Tag: resale Lululemon

Beware of VERO, the eBay Police

When posting your item on eBay, please always take your own pictures. Never use stock photos or anyone else’s photos. If someone sees their photos in your ad they can report your ad and it will be removed. Lululemon participates in eBay’s VERO program, if one of their employees sees your ad, and it features a stock photo, it will be reported. Once the stock photo is reported, Lululemon will have your name & address, as well as other information. eBay states: “When a rights owner files a VeRO claim against a seller, the rights owner may have the option to request a seller’s registered user ID, name, address, phone number, email, and company name. This process is outlined in our Privacy Policy.”

The difference between when the average user reports your photo & when Lululemon reports your photo is that Lululemon participates in the VERO along with many other companies listed here: Vero Participant Companies “About Me” pages. The average user can report your image to eBay for copyright infringement, but when someone registered with VERO does it, they also have the right to request your personal information.

eBay’s VERO policy can be found here.

I also would like to mention that at one point, Lululemon had Facebook shut down one of the most popular selling pages on Facebook. It also froze the accounts of the administrators on that page. The stated reason was copyright infringement. So, the admins had all of the Stock photos removed from the page & coordinated an effort to remove all stock photos from all pages. To this day, no stock photos are permitted on any Facebook selling page. Personally, I think it has helped deter scam artists who sell things they don’t own. (If you have to take your own pictures, how do you post an ad without the item? I suppose it’s possible, but it becomes more difficult.)

I know I haven’t covered the entire breadth of this. I find this subject too dry to elaborate on. However, I thought it was important enough to cover. Some people are new to eBay or new to selling Lululemon and may not be aware of Vero policies. I hope that my small effort to prevent your ad from being reported, removed and your privacy being compromised by Lululemon & eBay will be heeded and I can help everyone have a positive eBay experience.

How to do the eBay. AKA: Selling Lululemon using eBay.

This blog is meant, primarily, to help people sell their Lululemon collection. I want to talk about selling, specifically, on eBay. Some of these tips might be applicable to eBay in general, but I do like to keep myself on topic. So, please comment with your opinions on how I can improve this post, especially regarding its specificity and relevancy to Lululemon.

First thing first! Learn how to prepare your item for sale.

Decide When to Sell- market trends occur year-round and always merit consideration. But there are other factors to consider. I have limited closet space, so I’m constantly considering and re-considering pieces of my Lululemon wardrobe. But once I decide to sell, I prepare the item for sale and it gets zip-locked. That way, the condition of the item is unchanged.

Sell many items at once- I recommend selling multiple items at once. Because there are so many listings for Lululemon items, I like to do as much as I can to make sure my ads get noticed! I try to add at the end of my listings “If you’re looking for more Lululemon, check out my other listings!” Hopefully they do. The more views you get, the more watchers you’ll get the more sales you’ll create! If you sell in multiples, one person who was searching for something may look at another ad and buy that instead! You never know!

Give your potential customers the attention they deserve- Make sure you have the time to dedicate to your sales. If someone messages you with a question, answer it ASAP. People are fickle, someone may be very interested in your item and if you don’t respond quickly, they’ll move on to something else. This is particularly true at the very beginning and towards the end of your listing. People who are considering the BIN option may ask questions immediately after you list the item. After all, it’s a GREAT item and they don’t want to miss out! Answer them quickly and you may earn that sale! Leave them hanging, and they will certainly explore other options.

