You know - one of those outfits that sells your stuff for you. I happened upon what I believe could be a treasure trove at Goodwill today. A bridal store donated some old stock, and the GW has them priced from about $50-$100. Well, one of the dresses was made with hand-woven silk and lace that would probably be $50-$100 per yard if you were to buy it yourself. So my idea is to buy the nicest 3 or 4 of them and have someone else do the listing. I’ve only tried to sell a few small things on eBay, and my feedback number is all of 25. Only 2 of those were as a seller, other wise I might do it myself. For something like a wedding dress, I can see someone wanting to go with a seller with a longer history (I would!). Plus, my camera’s not all that great, so it can’t capture some of the really nice details on these dresses.
SO - has anyone used something like iSold it? How was your experience?
Bad. Outfit #1 sold the items and then stalled on paying me for months with increasingly unlikely stories. Finally, since I wouldn’t drop it, they gave me a check, but it bounced. They eventually made good on it, but only after I had reported them to ebay, the BBB, and told them as soon as I got the paperwork from my bank I’d be going to the police. This was over about $70.
Outfit #2 refused to take anything that wasn’t already selling on ebay for $30 or more, so the Salvation Army got a lot of nice items that would have sold for $20 or so. I should add that the counter-drone, while very helpful, showed no imagination, and didn’t see the difference between a signed, mint-condition LP and any other LP by the same artist. The one item they did take, a manual typewriter, sold, but for only a few dollars, and I received my check for $1.97 quite quickly.
I’m not saying my experience is typical, just (a) scope the place out and (b) research what your item might go for.
Speaking as a frequent buyer on eBay, I find that those outfits don’t produce very good ads. It’s usually clear the description was written by someone who knows nothing about the item. I’d rather buy from someone who has 25 positive feedback.
Never used an eBay “middle man” but just started selling my own stuff with a buyer-only feedback of 4 or 5 with no problem. Now I’m up to 21 with no negatives (and waiting for feedback on about fifteen items I’ve sold in the last two weeks). So I’d agree with the others that say don’t worry too much about your low feedback. Unless you have some other reason for not wanting to sell them yourself?
Have you looked into the cut that these “middlemen” take? I considered using one to sell some Legos that I found in my closet, and looked into a local outfit. Their commission on items under $200 was 37%, plus ebay listing fees and commissions that would have taken it to just over 40%. It just wasn’t worth it.
25 feedback is more than enough to sell. Personally I like lower feedback scores – if you have 5,791 feedback, you’re not likely an individual just selling his stuff, and I like person-to-person sales.
One or two of my weekly listings are items that I am selling for others. I charge much less than these middlemen and I will gladly listing your item that will sell for less than $30. I advertise this service on bulletin boards at work and in my monthly union flyer. I have about a 70% success rate on my auctions, this is much better that most of these middlemen. Something else that I have been doing is acting as a buyer for folks that don’t have eBay accounts. If they find something they want, I have them give me a maximum amount they will spend and I will follow the item and bid up to the maximum. If they win, I charge a 10% markup over the final price. This has created some excitement at work a few times the past few weeks, a crowd gathers as we watch the auction end. Monday a co-worker won an auction for some lithophane sake cups and he had about 20 folks cheering him on.
That doesn’t sound unreasonable. Why would they invest their time and effort taking pictures, writing copy, and managing the sale for a lousy $15 they might make off of the deal? (Yes, I charged 50% on sales less than $50) I was a consignment dealer for a while, and I rarely took anything that wouldn’t sell for $100 or more. It’s just not worth it, to me or the client.
I had one good experience, and 4 less-than-good experiences with these places. I’ll admit, I was (needlessly, it turns out) intimidated by the whole eBay thing. I could have done better selling the stuff myself, I think.
The beauty of eBay is that it’s a person-to-person deal, with a small cut for eBay itself. You have to start with your first purchase and your first sale at some point.
I am very honest and very demure with my eBay sales (I probably have, like, 10 of them). I have never had a problem selling anything, and I’ve only got 45 transactions since 2001.
Just sell the stuff yourself. That’s what eBay is for.
Because it’s incrediably annoying to have to take pictures, write a good description, deal with the idiots in another country who want it for a penny, find a box and packing material, pack it and ship it, and only make ten bucks off it (if that). I’ve done it. I’ve got stuff to sell and I don’t want to do it, even though I think what I’ve got could bring in some money. Ebay’s easier than it used to be, but, well, I suppose I’m lazy (and really busy).
Thanks for all your input guys. I did a little looking at eBay, and unless you have a brand-new never-tried-on designer wedding dress, it’s not going to be worth my time. Some of them go for as low as $50. So I guess I’ll let this “opportunity” pass.
And yes, I’ve listed a few things on eBay as a seller. Two out of maybe ten sold. And it was a pain in my ass. Taking the pictures, writing a decent description (I automatically skip shitty descriptions when I’m looking), deciding how much to spend on a listing, choosing which pictures, blah blah blah. Maybe I’ll try Craigslist instead … at least it’s free!
Ack, I’m a few hours too late. I’m an ebay seller of antique linens etc and I was going to advise just this. You won’t get the $$ for wedding dresses unless they are true vintage as well as being excellent “of the era” style as well as made from excellent fabric/lace as well as being in top notch condition.