How to Sell Your Old Clothes on EBay and Make Money
One of the easiest things to sell on eBay is clothing. You most likely have it everywhere and can use a bit of closet cleaning. Not only is it beneficial, it’s a great way to make money with little to no effort or investment. However, there are many pitfalls first-time sellers can get trapped by, especially with selling clothes. Here are some tips that can save you a headache and even money lost.
1. Consider your item. You may love those neat pair of jeans you bought 5 years ago at the local mart but they may only be great to you. eBay is really about getting a lot for a little and, to be honest, that’s what buyers are on there for. Otherwise, they would be buying in stores. Make sure your item is hot enough to actually move before wasting time listing it. Sites like watchcount.com are great ways to check past sales’ records of items.
2. Ship light. As I’ve written before, my number one rule for selling anything on eBay is to keep shipping light. After my experience with eBay, I only ship items that can fit into a first class envelope. However, this is especially important for clothing sellers because shipping can be a large portion of your sale. You may be surprised to see how little clothing sells for on eBay, but it does often sell. Don’t allow shipping costs to scare away customers. If you do have something that you really want to sell but there is a high shipping cost, you’ll need to really investigate its demand before listing.
3. Start bids low. Because you aren’t really losing money from this item, unless it’s a recent purchase that you can return at the store, you can list at a very competitive price. Many sellers like to start their auctions off at .99 cents and watch the bidding go up from there. This is an easy way to attract buyers and it won’t really hurt you because, at worst, you’ll only lose time packing it and putting it in the mailbox.
4. The sale is in the detail. I have a theory that you can sell almost anything as long as you have a really good listing. Take many high quality photos and place them directly in your listing at a larger scale for customers to see. Give dimensions, measurements and accurate details of the article of clothing. Many sellers even put clothes on mannequins or dress forms for easy display. Have a listing with lots of detail can be the difference between someone shopping at a discount store and a brand name retail chain, which gets to my last point.
5. Try to sell quality vs. quantity. Many people like to unload their closet on eBay. Some will do an item per listing and have hundreds of listings, others will do a huge lot sale, where they list 5-10 pieces in one lot or set, for customers to buy. Neither of these work for one reason. Buyers are particular. They don’t simply go online to randomly buy things. The majority of buyers are looking for a specific, brand named item. One out of ten of your items may be a great seller, but how do you account for the rest that may never sell? Lot sales on clothes don’t normally sell because the price has to be high to account for the shipping and labor that goes with selling a large amount of goods, but the demand is relatively low. So, rather than pile your clothes on eBay, take time to research each article of clothing you want to sell. If it’s got a good track record, sell it. If it doesn’t, throw it away or donate it to someone.