Pricing- When you list your item, BIN is probably the most optimal outcome. You never know whether something will sell or not, or how high it will go if you post as auction only. Never price your item at 0.99. This doesn’t work for Lululemon items. It works for other things. It works for commodity-like items where there are too many of the same thing to keep track of and everyone is looking for the lowest possible price on the same thing. But Lululemon is NOT a commodity (as in a mass-produced, unspecialized item, made to be used up), it is an asset. It retains value over time and that’s part of the reason your collection and its sale can be lucrative. If you price your item too low, you’ll just get a bunch of people who will watch your auction, and you will not get what your item is worth. Price your item fairly, and you should get what it’s worth, or at least close to that much. The most important factor in getting what your item is worth is ensuring that it is listed correctly. For help trying to find the name and colour name of your item, read this post or this post for even more (extensive) advice. I also think it’s a a good idea to price your item such that it meets eBay’s minimum requirements with regards to start bid vs. BIN price. The current rule is that the BIN price must be a minimum of 30% higher than the starting bid. The BIN should be what you want for your item, in the best possible outcome. It should be optimistic, but not ridiculous. Try to find out the value of your item and price it accordingly. People like a good deal, but there’s no need for you to give your things away! The reason I think this is a good idea is because if people think they can get a really good deal by simply *watching* your item, they will. However, if your item is $100 and the SB is $70, people are more likely to BIN if they’re actually interested in the item. Then you get what you want, a sale, and they get awesome, awesome Lulu.

Shipping- Regardless of where you are, I recommend offering shipping to Canada AND the US, as this is where the highest concentration of buyers reside. I am so honoured to be able to say that I have had readers from Singapore, Australia, the UK & New Zealand! Therefore, I find it appropriate to mention that the largest market for Lululemon is the US & Canada. And that regardless of your home port, I recommend offering your goods to the largest available market and that means these two Western nations.

eBay’s Global Shipping Program- whether you choose to use this or not is up to you, I just want to let you know that in my experience, it over-charges the buyer. And beware of being automatically or mistakenly opted-in.

Finally, my advice is to keep your eBay account as private as possible. Don’t name it after yourself or tell people your eBay handle. The reason being that eBay is purely business and once people know who you are, it becomes personal. I once witnessed a public argument on a Facebook group about a $2 shipping charge discrepancy & both the buyer and the seller posted their own thread talking about this “terrible buyer/ seller on eBay.” Then, everyone realized what was going on and it was a mess.

Please be a responsible and courteous buyer/ seller. The market rewards excellence in service, who knows, maybe one day you’ll be a Top Seller!

Preparing Your Item For Sale

It doesn’t matter where you sell your item, you’ll have to prepare it for sale. The better you are able to prepare your item, the more likely it is to sell and fetch a high price.

Make sure your item is in the best condition it can be.  You’ll want to make sure that your item is in the best possible condition before you list it. You should refer to my Last Post for tips on how to repair any damages your piece has suffered over the time you’ve had it.

Take lots of pictures of your item. Take your best camera and make your item look pretty. Smooth out the wrinkles, Fold it nicely along seams when you’re taking pictures at different angles. Take a picture of the full front, full back, any details that make the item unique like thumbholes, pockets, ruffles, zippers, etc. Take pictures of cuffs and the bottom hems on pants, as these areas tend to receive the most wear. Take up-close pictures of the fabric. If your item has a size dot, take a picture of that. I love it when sellers take a picture of the size dot because it guarantees that the item is the size stated in the auction. There have been countless times when I have purchased an item sold as one size, only for it to get to me and discover via the size dot that it is a different size. Disclose any flaws, no matter how small and take pictures of them. Also disclose if the item has even been altered, including hemming.

In a Previous Post, I talk about rip-out tags. This is where they come in handy. Take a picture of the rip-out tag. This helps buyer determine the size and most importantly authenticity because there are FAKES out there. This is especially important when selling items that are New With Tags. (Got Q’s about how to assess the condition of your item? Consult this post) Personally, I’m very cautious when contemplating purchasing items that are new with tags and I like to consult this blog if I have any concerns about whether an item may be a replica. I’ve also started a post about fakes that I update on a very regular basis entitled “Time To Talk About Fakes.”It has examples of fake Scubas, Strides, Wunder Unders & I update it everytime I find something new.

