Selling Clothes on eBay Questions?

I've tried selling some of my no-longer-fitting, hardly worn Ralph Lauren polos on Craigslist and posted eBay auctions starting at a penny with no luck. I am assuming it is because of my 0 feedbacks on eBay. I would like to eventually start a clothing store on eBay, as I have tons of clothes I want to sell and access to others.

What is the best way of going out and doing this? Building up the feedback on my account or buying one that already has good feedback to get me started?

Sorry for the noobish questions but I'm fairly new to eBay, but not Craigslist.


Thanks so much guys!

Clothes are the 2nd crappiest market on eBay, closely behind selling electronics.

So much competition on ebay for clothing esp that name. 1000s of people selling the same thing.

I wanted to expand on this further, because I'm sure some sad S.O.B. is going to google a couple keywords and be brought here.

Selling clothing on eBay sucks for these reasons, in no order:

1) High volume in the clothing category makes eBay extremely suspicious of you. If you dare put a word like Nike, Adidas, Coach, Hollister, or any other brand name in your title on eBay - you WILL NOT BE SELLING ON EBAY FOR VERY LONG.

2) You become a Variation seller, and this SUCKS because if you sell 1 shit but sell it in S, M, L, XL, and red, white, and pink, that means you are listing up several items at once. Although to you this is just 1 item, eBay considers it several items and you are going to be limited as a new seller to only being able to list 15, or 25, or 50 items a month. You have to be able to sell clothing in high volume because thats they only way you are going to be able to buy cheap and sell it on eBay and make good money. the individual profit from clothing is usually pretty low, so you buy a lot so you can sell a lot, and it sells relatively quick most of the time so thats how you make your profit.

3) The worst part of them all, feedback. This is for both men and women, but mostly women. A woman might buy a size 12 shirt from the mall that is actually a size 14 because its a tactic brands use to increase purchases. She thinks "I went jogging all last week, Im sure I lost a pound or two, so I am going to buy a size 11 shirt from Joe Blow on eBay" - this is LITERALLY how they think. So, you sell them a size 11 shirt and she gets it and puts it on and her rolls stick out the sides and she says "no fucking way this is a size 11, I think its actually a size 9!" - there is no way she ever fit in a size 11 and should have bought a 14 but her fat ass ripped it putting it on but denies her ripping it was from her constant diet of Cheeseburgers - so she gets on eBay emotionally upset and says "SCAMMER. SHIRT IS CRAP!" - and files for a dispute on PayPal, wins, and you are left with no money and no shirt. So, eBay now says "this guy must be a risk!" - limits and suspends you while you have a basement full of ugly ass bras, shirts, and skirts you are never going to be able to sell.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...ch=negative&interval=30&_trkparms=negative_30

4) The competition is incredibly fierce, and because nobody goes on eBay and types in "Red White Tank Top" and looks at all 8300 listings they shop based on "Lowest: item Price + Shipping" which means you are competing with two groups of sellers:

The idiot who puts it up there for $1.99 + Free Shipping and won't make a damn penny because they don't know how eBay fee's work - and as soon as it sells, another retard with the same lack of knowledge gets on there to replace their item... AND you've got the Chinese Sellers, who are getting these things for 24 cents a piece and paying $1.90 in international shipping.

The problem is really that all of the listings are keyword driven, and the smarter you use the keywords, the higher chance someone is going to find your item. More keywords (long tail) result and more specific search, and a more specific item. So although there are 8300 listings for "Red White Tank Top" - there are only 76 listing results for "Womens Red White Tank Top Medium"

haha, great post scallen37, yeah this is indeed a summary of the problems with selling clothes in general. for ebay i recommend these tips:

- items that will not have size problems
- items which will not malfunction
- additionally: items which are small and light (easy to ship)

Most people on ebay that buy clothes look for new clothes not used ones. If want to sell used clothes you have to sell them in person. The only used clothing items that sell on ebay well are high end such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Versace, etc.

I tried selling used clothes. Don't waste your time. Its really hard for you to get exposure to your listings

My main monthly income comes from eBay. I'm a high volume seller of women clothing. What scallen37 said is spot on about women abusing the buyer protection program. A handful of buyers don't like to read the description and usually bids on an item by just looking at the photo and the title. They refuse to read measurements or certain details about the item.

No matter how detailed your description is, a buyer will intentionally abuse the buyer protection for a full refund. Even though you will likely win the dispute if your description is extremely detailed, a negative is the end result if the buyer loses. That's why in many cases, I will take a small lost on the shipping and allow for a return for a full refund. Having good feedback outweighs keeping a few dollars even though you know you've done nothing wrong at all.

The clothing category is a difficult one to get into. But if you really do intend to do so, prepare yourself for numerous messages each day and the occasional complaints.

LOL My buddy and his wife sold 60,000 worth of used clothes so far this year buying from thrift store, yard sales etc. Used clothing sells well if you know what you are doing. Issue is the competition. How to beat them is what you need to learn.

DougG79 said:

LOL My buddy and his wife sold 60,000 worth of used clothes so far this year buying from thrift store, yard sales etc. Used clothing sells well if you know what you are doing. Issue is the competition. How to beat them is what you need to learn.

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A lot of people actually buys clothes from thrift stores, yard sales and auctions. It is honestly a nice profit.

Some thrift stores do not know about antiques.

