if you sell clothes & decluttering on Ebay/Vinted etc pls could you talk to me?

[DameCluelessofEbay]

Do you have tips or a system?

I am in general life state and have decided to try to declutter. I have only done two shelves but now have a massive pile of clothes to dispose of. Some of them have labels/never worn and are quiet nice stuff - sort of high st diffusion ranges of designers like Butterfly by Matthew Williamson and similar

I'm slightly torn between just stuffing it in a bag and giving it to charity, stuffing it in a bag and selling it to one of these 50p per kilo places or actually trying to sell some of it.

What puts me off selling is that it looks like hassle, I don't have any seller history or profile rating at all never done it and the process of dispatch looks like much work. For example,
how do you weigh the goods to know what the shipping cost should be in advance? Do you send everything tracked? If so is that extra cost worth it or does it put off buyers? if you don't send it tracked, do you find people just lie about not having received it?

I don't know how to start but am loath (can't really afford) to dispose of stuff that might have a value.

Do you just need to get in a rhythm of it? Is it worth the effort?

Another Vinted fan! I put it off for ages as I thought it was a faff. I was picking up a delivery one day and the person in the store had so many Vinted parcels going in and out I thought it must be worth a try.

I’ve sold around £1k of stuff and the declutter has been amazing. It’s so straightforward, especially the postage being set up for you just to print/scan.

Vinted is so easy takes seconds to photograph and upload and posting is really easy too . Download a QR code and walk to my nearest Evri place they scan and post. I'm not making a fortune but it feels great to clear stuff out and especially if it was barely worn make some money.

Vinted
For each category the small/medium/large postage options do vary on their specifics.
They give rough suggestions, but you can see the specific size/weight limits if you click “see sizing and compensation details”

e.g. in clothing the general s/m/l relate to 500 grams, 1kg, 2kg - but the physical size limit can vary between carrier choices - so make sure your item will be within the combined size/weight of the smallest allowance or disable that option in your settings. (You cannot disable a carrier per item, but disable them in your settings)

With eBay they have introduced a new ‘simple delivery’ which is similar to Vinted - a Royal Mail or Evri label gets generated based on your suggestion
If you use that then you pick the expected size/weight range - eBay will charge the buyer and provide you with a label
I still prefer the classic ‘custom postage’ where I specify the postage methods and charge for postage (or show it as free post and take from the item price
(‘Free postage’ works sometimes for small/light/cheap items that may sell in multiples as that way I get to keep those extra pennies if sent in one package)

On Vinted you list a set price then decide if you’ll accept a lesser offer. On eBay you can do the same with a ‘buy now’ amount and offers enabled

Vinted charge their fees up front to the buyer, so you get the amount that you see
eBay historically charged fees from the sale fee, they went to zero fees for a while but have reintroduced them as an up front charge to the buyer. That means you get the amount from the sale but the buyer pays a slightly higher amount
Remember when setting your prices to check the small print displayed on what the buyer would pay in total to avoid out pricing yourself in comparison to others

For receiving your money, both Vinted and eBay will place a level of hold, particularly for new sellers. Bear this in mind when deciding on eBay postage in case you need the money to post it
A successfuly tracked delivery results in clearance which you can leave on both eBay & Vinted for a while and then withdraw
Vinted will hold funds until you transfer to your bank accout, eBay will hold funds for a period of time - weekly, fortnightly, monthly or you can withdraw on request

It’s no longer necessary to use fully tracked services, but if you generate a label within eBay (including ‘custom’) then the basic 2nd class m, 1st class etc still give a reference number but don’t require a signature etc
If selling at a higher value then do choose the right option for your needs.
If you buy postage at the counter then make sure you get an option that gives you a reference number - and add that to the sale page

I was using Vinted for clothes and eBay for other items, but I get less sales on Vinted, so I slowly change an item from Vinted to eBay every now and again
(the more active you are on whichever market place the better you may find it is, as every fresh listing is engaging and their algorithms make your items more likely to appear in searches / suggestions

I sell a lot through Vinted and in the past eBay.

The one thing I’d say is when you have 1 or 2 bits and you sell for £3 - honestly, its the biggest PITA but if you’ve got a small mountain to shift, sell it cheap and it will all move at the same time. So then you’re only doing one or two trips to the post office or wherever.

Also type out something you can copy/paste in every item such as -

Please check out my other items, happy to bundle. Pet and smoke free home. I post out every Saturday and Tuesday.

It just saves a bit of time.

i also pile everything up and then do sell, charity, chuck. If something doesn’t sell after a month, it goes in the charity bag. You have to not be emotional with stuff. Just let it go.

Take the afternoon and do all the pictures. You can then upload whilst you’re waiting for dinner, or waiting for the kids - once you start doing it, you’ll get so quick and used to it.

