Good News, Bad News

[Disney2NJ]

Good News--I found out my husband had a PIN attached to his name for free dining during Jersey Week (in November when the kids have off from school). Yahoo! I was thrilled.

Bad News--Finances recently changed and I'm questioning whether or not a trip in November is the smart thing to do.

So--my solution is to go ahead with my twice-a-year listing on ebay of my daughters clothes. I've done this for about two years or so. Some auctions do great and others so-so.

Any advice from the experts???...I need them to all do well this time.
I list in outfits. Try to get them all listed within a weeks time and offer combined shipping discounts. Many are gymboree so I make certain I have the line identified.

Are Sunday nights still ideal for an ending time? Do you use a third party listing service such as Seller's Sourcebook? Do you start auctions at .99? (I read on another board that they thought this made the price stay too low. Do you pay for additional pictures?

Thanks for any advice you may be able to share with me!

 

[SarahKate]

I can't say much about the day of the week, but my DH has done a ton of eBay sales over the years and so much of it is in the pictures you take. He has "won" countless auctions and gotten extremely low prices ultimately because the seller's pictures were not great and the bids stayed low. Take HIGH quality pictures, in good light and give very detailed descriptions. That increases your chances of getting top dollar. I'm sure you'll get lots of other feedback but that's my 2 cents worth.

 

[PrincessMom4]

Do you have large items to sell? For example I got a wagon 2years ago and it cost around $250. Well the kids don't or won't go on it. So I am selling to make 1.) room in my house and 2.) to make some bonus money.

 

[3boymthr]

Actually, there's this website that tracks these statistics and according to the website (I forget the name) 7 day auctions started/ending on a Tuesday night between 7 PM and 9 PM EST do about 10 - 15% better if not more so than auctions started/ending on a Wednesday night at the same time. They do considerably better than auctions starting or ending any day during the day and especially better than those ending on a Saturday or Sunday.

When I first saw the statistic I was like but when I sat back and considered the statistic I figured out those are the times I'm most likely to be home and have nothing to do and I'm guessing that's true for most of the US.

I've tested these statistics out and you know what I really do make more money on those days and I have more successful auctions (those where I actually sell my item) when they end on a Tuesday or Wednesday between 7PM and 9PM. Now that 10-15% is not much (about 50 cents to $1 more per auction) but in the end it does add up.

Sometimes I do pay for additional pictures, it's worth the money I think for high end items, not so much for items that are going to sell for less than $5.

You may want to reconsider your strategy of selling items as single outfits. Compare your number of items and the amount of fee you'll pay (make sure to include your estimated final value fee) vs what they'll sell individually for vs what they'd sell for as a lot. You might make a little less per item selling them as a lot but you may more than make up that difference in your seller fees. Consider grouping all the pieces within a line as a single lot as opposed to a single outfit as a lot.

I've found it doesn't pay to start items at 99 cents. I might get more watchers and possible a couple more bids but I almost never sell the item for as much as if I started it out at at the minimum price I really wanted to sell it for. Sometimes even I've gotten sc***** starting at 99 cents where I had a $500 item sell for 99 cents and I was stuck. It used to be okay to take that risk when e-bay would let you cancel and item within hours of auction end if there were no bids but they don't anymore so you can really loose money. Make sure tho to price your item strategically. I find if I price my item so that the combined shipping and starting price is even just 5 cents less than a comparable item I get more bids.

 

[MoniqueU]

As a buyer I am more interested in lots of clothes. I don't want 10 different boxes coming to my door which would make my DH suspicous LOL.

 

[DVCBELLE]

Last summer - I put my daughter's clothes in a large lot on Craigslist - I sold a lot of 50 pieces of clothing for $100 - I had listed them as some nice and some play condition clothes - nothing super nice and I sold two lots easily. You might want to try that route first!

 

[Disney2NJ]

I just wanted to say THANKS to everyone for sharing their tips. You definitely gave me some things to think about that had not crossed my mind before. Thanks again!

 

[EnchantedPrincess]

I have sold my daughter's clothes on bay but I do them in lots of 30-50 pieces. I usually end them on either a Sunday or a Tuesday but never on Fridays or Saturdays. I have also used Seller Source Book in the past but that was when I was selling more on eBay and made enough to cover the subscription. For my dd's clothes, I also pay to have my auction featured and I feel that it was totally worth it since each lot would sell for close to $200 or more. I also do 7 day auctions. Good luck.