Selling used clothing as a "lot" is a bit more profitable. If the items are the same size, sell them as a LOT and be sure to use the keyword LOT and Ralph Lauren (which is a top search). Usually same season and same size works best. Take clear attractive pictures and before you post pics, review them; you don't want a dog toy in the background or dirty dishes etc. In your auction description, indicate you are cleaning out your wardrobe and have additional items for sale and will combine shipping costs. If you go ahead and measure the product and include it in the auction, you will save people the time of asking questions or many will just move on to an auction that is more detailed. For pants you want to include inseam measurements and the actual waist dimensions as measured not just what the tag reads. You also want to measure from waist to inseam. Shirts should include shoulder seam to shoulder seam, arm length and collar to bottom measurements. When taking photos make them look attractive, not a heap on the floor. Put the shirts on a hanger or half mannequin form. Pants should be folded neatly at the knee. To build up feedback you could purchase coupons or other inexpensive products that you will use. (half mannequin) The more work you put in, the more success you will have. With experience you will develop time savers.

Try getting information on selling clothes to third world countries. In the Philippines they sell second hand clothes in actual stores and online. Try googling "sulit philippines". You can also try the counterparts of ebay and craigslist in asian countries like taiwan, malaysia, vietnam, etc. I believe it would be easier to sell them there and at a higher profit since these clothes are harder to get in asia. Let the buyer shoulder the shipping costs. Ralph Lauren's here are pretty costly and getting a significant discount would be enough incentive for the asian buyers. This method would get you higher profits. If your interested to dispose of them in the Philippines you can contact me since I know of several stores here that sell these items.

I have sold clothing on ebay in high volume. The problems stated above are true, but it is still a profitable area if you are willing to stick to it. If you like clothes and fashion in general, then it should be doable. It is brutal when you first start out, as is with any large market, but once you have a system down and get a feel for the market (how much to charge to cover for return rates, logistics, ect), it scales pretty fast and has a high ceiling. Fierce competition exists because the demand is huge.

As for your used clothes issue, unless they are a in demand item, price has very little to do with sell through rates. Its all about keywords. Get a terapeak trial. It will save you years.

Also, do NOT buy your clothes from China. If you are buying them from China they are either super low quality, completely machine made, or you are buying from a middleman who is getting their stuff from South Korea. My best connection was from Burma (Myanmar), but the best styles are coming out of South Korea and Vietnam right now, and the best quality for cheapest price is coming out of Burma at something like $0.80 for a Mens Large stylish 50-50 shirt that can sell for $9.00 in China and probably $7.00 in U.S. at eBays market prices which is about 40% of what you might find at a large retail store in the U.S. or a mall.

Man...selling clothes on Ebay gotta be tough. People today are TRAINED to complain. F~%kers complain about everything and don't want to pay for anything either.

IF you have one, I would take those items to the nearest flea market and sell them there (if you have that many) or just VISIT the nearest flea market and find a vendor to do consignment.

Too many reasons for people to give to return items. Hell...i have a hard time finding NEW CLOTHES at the store.

Sell um for $1 plus shipping...just to get your ratings up.

ONE EXCEPTION: T-shirts. You can sell T-shirts without too many returns (i would hope).

Selling Cloths seems to be tough business. Shipping simply kills !

techlover said:

I've tried selling some of my no-longer-fitting, hardly worn Ralph Lauren polos on Craigslist and posted eBay auctions starting at a penny with no luck. I am assuming it is because of my 0 feedbacks on eBay. I would like to eventually start a clothing store on eBay, as I have tons of clothes I want to sell and access to others.

What is the best way of going out and doing this? Building up the feedback on my account or buying one that already has good feedback to get me started?

Sorry for the noobish questions but I'm fairly new to eBay, but not Craigslist.


Thanks so much guys!

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Hmm, if you think that eBay is too difficult because you have no feedbacks, you should try Vinted. This is kinda online second hand market - everybody sells their used clothes, and you can do that there too. For me it's a lot easier than eBay.

Is it safe to sell on craigslist?
How much less compare to ebay is a reasonable Craiglist price? 15% less?

Thank you.

techlover said:

I've tried selling some of my no-longer-fitting, hardly worn Ralph Lauren polos on Craigslist and posted eBay auctions starting at a penny with no luck. I am assuming it is because of my 0 feedbacks on eBay. I would like to eventually start a clothing store on eBay, as I have tons of clothes I want to sell and access to others.

What is the best way of going out and doing this? Building up the feedback on my account or buying one that already has good feedback to get me started?

Sorry for the noobish questions but I'm fairly new to eBay, but not Craigslist.


Thanks so much guys!

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Selling items on eBay that are so variable (i.e sizes, color and comfort) is not the best strategy.
To answer your other question. Yes. You need feedback so get started selling something simple and cheap.

spider7 said:

Man...selling clothes on Ebay gotta be tough. People today are TRAINED to complain. F~%kers complain about everything and don't want to pay for anything either.

IF you have one, I would take those items to the nearest flea market and sell them there (if you have that many) or just VISIT the nearest flea market and find a vendor to do consignment.

Too many reasons for people to give to return items. Hell...i have a hard time finding NEW CLOTHES at the store.

Sell um for $1 plus shipping...just to get your ratings up.

ONE EXCEPTION: T-shirts. You can sell T-shirts without too many returns (i would hope).

Click to expand...

No difference in selling t shirts or polos. The same people who buy those items by them both and therefore your idea of most will complain is the same people.

So much competition in clothing on ebay. You have to almost give your items away in the category to make any money.