What do you buy on Ebay?

[OuiOui]

hello all mumjs out there
consider this a little dipstick research
as a mum of 2 young kiddies, my only free time is mornings and after bedtime so I am thinking of doing some trading on eBay.
I live in Hong Kong and want to sell to the UK market.
I have access to some fantastic suppliers of young childrens clothers : Gap, Next and OshKosh - also some Ralph Lauren Polo.

My main hesitation is whether or not you girls would pay the postage costs : I suppose around 10 pounds per initial package. The items would be a lot less than retail in UK.

Personally, I've bought several things in UK recently and paid circa 15 pounds postage each time.

For example, what do you currently spend on a simple t-shirt, a little girl's dress, toddler trousers?
What price level do you consider to be a bargain?

Looking forward to hearing from you and perhaps, one day, selling to you!

[jenkel]

I've just bought a couple of long sleeved teeshirts from Gap for £9.50 or 2 for £14.00 from their current range.

So if you are saying postage for this teeshirt would be £10, I probably wouldnt bid for more than £2 to make the total price £12.00.

In fact if I seen one of your auctions the postage price alone would probably put me off unless it was something that I really really wanted and couldnt get from anywhere else.

Can you not bring the postage down at all or sell closer to home.

Remember that ebay is big in the UK and you will be up against other people that have a lot cheaper postage costs. Also lots of Next and Gap stuff on ebay, will you be able to offer competetive prices.

I guess the best thing to do is to do a small gest and put some things on ebay and see how it goes.

Good luck

[foxtrot]

Two things would put me off i'm afraid. First is the postage. Second would be your location, as i automatically assume (perhaps wrongly) when i see a far east location that the goods would be fake or seconds. Not suggesting yours are, of course.

[gingermonkey]

I buy my ds's clothes on Ebay. He wears a lot of Polo Ralph Lauren which is silly money over here and is much cheaper in the US (eg rugby shirt £45 here, $45 there). Even with the postage it is much cheaper and because the items are so small and light you can get a few in the parcel for the same postage. I'd buy off you
Also the postage costs from Hong Kong to the UK are much cheaper than the other way round. DH buys a lot from Hong Kong and Japan and your postal system is much more reasonably priced than our rip off one!

[OuiOui]

Thanks. Yes, take on board all your feedback.
The other that is great here is the dress up costumes.
The kids love their superheroes, princesses and mermaids.
Am thinking of selling those instead.
What do you think?
Anyone interested?

[foxtrot]

That's an idea. What would the prices be like? You could look at woolworths website to get an idea of UK prices.

[OuiOui]

that's a great idea foxtrot.
I didn't know Woolworths sold these.
Haven't lived in the UK for 4 years now and didn't have young children back then.

So apart from Woolworths, where else would you buy "gimmicky" type extras for the children? Any specialist websites?

[nappyaddict]

you can get dress up outfits from disney shop. apart from that the choice is very low unless you pay extortionate prices from special ancy dress websites.

[OuiOui]

Woolworths sell for 15GBP per outfit - they probably source from Hong Kong/China anyway.
I can get get pretty Princess dresses, Superman and Super girl, and pretty Chinese girl "cheongsams".
I can also get tiaras and accessories.
I would probably sell for about 12GBP plus postage. I will try to get this to about 5GBP. Total of 17GBP.
Is that ok?

[NuttyMuffins]

I am trying to buy a vacuum but keep getting outbid

[Upsadaisy]

cd's

[Upsadaisy]

a friend is buying a kitchen off there...I had no idea they sold them until she said and the one she's after is gorgeous apparently from a big house.

[Tamum]

I would be put off buying from HK because of the postage charges but more importantly the possibility of having to pay duty. I suppose that wouldn't apply t a single garment, but then the postage wouldn't be very cost-effective either.

[hunkerdave]

I've bought pens from Hong Kong suppliers in the past - Sakura ones.

[OuiOui]

I'm going to give it a whirl with some fab little girls outfits and some accessories. Will start another thread asking people what kind of stuff they'd like to buy.
Thanks for all your input

[zippitippitoes]

i wouldn't buy anything on ebay that was hk based

in fact as i think ebay is full of charlatans i wouldn't buy on there unless it was a bona fide trader with uk credentials and a checkable reputation

[OuiOui]

that's such a shame!
I kind of agree - yes there are a lot of charlartans but they must surely be in a very small minority. Otherwise eBay would not be in the place it is right now.
I may be HK based, but I am an ex pat from the UK who has very high morals and will only source and sell quality goods.
Anyways, the majority of the childrens kit is probably made out here anyway.