Check Out Gently Used Programmes
TLDR: Rei Co-op has the most comprehensive used programme of any major manufacturer or retailer. Lots of programmes only focus on clothes but with Rei you can expect to find examples of most outdoor products.
More and more businesses are starting to address the concerns many consumers have about waste. People who love the outdoors are perhaps more conscious of the environment and our throw-away culture than most, and so its not surprising to see outdoor businesses taking a lead in what the industry refers to as gently used products.
Both retailers and manufacturers have introduced specific outlets for used gear. And there are a number of businesses that specifically deal in refurbishing apparel. .
When To Shop for Used Gear
Unlike new gear, when youll get the best deals at the end of season, with usedgear youll get the best deals at the start of the season. So when looking for a great price on used gear for the summer, start looking in May. If youre looking for a great price on used ski gear, start looking in .
Here are 5 places you can buy fantastic used outdoor gear:
About Geartrade’s Used Snowboard Gear: Good As Unnew On Geartrade
Whether youre gearing up for a day of riding lifts, hitting up the park, or exploring the backcountry, we have you covered for all things snowboarding. Here, youll find an excellent variety of UnNew and used snowboards, snowboard boots, and bindings.There are so many board options these days, from all-mountain snowboards to park and pipe snowboards, wide snowboards for powder, fishtail snowboards, splitboards for backcountry snowboarding, and freeride snowboards. Of course, youll find womens and kid-specific snowboards. They come in all shapes like true twin, directional, and asymmetrical snowboards that help balance out the toe-side and heel-side turns to make the transitions easier. Snowboards also come in different rocker and flex profiles as well, with softer flex benefiting freestyle riders and snowboarders just starting out. Meanwhile, stiffer flex boards are more stable at high speeds for freeride and big-mountain use.If youve got questions, we want to help! Weve got a few snowboarders on the team, and theyre happy to talk shop and help you find what youre looking for.
What Is Our Niche
Ok, now the fun part begins we need to start looking at breaking down our market into a niche. Camping might be a niche that you can manage on its own or you might choose to break it down a little and specialise. Regardless, based on some research , here are some ideas
- General camping Setup, maintenance, tips tricks etc.
- Beach camping
- Camping for oldies
- High ticket items overseas trekking tours, caravans, campers etc.
There really is no limit to the amount of subject content here, however as you work through narrowing your targeted niche, consider the following:
- Are you able to solve a problem Most people undertake searches on the internet to solve a problem see next section.
- Is it a subject that you have an interest, or knowledge in I am guessing that you are in this post as you know about, or have an interest in camping. If you dont have either of these, maybe consider another market as, to be honest, you might struggle to produce solid content if you dont know much about it or worse, have no interest in the magic of sleeping in a tent and trust me, people will know immediately if your information is not up to scratch.
Lets investigate this a little further by discussing the problem solving elements of niche selection.
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Ways To Save Money On Hiking Gear
Posted on Last updated: June 8, 2022
Getting outfitted for hiking and backpacking can seem overwhelming. When I was first starting out, I felt like there was so much gear on the market and that it was SOOO expensive. Plus I felt like the list of gear you need to buy for hiking and backpacking was never ending. That was over a decade ago, and while gear hasnt gotten any less expensive, Ive developed lots of different tricks for finding hiking gear on a budget. So here it is, my big list of 17 ways to save money on hiking gear. Read on for lots of ways to get deals on used gear, save money on new gear and even get some gear for free!
Hey there: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support. -Taryn
Display Your Camper With A For Sale Sign
If you live somewhere near popular outdoor attractions and tourist destinations, you might be able to sell your RV locally by placing a For Sale By Owner sign in the window.
To maximize the response rate and effectiveness of this approach, you should try to park the RV in a high-traffic area, which will get noticed more than simply sitting in your driveway or at the curb outside your house.
You can further increase your chances of getting noticed and getting positive inquiries by also posting ads on local sales boards.
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Start Selling Wholesale Camping Gear On Alibabacom
As a wholesaler in the camping industry, a great way to maximize your profit and keep your business thriving is by creating an eCommerce presence. Alibaba.com is an e-commerce platform that lets B2B and B2C brands create a storefront, list their products, and reach their prospective customers all in one place.
If you are looking for the opportunity to grow your wholesale outdoor gear business, Alibaba.com is what you need. Selling on Alibaba.com means:
- Access to an easy-to-use platform to expand your e-commerce business.
