The World's Longest DIY Rant Blog...and I Didn't Even Rant all my Rants...

2580 plus 2378 equals?? Anyone? 4958. No this isn't a math class blog. This is the total number of DIY women's clothing items that are on sale at this MOMENT on ebay. 5000 items. FIVE THOUSAND! 2580 in ebay stores, and an additional 2378 available at auction.

Are we familiar with our economics? I know its been a long time, hasn't it? Its a matter of supply and demand here, very basic. As the supply goes up, demand goes DOWN. When demand goes down...well, you know what happens.

I have to say this because its been weighing on my soul for far too long. And that's what my blog is about...getting this shit out of me and into another format so it will leave me alone.

I started browsing *and eventually buying* DIY clothing a few years ago because, after 7 years of intoxication, I sobered up, climbed out of my bottle and discovered that I didn't think like everyone else. Which is probably why I started drinking in the first place. In any case, sobering up reminded me of one aspect of life that alcohol had smoothed over for me: I AM NOT LIKE ANYONE ELSE ON THIS EARTH. I am so fucking far out of the realm of normal that its difficult for me to relate to other people...to put myself in their shoes. But anyway, a topic for another blog. I fell into the habit of making my own clothes, and eventually buying DIY on ebay because I felt the need to be different. I had to be unique. I got into selling the stuff I made so that I could support both my fabric habit (that shit aint cheap) and my ebay buying habit.

Back then, a few years ago, there were not so many DIY sellers on ebay. The items they made were the first of their kind seen on ebay. Now a days, thats just not the case. I'm really so tired of T-shirt remakes that I could puke. I don't know how many about me pages/listing descriptions I read that say something to the tune of *I took this baggy men's T-shirt and gave it a flattering cut*....its been done. Done done done done done. And let me tell you why. Its not difficult to take a tshirt and sew new seams in it and make something else. You can learn to do it well *enough* to make something semi-decent in maybe about 5 to 10 attempts (and I swear some people don't even make THOSE attempts before they start selling on ebay). Taking a Tshirt and giving it a *flattering cut* is NOT INSPIRED. Its the equivalent of using printed fabric as the sole source of your design individuality - a plain dress...in a print fabric...IS NOT INSPIRED. Its a plain dress in print fabric. It doesnt matter how many different print fabrics you find to make your plain dress out of. Its not inspired. Its not art.

But anyone with a sewing machine and an hour to spare and a MINIMUM of ability can achieve at least a semi-decent result. And when you first saw it on ebay a few years ago...you went WOW thats cool...and the sellers doing it...were making some good money. So many people have seen these reconstructions and thought...I could do that...and BAM a flooded market is born whereby everyone and their dog is cutting up a tshirt and trying to sell it....and not everyone and their dog is talented enough to pull it off...because let me tell you, even though you CAN do it with a minimum of ability...that doesn't mean that youre doing it RIGHT. That what you're making is going to last more than a month. That what you're making is going to fit right on human anatomy...be comfortable, hang right...etc.

Wow thats a long way out of the way to go to make a point. That point being that the idea of all this was to be unique and individual, not to all wear the same tshirt cut up in 20 different *flattering* ways. And to top it off, back to the Keynsian economics here...the more sellers that enter the market, the more you DEVALUATE the product. And the sellers that enter the market with *less skilled* product devalue our market more, because when a buyer pays money for a DIY product and that product does not live up to their expectations, they will be hesitant to buy next time...not just from the less skilled seller, but from all sellers. They may leave the DIY market entirely.

I'm sure very few people understand my point here. And I'm not suggesting that the floodgates to DIY seller *heaven* should be closed and I'm not saying fuck anyone who decides to start a DIY venture on ebay. I'm saying this: Its not for everybody. You really need to think this DIY thing through very carefully. Here are some points from grislted veterans (myself included...hahah)

1. This is not all fun and games. Its not a work-at-home-when-your-lazy-ass-feels-like-it-so-you-dont-have-to-go-out-and-get-a-real-job sort of thing. If you take this seriously, and you have to to have ANY CHANCE of success...you're gonna work your fucking ass off. Seriously. Oh yeah sewing is fun. How much fun is it after 15 straight hours? After making 250 or so corsets? How much fun? Its not grinning ear to ear fun let me tell ya. It beats raking shit for a living *maybe, I hear shit rakers have great benefits* But its a job. And its FULL TIME. You can't put 20 hours a week into this and have any hope. It takes me 20 hours to make one item sometimes. And then there are the aspects of seeking out and purchasing your supplies, answering emails, doing listings, desiging your HTML, networking with other DIYers and suppliers, putting together packages to send, sending those packages, coming up with new ideas, designing those new ideas, mocking up the new ideas and begging people to try them on for you and give you an honest opinion...all this takes a lot of your time out of the day. I spend easily 50 to 60 hours a week on my ebay activities. And all of the other DIYers I talk to, and I talk to a LOT of em...put in that many or more. No weekends off. No evenings off.

