I’m guessing that may be somewhat more valuable than an old book or DVD lying around. Perhaps you might sell something of small value, something that’s a straightforward sale like the aforementioned DVD or book, an easy sale to get you good feedback.
First read this the replies you’re getting in this thread, a lot of good advice here. Not all of it I agree with, but well thought out.
Second, since you’re essentially looking at this as a yard-sale alternative - do not expect it to provide any specific cash windfall. Over all you’re probably going to get a decent chunk of change from eBaying your old stuff, but you are not going to recoup what you spent on much, if any, of it.
Because your stock is (IMNSHO) already stuff you’ve bought, paid for, and derived your money’s worth of enjoyment out - do not use any kind of accounting, in your head, where you balance what you sell things for, with what you paid for the items. If you must consider a putative price to shoot to beat for your items, shoot to beat the price a dealer would pay for your stuff - not a fellow collector.
For the most part eBay items sell for cheaper than the same item would in a brick and mortar store. Buyers expect that, and factor in the risks of bad deals as one of the reasons for the price differences. Do not get frustrated when you don’t get what the dealer you saw selling that first edition of Ravenloft got at that con six years ago.
And markets for collectibles are much more volatile than they had been in the past. Things can go up and down in the time of a few weeks or months for reasons that you might not find out, unless you’re very lucky.
Never set a minimum bid for lower than you’re willing to let an item go for.
I want to reiterate: S&H is just that: Shipping and handling. Real shipping costs are more than simply postage, there’s also packaging. Buying your packaging in bulk can save you money, but don’t forget about supplies like printer paper for labels, and tape for sealing packages. Then, when you’ve got a real number for your actual shipping costs, add about a buck for your time for handling. If you follow this guideline you won’t have the cheapest S&H around, but it won’t be the highest, either. And you’ll never be shorting yourself on a per-item basis.
As for the fastest way to build up feedback? Buy a few items quickly from reputable sellers. You can get excellent CDs, DVDs and books for about a quarter on the dollar for new or like new condition. Granted S&H will affect that, but often you’ll be able to beat brick and mortar prices. If you have the intent to buy any items of that nature in the near future, see if eBay can fulfill your needs there.
As a buyer, I can tell you that I will frequently skip right over auctions that have "L(o)(o)K:, “LQQK”, or any similar cutesy pie term in the title, even if it’s something that I would otherwise drool over. Any time I open an auction page and it starts playing sound and/or does weird things with coding, I back out of that page. I do not need a trail of stars to follow my cursor. Very possibly there are some buyers who like this stuff. I’m not one of them.
I like very clear pictures of what I’m buying, and for the most part, I won’t buy an item that doesn’t have a picture. I especially like a close up shot of any flaws. This way I can determine whether I can put up with the flaw or not. If the seller says “Picture does not do justice to the item” then I have to wonder why s/he didn’t just take another pic. These days, cameras are easy to use, and I have suspicions as to why the seller doesn’t want to post a good pic.
Include every detail that you can. For instance, I like fountain pens, but I prefer a specific brand, I prefer cartridge over bladder, and above all, I prefer fine nibs. A lot of sellers don’t list the nib size, for some reason. Sometimes these sellers don’t usually sell fountain pens, but many do specialize in them. Any seller who doesn’t list the fineness of the nib does not get seriously considered.
I just started selling on eBay about a month and a half ago. My first set of listings consisted of duplicate and unwanted DVDs, which sold pretty well and was quite encouraging. I did overestimate the shipping costs, since I hadn’t realized that DVDs were cheaper to ship via First Class than using Media Mail. Nobody complained about my shipping costs, although later when I was able to see my detailed ratings I noticed that my shipping rating was a bit lower than my others (although still over four stars).
I had previously bought a few things on eBay, so I started with a positive rating. I haven’t gotten a negative yet, although I have given one to a buyer who never paid and never responded to repeated contacts (including a dispute registered with eBay). I once (without being asked to) refunded part of the shipping I had inadvertently overcharged one buyer, and got a VERY positive comment from him. 
A further comment about postage: there are a number of cheap, accurate, and small postal-sized scales available out there. Being able to accurately weigh your packages for calculating shipping is a godsend. If you’re going to be doing a lot of this, it’s worth the $10-20 it will cost to get a decent one. (say up to 5 lbs weight capacity.)
Well, like I said "2. Do not become a disgruntled seller. Yes, sooner or later some asshole on eBay is going to screw you- give you an unjustified NEG or demand an unreasonable refund, etc. Do not let that run the rest of your life make you treat all future customers like assholes. That sale, that asshole, is over and done with.
" Leaving FB first leaves you no more “open to scams, blackmail and fraud” than leaving FB later, unless you really think the ability to leave a Retalitory NEG is some sort of protection from “scams, blackmail and fraud”. eBay will remove FB under certian circumstances.
SomeUserName"I hate auctions that do not tell me the shipping cost up front. The “shipping is determined by location after auction is won” will make me not buy. I want to know up front." Absolutely.
Hey and I would like to take a small hijack and ask everyone opinion on what to do about FB for a seller who did this.
