Although I'm sure that I'm no expert, I have had much more success than I expected cleaning out my closet on e-bay, and so (as I said I would on the SYC thread) I'm posting my suggestions for those of you who are doing some closet purging in the new year. I will say that most of my listings were in the $10-50 range; if you have high-end items, I don't think my advice will be worth much to you.

1. E-bay ran a free listings promotion in October, November and December; it's going on through January 7. This was/is great because it enables you to list things at the price you would feel good about selling them at, with no risk--if you don't sell them, you haven't lost anything. (And you can always relist them.) If you have a lot of selling to do, I think free listings are a huge boon.

2. I set my prices by thinking about a couple of things: (1) what the e-bay seller search engine suggests that a 'Banana Republic wool sheath dress' (or what have you) would sell for; (2) any condition considerations; and (3) what I would get for it if I sold it at the consignment shop. At my consignment shop, the prices are split 50/50 between owners and the store. So if (I estimate) the dress would sell for $25 at the shop, I would get $12.50. In this example, I would start the bidding at about $15 on e-bay.

2a. Often you will sell your item at the starting price; occasionally there will be a bidding war for it, but probably not as often as you think, so I think 99-cent listings do not work well for clothing (I tried a couple of times and sold a couple of items for 99 cents that were worth significantly more).

3. Bearing in mind (1) and (2), don't worry too much if your item doesn't sell immediately. Keep in mind that the market for a particular piece in a particular size might be quite small. Often I would list a piece two or three times at the same price before it would sell (and then sometimes I would have three people bidding on it). So if you feel like your price is fair, don't feel like you necessarily have to reduce it because it didn't sell the first time around. (Occasionally I have had luck *raising* the starting price. Normal 'free market' thinking doesn't work that well on e-bay, since there is so much margin for error.)

4. In titling your listing, use all available characters and think about what you might be searching for if you were looking for an item like this. "Little black dress" is not nearly as good as "Banana Republic wool bouclé sheath dress velvet trim 2 4." If your item might fit more than one size of person (as in my BR example) include both of the sizes in the title.

5. Make sure you fill out the 'item information' with drop-down menus of size, fabric content, etc. This is another way people can find your item.

6. If you have space, adding adjectives like "CUTE" or "FAB" in the title does seem to help (edit as appropriate).

7. In writing the description, play up whatever drew you to the item in the first place. I had a couple of cashmere sweaters that I had bought because they were so soft, even though they were too big for me, and so I wrote exactly that. (This also answers people's question: "If this is so great, why are you getting rid of it without hardly having worn it?")

8. If you have a styling suggestion for the item ('cute with skinny jeans and boots') you can offer that too.

9. Probably most important are measurements and fabric content. I usually offer bust/waist/hip as relevant, and also include information about me (i.e. "I'm 5'5'' and 128 lbs., generally a size 2/4, and this item is too big for me). If I'm getting rid of the item because, for instance, I think it would better suit someone with a larger bust than I have, I say that. If I anticipate that the bust or hip or waist might present a fit challenge, I mention that too ("I'm a 34B and it fits me in the bust, but if my chest were bigger, it would be too small.")

10. If it's in good condition and by a recognizable designer (and assuming you don't want it, for whatever reason), list it. You really can't predict other people's taste. I had a couple of skirts that I couldn't imagine why I had bought, but (I think because they were from J Crew) they did quite well.

11. Think about how the items will best display in pictures. If the item fits you reasonably well, model it (use your camera's self-timer or get someone else to take the picture). If it doesn't, it's probably better to hang it on a hanger.

12. It helps to take all your pictures at once. I would do dresses, one evening, and put on black tights and booties and a strapless bra, and I could take twenty pictures in thirty minutes.

13. You get the first picture with your listing for free. I did not find it cost effective to add extra pictures on my listings. I did however often snap extra pictures when I took pictures of the item (of any detailing that I thought might interest people) so that I could just send the pictures along if a potential buyer asked.

14. It makes sense to list things of approximately the same size/style profile at the same time--many buyers will buy several items at once. I had one buyer buy nine different items within a few days, because I had listed a bunch of classic cocktail dresses at the same time. (This is the holy grail of e-bay selling, as far as I'm concerned.)

15. Don't burn yourself out. I had weeks where I listed thirty items and weeks where I listed none.

16. Have 'standard policies' that you include in a couple of cut-and-paste paragraphs at the end of each listing. I chose not to accept returns (though I would have made an exception if I had made a mistake) and requested payment within 48 hours. I then promised to post within 48 hours of payment.

17. Figure out when the post office is not crazy. At my post office (in Chicago) the best times were the first and last hours of the day.

18. Pay attention to when your listings will end; make sure you're not excluding anyone via your scheduling. I generally tried to end things between 8.30p-10.30p CST (before 11.30 on the east coast and after 6.30 on the west).

19. Clump your listings to end together. I generally had a clump on Sunday evening (the best time in my experience) and sometimes some on Wednesday evening. This helps to minimize trips to the post office.

19. I sent most things priority mail. It's generally just a bit more expensive than parcel post, and you can use USPS packing materials (you can even order them and have them delivered to your house for free). This is particularly useful for things that require boxes.

20. Don't underestimate the cost of postage. (This is particularly important with shoes and boots, and *particularly* important when you are considering faraway destinations.) Sending a pair of high heels to CA from Chicago, for instance, can be nearly $10 for postage alone.

21. Sending things under 13 ounces (blouses, lightweight dresses), you might as well send them first class. It's a lot cheaper than priority and just as fast.

22. I started out paying extra for tracking everything but I stopped when I never had any problems.

23. Don't burn yourself out. I had weeks where I listed thirty items and weeks where I listed none. You can without much effort relist items (making adjustments as necessary) when you have the listing done; if I was feeling uninspired, I'd just relist old items that hadn't sold.

24. I just consigned my dining room to ebay stuff for the fall--I had a shipping corner (with all requisite supplies) as well as piles of stuff to sell, already listed, etc. This helped a lot, I think--I had everything ready to go when I had some time.

I really got into the fun of purging after a while and came to regard e-bay as a break (as well as an opportunity to undo a lot of misguided shopping, etc.). E-bay keeps a running total of your sales so you can 'see' your success, which is encouraging--as is all the closet space you see open up, as well as the idea that you are sending things to people who will get more use out of them than you did.

I hope this is helpful--I'm sure I've forgotten things, but this is at least a start. Good luck!