Im rubbish at ebaying, what am i doing wrong?

[gigglepin]

I put on a load of kids clothes. Only at low prices, £2-5 each item.
I got a couple of watchers but havent sold anything, and i have a listing bill of £6, so its cost me!
I describe them and price them fairly, also the postage costs are fair..not inflated or anything.

Should i just list a couple of items at a time?

How do you actually make money out of it?

[Honeyme1980]

Hello Gigglepin, ive also had this problem last year i guess its hit and miss what ppl want to buy but most of the people i know do like to buy clothes in a job lot ide put about 5 items on in one go and see how it goes :) good luck

[Pudden]

can you give us a bit more detail? £5 for a single item is rather expensive and would put me off unless it was a coat and a decent brand at that.

I've sold a lot of childrens clothing and always started them off at 75/99p- quite often you list them for nothing this way. You should put on as many pics as possible- show close ups of patterns or features and be creative with your description. I can't stand listings that say 'W@W' or similar- puts me right off

[lindsell]

I'd say £2-£5 is too high a starting point for children's clothes unless they are 'designer' or unusual and in as new condition. I've found that if you start stuff at 99p then you're much more likely to get a higher final price as people like to think they're getting a bargain and also the listing is much cheaper so if they don't sell it doesn't matter. Also think about when they're finishing - if it's when people are at work/having dinner etc then less likely to have so many people who watch/bid at last minute.

[NonnoMum]

My experience is that there are loads of kids' clothes and so they go for rock bottom prices...

See what else IS selling and for how much. Check out your p and p prices too.

[RitaMorgan]

£2-£5 seems like a high starting price for a single item. Are they very special/new? Why not start at 99p?

[NorksAreMessy]

OK, I am a demon ebayer and am here to share my wisdom :)

1. Bundles do not sell as well as individual items. People assume that you have hidden some crap in with the good stuff
   
2. Low starting price...always, and 'at cost' postage
   
3. Put the brand name and the size in the title, people search by one or the other. Say what you like about Boden, but whenever I put the name in the title, I got a bid within an hour!
   
4. Only try to sell immaculate clothing, unless it is something (eg wetsuit!) where a bit of wear won't matter. People don't want to buy anything even remotely shabby.
   
5. When I was building up my feedback profile, I used to offer free postage on cheap-to-post items (just make sure that whatever happens, your costs will be covered). I also made a batch of tiny lavender bags to go in the parcels, so my feedback was always brilliant.
   
6. With some things, it is really much less hassle to just give it to the charity shop, and get that 'feel good' factor, rather than wrestle with eBay
   

I wish you the very very best of luck

[BikeRunSki]

When do they finish?
If you are giving them finish times of say 6pm on a weekday, then potential buyers will be busy at that time (imo most serious Ebayers bid at the last minute). You need to make sure that the finish time is convinient for the target buyers.

£5+postage is getting on for new prices for a lot of stuff. Many people would rather have new supermarket stuff than second hand "designer" stuff. For example, I just bought DS a pack of 3 l/s Ts for £6 at Sainsbury's. They are fine, not as nice or decent quality as Boden or John Lewis, but fine.

Are they a good brand to start with? IMO it's good quality, sought after stuff like Boden, Jojo, Molo, John Lewis etc that sells, rather than George at Asda, Ladybird, Primark and H&M. Unless it's a really lovely design or something special.

[gigglepin]

Well,i have put quite allot of stuff on at 99p, i have only put one bundle on simply because of P&P costs going up with bundles.

Ive got tracky bottoms, loads of fleeces from next, ive done some searches just to make sure i ma pricing things right.

Ive put 7-10 days, all to finish at night.

Hmm im going to leave things alone to run the course, but think i mght try Gumtree, see if i get better sales there.

I just want a bit of money for christmas and the stuff im selling is too good to send to the charity shops iyswim.

[NorksAreMessy]

Very frustrating, giggle, sometimes you have to put things on a couple of times to get the right buyer, but a title such as
"NEXT boy's fleece, age 3-4 green, as new" should get you SOME interest.

Good luck

[RitaMorgan]

Hmm... I would only pay 99p for those things to be honest!

I've just bought some jumpers for ds - two from Gap, one from M&S and one from Vertbaudet, and I paid 99p for 3 and £1.20 for 1. I wouldn't pay £5 for Next fleeces and trackies.

[Grumpla]

I'm afraid I buy all DS's clothes off eBay and unless its a Monsoon lambswool jumper or similar I would very rarely pay more than £2 for an item!

I sell baby clothes etc in bundles of seven or eight items just to clear the space, and wouldn't expect to get more than a couple of quid plus postage on that.

[Marne]

I sell a lot on e-bay and have had great prices for things lately. I always start the item at 99p (as its free), i always list on a sunday for 7 days (list at night 8pm-9pm), Next, Boden, Joules ect.. sells well, baby clothes doesn't sell well (small sizes 0-12 months) unless they are very good names.

Ebay has got rather shit over the past 6 months, e-bay fee's are so high, its not really worth selling small items (less than £5) anymore. Its a lot easier to sell at a boot sale or NCT sale.

I have managed to save enough to cover christmas from selling the dd's old clothes and toys.

[Grumpla]

Might be worth mentioning I do better on toys actually, I bought a massive bundle of baby toys for DS and sold about half of them on, almost covered what I had paid for the bundle in the first place!

