Selling your worn knickers: the beginner mistakes to avoid

This is the gravest fault, because it's the only one that's hard to undo. Many beginners create a profile in a hurry, reuse a handle already linked to their social media, or let a real first name slip into a conversation. Once a piece of information is out there, you can't take it back.

The right habits to adopt before your very first listing:

• Choose a brand-new pseudonym, never used anywhere else, with no link to your usual email address.
• Never share your real name, your address or your number in the messaging, even to a charming and insistent buyer.
• Favour a platform designed for pseudonymity: on Weared, your real identity is never requested nor exposed to the buyer.

Your discretion isn't an extra, it's the bedrock. Everything else is built on top of it. Our guide for beginners explains how to set up a genuinely compartmentalised profile.

The second cause of failure is visual. A photo taken in a hurry, on an unmade bed, under the yellow light of the ceiling lamp, does nobody any favours. It's not a question of equipment: a recent smartphone is more than enough. It's a question of care and mood.

• Natural light near a window, in the late morning, rather than artificial evening lighting.
• A neutral, clean backdrop: a plain sheet, a soft texture, never a cluttered background that could reveal a detail of your home.
• Suggestive yet elegant framing: you're selling an atmosphere, not an anatomy chart. Mystery works in your favour.
• Always check that no reflection, mirror or document betrays your identity in the background.

A beautiful image justifies a better price and attracts more serious buyers. We've devoted a whole article to the subject: the photos that sell will give you concrete set-ups to reproduce.

Too low, and you devalue yourself and attract tiresome hagglers. Too high without a reputation, and you sell nothing. The beginner to avoid being is the one who randomly copies someone else's rate without understanding what justifies it.

To find your place in the Swiss market, here are a few careful benchmarks, to be adjusted to your offer:

• A simple item, no personalisation: often between 25 and 45 CHF.
• An item with extended wear time or a specific request: 50 to 90 CHF, sometimes more.
• Extras (additional photos, a small anonymous handwritten note) are charged separately, not for free.

Bear the commission in mind too: on Weared it is 25%, down to 20% with Pro (from CHF 39) and 15% with Max (from CHF 89). It is settled separately, in prepaid credits: the buyer pays you directly, so what you take in is never cut into. Factor this percentage into your calculation from the start so you know your real margin. These figures are indicative and constitute no guarantee of income.

Here's the logistical mistake that ruins all the anonymity work in a single second: sticking your sender's address on the parcel. A malicious buyer, or simply a curious one, then obtains your home address. Unacceptable.

In Switzerland, you have excellent neutral solutions:

• PickPost: drop off and have items delivered to a collection point, without ever giving your personal address.
• My Post 24: machines accessible 24/7, handy in Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich, Bern, Basel or Lugano, to drop off in complete discretion.
• Neutral packaging, with no brand or explicit marking, that gives nothing away about its contents.

The rule is simple: you never ship from home and never receive at home. The collection point is your best ally. Want to try the full process? The selling on Weared page sums up the circuit from end to end.

A buyer offers to close the deal "outside Weared" to avoid the commission? It's the classic trap. Off-platform, you lose everything that protects you: no verified profile on the other side, no tracking, no recourse if the item goes out and nothing ever arrives.

The right habit is to keep the sale on Weared. Payment is direct: the buyer pays to your own address at the moment of purchase, so you're paid immediately, with no waiting and no withdrawal to request. The order itself, though, stays within a clear framework: mandatory postal tracking, age verification, moderation and a dispute procedure.

• Systematically refuse any transaction proposed outside the platform.
• For maximum banking discretion, payment in Bitcoin is possible: no trace on any account statement.
• Never share a personal IBAN, which would reveal your full name.

The commission isn't a tax: it funds age verification, moderation, the dispute framework and the public reputation that makes you credible. Settled separately in prepaid credits, it never eats into what the buyer sends you. Getting around it mostly means depriving yourself of everything that makes your sales safer.

The relationship with the buyer is an art of balance. Two pitfalls await the beginner: disappearing for days, or on the contrary saying too much.

• Reply within a reasonable time, but set your own hours. You're not available 24/7, and that's perfectly fine.
• Stay in character. Your pseudonym has a voice, a mood. You don't hand over your private life, you nurture an imaginary world.
• Set your limits from the outset: what you offer, what you don't. A seller who knows how to say no is respected.
• Be wary of requests that try to identify you ("which city are you from?", "maybe we've crossed paths"). Stay vague and courteous.

A warm but framed exchange builds loyalty among good buyers and naturally weeds out the others.

Two final faults, more discreet but just as costly. The first is to start out without thinking about what comes next. In Switzerland, income from an activity, even a secondary and discreet one, in principle enters your tax return, but the thresholds and obligations depend on your canton and your situation.

• Keep a simple record of your sales and your net payouts.
• Don't assume a small activity is automatically exempt.
• Before scaling up, have your situation confirmed by a lawyer or an accountant: it's the only way to get a reliable answer for your canton. We can neither guarantee a tax treatment nor promise an income.

The second fault is a state of mind: wanting it all, right now. Many give up after a week because orders don't come flooding in. Reputation is built over time.

• Publish regularly rather than all at once in a burst.
• Take care over each order as if it were going to bring you three clients — often, it does.
• Aim for Pro status as the reward for consistent practice: your commission falls as your seriousness becomes established.

Avoid these eight faults and you already start with a head start. To structure your very first steps, revisit our complete guide to getting started.