A reseller is someone who buys items in the purpose of selling them for profit. Unlike a retailer, who has a limited, pre-set line of products, a reseller is usually more opportunistic and flexible in what he or she buys to be resold later.

That's also what I do, as my actual day job, since 2016, when I quit my 9-to-5.

It's a weird mixture of asset liquidation and treasure hunting, but I like it.

I sell over 2/3 of my items outside Finland. Around 50% go to US, mostly through eBay and Etsy, but luckily folks are also beginning to find me directly.

See below for discount coupons, btw.

Why I do it:

• No boss (You get to take all the blame and responsibility if something happens.)

• Free working hours (You get started by 7 am and around 9 pm you're relieved you're almost done for the day.)

• Unlimited income (Yeah, right. This works both ways - being self employed you're not entitled to a minimum wage. Also, being sick means no work, no pay.)

• No two days are the same (Ok, this is an actual benefit. It's super interesting having to gather knowledge about technical items to properly test and present them, or, for example, validate a costly collectable's authenticity or properly grade it's condition. Never boring.)

How I do it:

• Be honest If an item has a tiny defect, you can either pretend you didn't notice or just tell it how it is and let the item go for cheap. When you constantly show integrity, customers know they can buy even expensive stuff from you without the fear of getting swindled. (See 'return customers'. :-)

• Show respect Whether it's the CEO of a large company or the guy polishing dead rats for a living, treat them with equal kindness. Still, don't be a kiss-ass.

• Don't patronize If someone asks a "stupid" question, answer clearly and patiently - then go see why your description or instruction was so poor that it left the need for such a simple question.

My Etsy shop (click picture to visit)
Use coupon code YESPURLEESE for an extra 11% off

So far, I only have one Etsy shop, entirely dedicated to vintage eyeglass frames i.e. eyewear made before the year 2000. To complement these, I also carry hundreds of more recent frame styles, but since they are not vintage and thus not allowed on Etsy, they can only be found in my eBay store. Confusing, eh?

Since summer of 2019 my Etsy shop has reached the Top 100 Etsy shops in Finland (source: erank.com), which sounds more impressive than it is (you guessed it, there's like three other Etsy shops in Finland beside the 'Top 100'), but works as motivation trying to reach the Top 90 spot in the future, and so on.

In Etsy I try to stand out before the sale with proper, clear measurements of the glasses frames, even correcting the given, printed measurements when they are off for a few millimeters. Also I try to get decent photos, taking special care of the hues being correct, so that candy red wouldn't look pomegranate and you could tell your lime greens from your yellows. Having worked as a graphic designer back in the 90's still helps, I suppose.

After the sale I do my best to give honest - even pessimistic - shipping estimates and keep my customers updated of my proceedings, plus of course shipping the items well packed so that they arrive as meant; squeaky clean and in pristine shape.

I've so far succeeded in keeping my 5/5 ratings average, and being a shallow and vain person, I'll include some of them below:

My eBay account is a whopping 20+ years old, opened in 1997! There you can find just about anything that can be sold and shipped through air or land, from philately to humongous industrial items that require pallet transport. And yes, also hundreds of unworn eyeglass frames for a fraction of their original prices. Dealing in eyewear is on it's way to being a real niche of mine.

Being an overseas seller in eBay offers some extra obstacles, as shipping prices can easily surpass the actual price of a low value item, so eBay is mostly an option for stuff that has a good monetary-value-to-shipping-weight ratio. But luckily, after Finnish 'Posti' losing three out of three of my c. $100 tracked Express Mail items sent to US during a single day, I finally went through the trouble of seeking other options to ship merchandise overseas, and luckily was able to get a shipper offering more reliable tracking while also being around 40% cheaper, so now I'm in a better spot regarding global shipping.

On eBay, holding the feedback rate at 100% is a struggle, but the lowest I've ever notched is 99.7% so I'm moderately happy with my success there. Cheaper, non-tracked items tend to mysteriously vanish mid-shipping at an alarming rate when compared to the actual statistical percentage of mail that get's lost, but after giving up selling to certain countries the shipping success rate has gotten much better. (Pure coincidence, of course.)

Here are some of my eBay reviews. God knows why, but have at it:

Oh, just one final thing: My Finnish company name is actually Chuck Bronson Ventures, which has
absolutely no etymology and was invented in around three seconds, when I decided to name my
business whatever is the first name that comes to mind.

I guess the name might be seen as half Chuck Norris and half Charles Bronson, but why, I have
absolutely no idea. 

Also, feel free to follow if you like, although I'm pretty lazy with my social media updates.