Reselling in Canada is buying, or clearing out, an item you can describe honestly, then selling it on a marketplace a buyer in Canada already uses: Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, eBay.ca, or Poshmark. Reselling suits people who can photograph what is actually there, store a small pile without taking over the home, and do the math after fees. Start with items you already own. Spend on inventory only after a few sales show what your city picks up.
| Fact | Detail for reselling in Canada |
|---|---|
| Useful start | Your own unused items, one category, local pickup before shipping |
| Marketplaces | Marketplace and Kijiji for local pickup; eBay.ca and Poshmark when you ship |
| Fees | eBay.ca and Poshmark publish fee pages. This guide does not invent a Kijiji or Marketplace percentage |
| GST/HST | Small-supplier threshold of $30,000. When to register |
| Condition claims | Must not be false or misleading. Competition Bureau |
| Shop licence | Toronto licences certain second-hand shops. A home clean-out is a different sentence. Second Hand Shop |
A full online store, with your own checkout, is a Shopify store. A file the buyer downloads, rather than a jacket in a mailer, is a digital product such as a Notion template.
Who does marketplace reselling in Canada suit?
Marketplace reselling in Canada suits people who can tell the truth about wear, meet a buyer in a public place or pack a box the same week, and track what they paid. A category you already recognize, such as kids’ outdoor gear, tools, or clothes in sizes you understand, is enough. Reselling is a poor fit if clutter bothers you more than the margin, if you will not answer messages, or if you need the item’s full purchase price back in cash by Friday.
Local pickup and shipped sales are different jobs. Use Marketplace or Kijiji when the item is heavy. Use Poshmark or eBay.ca when it packs easily and the published fee still leaves a margin.
What do Canadian marketplace fees and supplies cost?
Reselling costs in Canada are the item, the fee the platform actually publishes, and the bag or box. The supply ranges below are typical Canadian retail prices to verify locally. They are not quotes. Fee figures are from the platform pages linked here. Those pages change. Confirm them before you price a listing. The lean, typical, and fuller budget, including when a store subscription starts to make sense, is in reselling startup costs.
eBay.ca. eBay’s selling fees page says sellers pay an insertion fee when a listing is created and a final value fee when it sells. For most categories, the first 250 listings in a month have a zero insertion fee, then $0.30 per listing. The final value fee for most categories is 13.6% on the total amount of the sale up to $7,500, calculated per item, plus a per-order fee of $0.30 on orders of $10.00 or less and $0.40 on orders over $10.00. That total includes the item price, handling, shipping collected from the buyer, and sales tax, with exceptions the same page describes. Other categories differ, fees are in Canadian dollars, and a consumption tax might apply on fees depending on the seller’s country of residency.
Poshmark Canada. Poshmark’s getting started guide says listing is free. For sales under C$20, the fee is a flat C$3.95. For sales of C$20 or more, the fee is 20% of the listing price. Poshmark says that fee covers the payment handling and a prepaid, pre-addressed label. The shipping guide tells sellers to print that label and drop the package at a mailbox, if it fits, or at Canada Post. The label upgrade page says the printed label weight is 0.75 kg, you can ship up to 2.5 kg without an extra fee, and heavier packages need an upgrade whose extra cost is deducted from earnings.
Facebook Marketplace. Local pickup is arranged between you and the buyer. Meta’s help page on getting paid for selling with shipping says some shipping features are not available to all sellers, and it describes a ship-by window for orders that use shipping. This guide does not state a Canada-wide Marketplace commission. Open the help page from your own account before you promise shipping.
Kijiji. Kijiji’s help centre is the place to read the current rule for the category you are listing. This guide does not state a household-goods listing fee, because a specific fee article should be read on that help centre for the category in front of you, not copied from memory.
| Item | Typical CAD range | How to think about it |
|---|---|---|
| Items you already own | $0 cash outlay | The first listings should come from a closet, not from a pallet. |
| Soft mailer or small box | $1–$4 each, in a small pack | Buy a few. A case of mailers waits until shipped sales are repeating. |
| Tape, tissue, a poly bag | $8–$20 to start | Enough for ten packages, not for a warehouse. |
| Measuring tape and a scale, once you ship | $15–$40 | Clothing size and Poshmark’s weight rules both need a number. |
| One storage bin | $10–$25 | If you need a second room, you bought inventory too soon. |
Pack the first shipped sale with supplies you can rebuy. A small pack of padded mailers and packing tape TODO-AFFILIATE is the week-one kit if Poshmark or eBay.ca is the path. Local pickup does not need a mailer.
Sales money and sourcing money get confused in one chequing account. KOHO TODO-AFFILIATE is one Canadian account that can hold marketplace payouts until you know the item’s real profit.
A store with your own checkout is a later decision. Shopify TODO-AFFILIATE fits when listings on someone else’s marketplace are no longer the whole business. Read the current Canada pricing page before you subscribe. The reselling start in this guide does not require it.
How much can reselling earn in Canada?
Reselling earnings in Canada cannot be promised as a weekend total, because a local stroller pickup and a shipped pair of shoes are different products. What you keep depends on the list below, and this guide does not publish an average flip profit.
