eBaying Clothes - questions

[tadylkat]

I am a total eBay virgin -- never bought or sold anything on eBay. LOL

I am interested in selling some of dd's old clothes to make room for new and to fund a new digital SLR. :)

Here are my questions:

Is now a good time to sell fall clothes, e.g. last years' Mod Zebra, etc.?

If I have a lot of Gymbo from differeent lines, is it best to sell by line or group it all together by size?

If I have different brands like Gap and Ralph Lauren, should I sell those seperately?

Is it worth it to sell the less desirable brands like Absorba/Carters/Little Me?

Any feedback and/or tips would be greatly appreciated. I have been poking around on there but it's hard to make heads or tails of it all. Thanks!!!!

[tadylkat]

One more thing I forgot to add... any advice on what type of PayPal to set-up?

[murpheyblue]

I am far from an expert on E-Bay selling. Hopefully one of the more experienced mamas on here will see this and help you out. If you're curious about how a particular item might sell, e.g. Mod Zebra, do an advanced search and click the 'completed listings only' box. It will pull up recently completed sales with your search criteria. It seems there's a bunch of fall stuff up. I saw lots of Gymbo Cute as a Button stuff.

As far as paypal, I just have the basic account. If you opt to accept credit cards, you get charged a percentage on all transactions. Not worth it IMO unless you're doing high volume selling or selling big ticket items.

[AngelaS]

Back to school sale season is starting now. I'm hoping to launch about 100 auctions in about 10 days or so.

Yes, Mod Zebra is fall line. I sell my outfits by line so I will sell a Mod Zebra set, a Tiger Love set and so forth.

Tommy, Ralph Lauren and such do well too. I don't generally sell Carters/Absorba/Heathtex.

A personal PayPal account is sufficent. Make sure you say, "Cash funded PayPal only! No credit or debit cards!" and if you get a credit or debit card payment, DENY it, do NOT upgrade or you will be charged a fee on EVERY transaction after that!

[jubilee]

just a thought- do you know someone that does ebay that could help you and you would sell under their name? I say that because a lot of people avoid buying from sellers with low/no ebay transaction history. Of course, your items could do just fine- but I'm pretty sure they'd sell for higher amounts if you had some ebay history.

Ebay is starting to pick up quite a bit according to friends that ebay a lot more than me. It's been a slow summer before now. I don't know which lines are in demand because I don't have a girl, however a good rule of thumb is to resell them approx. when they came out in the stores. If have Mod Zebra, for example, that line came out in July '04- so now or into early August would likely be the best time to sell. Smaller sizes don't go for nearly as much as bigger sizes go for (like 2T and up). When you sell Gymbo, sell by line. And put in your auctions that you have more gymbo in that size, then people will look at the other auctions and maybe get more than one lot from you. Gap and RL should be listed separately.

As for Carters and etc- I think a mixed lot in one size would be the better way to go.

Lots of luck!!! (I'm wishing for a new camera too, and need to get busy selling on ebay!!) :)

[tadylkat]

Thank you everyone for all your tips. :)

I do have a friend who does this as a home business (SAHM). She has offered to sell for me (as she does for other friends) for 25% of total. I have thought about going this route because I wouldn't have to do a thing except drop the stuff off at her house. I am thinking that because she has been doing it for so long that she may get 25% more than I would anyhow... plus I wouldn't have to deal with all the photos and the post office. Do you think I should do that instead?

[AngelaS]

I sell on eBay for some of my frinds and take 30%. We're all happy.

:D

[shoppinggal]

I would let your friend do it - I sometimes put stuff on ebay and it's pretty labor intensive and not always worth all the effort.

I agree that only the larger names like gap, old navy, ralph lauren etc. sell. However, you can create lots of clothing and in each lot have one or two big names - that way you get rid of everything and you make a little more money.

good luck!

[dules]

What's your eBay selling ID? I like to watch for auctions from people I "know" - less risky that way!

Did you get my message way back when, BTW?

Best,
Mary

[AngelaS]

Yes, I got your message---sorry I didn't respond!

Search 'jie' in auction titles and based on my name here, you can figure out which ones are mine. :D (I have two Hanna playdresses up, if that helps!) :D

[apriltwinmom]

Angela, what does the "jie" signify? I saw it before, maybe it was in one of your auctions I was watching!