[sarahtigh]

only virtually brand new stuff sells so nothing with bobbling/holes or stains
3 packs of long sleeve t shirts in next are about £8 in tesco £4 so it would not be worth really buying 3 tesco tops for more than 99p as postage would make thenm the same price as new, 2 next tops would hope
to get for about £2

Boden pumpkin patch monsoon skirt dress pinafore about £3 coat £5 max as P&P on top, did you check prices on completed listings or what people are asking today, only completed listing matter and see how many sold as opposed to did not sell and those that sopld what was startin price

personally I think by time you have paid ebay and paypal fees it is not worth selling anthing for less than £2.- £3 on ebay but other things do sell well on ebay... just too many baby clothes and not enough buyers as everyone gets loads of stuff

[PollyMorfic]

Next doesn't sell particularly well ime. The brands that consistently do well are Boden and Joules, plus Hollister/Abercrombie and Jack Wills for older kids. GAP will sometimes go well if it's a classic item or one of their padded anoraks or something. Specialised sports kit and equipment sells well on the whole, as do coats (but get in there fast if you have coats to sell).

Agree re starting at 99p, but only for things that I'm pretty confident will go for more than that. I don't want to sell for 99p, cos I CBA, so I weed out the less-good stuff beforehand and donate it to charity or car boot it. You def get more watchers and bidders if you start at low prices, and things generally go for a higher final selling price as a result. Obviously the occasional thing will go for 99p, but it's rare if you choose your items well. If you start low you also get free listing, so you don't rack up a bill before you've actually sold something.

You ahve to look at the final price people will be paying, and if you start at £5 or even £3, by the time you've added in postage, people will be paying the best part of a tenner. You can get stuff in charity shops for less than that, so it's just not worth it from the buyer's pov. Make sure you sell stuff in season, nobody wants to buy summer stuff now apart from super-organised buyers who want a bargain basement purchase, and you don't want to sell to them cos you won't make any money.

Make sure you iron the clothes first, and take very good photos - I usually do the whole item, then the back of the item, a close up of the fabric and a close-up of the label (and any defects if applicable). Do a good write-up in a decent-sized font with a nice colour and layout, and talk the item up a bit. Put the size and the brand in the heading, cos people use those as search terms, and remember to say that you have a smoke-free home (assuming you do). If you don't specifically put that, people will assume that the item will arrive reeking of fags.

[RantyMcRantpants]

Why not put hem on the For Sale board on here?

[notcitrus]

There are loads of childrens clothes on Ebay.
Most start at 99p (this is because it's free to list stuff at 99p!) So if your stuff is £1 or more, it's more expensive and people won't look at it.

Look for stuff like you're selling and tick the 'completed listings' down the left hand side to see what stuff goes for - unless it's posh brands I bet you half is unsold. Listing a 'bundle' can help you shift a pile of stuff.

I rarely bother listing kids stuff but if you want to make the 70p or so you'll have after fees on 99p items, I'd list a bunch of stuff all starting at 99p, and just keep relisting it for a few weeks.

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

Do you put a link to all of your items at the bottom of each listing, saying that you'll combine postage? Really find it helps when you've got lots of similar items on at the same time as a lot of people will bid on similar items and bump up your final total.

[lljkk]

Because kids clothes mostly don't sell.
Sorry, but just look at completed sales, like notcitrus said; loads of stuff that had zero bids.

I think bundles can work very well as long as you individually list what each item is and its condition.

Don't forget to mention "Non-smoking pet-free household" if that's true.

Weekend/Saturday evenings are best time for selling something like little kids' clothes. Monday & Tues are bad, Thurs not much better.

If you're brave, tell us your Ebay name and we can look at your listings & give more feedback on your listings. With clothes, something like bad photos can make a huge difference..

Nothing is "too good" for charity shop, imho.

[JarethTheGoblinKing]

Good photoographs are essential as well. I do think kids clothes sell, but not any old tat. I've sold a lot of stuff recently and got good money for it, maybe I'm just lucky. Agree Boden sells well, but have recently shifted some Sainsbury's/Asda stuff for decent money.

I think small bundles work well - 2 or 3 t-shirts, or 2 x pyjamas, that kind of thing. Just putting the word bundle in seems to get more attention.

[BikeRunSki]

I think 10 days is too long for a listing. People get bored waiting and find something else.

[gigglepin]

Some brill advice thanks every one.


I agree with nearly everything you say just because it makes sense to look at things as if I were the buyer.

So far, i have listed 22 items and it has cost me £6, and i have made £7...so for that reason...im out of ebay, its not worth it.

I was SO hopeful of making a few quid to help me get through Christmas. Never mind

[happywheezer]

Have you thought about selling at an NCT sale instead? There people can have a good look at your items. If they are worth buying and the price is ok sell there. Ebay can be depressing at times for baby clothes. Especially if they are newish.

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

For kids clothes unless it is a good name, it is a waste of time.

I sell all my kids clothes, but really only dress them in Boden and Frugi, seeing as I only buy in the sales or from e-bay, I usually sell for more than I paid for them.

I once sold a pretty worn Joules T shirt for £25! I paid £3 for it.

[GiveMeStrength2day]

My two penn'orth!!

I sell DD's clothes mostly in seasonal (ie. winter/summer) bundles. The last one I got around £30 for (+ the £15 P&P!). Anything "special" or a good name (eg. Monsoon) I list individually.
I photograph the bundles separated out into, say, tops, trousers, skirts etc. Set yourself up a Photobucket account and paste the photos onto your listing - that way you are offering clear (hopefully!) and informative pictures (particularly useful if you're selling in a category that charges 12p per additional photo). If I'm selling anything individually (eg. a dress) I include close-up photos of any detail (eg. applique/sequins).

With regard to buying, I'm a huge Next fan (so sue me!! ) and Monsoon so if there's something I particularly like I'm happy to pay for it, ie. I don't expect something for 99p. It would have to be an exceptionally gorgeous item for me to actually buy anything from, say, George at Asda, Primark on Ebay.