Some of the hottest-selling merchandise on eBay is children’s name-brand clothing, from stores like Gymboree, The Children’s Place and Baby Gap. Beginning eBay sellers are often told that only name-brand clothing is worth selling. This can be discouraging for those of who buy most of our children’s clothes from discount department stores like JC Penney and Sears. I’ve found that there is a market on eBay for nearly all children’s clothing, as long as it is in good, clean condition.
The biggest disadvantage to selling generic clothing brands rather than name brands is, of course, a decreased profit. I look at it this way, though: my eBay profits are primarily re-invested in more clothing for my children. Since I don’t buy the pricier clothes, I don’t need to make as much on the clothing I am selling.
Here are some tips for selling your children’s non-name-brand clothing on eBay.
Sell Clothing in Lots
Unless I have a special item, like a holiday dress or a coat, I always group clothes into lots. People are looking for a bargain on eBay, and paying one combined shipping cost for several items of clothing is more appealing than pay separate shipping fees. Separate clothing by size and season. Depending on how many items I have, I divide them up into groups of three, four, or more items. The content of each lot really depends on the clothing.
Make Your Title Searchable
One of the most aspects of eBay marketing is have a “searchable” title. For example, if you are selling a summer boys’ clothing lot that includes three shirts and two pairs of shorts in size 3T, include the terms summer, shirts, shorts, 3T, and lot in your title. And if you do have any name brands at all in your lot, make sure you include them in your title. If one of the shirts in the sample auction above were from Gymboree, I would use the title, “Lot Boys 3T Summer Clothes Shirts Shorts Gymboree.
Be sure to include any alternate spellings or possible mispellings if you have the room in your title. If you are selling a lot of size 6 1/2 summer sandals, consider including sandals, sandels and sandles in the title. Also, you might want to use the sizes 6 1/2 and 6.5. It does not matter if your title does not “flow.” It is much more important to ensure your title is imminently searchable.
One of the most important aspects for increasing your future sales is to have good feedback from your buyers. In order to receive this feedback, you must be completely honest when describing your items. Look over the clothes you are selling and examine them very thoroughly. Disclose any flaws, no matter how small or imperceptible. Although some buyers are very understanding about mistakes, there are also those who can be brutal in their feedback if there is any little thing displeasing about the merchandise they receive. Likewise, be completely honest about the condition of the clothes. If you are selling fleece pajamas that have pilling, do not state their condition as “like new.” Describe it as “gently used” or in “good used condition.”
Photograph Each Item
I like to take one picture of all items in the lot together and use this for my gallery photo. It is also helpful, though, to take an individual photo of each item. This way your potential buyers can see each piece in better detail. You do not have to pay the fee to upload additional photographs. Just upload these pictures to a free photo sharing service like Photobucket. Then you can paste the HTML code provided into your auction description. The photos will then appear with your description.
Prepare Clothing for Shipment
The only negative feedback I have ever left was for a lot of clothing that arrived obviously unlaundered. A stray dog hair or two does not bother me, but bits of food still crusted on clothes…unacceptable. Make sure the clothing is freshly laundered and nicely folded before you ship.
Although you may state in your auction that you are not responsible for items once they have been shipped, I think it is just good customer service to provide some sort of protection for the clothes. Just fold them and wrap them in a plastic grocery bag. This way, if for some reason the package gets wet, the clothing will not arrive a sodden mess.
Use Priority Mail
Unless you have a surplus of boxes, I would use Priority Mail. You can get free boxes at your post office. You will, of course, save on shipping by using Parcel Post, but if you have to buy boxes, you will cut into that savings. Just be honest with your customers and yourself about what the shipping cost will be. For accuracy, pick up a scale so you can weigh your package before even posting the auction.
It is completely possible to make a respectable profit reselling your children’s clothing on eBay, even if they are not name brand. Good marketing, honesty and proper preparation go a long way in making up for the generic names on the clothing’s tags.