- Opportunity to meet new customers and sell to a global audience
- Access to intelligent tools and resources to boost your business and stay ahead of competitors
- Excellent customer service and support
To get started, simply log on to Alibaba.com, open a seller account, and reach 14 million active buyers!
References:
Do Quick Research Around Possible Price Points
If your Nalgene water bottle costs $25 at retail price, it would not make sense to sell it at $30. Used items can command a wide range of prices, and generally they will sell at anywhere between 25% to 75% of the original retail price. The factors that decide the price range where your products fall depends on age, usage, and overall wear. Find items similar to yours int the camping gear category on Rerouted to get a good sense of how much you can reasonably charge for your items. Or, if you want to save yourself more time, just use the sellers page! Rerouted has an algorithm developed survey of 15 questions that helps accurately determine the best price point for you to sell your items.
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Get The Most Out Of Your Rvs Sale
Most reputable dealers will work hard to get top dollar for the RVs they sell on consignment. However, here are a few tips that we suggest to owners that choose consignment to help their vehicle stand out.
- Give your RV a thorough cleaning both inside and out
- Fix any small problems such as loose hinges or blown out light bulbs. Camping World has multiple light bulbs for sale to spruce up any RV.
- Get the vehicle tuned up and the oil changed. View Camping World Supercenters to locate a store nearest you.
- Spend a few extra dollars on getting some basic accessories such as placemats or step rugs to give the RV extra value.
Remember that the first impression is important when it comes to a major investment like an RV. Getting your vehicle into the best possible condition will help you make more money on its sale. Consult with a Personal RV Shopper to ensure your RV is shopping ready.
If you have any questions or concerns, leave a comment below.
Hit Up Big Box Stores
You can get find some crazy cheap prices on gear at big box stores like Walmart. In general, I dont advise purchasing backpacking gear at big box stores since youll likely want to replace it with better stuff after a few trips since its so heavy and the quality is often terrible. However, in a pinch, their stuff usually works fine.
Gear to Look For: Big box stores often have a camping section with tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, stoves and backpacks.
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Sell Gear And Clothing
If your gear or clothing is in pretty good condition, but you no longer want or need it, then you can always make a buck or two by selling it on Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree or Craigslist.
For more information about buying and selling secondhand gear and clothing, read our guide to used outdoor gear.
Cool Outdoor Gear Upcycling Projects
No matter how hard you try, sometimes it just aint easy to recycle outdoor gear. So if youre struggling to find a way to dispose of stuff without chucking it in the trash, then maybe its time to get creative and upcycle it into something else?!
Here are a few geniously simple upcycling ideas to try:
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Recycle General Camping And Outdoor Gear
- Metal water bottles and camp cooking pots can be put in domestic recycling .
- Small camping gas canisters, that are properly emptied, can be recycled domestically along with metal recycling .
- Contact the brand of the item in question to ask if they accept their old gear for research, recycling or reuse.
- Tent fly sheets, tarps, ropes and sailcloth can be sent to Metamporphic Gear who upcycle stuff into bags and wallets. Get in touch via their contact form.
- Bicycle inner tubes can usually be taken to your local bike store to be recycled. If not, send them to Green Guru Gear who will upcycle them into cool stuff!
- Take buckles and fasteners off old backpacks and save them for furture gear fixing.
Repair Your Outdoor Gear And Clothing
Many items of clothing can be repaired very easily, and with a little patience youll probably be able to do it yourself. However, if the fix is a little more technical then either get a local seamstress to mend it, or contact the brand to see if they offer a repair service. Some may charge for this whilst others will happily do it for nothing. I once sent back my very old Osprey backpack to be fixed twice they charged nothing.
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Bonus Tip: The Best Place To Sell Used Camping Gear
Listing camping gear can be confusing. There are many different sites, but none of them are catered to this niche specification of product listings. It could take weeks, maybe months, to finally sell your used gear. Rerouted.co is the best place to sell used camping gear since our website is tailored specifically to selling outdoor equipment, buyers will be looking exactly for the items you want to sell. Other marketplace sites charge exorbitantly high commission prices, so even in the occasion your items sell, the marketplace will take a sizeable amount.
Selling Your Camper On Consignment Or An Rv Broker
This is one of those gray areas that some people love and some people hate. Just like when you sell your house, selling an RV on consignment means that some third party is representing you.
