This time of year (tax season) brings a renewed spirit to the B/S/T sites (Buy, Sell, Trade in case you were wondering!) Things tend to be really slow around the holidays because everyone seems to be saving their money for presents, among other things! Now that it is all over and tax refunds are on their way to many, all the markets seem to have come alive.
I want to share a few tips about buying and selling with you. Next week, look for Part 2. WHERE the best places are to buy/sell/trade cloth diapers.
There are many great places you can buy and sell cloth diapers. But please do your research first. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
Not everyone buying and selling is honest. If something doesn’t seem right or look right, it probably isn’t. (I wish there were less of this in our world.) Sometimes the best thing to do is just walk away.
Don’t use condition terms (i.e. EUC, VGUC, GUC) to determine the ACTUAL condition of a diaper. We all have very different ideas of what we might think an EUC is (excellent used condition). One person may think EUC is only tried on and never washed while another may think only used on one kid and not all three qualifies.
Ask questions and ask for more pictures if the ones provided aren’t sufficient. If a cloth diaper isn’t new, ask if there are any issues you need to know about. This might include condition of elastic, snaps or hook and loop, pilling, or stains. If your child has any allergies; ask which detergent it was washed with. Don’t be afraid to ask ANY question if you have one. Most sellers are more than happy to answer as long as you aren’t just wasting their time (window shopping).
Look for seller feedback. Most of the B/S/T sites have a system to monitor feedback. Read what other buyers have said about the person you are buying from. You are looking for things like: Item as described, fast shipping, and excellent communication. Just keep in mind that not everyone has feedback because sometimes it really is their first time selling something. On the same note, try to leave feedback after you purchase something whether it was a positive transaction or a negative one. Your feedback helps to keep everyone protected.
Finally, use Paypal to pay for your transactions. Paypal is a safe way to pay and be paid without having to share financial information. The seller is responsible for a very small fee that is charged from Paypal to receive the money. But it is worth it!
From Paypal’s website: “If an eligible item that you’ve purchased online, eBay or otherwise, doesn’t arrive or doesn’t match the seller’s description, we will look into it. If it’s discovered that something is wrong, our Purchase Protection will reimburse you for the full purchase price of the item plus shipping costs.”
The seller also has protection though Paypal. If someone claims that they never received the item shipped and you have proof of delivery, Paypal has you covered. Paypal also has a fair resolution process for when problems occur.
Sellers, I ask that you be honest and upfront about what you are selling.
Buyers, I encourage you to ask questions, do your research and to use good judgment before buying.
If we all followed these suggestions, so many headaches could be avoided. Have any of you ever had a cloth diaper transaction not go as planned? How did you resolve it?
Jenn is a long-time cloth diaper educator and a passionate small business advocate. She has worked in the reusable diaper industry for over a decade, helping millions of families via her websites All About Cloth Diapers, Thinking About Cloth Diapers and Cloth Diaper Geek as well as hundreds of small businesses during that time. Her goal always to provide simple, reliable information.
Becca says
I once ordered some hard to find “limited edition” Softbums from a BST site. Looking back, I should have known something was wrong when this woman had multiples of all the “limited” diapers. She listed them all as new. I ordered three and when I got them all seemed well. I paid slightly more than retail for each because they were so hard to find. They came with no tags but all signs pointed to new, unused diapers. However, a few weeks later I realized that the pocket where you adjust the leg elastic was different than the rest of my Softbum diapers from our local cloth diaper store. I’m pretty sure I bought knock offs. ???? They are cute and hold the poop and pee but it still makes me angry when I think about being scammed. If something seems to good to be true, it probably is.
Jennifer Reinhardt says
Sorry that happened to you Becca. It’s sad that people do things like that to unsuspecting buyers. But you are right about when things seem too good to be true.
