Today's post is provided by Paula who lives in the Lake Tahoe area. Paula is always sharing her great finds and sales on the Facebook group, so she agreed to write up something special for my readers.
Living in a ski town has given me access to an abundance of athletic apparel and sports equipment. At garage sales and thrift stores in my town it is not uncommon to find name brand sports apparel at rock bottom prices. Thus my ebay niche was born. When I am in a thrift store I first head over to the T-shirt aisle. I go by feel, if it’s silky feeling then I stop and look at it to see what brand it is. If its cotton I don’t bother. This is where I find my cycling jerseys, base layer shirts and team jerseys. I do the same thing with the pants section, if it feels like nylon or silky I stop to look at it. In the sweatshirt aisle I only look at the fleece. These are the brands I buy:
The North Face, Patagonia, Columbia, REI, Pearl Izumi, Nike (Dri Fit), Spyder, Hot Chilly’s, Decente DNA, Mountain Hardwear, Under Armour, Maxit, Lowe Alpine, Sporthill. Those are the main ones that come to mind.If you see something that looks and feels like quality by all means look it up and see what the completed listings show. If I can’t find something on Ebay then I will go to the company’s website and see what the item is selling for brand new. This will give me an idea of what to price mine at. Almost all of my items are “Buy it Now”. I would rather wait for the right buyer to come along who knows what the item is worth than to sell it for next to nothing at auction.
I mentioned team jerseys. These do very well. Again buy the ones that have a silky feel. Any jersey from the Pro Football, Baseball , Basketball or Soccer teams do well. I recently sold a used soccer jersey to a guy in Brazil for $50. Any type of cycling apparel does well. Jerseys, shorts, wind vests have all done well for me in the past. Some brands to look for are, Biemme, Voler, Hind, Pearl Izumi, She Beest, REI, Performance, Aussie just to name a few. You can’t go wrong with Cycling apparel.
Water sports apparel is also a very good seller. I have sold many wetsuits and surf shirts also known as rash guards. I have sold wetsuits for little toddlers for about the same price as the adult sizes. I think the toddler sizes must be harder to come by. Here’s some brands to look for : O’Neil, Jobe, Body Glove, Rip Curl.
Don’t forget shoes and boots. Water sport sandals are great sellers. My top selling brands are Teva and Chaco. Hiking boots and Snow boots are very popular and high dollar items. Sorel snow boots, Kamik , Vasque, Lowa, Columbia are just a few that come to mind.
Lastly I do sell sports equipment. Don’t forget about hats! I have sold many ski hats at a very good profit. Look for the name brands I listed above. I have found wrestling ear pads, helmets , motocross and hockey pads and have done well. A couple of brands of helmets that get top dollar are Bieffe, Boeri, Pro Tec and Giro. Cross country ski boots are good sellers, but I don’t bother with downhill ski boots.
I am a skier, snowboarder and cyclist so this niche is FUN for me; I hope this information will help you find some great stuff!
You can visit Paula's eBay Store here.
If you would like to contribute a guest post, send me an email at ebaycoach @ yahoo.com with your idea.
2 comments:
Well done, Paula!
I found a pair of Pearl Izumi cycling shorts at the thrift store the other day. Before I listed them, I asked my husband (who is a triathlete)if he would have a problem wearing used cycling shorts. He said, "Wow, those are my size" and took them from me. I guess that answers that question!
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