How to Use a Vera Bradley Ditty Bag

I just wrapped up my Vera Bradley Ditty Bag video and I thought I'd include more uses for this versatile piece. I talked about my own experiences in the video, but there are so many more ways to use it! If you aren't familiar with it, you don't know what you're missing. It's plastic lined, so the beautiful fabric on the outside doesn't get wet. I easily wash mine with my regular clothes and then line dry them. My fabric ones have faded a tiny bit, but that's after 10 or so years of use! My A to Z Ditty Bag still looks brand new, I use it a lot in my videos, and I use it the most of all my Ditty Bags. Let's check out all the ways to use this remarkable bag!

1. Holding swimwear and/or beach towels. We used to live near the beach and now my oldest swims at the local indoor water park a lot. This is what I've used it the most for. I'm actually currently writing at the water park while he's swimming. It easily fits both his wet swimsuit and his beach towel. Even if all three of my kids were here, I could fit all three of their wet towels and swimsuits inside it.

2. Holding diapers, yes, dirty diapers. You can't just leave them at the beach and I didn't always have access to a trash can right away. My oldest and I would go to the beach a few times a month by ourselves, so it wasn't like I had help. Man I miss those times! I would throw his wet swim diaper into the bag, grab some McDonald's for the way home, and toss the diaper there. He'd eat a few fries and sleep the rest of the way home. Very grateful for that, traffic home could be a nightmare!

3. Holding shoes. As I write, I have my A to Z next to me with his wet flip flops inside it, so it doesn't get my pretty Citrine Drawstring Bag dirty or wet. He walked through a big puddle to get to the bench to take off his shirt and flip flops. I've also used it to pack shoes in my luggage. We walk through so much... I don't want dirty soles to touch my clean laundry or my toiletries!

4. Holding toiletries. No one said you could have just one! You've got your shoes in one, toiletries in another! I've done this a lot. I used the Ditty Bag for all three hospital trips to have my kids. I've traveled with mine a lot! It even holds  liter sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner with plenty of room to spare!

5. Laundry Bag for traveling. How fantastic is it to throw your dirty clothes in these, and then go home to just dump it right into the washer!? If you take a couple, you could separate by whites and colors, or however you sort your laundry. Now for long trips this bag may not be big enough, but for weekend or overnight trips, this would work!

6. Organizer for whatever. You don't have to travel with the Ditty Bag. There are plenty of reasons at home to use one! Keep all your hair supplies together, make up, school/art supplies, etc.

7. Throw storage. What a great idea! Taking a throw somewhere? Just looking to keep it nice in storage? Roll up your throw and put it in a Ditty bag.

8. Use as a knitting bag. I don't knit. I don't craft. I'll beg my family to craft for me. I'll buy them with pleasure. Those that knit say that the Ditty bag is great to hold their knitting supplies, both on the road and at home.

9. Use as a trash Bag. I slightly cringe when I think of using a Ditty bag as a trash bag for your car, but it's possible! You could loops the handles around the headrest. If you've got liquids, the Ditty Bag won't allow for spills to seep through to your car floor. I can't guarantee smells wouldn't permeate, but I could see wrappers, tissue, and soda cans being put in the Ditty Bag. Just dump it whenever you fill up for gas; it really is a convenient idea.

10. Holding snacks. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the number one use of a Ditty Bag, even though it's my number 10. It's not insulated, but you could put juice boxes, water bottles, and snacks all into one Ditty Bag. If you're like me and sometimes don't close a lid tight enough, the Ditty Bag will contain the spill.

How to sell your Bag on eBay

I recently made a video on how to sell your Vera Bradley bags on eBay, but really, what I outlined can work for any brand. In my opinion, purses, wallets, accessories, are some of the easiest items to sell on eBay. They aren't easily breakable, lightweight, easy to ship, and don't take up a lot of space.  In this article I'm going to talk about specifically selling on eBay. Facebook, Poshmark, and Mercari are three other decent options, but I believe that eBay will get you the most bang for your buck. Each selling platform is different, but some of my points below are good for anywhere online you want to sell your bag.

