I accidentally stumbled upon selling your old (smelly and trashed) shoes on eBay, but I knew as soon as I read about it, I had to try it out. It turned out to be extremely lucrative for me. Here is my handy guide to helping you to sell your well worn shoes on eBay.
 

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sell your well worn shoes on eBa
 

Why sell your well worn shoes on eBay?

eBay is a great place to buy and sell a variety of items, and lots of people even make a living from buying items to resell on eBay from charity shops, car boot sales and more. 

You will find some very strange things selling on eBay, and one of those items is well worn, smelly or trashed shoes. 

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sell your well worn shoes on ebay

There are two types of people who search eBay for trashed shoes – those who are intrigued by this, and those with a foot fetish. Check out House Of Fetish.

eBay is one of the few places that people with a foot fetish can buy shoes for them to…enjoy.

As for the one who sells maybe you're not comfortable selling your shoes looking dirty and smelling trashy. You can at least wash and clean it using shoe cleaners that are available on https://shoeadviser.com/accessories/best-shoe-cleaners/.

How much money can you make if you sell your well worn shoes on eBay?

Well worn shoes sell for different amounts of money on eBay. I have seen some pairs go for £20 and some reach hundreds and hundreds of pounds. Here are some examples:
 
This pair went for £47 + £2.90 delivery.
 
This pair went for £63 + £3 delivery.
This pair went for £45 plus £2.90 delivery.

If you are looking to sell your well worn shoes on eBay then I would expect to make at least £20 per pair. 

Considering that you would most likely just throw the shoes out, this is a win-win situation. 

Remember that selling your own unwanted items is tax-free.

Selling extras when you sell your well worn shoes on eBay

Not only can you make decent money when you sell smelly shoes on eBay, you can also offer some extras to go alongside your well worn shoes and boost your income. 

If you are going to list your shoes for sale then I want to warn you that you will most likely be sent messages asking you for extras. Some of these requests might gross you out, and you can block anyone you are uncomfortable with. 

sell your well worn shoes on ebay

However these messages give you a great chance to upsell anything else. 

Here are some ideas of things you might get asked for:

  • A full length photo of you wearing the shoes
  • Close up photos of your feet
  • Ped egg shavings…
  • Videos of your feet
  • Sell used socks alongside your shoes

And more. 

Remember that you can 100% charge for these extras if you are comfortable providing them

The sky is the limit, and if you can't come up with a price then you can ask the potential buyer what they are happy to pay and go from there.

sell your well worn shoes on ebay

What happened when I tried to sell smelly shoes on eBay

In summer I pretty much live in Primark pumps, which cost around £3-£5. Being Primark shoes and summer, the shoes didn't last very long and would break quite easily, about a pair a month. They would always end up in the bin because they couldn't be given to charity.

I decided to give selling them a try. My first few pairs went for around £6, which I was thrilled with – they were just going to go into the bin. Then one weekend something amazing happened. I sold two pairs of old, broken and smelly Primark pumps. One pair for £22 and the other for £12.

sell your well worn shoes on ebay

As if that wasn't good enough (and trust me, it was!), someone e-mailed me asking for a link to my Amazon wishlist. I quickly removed my last name from my list and about 3 days later a Wii game arrived! The person hadn't even bid on any of my shoes and I've never done anything in return.

I have seen people get some other great financial benefits from selling their smelly shoes on eBay. If you are open minded about this then is can be a real boost to your income.

I have been asked to provide extra foot photos and videos for large sums of money, and I have a friend who has a regular foot fetish client who pays £500 a month for videos of her feet. You can even use dedicated platforms like FunwithFeet, Feet Finder to sell feet content.

How to sell your well worn shoes on eBay

eBay have some very strict guidelines about listing worn shoes. If you listing gets pulled then your policy compliance will lower, which ultimately means that eBay may place a listing limit on your account and you could even see your account removed.

Therefore I strongly suggest that you start up a new eBay account just for selling shoes.

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I've only had my listings taken down once, but eBay didn't even have the courtesy to e-mail me and tell me, the listings just vanished. So here are some rules to help you list your smelly shoes on eBay:

Include as many photos as you want – you can now add 12 photos for free.

If you're showing photos of the shoes worn then photos must be below the knee only.

Your listing needs to state that you will clean the shoes to both eBay's and the manufacturer's guidelines. Don't include anything like “e-mail me if you don't want me to clean the shoes”. You don't have to clean the shoes when sending them out, you just need to say that you will on your listing.

sell your well worn shoes on ebay

Do not use the word “fetish” in your listing, or anything relating to it.

Do not mention that they were your favourite shoes. Perhaps you could mention that you wore them during summer, or in a job where you were on your feet every day, etc.

Refrain from using the word “request” in your listing. Ask buyers to e-mail if they have any questions.

You might also want to consider selling on other platforms, like All Things Worn or selling on Vinted.

Other tips to sell your well worn shoes on eBay

Protect yourself. Don't allow sellers to pick up the shoes from you. If you're going to have a wish list then remove your surname and make sure items aren't just from marketplace sellers – they can't be sent to wish list addresses so the buyer will want to know your address for sending the gifts.

If you don't want to send fully body photos of yourself wearing the shoes then explain this to buyers. It is easier than having them e-mail you every single day. They are quite understanding.

Keep e-mails between eBay's messaging system.

If your shoes are broken or smelly – THAT'S FINE! You cannot mention that the shoes are smelly, but you can ask buyers to email you with any questions. Be sure to show any problems with the shoes in your photos.

When posting your sold shoes, put them in a ziplock bag, bubble wrap and then the packaging of your choice. Package them discreetly.

Make your auctions private – this is easy to do at the listing stage. Only leave feedback for your buyers if they're happy for you to do so – some may request that you don't leave them feedback, despite the auction being private.

Offer international postage. About 80% of the shoes I've sold have seen posted internationally, with America being the favourite, closely followed by France. If you're doing this then make sure you're charging the correct postage.

Pro tip: Be sure to check out my 17 tried and tested tips for selling on eBay.

Don't be disheartened if your shoes don't sell. More and more people are listing their smelly shoes on eBay so the market is tougher. Decide whether you want to relist them at a later stage or just get rid of them.

Related posts:

Where to buy shoes from

If you don't have any trashed shoes just laying around, you might want to consider buying shoes to sell on.

If you want to stay online then Amazon have a wide range of affordable shoes available.

Charity shops and car boot sales are also great places to pick up second-hand shoes.

Someone has told me that they have a deal with their local charity shop where the charity shop saves them all the shoes that are too gross to sell, in exchange for a donation made to the store.

There's no way I want to sell smelly shoes on eBay

There are so many other fantastic ways to earn money online, so if selling your smelly shoes on eBay doesn't interest you then you can find ways to make £100 a month, make £500 a month or make £1,000 a month. You can also check out the latest free money offers to earn some cash easily.

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sell your well worn shoes on ebay