Guaranteed Clothing Sales for the New EBay Seller: What sells best in the spring/summer?

A follower of My Dear Trash sent me an email with a request.

“Can you please feature what clothing brands sell best for you on Ebay?” she wrote.

Of course I would love to, but the writer in me can’t do anything simple. By all means, let me make it complex by breaking it down into a series I’ll call “Guarented Clothing Sales for the New EBay Seller.” Now that’s a challenge I can dig my teeth into. Seriously, I have years and years of EBay photos. It’s a blast looking through them & pulling out my best sellers. Every article of clothing has a story behind it. Some are stories of success and others are stories of failure. It’s freaky how I remember what individual items sold for. When I’m old and gray, I’ll be shouting out clothing measurements and listing prices in my sleep.

I find the change of seasons brings a whole new wave of shoppers to the EBay market. People want to put away their parkas and breakout a Hawaiian Print shirt. Summer vacations are being planned and most women in American are on some sort of diet to look great for swimsuit season. Guess who will sell them their summer dresses?

Over the years, I’ve found some brands that sell great for spring and summer, so let's get started.

In Arizona, I find a lot Fresh Produce clothing at thrift stores. There clothes are fun and light with great prints and easy care. Just throw this dress in a beach bag and you're ready to go. This dress sold for $17.50.

Here are a few other Fresh Produce finds.

Tommy Bahama is a great investment for EBay listings, but it doesn't sell well in the winter. These shirts are hot in the spring and summer. Hey, men want to look good too. The more colorful, the better. TB silk Hawaiian shirts usually sell in the $25.00 range.

I'd never heard of Jam's World until I started selling on EBay. I remember the first time I found one of these prints. To say they're bold is an understatement. I wasn't sure if I should invest in such a loud shirt or not, but I can tell quality when I see it. JW clothing usually sells in the $25.00 range. If you can pick them up for $1.00, then you've got a great product.

I also really like Patagonia. Their clothing is high-quality and usually organic with simple lines and earthy colors. I don't find Patagonia often, but it's always a thrill when I do.

Hot Cotton is 100% linen of pure summer; also with bold colors and fabulous quality. They sell in the $20.00 range.

I also sell plenty of short overalls, anything linen and lots of summer dresses. But don't think you can pass up looking at coats and sweaters. The summer is the best time to start shopping for the Fall/Winter season. I store bags of clothes in my garage for the next season and it really pays off.

Sleep Deprived and Top EBay Sales of the Week

Reef, my youngest son, just barely two, has always been a great sleeper until recently. He’s turned into a climber and crawls out of his crib throughout the night. What started out as a milestone,

“Wow, everyone, Reef crawled out of his crib. What a big boy.”

has turned into a major problem.

“Reef, you’ve got to stay in your crib. Its midnight and Mommy and Daddy need some sleep.”

Last night, the counselor and I gave up around 12:45am and Reef got what he wanted all along; to sleep in bed with us.

This has been going on for almost two weeks.

Actually, once he’s in our bed, he’s a darling little sleeper. He falls asleep within seconds and doesn’t move or make a peep all night. I do love taking a few moments to stare at his sweet little face and brush his hair aside. What is it about her sleeping child that melts a mother’s heart?

On the other hand, the counselor, practical and logical in his thinking, reminds me a new baby is coming and Reef’s nighttime routine needs to be broken as soon as possible. I understand the reasoning, really I do, but I only have Reef as my baby for a few more weeks. The transition of letting go off my older baby to welcome a new baby has always been an emotional one for me. The good news is once the baby’s here, the struggle’s gone.

Needless to say, I’ve been posting my EBay listings with Reef on my lap (or at least what’s left of it). I do my EBay listings at night and usually the kids are asleep, but Reef seems to be taking a break from sleep. Taking measurements and typing is not easy, with Reef shifting here and there, but my lap is obviously where he wants to be. I wonder if he senses a change coming? This might explain his need to be stuck to me like glue.

EBay sales of the week are super great. Things are really moving and I’m most especially excited about my .99 relist sales. They've started plenty of bidding wars and I’m making great profits off these items.

Some of my .99 cent re-list's for the week are:

These American Eagle size 12 Cropped Jeans didn't sell for $6.99, so I relisted them at .99 cents. The next week they sold for $13.50.

This darling Ralph Lauren Size 12 ruffle skirt didn't sell the first week for $6.99. After relisting it for .99 cents it sold the next week for $12.05.

And this Banana Republic Size 8 Pencil Skirt, after relisting it, it sold for $8.5o.

