When it comes to shirts, golf doesn’t but running does… sell that is. Although golf shirts look sharp and can be worn in non-sporting situations, they simply don’t sell. I think there’s just too many of them out there, and although the prices are deeply discounted, they just don’t move.

Running shirts, on the other hand, surprise me. There’s really no other ocassion to wear a distinctively-looking running shirt other than for running. But I guess as the miles add up, the shirt needs to be replaced. When I list a running shirt, it quickly gets watchers and does sell relatively quickly. Not just ordinary shirts mind you, but higher-end Nike ones made of their premium fabrics. Yeah, these shirts do cost more, but they do move so you’re not stuck with inventory.

Apply this saying to your items being sold on eBay:

A watched pot never boils

So stop keeping an obsessive eye out on your items, watchers, and view counts. Buyers will buy when they buy.

But… if you are looking for some kicks, you can check out Pulpconnection on eBay, and I promise I won’t watch your activity (but we can talk discounts). 😉

Let’s hurry this since eBay’s spring promo lasts only for a few more hours (7pm PST). So Pulpconnection’s eBay store is now open! Passions, pulp, and addictions to kicks can be found at:

http://stores.ebay.com/pulpconnection

Take advantage of eBay’s 15% promo by using the code:

PSPRINGTIME

Promo details here.

It was bound to happen, but I got my first unpaid transaction on eBay. The buyer made an offer on youth soccer shoes, and I accepted. However, days went by without any payment, and eBay’s recommendation is don’t ship the product until payment is received.

Luckily, eBay has everything covered. It was easy enough to open a case against this open transaction. After several attempts to contact the buyer over a period of days, I finally closed the transaction. eBay then asked if I wanted to relist the item (which I did). Thanks eBay!

Just a few lessons I’ve learned so far during my try at reselling.

Time Consuming

First and foremost, reselling online takes time, a LOT of time. Like a super duper lot of time! But then that stands to reason. If reselling were easy then of course, everyone would be doing it. Actually the fastest part of reselling for me could be sourcing aka finding the items to resell. I’m thinking the most time consuming aspect is listing your sourced items. Taking pictures, doing the research, and actually adding the item to eBay  is much harder than I expected.

Bottomline: If you’re not willing to invest the time, don’t even bother trying to resell.

Know Your Niche

Just what are you going to resell? Whatever it is, be sure to know the subject matter. That knowledge makes it so much easier to know what items have a resale value. For me, it’s shoes. I love me my kicks, and I can easily spot shoes that shouldn’t be at Ross. But then again, I don’t know all the different kinds of shoes out there. For example, track and field shoes sell well online, but I know nothing about them, so I’ve stayed away.

My interest in reselling started with Supreme and its rabid fanbase. It seemed every item released by this popular streetwear company sold out in a matter of seconds. Every single item. Easy money maker right? Just get one item when released and sell it on eBay.

It don’t work that way. Not every Supreme item has the same demand, hence value. And not knowing the culture, I couldn’t predict the hot sellers. Sure, everything sells out, but not everything is easily resellable. I finally unloaded that Supreme logo-ed, camo wool cap but didn’t make anything from the sale. eBay is flooded with this cap, and I think the upcoming season will see that cap once again.

Bottomline: Stick with what you know. Or learn a niche (quickly). I think I’ll stick with shoes…