Anyway, the seller mostly sells baseball cards. I bought some other stuff from him. Now he does have a link which shows the S&H charges for various amounts of Baseball cards, but it doesn;t say how much other items are. I “won” the auction, then inquired what the S&H was. He replied with a $9 amount. I paid. He then said it was 14, and insisted I pay him the extra. I did, but the payment went to his personal Paypal account, so he was unable to access it (I send the via CC), so he said he would let it default back to me. Then the package arrived, and the Postage was $4.60. I emailed him on this and he left a bunch of confusing replies, including a new link where the prices were now quoted for other items. In the end he said “I simply charge what it costs t handle, sort figures, etc,etc - long story.”
Now, he did send me prompt POS FB, so I am not going to NEG him. But I am debating between no FB at all, or a Neutral, with the issue about S&H spelled out.
Thoughts?
If you have items that are not worth thier own auction, consider bundling them as a “bonus” with more valuable, related items, or combine a bunch of them into a lot. Saves you the expense of another listing, and the hassle of shipping lots of small items for little if any profit.
+1 what everyone says on replying to questions. Sometimes I ask a question, not to find out the answer, but because there is something suspicious about the listing, and I will ask a question that will assure me that the seller actually has the item.
Speaking of which, I NEVER buy anything where the seller says “I’m listing this for a friend, and really don’t know much about it, so don’t ask if it is not in the listing.” or “This looks to be in good shape, but I have no way to test it, so selling as is.” If you can’t answer questions, or gaurantee that the item is suitable for it’s intended use, then don’t bother listing it.
I’ll disagree, here. Some items, like old electronics and stereo parts are a pain and a half for your average Joe to test. Off the top of my head - you’ve got an old, mid-to-high end turntable that finally dies. Then you find under it the Mint-in-the-Box, never been used, never been opened spare needle some enterprising guy at the stereo shop sold you back in 1975. Why not offer it on eBay?
Similarly, I’ve sold things that were AS IS, before. Christmas tree lights, and an expired Ink Jet cartridge for a printer that had died. Give the circumstances for the inability to test (Well, the string that these bulbs were for was chewed on by the cat, so…) and the best information you can. But don’t expect a lot of bids on AS IS items unless you’ve got something with a huge market out there.
True, I tried selling one or two DVD’s I bought new that were on sale on the high street but selling for more on Ebay. A week or two later and suddenly few people are buying.
Did I understand the story correctly-- You paid the entire stated amount for shipping, then he demanded an extra $5 before he would ship the item? How is that remotely acceptable? I would have made a formal complaint to eBay right then.
To each their own, buyer beware and all that…
Personal story - We do a lot of estate selling, grandpa passes away and we get called in. So, grandpa was a packrat and hobbyist. Boxes of model airplane components, parts, etc. Some still in the original package unopened from the 1960’s.
To your comments - I answer questions as best I can but I cannot provide detailed technical answers on these, or provide guarantees on the items.
We’ve been successful selling in these situations, and had only satisfied buyers.
I’m not intending to change your mind Kevbo by saying all this, just offering a different perspective to the OPer.
Oh, I forgot one.
‘Untested, sold as seen’ usually means ‘tested and it doesn’t work’.
Not necessarily. Sometimes it just means the seller doesn’t have the equipment or knowledge to test it. I have done it myself, when the item wasn’t worth the trouble/expense of testing it properly (e.g. when I didn’t have the correct size non-standard battery to test it.)
Sometimes it means that, yes. But often it will be accompanied by some really lame excuse why it wasn’t tested (haven’t got time, forgot, etc), and it means ‘I tested it and it’s broken’
My current batch of listings includes some old computer games and programs that are on 5.25" disks, and some equally vintage computer parts. I have no way of testing them, so I stated so and priced them accordingly. I have a bid on at least one of them, and the only question I had on it regarded shipping.
And I did invest in a five-pound scale after the first batch of sales, just to prevent the type of error I had made in calculating the shipping costs.
He claimed he “made a mistake”. :dubious: Yes, I would have reported him, but he wasn’t able to claim the $ anyway, so after a while I got it back.
Anyone have any opinion on what FB to give him? Whatever you dudes vote for is what I’ll leave: Neutral or no FB.
Second this entire post.
Greedy I ran an eBay store professionally for several years, feel free to PM me if you need any advice about a specific situation. The starting advice in this thread is good stuff for the most part.
Take it slow and remember that EVERY buyer assumes that you are trying to cheat them. So come into the situation in a way that will reassure them that you are on the level. Ship quickly, be communicative, leave feedback when appropriate, try to give each of you bidders the ammount of attention they need.
Also, depending on what you are shipping HOW you ship it can become very important, both psycologically to the buyer as well as cost wise for yourself.
Oh and don’t accept any forms of payment other then Paypal or personal checks/Money orders. You just open a door to lots of sadness if you do.
That covers most of the commonly used payment methods. Which other methods do you think are problematic? Wire transfers?
Personally I only accept PayPal, mostly for convenience. None of that “the check’s in the mail, should be there any day now” business.
Leave him neutral and explain exactly why for other sellers, even if he now seems to have a new system of explaining postage and packaging.
Its not a case where you’re demanding a refund, that seems like it might be a tad murky given that S&H were discussed after a win, but just some general advice for further sellers.
I have had people try to pay me in cash, wire transfer, western union, all sorts of weird stuff. Don’t know how much of that still happens, but I was closing 200 auctions a week for 3 years so I saw some bizarre stuff.
And I take back what I said about personal checks.Don’t accept those either. As an individual it is just too much headache to take checks. Paypal or money order. Don’t take anything else.