Lilrain

I am planning to try and sell a bit of my excess fabric, and probably some books on here in the near future. I would like opinions on pricing. I know we all want to recoup as much as we can, but we also want to sell what we will never use. We don't want to give the stuff away(can't afford that) but don't want to price ourselves out either. Some post fabrics for sale on here at prices that must be what they paid and it doesn't seem like they are getting much response. So... please offer suggestions on pricing. Does brand matter? LQS versus Walmart?

ckcowl

it makes a huge difference between walmart fabric and lqs fabric so if you are going to try to sell both i would think you should keep them separate and let the possible buyer know which it is. only you can decide how much you need to sell your fabric for. how much did it cost you? and how much do you think you need to get back out of it? is it scraps you've already got your usage out of? or is it yardage? is it collections that have gone (out of print) and are hard to find? is it fabric you can find on the $1 rack at any discount store? only you know what you have. when deciding i would see how much i can get into the 3 different sized flat-rate boxes and then let possible purchasers know what shipping is going to cost too. if you are selling for $5 a yard but then have to add $20 for shipping it might wind up being no deal at all...but you do not want to (sell yourself short) my mom made that mistake lots trying to get an online business going. she was paying people to take her stuff...instead of making any money. you need to be as specific as possible with all of the details worked out, then compare and set your pricing to reflect the market you are hoping to enter.

oatw13

I don't really care where the fabric comes from. If I like the print, I like it - Walmart or quilt shop or thrift shop. I know it matters to others. If you can just say which fabric is from where.

If I can buy the same fabric elsewhere for less, I will. It isn't personal. lol

If Walmart still sells it, don't price it higher than Walmart. Same goes for quilt shop fabrics.

For books, check out the price of the book other places - Amazon.com, half.com, ebay.com, etc. See what other sites are selling them for and factor in shipping costs. Your potential customers will often do the same. Why pay more if you don't have to?

Good luck. Once you start selling, you will find what works for you. It is a lot of trial and error. :)

IrishNY

I do care if it's from WM or LQS. If the seller doesn't give that information directly, I don't consider buying. So it may help you to sell it if you say so.

bigsister63

I recently went to a "quilters Garage" sale where books were $1, patterns- 25cents and fabric was $3-4 per peice with some pieces 2 + yards. What great deals for us buyers. Sellers were saying that they just wanted to clean out their stash so they almost gave the fabric away. Some of the fab was really good and some not so nice. I bought a lot of coordinating fabric. It really depends on you reason for selling. To make money or clean out stash. You are not making any money with the stuff sitting in you sewing room. Sometimes anything is better than nothing. I have bought fabric for $3/yd that I thought was good price from someone on the board. You could start at $3-4/yd and then reduce if not selling like you want it to. Remember there will be added cost to buyer of shipping.

bearisgray

Perhaps price the items at what you would be willing to pay for them.

Watch the ads here and see which ones seem to sell quickly.

Besides the actual postage (and delivery confirmation and/or insurance) other shipping costs include the packing materials - envelopes, tape, bubble wrap, plastic bags - whatever you use - and remember to allow for time and effort put into packaging and delivering items to the post office.

If you are planning to sell a lot of items, I think it's worth buying a fairly accurate scale - that way you can give the buyers a fairly close estimate of what the postage will be. (Weigh the item with envelope/box/packing)

One can get priority mail boxes and envelopes "free" from USPS - but that is not always the most economical way to send items.

Mary M

I want to know where the fabric came from /who the manufactor is for I truly believe different qualities of fabric are sold. As for books, I think the only way they would sell well is to price them lower [along w/shipping] than the half price we can pay at Jo-Anns. I like certain books but full price on them is beyond my pocketbook. For me it is the same with fabric...it would have to be priced lower than in the stores and shipping would also figure in. I like a good buy and do my homework to try to be aware of prices.

bearisgray

When there is printing on the selvage, I try to scan that for items I'm offering for sale.

Lilrain

thanks, don't have a scanner, but perhaps I can get that part in picture

bearisgray

I haven't figured out how to do photos :?