Wait, LinkedIn? For Selling Stuff?
I know what you're thinking. LinkedIn is for job hunting and people posting humble-brags about their promotions. Why would you sell vintage items or resale goods there?
Fair question. But hear me out, because I stumbled into this accidentally and it's been surprisingly profitable for a specific type of inventory.
Last fall, I posted a photo on my LinkedIn profile of a vintage Herman Miller office chair I'd picked up at an estate sale for $75. I wasn't even trying to sell it — I was just posting about my reselling business. Within two hours I had four DMs asking if it was for sale. Sold it for $425 to a facilities manager at a tech company who was furnishing a new office.
That got my attention.
Why LinkedIn Works for Certain Resellers
LinkedIn has over 900 million members, and the demographics skew toward professionals with disposable income. The average LinkedIn user earns significantly more than the average Facebook Marketplace browser. These are people who buy $200 desk accessories without blinking.
More importantly, the competition is essentially zero. Go search "vintage office furniture" on LinkedIn right now. You'll find almost nothing from resellers. Compare that to Facebook Marketplace where you're competing with hundreds of listings in any metro area.
What Sells Well on LinkedIn
Not everything. LinkedIn is not the place to sell your $8 Goodwill finds. But certain categories do very well:
- Vintage and mid-century office furniture — desks, chairs, filing cabinets, credenzas. The "cool office" trend is still going strong.
- Business equipment — commercial printers, displays, POS systems, industrial shelving
- Professional decor — art, sculptures, high-end decorative items suitable for offices, lobbies, conference rooms
- Bulk/wholesale lots — if you have 50 matching chairs from a hotel liquidation, LinkedIn is where you find the buyer who needs exactly that
- Vintage tech and collectibles — old Apple products, vintage calculators, retro tech that people display in their offices
I sold a set of four Eames-style shell chairs for $600 through a LinkedIn connection. The buyer was an interior designer sourcing for a client's office. She never would have found me on eBay because she wasn't looking there. She found me because I posted about it where she already spends time.
Setting Up Your LinkedIn for Reselling
You don't need a separate "reselling" LinkedIn profile. In fact, that would look spammy. What works is integrating your reselling business into your existing professional presence.
Your Profile
Update your headline to include something about what you do. Mine says "Vintage & Antique Dealer | Estate Sale Specialist | Small Business Owner." It's professional, it's accurate, and it signals to people what I might have for sale.
In your About section, add a paragraph about your reselling business. Mention what you specialize in, how long you've been doing it, and that you're always sourcing interesting pieces. Include a link to your online storefront if you have one.
Your Content Strategy
This is where most people would overcomplicate things. Don't. Here's what I post on LinkedIn, roughly 2-3 times per week:
- Interesting finds — "Picked up this 1960s Steelcase tanker desk at an estate sale this morning. 400 pounds of American steel. They literally don't make them like this anymore." Include a good photo.
- Behind-the-scenes of reselling — "Here's what my garage looks like after a weekend of estate sales." People love seeing the process.
- Business insights — "I tracked my sourcing costs vs. sales for Q3. Here are the numbers." LinkedIn users eat up business content.
- Available items — maybe once a week, a straightforward "This piece is available" post. But make it interesting, not just a sales pitch.
The key insight is that LinkedIn rewards content that generates comments and engagement. A post about a cool vintage find with a story behind it will get 50x more reach than a post that just says "Vintage desk for sale, $300, DM me."
LinkedIn Groups and Networking
There are LinkedIn groups for interior designers, office managers, facilities professionals, and vintage enthusiasts. Join the relevant ones. Don't spam them with listings — participate genuinely in discussions. When someone posts asking where to find vintage office furniture for their startup, that's your moment.
I've built a small network of about 15 interior designers and office managers who reach out to me when they need specific pieces. One designer alone has bought over $3,000 worth of inventory from me over the past year. All from a LinkedIn connection.
The Direct Message Approach
When someone engages with your content — likes a post, leaves a comment — that's a warm lead. Send a connection request with a short note: "Thanks for the comment on my post about that tanker desk. Always happy to connect with folks who appreciate vintage office pieces."
Don't pitch immediately. Just connect. Build the relationship. When you find something that's right for them, you'll know, and the message will feel natural rather than salesy.
How I Handle Transactions on LinkedIn
LinkedIn doesn't have a built-in marketplace or payment system. So you need a way to actually close sales. Here's my workflow:
- Generate interest through LinkedIn posts and DMs
- For serious buyers, send them a link to the item on my APMTSales storefront where they can see full details, photos, and purchase directly
- For local pickups, I arrange payment through my storefront or accept payment at pickup
- For large B2B orders, I'll create an invoice through my business accounting
Having your own storefront is particularly useful here because it looks professional. Sending a LinkedIn contact to a polished product page with good photos and a secure checkout is a very different experience than saying "PayPal me $400 and I'll ship it."
Real Numbers From My LinkedIn Experiment
I've been intentionally using LinkedIn for reselling for about eight months. Here are my actual results:
- Total LinkedIn-sourced sales: 23 transactions
- Total revenue from LinkedIn sales: $8,740
- Average sale price: $380 (much higher than my eBay average of $45)
- Time spent on LinkedIn per week: about 2 hours (posting, responding, networking)
- Cost: $0 (I don't use LinkedIn Premium or any paid features for this)
That's about $1,090 per month in extra revenue for 2 hours of work per week. I'll take that deal.
The average sale price is the real story. LinkedIn buyers tend to be buying for business purposes or they're higher-income professionals buying for their home offices. They're less price-sensitive than your typical Facebook Marketplace buyer who wants to negotiate everything down by 40%.
Mistakes I Made Early On
Being Too Salesy
My first few LinkedIn posts about inventory were basically ads. "Beautiful vintage desk, great condition, $350, DM to purchase!" They got almost no engagement. LinkedIn's algorithm buries content that looks like advertising. I switched to storytelling — the history of the piece, where I found it, why it's interesting — and engagement jumped dramatically.
Ignoring Comments
Every comment on your post is a potential customer or referral source. I respond to every single comment, even if it's just "That's a great piece." A simple "Thanks! Do you collect mid-century furniture?" can start a conversation that leads to a sale weeks later.
Not Posting Consistently
I went through a period where I posted three times in one week, then nothing for two weeks. My reach tanked. LinkedIn rewards consistency. Even if you only post twice a week, do it every week. I now have Tuesday and Thursday as my LinkedIn posting days and I stick to it.
Who Should Try This
LinkedIn reselling isn't for everyone. If you primarily sell clothing, low-priced household items, or toys, this probably isn't your channel. But if any of these describe you, it's worth testing:
- You sell vintage furniture, especially office or mid-century pieces
- You deal in business equipment or commercial goods
- You sell high-end collectibles ($100+ items)
- You do any B2B selling (wholesale lots, bulk inventory)
- You're comfortable writing short posts about your business
Even if only 5-10% of your inventory is LinkedIn-appropriate, those tend to be higher-margin items that sit longer on traditional marketplaces. Reaching the right buyer through LinkedIn can move a piece that's been sitting in your garage for three months.
Bottom Line
LinkedIn isn't going to replace eBay or your own storefront for most resellers. But it's a free, underused channel where the buyers have money, the competition is minimal, and the average transaction value is significantly higher than other platforms. If you sell anything that appeals to professionals or businesses, spend an hour setting up your profile and start posting about your finds. The worst thing that happens is you waste a few hours. The best thing is you open up a revenue stream that nobody else in your niche is tapping.