If you aren't in a hurry to sell your bag, your best time of the year to sell it is at the end of November/beginning of December. Catch that holiday spending! The second best time is late July/early August, especially if you have back to school related items. Other decent times are around Valentine's Day, Easter, and Mother's Day. Travel bags do well in February/March for Spring Break. Just be sure to have your listing up a few weeks ahead of the event so you can ship in time. The worst times to sell your bag are in June, early July, September, and October.

In my video, I used a slightly used Hello Dahlia Sophie as my example. I will use it again for this article. Now let's get you the most bang for your buck!

1. The first step is to research how much you can sell your bag for and how many are currently for sale. This sounds daunting, but it's really easy. Simply type in the search what you have to sell. For example, with my Sophie, I'd search by “Vera Bradley Hello Sophie,” and if that doesn't come up with any results, I'd type “Vera Bradley Sophie” to see what's out there. I purposely did not use the word “Dahlia” because it's a harder word to spell and didn't want to risk weeding out more listings than I should have. Set your search to Price + Shipping Lowest First to find the most competitive pricing.
1. Don't know what you have? If you know the pattern, search by the pattern. There very well could be others listed just like yours and you can identify what it is by the pictures in the listing. Also, you can search in the Retired Patterns on www.verabradley.com to find your pattern and/or see what other patterns retired at the same time and also search by those. Vera Bradley doesn't make a style in just one pattern generally, so you're probably going to find the style on eBay in a pattern that was made at the same time as yours. For example, the current patterns when Hello Dahlia was also current include Barcelona, Slate Blooms, and Very Berry Paisley. I could search by any of those pattern names to find a Sophie bag.
2. Still don't know what you have? Take a picture of it and post it in Vera Bradley Facebook groups, like Vera Bradley Buzz, and ask. Someone is going to know! Especially vintage ones! Ladies like to flex their Vera Bradley knowledge. :)
3. After you've searched what's currently available, look at the Completed Listings to see how much the item has sold for in the last 90 days. You can check the Completed Listings box to the left of the listings, or go in Advanced Search to check the Completed Listings box. Search by Recent First. The prices in green are what the item has sold for, and prices in red mean the item didn't sell. Don't look at Sold Listings because that won't give you a feel for what prices don't work.
4. When looking at prices, look at what the seller charged in shipping. Vera Bradley items tend to have free shipping, but the sold on a bag can be lower if the seller charged a higher amount in shipping.

2. Take good pictures. When I first started selling, people would tell me, “But I don't have a camera!” Well, everyone and their brother has one on their smart phones now, and they are better quality than what I started out with! Don't use other sellers' pictures, don't use Google pictures, don't take pictures of bags that are online. Take your own pictures, don't let Karma bite you in the rear. Get good lighting, whether it's natural or using a flash. Make sure your background isn't cluttered. For Pete's sake, don't lay the bag on a floor! Gross! Put a plain sheet under it at least! EBay gives you up to 12 pictures for free, so take a picture at least of each of the following:
1. Front
2. Back
3. Bottom
4. Each side
5. Handle/strap – both top and bottom
6. Inside
7. Zipper
8. Any places of wear or stains on the bag

3. Title title title! This is how people are going to search for your bag, so pay attention to misspellings. You get 80 characters in your title, so use them! Use words people will search by, think of words you search by. Are you going to search by “beautiful Vera Bradley bag?” No. So for example with my Sophie, I would give it the title:

 

Vera Bradley HELLO DAHLIA SOPHIE Shoulder BAG Total Floral Red PINK Purse EUC

I once read in “eBay for Dummies” that capitalizing certain words help attract buyers and point    out what you want them to see, so I do that. I talk about “EUC” in point 5.

4. Selecting a category is so easy, just search by eBay's suggested categories and use one. Make sure you are as close as possible. Categories help buyer's search and help eBay determine the fees to charge. If you put yours in the wrong category, you could have your listing removed. You can always go back to edit the listing if you think or discover you have the wrong one.

