How much should I sell my London Festival Ballet Tutu for?

[Lisa O`Brien]

Mods,please move if this isn`t in the correct place.Thank you. I am thinking [and only thinking at this stage] of selling the Tutu which is on You Tube [Look under London Festival Ballet Tutu Help]. I have looked at other Professional Tutus which are for sale on Ebay,and TBH,mine seems nicer and more detailed than the others. I only paid £65 for it,but if people think that,realistically, I wouldn`t even get £200 for it I wouldn`t even consider parting with it.Bearing in mind that it only has one sleeve,and to replicate it to make another might cost someone a bit of money. I could do with a bit of extra money to 1]Continue to commission the Genealogist for my family history research,and/or 2] Pay for a professional seamstress to make my Topsy Turvy Cinderella doll. I would really rather NOT have to part with the tutu as it is so unusual,but it`s just in a tutu bag in the wardrobe, and will never be worn again. I`m sure there are people out there who would love to have it. But I will not sell it unless I think I am going to get a really good price for it. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[taxi4ballet]

It is absolutely beautiful, no idea what it's worth though!

[Lisa O`Brien]

Anyone???

[Sheila Beelam]

Lovely I'll speak to an ex LFB dancer I know and see if I can get some answers xxx

[Lisa O`Brien]

Thanks Sheila. I already know the ballet was a one act ballet called Verdi Variations . Jane Devine who wore the costume was a soloist with LFB, when the ballet was performed in 1981. The choreography was by Andre Prokovsky. So I know about the history of the tutu. I just wondered what people thought I should maybe sell it for.

[Thecatsmother]

I know this is a bit out of date but gives you idea re more recent new prices. These are less decorated though.

 

http://balletnews.co.uk/the-story-of-a-swan-lake-tutu-you-can-win-swan-lake-tickets-plus-an-afternoon-with-english-national-ballet’s-dancers/

[Melody]

This professional tutu maker (who makes tutus for the Royal Ballet among others) often has some sample sales going on, and there are a couple on this page to give an idea of what she's asking. Again, the ones for sale look less decorated than yours, but it might be helpful.

 

http://www.rossetti.vispa.com/tutu1.html

Edited November 3, 2014 by Melody

[Lisa O`Brien]

My tutu is now for sale on Ebay.Starting price £350. I didn`t know how to put a Reserve Price on it.Free postage.

[Lisa O`Brien]

Well I`m pleased to report that so far 61 people have looked at my tutu on Ebay and two people are "watching" it, with still 5 days to go. Hopefully somebody will buy it.!

[Lisa O`Brien]

Well despite over 120 people viewing the tutu and it having 4 watchers,it didn`t sell. I have lowered the price of it by £100 to £250. 

[Melody]

Good luck! Hopefully that should be enough to get the watchers to do something.

[Lisa O`Brien]

Thank you Melody.

[CharlieChuck]

Oh if I had the money I would buy it, I do a lot of cosplaying you see and I cosplay an anime called Princess Tutu (naturally its ballet related, a spin off about swan lake) and the costume I have that I made doesn't fit me anymore. I've already took it in as much as I can and now it's starting to fall apart. http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/225/9/b/Princess_tutu_by_MayaTakamera.jpg that's it when I first made it. 

[Lisa O`Brien]

Someone on Ebay contacted me tonight."I`m very interested in buying the Tutu,but i`m not going to pay £250 for it. " I got back to her,"I have reduced it by £100.I`m not reducing it again." The woman replied," I saw your You Tube video and you only paid £60 for it, so why are you selling it for £250.?" Me, because the person I bought if from on Ebay initally clearly didn`t know anything about the hours of hand sewing it must have taken to give it the detail it has. If it doesn`t sell for at least £250 I may as well keep it. If you don`t want to buy it then don`t bid for it."  GRR. Some people. It`s my costume and I will charge whatever I damn well like for it.!!!!!![The normally very mild-mannered Lisa`s rant is over.!]

