Sunday, March 8, 2015

QUALITY HANDMADE DOLL CLOTHES - Or Buy Cheap From China?

 
 This month I had received a notice from eBay to celebrate my 13th anniversary.

Technically, I had been on eBay much longer (using my husband's account) but OFFICIALLY, I had started selling handmade Barbie doll clothes on my own account - 13 years ago. Happy Anniversary to me!

With that said, there has been many changes on eBay (both good and bad - and the bad being the reason why I had taken a hiatus.)

I have recently noticed more doll clothes being sold online for unbelievably low prices. For example, a "handmade" Barbie outfit, with keywords such as OOAK (one of a kind) are being offered for sale, for a mere dollar or two and with FREE SHIPPING.

How can something mass produced (100+ available to purchase) be technically, "handmade" or one of a kind?

There is no way a person in the United States could sew a doll outfit, sell it for a dollar and charge free shipping. They would literally lose money and go broke.

Yet a person in China, can sell clothes for less than a dollar and they are able to offer FREE SHIPPING and still earn a living.

Let's look at the photo I had taken from eBay of a seller from China offering Barbie fashions for $1.28 and free shipping.

Currently, the Chinese Yuan is 6.26 compared to the 1.00 USD. This means that the item that was sold to me for $1.28 USD earned the person in China the equivalent value of (rounded) $8. Or think of it this way. Each dollar spent in China is increased by 6.26 times.

Thanks to a program (USPS ePacket) offered by the US Postal Service, a lot of US sellers feel that China has been given an unfair advantage to sell on eBay.

Although I agree to this initially, I must say that after reading this article - USPS ePacket - Love it or Hate it - article, that I now realize that US sellers (and others) have an advantage.

It's called, Adapt.

After looking at countless listings of paper thin "handmade" and "OOAK" doll outfits from China, I now realize that quality and originality has been compromised.

I will now focus my attention on creating my own quality handmade fashions, not to mention, offering fast and reliable customer service and guarantees.




For $4, I had purchased this Barbie closet with hangers. Free epacket shipping from China.

15 days later, I received the product. Although the hangers are very thin and the closet is too small to handle authentic handmade clothes (pictured to the right on hangers)... the closet can only hold short and thin outfits that were commercially manufactured.
The shelf is cute, but more of a novelty item. Just a slight bump will knock it over and the doors cannot close when hangers are hung.

Overall, those in China with the luxury of selling overseas with free shipping MAY have an unfair advantage over US sellers, but quality will always trump quantity.

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