The short answer
How do I track profit per hour for a reselling business?
Log each Whatnot show's sales, costs and hours in one spreadsheet, then upload it to an AI assistant and ask which categories earn the most profit per hour. When this video went up in May 2025, my mix was new-with-tags Lululemon plus pre-owned Patagonia, Carhartt and The North Face. Judge each category by profit per hour, not gross sales.
- Track profit per hour, not gross sales: divide what you keep by every hour you spend, including setup and show time.
- Log every show in one spreadsheet with sales, cost, fees, shipping and hours so you can compare categories side by side.
- Pick one category and learn its details, like Lululemon color codes, before you expand into others.
- When this video went up in May 2025, pre-owned clothing and Skims boxers were strong on margin in my shows.
- One sale is an anecdote: a pre-owned Free People top sold for $27 in May 2025, so check sold listings before you price.
Chapters (14)
Every reseller hits a point where the question changes from "what can I sell?" to "what is actually making me money?" When I made this video in May 2025, that's where my business was. This post covers what I changed: picking one focus, learning one category well, and using a spreadsheet and an AI assistant to track profit per hour instead of counting gross sales.
How do I track profit per hour in a reselling business?
You track it by dividing what you keep from a selling session by every hour you put into it. Keep what you keep after cost, fees and shipping, and count the setup, packing and show time too. Gross sales can hide a slow category, because a pile of cheap items can look busy and still earn less per hour than a few good pieces.
I log every Whatnot show in one spreadsheet. For each item or batch I track the category, what it cost me, what it sold for, the fees, the shipping and the hours it took. At the end of a show I add up the total hours so I can compare categories on the same scale. While you're still learning what works, check that sheet every week. It's the fastest way to see a pattern.
Why did I focus on one category instead of selling everything?
For a long time we did a little of this and a little of that. We sold in several ways, we tried several things, and nothing got the attention it needed. The change came when I stopped chasing everything and committed to one way of selling for a long stretch. Discipline on one thing is rare, and it beats being busy with many things.
A year before this video, I didn't know hardly anything about Lululemon. No color codes, nothing. Now I can tell you the color from across the room. That kind of detail is what lets you price fast and buy with confidence. You don't get it by sampling five categories. You get it by staying in one long enough to notice the small differences that matter.
What sells in my Whatnot shows?
When this video went up in May 2025, the mix in our shows looked like this:
| Category | What we sell | How it fits the business | What to look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| New with tags Lululemon | Brand-new pieces with tags still on | The main part of the business | Color codes and style names, learned before you buy or price |
| Pre-owned Patagonia, Carhartt and The North Face | Used outerwear and workwear | Pre-owned clothing with good margin | Condition, labels, wear and any flaws |
| Pre-owned Free People tops | Women's tops, sold individually | Sells well at the right price | Brand tag, fabric and condition |
| Skims boxers | Sorted and organized before selling | Strong profit margin | Packaging, size and new condition |
One sale is an anecdote, and I'm not sharing it as a promise. A pre-owned Free People top sold for $27 in May 2025. That shows a price range for one item in one show, not what every top will bring.
Which categories have the best margin?
In my shows, pre-owned clothing and the Skims boxers were strong on margin when this video went up in May 2025. New-with-tags Lululemon was the main part of the business. Margin and volume are not the same thing, which is why I track both. A category can move a lot of units and still pay less per hour than a smaller category with better margin.
We planned to keep pre-owned going for at least a couple more months, and then we might shift toward complete new-with-tags clothing. We'd see how things looked at that point. That's the other half of tracking: the numbers tell you when to change direction, and you have to be willing to act on them.
If you also list pieces on eBay, EasyFlip writes the listing from a few photos. It reads the brand, size and tags, then drafts the title, description, item specifics, category and a suggested price. You review it and publish to your own store with your own shipping and return policies.
How do I use AI to find my most profitable categories?
This one changed how I run the numbers. I take the data from our Whatnot shows, put it into a spreadsheet, and upload it to an AI assistant. I use Claude, and I set up separate projects for each part of the business. One is a Lululemon coach and one is a pre-owned clothing coach. Each one analyzes the data for its own category.