- What you paid, including the drive and the mailer
- The platform fee on the page that matches the site you listed on
- Returns, stains you missed, and message time
- Storage, and the item that sat for months
- Tax you did not set aside once you are registered
Write the fee into the price before you list. A $40 Poshmark item at C$20 or more is not a $40 payout. A local pickup can still lose money if you drive across the city twice.
What would an assumed resale look like in Canada?
An assumed resale in Canada, in the sketches below, uses published fee rules and prices this guide does not claim are typical. The sketches are not quotes, forecasts, or surveys.
Illustrative example. Suppose you list a jacket you already own on Poshmark at C$40. The getting-started guide says the fee at C$20 or more is 20% of the listing price, so 0.20 × $40 = $8, and you keep $32 before a label upgrade. Suppose the jacket is under 2.5 kg, so this sketch adds no upgrade. Suppose a thrifted jacket instead, bought for an assumed $12, with one mailer at the low end of the $1–$4 line. The sketch is $32 − $12 − $1 = $19 before your time and before any tax set-aside. Suppose the same $40 item sells on eBay.ca in a most-categories listing, and you simplify the fee base to the item price only: 0.136 × $40 = $5.44, plus the $0.40 per-order fee, which is $5.84. eBay’s own page includes shipping collected and sales tax in the total amount of the sale, so a real fee can be higher than this simplified sketch. A local pickup sketch that assumes no platform fee is a different product, and this guide does not state that Marketplace or Kijiji charged $0. These totals are assumptions, not a quote, a forecast, or a typical result.
How do you start reselling in Canada?
Starting reselling in Canada means listing what you already own, in one category, with honest photos, before you source inventory. The steps below are that sequence.
Step 1: Pick one category you can judge
Clothes in sizes you wear, kids’ gear you have used, or tools you can test. Leave a category you cannot inspect, including untested electronics, until you can explain the flaw.
Step 2: Clear ten items you already own
Photograph them in daylight. Note stains, missing pieces, and measurements in the first lines. The Competition Bureau’s page on false or misleading representations is the standard for those claims.
Step 3: Choose pickup or shipping for each item
Heavy or awkward items go to Marketplace or Kijiji as pickup. Easy-to-pack clothing can go to Poshmark, and a widely searchable item can go to eBay.ca after you read the fee page. Take the other ads down when it sells.
Step 4: Price from the fee backward
Write your cost, the fee from the official page, the mailer, and the minimum you will accept. If the likely price cannot clear that sum, do not buy a second one.
Step 5: Check safety before you sell children’s goods
Search recalls and safety alerts for car seats, cribs, helmets, and similar products. If you are unsure, do not list the item.
Step 6: Meet locally, or ship at the declared weight
Use a public place in daylight for pickup, and show the flaw again. On Poshmark, upgrade the label above 2.5 kg so the extra fee is deducted on purpose.
Step 7: Record every sale
Date, platform, sale price, fee, shipping, and what you paid. That log is what you need for Form T2125.
Step 8: Source only after five completed sales
Five sales show which photos and prices your buyers answer. Then take a small float to a thrift store in the same category. Importing stock to sell follows the CBSA guide to importing commercial goods, not a personal traveller exemption.
Step 9: Review the bin after a month
Donate or recycle what did not sell. Keep the category. Add a second one only when the first one has a rhythm.
What should the first week of reselling in Canada include?
The first week of reselling in Canada should list items you already own, with fees written down, and should not include a buying trip.
- Day 1: Pick the category. Pull ten items. Search recalls if any item is for a child.
- Day 2: Photograph in daylight. Measure. Write the flaw in the first lines.
- Day 3: Read the eBay.ca fee page and the Poshmark fee section. Open Kijiji’s help centre for your category. Do not copy a fee from a video.
- Day 4: List three items for local pickup and, if they pack easily, one shipped listing.
- Day 5: Answer messages with the same facts as the listing. Book one public meetup if someone is serious.
- Day 6: Ship anything that sold, at the weight you declared. Log the fee and the payout.
- Day 7: Count hours and cash. If the log is a loss, the next list changes price or channel. Do not “make it back” by buying more.
What reselling mistakes are common in Canada?
Common reselling mistakes in Canada are buying inventory first, hiding wear, and pricing as if the platform fee were optional. Your own closet is the school. A pallet is a later decision.
Photograph the wear and state the size you measured. Listing the same item in four places, then forgetting one ad, creates a buyer you cannot supply. Meet in public, ship at the declared weight, and record the payout.
Which tax and local rules apply to reselling in Canada?
Reselling income in Canada is self-employment income when you are carrying on the activity for profit, reported on Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities, and self-employed people pay the whole Canada Pension Plan contribution on the net. GST/HST for reselling follows the $30,000 small-supplier test, not the taxi and ride-sharing rule. Nova Scotia’s HST is 14% as of 1 April 2025 on the CRA charge and collect the GST/HST table, and Quebec charges GST and QST.
This is not tax, legal, or insurance advice.
