Educate me: Ebay vs Thrift Store

[WeLoveLilo05]

I have a whole bunch of clothes that no longer fit me and was going to bring them to a thrift shop (3 garbage bags full!). My sister brings her clothes there to sell and she gets paid when they get paid. Is that standard procedure for a thrift shop? She usually calls once every few weeks to see if any of her items sold and if so they tell her how much $ she has in her account and she could either pick it up, or wait til more accumulates.

Now my 2nd question is, I have other items. Toys (word world block playsets, fisher price little people playsets, little figurines, dolls, plushes, thomas trains, etc) as well as some of DD's clothing (some customs, disney store, osh kosh, jcpenny, pjs) etc. I also have some college text books. Should I sell these items on ebay? or should I bring them to a thrift shop as well?

I am so hesitant to do ebay. I am a but nervous since I never did it. Is it ok to put in your listing that you only ship twice a week? Which way do you think I would make more? WWYD? Tips/advice appreciated.

 

[Perditamarie]

Sounds like your sister goes to a consignment store...she gets a % of the purchase prices when an item sells and the store gets a%...but no $$ until it sells. There are also some used children's stores that buy items outright...a bit better than yard sale prices and way more convenient than a yard sale or consignment.

If you have a lot to sell, consider breaking the items into "lots" of clothes...like 2 outfits, or 4 pairs of pants, etc and sell on Craigslist.com...list your toys there too. That will avoid all of the fees, shipping and feedback headaches of ebay. Also great for selling large items that you can't really ship. Check out your local craigslist and see what is available and how much folks are asking.

Craigslist is also great because people will be looking for specific items, like a certain size/brand of clothes or Little People toys and I think you can price for more than if you were holding a yard sale. If you don't want to meet people at your home, you can arrange to meet them in a public place (ie; mall parking lot).

HTH