Buying kid's clothes on ebay

**Crafty Amanda** · #1 (**permalink**) 06-23-2008, 04:06 AM

Hi Mia

With the way that kids outgrow clothes, I can't bear spending $20 for an American Eagle t-shirt, etc.

What are your thoughts on buying clothes on eBay? You can find some really good deals there, but in some cases once you add on the shipping you may as well have just gone to the store!

Mia · #2 (**permalink**) 06-23-2008, 09:30 AM

I have gotten some GREAT deals on clothes by shopping on eBay, for my kids AND myself.

When I search for something, I include the word "lot" so that I can find groups of things instead of singular items. That helps justify the shipping costs.

Often times you can find things that say "NWT" meaning "new with tags," or "NWOT," meaning new but without tags. They're just as good!

I recently bought six pairs of shorts for myself from one seller, and spent 12 dollars on the whole thing.

Soooo...I am a huge fan of eBay and consignment shops! There are also online consignments shops. Happy shopping!

**ajrsmom** · #3 (**permalink**) 06-23-2008, 03:09 PM

I've bought Halloween costumes for my kids and new baseball caps for my DH on Ebay but I haven't bought any "lots" of clothing.

I do a lot of sales shopping during the summer so I try to buy some school stuff then. Buying on Ebay would be a great way to take care of all of that running around ...with kids in tow!

**Crafty Amanda** · #4 (**permalink**) 06-23-2008, 04:51 PM

Sometimes you can find great deals. When the "good" lots are out there, it can be hard to win them! LOL Everyone has the same idea. You can also find some really good deals on single items, but the shipping makes it not worth it. I mean sure, $4.00 for a pair of jeans is fab, but paying $9.00 for shipping defeats the purpose. I can go to WalMart and buy brand new jeans for $9.00 on sale. :-P

daisylady · #5 (**permalink**) 06-28-2008, 02:22 AM

I can always find great deals on ebay. I have made many many purchases over the last few years. I have only been "burned" twice...where I never receievd the item. Now I always read the feedback and watch for the # of feedbacks. New sellers seem to be the worst ones.

I have also had great success at Goodwill and the Salvation Army thrift stores

**Crafty Amanda** · #6 (**permalink**) 06-28-2008, 05:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mia

Soooo...I am a huge fan of eBay and consignment shops! There are also online consignments shops. Happy shopping!

I've never shopped a consignment store online. Are there any that you have shopped at and can recommend?

**Crafty Amanda** · #7 (**permalink**) 06-29-2008, 01:53 PM

Just thought I would share this. I just bought 3 pairs of vintage Levis for my son for $$8.98 including shipping AND I won a 23-pc lot of shorts and summer shirts & t-shirts for $24.99 including shipping. That's a little over $1 for each item in the lot and about $3/pr for the jeans

Here's something that I do a lot to get the good deals:

I go to the category that I want (i.e. Clothing, Boys, Size 10-11) and then sort the columns by soonest ending. Then I look at the ones that have no bids or only a couple of bids and are still priced really low. I check out the pictures, the cost of shipping and the seller's feedback rating.

If everything looks good I figure out what I would pay at the store for similar items. Let's say it's Levis as above. I would probably have to pay $15-25 per pair for Levis, then I figure a reduction because they are used and figure out what I would pay for them used. So for example, I would probably expect to pay $7-10/pair of Levis used. I multiply that by the number of jeans ($10 x 3 = $30) and then subtract off the shipping listed in the auction.

That's how I figure out what my high bid will be.

Usually though, by going to the auctions that are ending soon I eliminate any bidding wars and the temptation to go above my highest bid if someone passes me up.

So I would have paid up to $25 for these jeans as the shipping was 5.00. Instead I paid $8.98!

BuddyBeanieBaby · #8 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 08:55 AM

Wow great deal Amanda...Congrat's...

Mia · #9 (**permalink**) 07-06-2008, 05:29 PM

I have found that it's very, very helpful to take a good look at the seller's feedback. If they have thousands of transactions, and their feedback is above 98.5%, I feel pretty confident that I won't have a problem. If they only have a few, and their feedback is below 97%, I run.

**Crafty Amanda** · #10 (**permalink**) 07-07-2008, 05:54 AM

I completely agree about the feedback rating. I have been selling on ebay for a long time and had only one negative, and that was an unfair negative too. In fact, the guy left it in haste and then wanted to retract it and ebay never did, it even stated that in his comments. BUT the nice thing is now they only go back one year, so if you have had a clean year you are good. I now have a feedback rating of 100%

There's of course a disadvantage to shopping on ebay. I received a couple pairs of the jeans I bought, and while they are fine they area bit snug on my son. There's nothing you can do about that if you can't try them on. So I will end up listing those on ebay myself.