Ebay question? How many items in a lot?

[housecat]

I posted earler this afternoon in a thread about selling on Craigslist. I took a look, and it looks great for some areas, but my region isn't listed. The closest one I see is an hour and a half away, and it doesn't look as if it's very popular there. I did make a request to add my area, and I may try to list a couple of things just to see, but I figured for now I'd give Ebay another shot.

Now here's a question for you sellers with more experience. I have a TON of children's clothing to sell, both boys' and girls', sizes infant-5. Most of the items are name-brand, high quality, i.e. Gap, Gymboree, Goodlad, Bonnie Jean, Class Club, and boutique brands. In the past, I've done pretty well selling my items individually, but lately I'm lucky just to break even on some really cute high-quality outfits. My kids have entirely too many clothes and rarely wear things more than twice. I wash everything in cold and line-dry or steam the items, so most of them are practically new.

I know people have good luck with lots, so I'm willing to give that a shot. What is the size of a good lot? I don't want to sell lots that are too huge because I don't think I'd make much profit. I don't mean to sound clueless, but I'm losing money listing things individually...people just aren't buying like they used to, and I start most of my auctions at $0.99!

Tell me about the size of your lots, starting prices, etc. I've got to downsize and get rid of this stuff, but it kind of sickens me to just give it away! Help!

TIA :sunny:

[babiesX2]

The few clothes lots Dh did had about 10 outfits in each.

Dh bought clothes lots and some of them had about 30 outfits! :earseek:

Dh and I sold 2 lots of clothes on eBay, and took the rest to the consignment shop. Dh listed the lots and seriously underestimated shipping costs. After we ate the shipping costs, paid Paypal fees, and eBay fees, our profit was roughly $1 for each of the lots. :guilty:

[housecat]

^^^Really??? Wow...see, now that's another thing that scares me. How are you making out with the consignment shops? I'm tempted to forego the time, effort, fees, etc. with Ebay and just go that route. I used to do so well on there, but now, it just seems it's not worth the trouble! Life is busy enough with handling two little ones and working!

I think I'm going to advertise a garage sale for next weekend. Set my prices on what I would like for each item, and hang a big sign that they are not negotiable. I mean, seriously, I'm not going to sell a practically new boutique outfit for a buck. What I don't sell, I'll haul to the consignment shop. They'll mark them up a little, and I'll get 50%.

[AnninIowa]

Clothes, especially kids, are so competitive on eBay as there are literally millions of moms just like you selling them! Just like in a regular business, the ones who have been doing it the longest has a built-in customer base; so those who do it less-frequently are finding it harder and harder to sell. Not to mention that the stores are full of clearance items right now - a lot of competition for eBay clothing sellers. If you have winter items, you might was to wait a month and then try listing them - items will be full price in stores, so people will be looking for bargains. Unless you have really high-priced, sought-after stuff (like Lily Pulitzer, for example), lots aren't the way to sell clothes, IMHO. I think your idea of a garage sale is great - get rid of what you can there (knowing that a lot of people shop garage sales to resell themselves on eBay).

Good luck!! :thumbsup2