# Selling on Ebay???



## ratman (Apr 8, 2008)

Anyone have much luck on Ebay? I am in the beginning phase of my business and started on Ebay since it's quick and easy to see how things go.

I made 28 shirts with stock transfers from ProWorld, put them on a 7 day auction and didn't sell one. I have approximately $5 in each shirt. I listed them at $10 a shirt for a 100% profit.

A fews years back, I was buying thrift shop clothes and reselling them on Ebay and did very well. I would buy brand name such as Gap, Ambercrombie, Old Navy, etc. with the same purpose in mind........100% profit.

It seems new clothes don't sell as well as used. Also, there are a lot of other people selling the same transfers, some for more and some for less so competition is fierce. I can't compete with some of the prices. The shirts are Hanes 100 cotton, preshrunk, heavyweight so I'm not selling junk.

Am I setting my profit sights too high for Ebay in this situation? Is there an Ebay marketing super secret I've overlooked? Is Ebay just a huge waste of time in our business?


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## mike2468 (Mar 11, 2007)

If your trying to sell t-shirts on Ebay and make money..... Good Luck. Like you say, the competition is tough and by the time you take all the listing and selling fees out you basically work for nothing.

Over the years I have sold quite a bit on Ebay but the profit margins are small. I just got thru listing over 2,000 auctions when they had the $.99 special running and did make a decent profit but won't list anymore until they come out with another listing special, it's just not cost effective...at least for me.

I monitor a couple of others selling very similar items to mine and I know what it cost them to list and sell. They are powersellers, and I know they have to maintain over $1,000 per month in sales to keep that rating. That's sales BEFORE any expenses. When you really pencil it out, they aren't makeing a dime.

Mike


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## etctees (Oct 11, 2007)

I sell a very small volume of stock on eBay. If you have a niche, you'll get the sales. The ones that sell the most for me are the gaming related ones, because I'm the only one selling those types of shirts. Get on there and try to sell a "funny" shirt aimed at bogans/students, and you'll get no where because the market is all ready covered.

There are a few Australians I've seen selling tshirts/dresses/etc who have in the range of 1000 feedback every month. Even if they're making $5 off each shirt, that's nice.


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## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

ratman said:


> Anyone have much luck on Ebay? I am in the beginning phase of my business and started on Ebay since it's quick and easy to see how things go.
> 
> I made 28 shirts with stock transfers from ProWorld, put them on a 7 day auction and didn't sell one. I have approximately $5 in each shirt. I listed them at $10 a shirt for a 100% profit.
> 
> ...


The stock transfer business on ebay is a hard one as a lot of people do it. Coming up with your own design and printing as the orders come in is more profitable. If you place a design on a shirt before you sell it means you have a shirt that may not sell. But getting a sale then placing the design on it would work much better. You can superimpose the design on a shirt to place on ebay. I sold a bunch of Poker shirts this way.







Lou


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## ratman (Apr 8, 2008)

This forum is awesome. Thx guys........................and just a shout out to ya etctees, the wifes an aussie. she's from morningside. where you at in brisbane? and lou.......even though i've been in this a short time......are you the same lou that showed be some of the basics on youtube with your video?if so, your already a mentor to me.


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## Peace2TheRest (Feb 6, 2008)

Yea, I think ebay has become way to saturated....maybe some people are making money selling things on there still, but to break into it seems like more work and a lot of risk. 
Plus way to many design robbers on ebay


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## AustinJeff (May 12, 2007)

Lot's of people will tell you that with the fee increases on eBay, you just can't make any money anymore, and lots of sellers are quitting the business. And they were saying the exact same thing when I was selling full-time on eBay in 1999!

There are lots of ways to be successful, but here are a few tips I've picked up over the years:

1. Regardless of what else is going on, the holidays can make it worthwhile. In some categories (including T-shirts) it is not uncommon for a seller to make as much money in November and December as in the entire rest of the year combined.

2. Automate. The administration of an eBay business can be automated to an astounding degree. There's a lot of software and services available, and programmers who can write custom scripts to do things specific to your business. This is often the thing that sets eBay pros apart from casual sellers -- they can be profitable with much smaller margins because so much of their business is automated.

3. Understand the fee structure. A penny subtracted to the starting price can save you as much as a dollar in fees in some situations. Know which extras are worth the cost, and which (extra pics and templates for example) you can get for free from third-party providers.

4. Research. Should be number 1, probably. Know exactly what sells and try to get ahead of the trends. What keywords should you use in the title? How long should your auction be? Is gallery worth it in your category? When should you start an auction? What should the starting price be? With X number of listings, how many sales can you expect in a given week? All these can be answered through good research. eBay provides a decent research tool for about $15 a month. There are also several third party research services.

5. For T-shirts, print on demand. Inventory can be a killer, particularly when it comes to coordinating your actual listings. Have a few types of shirts in stock that you can apply images to after the sale. Also, and this is important because of some silly eBay rules, if you "custom print" each shirt, you can offer multiple sizes in 1 auction. Buyer just specifies what size they want. If the shirts are pre-printed, you are supposed to have a separate listing for each size of each particular item.

6. "Capture the customer." Use eBay to build a customer base for your website. Offer incentives for customers to return, and make sure they purchase from you directly, not through eBay, so that you avoid the fees.

7. Follow the rules (if you can figure them out.) eBay rules are arcane and enforcement seems to be random at best. Do the best you can to follow them. It's not easy.

8. Ship quickly. Ideally, no later than the day after the sale. Most sellers don't, so people are astounded to get their packages so quickly. They leave _specific_ positive feedback, which is the key to increasing sales rates. Plus, it don't cost nuthin'.