2. The materials of this business are not cheap. Tshirts cost money. Fabric costs money. Trims cost money. All the fucking metal I put on my clothing - costs money. Sewing machines cost money. Sergers. REPAIRING the fucking sewing machines and sergers. I have easily $2000 in sewing equipment in my home. Easy. Talk about capital investment. I have enough fabric in my home to start my own store. None of it cheap...not even close. My capital investment into my business has reached well into the thousands. And where do you keep all this shit? I have TWO ROOMS dedicated to this. Two rooms of my townhouse. Doesn't leave much room for anything else.

3. PROFIT. You make a nice shirt...takes you 3 hours, say, plus an hour to take pictures and list. You sell it on ebay. And due to the lovely market glut we are currently in, you rake in a cool $20 on it. Ohhh yeah $20. Less the cost of the tshirt ($10), trim and other materials ($3), ebay and paypal fees ($3), income tax and social security tax($2 and YES you are going to have to pay income tax...otherwise you could GO TO JAIL. And yes the IRS DOES CARE, even if you only make a little bit. They will eventually find you...the rat bastards). That's $18 in cost...not even including all the little minor expenses that add up quick. So for your 4 hours of labor you net...at best...$2.

I see so many people trying to sell on ebay that make $8, $10...$20 on an item...and I think, HOW can they keep operating at a loss? Cuz they are. There is no way to make a profit at that level. Why put in ALL those hours, and spend all that upfront money on materials...to lose?

4. Market glut = little chance of exposure = little chance of success. That's the sad truth. There are sooooo many DIYers out there now, its gonna be hard for anyone to see you. The marketing blitz you'd have to put on to get attention now would have to be astronimical. I've bought some DIY from exceptionally talented people, and I could tell you their ebay IDs but you wouldn't know them. Because they get no exposure. You type into your search bar *DIY corset*, for instance, and EIGHT pages of results come up. How many people actually sift through 8 pages of results? How many people actually pay attention to the details of EVERY result?? How many are going to see your item and click on it? And what are the odds, with all the DIY out there, that they are going to buy yours and not go shopping instead for a similar item made by someone else that is cheaper??? I don't know how anyone but established sellers are even getting SEEN out there. I know from watching my numbers that I'm BARELY getting seen. Its chaos stew out there...

I guess I've ranted enough, and I really need to get back to work before I lose my edge...that I'm already losing...lol...but there is a whole realm of unranted rant about Inspiration and Art and Vision and the stunning lack thereof in the vast majority of DIY listings. There is also the rant about things that are not DIY being sold as DIY: FOR EXAMPLE...buy a walmart hoodie and screen printing a *ahem...licensed...btw* band logo on it that you drew on your computer and calling that STOLEN SHIT DIY....I love the listing I read yesterday...a new DIYer...had a screen printed hoodie from Old Navy (NWT!!! fuck....) and were of course selling it as *DIY* and had the gall to put a whole paragraph in their listing about how they had over 30 years of combined sewing experience. Ok. If you can sew....SEW A FUCKING HOODIE. I'm not trying to be a *sew only from scratch* snob...because there are legitimate reconstruction DIY projects that ROCK!! I've seen a lot of them...wearydrearies for one makes wonderful reconstructions...but these items display *again* inspiration, art...changing something to make it TOTALLY UNIQUE. Stealing a band logo and screen printing it on an Old Navy hoodie is NOT
inspired, is NOT art...should not be *DIY* and mostly, is fucking illegal and disrespectful to the bands who work hard for their money, too. I sometimes think I'm going to start reporting screen printers to ebay, then I think, fuck it. Its not my problem. I'm not in the band... but really, maybe we should...

Anyhoo, I've ranted too long. I think you all know where I'm coming from anyway. Just had to get that out. Badly. I'm sure there will be more spewing out me soon...I don't feel...done yet.