It also means that they get a percentage of the sale, and depending on where you go, there might be fees involved.
Many RV dealerships offer consignment services, where a professional sales staff will work actively to try to sell your RV.
Though they get a heft commission, which is going to be on par with the 10 to 20% devaluation from the NADA book value.
If it takes more than a month to sell your RV, the dealership might also charge you a monthly fee, which further cuts into the return on investment from the sale.
Here again, you have to ask yourself how much your time is worth? When you sell on consignment the dealership or consignment agency is taking care of all the meet-and-greets, test drives, and technical paperwork.
They also have prospective buyers coming in the door or driving onto their lot on a regular basis, which increases the chances of a timely sale compared to the inevitable delays and drawn-out timelines of selling the RV yourself to a private party.
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How To Recycle Clothing
- Your local clothes banks will take old clothes and fabrics to be recycled, repurposed or reused.
- The North Face Clothes the Loop Program takes unwanted clothing and footwear and recycles it. Drop off your clothing at one of their stores and youll also earn $10 off your next purchase that is over $100!
- Send your used gear and clothing to REI in a Give Back Box. Simply download a prepaid shipping label, pack up your gear and send it off in the mail.
- The Patagonia Worn Wear scheme operates in a similar way to REIs program, but they only accept Patagonia items. Like The North Face, you get credit to use on new gear when you send or drop in clothing.
- Search locally for organisations that take fabric and parts of gear to upcycle into useful items to sell on.
- Donate old sleeping bags, quilts and clothing to animal shelters where they can be used as bedding or for cleaning.
- Compost your cotton and merino clothing! So long as the fabric isnt blended with any synthetic materials, it can be shredded up and added to your compost bin.
Check The Year The Item Was Made In
This is not as important for clothing and smaller equipment like water bottles and carabiners, but for bigger and more expensive items this is good to note. Things like mini-stoves and tents usually have model and production year associated with them, so do a quick Google search to find them. Products made in more recent years can be sold for a higher price, since it is unlikely that newer models have come out since then. If I have a portable stove from 2015 versus 2020 in the same condition, buyers will likely choose the latter. Remember, the golden rule for selling your items is the more information, the better.
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What To Do With Old Gear Thats In Ok Condition Still
Before you condemn your old outdoor equipment to the recycling bin forever, its worth taking a moment to consider whether its really at the end of its life. Dont forget that one persons trash may be another ones treasure.
If your clothing and gear is totally done for, then yes, its probably time you recycled it if at all possible. However, if its just tired looking, has a minor tear or break, or you have no use for it anymore, then consider the following:
Selling Local With Physical Ads
There are some people who have had some great success selling their RV The Old Fashioned Way by posting physical ads on free boards in the grocery store or putting an ad in the local newspaper.
Sometimes even a For Sale By Owner sign in the window is enough to get people to stop in, knock on your door, and go for a test drive.
Though this is often the exception rather than the rule. Most of these Success Stories come from places where RV travel and outdoor recreation are a popular pastime.
If you live in the suburbs far from outdoor attractions, RV parks, and campgrounds, then physical advertising is going to take a nearly prohibitive amount of time.
One possible option to consider with this approach is to inquire at local campgrounds and RV parks about posting an ad.
Many of them have advertising boards where they let people can advertise camping & RV-related items for free or a small fee.
This puts your RV ad in front of a lot of people who might be thinking about downsizing or upgrading from their own current RV.
Though just how motivated they are to sell and their available budget are complete variables.
Still, chances are good they are already familiar with the RV lifestyle and if they call or e-mail you, then they are showing strong interest.
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Source From The Right Suppliers And Manufacturers
Starting a camping gear wholesale business means you need a supplier or manufacturer to acquire goods. Depending on what you need, you may source from just one supplier or different suppliers. 2 of the major things to consider when identifying the suitable suppliers to work with are:
Quality
The last thing you want is to sell poor quality or fake products to your customers. Try to list out the names of manufacturers and suppliers in the camping industry and do research. You can check out reviews online to see what people are saying about a specific brand.
Price
You will have to source products at a low price for your wholesale camping gear business. Its best to look for manufacturers who offer reasonable prices for wholesalers. You should also check if they have any minimum order requirements to see if it works for you. For example, some manufacturers may decide that their Minimum Order Quantity is 50 pieces, and this means you have to order up to that before you can do business with them.