Laura Rose made $58,000 selling her old clothes

LAURA Rose is living the high life after making $58,000 from selling her old clothes on eBay. Here’s how she did it.

A YOUNG woman is living the high life after making a whopping $58,000 (£30,000) from selling her old clothes on eBay.

Laura Rose, from Dartford in England, splashes out on three holidays a year thanks to her thrifty habit.

The 21-year-old first started flogging her unwanted clothes while she was still at school, and soon became hooked.

“I started off by selling a few things that didn’t really fit me anymore,” she told The Sun.

“I only made around $39 (£20), but I got a bit of a buzz from it and I soon became addicted.

“At first it was just a good way to make a bit of pocket money — I could see my unwanted clothes and buy something new instead.

“I started looking for other things I could sell too — I started selling my own things, then began raiding my family and friends’ closets.

Laura Rose is picture on holidays with friends. Picture: Caters News

“After that I started bidding on items from other sellers, then selling them on at a profit.”

Laura, a third-year business management student at the University of East Anglia, now makes enough cash to afford luxury holidays around the world at least three times a year, visiting Lanzarote, Venice, Spain, France and Amsterdam.

She said her bedroom was piled high with thousands of pounds worth of stock and parcels packaged up and ready to post.

“It does take a lot of time and effort to make a success out of it, but it’s just a matter of perseverance,” she said.

“It took me around six months to start making a substantial profit rather than just pocket money — it didn’t happen overnight.”

Hidden assets: Laura says she is hooked on turning a profit on eBay. Picture: Caters News

“I enjoy doing it though — if it was a chore it wouldn’t be a success. I’ve always had that money making spirit; when I was a kid I started charging my mum to do the ironing, I’ve always been a bit of an entrepreneur.”

She suspects her fellow students resent the fact she isn’t struggling for money to an extent, but she isn’t the sort of person to rub it in their faces.

“I think maybe my friends do get a bit jealous of all the money I make — but they can see how much time and effort I put into it, so I don’t think they envy it.”

Despite the fact Laura now rakes in the big bucks from her eBay business, she still loves a bargain and always hunts around for the cheapest deals.

All in a day’s work: Laura’s eBay store funds her studies and lifestyle. Picture: Caters News

HOW TO MAKE A MOTZA ON EBAY:

■ Sell your items in auction format starting at $2 (99p) or less. We all get excited by a good deal. Your 40 cent (20p) Topshop dress will attract attention from day one and by the time the auction ends they’ll be so determined to outbid other buyers, they’ve forgotten why they wanted the dress in the first place.

■ Don’t waste time selling products or clothing in poor condition as it’s very unlikely to sell and if it does you may even get complaints or negative feedback.

■ Include key words in your title and take advantage of the full character limit.

■ Take a photo of your product in good lighting with a plain background. For clothing, try to wear the item yourself and take a photo or ask a friend to help. This gives buyers a much better idea of how it will look and hugely increases your chances of selling.

■ Make sure your items end at peak viewing times — around 7pm is perfect. If it ends at 2pm most people will be hard at work, not thinking about your high-waisted jeans. Then just sit back and watch the manic last-minute bids roll in!

■ Building a good seller standard will place your items higher up in search results. This depends on a number of things such as your feedback percentage, number of sales, quick postage, sell-through rate and response time to messages.

■ Offer free postage to increase visibility. I keep mentioning visibility because this is the most important thing. Making your listing look great is no good if no-one can see it.

■ Keep organised this is particularly important if you want to sell a lot of stuff. You don’t want to end up listing something you’ve already sold and disappointing a buyer.

■ Post on time; customers expect more and more these days, so make sure you post when you say you will or sooner, or you’ll end up with lots of angry messages from keyboard warriors.

■ Most importantly, stick with it. Don’t give up the first time something doesn’t sell for what you’d hoped for.

This story first appeared at The Sun and was reproduced with permission.