Is it worth the time and effort to sell hand knit baby clothes on eBay?

Question

I'm thinking hats, booties, Mary Janes, maybe even sweaters and blankets - but do hand knit items sell on eBay? Would they sell for enough to make it worthwhile - considering the cost of yarn, listing fees, and final value fees? Not to mention the time it takes to make each one...

Answer 1

As an artist and crafter in several different fields, also an eBay store owner, I would say more than likely NO! Although, only one person currently has such listings, and they are in Great Britain; the listing never seem to make any money.
I don't see how you could possibly come out ahead.

If this is what you have a talent/flair for, try having your designs at a local, upscale boutique. Or if the internet is the way you want to go, try starting up your own website.

Further, you might want to consider selling your design patterns. There is a huge market for how-to designs.

Answer 2

Baby Clothes Ebay

Answer 3

Ebay Baby Clothes

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Is it worth the time and effort to sell hand knit baby clothes on eBay?
I'm thinking hats, booties, Mary Janes, maybe even sweaters and blankets - but do hand knit items sell on eBay? Would they sell for enough to make it worthwhile - considering the cost of yarn, listing fees, and final value fees? Not to mention the time it takes to make each one...

Answer 5

Well, the best thing to do is to check to see if those items are selling. Type in "hand knit baby" or something similar while searching in ebay and see if people are bidding. Even if they aren't bidding as much as you'd like to make starting out, it may be a good means for you start your own website. Even if you make back all the supply cost and SOME of the labor cost... you'll be starting out well. People will bid more once your rating goes up and people start watching your auctions. I'm starting up a sewing business and I sold one handmade diaper bag and plan to sell some hippie style clothes on ebay for the "publicity" and then start up my own website. I also plan to sell some little girls skirts (patchwork style) as well to see how they do. Maybe if we both do well we could combine websites. My hubby is a web designer. :) I've studied a lot about this and if you want to chat anymore, message me.

Answer 6

I tried to sell on ebay, only once though, I make ORIGINAL design way groovy baby clothes, I design myself all one of a kind and I didnt even get one bid, I suppose I could have tried again, and I think I might. It was very disheartening, as I ( and you ) know the work that goes into this stuff and the fact that being handmade they are better quality items, give it a go, you know the fees, even if they dont sell are way way less than trying to sell in a store on consignment and having peoiple maul your work and basically ruin it anyway so just do it, I will too, we can have a race and see who can sell something first, READY ?? GO........

Answer 7

A lot depends on the market, how good your final items look, and if you own the copyright to the pattern. You can't use a commercial pattern to make items to sell without permission of the copyright holder, even from patterns out of a book that is no longer in print. Many publishing houses and designers do prosecute people who do this, because searching E-bay is pretty easy. Another factor is your yarn cost. You may not make a profit high enough to justify this if you are buying yarn retail and most yarn companies will not sell wholesale to smaller buyers who are not prepared to purchase several thousand dollars worth of yarn, cash up front, at a time.

Answer 8

A BIG YES!

Although it is time consuming to knit these sorts of things, and many buyers on eBay are looking for deals-- it is still a great idea.

eBay will allow you to do a lot of market research into your item. Pricing, product description and all sorts of things you can try out relatively safely and cheaply using eBay.

After that, eBay (and PayPal) offer many fine alternatives for opening small Online Stores and having your item displayed through its network of eBay sellers and eBay stores.

Given the assumed size of your operation, the ability to sell your items piece by piece, auction some items and have access to all of the sophisticated billing option for your customers (Credit Card payments, PayPal, Cheque, Money Order) make giving a small business a start on eBay a great idea.

Good luck!

Answer 9

Instead of Ebay, try MSN new expo live. It's free to list. No sale fees, nothing! No charge for anything! I use to sell on ebay and made over $3,000 selling fabrics. But the thing was, I got all the fabrics for free. So I was not out anything to get started. You are talking about investing time, money, materials, and hard work. I, myself, would give MSN a try. I am about to start selling my Rose Quartz necklaces on there to see how well it really works. I'll give you a heads up if it is profitable.

Best wishes!

http://expo.live.com/

Answer 10

I don't know specifically about eBay, but I know there is a market out there for these. Not many people knit nowadays, but lots of us appreciate handmade items. For example, for Christmas, I got all kids a hand knitted scarf, and knitted caps for a baby. Nothing beats them; they are wonderful.
Especially for babies - nothing beats that soft little bonnet and sweater set you can sometimes find. In my area, that means usually waiting for Christmas when organizations have craft shows, and you hope someone makes knitted items. Also, I myself have recently purchased three afghans of varying sizes and colours for our home.
Cost-wise, I don't know. I do needlework and know that there is no way to ever recoup the time put into making those types of items, like cross-stitch pictures, but I don't know how that compares to knitting.
Pursue it - and good luck!