To ebay or not?

Katie73

Hi, a little advice needed please.

I've got loads and loads of clothes and toys from when my two kids were younger, plus boxes and boxes of books (fiction mostly, but some non-fiction too).

I listed all the books on Amazon a few months ago and did manage to sell around 40 over two months, but then it all went dead and the listings expired. Re-listed and no interest. Tried local bookshops, but no takers.

In my position I could do with making some cash off all this extra stuff I have around (and could use the space too!).

Is ebay worth all the time I'd put in? The baby stuff's all in great nick, but I'm concerned about:

a) postage costs

b) making sure I don't outprice myself but still make some sort of profit

and

c) the charges involved.

Any sellers (not just ebay) out there that can give me some pointers? I know that, done properly, I could probably make a fair whack of money here, but I'm doing a pretty poor job so far so any help would be very much appreciated.

Cheers

Katie

carlih1

Hi Katie,

I am in the prcoess of doing the same myself, i use auctiva to list as it is free and much much easier than listing through ebay or turbo lister.

In my experience you can get quite a lot of money for these items, i tend to put together bundles of clothes say trousers 2-3 years and tops 2-3 etc.

No experience of books but keep me updated i have some books that didn't sell on amazon also. I would also like to sell some old cd's.

I think it is definately worth it.

Let me know how you get on

Carli x

mintymoneysaver

It's certainly worth a try.I often buy children's clothes on ebay.People do sell them in small lots or big bundles.Just make sure your postage charge covers it.
I've made over £300 from selling on ebay and nothing has ever sold for more than £20 so there is money to be made.Mine was all basically stuff we just no longer used....

Katie73

Thanks for the advice - have had a quick look on ebay to compare prices on baby stuff and people are either selling in bundles (prices vary) or individual items at around 99p a go, so might try that route first.

If only my digital camera would work!!!

Have also registered with Auctiva (thanks for that Carli).

all_hours

For postage use a pair of kitchen scales then add a little weight for packaging. For the cost look at the royal mail website https://www.royalmail.com for prices and add a little on the cost to cover the packaging materials.

I agree that the clothes will sell better if you bundle them up perhaps as outfits, this makes it more cost effective for the buyer and will make them more likely to sell. You could list things like coats on their own.

How many books do you have, would trying out a shop be cost effective? Always look at completed listings for each of the books. If there are 10 completed listings and only 1 sold, you could be wasting the listing fee. For the less popular books you could prepare the listings in turbo lister and wait for a 5p listing day and perhaps group 2 or 3 of the same author, again this would make it more cost effective for the buyer as the postage per book works out cheaper.

domestic_goddess

I think baby clothes and kids clothes sell really well. I list my clothes in outfits or bundles for most things, but if it was bought from Next or somewhere else like that I list it seperately making sure you put the word next in the title. Lots of people do searches by putting in the wrod 'next' or 'gap' (or similar retailers) rather than a general clothes search.

Does that make sense...... Hope so

Good luck.

Include any selling fee's or paypal fee's in your postage as you are not allowed to add on extra surcharges.

In_Search_Of_Me

I've made quite a bit on ebay recently and have a two listing rule - if it doesent go in two weeks into the car boot box it goes!! Mind you flat looks like a tip with "ebay shop" in the bedroom & carboot boxes dotted around!! Just trying to remember that it will be lovely & decluttered when finished! Good luck!

beanielou

Was amased to find that my friend sold nappies on e-bay!(And they all sold-bundles of 2 or 4 or whatever)

gabs41

carlih1 wrote:

Hi Katie,

I am in the prcoess of doing the same myself, i use auctiva to list as it is free and much much easier than listing through ebay or turbo lister.

Sorry this is new to me, is auctiva just an alternative listing tool. Do you still have to pay ebay fees?
Thanks

carlih1

gabs41 wrote:

carlih1 wrote:

Hi Katie,

I am in the prcoess of doing the same myself, i use auctiva to list as it is free and much much easier than listing through ebay or turbo lister.

Sorry this is new to me, is auctiva just an alternative listing tool. Do you still have to pay ebay fees?
Thanks

Hi

You still have to pay the fees to ebay for listing, but it is a much quicker way of doing aa listing and looks more professional imo.

hth

carli

mintymoneysaver

I've just listed 20 things to go on ebay with another 16 ready to go, purely from just sorting through wardrobes and cupboards.It is a nice feeling to de clutter as well.
Just make sure you don't see too many bargains on there and end up bidding on them too ( says she who's just spent £14.50 on a Monsoon dress!)