Find below a list of terms you can expect to hear in the UK reselling community. It also highlights where words and phrases in this context may differ from their standard definitions.
100% complete: A second-hand item that is confirmed to have all of its components, particularly significant for board games and jigsaw puzzles
Acceptable: Amazon and eBay product condition, which suggests the item is heavily worn, but is still usable for its original function
Alibaba: Chinese wholesale retailer, often used for sourcing
Amazon: Popular online retailer, which also allows brands and the public to sell products online
in the late 19th century, the ribs of the interior of the large european railway station were the source of inspiration for exact omega replica gold.fantastic best valentino 72195 men fashion sports shoes far more lovely.
AmazonSeller: Amazon’s official Seller Central app, enabling users to scan products, compare prices, and list them
AMS: Amazon Marketing Services. Platform to pay for ads to appear for products to appear on Amazon
AMZ: Abbreviation of ‘Amazon’
Antique: An item that is at least 100 years old
Antiquity: An item with antique qualities
Arbing: To take advantage of arbitrage opportunities
Arbitrage: Marketplace imbalances, in which a product may be worth more on one than another
ASIN: Amazon Standard Identification Number. A product’s unique product number on Amazon
Auctions: Either offline auctions or online time-constrained auctions
Bank holiday boot sale: A boot sale held on a bank holiday, often attracting more buyers and a sellers than regular fixtures
Best Match: eBay search algorithm that estimates search intent, based on your query, and that of existing listings
Best Offer: A feature of eBay that allows buyers to haggle on the price of a Buy It Now listing
Best Sellers: The most popular products of a particular category on Amazon, in a specific time frame
Bid: An offer for a certain price of a lot at an auction
Bidder: A person that bids on an auction
Bid retraction: To withdraw a bid offer
Black Friday: Retail sale event taking place on the final Friday of November
Blocked buyer: A buyer that has been denied the right to buy your items
BNIB: Brand new in box. An item that is brand new and in its original box
BOLO: Be on the lookout. A product or brand to watch out for when sourcing
Boot sale / car boot / boot fair: A local outdoor event where the public buy and sell (mostly) second-hand items
Boot sale job lot: An assortment of products that would be suitable to sell on at a boot sale
Boxing Day sales: Retail sales that follow from Christmas Day, largely replacing January sales
Bundle: To include a related product (or products) to a listing, which would usually be sold individually
Buy Box: The product page for a specific item on Amazon, for which the seller may be Amazon, a brand, a Marketplace user or an individual using the FBA programme
Buy It Now: A fixed-price buying format on eBay
Buyer’s remorse: When a buyer decides they no longer want the product, and may be able to get a full refund
Camel: Abbreviation of CamelCamelCamel, a platform that tracks the price of Amazon products over time
CamelCamelCamel: A website which archives the historic price changes of products on Amazon
Car boot: Variant of boot sale, an event where (mainly) second-hand products are sold outdoors
Case: A dispute on eBay over a sale, which may result in a return, refund, or negative feedback
Cash on collection: To pay for an item (from eBay, Gumtree, Craigslist, Shpock or elsewhere) with cash, once it has been collected in person
Cashback: Rebates earned for shopping at specific online retailers, often through an affiliate programme
Categories: Classifications of products on an ecommerce site
CCC: CamelCamelCamel. An Amazon price tracker
Charity shops: Charity-run shops that receive donations of (mostly) second-hand products, and are sold to the public
Christmas: Festive event on 25th December that prompts high sales of giftable products in October, November and December 25th December
Clearance: Stock that needs to be
Closing down: When a business is winding down operations, and often sells its stock at reduced prices
Collectible: An Amazon condition value that indicates an item is rare or unique, superseding the ‘New’ to ‘Acceptable’ scale for most products
Collection: A set of products, which may have originally been sold together, or they fall under the same brand, category or theme
Combined shipping: To create a single P&P cost for the sale of multiple items, rather than doing so individually
Completed: An eBay search filter showing lots that have run the full duration of their listing
Condition: The quality of a product, often on a scale of ‘New’ to ‘Acceptable’
Corporation tax: Tax based on a company’s profits
Craigslist: An online marketplace primarily for selling second-hand products and services locally
Deadstock: Out of season products which are no longer sold by standard retailers
Dealers: Experienced, possibly full-time, buyers and sellers
Deductibles: Expenses that won’t be considered, when calculating your annual taxable profit
Delivery: The process of sending a product from
Depop: An online platform to buy and sell products, primarily clothing and accessories
Discontinued: When a retailer stops sourcing for a particular product
Discount code: A discount code which, when input on an ecommerce site, reduces the cost of the transaction
Dispatch: To send a product out for delivery
Dud: A sourced product that isn’t worth as much as originally thought
eBay: Popular online marketplace for buying and selling products, either at a fixed price or through a time-constricted auction
End-of-line: When a product is no longer being sourced for sale from a retailer
