[begaines]

Hello all....I am a stay at home mom and was trying to help bring in a little money. We have a lot of girls clothes. I have been selling some on ebay. Do any of you sell on ebay? How do you do? Any pointers? Do you sell a lot and do you make a good amount of money....I am open to any pointers that you have? Like do you list on certain days or a certain amount of items per day?

[annaguat]

Besure to add enough for both shipping and some for handling. Just don't make it rediculous. Make sure your starter big is not too low as many items sell after just a couple of bids if not just one. Also with clothing it is nice to sell items in small lots that go together and or can be used together. I buy but I prefer to get tops and bottoms that will go together and are from the same size and season. We live in a state I have aboslutely no use for back East winter clothes. So if you put a snow suit in there and fleece stuff I will not bid even if it has lots of nice summer items too. Besure to mention, if this is true, pet free, smoke free, any stains etc. I stopped for years because people sold stuff from a smkers home and that is a big problem for us as I have children that get asthma attacks from smoke even in clothes. I can not emphazise enough tha tpictures and quality of pictures if very important. Oh yeah do look at when your item will close. If the whole world is sleeping then they will most likely not get up to bid on some clothes. Anna

[cbmstephanie]

I sell a fair amount of stuff on Ebay. There is a link somewhere on the site that will take you to a calendar that will tell you if it's a good day or not to end your auction. I usually try to end on Wednesday or Thursday evening and not on Monday.

I too like to purchase clothes in a lot. I like it best if the lot is really like items...either play clothes, good clothes, etc.

I think it takes a few times listing a similiar item to get a good idea of what to start the bid out at. I list mostly my husbands cycling jerseys and shorts and have learned that if I start at $7.99 I will get more watchers and actually bring more at the end then if I start at 9 or 10.

There is also an area called "what's it worth" that I use quite a bit to find like items that have recently sold.

Have fun ebaying!

[Hopingsoon]

On stuff that I know will get a lot of interest, I start things at .01 (these are my Coach purses, designer accessories, etc.). I don't recommend this on something more unique that will only bring a limited number of visitors. I find the penny auctions end up going for a higher price than if I start them at the price I reasonally expect them to end at.

A lot of people say Sunday nights are the best nights to end auctions. For whatever reason, I've always had better luck with Thursdays for clothing/accessories, and Saturday late morning/early afternoon for make-up (I save up all those make-up bonus kits that I don't use and re-sell them).

If you are sending larger boxes, make sure to measure and weigh them before listing - check the websites at USPS & UPS for all possible shipping costs. Make sure the price you charge in your auction adequately covers your postage. The postal service recently raised their priority mail rates, and a parcel I thought was going to cost me $9 to ship ended up costing me $27. Boy, was I livid over that one!

[Michelle Smiles]

I don't sell much but from a bidders standpoint...I agree with those who mentioned reasonable shipping and good photos of the items and putting things in lots. I rarely buy single items unless it is a holiday dress or halloween costume - it isn't worth the shipping. I always buy in lots and I don't bid if I can't see the items I am bidding on in the photos.

[LJR1974]

I'd also try selling on craigslist.org. I bought 2 lots of boy's clothes for Zack. It's local (and free!) so no shipping hassle.

[maccafan]

I once read an e-book on how to sell on eBay, and two of the best tips I've used are:
1. Start the bidding at $.99 or less; people will start bidding because it's such a deal, and then will keep bidding because they want to win.
2. Many people only seach titles. If a word in your title is commonly misspelled, include both the misspelled and correctly spelled word in your title.

Happy selling!

[mamaskoby]

Make sure to put a reserve if you don't want to part with an expensive item for lets say $5.00 or something really low.
I forgot to put a reserve and lost a lot of money on an item, I was so sad!

[VReed]

Being the Grammy on the boards, I find myself buying like crazy on ebay - mostly my grandkids' clothes. My daughter, Carterj6, who has Elia, nearly 6 and Ava, nearly 4 from Guat. sells like crazy. She makes a lot of money on her kids' clothes. She also goes to Junior League Thrift stores and does well there too. Last fall she bought a beautiful black cashmere coat for $15 and sold it for $200. Her store is Princey Lu Boutique. She is going to teach me to sell things too. It can be very addictive and make yourself money at the same time. She will buy things after christmas when the toys are 80% off, put them away, and now she is about to get them out to sell.. Good luck to any others who have the "habit"!!