Zyada, with big stuff you can say that you will only sell locally, the buyer has to pick it up. Another way is to tell bidders to email you first and get the shipping rates from their zip. I have heard UPS is the way to ship with larger stuff. If it is having low feedback and trying to sell expensive stuff (not sure if large in your query means massive, or expensive :)) I would definitely recommend buying a few small things first to get 5-10 positive feedback.
Oh boy have I seen people go nuts on eBay. how about $175 for something you can still get retail for $45? I buy and sell in a collectable market and sometimes I have to ask WTF are people thinking? I suppose if they want something bad enough the will pay for it, but sometimes it get ridiculous. I always search for the bargains, and sometimes I even find them.
When buying, sniping is the way to go. Remember though, it’s not the last bidder who wins, it’s the highest bidder. When I sucessfully snipe something, it’s better than drugs. I get a physical rush feeling, I’m just tingley!
I’ve wandered all over ebay, have gottten clothes for the son, stamping supplies for myself, videos and CD, books and odd collectables.
Some of the worst cases of ‘gotta have it’ were:
Copies of the book “Little Me” - I wanted like 4 of them, so watched for quite some time. There was no rhyme or reason - I never paid any more than $3.50 for any of the copies I got (one paperback, 3 hard covers, one with dust cover), but I saw copies (paperback, hard cover w/and w/o dust cover) going for up to $65.00.
A rubber stamp - This was a used product that eventually sold at something like $30, was available new from the manufacturer for $7.
Shirts - I found a blue 3 button knit job (you know, polo style) with the ToysRUs Geoffrey giraffe on the back (yes, it was a store employee shirt), I really wanted it for the son. I bowed out of the bidding, it finally sold for $35.00 About a month later, I found 3 of the same shirt, each of them went for no more than $4. (yes, son got one).
Copies of the video Hackers. Son wanted one. It was out of print. damn things went for up to $30 for a used video. I finally got one for about $8. then, of course 3 months later, they reissued the damn thing. :mad:
My motto is that anything that’s out there is likely to be out there again soon, so set a max. bid place it and ignore the auction. you either win it or not, if you loose it, you’ll likely find the same thing some time later for your price.
I do the exact same thing. Bid first thing with my higHest bid (it’ll only bid the minimum until someone bids against you.) Then go about your business until you either win it or you don’t. At the very least see what the “going rate” is on some items. Sometimes when there are multiple pages in one category, you can watch a couple days and see how high things usually go.
An important thing I’ve always kept in mind is to consider how available what you want is. Obviously, if it’s a rare collectable, then you might have to go high. But recently I’ve bought and bid on mostly video games, licensed sports apparel, and computer parts,a ll of which are readily available. I think I must have bid on 20 or 30 different copies of the same game, but I eventually got it for at least $13 less than what I would have paid at retail. SO just keep in mind that if what you want isn’t rare, you can be much more stingy with your bidding.
I recently saw two pieces of the Franklin Mint Titanic Portrait Doll Wardrobe go way out of bounds. The ensembles are available for 69 dollars each, and usually if you wait, you can buy them on ebay for sometimes as low as 30 bucks (I don’t do eBay, though). The two newest, however, the green silk and white lace tea gown, and the white lace nightgown, went for something like 140 dollars EACH. COME ON, people! If you want it that badly, call the Mint and order them!
Do you mean large as in expensive? If so, I’d definitely recommend selling the less expensive items first - it’ll let you get a hang of selling and help you build up your feedback and reputation.
I sold a set of three nursing pajamas on ebay and was aghast at how high they went for. I could not in good conscience accept that much money for used pajamas which I had bought at a discount store–especially from a new nursing mom. I let the auction end and then contacted the buyer and told her to cut $20 off the price. She explained that she lived out in rural nowhere and it was impossible, with a new baby, to make the long drive from store to store looking for nursing pjs in her size. That’s why she stayed in the auction so long and I suppose the other bidders were of the same mindset.
She was both shocked and grateful that I changed the price. But, god, I couldn’t have slept at night, scalping a poor new mom like that!
Large as in both - a sapphire and diamond ring that’s small but cost a bit, and a chandelier (!) that’s going to be pricey to send, but in my totally inexperienced opinion should get a decent price.
