Make Money Selling Clothes on eBay

Do you have a passion for clothes and want to turn that passion into a business? If so, you'll be excited to know that you can actually make money selling clothes on eBay.

Nowadays, making money is easier than ever before. There is an avenue for you to generate revenue almost regardless of what your interest is. Love to write stories? You can do freelance writing or assist small authors. Are you passionate about some obscure subject? It's very likely you'll be able to tutor someone trying to learn about the subject. If your passion just so happens to be that you love clothing (collecting, handling, trading) then eBay could be a very profitable website for you.

This post will cover exactly how you can make money selling clothes on eBay and answer the questions “What should I sell to maximize my profits?”, “Can I actually make money with eBay reselling?”, and “How do I research which things I should sell?”

Let's get right into how you can make money selling clothes on eBay!

Important Things To Note

Before you learn about how to make money selling clothes on eBay, there are a few important things to take note of. The first is to determine whether eBay is the right platform for you at all or if you should turn elsewhere. When it comes to online marketplaces for clothes, there are 3 big players:

• eBay
• Etsy
• Poshmark

If you want to sell on eBay, you'll want to mostly target high-end products (think designer products) and items you won't find anywhere else. Etsy is the exact opposite where vintage, homemade, and homey items will sell better. Finally, for Poshmark, the key is to find items in your wardrobe that are from big (but affordable) brand names: think Lululemon.

After deciding where the best place for you to sell your clothes is, it's important to remember that (whichever platform you chose) you're competing against thousands of other sellers (all trying to beat you out). To actually make any meaningful money, you need to put in the work to set yourself apart.

The good news is: a LOT of sellers trying to make money online are extremely lazy. With some attention to detail, a little bit of effort, and some creativity, you can truly excel at selling stuff online. Let's get into the details of it.

How To Make Money Selling Clothes on eBay

Things to Sell: Do's and Don'Ts

The first step to selling clothes on eBay is making sure you're selling the right thing. Too many people go to their local clothing store, buy what they like, put it online, and are surprised that it isn't selling.

Recall from earlier that if you're to make money selling clothes on eBay, you need to be selling designer or brand name clothes. And not just mass-brand names like Nike, Patagonia, or even Calvin Klein, but really high-end brands like Gucci, Prada, or CK Collection.

Just because you like a particular item of clothing doesn't mean that customers on eBay will. What this means is when you're looking for things to sell, DO:

• Search online for similar items selling on similar platforms. If your item is easily findable and in high demand, chances are there's a market for it.
• Research prices and make sure you're targeting articles of clothing where are actually profitable for you.
• Pay attention to what season it is. You'll have tougher time trying to sell summer apparel in winter and vice versa.

DON'T:

• Go about and just buy whatever you find cute. Unlike your groceries, clothes that you can actually sell on eBay are NOT a dime a dozen, so you need to be careful about what you buy.
• Just focus on unused items. There are plenty of clothing articles on the market that are lightly used but can still demand a very high price point.
• Become a hoarder. Too much clothes in your house can severely affect your productivity and also make it harder to stay organized. Make sure you have a decent turnover rate before taking on more inventory.

Shooting Photos

Once you've identified and bought the piece of clothing that you're going to sell, the next step is to take photos of it.

This is where a lot of potential eBay sellers go wrong. They buy a nice piece of clothing which has the potential to sell for hundreds of dollars… then take crappy photos of them, put them online, and get sub-par offers.

Here are a few tips you'll want to keep in mind for shooting flattering photos of your clothing items that will sell:

• Make sure that the clothes don't have any wrinkles or creases in them. Yes, this does mean you might need to get your iron out.
• Take the photo in a clean area. Your piece of clothing might be worth a hundred dollars, but nobody is going to pay you that price if they see it in a messy room.
• Use natural lighting. Countless tests on focus groups and tons of experience have shown that using flash while taking these photos is not a good idea.
• Edit your photos via photoshop or iPhoto. Now, this isn't to say change the entire photo (that would be deceitful marketing), instead, simply make the photo a bit brighter and make sure that it looks exactly the way it does in real life.
• Take multiple pictures. You won't get paid if buyers don't trust you. One way to lower their guard is to take multiple pictures including at least: one from the front, one from the back, a closeup, and any flaws that the article of clothing may have.

