So, I've listed a ton of stuff on eBay. Most of it is clothes, books, gadgets that we had lying around the house. Stuff is doing quite well, and I'm happy with the number of bids I'm getting on things.
However, I'm coming across a trend that's annoying me as someone who tries to live as frugally as I can. Certain brands of stuff, regardless of condition, and regardless of whether they're unique or interesting or hard to find, go for a ton of money. Yeah, OK, this isn't a new concept to me. I've taken economics classes and I've lived in this world for more than a minute. But seeing it in action is aggravating me.
I listed this sweater, used, not even in very good condition, that was in some hand-me-downs someone gave one of the kids. I recognized that it's an expensive brand, and it was something we weren't crazy about and probably would have put back into the donate/give away pile. The sweater is a plain cotton one with no branding or stitching or anything on the outside to signify the brand. I thought it was Old Navy until I saw the label. It makes even less sense than Polo and Nike and that whole branding scene where you know at a glance that it's a "good" brand. But this sweater has a ton of watchers and is racking up the bids. It's not even in good condition and is pilled and stretched out.
In the meantime, the "normal" kids' clothing I've posted at very reasonable prices is mostly going slowly. Seriously, people are bidding more for this damn sweater than the starting bid for a set of four pairs of jeans, four hoodies, and a bunch of shirts, which is just sitting there at the moment. And this might not be designer stuff, but it's nice stuff -- GAP, H&M, Aeropostale and so forth. I just can't imagine, even when I've had quite a bit of expendable income, spending money on one boring sweater when you could literally get a whole wardrobe for the same amount of money. Or at least a unique/interesting sweater. It's just a totally different world where people care about that stuff, I guess. I remember reading a young adult fiction book -- maybe a series? -- where the teens would go around school putting their sweaters and jackets on their chairs with the designer labels exposed instead of wearing them. Do people really care about this sort of thing with kids' clothes? Like, the labels might be seen once in a while when the kid leaves the sweater lying in the middle of the damn living room, so it has to be correct label? Who are these people?!
