ONLINE SELLING OF THRIFTED CLOTHES AS A FORM OF LIVELIHOOD DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Online selling of thrifted clothes as a form of livelihood during the pandemic is emphasized in this research. It shows the reasons of online sellers for choosing thrifted clothes to sell during the recent pandemic, the problems encountered in terms of customer behavior and live selling activity, and the ways through which online sellers cope with these problems.

This is a descriptive quantitative study with fifty (50) online sellers who were purposively selected. Self-made questionnaire was used in data collection. Frequency was used to analyze the data gathered.

Findings revealed that the online selling of thrifted became a livelihood of most of the respondents during the pandemic. Most of them sell thrifted clothes online due to economic reasons, earning money for their needs. Others encountered problems in terms of the customer's behavior in terms of canceled orders, customers who are not replying, and dissatisfied customers, and in their live selling activity, intermittent internet connection and power interruptions were the problems they encountered. Moreover, with these problems, they come up with different means of coping mechanisms which include giving some freebies like clothes in order to keep "suki" or regular customers. They also tried to sort-out their goods and do some advertisements which help the business sales to grow.