Selling Children's Clothing

Being on a tight budget (and knowing FOR SURE I will not have a need to pass Jonathan's clothing down to a younger brother!), I try to sell his outgrown clothing to help cover the cost of replacements. There are three primary ways I do this:

• eBay
• Consignment Shops
• Garage Sales

I have been a seller on eBay for a dozen years now, and this is how I first try to sell the really good stuff. I also buy things to resell on eBay and this often includes children's clothing. I only sell things that are in excellent condition, with no stains, etc. I make sure everything is clean and usually launder anything I purchase for resell. I will also iron everything and package each item in clear plastic bags before packing to ship. It helps if you have top name brands, but good "everyday" brands (Carter's, OshKosh, etc) will also sell. If I have several items of these brands in one size, I will often sell them in lots. I always seem to do well selling his outgrown pj's, probably due in part to his abundance of  cute pajamas :). I try to start items at a reasonable starting bid and keep postage as low as possible, but there is a fine line between low postage costs and charging enough postage, since costs vary widely by postal zone. I have a postage scale and that really helps! You also have to begin listing seasonal items rather early, which means that now, when it is 95* outside, I am trying to see what fall clothing items I have to list. Wait until the weather turns cold, and you've lost the window of opportunity for getting the best price for an item.I depend on eBay as a source of household income, and any money made on eBay goes directly to pay for our health insurance. I have to carry individual policies for us and it is quite expensive, even for the inferior coverage we have.

I also sell items at our local children's consignment shop. Here is where I take items that did not sell on eBay, items with local ties (UK jackets, Cincinnati Bengals shirts, etc), toys in good repair but outgrown and furniture items. I sold Jonathan's crib, changing table and tricycle here. Again, items need to be clean and stain-free. The price the items sells for is split 50/50 with the shop. I don't make as much money from this source, but every dollar from this source goes directly into an envelope to buy Jon's next season clothing and shoes.

I also have several garage sales each year. This is where I will sell clothing items with small stains or other imperfections which still make great play clothes. I can also sell socks, etc, which I place in bags according to size and price the entire bag. We also sell Jonathan's toys that have been too well loved to make it to the consignment shop. Jonathan & I have an agreement about the toys. He chooses what to sell and he gets to keep any money made from toy sales, which is a big incentive for him to weed out things he no longer enjoys playing with.

This is how I maximize the amount of money I can get for Jonathan's outgrown clothing items. It really goes a long way toward buying the next season's wardrobe!