9. Be prepared. You are going to have customers who never pay, then leave _you_ negative feedback. An amazing number of people who take forever to pay because they've "been sick" or "had email problems." People who claim they never received the item when you're pretty sure they did. Pranksters. Scammers. You name it. eBay is a magnet for crazies. That's just part of the deal, and if it bothers you, it's best to avoid it all together.

10. Submit your auctions to Google occasionally. People claim this doesn't work. They are wrong. It just doesn't work all the time. Last year I had over 5,000 hits in 1 day on one of my auctions that I had submitted to Google the night before.


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

I have had no luck on Ebay in the past and have chose not to try their in the future. ..... JB


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## Peace2TheRest (Feb 6, 2008)

Some good information, sounds llike you got into it and learned when you were supposed to, it just seems like way more work then can be justified for me. I have lots of other things I feel I could be getting more results from.


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## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

ratman said:


> This forum is awesome. Thx guys........................and just a shout out to ya etctees, the wifes an aussie. she's from morningside. where you at in brisbane? and lou.......even though i've been in this a short time......are you the same lou that showed be some of the basics on youtube with your video?if so, your already a mentor to me.


Yes I am the same Lou. Glad to assist.


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## Susie (Oct 19, 2007)

I am a PowerSeller with an Ebay business not related to t-shirts.

1. You must be unique (or as close to as possible). 

2. Start ALL auctions at 0.99 Buyers like this more. (we sell boats worth thousands - if we put a normal starting amount or a buy-it-now, no-one will bid at all! If we start a boat at 99 cents you get dozens of bidders and the price will go to wherever it should be anyway. People will pay whatever the market demands, not more and not less. Otherwise there is not much auction excitement.

3. You must have a niche - this means sell music t-shirts in the music section. Sell movie shirts in the movie section or whatever. That way you are reaching a target audience.

4. Your buyers must be able to find you. Do you ever go to item # 9182 ? Your keywords in the title and/or subtitle must match what your prospective purchaser is looking for. You must optimize.

If I want to sell boat t-shirts, I'm putting them with my boat ads, not in the clothing category, cause then I have a bunch of boaters looking at them, not a bunch of golfers, for example.

That's my 2 cents anyway.


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## Peace2TheRest (Feb 6, 2008)

sounds like some pretty sound advice

sometimes the answers we look for are the simplest things we havent thought of yet


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## AustinJeff (May 12, 2007)

Susie said:


> 2. Start ALL auctions at 0.99 Buyers like this more. (we sell boats worth thousands - if we put a normal starting amount or a buy-it-now, no-one will bid at all! If we start a boat at 99 cents you get dozens of bidders and the price will go to wherever it should be anyway. People will pay whatever the market demands, not more and not less. Otherwise there is not much auction excitement.


In general, I think this is a good rule, but in my experience, this depends on what you are selling. It works great for higher priced items, or for commodities. I have not had good luck with it when selling T-shirts. Last time I tried it, the 99 cent shirt ended up selling for about $4, but while the auction was running, I sold 4 of the exact same shirt with Buy it Now for $12.99 each.

Based on what I can tell from the sales data, I think T-shirt buyers tend to be more interested in making a purchase than in participating in an auction. That's not the case for other markets, including some clothing items.

For example, I enjoy going to thrift stores, and I always check out the necktie selection. You would be amazed how often they have Armani, Brooks Brothers, etc. ties for a couple of bucks. I buy them and put them on eBay with a 99 cent start, and I'm confident that I almost always get much better prices than if I had a high starting bid, or buy it now.


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## Peace2TheRest (Feb 6, 2008)

I wish i could be an ebay selling master!! 

Sounds like it could be a big headache but fun too


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## Susie (Oct 19, 2007)

I don't know if Ebay is really the best venue, generally for selling tshirts. You have to sell them so cheap I wonder how people eke out a living! I have much more interest from non-profit organizations, teams, yacht clubs, bike shops, really niche-y organizations. I think there is a lot of money in non-profit (no pun intended). You can tailor a program that's just for them. They seem to really like it and they are willing to pay for it.
Ebay is good if you have a niche product that has found its place. I think then it can become a steady part of your income. There's a lady that sells specialty dog tees for about $17 a piece and that seems quite steady.
You would need to experiment to see what works for your product.


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## ukscreenprinter (Nov 18, 2007)

I have also just started selling on ebay. I use a tracker software program that allows me to see who is looking,what they type in to find my item,and how long they stay and when my items get the most hits. This over the weeks has allowed me to "fine tune"my listings.I have a long way to go but find from experience most prospective buyers want to see a picture of the ACTUAL tshirt, as I originally started listing with digital mockups but got so many asking for a real picture.I think for me Ebay will never be a big income,but the profit I am making will be reinvested into more screenprinting machinery,so it serves it's purpose for not too much time outlay.


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## bballfan (Mar 15, 2008)

I put some of my shirts...No luck. Echo what someone said about by the time you take out listing fees it is not worth it.


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## akbarindenver (Mar 19, 2008)

great post


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## Peace2TheRest (Feb 6, 2008)

You can sell on myspace now. I have not personally experienced it yet, but supposedly you can list things and sell now. 

Worth checking it out.


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## inkie (Jun 28, 2007)

AustinJeff said:


> 10. Submit your auctions to Google occasionally. People claim this doesn't work. They are wrong. It just doesn't work all the time. Last year I had over 5,000 hits in 1 day on one of my auctions that I had submitted to Google the night before.


Didn't know you could do this, or had to do this - I thought Google just picked up keywords. This is great advice - how do you do this? Sorry if this is a dumb question!

Thanks,
Inkie


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## ratman (Apr 8, 2008)

Awesome guys. Thanks for everyones input. Great advice all around. Gives me a lot of things to think about.


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