When it comes to ways to make money, selling clothes on eBay is a pretty light side hustle. That being said, it's far from passive income. To make that extra money you still need to put in the work. This includes taking flattering photos of your clothes so that they reach a wider audience and have a better chance of selling online.

Craft Your Description

The final step in selling clothes on eBay to earn money is to craft an enticing title and description for your article of clothing. This all starts with…

Title

Just like how bloggers and freelancers need to think about SEO, as an eBay seller, you too need to think about how searchable your title is.

Here are some things that you should absolutely include in your title:

• Brand Name: Louis Vuitton
• Color: Gray
• Adjective describing clothing: Checkered
• Clothing type: Knit top
• Size: S

Putting it together, it might look something like this: Louis Vuitton Gray Checkered Knit Top S

If you have more descriptors that are helpful, feel free to toss it in too. This can includes things like whether your article of clothing is new, if it's made out of any special material, or if it's a rare item.

Description

When crafting the description, make sure that you're as thorough as possible. A pro tip is to go online and search for your item, then see how big retailers advertise it. This can give you a great starting places and you can snag a few ideas from their description. That being said, don't copy their description verbatim. Not only is that probably illegal but customers want you to be genuine in your description. They don't know which listing are legit and which are scams so the description is a great place to showcase that you're an actual human being with the right intentions.

Some things that you should include in your description if you can are:

• The items name, style, and color.
• How the item could potentially fit into their life. Here's where you can get creative to really sell it.
• Whether or not the item of clothing actually fits the size it says that it fits (and whether it's in European size or US size).
• Is there anything wrong with the piece of clothing?
• If not, why are you selling it? Be careful here as no shopper wants to buy an unwanted garment.
• How many bucks did you originally pay for it? A lot of customers are penny pinchers themselves and want to know that they are getting a deal (or are able to make more money by reselling the clothing article themselves).

An important thing to really pay attention to is size. One of the biggest fears that a customer has is that they see an item they really like online, write a paycheck for it (or pay via Paypal), the garment gets sent to their house, and once they bring it into their own home….. it doesn't fit.

To advertise your clothes like a real pro, make sure to write your size description as detailed as possible. Make legitimate measurements of your clothing articles and then describe how exactly you took those measurements. Sizes aren't standard at all, and if you can alleviate the buyers' fears about size, you've successfully lowered another barrier and moved yourself one step closer to a sale.

Writing a captivating description can mean the difference between eBay just being another way to earn extra money vs. eBay providing you with a whole separate extra income!

Final Tips

Before you rush off and start snapping away at photos and earning money with eBay, here are some final tips that could save you a lot of time and potentially improve your efficiency:

• Pay attention to shipping costs – If you decide to pass the costs of shipping onto your customers, just be aware that it might mean the difference between whether they are willing to pay for the item or not. If you decide to offer free shipping instead, make sure you know how much it will end up costing you. eBay offers a handy shipping calculator just for this purpose: be sure to use it!
• Do multiple items at once – If you're like me and live in a place like Canada (where it's usually rainy and gloomy), you know that a sunny day with good weather shouldn't go to waste. This is true for going outside and enjoying the sun, but ALSO true for taking pictures of your clothes. One strategy is to wait until you have multiple items of clothes and then as soon as the next sunny day hits, go outside, snap photos of them all, and go through the steps to listing each of them. This will save you tons of time (and a lot of money) compared to if you had done each item one by one.
• Don't be afraid to relist – Chances are, you'll have items that you can't monetize. If this occurs, don't fret. Just tweak some things to the listing and try again. Start with changing the price ever so slightly and work your way down until you hit your absolute minimum price. If that still doesn't work, then consider putting up different photos of your item.

How To Make Money Selling Clothes on eBay

So, you want to make some extra cash and are looking to get paid to sell clothes on eBay. It's true that this is a great way to make money if you have a passion for clothes, but that doesn't mean that you won't need to put in any work.

Unlike using apps such as Swagbucks or Acorns or InboxDollars (where you can usually only make a few cents at a time), the payout for successfully selling clothes on eBay can total over hundreds of dollars. This means that you won't be afforded the luxury of “easy-money” and will actually have to earn your keep.

This post has provided you with a detailed breakdown of the steps you'll need to take if you want to make money selling clothes on eBay. So what are you waiting for? All you need is some spare-time and a determination to make some money on the side, and you're off to races! Start following these steps and start earning money with eBay today.