Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To buy baby clothes from Ebay?

468 replies

memoo · 27/01/2009 19:37

Long story short, I'm pregnant with my 3rd, baby isn't due til sept but we are absolutly broke, struggling to pay the rent let alone buy new baby things.

So I decided to start buying a few little things each week from ebay. I've bid on some babygrows and a pramsuit, both used but look lovely and clean.

I was casually telling a work colleague about it today and she turn her nose up when I told her I was getting stuff from ebay. She said she "would never put her baby in second hand clothes" and "you don't know where they've come from" she went on to go on about how baby clothes aren't really expensive anyway etc etc

Maybe I'm being over sensitive but she made me feel really bad, as though I was getting second best for my baby but the way I look at it is that the baby won't know or care and newborns are only in stuff for 5 minutes so even second hand stuff will have lots of wear left in them.

Like I said, maybe I am being over sensitive (pregnancy hormones are raging) but she has made me feel like I'm not doing the best for my baby.

Is it really so bad to get second hand clothes for a new baby?

OP posts:
weblette · 27/01/2009 22:11

So for someone else to put on their newborn...er right..? You obviously have fragrant/non pukey dcs then...

DorisIsAPinkDragon · 27/01/2009 22:14

There will always be some need for new, all clothes wear out from time to time....

But the waste that goes to landfil ( with poor quality sweatshop clothes not designed to last) combined with the debt people incurr to buy "new" clothes have not helped the world as a whole has it?

Maintaining the poverty of sweatshops in the third world, (not paying a fair price for the clothes made and ensuring that children don't work there but get an education) is ethical. If producers were forced to actually act on ethical policy rather than just paying lip service ( primark being one good example) by people refusing to buy the clothes, (even if they were cheap) they would have to do something about the conditions their employees work in.

Frankly I horrified by such a selfish attitude, with such a lack of insight to what your actions have on the lives of others in developing countries.

Anglepoise · 27/01/2009 22:14

Expensive clothes can be exploitative too - like Nike for starters.

daftpunk · 27/01/2009 22:16

leya;

i don't work...my dh earns good money.

weblette;

yes, it's ok for other people to wear 2nd hand clothes, but it's not for my family..and fwiw, i would never give anything to a charity shop that my dc had been sick on.

DorisIsAPinkDragon · 27/01/2009 22:16

(not ethical)

cali · 27/01/2009 22:18

daftpunk, there are quite a few of us waiting for a response to issues we have raised re your posts.

Hope nobody minds,

By Surfermum on Tue 27-Jan-09 21:49:50
What "type of mother" buys second hand for newborns then daftpunk?
By leya on Tue 27-Jan-09 22:01:36
I was'nt going to comment again, but daftpunks ignorant attitude is making me so Do you work daftpunk? What does your partner do? I'm just curious as to why you have this 'I don't care attitude'.
By cali on Tue 27-Jan-09 22:10:58
echoing weblette, would like to see your response to my point about child labour in developing countries.

Cheap clothes are only cheap for one reason!

Exploitation!

I would much rather dress my children in 2nd hand clothes, than have them wear clothes made by someone not much older than themselves.

fledtoscotland · 27/01/2009 22:19

am assuming she either only has one baby, is childless or is a millionaire! YANBU. both DSs have had stuff off ebay. i also buy bits in the sales for the next year as t-shirts tend to get very stained.

btw am selling loads of baby boys bits if you are interested

seeker · 27/01/2009 22:19
LittleMissBliss · 27/01/2009 22:20

Ds wears new clothes and hand-me-downs from a lady who my mil works with (They are from her daughter in law who i've never me). They are always clean and have loads of wear in them especially the jeans which are £8-14 a pop new for 3 months or so's wear i certainly couldn't afford them all new.

I would prefer to have used quality, than new cheap clothing hands down.

Plus once you've washed it once its no longer new anyway. So get over yourself daft punk.

DorisIsAPinkDragon · 27/01/2009 22:21

Daftpunk- I wouldn't be able to remember what my dc's had NOT been sick on it's what newborns do!

weblette · 27/01/2009 22:21

There are lots of things I would like to post here but have realised it would be good to step away, apart from the fact that I feel you have stepped straight out of a Wendy Holden novel.

daftpunk · 27/01/2009 22:22

what "type" of mother buy's 2nd hand clothes;

  1. poor ones

  2. hippy "ethical" types

  3. the ones that are addicted to ebay.

DorisIsAPinkDragon · 27/01/2009 22:23

what mothers don't

Those that have more money than sense !

BodyBagBastard · 27/01/2009 22:23

meemo where do you live?

cali · 27/01/2009 22:24

wrong on all three with me, try again!

daftpunk · 27/01/2009 22:26

cali...i haven't really delved into the minds of ebay people...what more can i say?

fledtoscotland · 27/01/2009 22:26

daftpunk - have just read your posts and cant believe your generalisations i for one am not poor, hippy or addicted to ebay. My children never wear anything in poor condition or stained. its just that they grow out of clothes long before they are worn out.

am pleased for your DH that he works hard to provide for your expensive tastes

leya · 27/01/2009 22:28

I think you are bang out of order daftpunk! I think you have said more than enough! But before I go,
if you are so much 'more above the rest of us' why share your view's with us? We are clearly not in your league!!!

seeker · 27/01/2009 22:28

Nothing, daft punk, you don't need to say anything else. I think you have said enough for people to make quite accurate assessments of your attitudes.

I wish you joy in your bubble!

SenoraPostrophe · 27/01/2009 22:29

of course it's ok to buy 2nd hand baby clothes, memoo. tbh I'm surprised you need to ask. Your colleague is being a snob, as is daftpunk.

Anglepoise · 27/01/2009 22:29

Got me on 2) and 3)

daftpunk · 27/01/2009 22:30

leya...you have totally mis-understood me, but if you think i'm out of order then you're probably right..i'm sorry.

cali · 27/01/2009 22:31

carry on daftpunk,

are you as narrow minded and ignorant in rl?

PoloPlayingMummy · 27/01/2009 22:32

YANBU at all. As long as you are happy with the quality of what you've bought then there is nothing wrong with it. You have a budget & you are buying what fits in with that.

Personally I don't really understand the whole Ebay fascination thing but my friends and I do swap clothes around between us. Babies grow so quickly and hardly get any use out of their clothes so it is horribly wasteful for only 1 baby to use them.

daftpunk · 27/01/2009 22:32

yes