Whether you’re finally parting ways with that vintage Chanel handbag or are ready to make bank on that wildly sought-after Zimmermann summer dress, you’re one in a long line of fashion-lovers who’ve made amazing fashion sales online.
In fact, with one women’s fashion item sold on eBay every two minutes, rare, vintage and pre-loved fashion can be lucrative for those selling their wares on the platform.
POPSUGAR Australia chatted to pioneering fashion bloggers and label founders, Sara Crampton (née Donaldson) and Aicha Robertson, about the best sales they ever made on eBay.
Crampton, the founder of OG fashion blog Harper & Harley and The Undone Store, says she first started using eBay in her teens to buy the designer items that were out of her reach at full price — then re-sold them to buy the next one.
“From memory, it was a lot of Sass and Bide, Maurie and Eve, and Alice McCall. It had a real circularity to it,” Crampton says, adding that her early foray into online selling has placed her in good stead to build and grow an online fashion retailer of her own.
Likewise, Robertson — stylist and founder of fashion website The Fashion Heist and sustainable label The Great Beyond — started selling fashion at university when purse strings were tight.
“At the time, I wanted to refresh my wardrobe on a budget. eBay helped me flip my old items and get something new. I even found some really cool vintage designer pieces overseas! It really expanded my access to fashion”, Robertson says, adding that it’s even easier for people to get involved in buying and selling fashion online these days, thanks to smartphone capabilities and features like pre-filled templates and home package collections.
“I found it quite easy once I had a system of selling,” she says.
So, with more than 20 years of experience in selling fashion online between them, it’s safe to say Crampton and Robertson have made some impressive sales in their time.
Crampton says it’s been a minute since she sold anything from her personal collection on eBay (which makes sense, given her entire fashion philosophy is built on timeless silhouettes and elevated minimalism). But she says the best sales were always pieces that held their value over time, thus generating a return close to what she’d paid for them upfront.
“Good quality items hold their value and are better in the resale market,” she says.
For her part, Robertson says finding a unique niche outside the fashion space unexpectedly led to her most successful sale to date.
“The best sale I’ve made was on a limited-edition The Crown gift box. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much use for it, and I didn’t know how to attach a price value to it because it was such a unique item. I decided to jump on eBay and list the item. It sold so quickly,” she says.
Despite their very different successes, Crampton and Robertson agree that you don’t need throngs of potential buyers to make an awesome sale (and you needn’t worry about that anyway, given there are over nine million active shoppers on eBay).
“[The gift box] was more of a niche item, so there were only a few buyers, but they were really interested in the item,” Robertson says.
“The beauty of eBay is that you really only need two passionate buyers to make it work, or even just one to meet your minimum asking price,” Crampton agrees. “[Though] I will admit to loving the thrill of witnessing and partaking in a last-minute bid-off on the marketplace.”
If you want to reap the benefits of that competition, Crampton and Robertson have some sage advice for their fellow sellers.
“Marketplaces like eBay make it so quick and easy to turn pieces you no longer wear into money in your bank. If you have . . . pieces you are storing away or have an overflowing wardrobe that’s causing more anxiety than joy, now is a great time to go through them and sell items online for someone else to love and wear,” Crampton advises.
Decluttering, plus extra spending money, and keeping fashion out of landfill? It almost sounds too good to be true, but it’s not — and it doesn’t need to mean heaps of work for you, either.
“Slowly chip away and have a goal of getting a couple of items online each week. It doesn’t have to be your full-time job, but you’ll end up with a steady side income stream that can get quite addictive!”
Robertson adds that there will always be people keen to get their hands on your pre-loved stuff, so the best thing you can do is start.
“The best thing is you can flip an item for something entirely different, and you can find a buyer for anything,” she says. “It’s great to convert an item sitting in your wardrobe into something new.”
Turn your fashion into cash on eBay. It’s super simple to sell and ship — no printer or trips to the post office necessary. Everyone’s a winner when you sell on eBay.
