Selling clothes: Action or fixed price???

[belladova]

Hello eBay Community

I have a closet full of clothing (many new - with tags) that I would like to sell on eBay and I would love your advice on how to list them.

Auction (w/ Buy It Now) 

or

Fixed price

Also, would you recommend that shipping fees be included in the price (Free Shipping) or to allow buyer to pay shipping?

[rixstuff]

You can always do fixed price with best offer option.  Dont go by the price on the tag though.  My sales increased when I started listing the shipping separately.  I guess it made the price look lower.

[muttlymob]

Have you run a search of the clothing items you have, to see how many are currently listed and if any have sold and for what selling price?

[pikabo-icu · Accepted solution]

I would also suggest fixed price with offers.

If you do an auction be sure to set a min starting price as often you'll only get one bid.

Clothing in high demand, designer labels, Rock Revival Jeans can bring decent auction prices but it just depends..

It's a tough market, it's so over saturated. 

Be sure to include measurements and ANY tiny defect to help avoid claims.. 

Somebody has a signature with this sage advice: "Post photos as if there's no description, describe as if there's no photos."

[deep-garnet-red]

I usually run clothing through at auction first. Then what doesn't sell I change to fixed price. If I do Best Offer I will raise my asking price. 

I have an aversion to running free shipping. I only do that for high priced items where my profit margin is huge.

[partial*eclipse]

If you are truly uncertain about what to ask for an item, then auction format is a good strategy.   As advised elsewhere, start the bidding at a price you'd be willing to sell for.  If it doesn't sell after one or two tries as an auction, then set it up as a fixed price listing.

Many garments will weigh less than a pound when packed; those can go as First Class packages, and the postage will be the same for all buyers so you might as well add the postage cost to the price of your item and offer Free shipping. Likewise, many heavier items can be rolled in a plastic bag and slid into a  padded flat-rate envelope; again, you can offer free shipping if you add the shipping cost to your asking price.

Listing clothing is very labor-intensive, because pictures and measurements are so important.  And it's a very saturated, competitive category.  Don't bother listing lower-priced items that will sell for very little or not at all.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

As a clothing buyer I prefer fixed price. Who wants to wait a week to find out if you won a shirt?

I also prefer actual shipping with combined shipping rules. I find free shipping discourages multiples and since I sell my own clothes they're mostly the same size and good to combine. Many buyers know that shipping is actually included in the price for free shipping and that if you combine the seller pockets a lot of extra shipping. As a buyer and seller I'm not comfortable with that.

[retrose1]

You need to analyze what you have and who you are to see if what you have is sellable.

How old are you - your style might be classic and that is not a style that brings bidders to auction.  If you are younger, it is even worse as young fashion flips even faster.

How old are the clothes - fashion has a 6 month to a year shelf life and so the older the garments are, the less likely you will sell them.

Where do you shop - if you buy at the basic department store, there are thousands of items just like yours that people are getting rid of.  High end brand names have a following because average people can't afford them.  A quality name brand hard to find item can get lots of bids.

What size are you - if you are petite, that is a disappearing size as the people of the world are taller on average than 20 years ago.   I stopped picking up petite sizes for resale a couple years ago because they don't sell.

Do you like unusual - Art to wear is a hot trend right now.

You should do a search for like items and see how many of them are listed and how many went off unsold and how many sold and for how much and that should help you decide if it is worth it to list them.