My husband and I are fairly divided when it comes to Halloween. He’d much rather buy candy, keep the candy, and stay up with a movie. For me, however, Halloween is all about the costumes! Since we are divided on the topic, I decided to do an experiment and let Halloween fund itself. That way, there can be no complaint.
It turns out homemade costumes sell REALLY well. In fact, I might start making two of some costumes for extra profit. So here’s the formula: make cute costumes, sell them 10-11 months later, use the profit as your Halloween budget for candy and such the next year.
Make sure to get good pictures of all the details when you wear it, especially if it is a children's costume. You just don't know if it will fit next year. When you are finished with your costume after Halloween, clean it up, take pictures of any damage, and put it somewhere you will remember it next September. For me, that is in my Halloween box since I get it out early. You might need to put it with your back to school stuff, or fall harvest type stuff, or set a calendar event for next September telling you where it is (my favorite).
Of course, you can always just list it immediately and let it run all year until it is sold, but then you'll have to be watching your eBay notifications carefully and notify eBay of vacations. You don't want to miss your delivery.
When that magical time comes around, create a quality eBay listing with great detailed pictures. Be very clear which parts of the costume they will be getting. You don't want the buyer thinking they are getting the full outfit if you are only parting with the accessories or be surprised when the Captain Hook wig isn't included. If you list it early enough, you can ask a high price and wait. I like the “or best offer” feature since it shows me what price most people are wanting it at. If it hasn't sold at two or three weeks before Halloween, I’ll lower the price to just above the best offers I received and send a notice to those who sent the previous offers. If it doesn’t sell in a couple days, I’ll accept an offer. I’ve learned from my limited experience that people don’t really go for multiple costume sets (one size fits all adult couples costumes may be an exception). You will probably make the most money listing separately even though it means you will be paying more shipping.
Here are my numbers:
note: visit my
Peter Pan (2015):
Captain Hook:
Sell Price= $35.50
Costume Cost= $6.16
Shipping Cost= $10.38
PayPal Cost= $1.33
eBay Cost= $3.55
Total Profit= $14.08
Wendy:
Costume Cost= $0.00
Not for sale.
Tinkerbell:
Sell Price= $9.00
Costume Cost= $0.00
Shipping Cost= $2.64
PayPal Cost= $0.56
eBay Cost= $0.90
Total Profit= $4.90
Peter Pan:
Sell Price= $7.50
Costume Cost= $0.25
Shipping Cost= $2.83
PayPal Cost= $0.52
eBay Cost= $0.75
Total Profit= $3.15
Total 2015 Costume Profit (2016 candy budget): $22.13
Actually spent on Halloween candy in 2016: $19.94
Cinderella (2016):
Grand Duke:
Sell Price= $10.00
Costume Cost= $0.50
Shipping Cost= $3.34
PayPal Cost= $0.59
eBay Cost= $1.00
Total Profit= $4.57
Fairy Godmother:
Sell Price= $27
Costume Cost= $0.75
Shipping Cost= $7.25
PayPal Cost= $1.35
eBay Cost= $2.70
Total Profit= $14.95
Cinderella:
Costume Cost= $0.00
Not for sale.
Lucifer:
Sell Price= $9.50
Costume Cost= $0.25
Shipping Cost= $2.77
PayPal Cost= $0.58
eBay Cost= $0.95
Total Profit= $4.95
Prince Charming:
Sell Price= $9.50
Costume Cost= $0.00
Shipping Cost= $2.92
PayPal Cost= $0.58
eBay Cost= $0.95
Total Profit= $5.05
Total 2016 Costume Profit (2017 candy budget): $29.52
Actually spent on Halloween candy in 2017: $22.07
Make sure to see Halloween Costumes for under $1 for more costumeing fun.
Happy costuming =)
-Milly
December 5th, 2018 at 04:05 pm 1544025910
December 7th, 2018 at 06:19 pm 1544206789