Thinking of selling clothes on ebay - Views?

Money_maker

confuzzled? wrote: »

Perhaps 500 a week a few years ago, when everything sold better on ebay!
Now it is much harder to make a profit cause everyone needs extra cash and are all buying from the same suppliers and selling the same stock.
Best thing to do is try and find a market you know alot about and go from there, otherwise someone will always be able to undercut you.
I buy a few bits from the 99p/£1 shop a week and treble the prices making a small profit, not enough to live on though!
A few years ago clothes sold really well, but people are really holding on to thier cash now and its hard to stay in profit with the ebay/paypal charges.
Do it as a sideline and see how it goes before you buy loads of stock!!!

Confuzzled is right, the market is not as buoyant on ebay as it was a couple of years ago. Can be hard to shift anything much these days even low pricing and postage. Whilst the stores are cutting to the bone, some folks will prefer to shop there.

Barneysmom

And the market is flooded with clothes, you might be better off trying to find something that isn't sold as much, some sort of household items?
I'm trying to find some little container to put the t bags, egg shells etc in for the compost heap.

Wings_of_Ambition

I think it's a bad idea... unless you can find somewhere extremely cheap to buy them, your profit margins are going to be so small, it will be pointless. It also only takes one person to claim their item never arrived for you to lose a big chunk of income. The fees are also stupidly high, which reduces your money even more. You'd be better off concentrating your energy elsewhere.

Mokeyjen

I think it depends on what you buy and how much for...

For example I have bought a few items from a Littlewoods Catalogue Clearance store near me for say £2 or £3 each and then made 100% profit on them, but to make a lot of money you'd have to be selling loads at this cost to make it worthwhile..

I have also bought a Karen Millen coat from the Charity Shop which cost me £12, but I then sold it for nearer £50...

Its about knowing what sells but being able to buy it at the right price...

I would def research anything you are thinking of buying and see what it generally sells for.

Hope this helps!

vb1981_2

confuzzled? wrote: »

Perhaps 500 a week a few years ago, when everything sold better on ebay!
Now it is much harder to make a profit cause everyone needs extra cash and are all buying from the same suppliers and selling the same stock.
Best thing to do is try and find a market you know alot about and go from there, otherwise someone will always be able to undercut you.
I buy a few bits from the 99p/£1 shop a week and treble the prices making a small profit, not enough to live on though!
A few years ago clothes sold really well, but people are really holding on to thier cash now and its hard to stay in profit with the ebay/paypal charges.
Do it as a sideline and see how it goes before you buy loads of stock!!!

What type of stuff you found in the £1 shops?

My partner goes into these shops on a regular basis, it would appear she often picks up a bargain but never really thought of trying to sell some of the things on Ebay.

Be nice to me, I'm new :rotfl:

ecg202

I buy good quality worn clothes from car boot sales and sell on e-bay. Children's clothes seem to sell well - especially decent brand names such as Monsoon, Pampolina. They can be picked up from 50p at car boots and I list on e-bay from 99p to save paying listing charges. On average I make a profit of between £100 and £300 per month depending how much time I have.

My advice is to start off small with a couple of quality items and see how it goes.

mgardner

Barneysmom wrote: »

And the market is flooded with clothes, you might be better off trying to find something that isn't sold as much, some sort of household items?
I'm trying to find some little container to put the t bags, egg shells etc in for the compost heap.

Try Poundland they have , to my mind perfect container, its about 16 inches tall by about 8 inch wide and just sits on my kitchen unit, I just put t bags, peelings egg shells
etc and then pick it up by the handle and carry to compost bin

MrBrightsyde

Not sure about clothes but my old mobile phones have always sold well on ebay, shame about all the ebay fees though!! :rolleyes:

soolin

ecg202 wrote: »

I buy good quality worn clothes from car boot sales and sell on e-bay. Children's clothes seem to sell well - especially decent brand names such as Monsoon, Pampolina. They can be picked up from 50p at car boots and I list on e-bay from 99p to save paying listing charges. On average I make a profit of between £100 and £300 per month depending how much time I have.

My advice is to start off small with a couple of quality items and see how it goes.

Just remember to declare it all to the tax man. Second hand clothes was one of the main sources of undeclared income on ebay at one point as people mistakenly believe that only selling new things is trading. The tax bots do trawl for people not declaring.

techspec

Over the last year Ebay have sneaked fees up from 3% to 10%. Then there are Paypal fees aswell, and you have to accept paypal.

On top of this, and buyer can ask for their money back at any time, WITHOUT RETURNING THE ITEM, and paypal refund them - stealing the cash from your account. As they are based in the Netherlands, there is nothing much you can do.

Now they are bringing in free postage, as Ebay dont make money on postage. Imagine sending something that cost £3 to post for free!! It would take all your profit, and more.

Ebay is turning into a shop, with Littlewoods, Argos etc a big part of it, and when an item finishes, buyers are directed out of Ebay to sponsored shops, rather than directing traffic back to its customers.

Until there is a rival to Ebay, there is not much room for a small business, i'm afraid.

That said, picking up designer clothes for a pittance, and then selling them on ebay, may generate some income. A good thing to post too, as they don't break.