Is it worth it?

[Eastwickwitch]

I've never sold anything on ebay before but I've bought a few things.
DS has sold quite a lot of bike kit & has 100% feedback.

Usually I take old clothes to the Charity shop but I'm having a big wardrobe clear out & wonder if it's worth it.

No designer stuff, mostly Boden, White Suff & the like. Quite a few dresses.

Any experts out there that can advise?

Boden and white stuff usually sells well on eBay (I'm watching some myself )

Thanks curtains. Would you suggest a starting price of 99p (as DS advises) or £5 which is what I'd hope to get?
Sorry, for the silly questions I'm a total novice.

I would probably have a starting bid of £3-5 if in good condition.

Depending on the size, I shall look out for your sales

Thanks, I think I'll have a go.
Any tips to increase the chances of selling, or anything I should avoid?

Do your research about the delivery service you'll use. Hermes is priced very competitively although it messes up from time to time (my experience is about 2%) and when it does they do have a tendency to lie with their excuses. Even with this down side I do use them because it really saves money.

If you have a personal account you'll get 20 free listings per month. You also get the free option to schedule their starting times. Different people favour different ending days but one important thing is that if you're going to list as auctions and not as Buy-It-Nows you should aim for your auction to end at a convenient time of the day, say after 8pm.

Unless you operate in a dodgy evasive way, ebay take a 10% cut. Unless you're having people collect from you and giving you cash, Paypal take 3.4% +20p (if I've remembered correctly), so that's nearly 15%. Since you can be spending £3 at least on delivery, then there's packaging materials (if used), you can see that if you sell an item for £10 including delivery, you might be getting around £5 back.

You might want to use settings to restrict to UK sales only.

Second hand clothes seem to attract a large number of chancers so have good clear descriptions detailing faults/wear and add lots of photos.

It can be a big faff for not much reward.

Re postage, from now until Christmas Royal Mail are doing a £2.80 deal for decent sized parcels under 2kg - ideal for most clothes sales.

yes but that rm deal does not include tracking, which you do get with Hermes.

And I would never advise starting at 99p - start at the minimum you would accept.

Thanks so much, it's really useful.
I'll try a couple of things & see how it goes.

I sold my ten year old bike for £80 and it started at 99p. I'd say always start at 99p especially for used clothing unless it is an item you really want to keep hold of unless it makes the minimum. Always weigh the items and packaging so that you can put a realistic postage price.

Have you thought about selling on Facebook?

There are dedicated groups for makes like Boden. You could set your price and avoid fees if you sell on Facebook.

My local Facebook is nearly all little children's clothes & toys.

I was trying to avoid selling clothes for 99p. The charity shop is nearer than the PO.

I've decided to try selling the nicer dresses starting at £4. Hope that's the right decision.

Thanks for the comments.

If you sell at 99p after fees then you will make zero profit - the only reason to start at that price was when those listings were free. Now you get free listings at any price why still start at 99p - is utterly pointless and a complete waste of your time. Plus if you only have one bidder that is all you will achieve.

If auction do end in the evening, or do a cheeky buy it now price but add best offer to it (buyer will think they have a good offer when you accept their lower price). And free p&p is good too - so up your start price by £3 for Hermes (if under 1kg) and then you guarantee 5 stars for postage too.

Great, thanks.
I'll report back in a week.

do a cheeky buy it now price but add best offer to it (buyer will think they have a good offer when you accept their lower price). And free p&p is good too

I like this. It's worth remembering there are lots of people out there who can't be arsed with the faff of bidding on auctions and "free" shipping really seems to catch the eye of some of those.

If you do offer free shipping your starting price will need to be £4 or greater for small/medium items in order to avoid making a loss.