How to Price Clothing Stocklots for Your Market
The direct answer: price from your landed cost per sellable unit, not from the invoice total. Landed cost includes freight, duty, clearance, insurance, sorting and the seconds you cannot sell. Most beginner pricing errors come from stopping at the supplier price.
Part of the buyer journey: Start Small: First Business, First Lot, First Season — stage 5 of 8, with the other guides for this stage.
Build the landed cost properly
Start with the invoice total, divide by the units that are sellable, then add freight, insurance, duty, clearance and inland delivery allocated across those units. Add the labour cost of grading, and add a realistic allowance for the percentage that will not sell.
Do this once per lot and keep the working. It takes twenty minutes and it is the only way to compare two lots on the same basis.
Price against the market, not against your cost
Your cost tells you the floor. The market tells you the ceiling. Check what the comparable product actually sells for in your channels right now, including any delivery charge the buyer pays, because free delivery changes what a buyer will accept.
If the market will not support a margin over your landed cost, the lot is wrong, no matter how good the garment is. Walking away from a lot on these grounds is a good trade, not a failed one.
Leave room for the channel
Every channel takes something. Marketplaces take commission plus fulfilment plus returns. Physical retail takes rent and staff. Social selling takes your time and returns. Build the channel’s cost into the price rather than treating the retail price as what you keep.
Also price your exits. A lot that will not sell at full price will be discounted eventually, and a plan for that is better than a surprise.
What stocklots are available right now?
Reading is step one. Send your requirement and we will check the factory network for current options.
Buyer questions, answered
What margin should clothing resellers expect?
It varies enormously by channel and by how much of the work you do yourself. Higher-margin sales usually mean lower prices and more volume; lower-margin sales mean you need volume and logistics to be efficient. The number matters less than whether you can tell which model you are running.
Should I price differently in different channels?
Usually yes, and channel-based pricing is normal retail practice rather than a trick. The same garment can carry different margins in a marketplace and on a stall, and the customer comparing prices is comparing different things anyway.
How do I avoid selling at a loss without realising?
Track cost per sellable unit at the point of purchase, not per piece received. Then check your actual sell-through rate monthly. A lot priced correctly but selling more slowly than expected is a pricing problem in disguise.