The trick is don’t do it in dribs and drabs. Otherwise you’ll find yourself losing the will to live and end up taking it to the charity.

in the last 6 month I’ve made £1K on Vinted. Admittedly I had a few £60-80 items but the bulk were all under a tenner and I did the majority of it within a month.

Sorry for typos - my screen is cracked 😫

I've made just over £500 over the last year from just selling clothes I don't wear or my dd has grown out of. It can be a bit of a faff, although to be fair the postage options make it pretty simple. I wouldn't turn down that money if offered it in any other scenario.

Lots of good advice here in terms of vinted as a platform. It's easy honestly, I've made £500 so far.
Here's my 'system'.
When I have a sort out, I put the clothes into a 'charity bag' or a bag for life 'for selling'. Once I've got a few bits in the bag 'for selling', I take all the pics in one go on a bright day. Front, back, labels, close ups of any nice bits or flaws.
That evening I'll add them all to vinted while I'm on the sofa watching TV.
Once it's uploaded, I move the items to a clear storage box. These are the items I know are 'live', so when I sell I know where to find it. Once it sells, I pack it and write on the post bag what it is. You get 5 days so I usually wait a couple of days to see if anymore comes in. Then I only use inpost locker for ease as I can do it whenever.
Next time I'm sorting clothes I'll continue to add to the 'for selling' bag until I've got enough, then bulk upload again.
If something sits in the 'live' box for many weeks or months, I might try reducing it or just chuck it straight in the 'charity' bag.
I don't let the bags get too overflowing!
Buy packing bags in advance, and a Sharpie to write on the packaging so you know what's what when you come to post.

Buy a couple of cheap things to get some Vinted feedback first.
If you leave nice feedback you generally get it back.
Buy a job lot of different size bags

Be honest and photograph flaws, buyers will want to return if stained etc
I usually do it in bursts
10 things at a time photograph upload and then place nicely folded into a bag, keep all together .
I post as soon as something has sold, same day.
Avoids things getting muddled and people cancelling orders.
I use evri as its on the corner of our road.
I avoid the locker system as sometimes they are full or not collected on time
Above all be realistic on price, I accept any offers because I want it shifted

Also I meant to say, I've also started using a company called Anglo doorstep collections for my charity stuff. You book a slot and leave it outside and they take it, it's amazing. It has to be separated into books, clothes and linen, and household items. So that's how I bag up or box up stuff, then I book a slot and it's gone.
Anything not great, broken, ancient goes to the tip.
Decent furniture goes on marketplace (baby cot etc) and always as soon as I'm done with it so nothing is hanging about for ages. Always v cheap or free because you can't put a price on how great it feels to just not have loads of stuff!

It's really easy. I've sold expensive stuff too - a Mulberry bag (buyer paid Vinted to authenticate) and an AllSaints jacket.

I prefer Vinted just for postage reasons and only offer InPost dropoff which will let you send Royal Mail or InPost. I don't have a scale and the post office is always shut.

I've been doing Vinted a lot, and my system is that I bought a rail on wheels - as I find stuff that needs to go, it goes on a hanger on the rail, and then I'll steam a whole lot of things at once while listening to a podcast. I'll then do photos for 5 or so things at once (unless its really fancy I do front, back, label) then list those, and move the listed items to the other end of the rail. I then have a big load of postal bags from Amazon, and as things sell I bag them, print a label (I prefer this to going into a shop and getting a label printed as its easier to keep track), and then drop the parcels in the Inpost locker. It is just so easy and I prefer the integrated postage on Vinted to Ebay.

Marking my place to read the whole thread tonight. I'm thinking of started Vinted selling after buying a few things on there recently and having a good experience.

Agree with all of the above.

For me the trick is having somewhere to store everything that's listed and live.

Take good pictures... I hang mine on a white hanger on a white wall with a picture rail.

Keep a plastic storage box handy with all of your packing materials in it... scissors, mailing bags, tissue paper, sellotape, tape measure etc. and stash your reusable packaging stuff in there too. I keep a bin handy too.

I always print my own labels, definitely helps you keep track of things.

I leave things up on Vinted for max 2 months and if it doesn’t go it’s off to the charity shop!

I’ve made 600£ in 5 months so it’s been worth it for me

vinted buyer pays the fees and shipping and Vinted calculate it and give you the label to print or just download and then it gets scanned in the shop.

i have 2 boxes - one for listed stuff and then the other box is charity when the stuff doesn’t sell and I take it off once a week so the clutter is out of here quickly

I prefer selling on ebay - maybe it has older buyers who prefer my stuff. I tend to take 3 or 4 photos (front, back, label and any other details if relevant). I then look at what similar items are selling (eg Me & Em jumper etc) and try to price mine at the lower end (unless there is one that is cheap for a reason). I set the excluded locations so that I don't ship internationally. For postage most clothes (except jackets and coats) can go Royal Mail small parcel so I charge for basic second class postage + cost of mailing envelope (so £3.50 in total). Clothes are really unlikely to weigh more than 2kg so I set the parcel weight at 1- 2kg. If I'm selling something for more than £20 I send second class tracked 48 and charge £3.70 for that plus envelope as it costs slightly more but is insured for upto £150. Unless you live somewhere unusual Royal Mail will collect your parcels so when you purchase the postage label via ebay you can click to "arrange collection" and select a time you know you will be in. WHen they collect they scan the QR code which provides proof of posting.