Just curious.
:) Rachel
dd Amelia 8/04
twin ds 4/03

[AngelaS]

It's for 'Gymbojie'. A lot of the women on that board say they like to buy from other members so I put it in my titles to make them easier to find (and to let people know I'm at Gymbojie).

But...then at GR, someone put up a link to one of my auctions, asking what the jie meant and since there's some discord between the online communities...doh! :D

I just want my stuff to sell! LOL :D

[soontobemommy]

Hi,
I've been selling on ebay since 1997- I have not sold baby clothes so can only say to go by advice of those that have here but as for Paypal I know as a buyer as well as a seller if someone says they do not accept paypal credit cards I won't bid. Most people want to use their paypal credit cards and don't have funds sitting in their account.

To get around the fees cause you can't charge someone an actual fee - just add a "handling" charge of about a dollar to your shipping. That's what I'd do! Hope that helps!
Lauren

[patricksmom]

I am glad someone asked these questions because I have been wondering the same things...some more questions I have though is

....do you have a scale at home that measures the weight to figure out how much to charge for shipping or do you take it to the post office?

...where do you buy your paking materials...ie: envelopes and/or boxes?

...which websites do you like to host your auction pictures...or do you just use photobucket or something like that?

I have bought quite a few things off of ebay but have never sold anything. I would love to get it started...my cluttered house would probably love it too. :)

[caridura]

Good questions...I'm interested as well about figuring out the weight on packages.

As for boxes/envelopes, I know you can order supplies from USPS online and get them delivered to your house for free. I like to ship priority mail anyways, so that works out for me. I'm not sure if they start charging you after a certain amount of supplies are ordered or not. The little that I ordered were free though. :)

[AngelaS]

You can no longer say "I take PayPal" unless you take credit cards thru PayPal. It's an old rule that they're now enforcing on 'feeBay'.

....do you have a scale at home that measures the weight to figure out how much to charge for shipping or do you take it to the post office?

Yep, I have a scale. I bought it for about $20 on eBay. I weigh my packages, click the "Ship" on the PayPal account page that shows me who paid me, print my label, tape it on the envelope and stick the whole thing in my mailbox and put up the flag. :D

...where do you buy your packing materials...ie: envelopes and/or boxes?

eBay of course! :D

...which websites do you like to host your auction pictures...or do you just use photobucket or something like that?

I use the FTP space provided by my ISP but I know LOTS of people who use Photobucket. :D

[kransden]

I am looking into buying a scale. which one did you get?

Karin and Katie 10/24/02

[spanannie]

I bought a scale from the post office for $25. You can also buy them on Ebay, but I was impatient, and couldn't wait.

I like hosting my photos at VillagePhotos.com It's free for so many photos, but I upgraded my membership, so that I can put up unlimited ebay photos for $5 per month. I use it to post my personal photos too.

At first, I just shipped everything priority mail. However, your auctions can do better when having lower shipping as incentive....and it's easy to offer lower shipping on clothing, since it is so lightweight. So, I have the costs of shipping figured by the weight (and add on cost of packing materials). I ended up buying a truckload of those plastic shipping baggies on ebay--like Hanna uses--to send out clothes in. It makes it easy and cheap. The cost of the bags was minimal (but I add the cost on to my fees). I also add the cost of my shipping labels on the fees. I also bought those on ebay in a large quantity for a low price.

I print all of my postage at home (on sticky shipping labels) and have the postman pick it up. You can schedule it all online.

It's really simple to ebay clothing. However, it is time consuming to take pictures and post auctions, so you want to do your research and make sure that you will recover enough money to make it worth your time.

[caridura]

Thanks for your tips!

Do you ship ONLY to the US or do you ship overseas also? I normally don't sell on eBay, but listed a few items and seems like every potential buyer inquiry is from UK buyers. Is it more hassle than it's worth to ship overseas?

[dules]

I'm a hypocrite! I don't ship overseas but I have had things shipped to me from overseas.

If it's something small like clothing, you could probably just get a postage quote. For larger items, though, like baby gear or a stroller, I wouldn't get into it...you don't want to have to deal with a customs issue for an eBay auction!

Good luck!

Best,
Mary

P.S. This may be evil, but when someone asks me a question like that on an auction I will check their feedback...see if they "look" reputable...and if not, will pretty definitely say "No, no overseas shipping, sorry." If they seemed really nice and it was a small package then I might.