5. The condition of the bag is so important! How would you feel if you were expecting a new bag and discovered it was used when you open the package? Plus you are more liable to have a return or worse, the buyer give you a negative if you aren't truthful about the condition of your bag. I know this can be subjective, that's why good pictures help. There are five conditions you can use, and you should state the all capitalized word in your title to help the buyer:
1. New with Tags (NWT) – the bag has never been used and still has the original retail tags attached. The care card is NOT a retail tag, I've seen sellers try to use this as the “tag.” Also, a tag that isn't from Vera Bradley is not the original retail tag.
2. New without Tags (NWOT) – the bag has never been used but does not have the original retail tags. The older Vera Bradley tags came off very easily, before they started using the breakaway strings. Also, it can happen if you received the bag as a gift and the gifter took off the retail tags. New without tags still means the bag has never been used. Don't think that a bag that's been used once and still looks new is new. It's not.
3. Excellent Used Condition (EUC) – If the bag looks new, shows no wear, but has been used, state it as EUC. My Hello Dahlia Sophie looks new, but it's missing the ribbon zipper pull. I would still list this as EUC and explain in the description why it is EUC.
4. Good Used Condition (GUC) – If the bag has a little wear but it's still a bag you'd use without hesitation, list it as GUC. Typical points to look for on Vera  Bradley bags include wear on corners, wear near zippers, paint chipping on zippers, dirty straps, and dirty bottoms.
5. Used (USED) – If this bag is almost ready to be put out to pasture, or buried with honors, list it as USED. If the bag can be cut apart for scrap or good for child's play (after washing), list it as used.

6. I don't get too hung up on UPC codes. Buyers can search by UPC codes, but considering these are Vera Bradley bags and not iPhones, most buyers aren't going to search by UPC code when looking for a bag. If you have it, great, add it, but don't worry if you don't. You can use the website www.upcitemdb.com to help find your UPC code easily.

7. Item Specifics are important, even though many buyers don't look here. If your bag is not retired, you can use the measurements on the Vera Bradley website. This is NOT plagiarism. If the bag is not on the website, I like to look at other bags on eBay to see what others have used for measurements to double check my own. Frankly, I stink at taking measurements!!

8. You don't need to write a novel when creating your item description. Keep in short and to the point. I personally use the below format, feel free to use it! I like to use Veranda font and I stick with black font. Don't try to be cute with different font colors, it just makes the description harder to read.

1. Item Title
2. Dimensions
3. Description of the item
4. If not new, description of the condition of the item
5. Smoke free/pet friendly home disclaimer
6. No affiliation with whatever brand I am selling in the listing

So for example, with my Sophie, I'd write something like this:

Vera Bradley Hello Dahlia Sophie – EUC!

Size: 9" w x 5-3/4" h x 3-1/2" d – 9” strap drop

This Sophie is the perfect size for a preteen and as a her first Vera Bradley purse!

The exterior has two side slip-in pockets. The interior has four slip in pockets and a sturdy base.

It has a shoulder strap and a zippered closure.

This Sophie is in excellent used condition! It shows no wear, as pictured. The zipper does not have any paint chipping, but it is missing the coordinating ribbon zipper pull. There are no dirt marks and the interior is spotless!

This comes from a smoke free, cat-friendly home.

I am not affiliated with Vera Bradley in any way.

9. Hands down the best selling format is Buy it Now. You can add an “Or Best Offer” (OBO) option. I've done that a few times, especially if the item I'm selling is rare and/or there are few to none on eBay.
1. If you're comfortable with auctions, list your Vera Bradley auction to start on a Sunday evening (remember eBay time is Pacific time) and end it in 7 days on the next Sunday evening. You want your auction to go through a weekend. Vera Bradley sells best on Sunday evenings. Monday evenings are the second best. Never have your auction end during the day, people are generally at work and you'll miss out on possible buyers. Vera Bradley buyers tend to be on the East Coast, so keep that in mind..

10. Duration is really a no-brainer with Buy It Now. Have the listing run for the full 30 days you are given. Auctions should be 7 days. There's no need spend extra  for a Vera Bradley bag to run for 10 days, as long as you have the auction run on a weekend, you're in good shape.

11. If you completed step 1, you know what to set your price for, assuming you're doing Buy it Now. I like to set my Buy it Now price a little higher if I do OBO.

