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Selling Shoes And Boots


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I've a zillion pairs to sell, and I doubt there's enough traffic here to attract buyers? Though I could maybe try some of the less expensive ones?

The best known Internet auction site isn't proving to be very useful either, of about 8 pairs listed, I sold 2 pairs. Two unsold pairs were brand new Pleaser boots at less than half the price they might be found elsewhere. Any UK residents know of places some of a large shoe collection might be sold on? Mostly new with box.... huh.gif

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I've a zillion pairs to sell, and I doubt there's enough traffic here to attract buyers? Though I could maybe try some of the less expensive ones?

The best known Internet auction site isn't proving to be very useful either, of about 8 pairs listed, I sold 2 pairs. Two unsold pairs were brand new Pleaser boots at less than half the price they might be found elsewhere. Any UK residents know of places some of a large shoe collection might be sold on? Mostly new with box.... huh.gif

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Might still be worth putting some shoes for sale on here, people are still visiting without posting :unsure:

I'd like a peek anyway :rolleyes:

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I'd like a peek anyway :rolleyes:

Okay.

I have another free listing weekend, but I'm not allowed to put any more new shoes on. rolleyes.gif The Forums there indicate it's their way of getting sellers to mark themselves as business sellers. The thinking is it means they can charge higher fees for this.

My thinking is, mark yourself as a business, it opens the doors to Consumer legislation. No probs for the buyer, no probs for the site, but can make life difficult for the seller. Any Buy It Now listing can be returned because EU/UK law says it can.

I'll maybe put links to obsolete listings, and any new ones. cool.gif

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  • 1 month later...

This selling on an auction site malarkey, is very frustrating. blink.gif

Must have put over 30 pairs on, and managed to sell about 8 pairs. Many got added to watch lists. One particular pair had maybe 5 watchers, with perhaps 50 views. No bids? The shoes almost new [worn once possibly] on sale for about a 10th of their original selling price.

Oddly, some pairs I thought were almost unsellable, sold. One pair I declared as a recent purchase that didn't fit [too small] sold for at least twice what I paid for them, and my purchase price was there for everyone to see. [Why didn't my buyer get them for less money when they were originally on sale?]

Also sold some computer gear. Seems easier to sell older stuff, (so far). I'm not getting this at all........ unsure.gif

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Sold another pair...... Of about 12 listed over a 2 week period. rolleyes.gif

Folk just aren't spending money. Maybe the wrong time to sell boots? Nope. Just sold a high street branded pair, for pretty much what I paid for them a bit over a year ago.

Seller ratings around 4.7 out of 5, so it's not like I'm a poor seller.

Guess buyers need to be tempted by 'gift' level pricing. sad.gif

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Out of curiosity, where are they listed?

I will PM you a listing. Got another free weekend, so have relisted some of the non-sold items. wink.gif

I was one of the watchers on a few of your shoes Freddy, but only to see what the prices went to. There was some nice footwear to be had, shame they didn't sell for you.

I'd anticipated that might be the case. Check later this week [Tuesday+] to see the relists, and a couple of other new styles on offer. There was [and is again] one or two pairs I thought might tempt you? wink.gifbiggrin.gif

I hope to list a couple of pairs I've owned for a very long time, that my [growing] feet won't get into any longer. sad.gif

About half of the sold shoes/boots, went to men BTW. cool.gif

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Maybe slip in a note with the shoes pointing here to these forums :P

The thought had more than crossed my mind. wink.gifbiggrin.gif

I remember with some disappointment, the chap I met in Debenhams Oxford Street, now probably two or more years ago. I'd spotted his slightly unusual walk, [heeled boots] and approached him - after some considerable debate with myself before making the advance. As reported before, he was fairly non-responsive, despite my cordial introduction. He never showed here, and it was the only site I had suggested.