Wash your item. Wash your Lululemon item according to the Lululemon washing instructions or refer to my post about washing Lulu and clean your item. After is has been washed & dried, place it in a Ziplock Bag and put it away.

Post your item. Using the pictures you’ve taken, post your item in your chosen selling format.

Happy Selling!

How to Determine Where to Sell Your Item.

So you’ve got some used Lululemon clothes and you’d like to get some cash for them. In my last post How To Enter the Lululemon Resale Market, I talked about the different places to sell your item. I’m going to go over the pros and cons of each type of place. To my mind there are three types of places to sell your item. One is eBay, another is a straight buy/ sell page and the final is an auction-style page.

Let’s begin with eBay. eBay is by far the place where you’ll find the most potential buyers. I have yet to list a Lululemon item for $1 starting bid and not have it sell for a modestly fair price. I love the wide range of buyers my product is exposed to and rarely, if ever, do I have problems on eBay. Personally, however, this is the place where I sell my most heavily used items. I list the product AND its faults, start it at a dollar and it always sells, even if it has a hole or a stain. Basically, eBay is where I get rid of things I’ve used over and over again, because I don’t want them to be associated with me and my name. More on that later. Pros: most exposure Cons: PayPal and eBay take a fairly large chunk in fees.

Next, the basic buy & sell format pages. These are great because you can write down your items in a list with your asking price like so:

MANY ITEMS FOR SALE! Sizes 4-8

Tops size 4:

No Limits Tank in Polar Cream/ Deep Indigo, EUC – $45

NLT in PP/ Black, EUC – $55

Cool Racerback – Heathered Menthol – $40

Tops Size 6:

*************************************** (Insert the remainder of your ad)

All prices do not include shipping from (insert place where you live)

PayPal as Gift or Buyer Pays Fees.

Those last two lines will save you a fortune. Sometimes I post my prices with shipping included, sometimes I don’t include shipping but say “Buyer pays exact shipping.” Not paying PayPal fees saves you 4 percent and not paying eBay fees saves 10. It can be a lot of money once you add it up.

Direct Selling Pages Pros: Get your asking price, no cost to list or final value fee, buyer must pay PayPal fees if paid as goods. Direct Selling Pages Cons: It can take longer to sell your item. A lot of the time you’ll get low-ball offers. I suggest politely telling them that your price is the price for which you’re willing to part with a piece of your collection.

Finally, we have the bidding pages. These are the most fun. Although, even if you run them properly it can take several tries to sell your item if it is not highly desired, if your asking price is too high or if it’s a bear market.

Pros: If you price it right, your item should sell in a day. If not, it will probably still sell. Condition, however, is very important. I don’t sell anything on the bidding pages unless it’s in excellent condition. More on that later. Cons: It takes way more effort to sell on a bidding page because you must post your ad, and “bump” your post (bumping is commenting on your post so that it goes back to the top of the page), as frequently as is allowed on that page and baby-sit your post just in case someone asks a question of for more pictures, etc.

Overall, this is how I do things: I sell all my very used, or much older Lululemon pieces on eBay. I am sure to mention all the flaws, but it’s basically a guarantee that whatever I no longer want stops taking up valuable real-estate in my closet. If I have many pieces to sell, I post them on one of the straight buy/ sell pages. It’s the fastest way to get the most exposure and I usually sell two or three items the first day. If I only have one or two pieces to sell and they’re in immaculate condition, I’ll run an auction for a few days and take my time selling it in order to get the highest price possible. If it doesn’t sell at one price, maybe it will sell for $5 less a few days later. You never know who’s looking, you might get lucky that day.

One exception to my rule is when I know I have a very highly sought after item. I’ll put it on eBay because even considering the fees, I know I’ll get the highest price there.

How to Enter the Lululemon Resale Market

You can start with eBay.

