Updated January 2014.
Today I want to introduce you to a very nice hobby of mine….selling your smelly old shoes on eBay. As of 24 January 2014 I’ve just had a look at eBay and found the following listings for old shoes on eBay:
Let’s be straight about this from the beginning and not be so innocent about this (when I first told my Dad about this he assumed they were purchased to use as props for plays. It was quite funny trying to explain that this is not the case), if you are going to place your worn, smelly shoes on eBay, chances are that two kinds of people will be looking at your listings – those with foot fetishes and those who want to see if they can sell their smelly shoes on eBay. You may get e-mails asking if you can send full length photos of you wearing the shoes and you may get e-mails asking if they can buy your ped egg shavings (this happened!). If you want to put your smelly old shoes on eBay then deal with it. I’ve never had an e-mail so bad that I’ve had to report it to eBay and I’ve never felt that my safety was compromised. I either politely decline any requests or I ignore the e-mail.
In summer I pretty much live in Primark pumps, which cost around £3-£5. Being Primark shoes and summer, the shoes didn’t last very long and would break quite easily, about a pair a month. They would always end up in the bin because they couldn’t be given to charity. I then read about this on a Livejournal community so, being me, I had to try it out. My first few pairs went for around £6, which I was thrilled with – they were just going to go into the bin. Then one weekend something amazing happened. I sold two pairs of old, broken and smelly Primark pumps. One pair for £22 and the other for £12. As if that wasn’t good enough (and trust me, it was!), someone e-mailed me asking for a link to my Amazon wishlist. I quickly removed my last name from my list and about 3 days later a Wii game arrived! The person hadn’t even bid on any of my shoes and I’ve never done anything in return.
eBay have some very strict guidelines about listing worn shoes. If you listing gets pulled then your policy compliance will lower, which ultimately means that eBay may place a listing limit on your account and when free eBay listing weekends come up you won’t be eligible to list for free. Therefore I strongly suggest that you start up a new eBay account just for selling shoes. I’ve only had my listings taken down once, but eBay didn’t even have the courtesy to e-mail me and tell me, the listings just vanished. So here are some rules to help you list your smelly shoes on eBay:
- Include as many photos as you want – you can now add 12 photos for free. If you’re showing photos of the shoes worn then photos must be below the knee only.
- Your listing needs to state that you will clean the shoes to both eBay’s and the manufacturer’s guidelines. Don’t include anything like “e-mail me if you don’t want me to clean the shoes”. You don’t have to clean the shoes when sending them out, you just need to say that you will.
- Do not use the word “fetish” in your listing, or anything relating to it.
- Do not mention that they were your favourite shoes. Perhaps you could mention that you wore them during summer, or in a job where you were on your feet everyday, etc.
- Refrain from using the word “request” in your listing. Ask buyers to e-mail if they have any questions.
Hopefully now we’ve covered how to not get your listing removed by eBay, now onto the juicy stuff!
- Protect yourself. Don’t allow sellers to pick up the shoes from you. If you’re going to have a wish list then remove your surname and make sure items aren’t just from marketplace sellers – they can’t be sent to wish list addresses so the buyer will want to know your address for sending the gifts.
- If you don’t want to send fully body photos of yourself wearing the shoes then explain this to buyers. It is easier than having them e-mail you every single day. They are quite understanding.
- Keep e-mails between eBay’s messaging system.
- If your shoes are broken or smelly – THAT’S FINE! You cannot mention that the shoes are smelly, but you can ask buyers to email you with any questions. Be sure to show any problems with the shoes in your photos.
- When posting your sold shoes, put them in a ziplock bag, bubble wrap and then the packaging of your choice. Package them discreetly.
- Make your auctions private – this is easy to do at the listing stage. Only leave feedback for your buyers if they’re happy for you to do so – some may request that you don’t leave them feedback, despite the auction being private.
- Offer international postage. About 80% of the shoes I’ve sold have seen posted internationally, with America being the favourite, closely followed by France. If you’re doing this then make sure you’re charging the correct postage.
Don’t be disheartened if your shoes don’t sell. More and more people are listing their smelly shoes on eBay so the market is tougher. Decide whether you want to relist them at a later stage or just get rid of them.
Have you tried to sell your old shoes on eBay? What about anything else odd? Let me know in the comments.
