t go overboard but I think the maximum I have paid out is £14. The greatest bargain I have got so far is I found a dress which I knew was retailed at £99, got it for £9.99 but i`m still trying to sell it..It`s a Christmassy dress though.
I don`t sell on Ebay, had enough of it. I have had some trouble on Ebay maybe once or twice but I don`t like the fees and i`d rather buy then sell. Sometimes I buy what I like, that has resorted in some weird items. But I go for the young audience mostly so I go to the brands that I know will do well. My best selling place is Depop, a phone app but I also use Vinted and Mercari. Mercari is really slow so I don`t really recommend it.
Without this I wouldn`t of managed to pay for some crucial things in life, I am currently trying to clear a debt of £700 and with the help of buying and reselling and 6 other incrome streams I have so far managed to cover £500.