12. Don't charge sales tax if you're not set up to pay sales tax to your state. If you're thinking about being a serious seller, just apply for your reselling license in your state and charge sales tax according to your state/district. You only collect sales tax if the sale is within your state. Ebay will automatically charge the buyer based on what state you put in for the sales tax. Every state is different. In California and Indiana, I paid once a year. In North Dakota I have to pay quarterly. Just contact your state's tax department to find out the details.

13. Returns, even if you don't accept returns, eBay can make you accept them. Also, if a seller doesn't accept returns, and a buyer files a INAD claim (item not as described), eBay can automatically rule in their favor, compensate the buyer, and charge you for it. It sucks, I know, but it's part of doing business. Ebay heavily favors 30-60 day returns, but you can have a

14 day return window. Do keep in mind that buyers are more likely to buy from sellers who have a return policy. The better you are at describing your item and showing pictures of it, the less chance you have of getting a return. Scammers are not lurking around every corner. In my 10 years of selling on eBay, there has been one scammer I've dealt with who I actually filed a police report on. That buyer is now banned on eBay.

14. Shipping Vera Bradley is so easy (minus ribbon boards and glass items!!). As part of good customer service, I put a one day turn around time on my listings, meaning I generally ship within 24 hours. If you have trouble getting to the post office, just schedule a pick up for Priority items on www.usps.com. I use bubble mailers reinforced with packaging tape at the seams, and if I use a Priority box, I reinforce the seals with tape. I like using shipping labels from Amazon, they are the cheapest. Selling Vera Bradley can be competitive and since it's easy to ship, I don't add handling cost. I do on my figurines that I sell. They're a pain in the rear to package up.

15. Package weight and dimensions are very important. This is where newbies can lose their shirt, I have a couple of times. I bought cheap scale off of eBay. Generally, pricing doesn't go up until one side of the package is over 20,” but put in the measurements of the package when you list, so you aren't surprised by a cost increase. If a buyer buys multiple items and you combine the shipping, put the dimensions of the package when you create the shipping label.

16. Should you pay for extras like bold font or subtitles? Nope. Don't bother. It's a waste of money. You'll draw in more customers with great photos and good, searchable titles.

17. Responding to questions in a timely manner is important. Don't sell items outside of eBay, it's not worth losing your account. With Vera Bradley, I can't remember any time I received inappropriate questions. Just be cordial, even if a buyer ticks you off, don't email angry. Walk away, breath, even take a couple of hours to respond instead of angrily banging out a response.

18. Your Item Sold! Congratulations! Ship that sucker through eBay and enjoy your money! PayPal takes their fee when the buyer pays, eBay will bill you on either the 15th or the last of the month. I like to pay eBay fees via credit card a couple days early so I can get cash back from my card. If you let eBay automate the payment, they can deduct from your PayPal balance. If you are a new seller, PayPal will hold your money for up to 21 days on your first sales. If a buyer leaves you feedback, the money will be released sooner. They just want to make sure you aren't a scammer.

19. Shipping out items ASAP is crucial. Ebay is really pushing for sellers to ship ASAP, Amazon is breathing down their neck. You have the buyer's money, you owe them to ship in a timely manner. Can't get to the post office? Schedule a pick through www.usps.com for Priority packages. First Class can be picked up with Priority, too (I actually made arrangements with my mailmen to pick up even if I didn't have Priority). Ship through eBay for significant shipping discounts. For example, a three ounce package ships through eBay for $2.61, including tracking. Shipping at the post office for the same weight is $2.67, before adding tracking. Vera Bradley is lightweight, you don't need to use Flat Rate Priority 99.9% of the time. You'll lose your shirt.

20. Leaving feedback will help “push” buyers to leave you feedback. You can't leave them negative or neutral feedback, so I leave feedback right away. If there is an issue, you can leave a follow up comment. Don't beg buyers to leave you feedback, that could backfire. If you're worried about your low feedback affecting your sales, just buy some stuff on eBay (like a scale!) to increase your overall feedback. If you're at 100%, buyers won't look at your feedback in detail, unless they are bored. Don't sweat an occasional bad feedback, you can't please everyone. It's not the end of the world.

I hope this is helpful! Ebay is a great way to clear out your closet and make cash for new purchases. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me!