Nothing in this thread can compare to the most amazing bids I’ve ever seen on eBay. That honor belongs to unopened 15-year-old Intex inflatable reindeer! These things have been known to go as high as $500! I’ve recently seen a 6’ beachball bid up to $256.
I mainly buy Golden Age E.C. comics. The craziest auction I witnessed was a woman selling off her soon-to-be-ex husband’s comics collection, which she’d found in boxes in the back of a closet. As the auction went on, she started going through the boxes and telling titles, years, and as much as she could about condition. The bids started at about $5 for the lot, and was over $2000 by the time I stopped watching. I wonder how much they finally went for? I kept my coworkers posted on it as it went on-- one of them knew prices for some of the issues in the boxes, so for collectors, the total price was still reasonable even as it climbed. Unbelievable.
I mainly buy Golden Age E.C. comics. The craziest auction I witnessed was a woman selling off her soon-to-be-ex husband’s comics collection, which she’d found in boxes in the back of a closet. As the auction went on, she started going through the boxes and telling titles, years, and as much as she could about condition. The bids started at about $5 for the lot, and was over $2000 by the time I stopped watching. I wonder how much they finally went for? I kept my coworkers posted on it as it went on-- one of them knew prices for some of the issues in the boxes, so for collectors, the total price was still reasonable even as it climbed. Unbelievable.
voguevixen got it right. Fix a price in your head, bid, and then take it or leave it.
I collect custom guitars from a fairly obscure manufacturer, but somehow, eBay always manages to have around 6 or so offered. Some are offered at reasonable prices. Others run so high that I could head down to the music stores and order a brand new one with the same specs for less than what it’s going for (used) on eBay.
My strategy is simple. I get the catalog from the manufacturer. I look up all the guitars being offered. I say to myself “Okay, this retails for X. Used, it’s worth 1/2X. Don’t bid more than 1/2X.” Easier said than done. Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in a bidding war. I’ve done reasonably well, though. I’ve been offered more for some guitars than I initially paid for them, so I guess that’s something.
I’ll confess to having also bought tapes of TV shows off of ebay. I think I paid between $40 and $50 for the first season of Dawson’s Creek (shut up) and every episode of MTV’s The State. I’ve seen bids as high as $1,200 for the DC tapes, yikes! What I love are the people who bid 2x or more times the cost for something readily found in stores. Laziness or stupidity?
All my eBay customers were nuts. Couple years ago I sold lots of EverQuest stuff on eBay. IMO anyone paying money for “fake” items I spent little time getting is nuts I finished a little before Sony’s lawyers decided to shut it down. Never sold “my” characters though, they remain dorment.
Helped me save up almost $5000 for college so I certainly do not mind.
I once put in a bid of $20 for coppies of the first 4 seasons of South Park. I was outbid, but I came back to see what it went for. It looked like the guy who took it from me REALLY wanted it. He’d put in a bid of $10,000. The guy who took it from him used a sniper program…and got it for $10,000.01. Me, I got a good laugh about it all.
I’ve gone crazy with Andrew Lloyd Webber CDS on ebay, particularly the singles. I bid up to $100 seven times for the Michael Ball “Love Changes Everything” CD-single, then got it for $11. The seller never left any feedback, but I didn’t care. I later told a friend of mine to put her extra copy on ebay, and the same CD went for $91.
Promos are great to bid on, too. I am DESPERATE for the ABBA promo 4-language CD-single of Waterloo. I once had it for $25 4 minutes before the end. It went for $67! The Aspects of Love 5-song promo always went for over $100, and I found it in a used CD store for $25.
Guinastasia, that’s the way the proxy system is already set up. Let’s say there is a doll you want starting at $10.00, no reserve. You decide you will pay up to $20.00 for the doll. You bid $20.00 and the system places your bid, only it shows up for $10.00 instead of $20.00. Next person comes along, sees the doll, wants it, decides she can pay $15.00. She bids $15.00, but your earlier bid of $20.00 takes predecence, and you are still the high bidder at $15.25. And so on. Only a person bidding more than $20.00 will beat you. A bid of $20.01 will beat you though. This only works on auctions with no reserve. Let’s say same situation, but the doll has a reserve of $20.00. You come along, bid $20.00, the bid will jump to meet the reserve price and you will be high bidder at $20.00. If someone outbids you, they win.
I finished a little before Sony’s lawyers decided to shut it down. Never sold “my” characters though, they remain dorment.