The assistant looks at what you're tracking and tells you what to do more of to maximize profit per hour. For me it helped with what to price things at and which line had the best profit. I've been chatting back and forth with it, asking follow-up questions as the numbers change.
If tracking your data, analytics or dashboard feels like a mess, try uploading it. You don't have to follow the output to the letter. It gives you clarity on what to focus on, and it helps you build a template for your own business. Always check the math yourself before you change prices or buying habits.
Why does focus matter more than hustle?
Busy is not the same as effective. You can work long hours and still get little from it if you keep switching what you're doing. My wife and I worked hard toward a specific goal, and that goal kept us pointed in one direction. The hard part wasn't the hours. It was staying with one plan long enough for it to work.
Looking back at this time last year, a lot changed in one year. We went from a tough position to a business with a team, including a shipper and a part-time streamer. I'm not sharing that to brag. The part you can reuse is the routine: one focus, a tracking habit, and a year of showing up even when it feels slow.
One of the best things about the team was seeing people grow. Our streamer didn't know much about clothing when she started, and now she's selling better than I am. Anyone can learn a category this way if they stick with it.
The bottom line
Here's what I'd do this week. Pick the one category you know best, or the one you want to learn. Set up a spreadsheet with the category, cost, sale price, fees, shipping and hours for every item or batch. After your next few sessions, compare profit per hour across your categories, not gross sales. Then ask an AI assistant which categories to do more of and what to price at, and check its math.
Focus, track, repeat. The numbers will tell you where your time pays. If you want more breakdowns like this, sign up for the EasyFlip newsletter.
Questions people ask
What is profit per hour in reselling?
It's the money you keep from a selling session, after cost, fees and shipping, divided by every hour you spent on it. That includes setup, packing and show time, not just the hours you were on camera. Compare categories with it instead of gross sales, because a category with big sales can still earn less per hour.
Which columns should I track for live selling?
Track the category, what each item or batch cost, the sale price, fees, shipping and the hours it took. Add the total hours for each show so you can compare categories on the same scale. Check the sheet weekly while you're still learning what works.
Can AI analyze my reselling numbers?
Yes. Upload your spreadsheet to an AI assistant and ask which categories earn the most profit per hour and what to price things at. Treat the answer as a starting point and check the math yourself before you change prices or buying.
Is pre-owned clothing worth selling?
In my shows, pre-owned Patagonia, Carhartt and The North Face were a solid part of the mix, and pre-owned clothing had good margin when this video went up in May 2025. Condition, labels and wear decide what each piece brings. Check sold listings before you price.
Should I focus on one category or sell everything?
I'd focus. Before this video I didn't know much about Lululemon, and learning one category's details, like its color codes, made pricing and buying faster. Stay with one category long enough to notice the small differences that matter.
Sources
Prices are eBay sold listings, and every fact below was checked on May 17, 2025.
Read the full video transcript
Just this time last year, we were down to our last $15,000 in savings and we needed to make a decision to either move back closer to family to help save up for my wife's neck procedures or to go all in and actually focus on doing one thing consistently for a long period of time. And fast forward a year later, we are on pace to do a little over $320,000 in sales for the month of May, praise God. And I just want to bring some inspiration and motivation to you that in your darkest times of life is when the brightest light is about to shine. Because we've had the idea to start live selling for several months and yet we never took action. That was our own fault. It was a God idea. It was a good idea. And we procrastinated. So, I just say to you, maybe you have an idea right now that is
worth millions of dollars sitting right in your heart and in your mind and all you got to do is just jump and take the leap of faith. Never did I think we would do over a quarter million dollars in sales reselling clothes on the internet. Um so, I just say to you that maybe if you're feeling stuck right now as an entrepreneur or in your resell business you need to think in new ways about old problems. You know, maybe the old way of reselling is coming to an end. Maybe the season of doing the same thing over and over again is coming to an end. We're living in a world of innovation and new ideas and um you know, new ways of thinking. So, sometimes you got to just think outside the box and think crazy. Think not like normal people. You know, normal people get normal results. Sometimes you got to have a little
