Random Fashion Thoughts (Part 3: Style farmer strikes back) - our general discussion thread

[MickeyPunch]

Can’t you set a reserve price in eBay when using auctions? Is it known to buyers when placing a bid, or they only become aware of it when the auction has ended and they didn’t meet it?

 

[Black Lotus]

Can’t you set a reserve price in eBay when using auctions? Is it known to buyers when placing a bid, or they only become aware of it when the auction has ended and they didn’t meet it?

You can set a maximum bid price, and eBay will make incremental bids until the current price hits that threshold. You'll get a notification when that happens.

 

[whorishconsumer]

Similar to Mark, I routinely sell things to fund further purchases, and have been doing so for something like 15 years now. I've been doing a concentrated sell-off of my closet since August and at this point everything has sold for some price, save for some Alden shell loafers (which is surprising).

I have learned to lower my expectations in terms of recoup. I think the volume of resale in recent years, which has gone up since adoption of resell as a socially-accepted practice for the luxury market, paired with a resale consumer mentality around getting things for absolute basement prices, means you have to accept increasingly lower prices in order to move inventory. I did some accounting, as the threshold for reporting eBay sales was lowered to $5k recently, and for a sample 28 items sold last year, the average recoup was 38% of what I paid originally for the item. Some could argue that's fair, since this is, in most cases, used merchandise.

Luxeswap only works because Spoo has a very sizable and dedicated base with StyFo that is willing to compete for items, which consistently drives the end-sales price and guarantees return. If I set everything to auction, by comparison, I will never meet my threshold.

I'll add that resale platform fees are at 13-15% of sale, while shipping costs have also gone up. So there is a greater gulf between what the consumer pays and the seller receives, which is a poor circumstance for both parties. For the first time I've recently started taking transactions off-platform. There's risk involved, but I much prefer the old school.

 

[SimonC]

My suspicion is the rise of ‘best offer’ platforms like Depop, Vinted and Poshmark have changed buyer expectations.

They want to see a price, and negotiate downward from there - rather than face the uncertainties of auction (although it remains both fun and perhaps the best option for a very rare / valuable item).

But in many cases the lower price-point of many items (and perhaps itself reflecting the mainstream market) is driving down expectations of used prices.

Outside ‘hot right now’ niche brands, there are some insane deals to be had. I’ll admit to having brought far too much in consequence…

 

[Keyser_Söze]

My suspicion is the rise of ‘best offer’ platforms like Depop, Vinted and Poshmark have changed buyer expectations.

They want to see a price, and negotiate downward from there - rather than face the uncertainties of auction (although it remains both fun and perhaps the best option for a very rare / valuable item).

But in many cases the lower price-point of many items (and perhaps itself reflecting the mainstream market) is driving down expectations of used prices.

Outside ‘hot right now’ niche brands, there are some insane deals to be had. I’ll admit to having brought far too much in consequence…

My issue with the auction part of Ebay is I don't have the time to participate in an auction war.

 

[double00]

You can set a maximum bid price, and eBay will make incremental bids until the current price hits that threshold. You'll get a notification when that happens.

reserve price is a seller-side option so that the auction result is not binding if it doesn't achieve x amount . max bid is a buyer option .

Can’t you set a reserve price in eBay when using auctions? Is it known to buyers when placing a bid, or they only become aware of it when the auction has ended and they didn’t meet it?

yes you can set a reserve price I do not believe they are typically publicized . you can also set a buy-it-now price prior to bidding that is publicized .

***

imho auction format works decently well for getting rid of stuff at any price . for desirable stuff it also works well to find earnest buyers and possibly ignite a bidding frenzy . the drawback for the seller is that the buyers choose themselves ( rather than the seller choosing a buyer through price negotiation ) .

personally when I sell I am less trying to sell an object than buy a buyer . ymmv

 

[Rookoobay]

My issue with the auction part of Ebay is I don't have the time to participate in an auction war.

appreciate you taking valuable time out of your day to share that insight

 

[Keyser_Söze]

appreciate you taking valuable time out of your day to share that insight

Some of us are busy men.

 

[blacklight]

Frankly outside of highly transactable brands a lot of people are probably just overvaluing their stuff. Factor in sizes, colorway, and condition and once you get outside stuff like Chrome Hearts, Supreme, etc. (or Valstar and Kaptain Sunshine here) or brands with huge collector culture you’re talking about a pretty small number of people interested in any given thing who are actually knowledgeable enough to get why they’re paying all this money for it and wouldn’t just get something new instead.

Emergence and mainlining of reps is also probably cannibalizing the secondhand market. Purely as a hypothetical — why is the average person who isn’t a brand acolyte or knowledgeable about the retail or environmental economics of any of this stuff buying used Lemaire when one can buy a new “grey market” croissant bag of similar quality to the wrinkled one with chip crumbs still inside it listed on Grailed? There aren’t enough of us sufficiently deep into the menswear thing to be at the point of exotic brand B/S/T and I don’t really think those numbers are growing significantly due to rep culture. OTOH, people leave or step away from this hobby all the time.

At this point if there isn’t a clearcut specialized market for something (e.g. the NMWA second chance thread here or a cult following of some sort) I’d probably sooner give it to a friend rather than deal with Grailed or eBay.

 

[DoubleDouble]

It sucks because now experimenting is that much more expensive. Used to be that, at least in some subcultures, you could buy at a fair price and flip for approximately the same if it didn't work out. It's becoming increasingly hard for me to spend $400 on a pair of pants that's a little out of my comfort zone, knowing that money might go down the drain.

Combine that with ever-increasing prices and I'm feeling the pressure to dress more conservatively and experiment with much cheaper alternatives.

Ultimately the ones paying the price will be smaller brands, as usual.

 

[Michigan Planner]

Personally think Luxeswap fees are a bit steep. Final price is likely higher than what I can normally get if I were to list myself but the net take is essentially a wash or worse imo.

Agreed that Luxeswap fees are steep but the ease of the process makes up for it IMO. Also, their professionally staged photos, marketing, reputation, and list of buyers who routinely follow their auctions means my items are much more likely to hit with a few people and drive up the prices if they're auctioning it for me as opposed to when I used to auction off my own stuff. (Maybe it's not true but) I like to imagine that that outweighs the costs from their fees, especially when I'm sending in a box or two at a time with a few potential gems in each.

 

[RegisDB9]

Any of you fellas know some recs for linen pleated trousers?

 

[Baron]

NWMA stocks all kinds of linen trousers. Rota and Ikiji are the ones that come to mind. Informale? I think they have a lot that will come in this spring

 

[the shah]

if someone wears a size 40/41 this is a good deal

Guidi Sabot Clogs

Casey Casey x Guidi black slip-on clog with tonal heavy stitching in premium full grain leather. Features a rounded toe, decorative metallic studs and nails, a reinforced padded insole and signature notched sole crafted in rubber and leather. Sizing: European sizing (40-43). Color: Black. 100%...

lagarconne.com

 

[LA Guy]

Any of you fellas know some recs for linen pleated trousers?

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