hard to sell at the moment on Ebay?

Dark_Star

I always found Ebay slow over the summer as people with children are too skint to buy stuff & anyone else has has vanished off the face of the earth

September to November are the best months. Don't sell in December due to possible problems with deliveries...

Switched to local free ads though - no fees & the stuff goes far more quickly:p

Crowqueen

(a) Be careful that if challenged you can tell where you got your stock, and prove it.

(b) That would make you a business, since you are acquiring stock that is not for personal use and just selling it. You need to read up ASAP on your tax and consumer law responsibilities, you are getting yourself into a heck of a lot of legal red tape, particularly if you sell at fixed price (though from next year the whole raft of the law will apply to you). Go to the OFT Distance Selling Hub (http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/dshome/) and SOGA hub (http://www.oft.gov.uk/business-advice/treating-customers-fairly/sogahome) and sort out what applies to you. All of SOGA will, but as we can't see your listings the DSRs may not (yet) apply to you - but they will come next year's revision of the legislation.

EDIT - just thought - some of it may be a gift, as in, you might be able to use it personally - but in general, if it's been given to you to dispose of and there is no obvious use you might have for it, it may not be. If they gave it to you to sell on, or you took it with the intention to sell it on, it would be business stock.

And it will look funny to outsiders, so it might be worth weighing up the legal pros and cons anyway. I'd seriously, seriously, avoid your listings for that reason. OK, some people might have a few random BNWT listings but someone systematically selling current stock at discount prices would not only face legal implications but, sadly, look like they are flogging stuff fallen off the back of a lorry or knock-offs or whatever.

I'm not terribly surprising that in the middle of the dog-days of summer, which are often slow, you are finding it hard to sell.

EDITed to remove quote.

soolin

morganedge, I won't quote your post as I think it may well be removed. I would be careful about making fraudulent refund claims, this is quite a dangerous thing to do legally and could get you in a great deal of problems, that's assuming any shop will even consider refunding without a receipt. Unfortunately due to dodgy customers trying to return goods with no receipts (which is going to include you) shops tend to be cautious

I can also imagine that if caught your friend is likely to also be in very hot water. Does his gifts to you include the clause that you can fraudulently claim a refund from the shop? What about th epeople making the gifts to him, do they allow the claiming of a refund from their high street shops?

One of my sons works in the warehousing side of high end brands and often gets given ends of lines or unwanted stock- however selling these on is considered gross misconduct and would lead to immediate dismissal. Even buying things with his staff discount includes the clause that this is for his own use or for immediate family and if resold will be considered gross misconduct and abuse of the staff discount scheme.

Crowqueen

Thanks for that, Soo. Missed the points Morgan was making.

The sports shop I recently went into to buy my boyfriend a Team GB shirt (as a present for putting up with me getting far, far too excited over it all) had a very large notice on the counter that refunds would only be made with a receipt and only be for an exchange or store credit. I was able to buy with confidence - I wasn't sure of his size, though it turned out I was right to buy a L - but...!

I think you are stuck with these. Maybe use them as genuine gifts later on.

Gleeful

Crowqueen wrote: »

I suppose, after the free-for-all ecommerce became for a while it is becoming obvious which items are suitable to buy/sell online. My purchases have been...interesting...to say the least and would now rather buy in person. No reflection on you, obviously, and you seem to accept this, but it's surprising the numbers of people who don't realise the obvious drawbacks or issues.

I admire the perserverance of anyone buying/selling lots of clothes on eBay. I don''t think I'd manage it - I think I'll stick to books. You deserve a big :T:T:T

Thanks haha. Without going into detail about what I sell, the buyer pretty much always gets what they think they are getting (combination of good description, brand stock photos, my own photos taken on a mannequin) so I have very few issues with genuine SNAD's (I have just posted another thread about an issue I have just encountered). It is more change of mind returns for size etc which don't bother me so much as I can always resell it and just absorb any associated costs. If you want to see the sort of things I sell I am quite happy for any board regulars such as yourself to contact me by message and I will show you my eBay account - it will help you to understand why even though I sell clothing, I encounter very few problems compared to the amount of items I sell.

morganedge

Hi,
OK - now I know why my first post was removed, lol.
At first I thought I imagined posting it!
I wasn't aware that I was doing anything wrong.
So far I've had no problems returning without a receipt, though
Thanks anyway.

devilivus

I was gonna ask the same sort if question, but found this thread.

I have a few items with their tags on and still in their cellophane wrapping.
A designer dress with £180 on the price tag which it still costs at the shops, I would think a asking price would be £150? Not sure what to start it at?
In the past, i've had some laughable offers/messages on similar items. Like
'will you accept £30 including posting?' for a £100 jacket.

However, when I am looking for a pair of brand new ugg boots to buy my girlfriend, people are asking for similar prices to what the shops charge?

So why, for example, did people think the OP was being unrealistic wanting close to shop prices for a £150 jacket, but that's exactly what people are doing on their ugg boot auctions?

Are there only certain categories/items where you can expect a fair price?

soolin

devilivus wrote: »

I was gonna ask the same sort if question, but found this thread.

I have a few items with their tags on and still in their cellophane wrapping.
A designer dress with £180 on the price tag which it still costs at the shops, I would think a asking price would be £150? Not sure what to start it at?
In the past, i've had some laughable offers/messages on similar items. Like
'will you accept £30 including posting?' for a £100 jacket.

However, when I am looking for a pair of brand new ugg boots to buy my girlfriend, people are asking for similar prices to what the shops charge?

So why, for example, did people think the OP was being unrealistic wanting close to shop prices for a £150 jacket, but that's exactly what people are doing on their ugg boot auctions?

Are there only certain categories/items where you can expect a fair price?

Basic supply and demand. Ugg boots are holding their value, they are rarely discounted so if you want a genuine pair then you have to pay near shop price. If you just want any sheepskin boots then you can pick them up for a couple of pounds.

However, dresses, coats and other assorted items can be bought on a whim. Yu rarely go out to buy an exact dress from an exact shop, you tend to think of buying a dress for a party and will browse until you find one you like. If the first one you like is too dear then you buy a different one.

So, for normal high end clothes realistically 10-20% of label price would be about right.

go_cat

I think also there is still the thought that eBay is for bargains not to pay near full price for clothes.

The only exception being the ones that are sold out, advertised and much wanted, in which case a lot of people have bought them to sell on and fetch equal if not more than RRP

devilivus

soolin wrote: »

Basic supply and demand. Ugg boots are holding their value, they are rarely discounted so if you want a genuine pair then you have to pay near shop price. If you just want any sheepskin boots then you can pick them up for a couple of pounds.

However, dresses, coats and other assorted items can be bought on a whim. Yu rarely go out to buy an exact dress from an exact shop, you tend to think of buying a dress for a party and will browse until you find one you like. If the first one you like is too dear then you buy a different one.

So, for normal high end clothes realistically 10-20% of label price would be about right.

thanks.
That kind of makes sense I guess.
It sucks though! How on earth can anyone make money on ebay if you only get 10% of the lable price. You'd need to get all of your stock pretty much free of charge!

also, I can;t find anything that I want for that cheap. I'm after a certain pair of addidas football boots and, again, they are all being sold privately for about the same price as shops charge.
Seems only things that I sell deserve to be sold so cheap, lol