if you're a style noob, stay away from ebay

[XKxRome0ox]

i'm making this thread for the benefit of others who might make the same mistake that i did so i had been browsing styleforum for about 2 months learning a lot about suits, fit, and style i've looked through almost 2 thousand pages in the WAYWRN thread and various stuff i was a big time noob when it came to style and fit and i thought i had learned a thing or two so i decided to try my luck at ebay first of all, i did not really know what i was looking for i now realize that most of the clothes on ebay are just utter crap, things people won't ever wear these days mostly things that look like they're from the 80's super low button stance on the jackets, huge shoulder pads, etc my second mistake was getting caught up in the buying frenzy i think i purchased a total of 18 clothing items within a few weeks ... about 9 sports coats, 1 jacket, 2 coats, 2 suits, 1 used dress shoes, 3 shirts spent about $290 total ... and upon receiving these items, realized what a complete noob i was out of all those things i bought, i've managed to pick up about 4 wearable items 1 tweed sports coat 1 coat 1 jacket 1 dress shirt the only thing i've worn so far is the tweed sports coat ... which i got complimented on by several people so that eases the pain of wasting my money on the other stuff a bit but overall, my ebay shopping spree has been a failure summary -educate yourself more before trying to pick up things from ebay -pay attention to the photos and the description -don't buy too many items at once and don't rush i might try to sell back the rest of the crap ... but i doubt they'll sell most likely i'll just end up donating them to the local goodwill or just take it to a park in LA and start handing them out to homeless folks ... hopefully they won't reject the 80's crap clothes

 

[Nicola]

Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox

my second mistake was getting caught up in the buying frenzy
i think i purchased a total of 18 clothing items within a few weeks ...
about 9 sports coats, 1 jacket, 2 coats, 2 suits, 1 used dress shoes, 3 shirts
spent about $290 total ...
and upon receiving these items, realized what a complete noob i was


out of all those things i bought, i've managed to pick up about 4 wearable items
1 tweed sports coat
1 coat
1 jacket
1 dress shirt

So two good jackets and a coat? Considering one item new would likely cost more then you paid for all three not much point being upset.

 

[redtag]

I'm not sure about you but I think there are a lot of decent stuffs in ebay. All you've got to do is to looke very, very closely. And I do believe that buying through online shops is, in a way, a gamble as well. You cannot really tell the quality of an item just by looking at a picture, right? But then again, you will just have to trust the sellers in what they are telling you.

I believe that you did not wast your 200 or so dollars on four items. From the way I look at it, you can only buy one or two items of good quality in $290. Don't feel too bad about this.

We would be glad to see the pictures of the sports coat, the jacket, and the dress shirt that you bought, though.

 

[CDFS]

I'm gonna need a pictorial.

 

[dasai]

I've had a mix of good and bad experiences with eBay, but I've mostly been able to return the failures (it always pays to read the returns policy). The only exception was a morning coat that looked OK in the pictures but was cut rental-style and couldn't be altered the way I needed. I was able to send it back, but they claimed never to have received it, and I didn't have tracking on it so I couldn't verify. I ended up out about $100 for that one.

But if you're careful and patient, you can score some good deals. I got a pair of RLPL flannels off another SF-er for $60, including shipping. Alterations will probably set me back another 40, but that's still pretty good in my book.

 

[XKxRome0ox]

Originally Posted by Nicola

So two good jackets and a coat? Considering one item new would likely cost more then you paid for all three not much point being upset.

i said "wearable"
as in i could wear it if i really wanted to

i just got in over my head
i know there are deals to be had
but don't jump into clothes shopping on ebay if you don't know what you're doing (like me)

 

[westinghouse]

Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox

i think i purchased a total of 18 clothing items within a few weeks ...
about 9 sports coats, 1 jacket, 2 coats, 2 suits, 1 used dress shoes, 3 shirts
spent about $290 total ...

Walk into a shoe store with $290, walk out with one shoe...

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Ebay is terrible unless it is the exact item that you are looking for. People's mistakes when it comes to bargain hunting is that they buy things based on brand names and rationalize it. 99% of the time you end up with crap. There is no better way than to find a good bespoke tailor, or find a store where you like the products and stick with it.

 

[westinghouse]

If you're buying 18 items for $290, you're making bad decisions.

If you're buying one $700 cashmere sweater or sport coat for $290 from your favorite designer which fits like a glove, you're a smart shopper.

 

[Beatlegeuse]

Good post...I made some of the same mistakes a couple months ago, so I no longer search for deals on eBay, unless like PB said, I'm looking for something very specific. A few months ago, I bought a new Burberry suit from one of their stores, size 40L, and I loved the way it fit. I then made a connection that any Burberry suit/SC in 40L would fit me the same. Dumb move. I found a SC in my size on eBay, it was only $18, and I assumed it would fit the same as the one I already had, but when I got it and measured, the jacket was 2 inches longer, the shoulders were a full inch bigger, and the waist and sleeves were much baggier as well, not to mention the huge linebacker shoulderpads. I only lost 18 bucks, but it was a good lesson learned, so I wholeheartedly agree with the title of this post...don't try and score deals on the bay unless you know exactly what you're looking for.

 

[Oleg]

Personally, whilst I'm very much still learning, I'm reasonably confident about my own judgement (though distinctly small time compared to many on here) but even so, I'm quite wary about ebay shopping. On the other hand, my missus uses it to indulge her vintage scarf fetish all the time and, had I still been living in Australia, I think I'd have been more prepared to take a few ebay gambles as the choice is so much more limited there.

Most who've gone down the ebay route successfully seem to a) be ready to risk a bit of trial and error, b) have access to a really good tailor who can take, for instance, 80s suits with big shoulders and remove a fair bit of the padding, slim them down, shorten, etc etc, c) be knowledgeable enough to see when something has the potential to be cost effectively turned into something wearable by their tailor (on that, see point a)) and d) have been prepared to rise above current trends in, for example, lapel size, number of buttons, etc. Something vintage simply isn't going to look like this season's Tom Ford. If that's the look you're after, then probably not the route to go down.

Sounds like you've got a couple of things you're happy with pretty cost effectively though so maybe you should look on the plus side and write the losses off to experience (see point a) again!).

 

[bigj93702]

I have made a killing on eBay - Zegna Su Missura shirts, Brooks Brothers Shirts and many suits. $300 ??!! I have spend at least $5,000 on eBay for clothes in the past 18 months - only a few duds. Sorry, I don't share the same opinion as the OP. But for hard to find sizes - eBay has been very good to me.

Here. check out a few of my winning bids:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT

 

[pvrhye]

Double post. Ignore this please.

 

[pvrhye]

I'm not sure that 4 items that you like for 300 is horrendous. I've thus far won only one item. -> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT Next time I'm back in the US I'll pick it up from my mom's house. If it fails to fit me, I figure I can probably flip it for most of what it cost me. EDIT:

Something vintage simply isn't going to look like this season's Tom Ford.

Unless it's from the 70's, in which case it will look exactly like this season's Tom Ford. EDIT 2: ****! double post. Sorry, it's my first and last.

 

[NORE]

eeebleezey is a goldmine for the discerning. I have scored many a deal on eBay and still do. Just buy things that are new and know the retail price and most importantly your measurements and the sellers return policy.

I need a Polo Regent beige shirt but this one jerkoff who sells Polo and RLPL has it at like $98 on sale!!! NFW. I will wait for another seller to offer it at the obligatory $40 or less before I pulls teh trigga.