TIME TO CLEAR OUT THOSE CLOSETS AND MAKE SOME CASH ON EBAY!

January is a great time to clear out your closets of those unwanted clothes that either don't fit or you don't wear.  In the process you can earn some cash to cover those extra expenses from the holidays.  You may be surprised to know that clothing is actually a big seller on ebay.  I have dabbled in ebay in the past and really had a lot of fun doing it. 

If you are like me with growing kids,  you have an endless supply of clothing to get rid of.  First off I went through my own closet and ended up with quite a pile.  I got some new clothing from Christmas and I needed to find more closet space to hang everything, so clearing out the closet was a necessity for me. 

Here are some ideas to get you started on ebay.

Look through your unwanted clothing for rips, tears and stains. 
Anything in less than great condition will not be a good choice to sell on ebay. 

Sort the clothing by things to sell, things to give away and things to throw out.
Items that will do the best on ebay are going to be your brand name and designer clothing.  Good quality items that are not popular brands are a good choice to give away to your favorite charity.

Take a look at your pile of items to sell.  Organize them by size.  You want to sell items together that are around the same size. 

A great idea is to sell clothing in a lot.  Instead of selling one piece, consider selling a group of clothing.  It makes more sense for a buyer to purchase a big lot to cut down on shipping.  You can order free priority mail flat rate boxes from the Post Office, print out the label from your home and have your mail carrier pick up the packages right from your front door.  I like to sell lots of 8 to 10 pieces, so that they fit in the box.  This way you can charge $9.85 for shipping and know that you can ship it anywhere in the continental United States for that price. 

You will need to take digital photos.  You do have to pay extra for photos which I strongly recommend.  You want to take a picture of everything together for your main picture and then take pictures of individual outfits.  You can take 12 pictures and sign up for the package for $1.  That is the best way to go.

Ebay will let you list up to 5 items free each month. All you will be paying for is the photos.  Once the item sells, ebay charges another fee and if you accept paypal credit cards, also strongly recommended, they charge a fee as well.

I have sold a lot of 10 items that sold for $90 before.  It depends on the brands and the size of the clothing. 

If you start the auction price too high, it is likely that your auction will not do well.  If you can bear to start your auction at 99 cents, you will usually do the best.  There is no guarantee but the more people that start bidding on your auction the better.  That gives you a better chance to have a bidding frenzy which will increase the price.  Ultimately it is up to you, but it can be a smart way to go.  The way I figure it, if I had a garage sale and sold the clothing, it would sell for next to nothing.  So I take the chance and usually it goes very well. This applies to clothing, not to everything else.  For other items, see what the starting bid for similar items is, and if the items are selling to get an idea of what to do.  Another suggestion for higher dollar value items is to start the auction at 99 cents but to have a reserve.  This means the item won't sell unless it meets the reserve.  That works great with selling a car, or furniture or a brand new jacket etc.

In addition to clothing, you may want to consider selling other items.  I have even sold furniture sets but specificied local pick-up only.  You may want to try to sell larger items on craigslist.com first.  It is free and sometimes things will even sell the same day.  Just depends what it is you have for sale.   Certain things are best to sell on ebay and some are better to sell on craigslist.  Appliances, furniture and other large items I would try to sell first on craigslist.  If they don't sell within a week or less, turn around and list it on ebay.

Make sure you open up an account on PayPal.com.  PayPal is a way that you can accept credit cards when people win the auction.  It is great because you can get paid immediately.  Once you have had your account open for 30 days, you can request a free debit card.  I have sold things on ebay and turned around and bought groceries with my profits or a special dinner out within a hour of the sale.  Not bad at all.  Plus, you can sign your kids up for free student account.  I now give my kids their allowance on their paypal account and they can decide how to frugally spend their money.  I don't give them an allowance per se, we pay based on the household jobs and responsiblities they handle and on their individual abilities.  I have some with special needs so each has jobs based on their skill level. 

My kids did pretty well selling their old video games and systems.  They were able to turn that around and buy something they really wanted.  Plus, it is a great idea to teach personal responsibility and frugalness to the kids..  :-)

If you are not sure what price to start an auction at, do a search at ebay.com and see what the items are selling for.  I would be happy to answer any questions, just respond here and I will do my best to help you out.  Check back tomorrow because I will be continuing suggestions for making money on ebay without having to pay someone.