Where do you buy gently used clothes and toys?

I buy most of my inventory at the following places:

Garage sales & Estate Sales: The cheapest and best place to find deals!  Every Friday I read the classifieds for garage sales in my area.  I specifically look for sales offering kids' clothing or toys, but I'll go anywhere since I never know what kind of treasures I might find.  My mother in law was going to sell my husband's old Air Jordan sneakers at a garage sale, and and instead I decided to list them on Ebay.  They sold for over $200 to a guy in England!  Hidden treasures are everywhere.  The best part about Garage Sales is that the kids can get involved too.

Resale shops: I love going to children's resale shops since most of the clothes are clean and have been inspected already (not true at garage sales). They're also a great place to buy sets which usually do really well on eBay. Check the yellow pages for resale shops in your area. My favorite is a franchise called Children's Orchard, and there are locations all over the United States. You can go to www.childorch.com to see if there is one in your area.  I’ve also heard nice things about Once Upon A Child, and stores may be found by visiting www.ouac.com.  I once bought a pair of Gucci crib shoes at a Children’s Orchard store for $1.99 plus tax. They sold for $95!

Thrift stores: Though not as cheap as garage sales, thrift stores can be great for valuables.  Many thrift stores have sales on certain days, or even Senior citizen discounts. Take mom or grandma in for a fun day! :O)  My favorite thrift store has 1/2 price day every Wednesday and Saturday.  Those are the days I try to shop.

Storage Facility Auctions:  Storage Facilities are everywhere, and when a person doesn't pay their bill, the storage owner eventually auctions off the goods!  It happened to Paris Hilton and Michael Jackson, and it happens to people every day.  Storage owners have to announce their auctions in the local paper to allow sufficient warning to the storage content's owner.  In the classifieds section, check for auctions and you might spot one in your area.  I've heard of people walking away with boxes and boxes of stuff (hidden treasures?) for $10.  It depends on who shows up.  Sometimes you'll allowed to go through boxes, sometimes you're not.  It's like a grab bag.  You could get lucky!

Ebay: One of the GREAT places to buy clothes is Ebay. However, there are some simple guidelines that will save you lots of money:

   *Buy items that are out-of-season for big savings. One of the biggest mistakes I see sellers make is selling an item at the wrong time. I’ve purchased coats and jackets in March or April for $5 which I can resell in September for over $40!

   *Buy during "slow-sales" months which typically are May, June, and December. These are months when mall stores are slashing prices and most people have already purchased their needs for the coming months.

   *Look for auctions which end at strange hours. Auctions that end midday or in the middle of the night typically end at lower final sales prices. Most Ebayers log on between 7-11pm at night; and you’ll pay more for items which end at this time.

   *Look for brands which are misspelled or not even mentioned in the title. Chances are, these auctions aren't getting the "usual" amount of hits as other auctions that are labeled correctly, and will probably sell for a lower price! There is a great website out there that will do the work for you: www.fatfingers.com. It’s an amazing site and it’s FREE!

   *Clothing lots can be good too. When you’re looking for a particular brand name, make sure you check the “check item title AND description” box since some lots do not have the particular brand name you’re looking for in the title. I also like to look at the lots sold in my area, and then I'll email the seller to see if they'll consider a pick up so I don’t have to pay for shipping.  To do a search of items listed in my area, I have to “customize” my search options. To do this, click the “Search” button at the top of any Ebay page. I enter a term on what I want (such as “Gymboree lot”) and click the Search button. On the next page it will have brought up all of the Gymboree lots. One the left hand side of the page, there is a “Search Options” column. After the choices, there is a “Customize options displayed above” link. I click on that, and it takes me to a page where I can customize what kind of searches I want displayed. Under “Available Search Options,” I highlight “Items near Me” and click the right arrow button so that this search option jumps over to the “Options you want displayed” box. Then I click the Save button. Now I will be back on my page with all of the items that Ebay found for my search of “Gymboree lot.” Again on the left hand side of the page, under Search Options, the new “show items near me” box is there. I click on that box and enter my area, and now it show me all of the items in my area! To go back to showing all of the items, I unclick that box.

   *The most important secret is DON'T bid until the final minutes of the auction!  Bidding before the last few minutes of an auction’s end generates interest and gets other people to outbid you. It will drive the price up and you’ll end up paying more. Coming in at the last few minutes or seconds of an auction will ensure that other Ebayers won’t have enough time to respond to your bid. This sounds sneaky, but everyone does it because it’s the only way to ensure you “win” without overpaying. You might think that $8 is the absolute most you’ll pay for an item – until someone outbids you!  Suddenly you are talking yourself into putting in a higher bid just so you can outbid that person. Now you are in a bidding war and this will go back and forth until the auction’s end. Bidding wars are great for sellers, but not for buyers!!

How do you buy NEW clothing so inexpensively?

Of course, I shop the sale and clearance racks, but that’s no secret - everyone does that! I purchase gift cards, gift certificates, and store credits on Ebay. Look under the “Gift Certificates” category on Ebay and you’ll be amazed at what you’ll find. The higher the gift card amount, the more I usually save. Once I bought a $250 Baby Gap card for only $175 – that’s a 30% savings right off the bat!  If you are spending a lot of money on a gift card, make sure you are careful who you buy from. The seller should have a great feedback rating with RECENT positive feedbacks to prevent you from getting burned.

Be sure to use coupon codes if shopping online. There are a lot of coupon websites out there that will give you coupon codes to certain online retailers.  One of my favorite sites is Big Crumbs.  For every purchase I make on Ebay or many other sites, they give me a percentage back!  It goes right into my Paypal account.  At first I thought I wouldn't notice the rebates, but after 1 month of mild shopping on Ebay, I had a rebate of $12 deposited into my Paypal account.  Every little bit helps!  To sign up, Click Here.

If you are a Gymboree fan, there are two ways to save big. My favorite is the Friends & Family (or Circle of Friends) sale which is usually twice a year. Gymboree will email me a coupon for 30% off of any purchase (no minimum and no maximum limit), and nothing more to buy at a later date. My second favorite way to save is to take advantage of Gymboree Gymbucks time. Get on their mailing list at www.gymboree.com and they will let you know when it is here. When you spend $50, you get a coupon for $25 off a $50 purchase during the redemption time.

I also shop at online boutiques for great savings of my favorite high-end brands such as Hannah Banana and Little Mass. I’m on several email lists and I receive additional coupon codes from them.  My favorites are www.bestdressedkids.com, www.achildscloset.com, and www.forgetmenotkids.com.  By doing a Google search, you’ll be able to find many more.

I signed up for a Paypal Mastercard which gives me 2% cash back for every Mastercard purchase made. Any piece of clothing I buy for my kids or to sell on Ebay is charged on that card. It comes out of my Paypal account, so I don’t have to worry about spending too much or getting into credit card debt.  2% may not sound like a lot but every bit helps!  I also charge my Post Office expenditures and my Ebay selling fees on my Paypal Mastercard for that 2% discount.

How much will you pay per item?

It depends on the item, but a good rule of thumb is “Will I make at least $10 on it after all of the Ebay and Paypal fees?”  If so, then I’ll buy it. I once paid $15 for a Lilly Pulitzer dress and it sold for $35. Normally I won’t pay that much for an item of clothing, but I knew that it would be (at least) an easy $10 for me.