Rephrase: You COULD start with eBay. But you don’t want to. eBay fees are pretty high. Well, compared to zero fees, eBay fees are high. What you want to do is start on the many Facebook groups dedicated to the sale and resale (and resale) of Lululemon apparel. The biggest is called the Lululemon Exchange, there’s also the Lululemon Bidding Battles (LBB) site where many unicorns are posted daily. (Don’t know what a Unicorn is? Check out my other post about the vernacular of a Lululemon addict.) There’s also a Canadian Version of LBB, where the seller only has the right to ship only within Canada. The Lululemon Market is popular, and The Lululemon Trading Post has a similar format. Each site has their own rules. The main reason myself, and many other people use these sites is to avoid eBay fees, sell to people who love LLL as much as we do and so that when there is a problem buyer or seller they can be removed from the group. Most of the time, the transactions go off without a hitch. Myself, I’ve never had a problem.

The Lululemon Market is simple: You can post your item to the wall, for whatever price you want and you’re allowed to bump it every few days. You also have the option of adding your photo to a size album and then bumping it to the wall.

The Trading Post has similar rules: You can post your item in an album with a price, then bump it to the wall, with subsequent bumping allowed only once every 7 days. While pricing is not “policed,” fairness in pricing is politely requested.

The Lululemon Exchange is both the largest group and the one with the most rigid guidelines. You may post your item to the wall, or you may post it to a size album, but you may not do both. Also, it is specified that no photos may be posted to the wall, therefore any ads you post to the wall are to be text based only. You may not bump your post to the wall when it is added to a size album, you must wait 7 days. You may not bump your posts more than once every 7 days. This is to ensure that the wall is not flooded with too many repeat ads. They also have very strict rules about pricing. So, read carefully.

Lululemon Bidding Battles: The idea is simple enough: you post a photo to the wall of your item, stating the name, size, condition, starting bid, buy it now (BIN) price (optional) and ending time (24 hours from the start time) and people are free to bid on (or BIN) your item. You’re allowed 6 bumps during the 24 hour run time, plus one extra “to the wall,” if you post in a size album. This is the best place, by far, to sell hard to find items, or pricier ones.

There you have it. Your entry into the Lululemon after-sales market is a simple Facebook search away.

Of course sometimes links are helpful too:

The Lululemon Market is located here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/281577148614119/

The Lululemon Exchange is located here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/luluexchange/

The Trading Post is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/161513970598488/

Lululemon Bidding Battles is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143922069083293/

I hope that helps 🙂

UPDATE:

There’s another group that started in the same month that I wrote this post (June of 2013), that I hadn’t added to this list, even after it gained popularity. It now has over 3,000 members and there’s a lot of action in the group! It’s called the Unicorn Bidding Field and you can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lululemonbidding/ Enjoy & Happy Selling! Thanks to Jen for helping out with this update!

UPDATE:

The Canadian version of LBB, while once fairly popular has not seen much action lately. This is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Canada.LBB/ if you would still like to join. Thanks to Sherri for helping out with this update!

UPDATE: I found a page for Canadian sales that seems to have more action. It’s called Lululemon Canadian Combat and can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lululemoncanadiancombat/

UPDATE: Lululemon 911, a seller-focused market has become quite popular. Here’s the link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/549663845180180/

What drives the prices of USED clothing over retail?

The collectibility of Lululemon is undeniable. Some people must have all the Vinyasa scarves, others want an impressive collection of Wunder Under pants. Some people collect all items in Teal Zeal, others must have Pique everything! I’m a sucker for Define jackets, and Groove Pants. All of us are willing to pay more than retail for our most desired items. Who knows, maybe you have the latest coveted treasure hiding in your closet!?

Apart from the obvious collectibility of Lululemon clothing, is the quality. The general quality of Lululemon clothing has, historically, been impressive. I have many items in my closet that have lasted through the years, despite regular, rigorous use. Fast forward to today: over the past year Lululemon has presented its loyal client base with no fewer than four serious issues.

