To eBay or not to eBay; granny panties

[sarea]

Amy Acker's going to be on Dollhouse!! As is Olivia Williams, who is a lesser-known actress I've always liked. The list of producers has a lot of familiar names. I haven't found a ton of info on who the writers are -- apparently Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (from Angel) are the showrunners. Tim Minear's written a couple of eps, and so has Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen (of Dr. Horrible fame).

You might have noticed that I haven't yet shared Le Creuset pictures/news yet. I'm waiting on one last piece to arrive (technically two, as the lid counted as a piece), as it was mistakenly left off the initial order. I haven't yet used any of the ones I've gotten so far, and I want to wait until I've got the complete set before I take a group photo. :D However, this does mean that I have like, no space for anything. I already packed up a box of kitchen stuff, and I have 5 cast iron pans of varying sizes sitting out because I don't have cupboard space for them anymore.

I also mentioned awhile back that I was going to pick up my mom's designer handbags in December and sell them on eBay. I have the handbags, but given the current economic climate I'm not sure it's wise to list them now. Some are decades old; it's not going to hurt to wait a year or two to try and sell them. My theory is that the last thing people are going to spend their money on right now are frivolous items such as handbags, when so many people are struggling just to put food on the table. (Yet if that is the situation, would such people have been looking to buy designer handbags in the first place, ever?) My mom's theory is that since money's so tight now, people are going to be wanting second-hand goods more than in times of prosperity. Which may be true, and yet ... people who buy second hand on eBay are unlikely to have ever bought it new in the first place -- they would always buy on eBay, imho, except now they might not have the discretionary cash to do so. I don't know; it just keeps going around in circles in my head. What do you think??

Also, don't you hate it when you're lazy and don't do laundry in weeks, then wake up one morning and find that you don't have any underwear to put on except granny panties or thongs?

Comments

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

LOL DID you re: Amy?? I don't remember that! Obviously. :))

The thing re: the handbags is that I don't doubt they'll sell. But would I get as much as I would in times of economic wealth? I kind of doubt it. I mean, I don't disagree w/ what you said, that people who are more well off might want to buy an expensive handbag (and we're not talking so much about Coach, the majority of the ones my mom has are Louis Vuitton-esque) on eBay during these times ... but they won't have much competition to get a good deal. Since there are fewer buyers in general, and many sellers with a lot of product they want to unload, they don't have to go as high with the price. And I'd like to get as much as I can (obviously), especially since like I said, it's already been decades. It just seems to me to be really short sighted to wait this long and then sell it at the worst time possible for consumer spending.

But on the other hand... these same people, as you said, may not necessarily be shopping on eBay during good economic times so they wouldn't be in the mix for competing with other buyers. Except as I said, I think the people who buy second hand on eBay, for the most part, would probably always buy second hand when it comes to these types of designer handbags, as we are talking about thousands of dollars, not hundreds. You know what I mean? When you get to that level the super rich people who can afford these new probably aren't going to resort to eBay -- they probably can still afford it new if they really want it and don't want the stigma of having a used handbag from eBay. And the middle class people who want the handbags but can't afford them new -- who are usually the ones being targeted on eBay -- may not be looking to buy this kind of thing during these times. (Or fewer of them are, hence lower prices.)

My mom also suggested listing a couple to test the market, but ... with eBay, there's not really 'testing.' If you list it, you're required to sell it (unless I'm one of those annoying reserve auction people). And if something sells, how do I know if it's a good price vs what I would get in a better economy? Obviously we can't really know the answer to that question, without having identical items to test it now and then later, so it's like having to make an educated guess as to whether this is now actually a BETTER time to sell, or not. (Plus if I sell something for $200, but could have gotten $300 if I'd waited, is that really worth it? Just because my mom was impatient to get it done now? Even though the handbags are already 10+ years old?)

[jade-okelani.livejournal.com]

Your target demo on eBay is not the super rich - it's just the well off, people with an above $250k yearly income who would normally indulge their handbag obsession *at* LV might instead go trolling for something more 'vintage' with a better price tag. People are not going to malls as much, big retailers are closing their doors, and while obviously actual designer handbag makers aren't going out of business, they're not getting as much walk through traffic, and if people are going to buy them, and know they can't afford full price, but want to splurge, or indulge, they're totally going to go to places like eBay when they wouldn't have considered it before.

There's really no way to know, as you said, whether you'll make more or less by waiting another year, but I honestly wouldn't be too afraid of the bad economy driving down the price. What I would do, if you're really concerned, is see if anyone's selling older bags like your mom has, try to do a search on completed auctions from as far back as it'll let you go, and compare figures. Watch a couple of current auctions to see what they sell at.

May/June is a good time for big ticket items, as a lot of girls are getting designer bags as graduation presents now, FWIW.