Sell More Clothing with Less Returns
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It really doesn't matter which marketplace you sell online, and there are many. What matters is keeping the profit after the sale by reducing the number of reasons a shopper has to want to return the product. This has to be done before the product is listed for sale.
New, previously owned and vintage clothing are some of the top selling products on marketplaces like Mercari, Poshmark and Depop, followed by eBay, Etsy, Bonanza, Ecrater, Storenvy, EBlueJay and others.
So how do you reduce the number of returns? Great question! Thank you for asking.
First of all, you need to of course have good photos, and those photos as the old adage goes, "A picture tells a thousand stories", are a good place to start. For the sake of this mini-article and the video already published at this link on YouTube. We're going to assume for a minute, that you already know how to take a few good photos, write a basic description about the article of clothing, and how to stick it in a box or envelope with a label. So lets jump ahead a little on those presumptions, since SellerThink has already written and created videos specific to those topics.
Second, you're going to want to type your way over to a sellers web tool called Size.ly, perhaps you have already heard of it before. Size.ly is an online tool, best accessed via a computer of some kind, or a really smart phone with a great web browser; what shows you which dimensions and measurements to record for each kind of clothing or accessory you want to sell. Their free membership offers a monthly limited amount along with a small selection of templates. But don't worry, the templates are enough for most new to medium sellers to get rolling. Size.ly also offers paid plans which expand the quantity of records and related images a seller can create. Below (assuming you can see it, is a Dimensional Sizing Chart we created for a Puritan PM410808 2XL Sweatshirt. Because we are using the free plan, we used the closet template available to a long sleeve sweatshirt, which happened to be the template for a woman's dress shirt. It's ok, it still shows the dimensions and measurements we need in the correct locations, and it's a long sleeve top.
Sizing issues is one of the top return claims shoppers indicate for wanting to return an article of clothing they purchased online, especially a previously owned or vintage clothing. Size.ly allows us to enter the measurements in inches (hey we're American's its what we learned in school) and there is an option available to have Size.ly calculate the inches into Centimeters. Ultimately, you end up with a sizing photo as presented above, which shows the measurements you entered and can download to your smart device or computer to be used as one of your product photos.
This is valuable especially for previously owned or vintage clothing that do not have sizing tags in the collar. Even if you are selling a new article of clothing, almost all of the clothing worn in America are manufactured in other countries, and if you are importing clothing it's very possible that you could import clothing created for the body composition of the native citizens of the country where the clothing was manufactured, rather than clothing specifically manufactured for American body compositions.
Including a sizing and measurement chart as one of your photos, eliminates the sizing issues.
Other areas to pay attention to are flaws, blemishes, holes, stains or other issues with the article of clothing you are selling. These all need to be listed in your description and shown in your photos.
You will also want to properly prepare the clothing for storage and shipping in a way that reduces damage and other issues that can occur during the shipping process.
All of these are discussed at length and details in our YouTube video, "Sell More Clothing ~ Less Returns" It's not our most beautiful video, but it will point you in the right direction. Remember, anything you can do before the sale to eliminate a return, will reduce your shipping supply waste, shipping expenses, unhappy customers who leave poor and negative ratings and comments about the sale, etc. If you have a few minutes, then click the link above to watch the video on YouTube, or you can just watch it below.