Is it worth the effort of selling on ebay?

[JollyJuniper]

I'm clearing out some good condition baby stuff and its not shifting on gumtree/ facebook. Is it worth trying to sell it on ebay? I thought about putting it up as collection only and see how it goes but I'm worried about someone having an issue and raising a dispute or something. Is it worth trying to sell my own stuff on ebay these days? Ie not as a business?

[MazDazzle]

I’ve sold plenty of stuff over the years and never once had anyone raise a dispute.

I usually don’t bother with the auction and list them as buy it now. I offer free postage and price items competitively. I find that people who want things now pay more, whereas those willing to wait a week in an auction pay less.

[BluePheasant]

I’ve thought this myself lately. Need to clear out things but even really nice M&S coats and snowsuits aren’t selling unless you sell for peanuts so I’ve decided I’d rather just give it to charity and save myself the hassle of packaging and posting things.
Only brand I have a fair bit of that sells really well is JoJo Maman and I’ve used the Facebook selling page for that to avoid the eBay fees.

[Timeforanamochango]

I did a huge listing recently for the first time, clearing out DDs stuff. I was fuming when they all ended. I started them all at 99p and the most I got for any bundle was £7.50 (£300 worth of stuff) I did do it just before Christmas which might be why but it took hours of sorting/washing/ironing/photographing/uploading and was not worth it at all.

[JollyJuniper]

I have given away quite a lot and am left with the stuff that's practically new. i really need money or i would very happily give it away. Ive got a few random collectible things like corgi models to sell too.

[makingmiracles]

My advice would be to search ebay for similar items/ended auctions to see what your item is selling for and then describe accurately, provide good photos taken in good light and don’t sell yourself short with the postage-weigh it or take it to P.O. to be weighed before listing-I’ve been stung a couple of items where I thought postage wouldn’t be more than about £6 but because of the dimensions of the box etc it actually cost £13!! Lesson learnt there.
I don’t find there’s much benefit to offering free postage, you have to pay for postage anyway so unless you inflate the starting price what’s the point? If someone wants something they will accept the postage costs and I speak as a buyer and seller of 14yrs

I agree with a poster upthread, I rarely list items as auction unless I’m very very confident there will be a bidding war...even then it’s a major risk, I listed some sought after discontinued lego before Xmas, had 26 bidders and 67 people watching....disappointingly still only went to £68
So I generally list things as buy it now+postage at a price that I’ll be happy with.

[MazDazzle]

It’s amazing what you get a decent price for and what sells for peanuts.

I took my maxi cosi baby car seat to bits and sold everything seperately: crotch pad, shoulder pads, hood, seat cover etc and got way more than I would if I’d sold it as a bundle.

[blueshoes]

Do you have to pay eBay listing fees for Buy It Now?

I can no longer be bothered to sell even my dcs' nice Boden clothes in excellent condition. What used to go for £10 (many years ago) only sells for a few quid and postage is so expensive it eats into that (as the total price people are prepared to pay stays the same). It takes a good part of a weekend to wash, iron, sort, photograph and list 15 items, for which I get net £40 if I am lucky. Forget it.

[ToadOfSadness]

I would say it is worth it only if you are prepared to list in detail with clear photos and a tape measure in situ to avoid any arguments about size or condition, just as with any other item. Clear titles, good descriptions and make use of free listings.

If you don't have the time to spare on it, then maybe not a good idea.

[Pixelpuffin]

Well it depends what your expectations are
It's hard work ebaying if you also have a full time job
I listed tons of unwanted stuff last autumn and raised just shy of £7k
enough to wipe both the OD and CC
This year has been much slower but I'm already at £1.3k with over £1k still listed. I only sell using the £1 Max Fee promotion, other wise it's not worth the effort as ebay and paypal will utterly screw you with fee's and commission.

[NellMangel]

Wow pixel I was chuffed with my £50 I made last weekend. £7k is amazing!

[Pixelpuffin]

It was amazing, no one was more surprised than me and DP. I just decided enough was enough, selected a few items that I was certain I would regret selling, the rest just got listed. It was chaotic! I sold over 40 items in the first week, arriving home with only 30min to wrap pack print postage label then mad dash to the PO, back home to wrap pack throughout the evening, answering 100's of ebay messages etc etc...jeez, it was hard going after working all day too.
but in 2 months I'd cleared everything except the loan for new windows and doors. That's what I'm aiming for now.

However, it's really dropped off?? just gone completely flat...very strange??

[Ikabod]

I've just started selling off my baby and maternity stuff on eBay... already beginning to wonder if it's worth it! I've sold two things - the first without a hitch (although the buyer under paid me by about 70p but I let it slide) but I'm still waiting payment for the first. I've got a few more items finishing soon and I'm kicking myself because I could've got so much more for all of them, I'm sure!