[CharlieChuck]

Someone on Ebay contacted me tonight."I`m very interested in buying the Tutu,but i`m not going to pay £250 for it. " I got back to her,"I have reduced it by £100.I`m not reducing it again." The woman replied," I saw your You Tube video and you only paid £60 for it, so why are you selling it for £250.?" Me, because the person I bought if from on Ebay initally clearly didn`t know anything about the hours of hand sewing it must have taken to give it the detail it has. If it doesn`t sell for at least £250 I may as well keep it. If you don`t want to buy it then don`t bid for it."  GRR. Some people. It`s my costume and I will charge whatever I damn well like for it.!!!!!![The normally very mild-mannered Lisa`s rant is over.!]

 

OMG that is disgusting. Some people will do anything to get a bargain. Like in work we have a 50% of sale and people still ask for more discount. It drives me mad. Clearly she wasn't that interested in it. Tutu's are very expensive and it wasn't until I did my Bsc HONS course in Fashion Management did I really ust why people charge things the way they do. They have to take into account the fabric, the cost of the fabric, the cost of things used for the fabric liek sewing machine, how much electric was used, did you eat, did you have to drive, did you have to use heating etc etc and people do not realise that especially with garments with so much detail. That is a lot of time and effort. Should have told her to go ahead and try and make her own for £60 she'd have no luck. 

[loveclassics]

Don't despair - there are definite periods of low activity on eBay and this seems to be one at the moment.  I haven't done any research about trends in online sales (but I bet there is someone on the internet who has!)  but I suspect it's the wrong time of year.  It could be because Christmas is coming - always an expensive time of year - and people are being a bit more careful with their spending.  And the cost of living is rising, especially power bills and we've been promised a very cold winter.

 

A friend of mine put a load of clothes on eBay during the summer and made a useful amount of money but she says nothing much is happening at present.  And I have been giving away a lot of stuff on Freecycle which was a roaring success earlier this year but now has slowed down considerably.  If you can't even give things away maybe everyone is just busy making other plans. Why don't you try again in the Spring when people feel more optimistic and ready to treat themselves?

 

Incidentally, that potential customer sounds very dodgy to me, you were right to dismiss her, especially if she wanted to do a deal outside of eBay's procedures.  There are plenty of warnings online about not getting involved in such private deals.

 

Good luck

 

Linda

[Melody]

I think you got a fantastic bargain by getting it at  £68 since it's clearly worth a lot more than that, but that doesn't mean you should effectively give it away this time around. However, if that's going to devalue the tutu in the eyes of potential buyers, then maybe when you relist it, don't link to the YouTube video, or at least replace the video with one that doesn't mention what you paid for it.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Melody

[Lisa O`Brien]

Hi Melody. I was thinking that myself. When I relisted it i didn`t put a link to the tutu. The problem is ,first time round over 120 saw the Ebay ad with the You Tube link.So that`s quite a lot of people. Also, my London Festival Ballet Tutu Help video on You Tube now has well over a thousand views and it only had around 800 a few weeks ago,so clearly everyone who saw the ad then went to the video. I just wanted to show off the tutu in more detail for potential buyers. Anyway, four people are still "watching" the costume,just like last time. But if It doesn`t sell for at least £250 i`m going to keep it.

Edited November 17, 2014 by thequays

[Fonty]

Did you put a reserve price on it, thequays? 

 

I've only ever sold one thing on ebay, which wasn't very expensive, but I remember we put a minimum price we would accept.  It sold....for the minimum price! 

[Lisa O`Brien]

Hello Fonty.  It wouldn`t let me put a reserve price on it. Must have been something straightforward I was doing wrong as I`ve put reserve prices on things before but for some reason I couldn`t this time. Hence the reason for the £250 starting price. But to offset this I`ve included free postage to whoever buys it.

Edited November 17, 2014 by thequays