A SAVVY clothes seller has revealed how she turned her small vintage store into a £25,000-a -month venture.
Courtney Lynch has made £100,000 since she grew her small clothing store into a huge business thanks to a nifty re-selling app.
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The 28-year-old sells vintage branded clothing, as well as some modern branded clothing, on platform Tilt – and has grown it into her main source of income.
She now has the help of her husband and two part-time staff, enabling her to sell thousands of items a month.
Courtney, who lives in Halifax with her five children Brooklyn, 10, Blake, 5, Cooper and Carter, 3, Harper, who’s one and a half, has her own vintage shop in the heart of Elland, in Southgate, called LYNCH.
She opened the boutique store after she struggled to make ends meet while juggling nursery fees and the costs from raising her five kids.
She told The Sun: “I was absolutely tired of scrimping and scraping, going to food banks and just being generally miserable.
“I saved up some money, opened my little shop and never looked back!”
Before she discovered Tilt in December 2023, she made a second income by selling further items on Vinted, but found it didn’t bring in enough cash as she was only able to sell 50 items a week.
Whereas now, she can sell well over a hundred items in just one day.
Courtney said: “If I’m honest when I first joined Tilt I was flat broke and a nervous wreck, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.
“It was approaching Christmas time and I remember not having any money to buy the kids Christmas stuff, Vinted was slow the shop was dire. So, why not?”
She says she’s now very glad she did as it’s “changed my life”.
What is Tilt and how does it work?
Tilt describes itself as a social media platform, ecommerce site and fintech payments platform with “super clever gamified features”, that make listing items for sale and selling “quicker than ever before”.
It works slightly differently to other similar sites like Vinted and Depop because sellers put on online streamed auctions instead, which means they can sell hundreds of items in one period.
Courtney explained: “The difference in platforms is huge and you can literally sell as much as you want, there is no limit.
“If I want to stream for 10 hours a day, or two hours a day it’s really up to me how much hard work I want to put in that day.”
While she admits the first few auction streams were slightly nerve-wracking, it’s been the “biggest confidence boost” and she couldn’t imagine going back.
She said: “Tilt has truly changed my life forever and I can’t express how thankful I am to the team.
“I’ll be forever humbled to have been given this opportunity and I plan on working my backside off so my children will never have to struggle the way we did.”
What Courtney sells
Courtney estimates she does around 2,000 to 3,000 auctions a month, but this could include multiple bundled items.
How many she does changes week by week, but she says she usually does four to five live auctions a week including a full day on Sundays.
With the success of her Tilt store, vintage shop, and online sales, Courtney has managed to open a separate company, Lynch Wholesale Limited.
She now sources her own stock from abroad for Tilt in vast quantities.
She said: “I’ve always sold the same items on Tilt, the majority being Vintage branded clothing as well as some modern branded clothing.
“I sell everything from T-shirts to jeans and jackets to sweatshirts – mostly premium vintage and both men’s and womenswear.”
How much Courtney earns
She says her business model is based on volume, so for some items she might make £10 or £15, but others can go for around £100 or more.
She has made £150 on a single designer item before.
“It totally depends on the product, its year and the people on the tilt live at the time,” Courtney said.
“However because I sell such a huge amount it all balances out on the end, so although some I may even make a loss on, the others then sell very well so make up for it.”
When Courtney first started selling on Tilt, she was making £200 a night – a huge step up from the £800 a month her shop was making.
She said: “To me, £200 a night was absolutely incredible I still remember to this day ringing my mum and jumping around the room.
“Once I’d started on Tilt I just gained more and more traction returning customers, it really hit another level around March time when I hit nearly £30,000 in sales.”
Now, she estimates she makes around £25,000 on average, although it’s worth noting she then has to pay for stock and pays two part-time employees with this cash.
Courtney said: “I have worked very hard for months and months to get to this point.
“From running the shop with my kids during the day to then streaming until 1-2am. Back to the shop to pack parcels with the kids, stream.. Washing and so on!
“But it has 100% been worth the graft even with five kids in tow, I have now got to the point where I’ve been able to employ a couple of staff.”
Her partner Paul, 35, has been able to leave his job and work for the company too.
“The hard work really has paid off I mean we’re not millionaires yet but the fact my fridge is full and I can actually buy stuff for my kids makes it 10000% worth it and I would do it all over again,” she said.
How Courtney began using Tilt
Courtney says the Tilt app is “incredibly easy to use”.
You download it from your app store, make an account input your address and payment details.
Sellers can run “real time shopping” lives throughout the day showcasing different stock.
They hop on camera and showcase the items they want to sell, the item then pops up at the bottom of the stream and buyers are able to place bids on it.
Courtney said: “There’s a genre for everyone and a nice community chat in each live stream, so buyers can ask the seller questions.”
The site’s terms and conditions mean all sellers must have an existing online store with a supported e-commerce platform like Shopify.
A list of e-commerce platforms that it supports is listed on the app when you first set up your account.
If you don’t have an online store with a supported e-commerce platform, you can contact support@tilt.app and it will help you create one.
Sellers are responsible for setting the price of their own products.
It’s up to buyers to pay for the shipping costs but sellers are liable if any products don’t arrive, or if they arrive damaged, and will need to deal with any claims.
Courtney also buys on the app quite a lot and finds that it’s a handy way to shop.
To download the Tilt app or become a seller go to www.tilt.app/.
Do I need to pay tax on my side hustle income?
MANY people feeling strapped for cash are boosting their bank balance with a side hustle.
The good news is, there are plenty of simple ways to earn some additional income – but you need to know the rules.
When you’re employed the company you work for takes the tax from your earnings and pays HMRC so you don’t have to.
But anyone earning extra cash, for example from selling things online or dog walking, may have to do it themselves.
Stephen Moor, head of employment at law firm Ashfords, said: “Caution should be taken if you’re earning an additional income, as this is likely to be taxable.
“The side hustle could be treated as taxable trading income, which can include providing services or selling products.”
You can make a gross income of up to £1,000 a year tax-free via the trading allowance, but over this and you’ll usually need to pay tax.
Stephen added: “You need to register for a self-assessment at HMRC to ensure you are paying the correct amount of tax.
“The applicable tax bands and the amount of tax you need to pay will depend on your income.”
If you fail to file a tax return you could end up with a surprise bill from HMRC later on asking you to pay the tax you owe – plus extra fees on top.
What to be wary of when starting a reselling side hustle
When buying with a view to resell, there’s no guarantee that you’ll sell the item, or get the price you want.
Of course, there are other similar marketplaces, as well as Tilt, for people looking to make cash selling on items.
You may have to wait some time for the cash if the item doesn’t sell instantly.
And in the worst case, you might be stuck with the item or have to sell at a loss.
Plus, if you aren’t able to spend as much then you may not make as big a profit.
There are also some things to consider when you choose to sell items online.
For example, some platforms charge sellers a fee or take a commission that can eat into profits.
On Etsy, there is a 16p listing fee, 6.5 % transaction fee, and 4% + 20p payment processing fee to take into account.
Depop doesn’t charge a fee to list an item but you pay a 10% commission on anything you sell.
You can list up to 1,000 items a month on eBay for free.
You’ll pay a commission of 12.8% on what you sell, plus a 30p fee.
It’s also free to list on Facebook Marketplace, and you have to have a Facebook account.
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