It leads me to believe, there is the potential for a magnitude [at least] of difference between the numbers we know, and the 'closet' heel wearing men. Meaning; we think we might have contact with up to 100 men wearing heels in the UK. We members could easily believe in a x10 growth, to past 1000. Given the 'open door' opportunity the internet gives to remote purchasing, I think 10,000 has the prospect of being a more realistic number.

Given there's 56,000,000 people living in the UK [and maybe closer to 60m] lets look at my 10,000 proposal......

50% of 56m might be women. Leaves us 28M males.

Lets propose a further 50% are either too young, or two old to wear/be interested in heels. Leaves us 14M males in the central age group.

1% of 14,000,000 would be 140,000 men. My 10,000 figure then, is actually less than a tenth of 1%, so lower than 0.1%? Which in Statistic's parlance, is not a significant number [in any sense]. Put another way, you'd need 14,000 male heel wearers to even get on the radar. biggrin.gif

Given we all know there'll never be anything like that number of visible male heel wearers, one has to conclude they must prefer to stay in the closet? And why not? There's a lot of excitement to be had with a 'guilty' secret. [I've heard. wink.giftongue.gifbiggrin.gif]

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So obviously not given it much thought then :P

I need to find you on the auction site again ready for your next round of sales...

I've uploaded a fair number, but also included some bits that are less shoe related. wink.gif

I've got some other bits [including shoes] to put up at 99p that I fully expect to sell for that, so I'll do you both a list of shoes/boots when it's all done. cool.gif

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Still waiting for that PM...

Still not finished listing everything ....... tongue.gif

Will send you both a single item number, and you can search the 'other listed' against my member name. I've about 5 more pairs to go on, but a bit busy looking after a 9 year old grandson at the moment. [school holidays y'know.] wink.gif

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Got another free listing weekend. [sales must be low?] unsure.gif

I'm not getting any faster at producing the listings, but re-listing unsold stuff is pretty much instant. smile.gif

I'll have two busy days taking photo's, with equally busy evenings/nights editing images and composing 'sales' spiel. In the vain hope I'll be paid for making some room. [ie selling some of my shoe/boot collection.]

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Another two pairs sold. Sadly, at practically 'give away' prices. blink.gif

The silver lining to the situation? Two less pairs stored and unused.......

I have two other pairs waiting me remembering to take them to the recycling bin outside a local shoe repairers. And another two pairs - I decided today - weren't worth the effort of listing, so will be appearing in a charity shop quite soon. smile.gif [both older style New Look boots.]

Did another wave of photo's this afternoon. Mrs Freddy passing a comment regarding the apparent quantity I must have. [if she knew how many I actually had, I suspect she might be a bit less tolerant about all this. On reflection, I can't believe how many pairs I bought over the last 4 years.] Worse, unless I live to be 120 years old, I'm never going to live long enough to wear all the shoes and boots I plan to keep! biggrin.gif

Will list another 3 or 4 pairs later [sunday] and will attempt to get the 99p 'disposals' up during the week. More news if/when there is some. cool.gif

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Sold another pair.

Still not managed to arrange recycling for the two damaged pairs, or taking the other two pairs to a charity shop. I have decided to add another pair of heels to the charity bag though.

Maybe it won't take a whole year to get my collection down to a realistic level. wink.gifbiggrin.gif

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So, 5 pairs disposed of. smile.gif

Had a count up, so far, 21 pairs sold on the auction site. cool.gif Taken around 4 months.....

Probably going up to sell another couple of pairs over the next 3 or 4 days. Getting to the stage where those not sold, (and unwanted), are going anyway. wink.gif There just isn't any point in having shoes or boots stored here, that I'm never going to wear.

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More sold.

Seems there are a number of influences to selling? Season, which may have very little effect if the buyer (of womens shoes) is a man. Carriage costs seem to have an enormous effect, despite the charges I offer being either 'at cost' or below cost. [Meaning: I often lose out on postal costs because I under-charge.]

