How to sell football shirts

We spend a lot of time buying football shirts. As collectors, the thrill of the chase never gets old, and the arrival of a new addition is always a moment to cherish (assuming there aren’t any unexpected faults with the delivery!).

Some collectors take a cumulative approach to their shirt collection, gradually building up more and more with no intention to sell for any reason. Other collectors have a more fluid approach, with an equally busy arrivals and departures lounge.

For today’s Collectors Club, I want to explore the options available to you as a seller. If you want to part with your collection for whatever reason, which platforms are the most useful if you want to sell football shirts?

Selling football shirts on eBay

Let’s start with the biggest player in the game, eBay.

As a platform, eBay stands above its marketplace rivals when it comes to brand power and recognition. Your grandparents have heard about it, kids (though they’re probably shopping elsewhere!) are familiar with it. There are simply more eyeballs on the platform than anywhere else, and though eBay isn’t geared specifically to clothing you’ll find a big chunk of real estate dedicated to clothing and of course, shirts.

Given the large audience and variety of options for selling, including the classic auction, buy it now options or a combination of both, eBay is a great option to explore. Though there will always be possible improvements to the selling experience, eBay’s relatively solid infrastructure means you have all the tools you need to create compelling listings, handle any complaints or queries and manage your marketplace in a professional way.

In my own experience, I’ve found there to be fewer ‘timewasters’ on eBay compared to other platforms, though no corner of the internet is completely free of idiots...

The biggest drawback with eBay if you want to sell football shirts is the fees attached to any sale, however.

Though you can usually list an item on eBay for free (there is an exception if you have a high reserve price on an auction, for example) you can expect to pay over 12% of a final sale in fees, which is a significant chunk in exchange for the privilege. These fees often fluctuate, and it’s worth noting that eBay run regular promotions where you can sell X number of items without fees in a month, but you should be aware of any fees.

Selling football shirts on Depop

Alongside eBay, Depop has been a highly popular platform for football shirts.

Depop is geared around more straight forward ‘buy now’ sales, as opposed to the auction/buy now hybrid of eBay. With a focus on fashion, there are plenty of potential buyers looking to pick up clothing items and football shirts, and although I’ve encountered a fair few chancers who will DM to ask for a discount on an already discounted shirt, I’d still recommend selling on there due to the large audience and extensive tools available to a seller.

Regarding fees, alongside free listings as standard Depop is slightly better than eBay with a flat 10% fee. This marginal difference doesn’t separate either platform in my opinion, but it’s a small tick in Depop’s favour.

On a practical note, I find Depop is less user friendly on the desktop side of things for sellers and buyers, but this is a very minor point especially given the preference of mobile for most people.

Selling football shirts on Vinted

In recent years, Vinted has emerged as a potential challenger to the big two mentioned previously. The biggest draw when selling on Vinted is that there are no fees for listing or selling; a huge plus in the platform’s favour given the significant 10%+ fees that both eBay and Depop take.

Though a little bit clunky to navigate, the Vinted site provides a more than solid experience. Like Depop, listings use the buy it now model as opposed to auctions, though you can easily communicate with sellers/buyers to discuss anything further.

Despite the lack of any fees, Vinted’s main drawback is the relatively smaller audience. You won’t find nearly as many people browsing for football shirts despite the platform’s steadily growing brand, so expect to wait longer for a sale compared to other places.

Selling football shirts on Twitter or Instagram

Many sellers look to sell their shirts directly to other collectors through social media platforms like Twitter or Instagram. After the boom of new collectors entering the scene, this strategy has proved more and more popular in recent months.

If you’re looking for a quick sale without the hassle of listing a product or the worry of any fees, a sale on social media is a superb option. Many buyers will have a good idea of what they’ll pay for a shirt already, and if you’re able to get involved with many of the various selling accounts or threads that run weekly you’ll increase your chances further.

For higher value shirts, you can even tease upcoming sales with content posts which people may circulate amongst the community. Ideally, these sorts of posts would be interspersed with more organic posts, as being overly pushy with sales related posts will annoy some people, but as long as you use your common sense you can have a great time selling on social.

Direct football shirts directly to companies

Finally, when you want to sell football shirts you have the option to sell directly to companies. Examples of potential buyers include our good selves, as well as the likes of CFS, Cult Kits and VFS. 

This option is a great direction if you are selling in bulk, although you should expect to get less per item than if you were to sell shirts on an individual basis through any of the previously mentioned platforms. That being said, the ability to sell in bulk is attractive if you want to move shirts quickly with the least hassle, and of course you can always shop around to see what people are willing to pay.

If you are looking to buy a football shirt instead of selling one, then why not check out the latest shirts we have in store. You can view the full collection here.