What to Buy First: A Budget-by-Budget Guide for New Resellers

Getting approved is the easy part — the harder question is what to actually put in your cart first. The right first order isn't about spending as much as you can; it's about matching what you buy to what you can realistically sell, ship, and restock at your current size. Here's how to think about it at every starting budget.

Why budget changes the strategy, not just the total

A $40 order and a $1,200 order aren't the same plan at different scales — they're different plans. Small budgets do best narrow and focused, because a handful of pieces you actually know cold — how they photograph, how they read on camera, what questions buyers ask — outsell a wide, thin spread of things you can't speak to confidently. Bigger budgets can afford to diversify, but diversifying too early on a small budget just means you never get deep enough on anything to sell it well.

Under $50: pick one category and learn it cold

At this level, resist the urge to grab one of everything. Pick a single category — earrings and anklets both tend to be easier first categories since they're lower cost per piece and forgiving to photograph — and buy a few pieces within it so you have something to compare and talk about on camera. The goal of this first order isn't profit, it's learning: how a piece actually looks under your lighting, how long it takes you to photograph and list, what questions people ask before they buy. That knowledge is worth more than the margin on this particular order.

$50–$200: build a starter range within one category

This is enough to build real depth in one category instead of just a sample of it — a few price points, a couple of finishes, maybe both moissanite and a natural-stone piece if the category supports it, so you can see which price point and material buyers actually respond to. Still stay in one lane. The mistake at this budget is spreading across earrings, necklaces, and bracelets all at once — you end up with three thin selections instead of one you can actually work.

$200–$1,000: build a real assortment across categories

This is where branching out starts to make sense, because you likely have some sell-through data from your first orders to work from. Use it: reorder what actually moved, and use the new budget to add a second or third category rather than just going deeper on your first. This is also the range where it's worth holding back a portion — 20–30% of the budget — rather than spending it all on the first order, so you can restock a piece that sells fast instead of watching it sell out with nothing behind it.

Over $1,000: treat it like inventory investment, not a shopping trip

At this size, the discipline that matters most is restraint, not selection. Buying deep across many categories on your first order means capital tied up in things you have no sell-through data on yet. A more durable approach: commit a portion to categories you already believe in, and keep meaningful budget in reserve for restocking whatever proves out once you're actually live and selling. The resellers who scale past this stage are usually the ones who treated their first big order as a test, not a final answer.

What matters more than budget

Whatever you start with, the thing that actually determines how far it goes is restocking discipline — noticing what sells within the first few shows or posts and reordering it before it runs out, instead of sitting on slow movers because they're already paid for. Budget decides how wide your first order can be. What you do with the data from that order decides whether the next one is bigger.

FAQ: Q: Should I spend my whole starting budget on the first order? A: Not all of it. Holding back even 20% gives you room to restock whatever sells fastest instead of running out with nothing behind it.

Q: Is it better to go deep on one category or spread across a few? A: Deep on one category first, especially under $200 — you learn faster and sell more confidently on pieces you actually know well.

Q: Does a bigger starting budget mean I should diversify immediately? A: Not on the first order. Even at higher budgets, holding part of it in reserve until you have real sell-through data beats spreading thin across categories you haven't tested yet.