Etsy: Online marketplace for craft and personalised products, as well as vintage items
Event: A retailer’s sale
Ex-library: An item (usually a book, CD, VHS or magazine) that was previously used in a library, so may be stamped or stickered
Expenses: Costs associated with earnings
Facebook groups: Community pages on Facebook, often referring to either local groups for buying and selling, or groups to share reselling experiences
Factory sealed: An unopened item, sealed as it was when manufactured
FBA: Fulfilment by Amazon. A service enabling Amazon sellers to send their products to an Amazon fulfilment centre, and once sold, the company pack and deliver it under their Prime service
Feedback Score: The overall feedback rating of an eBay user
Feedback: Reviews of your service on a marketplace, often rated as either Positive or Negative
Feeding the beast: Sending products to Amazon for FBA
Fees: Any commission or expenses deducted from the sale or listing price on an item
FI: Financial independence. To live on sustainable personal wealth, often through passive income
Final value fee: Total cost of all eBay fees associated with an individual listing
Financial independence: To be able to live off personal wealth, which may or may not be topped up through passive income streams
Flip: To buy something for a low amount, and sell it on for a higher value
Free listing: Feeless listing on a marketplace
Free P&P: Waivered fee for postage and packaging costs
Fulfilment by Amazon: Service offered by Amazon to store a seller’s products, until it sells, and then dispatch the order through their Prime services
Fulfilment: The process from a purchase transaction to its delivery
Gated: Amazon categories and product types which are restricted for product listings by new or unverified sellers
Good: Amazon and eBay product condition, which suggests the item is opened, used, but is usable and clean
GSP: Global Shipping Programme. An eBay fulfilment system, which allows sellers to deliver to international buyers without added expenses
Gumtree: An online platform primarily for buying and selling products and services locally
Haggle: To attempt to negotiate for a better price on a purchase
HMRC: Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Home clearance: When large quantities of goods are removed from a property
Insertion fee: Cost to list an item on eBay
January sales: Retail sales event following Christmas, which used to be more prominent, until Boxing Day sale replaced its prominence
Job lot: A collection of products (usually of the same type) that are sold together as a bulk listing
Jumble sale: A local second-hand sale event, often held at a school, community centre, town hall or church
Keepa: Amazon price tracker, able to show changes over long periods of time
Lego: Value-retaining collectible stackable brick toy with worth by the kilo
Like new: Amazon and eBay product condition, which suggests the item is opened, but shows no sign of use
Limited company. Incorporated, privately-run company, headed by director(s)
Liquidation stock: Stock acquired from a liquidated business
List: To put a product on a marketplace
Local collection: To collect a product in person, rather than having it delivered
Lot: The contents of a single listing, which may contain a single item or several
Marketplace Sellers: Amazon sellers who aren’t selling through the FBA programme
Media: DVDs, Blu-rays, VHSs, video games, floppy discs and CDs
Negative feedback / neg: When a buyer or seller is dissatisfied with the transaction, and shares this with users of the platform
Net profit: The money remaining, after expenditure has been deducted
Net: Short for ‘net profit', which is the monetary return after expenses have been deducted
New in box: eBay product condition, which suggests the item is brand new and in the box it was sold in
New with defects: Amazon and eBay product condition, which suggests the item is unused, but may have minor defects
New with tags: eBay product condition, which suggests the item (usually clothing or an accessory) is unused and has its original retail tagging
New: Amazon and eBay product condition, which suggests the item is unopened, unused and undamaged
Not as described: When an item is returned for not fitting the description it was listed as
OA: Online arbitrage. To find and sell products with an imbalance in their value on one online marketplace, compared to another
Online arbitrage: To take advantage of price differences of a product on one website, compared to another
Outlet / outlet store: Retail store (or online version) that sells out-of-season, sample, overstocked and/or defective products at a reduced rate
Outlet mall / village: A location where a range of brands have outlet stores, in which they sell out-of-season, sample, overstocked and/or defective products at a reduced rate
Overstock: Excess quantities of stock
P&P: Postage and packaging. Preparing and sending a delivery
Passive income: Money earned with minimal active participation, following initial time and/or monetary investment
Paying up: Spending more than desired for a resale item
PayPal: Popular payment gateway, previously owned by eBay, protecting buyers and sellers
Pickups: Purchases made for reselling
PL: Private label. Repackaged (often wholesale) goods, sold under new branding
Positive feedback: When a buyer or seller is satisfied with the transaction, and shares this with users of the platform
Postage: The delivery process
PowerSeller: Highly rated, high product turnover eBay seller
Pre-owned: An item that has been used, and is second-hand
Prep centre: A company which receives, prepares and sends products to be resold via Amazon’s FBA programme
Prime Day: Amazon’s annual one-day sale event in mid-July
Prime: Amazon’s Prime service, which allows customers to get next day delivery in the UK, and same-day delivery in select cities
