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Clothing Sellers Volume
 

I am wondering how much of a volume people sell for clothing. And do clothing sellers just do one type ei: women or mens or kids? I am curious if people are doing specific clothing niches or just listing mass volumes of whatever they can find. No one has to tell me what brands they sell or specifics if they aren't comfortable.

I have been sticking to mid to high end labelled clothing and am wondering if it is worth branching out to other areas in the clothing market. I sell less but more expensive items, but I am thinking I am missing out on bigger profits.

Re: Clothing Sellers Volume
 

Clothing is very tough. You are right about brands etc. Depending on what you are sourcing and where you are getting it from it is a struggle. Even if you are like myself and go out of you way to take measurements of every pc etc. You still get buyers who can't read and try to screw you over saying the item doesn't fit etc. Like it is your fault when the listing says please check the measurements before purchasing sizing can vary year to year. We are not responsible for items that do not fit. er time consuming too. Especially for people like me who take measurements by hand

It seriously sucks. You have to have something with very good margins to make it work. Selling clothing the right way is measurments of every size. So when I do buy particular pcs I try get get mass quantity to cut down on the put into it.

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The best thing I can recommend is spend 30 minutes a day (easy) on either mens or womens clothing sold items category. You can either narrow it down to "casual shirts" or "jackets/coats" but I like to look at them all. By doing this you get a feel for what your missing while thrift shopping. High end brands for one tend to be risky with ebay, not to mention tend to be VERY saturated. After say about a month or two from just simply seeing whats selling you get a feel for the market. Its pretty easy from there when your shopping for clothes.

I still check clothes I have a good feeling about. For instance I just sold a Pringle by Scotland 100% cashmere sweater for 75 bucks, paid 5 for it. Of course cashmere is a instant red flag while shopping (if your seasoned) but not all cashmere clothes sell for good profit.

When I first started out I was all about high end brands. Now most of my profit isn't off high end brands, they're good to have but not my main revenue source. For instance getting a beat up iron maiden rock concert tee from the 70's could sell well past 150+ depending on the concert/history.

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Thanks so much for your input. I do feel like I am a missing out by just focusing on designer items. They are my favourite thing to list. I was a consignment buyer for a store and a pricer for a well known thrift store. I am a label encyclopaedia but most of my customers are from the US. Which is challenging since clothing there is so much cheaper to begin with.

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I thought about trying clothes, but I can just imagine the issues of people complaining about this and that doesn't fit. "Ain't nobody got time fa dat" lol

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Same here, I have sold Sweaters of a specific brand but yet to have any issues...but I can't imagine trying to sell women clothing like skirts, tops, pants, dresses. One area where I did marvelous was women's Lingerie but that was more of a brick and mortar type store.

Re: Clothing Sellers Volume
 

Same here, I have sold Sweaters of a specific brand but yet to have any issues...but I can't imagine trying to sell women clothing like skirts, tops, pants, dresses. One area where I did marvelous was women's Lingerie but that was more of a brick and mortar type store.

Even used but clean womens lingerie does good. When I was in consignment transvestites would come in and buy it.

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Exactly, I had Women (who were men really) that spent more $$$$ than women by a long shot. The few weeks before Valentines was the best for me. I once had a "couple" spend $800 in 1 visit.

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Selling online is a different animal than in person. But the rents where I am are ridiculous. Even if I had the money I wouldn't do it. I kept waffling on whether to do b&m because of my area. I used to make a lot of money for a few different businesses. What I would like to do is sell clothing online but as everyone knows its a saturated market.

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I haven't had 1 return in the last 4 months, and I offer 14 day returns on ALL clothes! As long as you measure the clothes properly and 100% honest with the condition, you shouldn't see to many returns. When you measure enough clothes you get a feel for the measurements. Some clothes run big and some small, once you do it long enough you will tell the difference and then can mention it in the listing. If its a medium but fits a little big I mention it in the listings, builds trust with the buyer to. Most sellers selling clothes don't do it properly. Its pretty easy to create a system and once you create a system that works for you its a breeze listing. Its also pretty easy to stand out and look way more professional then the rest... which means way more money coming you way.

Selling anything under 10 dollars your just asking for trouble. :nono:

When people buy used clothes they really inspect it, like I would if I bought something used off ebay. So basically any stain even if its tiny as a tiny can be you need to take a picture of it and mention it in your listing. If you don't mention it, then you can kiss your money goodbye if its a scammer.

All this usually can be avoided if you check your clothes throughly before buying them.

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So true. My only neg feedbacks were from people who bought my items $9.99 and under. I guess sometimes it attracts the wrong type of customer.

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Me too. I tried selling really small items which I lost money on in shipping to get my feedback up. 2 of out 20 items got feedbacks. Waste of my money and time.

