Our Get Thrifty Podcast: Systems, AI & Smarter Selling
I have some fun news to share. Ryan (my business partner) and I were recently guests on the popular Get Thrifty podcast! You can watch it below or listen in on your favorite podcast platform.
If you haven’t come across it before, Get Thrifty is a weekly podcast published by arc Thrift Stores, an amazing (and inspiring!) nonprofit with stores across Colorado. arc is one of the largest employers of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the state, and we were very proud to collaborate with them and support their mission. Get Thrifty is hosted by Maggie Scivicque, a fellow Dolly Parton superfan who has interviewed hundreds of resellers and collectors. When Maggie’s team reached out and invited us to join her in conversation, we were incredibly flattered and excited.
What we talked about
Our episode is called “This Reseller’s Toolkit Will Save You HOURS”, and it covers everything from my thrifting secrets to how we use AI for resale workflows. If you’re familiar with my books and the blog, you know I’m a reseller first and foremost, and Ryan comes from a completely different world, having run a software company for 12 years before helping me with Ultimate Thrifting.
Here are a few of the topics we covered:
Buying with your head, not your heart. Maggie asked if I still buy from the heart, and I had to be honest: yes, I still make that mistake more than I care to admit! I still have to remind myself that any item I plan to resell has to pass my criteria (e.g. comps over $25, expected sale price >3X the purchase price), and for my own wardrobe, that just because something is cheap doesn’t mean I should buy it if I won’t wear or use it regularly.
The reality of resale in Canada right now. We got into the tariff and de minimis exemption changes, and what that’s meant for volume resellers effectively shut out of the American market. It’s been a real challenge shared by a lot of Canadian resellers.
How Ryan uses AI to speed up listings. One of my least favorite parts of resale is having to come up with engaging, accurate listings for every item I sell. I hate AI listings as much as the next person, but Ryan built a system that takes my photos from the Poshmark app, recognizes the items, does comp research, and drafts the listings. And no, they don’t sound one bit like AI, but it took months of training and refinement to get just right. Now I spend about 30 seconds reviewing and tweaking each draft instead of five to ten minutes agonizing over what to write.
Cutting down the mental load. Ryan went into detail about the hundreds of little decisions that we resellers have to make each day, and how having systems means fewer decisions—which translates directly into time savings, having more energy, and feeling more positive about resale every day.
Favorite moments
Maggie asked why we don’t have a bigger presence on social media, and I told her the truth: I’m just not comfortable putting myself out there and being the star of the show! When I’m out thrifting, I just want to focus on the task at hand; I dress casually and don’t wear makeup. The last thing I want to do is film myself. You don’t have to be chained to your phone to have a voice in the resale community nor to build a successful resale business.
We also talked about my not-so-secret Ralph Lauren obsession, and how Ryan backs me up from the comfort of his office with comp research while I’m out digging through thrift store bins.
About the Reseller Toolkit
Since the episode is named after it, I should explain what the Toolkit actually is. It’s a Google Sheets template built to help resellers track inventory, monitor profit, and make tax season painless. It’s an all-in-one business management tool for resellers that lives inside your Google Sheets account. There’s no subscription and the data stays yours.
Our Experience on Get Thrifty
Talking with Maggie was an absolute joy. She’s warm, funny, and as passionate as I am about secondhand fashion. It was less like an interview and more like chatting with a friend. One day we hope to get out to Colorado to visit the arc stores and catch up with Maggie and her team (um, not to mention a side trip to see Ralph Lauren’s famous RRL ranch)!
I want to give a huge thank-you to Maggie, the arc team, and Avocet for having us on Get Thrifty.
Happy thrifting!
Kelly
