The Biggest Mistake New Clothing Sellers Make on eBay

If you are new to reselling clothing on eBay, the first thing you may have tried to learn about is which brands sell best. Maybe you watched a video where someone said, “Hey, Ralph Lauren sells; Polo sells. Buy Ralph Lauren and Polo. Brooks Brothers is great. Be on the lookout for Gucci too.”

And then you bought one of these brands, and your item sat and sat. You had to run a sale just to have it sell finally for $12.

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Some Sell; Some Don’t
This happens with a lot of brands, even the really great ones. You need to understand that just because in general Ralph Lauren sells—or Brooks Brothers or Gucci or Vineyard Vines—it doesn’t mean that every single item within that brand will sell for big bucks. When it comes to clothing, there are so many different factors—size, pattern, material, seasonality, different styles and models, etc.—to consider.

As a seller yourself, maybe you watched a video of mine where I showed you an item that sold for $120. Maybe it was a rare Ralph Lauren sweater. But not every piece of Ralph Lauren is going to sell for good money.

Get to Know the Sold Listings
Not everything within a brand is created equally, and not everything sells really well. You need to spend time in the sold listings. If you’re a new eBay seller, spend 30 to 45 minutes every day to study up on what exactly, for example, makes one style of shirt sell for $100 and another style sell for $15.

You could start with polo shirts. Every time you go to a thrift store, go through the different polo shirts—you could even have a Google doc open on your phone—and write down all the brands. When you get home, go into the sold listings and look up that Zeno polo shirt or the Canali polo shirt or the Lacoste. Look up the Ralph Lauren and the Brooks Brothers.

Watch for Logos
Brooks Brothers is a great example because you’re going to notice firsthand that not all Brooks Brothers shirts sell well, especially polo shirts. You will also discover that if the Brooks Brothers shirt has the flying sheep logo right on the front of the chest, it will sell better than a polo shirt without a logo. And that is true for a lot of brands. Clothing items sell better if the brand’s logo is on the chest.

So the only way you will learn how to do this is by spending time in the sold listings. You can watch all the videos you want and can study as much as you want, but nothing beats studying the sold listings.

Put in the Work 

At the end of the day, you have to realize that you’ve  got to do your  research. Build that time and effort into your selling routine. Start with a category—for example, polo shirts and study the heck out of polo shirts. Then move on to jeans, to button-front shirts, then maybe to accessories such as ties, belts, or hats.

There is so much out there. There is so much opportunity. This is an amazing opportunity that we all have.

It takes hard work and focus, but if you’re willing to take the time to study and research, hit the thrift stores and garage sales, and be prepared, you are going to get lucky and make some money. You will have put yourself in the position for the wealth to flow to you.