Barbie Bob

Barbie Bob

Selling Garage Sale Items On Ebay

One way to start your business in Ebay is to sell used items that you just kept in your closet or in your garage. This is the best way to get your feet wet and also to know the trends on which type of items sell well in Ebay. A lot of people use Ebay to sell their stuff that you normally sell in the garage sale.

There are things to consider though before listing your items for sale. Ebay have strict guidelines on used items especially clothes. Used clothes need to be laundered first and selling used underwear are not accepted at all. Clothes also need to be graded and properly described as such on the product description. Weapons are also strictly prohibited to be sold in Ebay. Some type of air guns are not allowed. It is better to know first if the items that you are selling pass their TOS.

Look around your house and see what items that you have that you just forgot about. The general rule of thumb is that if you have items that you didn’t use in the last year, then you probably don’t need it and these are the ones that you can start selling in Ebay. You can go through all your clothes that you haven’t worn especially the designer labels. They sell good and you can probably get more that what you have paid for them especially if they are considered Vintage. This also goes for handbags and shoes.

Another thing that you can look into are the toys. Vintage toys sell well because of their uniqueness and collectibility factor. Wind up toys and robots are collectibles and they sell good in Ebay. Chinaware is also a good choice. Look inside your cupboard for old china and if they are a set, they will get a lot of bids.

When you run out off stuff to sell at your own house, and business is good, then you can start going to local garage sales and look for items that you can sell. The older the item, the better and as to clothes, shoes and accessories, the “branded” one will sell better than the big box store brand. You can also check on Ebay’s Hot list and see which items are in demand and these are the ones to look out for in the garage sales. One tip is to go to church or group yard sales so that you can shop in just one place and you will definitely find one or more items that you can sell.

If yard sale items are what you plan to specialize in, that's great. In this particular market it is very important to keep a list of customers who are looking for a particular item. If you sold a vintage Barbie doll to a customer, let them know when you find more. Better yet, ask them what they are looking for when you make the first sale. Make a hit list of customer requests. If you find one, list it on eBay, but let your customer know about that listing.

There is a lot of money in yard sales and sometimes you can find items that are literally treasures and the owner just didn’t know about.  Just be sure to properly describe and use plenty of pictures in listing used items so that you can get most bidders.

About the Author

Ricky Tan is an Ebayer Junkie and buys a lot of his stuff on Ebay. Recently bought a GPS and wrote a topic about Navigation Systems for Cars and GPS systems for cars

How much is this Barbie doll worth?

I recently found a doll my parents had given me for my 7th birthday. (I asked for the "Barbie in the green dress," and got a Collectors' item I wasn't even allowed to play with, so it went to storage.) It is the "Fantasy Goddess of Asia," designed by Bob Mackie. On the box it says it is the first in the "International Beauty Collection." It has not been tampered with at all and is still in the box. I realize the doll is limited edition, but I'm not an avid Barbie collector, so I have no clue how valuable these dolls become over time. All I could find online was that the original price for the doll was $240, it was made in 1998, and that is no longer available from Mattel. Any info would really help me out.

Err, I looked on eBay at Completed Listings, and some are selling for $77 and $66 (Ironic numbers, no?) so if I were you I'd put it on eBay (look at the completed listings to see what categories you should put and what you should say in the description) and start it at $50 for starting bid, and $85 for Buy-It-Now. Make sure it's a good pic, good luck!

(I know you think you're being ripped off because others sold THEIRS for $95, but don't push your luck dear. Especially if you've never used eBay before and you're not using an account with a good reputation, feedback, etc.)

If you're not interested in selling it and you only wanted to know what it's worth -- It's worth roughly $100 I'd say.

Pink& black barbie bob