Private label: Products manufactured by a particular company, and are repackaged under a new brand
Profit Bandit: An alternative to the AmazonSeller app
Promo code: A promotional code from a retailer that reduces the price of a purchase
Q1: The first quarter of the year, 1st January to 30th March
Q2: The first quarter of the year, 1st April to 30th June
Q3: The first quarter of the year, 1st July to 30th September
Q4: The fourth quarter of the year, 1st October to 31st December, when sales of giftable products increase significantly
Quarter: A three-month period of the year
RA: Retail arbitrage. To find and sell products with an imbalance in their value in one retail store, compared to its value elsewhere
Recommerce: To source and resell second-hand products in bulk
Reduced: Price deducted from its original retail value
Refund: When a buyer receives money back for their purchase, often in exchange for the product being returned
Relist: To place a product back on a marketplace, after it runs the course of its original listing
Repricer: Software that automatically alters the sale price of your listings to be competitive with other marketplace sellers, often on Amazon and eBay
Reserve: The minimal value that an auction listing can be sold for
Resolution Centre: eBay’s dispute resolution hub
Retail arbitrage: To take advantage of the high street price of a product being lower than its online value, perhaps on a specific marketplace
Returns: When an item is returned to the seller, potentially because it isn’t as described, it is faulty, or the buyer simply isn’t satisfied with their purchase
Review: An evaluation of the quality of an item or transaction
ROI: Return on investment. Net profit, once the cost price and fees have been deducted
RRP: Recommended retail price. The standard retail price for a product, as originally recommended by its manufacturer
Sales Rank: The comparative sales a product within its Amazon category (or categories) in a certain time frame
Scan: To use a barcode scanner to check the value of a product on Amazon, and potentially any competition on the listing
School fete: Community sale event, often held at schools, for the public to buy and sell (mostly) second-hand products
Seasonal: Something that is time-sensitive, possible influenced by weather, calendar events associated with particular times of the year
Second Chance Offer: An eBay option to offer an auction-sold item to the second-highest bidder, after the sale
Second-hand: An item that has been used previously
Self-assessment: Income tax evaluation
Self-employed: Working for yourself or owning your own business
Sell Similar: eBay option enabling sellers to create a listing based on the template settings of another
Seller Central: The hub for selling products on Amazon
Send it in to Amazon/FBA: To ship a box of items (or several) to Amazon, to sell as part of their FBA programme
Set: A collection of products, which may have originally been sold together, or they fall under the same brand, category or theme
Shoot for: To aim to sell the item for a particular price
Shpock: A relatively new online platform primarily geared towards local buying and selling
Signed-for: A postage option that ensures that the delivery is signed for at its delivery destination
SKU: A product’s unique ID number, assigned by the seller
Snipe: To use a service which automates eBay bidding, usually in the closing seconds of an auction listing
Sold listings: An eBay search filter that shows lots that resulted in a sale
Sole trader: Self-employed individual business owner, rather than that of a incorporated company
Sourcing: To find products to resell
Spares and repairs: A product that may be heavily damaged, but its parts can be salvaged by a buyer
Sponsored Products: Products which are promoted via ads on Amazon, when viewing search listings, or similar items
Surplus: Excess stock
Suspension: When the privileges of a seller or buyer account are restricted
Table top sale: Similar to a boot sale, as a place to buy and sell second-hand products locally, but is usually indoors
Tracked: A deliver that can be traced from the point it is dispatched, until it is ultimately delivered
Treasure hunting: Sourcing second-hand products to resell
Units: Quantity of a product for sale, or sold
Unpaid item: When a buyer fails to pay, after winning an eBay auction
Used: An item that is second-hand, and has been previously used
UTR: Unique Tax Reference.10-digit individual tax reference number for an individual or company
VA: Virtual assistant. An assistant who works remotely for
VAT: Value added tax. A standard 20% tax on many goods, which must be paid once a business hits the £82,000 (limited company) or £83,000 (sole trader) turnover threshold
Very good: Amazon and eBay product condition, which suggests the item is opened, but shows no sign of use
VGC: Very good condition. Product condition suggesting the item is open, but has no visible signs of use
Vintage: An old, usually second-hand, product which isn’t old enough to qualify as ‘Antique’
Vinted: An online marketplace for buying and selling (mainly) second-hand clothes
Virtual assistant: Remote-working outsourced assistant
Voucher code: A discount code to use on an online retail site, reducing the basket’s total price
Watch: To track an ebay listing, without obligation to purchase
Watcher: A person tracking the progression of an ebay listing
Well worn: Description used for clothing on eBay, Depop, and elsewhere, indicating that the product has been worn heavily, and may have wear and tear
Wholesale: Bulk quantities of an item
Worn once: Description used for clothing on eBay, Depop, and elsewhere, indicating that the product was worn once, or little enough to show no signs of wear and tear