An example of this would be boots "A" which I know is going to cost a little over £6 to post using RM. I advertise these [new] boots 3 times, moving from £20 + £6 carriage costs, to £15 + £6 carriage costs to £18 + £3 carriage costs - where they finally sell. It's bad enough these boots usually sell at retailers for £46+ so I'm effectively offering them at half to a third their usual selling price. But shifting around the carriage costs [slight of hand salesmanship] means I have to pay seller fees on some of the carriage component of the sale. My conclusion is, based on limited sales experience, shoppers begrudge shipping fees. If I needed any confirmation of this, check the US shopping sites. "Free shipping" everywhere. Getting to be a bit like it over here. Either free shipping, or very low delivery costs. [Circa £2, for example.] It's not really free, because it'll be lost in the cost of the item(s) bought. Though I expect this cost will be minimised as the seller will get the benefit of a bulk deal from the carrier....

I suppose style and size will affect buyers choice. The styles I choose are fairly classic, offensive to no-one. biggrin.gif Have higher heels, obviously, though we all know girls like the higher heel. cool.gif I try to provide as accurate sizing information as possible, though that doesn't always work out. [More on that further down.] I've had trouble with this myself. Buying a shoe or boot advertised as an 8, that when it arrives is clearly a 9, or clearly a 7. If you've spent any time reading reviews on the Barratts/Priceless websites, you'll know this is quite common. Shoes are imported and marked with sizes that have no relationship to the 'standard' UK size. Better [more expensive] sellers don't suffer with this so often, and I guess its because the brand have their own sized last made? I have Kurt Geiger/Carvela in mind when I make this remark. Marks and Spencer seem to be uniformly sized too. Next are similar, though there seems to have been a change with them at some stage. For example, I used to be a Next 8. Now, I can pretty much wear a Next 7? Faith [a UK High Street shoe chain no longer with us] sold shoes in size 7, 8, and 9 I could wear. I begin to realise, sloppy sizing may have contributed to their downfall. [And that of Barratts/Priceless.] Without doubt, if you don't have a successful mail-order wing of your retail business, you have no business! And how successful are you going to be, if every time someone thinks about ordering, they're going to be unsure about fit? Free carriage and returns make it an easier choice, but far from optimal, and someone pays for those shoe trips. If you're shipping lots and selling little, how long will your business survive? Not long maybe, as with Payless.

So I tend to provide as much sizing information as I can. I relate to shoe retailers, so buyers can buy with confidence. Been good response with a single exception. A fella bought some boots for his girlfriend. They were an 8 that I could get into, I just didn't like how wide the boots were around the upper calf. Anything over 13 inches are going to look like wellies on me, and these were about 15" so they had to go. Lovely boots, and quite popular over here, unsurprisingly they sold well. The buyer, wanted to return them, which given the carriage costs and damage liability, I couldn't agree to. Seems his girlfriend thought they were too small? The brand usually sells an 8, that fits me like a 7. I made mention to this, because anyone used to buying an 8 in that brand would find the boots I was selling very loose. Hence my comments. You'll understand my surprise then, when the fella asks if he can return them, despite me stating there are no returns. [The 'returns' feature isn't always allowed with commercial retail sellers on auction style listings, so I'm not likely to offer it.] It's a shame, but being a popular style, selling him the boots on should not have been a problem.

What I'm not understanding, is why one or two styles do not seem to get any attention at all. I know that the auction site search engine doesn't always perform. For example: I had two pairs listed under almost identical headings, both in the same category, similar price etc etc. One pair came up on a "Size 8" search, the other didn't? And, one pair sold, the other didn't even get 'watchers' ....

From my usual business, I know a buyer for something [anything], will turn up eventually. It's easy to imagine there's a steady stream of people looking to buy something you're selling. If you are selling used pairs of Levi jeans originally made in the 1960's, that might be true. But new shoes and boots, with no returns opportunity, are going to be harder to sell. And certainly won't make anything close to the original purchase price. I recently sold a pair of Next boots for around £20, with £5 carriage contribution. [Carriage was actually £6.] The price sticker still on the boots, and what was the original retail price? £84-99. That's a 75% price reduction. And when I say they were sold in new condition, it's exactly what I mean.