Keep purchase notes, payout reports, and supply receipts. A one-off clear-out of personal belongings is not the same tax picture as an ongoing buy-and-sell activity. The $1,000 personal-use property rule and the platform reporting rules in effect since 2024 are in tax on reselling, gig apps, and platform income. Ask a tax adviser if you are unsure, and keep the log either way. The small-supplier test is worldwide taxable supplies, yours and your associates’, of $30,000 or less in a single calendar quarter and over the last four consecutive calendar quarters. Add other side-hustle revenue to the same pot. Under that test, registration is usually optional. Over it, you register on the timetable on the CRA’s when-to-register page. Reselling is not ride-sharing, so the first-dollar rule on the taxi page does not apply unless you also carry passengers for a platform.
Once registered, charge the rate for the province where the supply is made. Some provinces use HST. Others add PST on top of GST. Confirm Quebec and every other province on the charge-and-collect table and with the GST/HST calculator (and rates), and set the tax aside.
Platforms that sell to people in Canada can make GST/HST more complicated than a cash pickup. The CRA’s digital-economy overview describes rules, in effect since 1 July 2021, for certain non-resident suppliers and distribution platform operators, including some sales of qualifying goods. A platform line on a payout is not a full answer to your own registration test. Read that overview before you assume the marketplace “handles tax.”
Used-goods licensing is municipal. The City of Toronto says businesses that sell or exchange second-hand goods from a shop or store, or a person who goes from house to house to collect or purchase second-hand goods, must obtain a Second Hand Shop licence. The city’s page lists a $242.82 application fee and a $545.51 licence fee, $788.33 combined, and a renewal fee of $384.88. Confirm the live fees. A few listings from a closet are not the same activity as a shop. If you open a regular used-goods operation, search your own city’s licensing page. This guide does not copy Toronto’s fee onto another city. Importing stock to sell follows the CBSA commercial import guide, not a personal exemption story.
Which side hustles sit near reselling in Canada?
Reselling in Canada sits next to other ways of selling a thing. A Shopify store is your own checkout when marketplace listings are too narrow. Notion templates skip the mailer entirely. If you would rather sell hours than goods, freelance writing does not need a storage bin. A table you clean or repaint, then sell for pickup, is furniture flipping. A handmade object under Etsy’s rules, rather than a marketplace clean-out, is an Etsy shop. The first completed sale is its own checklist: how to make your first sale reselling in Canada.
What are the common questions?
Which Canadian marketplace should I start with?
Start with local pickup of items you already own, on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji, if the item is awkward to ship. Use Poshmark for clothes that fit the prepaid label, and eBay.ca when buyers outside your city will pay a price that still works after eBay's published fees. Read each fee page before you list.
What does eBay.ca charge most sellers?
eBay.ca's selling-fees page says most categories get 250 zero-insertion listings a month, then $0.30 a listing, and a final value fee of 13.6% up to $7,500 plus a per-order fee of $0.30 or $0.40. The fee base includes shipping collected and sales tax. Other categories differ. Confirm the live page.
What does Poshmark charge in Canada?
Poshmark Canada's getting-started guide says sales under C$20 cost a flat C$3.95, and sales of C$20 or more cost 20% of the listing price. The fee includes a prepaid label. Packages over 2.5 kg need a label upgrade, and the extra cost comes out of earnings.
Do I need a second-hand shop licence to sell on Marketplace in Canada?
It depends on the city and on whether you are running a shop. Toronto requires a Second Hand Shop licence for businesses that sell used goods from a shop or store, or that go house to house collecting them. A handful of closet listings is not that description. Search your own city. This is not legal advice.
When do reselling earnings in Canada trigger GST/HST?
Reselling in Canada follows the CRA small-supplier test of $30,000 in worldwide taxable supplies in a quarter or over four consecutive quarters, including other side hustles. It is not the taxi and ride-sharing first-dollar rule. Platforms may have their own collection rules. This is not tax advice.
Which sources support this guide?
The rules, rates, and platform requirements in this guide are checked against these primary sources. Retail price ranges are labelled as ranges to verify locally, and they are not quotes.
- When to register for and start charging the GST/HST — Canada Revenue Agency
- Charge and collect the GST/HST — Canada Revenue Agency
- GST/HST calculator (and rates) — Canada Revenue Agency
- Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities — Canada Revenue Agency
- Contributions to the Canada Pension Plan — Government of Canada
- GST/HST for taxi and ride-sharing drivers — Canada Revenue Agency
- Selling fees — eBay.ca
- Get started on Poshmark — Poshmark Canada
- How do I ship my item once it is sold? — Poshmark Canada
- How do I upgrade my shipping label? — Poshmark Canada
- Get paid for selling with shipping on Marketplace — Facebook Help Centre
- Kijiji Help — Kijiji
- False or misleading representations — Competition Bureau Canada
- Recalls and safety alerts — Government of Canada
- Guide to importing commercial goods into Canada — Canada Border Services Agency
- Second Hand Shop — City of Toronto
- GST/HST for digital-economy businesses: Overview — Canada Revenue Agency