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It is not just clothing. I have found that the buyers who want items for the cheapest prices are ALWAYS the biggest complainers. I avoid their business like the plague.

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I am trying to find my sweet spot for average price per item. I was doing higher priced items selling less making more. But I am still trying to find that sweet spot.

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I sell clothing. My niche is women/kids formal wear. This is a tough area, prepare for high returns.

Re: Clothing Sellers Volume
 

I sell clothing. My niche is women/kids formal wear. This is a tough area, prepare for high returns.
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I know. its tougher now than before. Especially considering so many new stores offer free returns now.

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You'd think it'd be the opposite. Why freak out when its under ten bucks? Its the people with nothing to do and you then become their source of amusement.

:ranger:

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If a customer asks to return the clothing (even if you don't offer it) you'll have to return it anyways, as with clothing buyers tend to win (unless your confident in what you sell and know how to talk to eBay) and you get bad feedback in result!

Not sure how womens/kids differ from mens on return rate? If it fits it fits...end of story.

Are you taking proper measurments for the different style of clothing? Not everyone has high returns on clothing, and I do some womens.

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Anyone who sends me a lowball offer on clothing. I avoid them like crazy. In general anyone who goes out of their way to send me something like that is always problematic. You can usually look at their feedback left for others and it is full of negatives and neutrals. They think they can have something for nothing.

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Do you guys find auctions or BIN or BIN w/ Offer best for clothing? I kind of mix it up.

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It depends on the item. Usually if its around 60+ I "think" about adding best offer. I usually only add best offer if I don't know the value of the actual clothing. So instead of selling it for super low I test the waters out...

Putting the price high enough that maybe a stupid buyer actually pays that amount (it happens) and then I include a best offer. It all depends what type of traffic the listing is getting to. If I have a decent amount of follows, and or have alot of clicks I generally remove the best offer...

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Fantastic proactive approach especially seeing as most of your items you only have one of.

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I only have 61 items for sale right now and 35 of them are accessories. I don't have any vintage on ebay anymore. I was selling on etsy but the sales are so sporadic. I am really thinking about separating vintage vrs contemporary on my new stealth accounts. I feel like vintage on ebay is like a drop of water in the ocean. And after using the madmen description i am kind of scared about what words I can use to describe things.

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I can't say the name of the brand or you'd be able to know my account. I just sold a pair of jeans for the highest used price in the last 3 months on eBay and had best offer included.

I put the price for 69.95 w/ best offer and ended up selling them for $46. Funny thing is even though the pants are in great shape they have a white stain on them...

Ended up having 4 offers and told them I was sending the same offer to all 4 bidders, whoever acts first gets the pants. :)

These jeans had a snakeskin inspired look which if you know clothing sells typically good on eBay. Anything that makes you look twice at typically sells on eBay. I've sold some of the most outrageous looking clothes for really good profit. Its those clothes you get the best profit on.

For instance even though I myself didn't sell any ...

Sellers were selling "ugly christmas sweaters" anywhere from $35 to $100 up until the new years! I mean the listing stated "ugly christmas sweaters" and people bought these sweaters like they were going out of style! The sellers most likely bought the sweaters at goodwills/salvation army for $5! Easy profit..haha.

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Auctions mostly.

Re: Clothing Sellers Volume
 

I can't say the name of the brand or you'd be able to know my account. I just sold a pair of jeans for the highest used price in the last 3 months on eBay and had best offer included.

I put the price for 69.95 w/ best offer and ended up selling them for $46. Funny thing is even though the pants are in great shape they have a white stain on them...

Ended up having 4 offers and told them I was sending the same offer to all 4 bidders, whoever acts first gets the pants.

These jeans had a snakeskin inspired look which if you know clothing sells typically good on eBay. Anything that makes you look twice at typically sells on eBay. I've sold some of the most outrageous looking clothes for really good profit. Its those clothes you get the best profit on.

For instance even though I myself didn't sell any ...

Sellers were selling "ugly christmas sweaters" anywhere from $35 to $100 up until the new years! I mean the listing stated "ugly christmas sweaters" and people bought these sweaters like they were going out of style! The sellers most likely bought the sweaters at goodwills/salvation army for $5! Easy profit..haha.
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I know where i am they have stands downtown selling those sweaters for parties

Re: Clothing Sellers Volume
 

Lots of variables. Brand, time of year (shorts, jackets, etc). Lots of factors. I do mostly BIN. I have found when I can get items in multiple sizes and do a multi variation listing it boosts sales big times.

It kinda something were every seller will have their own preference. Clothing is much different than others products sold on eBay.

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I personally see no point to doing auctions with clothes unless its a rare item. Unless you dont want to stock up on inventory (which makes sense) BIN is by far the most profitable on eBay. Some high volume sellers do do auctions though so there must be something to it, its not for me though.