My top sales of the week are as listed:

This week Chico's was hot, hot, Hot. I found these Chico's pants, size 3.5, which I'd never seen Chico's go larger then Size 3. I was curious how they'd sell and they did great at $15.52.

These Chico's linen overalls are so cute and I was tempted to keep them for myself, but I gave into the EBay pressure and they sold for $14.50.

Chico's Traverlers has a huge following. These pants are made out of acetate so they never wrinkle and they have a lot of stretch, making them very comfy. They sold for $14.50 as well.

I love Fresh Produce and this was another item I was tempted to keep for myself, but being so big and pregnant leaves me feeling like I'll never fit into anything "normal" size again. Anyway, this skirt sold for $10.10.

Sometimes size 0 sells, sometimes it doesn't (my theory, their aren't many size 0 girls left in America). Anyway this J. Crew Size 0 Oriental fan skirt sold for $8.50.

The change of seasons is a great time to list items. Most of my buyers are looking for clothes for spring, so spring and summer clothes are selling great. Good luck and wish me some sleep.

My Day Prepping for the Baby Shower.

Yesterday was a vision of pink. It was blissful from start to finish.

My day started with sending Chandler, Payson and Mayer off to school with a kiss.

Reef enjoyed some snuggle time and then, thanks to the counselor re-arranging his schedule so he’s free to watch Reef on Thursday mornings, I waddled out the door kid-free to $1.00 day at Goodwill.

This is what I found.

It was love at first sight, but I thought, "Well, I have no place to put another chair." Thanks to Kelly's inspiration I realized I don't need a place to put it. For the right price, I can buy and sell it on Craig's List. The chair was listed at $39.99. I'd made a donation, so I had my 20% off coupon. So, for $32.00 I purchased the chair and ottoman and will list it on Craig's List today for $95.00. Yes, I did clean it up a bit and it looks like new. I'm certain it's from Z Gallery. It just has that look to it.

I was tempted to buy all three of these gigantic mirrors.

They were each $1.00, but huge and heavy and I wasn't in the mood for huge and heavy (I'm already doing huge and heavy on my own), so I passed. These mirrors are from the Gap store and would be a great home decorating project I'm sure, but I'll leave them for some other lucky shopper. What's funny and sad, is later I saw my sister-in-law Heather and told her about the amazing Gap mirrors for $1.00. This is the part of the story I should mention Heather owns a dance studio. She looked at me with this stare and said in a tone that meant business, "Do you know how expensive mirrors are?" Yeah, she would have loved them for her dance studio. Darn, darn darn it!

I found this cute Coldwater Creek Oufit. That's right, all three pieces for $1.00.

These American Eagle NWT Khaki shorts should sell great this summer.

For $2.99, I found this darling Baby Gap Button Up shirt. Eden will look so cute in this, although she better not grow into it too fast.

Fresh Produce pants sell great for summer too. These are in perfect condition.

I want to mention, I ran into our first My Dear Trash fan today at Goodwill. Jamie recognized me from the blog and came up to introduce herself. Because of what she's learned on My Dear Trash, she's now making money working from home selling on EBay. It was so nice to meet you Jamie and please keep us posted on your success.

On the way home from Goodwill, I stopped by Staples to purchase some shipping supplies. For first class mail, I use these large envelopes.

Packaging tape

Permanent markers ( found these on clearance because one marker in the set was missing).

Of course, I have a coupon from turning in my old ink cartridges.

You didn't think I'd pay full price for all this stuff, did you?

When I return home the counselor gives me a juicy kiss (love those more than anything), then runs off to work. I sit outside with Reef in the perfect Arizona weather and watch our neighbor’s yard fill with irrigation.

For those of you not from Arizona, this is how people in the desert water their yard. It’s flooded with canal water every two weeks. The ducks enjoy it too.

Reef makes a run toward the ducks and the water,

but is distracted by the dandelions at his feet. The day is blissful for him too.

I watch my sweet baby play while baby Eden kicks and squirms inside me. My heart feels the pull of letting go of one baby to welcome another.

I don't last long in this mode because like usual, I'm hungry.

The day wraps up and I'm off to the baby shower. This is what I see when I first arrive at Kelly's house. Isn't it beautiful.

The $15.00 secretary desk (click here to read the story behind this beauty) is even more incredible then I imagined. Pictures don't do it justice.

Thank you to my sweet sister, Becky

And thank you Kelly.

Thank you for all who came to welcome Eden. I am so blessed. Unlike me, Kelly wasn't opening a zillion present, so she took more photos. Read below to see more fun from the shower.