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Let’s talk about purpose, strategy, process, policy and plans for the future for selling clothing on eBay.
My Purpose: I started eBay when I was homeschooling my son for something to keep me busy and to earn a little something while I wasn’t working (my husband and I own a business and I was taking a paycheck even while I wasn’t working). Now that I’m back to work, eBay is a side gig. I look at eBay as something that can grow, but it needs time and experience to grow to a place that would be more of a full time thing for me. My husband is older than me and would like to retire sometime within the next 10 years. I’d like to be able to “retire” from our regular jobs along with him and then ramp up the eBay business so it is my full time job. I have a long time line for this so I’m not in a big hurry. I’d like to get away from clothing and start learning more about vintage items and sell things at higher dollar values like Jay and Ryan.
My strategies: Sell higher end clothing for profit and lower end clothing to keep my store active. I try to buy things that will sell for at least 10 times the amount I pay for them. Going forward, I’m trying to learn more about vintage items focusing on one category at a time, ie. I’m on silverware right now.
My Processes: Finding Inventory: I’ve been at this for almost 2 years and I’ve gotten better at finding higher end clothing at thrift stores (St. John, Eileen Fisher, Lilly Pulitzer, etc.). I get the more run of the mill stuff, like Talbots and Ann Taylor and Chico’s, at the Goodwill bins.
Listing: I do the drafts, I have someone photograph about half of my stuff and I do the other half, I try to list 100 items a week. It’s a bit of a drag but I have a system that goes pretty quickly.My Policies: Shipping: I have been charging for shipping but I’m starting to change it over to free shipping to be more competitive, which also makes me want to get out of selling clothing.
Returns: I accept returns but the buyer pays for the returns. I got the too high returns email from ebay. I think a lot of of returns that are INAD are actually buyer’s remorse returns and that if I switched over to free returns this would solve that problem.My Plan: I think I will probably, reluctantly, go forward with free shipping and free returns. This makes me want to get away from selling clothes on ebay or just limit it to higher end clothing and skip the mall brands that I find at the bins. My overall plan is to make clothing a smaller part of my business and make vintage items a bigger part, I expect this change in inventory will be somewhat of a slow process.
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I just watched this video last night. These women have, in my opinion, built sweatshops for themselves but they are interested in building empires and bringing in lots of money. They talk about their shipping policies, helpers, and the reason they pick up Mall Brands. They also link to another reseller who has some good “how to” videos for volume clothing sellers.
It runs pretty counter to the philosophy of J&R but I think they are total bad asses for building huge stores while being stay at home parents. There is definitely something to be learned even if you aren’t going for that kind of volume. Once I list my whole death pile, I’m thinking of starting to pick up mall brand clothes. Around here, color of the week clothes are discounted to $1 starting on Thursdays. I think a little churn and burn clothing would round out my more long tale items.
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If you start using Free Shipping and Free Returns, how much extra will you add to the price of clothes to cover all these extra costs?
I think $10-
It make sense to add $10 to your listing to cover all that “free shipping”. But it shows that eBay may be creating unintended consequences by having the majority of buyers subsidizing the few buyers who abuse Free Returns.
As a very frugal buyer, I would actually start looking for sellers who don’t offer Free Returns and probaby have a lower price. When I buy, I dont need a built-in guarantee return, and would rather save money on the item.
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I’ve gone back and forth on clothing over the years – however, I just focused on printed t-shirts and sports jerseys.
Where I found the challenge was the time that inventory sat – at least 50% sat over a year and didn’t sell. When I started doing the math, essentially I was doubling my purchase price, doubling my photo time, and doubling my item listings (and fees) for every shirt that I sold.
The money was good on an item by item that sold basis, but overall, I was putting in a lot of work to sell $1 to $3 shirts for $10.
However, if you can get efficient in your purchasing price, and the time it takes to photograph and list items, then you have a good system. For me, getting a mannequin saved lots of time, and having a good photo area for it saved plenty of time as well.
I think clothing is a tough, long-haul sale. Lately, I’ve been focusing on higher profit items that sell very quickly. It frees up inventory, cash flow, and space.
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