The Unappreciated Reseller Tool You Use Every Day

When people ask me what I do aside from being a writer — which hasn’t made me rich just yet — I tell them that I own an ecommerce business. Which is just a fancy way of saying I’m a reseller.

eBay is where I currently sell, but I’ve tried many of the platforms out there — Amazon, Walmart, Mercari, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, TrueGether, E-Crater, Bonanza, Half.com…remember that one?

I’ve been reselling for over 10 years and it’s in my blood — I’m hooked. And since I’ve been doing this for a while, I have used many different tools for resellers — from repricers to bubble wrap and everything in between. But there is one tool that I, along with most resellers, use every day that doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves.

I’m talking about tape.

Yes, tape. Just simple packing tape. Some sellers swear by the more expensive 3” tape but I’m just fine with the stuff you can get at Walmart.

Obviously, you need tape to make and seal boxes for orders and shipments. But there are other things tape can be used for that you may not have thought of that can make your reselling life a bit easier. And who couldn’t use that?

1. Excuse Me, Your Plastic is Showing

If you sell on Amazon or Walmart and you put your products in polybags before boxing up to send to FBA or WFS — which you really should because those warehouses get dirty — what do you do if the polybag is just a little too big and you have extra plastic hanging over?

You can’t just leave that spare polybag hanging over that the robots could have for their lunch break. Wait, do robots take lunch breaks?

If you don’t want your product to end up in the Purgatory of unfillable products, you need to tape it down.

It doesn’t take much, but just enough to keep the robots on a diet.

2. Price Stickers are the Spawn of Satan

If you source clearance aisles, discount stores or thrift stores, you have inevitably been plagued by price stickers that you swear were put on by the devil himself to ruin your day. I’m looking at you Big Lots and Ollie’s.

Heat guns, hair dryers, Scotty peelers, Goo Gone…there are lots of suggestions of how to remove the little suckers. Here’s mine — tape.

Get as much of the label off as you can on your own, which usually leaves the sticky goop. Tear off a piece of packing tape — not too big but large enough to fold over into a tape “doughnut” and start sticking.

Put some of the sticky side of the tape on the sticky side of the product and then pull it back up quickly. Lather, rinse and repeat; several times if necessary. 9 out of 10 times it will work.

I don’t recommend doing this late at night, however, unless you want irate family members storming out of their rooms yelling, What are you DOING? It is a bit noisy.

This works the best on plastic and surfaces such as coffee mugs, but paper and cardboard can be a bit tricky and can accidentally do damage. Ask me how I know.

3. Monica Geller Would Approve

The last thing that tape is handy for is cleaning. Got a great discontinued product but it’s got a smudge on it? No need to drag out the Magic Eraser, just stick tape on it as if you were getting off sticky gunk and more likely than not, it will pull it off too.

On eBay, I sell almost everything, but one niche I love selling the most is plush. You know, stuffed animals. Things that many resellers won’t touch, because ewww, germs! Well, more profit for me.

Many times, the adorable fluffies will have an embarrassing lint problem and yes, you guessed it, tape will tape that off too. Stick, pull back, ad infinitum until good as new.

Not all heroes wear capes and honestly, the mechanics of packing tape wearing a cape is above my pay grade, although it would be kind of cute.

But even without the superhero accessory, tape may not be the hero we wanted, but it’s the hero we need.

How many cliches is this woman going to use?

So, the next time your tape gun gets jammed and you want to send it into orbit, just take a deep breath, smile and think how much harder your reselling life would be if you didn’t have tape.

Originally published on Medium here.