Recycling clothes is important, whether it’s a hand me down to a younger sibling, donating to charity or selling a top that no longer fits, it’s passing something of value to someone who will make the most of it.

We all have those clothes that sit in our wardrobes for months or even years without being worn - buying clothes can easily become addictive and hoarding them can be even easier. Have you considered that the dress or pair of jeans you spent your hard-earned money on could be recycled for cash (freeing up some of your wardrobe space in the process)?

How much is it worth?

You may have a favourite piece of clothing that’s had plenty of wear - sometimes you can be lucky, as this gives that denim jacket a cool vintage look, but a lot of the time it just ends up looking tatty and needs to be thrown away, rather than sold. This is why it’s worth being conscious of the condition of clothing; your favourite old t-shirt or pair of joggers may be extremely comfortable and they may have great sentimental value to you, but it doesn’t mean they’ll be of use to anyone else.

Bear in mind that people are always in favour of buying designer brands for bragging rights. Well known labels can retain their value well (dependant on condition), so make sure to consider how much you initially paid for an item when setting your price.

Do the research

Don’t rush in to auctioning or selling off your items - finding out how much similar items are selling for already is time well spent. Just keep an eye on the initial bid and how much the item ended up selling for and use this as a basis for your prices. Regardless of whether your items are from Primark or Prada, they may still be of interest to the right person and digging around on sites like eBay will help in setting your asking price.

Take quality photos

When selling clothes online, a quality photo can be the difference between getting no interest and selling something for a good price. Clothing that’s worn by a person in the pictures or presented nicely is always going to entice people more than untidy photos or even photos with bad lighting. A mannequin is the best way to present clothes if you have one, but if not, wear them yourself and have someone take a photo of you, or at least place on a hanger so buyers can see the clothing properly.

It helps for your potential buyer to visualise each item, so include pictures from all angles, including the back, and focus on any embellishments or details. Close ups of the material and the label will also make sure they know exactly what they’re buying.

Natural daylight is ideal for providing an attractive and honest representation of your item, but if you have to take photos in the evening, make sure you can see the product and colours clearly.

Finally, make sure your item stands out on its background; you don’t want a messy bedroom floor to pick up feedback over the item of clothing you are trying to sell.

Use detailed descriptions

If you plan to sell clothes online, the description needs to be as detailed as possible. Tell the potential buyer the brand of the shirt, whether those trainers are new or used and make sure to mention if those jeans are beginning to fray.

Provide details about the fabric content, feel and colour to build up a full picture of each item and always include measurements if you can – a size 10 can differ from one brand to another and not all may fit the same way. Not sure how to measure clothing? eBay has a great guide that provides all the details you need to know.

The title for your item is particularly important, as this will be picked up by the search engine when your potential buyer is looking for certain products. Make sure to include the brand name, colour, size and type of item in the title.

This may seem like a lot of hard work, but by ensuring your customer knows as much as possible about the item they are buying, you can avoid bad feedback that could deter future customers.

Clothing packaging tips

Clothing is one of the most popular types of package sent through the ipostparcels network, from both one-off sales and more regular businesses. To make delivery easy, avoid any damage and get great reviews from your recipients, we can’t stress how vital it is to package your items well.

Here are five steps for packaging clothing:

Step 1: Give yourself plenty of room for packaging your parcel – it’s tough to make things look neat when you’re working in a small space.

Step 2: Ensure the clothes are neatly folded for the recipient – no one likes to receive carelessly creased items.

Step 3: Consider wrapping your item in bubble wrap to add an extra layer and full protection – this is also great if it’s raining on the day your item is being delivered as it helps to keep it dry.

Step 4: Once your item is neatly wrapped, consider how it will need to be packaged. We would recommend a poly mailer but you could use a cardboard box depending on the size of the item.

Step 5: Choose a courier and attach the shipping label (use a fair amount of clear tape to stick and cover the label to ensure water resistance and security of your overall item).

Please see our Packaging Guide for any further information.

Potential costs

So how much is each item likely to cost you to send? Before selling a piece of clothing, check the weight of the item, as courier costs are higher for larger or heavier items. You may be better off passing the cost to the recipient as a delivery cost, or perhaps consider building this into the overall asking price of the item and offer your buyer free delivery.

If selling items online is working out for you, a lot of packaging materials will need to be used going forward.  When sending an item, think about the most cost effective, safe way of sending your clothing. If you are using a box that is too large for an item, you won’t only be paying for extra material but also you might get a higher cost from your courier.

How much could I make?

Selling your clothes online is easy and can make some serious money. In the press we have seen a student make £30,000 just from rummaging through her and her family’s old clothing. Not every piece of clothing will make large sums of money, but making a consistent effort and being persistent has the potential to drive some strong return. The key to making money from selling clothes is to optimise your listings, send your items on time and use a trusted courier.

ipostparcels is an easy to use and quality courier service. Use the eBay courier service to link your ipostparcels and eBay account and import your address, the recipient’s address and parcel information directly into the booking form.

 

Looking to send something today? ipostparcels offers domestic delivery from £2.49 excl. VAT and international delivery from £8.74 excl. VAT.