Having had personal experience with color bleeding and poor seam construction, I must admit to being extra cautious when purchasing NEW Lululemon products, in-store. It used to be customary for me to go in to my local retail establishment, be greeted by name, choose my selected garment (having done my research the evening before), and walk out the door without even trying it on. I used to spend my money on retail clothing, in-store. And, I still do, but only on selected items. And I try everything on. I check the seams, quickly, and I do a bend test to “make sure the coverage suits my needs.” The bulk of my spending now occurs in the after-market where I can buy better quality products at inflated prices. But I’m very happy to pay those prices, as long as i get what I want. And so are a lot of other people.

The collectibility of the items is created by Lululemon’s scarcity model, they only make so many of each style and color. The desirability is enhanced by the current trend of on-going product quality issues. As it stands, even if I thought that they were going to bring the Define jacket back into production, I would still prefer to purchase them in the after-market sales arena, rather than in-store, because their used clothing lasts longer than their newer offerings. As an aside, I have heard rumors that the define jacket will be put back into production. However, I’m concerned that they will reduce the quality of the materials and create a bastardized version of my beloved Define jacket. This worries me.

 

UPDATE:

The Define may or may not be coming back into production based on the results of a survey/ vote process that Lululemon is currently conducting on Hey Lululemon! .com I’ll discuss these results in a future post.

UPDATE: HeyLululemon.com has been retired. Also, the Define did come back! I wrote a post about it!

 

An Introduction to the little known world of Lululemon after market sales

Upon discovering Lululemon, and submitting to the fact that their marketing directly targets people like you and I, I wondered, what is it about this company in particular that allows it to earn and maintain such a loyal fan base. It does no television marketing, or pop-up ads, no billboards or print ads and yet the popularity of the clothing doesn’t seem to wane. Even in the wake of “Pantsgate,” profits and the Stock, seemed to carry on, almost uninterrupted, save for the occasional late night talk show gag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guYcnGKg9Z8 <<— watch Kimmel poke fun at Lulu here.

March 18th, the day that Lululemon announced the recall of sheer, defective, yoga pants the stock closed at $65.90. It continued to hover for a couple of weeks around the 62 dollar mark, and has slowly risen back up almost reaching it’s 52 week high of $81.77. As I write this, the price is currently $80.94. It’s astonishing to me, that a company that has experienced such a damaging public relations disaster can continue to remain so popular, and highly valued. At least it was astonishing to me. Until I encountered the obscure world of after market Lululemon sales.

Have you ever purchased a pair of Nike shorts? How much did they cost? Thirty dollars? What if I told you that you could sell those for more after you had used them? You don’t have to give them to charity or throw them away, even if they have a hole in them! Well, that’s the nature of the after market for Lululemon clothing. Of course, you can’t do that with Nike shorts, but there are shorts by Lululemon that sell for MORE than retail. And keep in mind that these are USED clothes. The reason for this is the scarcity model that Lululemon employs. Lululemon introduces new products every week, and they only manufacture a limited number of each product. Once the product sells out, (save for returns) the product is gone, and you can no longer buy it. At least, not from Lululemon. Enter the after market. A solution to a problem I didn’t know I had until I discovered it. It’s absolutely incredible and I want to help you understand and participate in it.

I love the Lululemon after market. It helps you discover things you didn’t know you wanted, things you never knew existed and it encourages you to see your Lululemon clothing as a collection. This culture is the reason, I believe, that Lululemon has been able to maintain its stock price despite some difficult press releases (Lululemon Recalls Sheer Pants,) and dropping some of their core products, such as the ever popular Define jacket. In writing this, I’m hoping to recruit more fans for Lululemon clothing as well as to introduce you to and encourage participation in the after market sales of Lululemon clothing.

I intend to discuss the vernacular, culture and trends of these markets and in order to encourage conversation, I ask that you submit questions regarding these markets as well as questions regarding the market value of individual items themselves.

I hope we can all have a fun and fruitful discussion about Lululemon!