craziness in you to really make it happen. So, you know, yes, we're working long hours, my wife and I. Uh we worked crazy towards this because we have the vision and the goal to get my wife's neck procedures and to get our health in check. And that's what really drove us to this point to really make it happen. And I just want to bring you along with the journey. I know that this channel has been about, you know, a lot about teaching and and all that and and really when it all comes down to it is just documenting the journey to go back and see how it's been. I mean, if you go back on our YouTube channel a couple years ago, you could see us just starting on eBay and and getting into reselling. And now to where we're at now is just such a blessing. And I want to continue to just document
the journey. I don't know how many videos a month, a week will there will be, but I think it's important to share the story and inside of you has a great story, a great testimony. And it's not finished yet. So, it's important that we try because God deserves our best. This is my belief. Doesn't need to be your belief, but it's my belief that God deserves my best. And if I'm not giving my best and giving my all and doing all that I can do for my family, for my wife, for my friends, for my kids, then I will be left unfulfilled. So, you could probably see all the clothes around here um is for my family, for my future, for the future of the business, for the next generation. And we're really just going all in on what we're doing. Never in our life have we really ever focused on doing one thing really
really really really well. You know, we've been doing a little this, little that, oh, real estate, a little that. And I just say the importance of focusing on something is huge. So, maybe you need to just focus on that one thing and that one idea that you have and get really really good at it. Um pretty much this time last year, I didn't even know hardly anything about Lululemon. You know, no color codes, no nothing. Now, I can tell you what color that is from a mile away. I can tell you what that is from a mile away. And I just tried to get better and better at learning all these nuances about the things that we sell. You know, so what a great blessing, you know, um I'd love to just continue to document the journey. Um we're selling every day on Whatnot. If you're wondering what we're even doing and maybe it's your
first time watching. Um we sell a bunch of new with tags Lululemon. We do sell a lot of pre-owned clothing as well, like Carhartt, Patagonia, North Face, a lot of Patagonia, some jerseys. Since we last talked, we have uh two employees. We have a shipper. We have a part-time streamer as well. And um things are moving along here and I just want to continue to come on here just to kind of inspire you guys, motivate you guys that literally this time last year we were in a really tough position and it's so amazing on how in just 1 year so much can change. In 9 months of selling on Whatnot, I was just looking at the analytics. Um we've sold nearly a million dollars worth of product and this is from zero to now 20,000 followers on Whatnot. And selling about 50,000 items. So, it's the important of focus will change your life. The importance
of focus and not listening to what other people are doing or, you know, the shiny object syndrome or the grass is greener on the other side. Just like focus on your plan and in vision and be disciplined to that. One of the rarest attributes in people is discipline and um you know, being disciplined for for a long period of time is really going to blow away the competition. Everyone else is busy doing many things, but they're not effective. You can be busy and not effective. So, it's very important that you have some discipline and you have a vision and a goal that you're trying to accomplish. Life is short, y'all. You know it. What a cheesy saying, but I don't want people to waste their life. And if you're to get anything from this video is that you have such value to give back to the world that the world desperately needs what's inside of
you. So, whether it's through reselling, entrepreneurship, or that great idea that you have, it's important that you pull that out of yourself and make it an actual reality. It's going to take the hardest work you've ever done, but nothing is more fulfilling than working hard on yourself and on the project and the idea that the world or the universe or God has given you. So, um what a cool thing and I want to continue to just document it, y'all. It's probably going to be one video a month. Um you know, YouTube is not a huge top priority for for me right now because I do want to continue to to manage this business. I I like I said, I don't want to be busy in many things doing YouTube videos. Right now, we are at a peak point in our business where I want to really focus on it and make sure I'm being the
best manager that I can be, the best leader for our team that we have right now. And uh that is my main focus right now, but uh man, it has been an emotional roller coaster as well. And I'm so happy to to document the journey because if it just helps one person out there, that's all I care about. You know, just helping one person and uh helping them take the next step in their business or in life. Um this has been a beautiful beautiful time to be alive. It's never been easier to make more money than you've ever made, but it's also been never been easier to just settle and be comfortable in where you're at. You know, um, if you're making a hundred thousand a year, bills are paid, food's on the table, why would you want to do anything more, right? But is that fulfilling? I don't know. Everyone has their own values
