Recent (Mis)Adventures in Selling Things Online

4.19.2018

I’ve recently uncovered a new obsession: selling things online. It started innocently enough, when I heard about the kid’s consignment site Kidizen from Michelle. In my opinion, it's not much of a deal for normal things like Carter’s onesies and newborn sleepers, but if you search around enough, you can get some name-brand or unique boutique stuff for a great price. I’ve bought the kids a handful of items but nothing crazy, because I do have some self-control left. (If you want to download the app, use my referral code for $5 off your first purchase, and I will get a little bit too! The code is theladyokie)

It’s been fun to browse the app and see what new things have been posted, but then I thought, why not try to sell some of our stuff? We are still planning on having a third baby at some point, so I don’t want to get rid of too much, but both kids have some clothes that I’m not in love with anyway that I could try to get some money from.

Around the same time I started posting some of our clothes for sale, I ran across a buy/sell/trade Facebook group for the specific hairbow brand that I very admittedly went a little crazy on when R was first born. I didn’t go nuts with clothes or shoes, but I drove headfirst into the pool of bows and was unable to swim my way out until I realized that R wanted nothing to do with any of it and I was wasting my money to keep buying them. I’m happy to report that I’ve been hairbow clean for over two years now! ;)

I have five or six bows from this particular shop and pulled one out at random to sell that was cute but was never my favorite on R. I browsed through the FB site to see what other people were selling bows for and what I might want to price this one. Some bows were going for as low as $12, but I did see some that were on sale for $50 or $60. I even saw someone buy a bow that was priced at $150! I can only assume this person does not have a firm grasp on reality, so I didn't think too much about it at the time.

Anyway, based on the type of bow I had and what I saw others going for, I thought $18 sounded like a good offer. I briefly thought about $25 but didn’t want to get laughed at, since that seemed like a lot to me for a bow that I originally bought three years ago for $13.
I posted a photo of the bow with the price, and within seconds I had ten people leave their PayPal email address, and then more just kept on coming. I immediately realized that $25 would not have been a ridiculous offer. A reminder: we are talking about a single hairbow for a baby.

I commented on the post and said something like, “Should I have priced higher?” with a winky face, and someone replied and said, “Yes, you should have. That pattern of bow is an Amelia, and it is highly sought after."

WELL OKAY.

According to the rules of the group (and, you know, the rules of not being a shady person), I of course had to honor the $18 price for the first person who put their email address, but I was so bummed that I apparently had an in-demand bow that could have gone for much more! After paying the PayPal fees and paying to ship the bow, I ended up with $15, so I still made a small profit on my bow, but I mean seriously, what a bummer!

My only consolation is that there is no way I could have known about this high-demand bow unless I was sitting on my computer stalking the site for days on end, and who has time for that???? Clearly these moms do, and I need to know what their secret is.

But I'm over it.* 
IT'S FINE.

I still have a few bows I could try to sell, but just thinking about it gives me anxiety.

The buy/sell/trade life is not for the faint of heart.

*I'm definitely not over it.

Maureen said...

It's crazy people would spend so much on a baby's hairbow! I mean I don't have kids but that sounds crazy to me.

Ashley H said...

Can you search eBay and see what they're selling for before you post them on the FB group? That would give you a better idea of where to start.

The Lady Okie said...

I did look on eBay, actually! There aren’t a ton of bows on there (that site is apparently THE place to go for the bows 🤷‍♀️) and the ones they do have people are cross posting from the FB site so it’s the same prices. But that is a good idea!

The Lady Okie said...

I think it’s crazy!

Unknown said...

Haha oh my gosh! That is crazy and hysterical. Also, your posts make me LOL and I love it. But honestly I'd probably have put it up for like $5. one time I posted a Tsum Tsum toy for cheap (it had come in a basket we won and I've never heard of it) and literally I had like 20 people messaging me within minutes. I realized I definitely should have placed that one higher! ha

Sarah said...

Posts like this make me glad I have a little boy, not a little girl, because I would be so tempted to go crazy on accessories. (BUT I'd NEVER pay $25 or even $18 for a hairbow, haha.) My sister sells alot of stuff through Facebook Marketplace and this week she had an item stolen off her front porch, so I'm glad your misadventure wasn't like that.

