Flogging stuff on eBay

[bitingmidge]

Righto boys and girls, I know it's hard to imagine, but I haven't ever actually bought or sold anything on ebay, so I'd love a bit of advice on the selling side of things particularly.

Firstly: Paypal; good, bad or indifferent? Should I just get people to bank dough straight into my account?

If no paypal, how do you actually pay the miniscule listing fees?

I've also got a few bits and pieces which probably won't sell in a big hurry, but I don't want to throw them out, you know "vintage" software and so forth.

What's the go with re-listing them? Is there a polite interval one should wait?

Any hints appreciated.

cheers,

P

[Poppa]

Paypal is good for overseas buyers. If local, insist on cheque or direct deposit. eBay require bank details or a CC to pay the fees. Not sure about intervals, we've never re-listed anything. We tend to sell things with a low starting price to generate some interest and things usually take care of themselves from there, but sometimes you get burnt selling things cheaply - we just figure that it is nice to give someone a bargain every now and then. We're not big sellers by any means though, just the occasional bit.

[Grunt]

Firstly, buy at least 10 things. This will give you a feedback score. Some people, including myself will not buy from someone without 99%+ positive feedback.

Do Paypal. It makes buying a selling very simple. We only do Paypal, direct deposit or cash on pickup for both buying and selling.

I would put your software up for $0.01. They will sell. Some you will sell for more than you expect and others for less. It'll even out. If you put a higher price on it, you probably won't get a bid.

You can relist things that haven't sold immediately. No one will complain.

When you sell things, list them between 7pm and 9pm on a weekday evening. This way they will finish at that time which is when most people are home and are surfing the net.

When buying, know what the value of the item really is. I once sold a DVD of the original Gone in 60 Seconds for $34 + postage and I bought it at K-Mart for $13. People get excited.

Drink plenty of beer. This doesn't help with eBay but it's fun anyway.

[floobyduster]

My experience is that paypal processes the money faster than the banks, therefore you/they can get the goods faster.

A direct deposit (done on line) can take 2-3 days of processing with a bank to bank transfer - they obviously are making interest on your money while it is "in transit". It never ceases to amaze me that they are able to instantly withdraw the money from your account but are unable to instantly deposit it!

[Rossluck]

Drink plenty of beer. This doesn't help with eBay but it's fun anyway.

Hello P,

This is the best advice you'll get (above).

My experience on Ebay has been pretty positive (Rossluck2). I have one golden rule: it's better to sell on Ebay than to buy. You tend to get pretty good prices for things that are just about giveaway at garage sales. The only things I buy on Ebay are those that intrinsically have a reduced number of people bidding for them, i.e.,

Three-phase stuff
heavy local stuff (I have a small truck)
bits of machinery that others aren't interested in

To give you an example of what I mean about not buying, I can consistently buy tools from our local cash converters for half what I can get for them on Ebay. I've made a few dollars doing this, but it's just a way of getting rid of tools as I upgrade.

Paypal is worth setting up as a quick way of getting paid, but I prefer to use a bank deposit to pay for items.

Ebay is continually cracking down on emails between buyers and sellers, so when you get mail from people asking you to sell things to them early by closing the auction, just ignore them.

My practice is to start low to attract interest. If ever the item you're selling looks like going for a ridiculous price, you can always get a relative or a friend to bit on it to save you. I've never had to do this, but it's always in my mind. Some items don't get a bid for 7 days, and then there's a bidding war in the last few minutes.

Be absolutely honest about what you're selling. Describe it exactly: warts and all.

If you're buying something, leave your bidding until the last possible moment. The last bid gets the item, all of the previous ones are a waste of time.

Last but not least, whether buying or selling on Ebay, always look at the reputation, it's all we have to read the honesty of other people.

Good luck.

[Grunt]

I've bought quite a bit on ebay and have had some absolute bargains. A $5000+ Quantum hot water system for $1400, a $2500 saddle for $800.

Chris

[Shedhand]

I've bought a few things on eBay and never had a negative experience. I've now decided to start my own ebay shop and sold 5 assorted chisels for 200+ bucks first up. I made a small profit and all the buyers have paid up. It's a bit of fun.

My advice is to buy a few things first as most people won't deal with sellers with little or no feedback.
I use PayPal for overseas and direct credit to my bank account for local stuff.
Good luck with it mate.

[Robynb]

If ever the item you're selling looks like going for a ridiculous price, you can always get a relative or a friend to bit on it to save you

This is called shill bidding, and it is strictly against ebay policy. If you are caught, you will be deregistered. Having said that, the chance of getting caught is probably small.

