Started flipping vintage a while back and the thing that took me way too long to learn: sourcing is not the hard part. Pricing is.

Most beginners find a $4 Carhartt jacket at Goodwill and think "this is worth $60, easy $56 profit." Then it sits unsold for 3 months because they didn't check sold comps (not active listings — anyone can list a Levi's jacket for $200, doesn't mean it sells there), didn't account for platform fees (10-20% depending where you sell), and didn't factor in the time cost of photographing, listing, and shipping.

The flippers who actually make consistent money treat it like inventory turnover, not treasure hunting:

• They have a minimum margin threshold before they even buy (mine's 3x cost, after fees)

• They price to move in under 30 days, not to maximize the last dollar

• They track cost-per-item against what actually sold, weekly

The hunting is fun. The spreadsheet is what pays rent.

If anyone's deep in this and wants to swap sourcing spots or pricing data, that's basically all we do over at Retail Reborn.