The auction site is a great place to buy. Lots of bargains to be had. Great for the auction site. They get money from listings fees, whether you sell or not. Even better for them if you sell, as they get a good percentage of the selling fee. So, any good for the seller? I'd say yes. With no auction site, the tip would be getting a lot of stuff that is perfectly serviceable. That said, without the auction site I might not have bought so many pairs to start with! biggrin.gif It's a double edged sword at worst.

Given the usefulness of the auction site, I'm surprised there isn't an alternative? blink.gif

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Forgot to mention .....

While I understand there might only be one buyer per family, [a Mr buyer, or a Mrs buyer], about 75% of my auction site sales are going to male names. And quite a lot toward the northern reaches of Manchester and Liverpool. wink.gif

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Now 25 pairs sold with another 5 recently 'disposed' of, so 30 less pairs at Maison de Freddy, than at the start of the year.

Some would think it might make a difference?

Doesn't seem to have. rolleyes.gif Perhaps when the next 20 pairs have gone? huh.gif

As a reminder .......

I have 5 pairs of IDENTICAL Nine West shoes, I gave £42 for each pair. (I had the cash, and I loved them.) If I'm lucky, I'll sell them. If I'm lucky, each pair will make something between £10 and £15. They were £84 originally.... I bought during the sale period.

When I bought, I never thought they would be sold on as they were the first shoe I worn out in daylight, in public, I fully expected I'd need these for the rest of my daytime high heeling life. Not sure if it's a good thing or not, but I've moved on. I still like them, but I now own even nicer [higher/more attractive] styles, that I would prefer to wear.....

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Edited by FastFreddy2
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Looks like I have a couple of winning bidders, who won't be paying. ohmy.gif

I had contacted 3, and one will be paying in the morning. [Good man.]

The other two fellas, have not responded to 2 attempts at contact. sad.gif Why do people bid if they're not going pay for what they've bought? dry.gif

They're pretty stupid people. I have their names, addresses, and phone numbers. While I don't plan to do anything about their non-payment, there's little to stop me 'outing' them on a Facebook page [for example], and what could they do then?

Good job I don't have a mean streak, eh? biggrin.gif

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As a reminder .......

I have 5 pairs of IDENTICAL Nine West shoes, I gave £42 for each pair. (I had the cash, and I loved them.) If I'm lucky, I'll sell them. If I'm lucky, each pair will make something between £10 and £15. They were £84 originally.... I bought during the sale period.

While looking through the Freddie Archives earlier for something I need for a meeting tomorrow [i'm on my 4th computer this year], I came across a spreadsheet I must have started about 2 years ago. Probably when my shoe collection was small enough for me to go from one end to the other, from memory. Okay, with clipboard and hand-scanner. biggrin.gif

I was in a rush [left everything until the last minute as usual], so didn't spend any time counting the pairs as a total. BUT, around 2/3rds of them were accurately priced. For example, I actually bought 4 pairs of the Nine West boots at £42, a fifth pair came in at £32......

The sub-total for priced up shoes/boots, was a smidgeon over £1400. huh.gif

Some of the prices I paid, were a shock. A pair of boots I imported from the US, and didn't manage to sell on the auction site for £50, cost me £100. And I got them in a sale. No wonder it took me 2 years to buy them!

The cost of my 'wear everywhere' Harley's, [also imported] came at a bit of a shock. Two pairs at £60 and £75 each. [From different US sources.] Though the first pair have lasted 3 years.

ALDO Shoes seem to have done well from my custom too, though I've only pair I would consider losing...... Two pairs, each at £40 in the sales, are simply the most attractive shoes I own. Both unworn, of course. wink.gif

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