Loucrecia Hollingsworth says
I have bought both new & used diapers through facebook. The new ones were through an ALVA group (Sarah’s coop) & the used ones were through a B/S/T group (can’t remember the name). The new ones were fine until they got so many people ordering & were charging all these additional fees & things that I never was sure how much I would be paying until after they would total it & tell me, which I wasn’t the most comfortable with. So I went with this other group. I love how so many of them would give you a price “ppd”, which means “postage paid delivery”, in other words no hidden shipping costs. The only problam I ever had was when I bought a lot of diapers & inserts from this one lady who was thinning out her stash since she was down to one child in diapers & they were in the process of potty training. I wasn’t familiar with other brands or types of inserts, but I felt comfortable with the transaction. She asked me to make an offer, & we worked something out. I felt like I got a descent deal, considering how much they cost new. When they arrived they all looked great & I was excited to put them to use. However, when my daughter even simply wet in them the first time it smelled so bad! My husband said it smelled like raw sewage! I was almost in tears till I discovered your site, which helped me learn how to strip & a better way of washing my diapers. That was about a year ago & I’ve been happy with the deal since then. So if someone ends up in the same situation I was, don’t give up too quickly. Once you get the right washing regiment down, you may be OK. Ironically, when I commented about it to the lady, she had no clue what I was talking about & I think may have been offended by the fact that I said I was having severe issues with trapped odors. I learned a lot from the deal though.
Anne says
Having done both buying and selling, I can attest that you can find shadiness on both sides. Sellers can protect themselves by doing a couple of things:
1. Avoid buyers who make promises to pay or say “I’m interested” but keep you waiting for days by laying out clear guidelines like “Payment must be rec’d within X hours/days or item will become available again.”
2. Keep copies of messages and/or photos in case a buyer comes back after the transaction and tries to unjustly demand a refund. You can use these to defend yourself through Paypal’s dispute process.
3. Make it very clear what you mean by “postage paid,” since buyers may assume it won’t be any extra if they are in a different country. If you don’t ship to other countries, state that as well.
Jennifer Reinhardt says
Anne, you are so right! These are great tips for someone who is selling. Thanks for sharing.
Jennifer Tippett says
When I was still pregnant with my first, I was looking on DiaperSwappers.com for gently used diapers at a good price to start my stash. I thought I caught an excellent deal when I found a post with ~25 bumGenius diapers for $10ppd/diaper. I asked the seller how much life was left in the diapers in terms of elastic, aplix, etc. and she said that there was still life in them and usable. We agreed to buy them and I couldn’t WAIT until they came in the mail! They finally arrived and I opened them up to inspect them. Now I had never seen a new diaper before so I had nothing to base them off of in terms of just how used they already were, but there were things that were immediately visible that weren’t mentioned at all such as some strange staining (looks uber-white like paint or something and feels a bit off, but doesn’t wash or sun out at all). Turns out, 95% of the elastic and the aplix were all completely shot and had to be replaced. I didn’t have the money or sewing skills to replace them at the time and I couldn’t get them to sell because I was honest about the condition they were in.
It eventually worked out where we bought our start-up stash on clearance as seconds to start out on and saved up to complete the stash later. I was finally able to sell them for an extremely low price to someone who was crafty and able to fix them, but it was almost 2 years later.
I just wish that the original seller had been honest and upfront about everything so I wouldn’t have wasted my money as it nearly stopped me in my tracks to not use cloth diapers. Shame on people who aren’t honest, especially with those who are brand new at all of this.
Jennifer Reinhardt says
You are right Jennifer! Being upfront and honest would be alot better. I just don’t understand why people lie or just don’t tell the truth.
Loucrecia Hollingsworth says
I understand. My first experience or two with cloth diapers in general left me almost in tears & I was afraid to try again. Mine wasn’t from anyone being dishonest, but I have found that so many people who have done this for so long, feel they are pros & if you are new to cloth diapers, they don’t offer any info to help guide you. I felt like I was floundering for so long. I understand why so many people are afraid to cloth diaper. Between dishonest people, & horror stories, it can be intimidating to invest in something that may just end up in you feeling like you’ve thrown hard-earned money away.