I felt a bit better yesterday morning so popped out for a bit of charity shopping with my daughter. We got a great charity shop haul! I paid for it later with a migraine and lots of neck pain, but I can’t sit at home all day, every day. (If it’s your first time here, I am off sick at the moment with some kind of disc problem and a trapped nerve. Not fun!)
Both of us want to start a proper reselling business. I have been reselling on eBay in a minor way around my full time job for a number of years. My daughter preferred Mercari and was doing really well, but sadly it didn’t take off in the UK and closed.
You Tube inspiration
I have been watching some UK eBay resellers on You Tube to get advice, hints and tips on what sells well. So far, with a few exceptions, I have only done clothing. I have discovered an English couple who make a good living selling on eBay and Amazon selling all sorts. Check out Nic and Andrea Hills. They are inspirational. It’s not an easy life and they seem to work very hard. However, they are their own bosses and have flexibility about how their day goes.
My eventual aim is to work part time for an employer and run an online business and blog the rest of the time. I am fed up of the 9-5, particularly since I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia last summer. I feel as if work gets the best of my energy and creativity, leaving very little for when I am at home! Being off work, although I am in pain a lot of the time, has made me appreciate the value in having time to myself.
Here is some of my charity shop haul, to give you an idea. We are lucky to have a £1 clearance store run by the local hospice. A lot of our charity shop haul came from them, but we visited a couple of others too.
Adult clothing
A beautiful Phase Eight beaded dress in perfect condition. This was unpriced, so I assumed they would charge at least a fiver. When I got to the till they took just a pound! This was my bargain of the day and if it fitted me I would have kept it! I think I can get £30 for this.
A coast bustier, £1. These sell for £5-10.
A pink Alfred Angelo evening dress for £2.50. I had never heard of this brand, but they seem to go for anything from £5 to £50! I will try it at £15 I think as it’s in excellent condition.
An absolutely gorgeous Monsoon floaty sequinned skirt for £1.50. Bit screwed up so I will steam it.
Talking of screwed up, a pink Karen Millen dress. It is so ruched you couldn’t iron out the creases, so again I will try it with my steamer. This was more expensive at £5, but Karen Millen can go for silly prices.
A Fat Face dress and a skirt too. These cost £1 each and should sell for a tenner each I reckon.
Other stuff
I don’t usually sell toys, but found a lovely wooden camper van with two figures. They sell for £26 new, so I might get a tenner on it. I only paid £1.
A cute Toyland Noddy soft toy for 50p.
A wicker tray. Andrea on You Tube snaps wicker items up in good condition and says they sell really well. We shall see!
A Monsoon dress for a baby for 50p. It is beautiful, but I don’t think children’s clothes sell for much.
My lodger Katie beat me at the bargain hunting though. She found what she assumed was probably a fake Chanel bag in a charity shop for £3. She had it checked out by a friend who works for Chanel and not only is it genuine, they sell for £750 new! £750 for a handbag!! Who has this kind of money? No one I know.
I will let you know how I get on as an eBay reseller. Had anyone else had any bargains from a charity shop haul? Do you sell on eBay? I would love to hear your hints and tips in the comments. I have a couple of posts about eBay reselling here and here if you are interested!
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Eloise says
When I left full time work and became a student I sold my business suits and coats (Jaeger, Alexon, Windsmoor etc) and court shoes (Gabor, Bally etc) and made over £800. Good brands to sell well, and always for more in larger sizes. Mine were mostly 16 s. I’m sure you know all this already though!
I bought premium bonds and withdrew it as and when needed for my uni books and parking passes, and it just about covered the three years. As a bonus I won six premium bond £25 prizes.
Nowadays I work in a job here I can wear casual clothes. I buy far, far fewer clothes than I used to and sometimes buy them on ebay. I find that evening wear is often very inexpensive, and have bought a few lovely pieces from time to time.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
You’re right about bigger sizes selling! It’s easier to source smaller sizes though as younger slimmer girls go through so many clothes
Tina says
I bought a lovely pair of Hunter wellies from my local charity shop for £3, wore them for a few years and then sold them on Ebay for £35! Win win. Good luck with your selling on ebay and I hope you feel better soon. 🙂
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Ooh, good bargain. Hunters go for silly money
linda says
Alfred Angelo is a wedding dress maker in North America.
I had a wedding dress by him and my future daughter in law recently bought one of his as well.
It looks like you have bought a bridesmaid’s dress.
He’s not a tres expensive maker. You can get a white wedding dress at around $300 and they go higher. Bridesmaids dress start around $150
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Yes I have found the brand on eBay and have advertised it as a bridesmaid/prom/evening dress. It could be! It’s a very nice make but not an expensive brand, as you say. Thanks for your comment
ratnamurti says
Great idea buying and selling on ebay, Jane. You have an eye for it, I reckon. A solo mum friend has done this for years to finance her car costs.
Gillian Meehan says
I’m concerned that you are promoting reselling on ebay without making it clear that there are tax implications as you are actually trading not selling your own items. You also need to make people aware that if you are buying items with the purpose of selling them you are required by ebay to register as a business seller.
I’ve been a full-time ebay seller since 1999 and being a business sellers has it’s advantages as customer can see that you are serious and responsible, I think that lots of ebay buyers have come across shoddy goods being sold by private sellers and steer towards business sellers after they got their fingers burnt.
As a side issue – you’ve got your listings with Best Offer – I generally don’t add best offer until they’ve been listed for a month. a lot of items sell at the full price in that month, if I had best offer on them I’d have to discount by some amount.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
All good advice, Gillian. This post wasn’t meant to be a complete guide to eBay selling. There are plenty of those written by people who are much more expert than me! More just showing what I had found. I have never sold consistently enough to register as a business with eBay but I’m in the process of moving over. Also fully aware of the tax implications. I’m no expert. Just learning and sharing as I go!
Petra says
Great haul! I don’t do Ebay reselling but it’s interesting to read these posts as I visit charity shops just to have a browse. I might give it a try though. Last time I bought a lovely cushion for £1 which saved me some money as we needed a new cushion anyway. Let’s see what I find next time!