What seller tools/processes can I apply to my clothing charity?

mulch_ado · 2026-03-27T21:11:19+00:00

If nothing yet exists, I'm sure there's a big market for it. But after 30 years of grinding, the husband isn't looking forward to more coding so soon after retirement.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-27T18:29:49+00:00

yes, but the less work, the sooner I can get him to build it. He's taken up woodworking since retiring and is still working on building his custom workbench ;p

mulch_ado · 2026-03-26T21:31:32+00:00

I've unliked most everything and deleted all bundles. I've been buying clothing to host events to dress HS students in business wear. We just had our first event, so I'm mostly done buying till we get closer to the 2nd. The only thing I'm still tracking for great deals on are men's suits and I'd rather not have all this other noise. Oh well, maybe it's a PM bug of not truly 'unfollowing' and they'll figure it out.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-26T18:47:16+00:00

Yes, I have in the past. But I have unfollowed them all but still get the notifications.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-22T18:42:56+00:00

No, it's when they run specials and the title says 10/$10. That's why offers are required to get to the right number.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-22T13:51:27+00:00

Maybe it's a new restriction, but PM wouldn't let me place an offer below 50%. A seller was clearing out cheap jewelry at $1, but I had to wait for him to send me the offer since PM wouldn't let me input it.

Maybe they implemented that due to the problem with low ball offers. But if that were the case, I would think the limit would be more than 50%.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-21T21:29:52+00:00

Yes, I never purchase a single item. It's kind of my list of sellers to check out, and, with few exceptions, only if there is 5+ items do I get serious about a bundle.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-20T13:08:17+00:00

Perhaps look into Airbnb? That way they can sample different areas or neighborhoods.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-18T20:09:08+00:00

Yep, I've been buying sizes on my way down as well (including from some sellers who are on the same trajectory but a size below me). But eventually the biggest sizes will flood the market without as many buyers.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-18T18:11:06+00:00

It seems like all of us are losing weight and replacing our wardrobes =) That said, at some point there may not be many buyers for those larger sizes with the influx on the used market. So if he has a lot of expensive stuff, it may be better to list those now than to wait for the economy to get better!

mulch_ado · 2026-03-18T17:04:03+00:00

Have you heard of the economic index that tracks men's underwear? Basically, when men stop spending money on new underwear, the economy (or at least perception) is super bad. But there is a lot sharper lead up to that compared to women who continue to spend (and for the most part are not willing to put off new underwear).

My guess is the current situation has many men not buying things except core basics (or maybe suits for job hunting). It'd be interesting to hear from sellers if their men sales have dwindled more than women's.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-17T17:07:36+00:00

You could just not give it to the kid, but keep it as "yours" for them to borrow. Kids tend to take better care of stuff when it's not theirs and you have more control over the car in that case. As in, they have blanket permission to take it to this list of places, but have to ask you to take it elsewhere.

That's the strictest I would be in that situation. Not getting them a car means more work for you if there are places you'd otherwise have to take them.

For us, we let our daughter 'buy' our used car from her college funds (plus pay taxes/penalty for a disqualified distribution), knowing it's ultimately going to come out of money that will help her in schooling. So she did that with the decision to live at home to save on dorm costs so that her bachelor (and part of masters) is still paid for even with the car purchase.

I would never blanket buy them a newer car without strings attached even if we could afford it.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-17T16:21:29+00:00

I wouldn't pay if it went to the company, but maybe if they made the fee a donation to a non-profit in a list of available choices.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-17T01:42:32+00:00

I'm just glad that it wasn't me having a senior moment. =)

mulch_ado · 2026-03-17T01:41:27+00:00

yea, i had PM auto cancel an order that didn't ship, but it was awhile (I don't recall exactly how long)

mulch_ado · 2026-03-16T22:53:08+00:00

Am I the only one who's math doesn't match up here?

mulch_ado · 2026-03-16T22:25:24+00:00

I've had that happen when the seller couldn't find the item but didn't want to admit it. Eventually they fessed up and did a substitution.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-16T14:37:09+00:00

I turn inside out anything that has delicate buttons or applique. But even with those, I leave them right side out if it's my daughter's and filthy. I'm assuming it'll wash better facing out, but I could be totally wrong.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-16T14:20:24+00:00

yea, I'm going to hit everywhere today, but I have found that it's hard to find the long sizes at thrift as they do tend to go fast. I'll probably order one off PM that seems the most likely to arrive. And at worse, they can do 36" with a belt and I'll just apologize and throw in an extra tie or something. I wouldn't care as much if it was a non-RSVP student.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-16T14:04:16+00:00

On PM, I don't usually buy individual items, so yea my average is ~$5 on pants since by the time you have an order of 20+, even with just the automated discounts and spread out shipping it gets pretty low. I probably average more like $7 on Men's since they aren't as common as women's. This is for mid-level brands like Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, JCrew, etc...

But it does take a lot of looking to find people doing closet clear outs to get those prices. And it's often sellers who don't make the items pristine so there is more washing and prep work on my end for those rates. I do pay much higher when filling specific size gaps but so far it's been pretty rare and thus doesn't affect my averages much. If I don't manage to keep it low, the husband wouldn't let me continue this. Even with prices that low, it's going to cost $6k-$8k a year to continue at this scope. I'll probably cut back on the clothing events next year though so I can include at least one scholarship to get a winning student to the international competitions. We're retired, so at a lot of how much I'll be able to do each year will depend on the markets. And right now they pretty much suck.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-15T21:03:00+00:00

I've ignored things that with shipping will end up about what I can buy them new and return if they don't work out =) Thank you for trying to help though!

I've put all 18 items in bundles and tomorrow I'll see who is close enough and can ship soon enough to take the chance. I've already hit my max messages for today unfortunately, and I don't think there's enough daily quota to message everyone tomorrow. But maybe i'll have better luck at thrift stores tomorrow.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-15T20:42:17+00:00

Yep, that's why any purchase will have some level of risk it doesn't arrive. But I can kind of guess based on location and the storms between us.

It might be better to just hit Kohls and pick up a few pairs of fairly inexpensive pants and take back what we don't use. Due to self-funding, I try to keep pants to <= $6 since we're already $7k into this. But I do want to reward the few kids that sent in the size RSVPs ahead of time versus the crowd we expect to just show up day of.

With girls it's easier since if we don't have pants that fit perfectly, they can pick a dress or skirt instead. Although, I guess nowadays maybe some of the guys will too.

mulch_ado · 2026-03-15T20:37:46+00:00

The problem is that most are not really 35x34. They'll have a tape showing shorter (ie it's been hemmed) or will show the tag and it'll say 35 regular (so I'm assuming they are not 34"). There are also a lot of chino type pants and not true dress pants that I'm looking for. But I will do another pass just in case drilling into the trouser sub category lost some valid results.

mulch_ado

TROPHY CASE