You also get different customers. I've found when you have BIN you have WAY less headaches from scammers, or bad apples. Most of the time if they BIN they have 100% intent on purchasing the item. Thats not always the case sadily with auctions. Especially with high end brands like versace.

Re: Clothing Sellers Volume
 

I personally see no point to doing auctions with clothes unless its a rare item. Unless you want you don't want to stock up on inventory (which makes sense) BIN is by far the most profitable on eBay. Some high volume sellers do do auctions though so there must be something to it, not for me though.
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Thanks for your input. I am still trying to work out the kinks. I noticed when I do auctions sometimes people buy and when I do a bin it sits for a long time. The items that I used to make a lot on are not the same as even last year. Anyways, I like talking to clothing people because we are going through the same thing. Its different than the people who sell bulk or wholesale items. Both have their challenges I know.

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You build up inventory. Its a investment. Once you have a large enough inventory you'll see sales increase over time. I'm still building my inventory! I like to have anywhere from 500-750 clothes running daily. Thats alot considering I'm obviously selling my current clothing daily.

If your serious about selling clothes, its a investment. Once you have the inventory in place you can afford to list your items for high and let them sit, they WILL sell eventually. The thing is when you have over 200 items listed, chances are you'll see more and more sales.

Once you get over the hump of having that inventory in place, you really can see GOOD money from clothes! Obviously you gotta know your stuff though. Studying ebay is key. The market ALWAYS changes. What might have been popular last month, isn't this month...(like ugly christmas sweaters)

(i always have my phone handy when thrift shopping. Its impossible to know all brands and retain all that information. I always double check on ebay before I purchase. I triple check the condition because its VERY easy to miss subtle cosmetic flaws. Like a tiny hole, zipper not working, holes in pockets, stain under hood..those things can make your clothing worthless sometimes.

Re: Clothing Sellers Volume
 

You build up inventory. Its a investment. Once you have a large enough inventory you'll see sales increase over time. I'm still building my inventory! I like to have anywhere from 500-750 clothes running daily. Thats alot considering I'm obviously selling my current clothing daily.

If your serious about selling clothes, its a investment. Once you have the inventory in place you can afford to list your items for high and let them sit, they WILL sell eventually. The thing is when you have over 200 items listed, chances are you'll see more and more sales.

Once you get over the hump of having that inventory in place, you really can see GOOD money from clothes! Obviously you gotta know your stuff though. Studying ebay is key. The market ALWAYS changes. What might have been popular last month, isn't this month...(like ugly christmas sweaters)
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Thanks for the advice. I am going to shift from only the really high end designer items to more mid range items as well. I honestly wish I would get more Canadian Buyers. The shipping is my one area like most people I think that is holding me back a bit.

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Do you think its a good idea to separate the designer items and the mid level ones to different accounts, or vintage separate. I don't know if that really matters or if makes the difference to buyers.

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I would disagree. Some heat of the moment sports related items. Jerseys shirts hats can play to the emotion. Sometimes deserving auction. But in general I would side with you. Fixed price is the way to go.

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I agree 100%. Clothing many times is a patience game. The value is more consistent in many cases opposed to things like electronics which are hot potato in many cases. Each category has it own issues. Clothing is definitely rough. Until I find the magic product this is a large percentage of the items I deal with.

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Will appeal to different buyers

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I have specific accounts that tailor to certain clothing. My accounts names I try to make look as profressional as possible. Nothing like aa443, or clothinghut321.
Haha..

I would defiantly seperate the clothing. In the long run you will build a customer base if you sell enough of the item(s), and provide great customer service. Relook at how you package to. Clothing should be one of the easiest things to package on ebay. It should also generally be one of the cheaper things to ship.

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Its consistent though. The worst thing that can happen is having extra jackets if it comes summer, or as now I have shorts that won't sell because its winter. I'm just starting to see real profit come in.

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How does everyone store their clothing? I live in a small apartment so I have plastic labelled bins. But I am assume if you are listing 700+ items you must have a system to keep it all accessible?

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I often start at a high price and then every week drop the price by £5 until it sells.

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I don't have 700+ items, but ~100 right now; my girlfriend found a clothes rack with laundry bins being thrown out a few months ago. Something like this
Laundry Center - Rolling Chrome or White Laundry Center w/ Garment Rack from Neu Home | KitchenSource.com with a mesh platform on top.
I keep everything just folded up in the bins, nicer items on hangers, and jeans/misc on top folded up.
This was free though (leans a bit when you roll it :FF:), I wouldn't invest in a bunch of these unless I was moving a LOT more clothes.

Maybe just an adjustable kitchen rack like http://image.ec21.com/image/vama365/...tchen_Rack.jpg

Or even a bunch of plastic milk crates? You can stack those up to the ceiling and just put a label on the outside for sizes, styles, etc...