It sounds like there are so many stingers I'm wondering if I should just put the rest on Gumtree or FB...

[Pixelpuffin]

Ikabod
Gumtree is horrendous where we live - Yorkshire.
No matter what you list the price at, they offer less. Or haggle when picking up. One even gave me a roll of notes and headed out fast. It was my sons electric motorbike. Listed at £30 like new. The roll was a tenner and 2 fives. Luckily we live in a cul de sac so rushed out and stood in the road. He became abusive. And finally threw 5 £2 coins out the window at me.
The gumtree buyers are horrible in my experience.

[BernardsarenotalwaysSaints]

Depends what you're selling. Dh had a load of designer tshirts that he'd not worn for 3+ years. After fees, postage etc we made £10-15 on each, a lot of them had come from ebay in the first place (was stated in the listing) so it was an easy way to make £150. Baby clothes bundles only really sell if the items are from Next, Gap, Boots, Zara, Joules, Boden, Frugi etc or at least the majority of the items.

[Ikabod]

Wow @Pixelpuffin that's dreadful! Maybe not gumtree then...

[NellMangel]

I've had weird buyers through Facebook marketplace - expecting high end customer service for a £5 transaction,with no please or thank yous. Asking for money off, then for me to deliver c etc. Then when I got there they were £1 short and started rooting round for fifty 2p's! They obvs wanted me to say. "don't worry about it" but I didn't cos of the nob behaviour leading up to sale!

My fault though in future if someone seems like a dick I'll just not bother selling to them.

[buttermilkwaffles]

I have not had weirdos from Gumtree but I have found it to be useless - I put up 12 ads, had replies to all of them and replied with my address, etc - not one person replied. Then a few people sent me a second message asking why I had not replied or asking (again) if the item was for sale.

So it seemed people were not getting my messages or they were going to their spam folder or they don't know how to use Gumtree messaging...who knows what is going on.....

Then I logged onto Gumtree one morning and all my messages were gone - wtf? Complained to Gumtree and they said they had tech issues. :(

They did reply later and say my messages were restored and they were but does not solve the earlier issue and I have potentially lost a load of money as some of the potential buyers sounded quite keen...

I tried messaging people again but no replies at all...

So I added my mobile number to all the ads and now I am getting scam texts from someone claiming to be HMRC saying I am due a tax refund.....grrr (I know it's a scammer because they send links to dodgy website addresses that are definitely not HMRC.

I am moving home and having a clearout so some larger stuff must go - ebay has been great for smaller stuff (although very time consuming taking decent photos, writing detailed listings, answering endless questions etc and then all the packaging and labelling + waiting in a huge queue at POffice etc.

But the larger collection only stuff has had no interest/ views on ebay - any tips? Should I put collection only [name of city] in the title? I would think it obvious that a chest of drawers for example would be collection only but maybe it helps with keywords/searches.

Anywhere else to try? Tried preloved but not a single reply.

Impressed by the 7k on ebay - wow! I think I have made about £400 so far, so not bad but damn it takes ages. Plus one or two items that sold for £1 so hardly worth the time and bother - might as well have given them to the charity shop. What sells well? Some clothes seem to be okay even stuff I thought would not (who knew corduroy was so popular!) but other stuff no interest or very low bids on auction even good name brands like Boden.

[blueshoes]

I used to sell my children's clothes once outgrown. I don't bother anymore even with almost new Boden. It probably won't sell unless there is a brand which photographs well (bright colours, not pale or white) and even then, goes for very little once you count postage. Royal Mail changed their charging structure a few years ago which meant the postage for anything other than the lightest flattest items leapt up which eats into profits when you are looking to make £5 per item.

After a lot of hard work over a weekend, I earned £40 profit! Not at all worth my time. I would rather donate to charity which they can sell for far more.

You might want to try a car boot sale, so you don't have the issue of postage. Might get better results, But that would require you to give up some time.

[Babababababybel14]

I have sold lots of baby clothes in bundles over the last few months. Made a good amount of money from them. But don't waste your time washing or ironing them. People will wash them themselves. I just keep them in storage when they get too small for my dd. And them post straight from storage. Never had a complaint about them not being washed

[Astrabees]

I sell off any good brand clothes I'm not wearing anymore in the run up to Christmas. I usually get about £2-300 which I keep and spend on new things in the January sales. Anything Toast, Jigsaw, Whistles will sell very well and I've never had a dispute of any kind. The less attractive brands go to the charity shop where they still seem to sell a large IKEA bag full for around £80 or so.