[AngelaS]

Um....it's digital and can weigh up to 10 lb packages. I bought it on eBay for about $20. :D

(I'm so not helpful... LOL) :D

[spanannie]

I say on my auctions that I only ship US, but if someone writes to me and asks, I will tell them that I will ship overseas, but only if they pay for UPS. I've only had people from Canada ask. The reason I choose UPS is because I can ship overseas without going to the post office to fill out customs forms...and I can pay for all of the shipping online and then just drop off at the UPS store....and there are TONS of those around. Usually UPS isn't too expensive either. I also use UPS when selling something that needs to be insured and has a selling price over $100 (I sell watches and jewelry). UPS is cheaper when insuring more expensive items and is sometimes cheaper when sending larger packages.

[zoethebeagle]

So, I'm starting this, too. I've done a little in the past but want to do more.

I have a scale on the way and I ordered some free USPS/ebay priority mail boxes as you all suggested.

Can someone recommend what type of bubble mailer envelopes I should buy? There are so any kinds! What is the best to use and if anyone has an ebay seller they recommmend, please let me know.

Also, did anyone buy a book about selling on ebay that was helpful? If so, which one?

Thanks-
Erika

[amp]

Angela - I'm glad to know your ebay id, and I added you to my favorites, as well as bid on your daisy the cow yellow romper just now.

[AngelaS]

Cool for you! 3/6 mo stuff just doesn't do that well on eBay! I hope you get some deals! :D

[AngelaS]

You don't need a book! :D You have us!

I buy from a seller on eBay and don't use bubble mailers, just the poly ones. Her name is coriejenn or something like that. She does flat rate shipping which is very nice! :D

[luvtoshop]

HI--do you remember who you bought the sticky shipping labels from? I need to get those to run through my printer. Hate taping the label.
: ) TIA

Sandra
Mommy to 2 sweet girls!

[jubilee]

I use corijenn (search under seller name to see her stuff) Her envelopes are high quality and waterproof.

[soontobemommy]

To answer some questions - I have an old food scale I use but you can buy a scale for less and figure out shipping or you can do priority for everything but since I've been buying baby clothes I love that people don't charge a lot to ship for 1 item and it makes me bid more since the items are so light. If you do ship in a mailer be sure to add on the cost of the mailer with your shipping amount too. If you are doing a "lot" of items (several clothes together) - make life easier for yourself and ship priority ($3.85) and go to the PO to get the FREE priority boxes and tape. You can also order them (as many as you want - all sizes) at usps.com (I also design and sell bridal jewelry- not on ebay but I have my own website and I use priority to send all my items so am stocked with boxes from the USPS site!).

As for photos - I have my own photo program and I just upload to ebay directly. Also for clothes - a good suggestion to get good photos is put the clothes on your bed on a simple blanket and stand on a chair and take the photo looking down. Really helps.

Start your bids low but not too low - if you start at a dollar and they end at a dollar (which usually doesn't happen but it could) then you are not only out your ebay fees but paypal too and you are in the negative so start your auction where you will at least come out even with your fees. If you start it low enuf you will have a lot more bids then if you start it high.

Another thing people make mistakes on is to do a starting bid of let's say $4.99 and a Buy it Now of $20? Now who would do the Buy it now with a starting bid that low? If you want to do a Buy it Now for exp. and want to move your item fast, do a starting bid at let's say $14.99 with a Buy it Now of $16.99 - something like that (of course higher or lower depending on what you are selling)- that will tempt someone to get the Buy it Now.

Am happy to help if you have other questions!
Lauren

[spanannie]

I just checked, and the person that I purchased mine from is "no longer a registered user". I did a search for "adhesive labels" and it turned up many options. There are scads of labels being sold for rock-bottom prices. You have to read the auction, though, since most of the labels being sold say UPS in fine print somewhere on the label. If this is ok with you, then go for it, since they are dirt cheap. I preferred to pay a tiny bit more and get completely blank labels. I wouldn't want to be stuck with a ton of labels if UPS decided to crack down and then USPS wouldn't accept those labels, or something like that.

Here's an auction with blank labels:
http://tinyurl.com/cu5c7

[caridura]

Ok, thanks for the info ladies!

[caridura]

Ok, thanks for the info ladies!