[Adam]

Hi all,

I have a question for the t-shirt buyers here...

I'm hopefully going to start selling my blank t-shirts on ebay. I would like to ask yourselves for an opinion on how best to sell the t-shirts. What would most appeal to you if you were buying bulk lots of t-shirts.

How shall I sell them...

** Option 1 (sell one size, one colour, pack lot). **

50 x (X Large) Black T-Shirts

** Option 2 (sell starter packs includes 10x packs of each size) **

10 x Small Black T-Shirts
10 x Medium Black T-Shirts
10 x Large Black T-Shirts
10 x X Large Black T-Shirts
10 x XX Large Black T-Shirts

Or any other way... please help )

Thanks

 

[DickTees.net]

My first instinct is to say don't sell any blank shirts to people on eBay until you run a background check on them. If they are listed with the BCD (bureau of crappy designs) block them out!

Kidding aside. I think a service I would use (if I didn't get warehouse prices) would be option 2. I think start kits will give people on there just enough to get started and see if they have what it takes to move some shirts. That way if it fails miserably then they can always give the shirts away as door prizes at the next family reunion, in a variety of sizes to boot. Small for the annoying little nephew, medium for the hot distant cousin, XXL for that aunt that can't stay away from the little smokies... and so on.

 

[Adam]

That's it.. I'm trying to understand what the market will be like on eBay for wholesale t-shirts because as you said people can go elsewhere for wholesale prices. My prices will still be competitive bulk prices, but do people go on eBay to look for Wholesale Lots. And if they do what type of spends will they be making. I guess what I'm researching here is market toleration.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. eBay fees and policies don't make selling at wholesale the most profitable of things but I'm hoping it will give me a loyal customer base and be good marketing.

 

[DickTees.net]

I have been a loyal ebay member for nearly 7 years now and if there is one thing I have come to learn about that community is that it has sucked the niche out of niche markets. What was once nearly impossible to find, eBay has suddenly made it possible to find 12 of. With the continuous stream of auctions on eBay I have seen people get increasingly savy about what they bid on and how much they will pay for items. With that said, if there are people out there looking for a good deal on bulk anything, you can bet your underpants they are searching on eBay first. Whenever I have the inclination to buy online I always look on eBay first.

 

[lost-my-shirt]

Re: help: wholesale ebay selling--- Are you crazy?

I've tried selling on eBay and it's really a BIG headache especially if you are trying to make it a side business! Here's why:

People do not read.

People who are too lazy to read are not too lazy to email you a question that would have been answered if they had read. You'll spend a lot of time working at answering emails...You don't get paid for that.

People are quick to leave bad feedback without even trying to resolve an issue.

People bug the crap out of you to leave feedback. It's an ego thing with people and new eBayers want to get their first "star". You don't get paid for that.

Most people want to use PayPal to pay because it's easy and setup to almost force you to use that service. You are NOT covered under PayPal's seller protection policy unless you ship to a Paypal verified address. I'd estimate that only 15%-20% of people are verified. It doesn't matter if you use tracking or not...If there is a dispute between you and the buyer, you are screwed if the address was not verified. If the amount including shipping is over $250 you must also get a signature or again, you are screwed.

Are you successfull? Well, then you'll have copycats out the ying yang who will undercut you and even copy your auction photos and wording.

Look at all the fees you have to pay even if you do not make a sale. Check their fee chart first. Any option you want to add costs money. Then of course there is the PayPal fee. Basically expect to pay 10% in fees for any success sale total for eBay/PayPal.

You'll get a lot of people who will not pay and eBay does not make it easy to get a refund of their fees.

You'll get scammers emailing you telling you to verify your account and dozens of other reasons to lure you into giving up your Paypal/eBay info so they can hijack your account. They'll either "Ask seller a question" or win a bid to get your email address to contact you directly.

People think you should be able to ship for $1 or close to it. They think a person at home or a small business should be like the huge corporations and ship for free or a few bucks for a huge order. People don't realize that it's $1+/pound to go from coast to coast via UPS.

eBay is too big. I used to be able to sell anything on eBay and get a nice amount and a lot of hits. Unless you are selling something very popular, you will not get many people looking at your listing because eBay is just too big now.

eBay is in several countries. You'll have people get mad that you will not ship to them.

People now know how to shop around. Whatever you are selling eBay has made it easier and easier on buyers to get educated. They now know to look around before buying.

eBay/PayPal gets their bills paid buy SELLERS....However, they gear everything towards the buyers. They say it is too help you sell more and better items but over the years they make things harder and more confusing for sellers. They CANNOT leave things alone! They are always changing something in looks or how you do something. That is very frustrating.

I could go on but....Now, you probably still try and sell...Go ahead but print off my list and see how much is true.

You're welcome!

 

[Adam]

I understand all of those things. Customers bug you that's what they do but we love them for it.

All my prices are costed sensibly, which is a bummer because the fees are soooo high now. Hard to stay competitive with the competition and your own website.

I'm not a newbie eBay seller so have experienced everything on your list already I will be a newbie in this field.. my thread is more about marketing for wholesale customers on eBay not about eBay itself. I'm aware you can sell pretty much everything eBay, if it doesn't sell there it probably should be binned. But I want to know the best way to sell my product to wholesale customers... if I can present it in a different way i.e. Option 1 vs. Option 2, then I want to investigate that.

Thanks for your long list mate it is certainly an eye opener for anyone starting out

 

[lost-my-shirt]

I would go with option 2 but you should try both.

So I'm not the only person who has had all those things and more happen to them on eBay. Thought I was special....

 

[Kirsty]

Re: help: wholesale ebay selling--- Are you crazy?

Excellent, thanks for all that info.....

 

[cochise]

Re: help: wholesale ebay selling--- Are you crazy?

All I can say is, you have hit the nail square on the head. I am a 5 year seller on eBay. Before my health forced me to transfer ownership, I was the largest home based manufacturer of Polyurethane Gun Grips on the INTERNET and eBay. I had well over 300 listings at any time. I could write a novel about some of the issues and stupidity that I encountered. The bottom line was, my customers owned a GUN. Now isn't that a bit scary??