There is always a risk in having a small starting price, that you may have to sell at that price. However, it does seem to generate more interest if there is a market for the item. Start it at $50 and you might sell at that. Start at $10 and a bidding war may take it way over $50. All depends on the item - how common and how sought after.

[ozwinner]

Paypal....

I didnt know it could happen until it happened to me.

The buyer receives the goods, sets a dispute with paypal without emailing you or contacting you in anyway.

Paypal locks your account and takes the sum of money from your account equal to the goods including postage.

You have to pay the money back or your account is locked for ever.

So, the buyer has the goods, and the money.

Paypal sucks, but until you get caught its the best thing since sliced bread.

There is a website dedicated to it, I found it after I was taken..

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

Al

[Robynb]

Have a look on the ebay forums. You'll find heaps about how good PayPal is for buyers and how risky and expensive (fees) it is for sellers. I believe it is now compulsory for new sellers to offer PayPal or merchant credit card facilities. Of course, this is to promote safe buying, but since ebay owns PayPal......

It's a good idea to look on the forums anyway, you can find out about the problems some people experience, what to look out for - lots of useful tips for the new (or experienced) buyer or seller. Lots of irrelevent rubbish too, but you get that!

[Rossluck]

This is called shill bidding, and it is strictly against ebay policy. If you are caught, you will be deregistered. Having said that, the chance of getting caught is probably small.

There is always a risk in having a small starting price, that you may have to sell at that price. However, it does seem to generate more interest if there is a market for the item. Start it at $50 and you might sell at that. Start at $10 and a bidding war may take it way over $50. All depends on the item - how common and how sought after.

Fair enough. Although I find it hard to see how it could be illegal. The relative or friend is just bidding as is their right. As I said before, I haven't done it, but if something that was worth $500 was about to go for $30 or something like that, ring ring....

[Robynb]

If the relative or friend is specifically bidding without intention to buy, and with the sellers knowledge and consent (even encouragement) eBay would see this as shilling. If the seller and the friend make a habit of this, it's not hard to pick the pattern - buyer bids and wins a lot of stuff from the seller and the items are relisted shortly thereafter. Buyer hardly ever bids on stuff from anyone else. If it happens only once or twice, no-one would even suspect, let alone prove. After all, sometimes people do buy from their friends.

Some shillers are dumb enough to bid on their own stuff on a different id, but using the same computer - they get caught pretty quickly.

But I agree, I would do something about it if I was about to lose a heap of money too. I think you can end the auction early if it doesn't seem to be going anywhere

[Gumby]

I'm up to 27 as a feedback score so i've done a bit but not a massive amount. I never use paypal. I direct deposit all the time and find the turn around time is only 24 hours. It's more if you do it on the weekend of course but there's nothing sinister in it like the bank getting interest etc.

I sold a Triton dust mask and then a Triton jig saw attachment, both for more than you can buy them for in Bunnings. Go figure.

[Honorary Bloke]

All good advice. I like PayPal, but have never had a dispute, so I dunno. Best advice above is to buy a few items first to get some rep points. When beginning selling, sell some cheapo items early as buyers will be less shy. I have seen first time sellers flogging expensive items and no bids because people are gun shy about newbies.

I both buy and sell and have gotten some good deals and sold some items for more than I would have thought they were worth. You never know. I actually bought a Festo OF1000 router on Ebay for a decent price, though most of the Festo tools sell for nearly new retail.

SWMBO buys clothes all the time and they can be real bargains compared to stores. [NB: FWIW, we do not purchase from merchants who do not take PayPal.]

Good luck Midge.

[rhancock]

I don't see any point paying paypal fees. All the risk is on the buyers side ( we've done a hell of a lot more buying than selling!) and like anything sometimes you lose. You have to try quite hard to not use Paypal these days - every time you list an item, Paypal is automatically ticked.

We've sold a few things for more than retail. People must just be lazy or dumb! We've also had a few things not sell, and you still have to pay the listing fee (usually about a dollar or two) so we don't always relist them, but overall we come out on top. Last month we made about $500 just selling stuff that was lying around the house not being used - old cameras, books, kids toys and stuff. If you want to see my wife and I both use Annabel213: http://myworld.ebay.com.au/annabel213 You will see we got some negative feedback a while back - its very easily done, so take a lot of care checking items over and describing them exactly as they are - warts and all.

Good luck.