in life, so um, that's where we're at. That's the update. I don't know if you care about anything else. Maybe you don't care about anything that I said, but just want to make it a an importance to, um, you know, document the journey and then also just kind of show that you could do this, too. You know, there wasn't I didn't go to school for this. I four years ago I didn't know a single thing about clothing and now look at it, we're selling about three hundred to four hundred new with tag Lululemon pieces every single day and it has been amazing. So, Lululemon is the main part of our business. We do sell pre-owned clothing about a hundred pieces a day. So, about four hundred units leaving the door every day Monday through Saturday and um, can't do it alone. Shout out to the shipper that we hired and shout out to our live
streamer that we hired recently. Uh, she does an amazing job. She as well did not know, you know, much about clothing, but boy, look at her now. She's she's selling clothes better than me. Sold a Free People top pre-owned for twenty-seven dollars. What the heck? It's amazing. It's amazing and I love helping people, you know, kind of come out of their shell and and do things that they've never done before. So, that's where we're at right now. Right now I'm organizing a bunch of Skims boxers. Oh my goodness. These Skims boxers actually, uh, are great profit margin for our business. Um, really good on that one. Uh, the pre-owned clothing is great profit margin as well. Um, so we're going to continue to do pre-owned for at least the next couple months. Um, we might end up shifting over to complete new with tags clothing. Um, we'll see how we are at that point. Another
good point too with tracking and a thing that I've learned is, um, I basically take all the data from our Whatnot shows, put it into a spreadsheet, and then I upload it to AI. And it's basically like your own business uh, analyst, your business consultant. Uh, I use Claude AI, and you're able to segment different projects of your business. So, I have a Lululemon coach, and then I have a uh, pre-owned clothing coach. And it basically analyzes all the data of what you're tracking, and it tells you what you should be doing more of to maximize your profit per hour. So, um, that has been a really amazing thing. Um, so I've been chatting back and forth with the AI coach, and um, just it it it analyzes everything. It says, you know, what I should be pricing things at, analyzes what's our best profit on Lululemon, what's our best profit on pre-owned clothing. And
that's a huge thing. Uh, if you have a hard time tracking your data, or your analytics, or your dashboard, um, try uploading that to AI so it can help decipher and help you at least create a template for your business. Doesn't mean you need to follow it to a T, but uh, it is gives you more clarity as a business owner on what to focus on. So, uh, Rachelle just got in here, maybe she has better words of wisdom for me. I know she does, because it's been an amazing journey of discipline towards a larger goal, and you guys have known that you know, we're we're trying to get her health better and and help with her neck. Um, you know, so that's kind of been the overall biggest goal of it. But what do you think? Well, it is You just have to just take time to stop and smell the flowers and enjoy
every little moment that is given. And even though a goal can take a long time, just make sure you pace yourself and get your priorities right, balance it with the kids, your family. And it's not all about work. So, we just need to enjoy it. How's it been with not having to do any more shipping anymore? We used to do all the shipping every day and we almost died. Yeah. Feel like I've graduated from it. And it's nice to hand off the torch. So, good that someone else can be trained up in it and it's allowed me to have different jobs. There's still a few days that I get to help out with shipping, but it's nice to know that I'm not doing every day. And having this iMac, oh my goodness, I don't know if you could go back a few videos ago, but we used to have this small laptop where you couldn't
even you couldn't even read anything. The text was too small. So, just upgrading like that was a huge huge change in our business. Um, it's like a 2017 iMac, but it has a bigger screen so we could actually read um what's going on, but just wanted to come on here to inspire you that we were down at our bottom bottom bottom hit rock bottom of this time last year and that, you know, if you just continue to focus on something really hard for a year, um you'd be surprised on the changes that can happen in your life. And I just say all glory to God and, uh, my belief that, you know, God deserves our best and I want to give my best, not just to the people around me, but, um, so I could become the best version of myself, so people can actually enjoy who I am, rather than be a terrible person
on this earth. So, um, keep working hard, work hard on yourself, and, uh, I don't know when the next video will be, but I wanted to come on here because I haven't made a video in a while. And appreciate you guys so much and, you know, just keep doing, um, what you are called to do and never give up on your dream. Never. Ever. There's something inside you that keeps coming at you every day and you are thinking about it all the time, well, that's God talking to you. So, do it.