Honestly, if you have kg of clothes you need to get rid of that have never been worn you need to ask yourself what's the priority, decluttering or making some money back on vinted? Is probably get rid of it all myself because I feel a million times better with space and not having to think about where things are or what happened to them.

I've seen things sit in vinted for months even years awaiting a buyer. Do you have wardrobe space to store it and organise the items for this long? Probably not.

Bin anything tired, old, damaged. Donate anything good quality worn or any quality new, and if you want to sell only sell the new with tags stuff that's the best quality. If you don't want to sell them send the good stuff to charity as well, they will be grateful for it and somebody will get to enjoy it.

Addicted to Vinted here. I've made about 500 but actually feel like I'm making a difference by selling stuff on. A lot of charity shops just sell to 50p a kilo places now as they have so much.
I never sold anything on eBay because it was such a faff but Vinted is brilliant. I always put in bags and label them so I know what is what and always pick a digital label so you don't even have to print
Inpost can be a bit of a faff as the lockers get so full.

I was also debating selling things in Vinted but wasn’t sure - so thanks to all the posters who gave such good explanations and advice!

@JustMarriedBecca

so I know what is what and always pick a digital label so you don't even have to print

which shippers use digital label only and how does it work?
do they print the label at the place you leave it?
thanks.

Yes @DameCluelessofEbay , for Evri you scan a QR code from your phone on a machine and it prints the label. For inpost you just scan and put it in the box, then they add the labels when they collect it. It's easy to select which you want to use on vinted.

You will need to look into what facilities you have in your area

A post office or post office counter will be able to print the label for you from a QR on your phone

Many offer a print option at some but not all drop off shops - the shop signs up as a drop off / collection point but the courier would need to offer them a printer

Drop off lockers might support the courier printing, in which case you scan the QR code when dropping off and the courier driver prints a label when picking up - however some sellers report misdelivery due to the driver picking up multiple packages at once and mixing the labels - the buyers then receive the wrong items
(When I use my local lockers the scanner gives me the warning message that I need to have printed the label myself)

For eBay you get to specify the postage options, so offer what suits you locally
For Vinted they offer numerous options and the buyer can choose - so have a browse through the Vinted carrier options and search them.
On each of the carriers websites search your local area taking note to filter for the printable option - then decide if that carrier suits your needs, if not then disable it in your Vinted profile (but do take care every now and again to check your profile in case of changes)

Note that if you will be relying on drop off lockers that you may need to take into account how popular they are locally, a search of some will advise how often they are full
(and when you’re about to drop off some will give the latest update on if there is any space before you leave - though of course someone else may get there before you)
If you drive it’s less of an issue, but if you’re walking then it’s a long way to go and find out it’s full

My nearest is a post office counter in my local fuel garage nearby. They take Royal Mail and Evri and can print for me
Next the mini Tescos down the road takes Evri and has a label printer
An InPost locker has arrived in between those which also accepts Evri - but doesn’t allow printing

Just adding to @Tomikka comprehensive post - if you send with Royal Mail and request that your postman collects from your front door there is an option to get them to bring the label with them. They stick it on and scan it in front of you.

Another one here who was curious and thinking about selling some things, I have quite a lot of old workwear that I no longer need and shoes with labels on that I've never worn.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice, you've inspired me to give it a try.

I sell clothes on eBay. I usually get about 25 percent cent of the original price. I tend to sell my decent brands - Hobbs, Boden etc.
I find eBay very easy. I do weigh and measure to check that the recommended parcel is fine to avoid having to pay extra postage, but that’s not usually an issue with clothing (I’ve sold a lot of toys where it can be more tricky). Stick to the eBay arrangements- don’t message privately, for example. EBay generates the label so you just print it off and stick it on the parcel.

When you’re listing eBay will find the similar item very quickly so about half the form gets filled in eg if you sell a Hobbs shift dress it will recognise it’s a shift and sleeveless - brilliant. I photograph the brand and care labels and several shots of the garment. I reuse old Amazon packaging etc and drop off at the PO or Evri collection point in the following couple of days.

I’ve never sold anything of mine with a label on, but did sell MIL’s unworn M&S pea coat quietly for her and got 50 percent back without FIL knowing …