What is a pricing strategy?
A pricing strategy is a store’s overall approach to setting prices on secondhand inventory — the principles and goals that guide how items are priced, not just the specific numbers. Where a pricing guide is a tactical reference tool, a pricing strategy is the thinking behind it.
Common resale pricing strategies
Percentage of retail
Many stores price secondhand items at a percentage of the original retail price, adjusted for condition. A common benchmark is 25-50% of MSRP for good condition items, though this varies significantly by category and brand.
Market-based pricing
Some stores — particularly those selling higher-value or collectible items — research what comparable items are selling for on platforms like eBay or Poshmark, or at similar local stores, and price accordingly. This is more time-intensive but can capture more value on in-demand items.
Volume pricing
Higher-volume stores often prioritize turnover over margin, pricing items lower to move inventory quickly. This approach works best when intake volume is high and the store’s model depends on throughput rather than maximizing revenue per item.
Category-based pricing
Different item categories carry different resale values and customer price expectations. A store might apply different pricing strategies for clothing, furniture, and electronics — each with its own logic based on demand, condition degradation, and storage cost.
Optimizing your pricing strategy
A truly optimized pricing strategy goes beyond initial intake pricing. It uses reporting data to make smarter decisions about what inventory to accept in the first place, and how to price it.
Using sell-through rate to evaluate brands
Sell-through rate — the percentage of accepted items from a brand that actually sell within a given period — is one of the most useful metrics for refining an intake strategy. A brand with a consistently low sell-through rate signals that the customer base simply isn’t buying it. Tracking this by brand or category allows a store to make data-driven decisions about which brands or categories to accept, cap, or stop taking altogether.
For example, if reporting shows that a particular brand consistently reaches a 90-day discount and still isn’t selling, the store has two levers: stop accepting that brand, or adjust its initial price point lower to better reflect actual demand. Either decision is better than continuing to accept inventory that doesn’t move.
Discount schedule as a pricing tool
A discount schedule is a structured markdown timeline that automatically reduces item prices the longer they sit on the floor, effectively clearing out slow-moving inventory. This can allow stores to experiment with and refine their overall pricing strategy and intake policy while limiting the amount of stagnant inventory on their floor.