Maria said...

So that bow is cute, but there's no way I'd pay over $8 for it. And I love the color yellow! This is insane, though not surprising.

There's apparently a whole cult following for rare prints of the Tula carrier, which is on the same level as paying $100 for a hair bow. I learned of this when I was looking for a soft structured carrier. Some crazy moms pay over $1000 for a rare print. And if another Tula Mom sees you in public with a Tula you are supposed to say, "Caw Caw!" to each other. It's absolutely absurd. Needless to say, I bought a Lillebaby carrier.

Also reminds me of people who pay boatloads of money for rare prints of those ugly leggings. Cannot recall the name of them.

Audrey Louise said...

Oh my gosh, what a weird situation for you! It's so funny what people will pay money for and go nuts over. (Self included, honestly.) That's a really cute bow but I probably would pay $25 or even 18 for a single kid's bow! Haha! Good for you for making SOME money!!

AnneMarie said...

Wow, that is such a crazy story! It makes me feel like I live in a different universe haha. That's really neat that you've dipped your toes into selling stuff online-I'm really intrigued by that, since I know some moms who make pretty good money doing that. I haven't tried it yet, but maybe if I get the courage (and energy lol) someday I will!

KW said...

That must be a Wunderkin (formerly Free Babes Handmade) bow . . . . Even the company's current offerings sell out of stock almost as soon as they post them. I don't have time to lurk online at exactly 11am mountain time on Tuesdays, or whatever the sceduled release time is for their new bows is. So crazy.

KW said...

P.S. If you don't want to sell your infant bows, you could consider just cutting off the headband loops and slipping alligator clips through the backs of the bows to make them more toddler friendly. Just a thought.

Jen said...

Holy cow!!! That price is insane to me for a bow. At least you know now!

Jenny Evans said...

I can't even speak at the idea of a $150 hair accessory for an infant who in all likelihood DOESN'T EVEN HAVE HAIR. I just can't.

Callie said...

Oh my gosh, what brand of bows are these? Maybe I’m just cheap, but I don’t even pay more than $5 for a bow brand new...

Nadine said...

I haven't spent much on hair bows because I rarely ever put them on Zoe. She doesn't seem to mind if I put one on for a few minutes, but then once we stop commenting on how cute it is....it is gone lol. That stinks you could have gotten a lot more for it and didn't realize! You never know, those other bows might be gold you are sitting on!!! Haha!

The Lady Okie said...

Yes, girl! Those are the ones. I admit they are CUTE but also holy expensive. A few days ago on the FB site someone paid $200 for a bow I'm not kidding.

The Lady Okie said...

That is hilarious about Tula carriers! I had no idea. Admittedly we do all have our things we will spend money on that others think are crazy, but wow!

The Lady Okie said...

I know, right? Crazy!

Rach said...

WOW! I would have never imagined spending that much on a hairbow! That's a shame that you had such a highly sought after pattern and didn't realize the worth, but at least you didn't lose any money on it!

Rachel said...

This is so mystifying to me. And somewhat hilarious, but hey, great job making back $15 on the bow! But then...I have yet to buy anything for my child to wear so maybe I'm not the type to be in-the-know on children's designer fashion. ;P
My only experience with selling stuff online was selling a few things online right before our move. I needed to get rid of stuff we couldn't bring, but a big goal of mine was giving people really good deals to get excited over, so I priced things low and sold to local people and it was fun managing the drop-offs. I sold my sewing machine for about what I'd paid for it, but I included all of my sewing accessories and all the leftover fabric I had and it was really hard to say goodbye, but I sold it to a lady who wanted to get started in sewing and I was so excited for her. There was one guy who kept coming back and buying something else of ours as we got closer to leaving and were gradually selling more essential stuff. He'd always ask how things were going with our visas and job resignations, etc. It was weird but fun.

Terra Heck said...

Wow, I never would've guessed a hair bow would be sought after like that!

Sarah @ Sweet Miles said...

This is hilarious. Who would have thought??? I mean even $18 seems like a ton for a bow, but the fact that people would have paid $25 is crazy! Now you know! I never have any luck with second hand sites or selling things because I always get the crappy people to make offers then go MIA and never respond again and the stuff just ends up in my car headed to Goodwill. Whomp whomp!

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