Anyone here sell items on E-Bay??

[Donny Lawson]

I do buy items from e-bay but have never sold anything. I'm looking for someone to give me some advice about selling, and sending out the invoice, and the process. I think I can do it but I would really like to talk to someone that does it alot to give me some pointers. I know e-bay has step by step instructions but its not as good as talking to someone that has actually sold stuff before. If I can do it once I hope to get the hang of it.

[Wil Limanen]

My advice would be to jump in and try to sell something. Just try some cheap item laying around and start it at .99 or something. Make sure you weigh the item and charge the proper shipping. I've been burned a couple of times. I've had good luck mostly. Still 100% score of 504. It is not my livelyhood so I don't rely on the income so much. Just a little spending money. Let me know if you have a particlular question and I'll try and help.

Wil

[Kevin Gregoire]

i have been buying and selling on ebay for over ten years and i pretty much stopped selling two years ago.
i have made many thousands of dollars but ebay has changed and it just isnt worth it anymore. if you have
one special item to get rid of its okay but its not worth it to do it full time anymore. you have to pay to
place and item for sale and then when it sells you have to pay a percentage of what it sells for and since
ebay owns paypal they get paid again a percentage of the money you get for your sold item.

its a great big scam anymore, i mean its always been that way but they have raised the costs so much
since they first started you just cant make any money anymore. so many people have quit the past few
years its unreal and if they would go back to old pricing they would probably get everyone back and start
making money again.

anyway, if you have one or two items that are unusual then i say go ahead but if its something common i
sell on craigslist and its free so look into that.

good luck

[Mike Henderson]

eBay is good because you expose your item to a very large audience. They take a cut, but I'm satisfied with the the amount they take. Where else are you going to be able to reach as big an audience of potential buyers.

I occasionally sell stuff. The things you have to do are:

1. Take good pictures and describe your item honestly.
2. Communicate with your buyer. Tell them when you ship and the tracking number. You can't communicate too much. Ship as soon as possible after the auction closes.
3. Pack the item very well and make sure you have a tracking number, and maybe insurance (depending on what you're selling).
4. Leave feedback.
5. Treat the buyer as you'd like to be treated if you were buying something.

Craigslist is a pain in the butt. You'll get a bunch of calls or emails and people won't show up. And those who do show up will try to negotiate you down in price.

eBay is not good for everything, only those things that can be shipped at a reasonable price. If you have a heavy piece of woodworking equipment, Craigslist (as much of a pain as it is) may be a better solution.

Mike

[Brian Elfert]

Ebay has completely automated the system so you never have to send an email manually to the customer if you don't want to. You don't even need to send an invoice as Ebay does that too. If you ship with Ebay or Paypal they will send an automatic email to the customer that the item shipped along with the tracking number. Ebay will hold your money until three days after the item is delivered until you have sold 25 items.

No matter how you ship always get delivery confirmation so you have a tracking number. If you ship postal mail through Ebay or Paypal you should get delivery confirmation at no charge. UPS automatically includes delivery confirmation. If the buyer claims they never got a package you'll need the tracking number to prove it was sent and delivered.

I do Craigslist for a lot of stuff because I don't want to pay the minimum 12% and I get cash right away and the buyer can't get their money back. I had really good luck during the holiday season as everyone showed up as they said they would and no hassles with price. I generally advertise a price 5% to 10% more than I really want so the buyer can offer less if they want. I generally meet buyers at the Burger King down the road for safety reasons.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have never purchased or sold anything off the bay. With talk about all the charges to sell. If you sold something for $100, how much money would you have in your pocket at the end of the day.

[Donny Lawson]

I think I would be interested in selling "wood blanks" for turning. I have a very good source for different types of wood and I get alot of designs in it. I do keep up with alot of wood blanks on e-bay and I have alot of what is selling now, so I would like to try my hand at it.

[Jim Koepke]

As a contributor you could sell them here in the Classifieds.

Often the prices listed include the shipping so you may want to take that into account.

jtk

[Mike Henderson]

I have never purchased or sold anything off the bay. With talk about all the charges to sell. If you sold something for $100, how much money would you have in your pocket at the end of the day.
I don't know if I can give you an exact answer but I recently sold something for $62 and PayPal took $2.10 to handle the transaction. eBay will charge me a "final value fee" but I can't tell you how much that is right now.

But let me contrast eBay and Craigslist for selling tools that are shippable, such as a Stanley plane. Things like tools, especially tools with a good name, draw lots of lookers and buyers on eBay. You're assured of getting the "fair market value" for your tools. Fair market value is defined as the highest price someone is willing to pay. You expose your offer of the tool to a very large audience of buyers - for me it's anyone who might be interested anywhere in the USA. With Craigslist, it's only the people who are within driving distance of you. On eBay, you only have to set the starting price. If someone wants to bid the price up way beyond what you would have asked for the tool, you get the benefit. On Craigslist, you have to set the selling price and then the buyer tries to talk you down from that price.

Also, I don't have strange people coming to my house, or I don't have to set up an appointment at some neutral place, go there and wait to see if they show up.

I believe that I will get more money when I sell a tool by selling it on eBay, even with the charges that I pay to eBay and PayPal.

But for things that are not shippable for a reasonable price (maybe a cabinet saw), Craigslist is a good fallback.

Mike

[Jim K makes a good suggestion. Sell shippable tools here if you want to avoid eBay and PayPal charges.]

[Brian Elfert]

I have never purchased or sold anything off the bay. With talk about all the charges to sell. If you sold something for $100, how much money would you have in your pocket at the end of the day.

Ebay generally charges a flat 12% if you a doing just an straight auction with no reserve and no Buy It Now. There are no listing fees (up to 50 a month) for a straight auction unless you add features to your listing. First picture is free. Paypal charges about 3%. Do note that Ebay charges their 12% on shipping too so I usually add a handling fee of a buck or two to recover the fees on shipping.

[Jim Matthews]

I second the Craigslist notion, it's for bottom feeders.
The nicest thing about selling on eBay is that you ship items to the recipient.

The implied hassle, you have to arrange for that.

EBay now requires PayPal registration for sales, which is a chore but I've always received payment.
If you begin selling, you'll be required to register using a credit card.

If you're uncomfortable with that, proceed no further.

FWIW - unless you're selling a highly recognizable brand, you're better of trading right here, in the 'Creek.

[Brian Elfert]

Ebay generally charges a flat 12% if you a doing just an straight auction with no reserve and no Buy It Now. There are no listing fees (up to 50 a month) for a straight auction unless you add features to your listing. First picture is free. Paypal charges about 3%. Do note that Ebay charges their 12% on shipping too so I usually add a handling fee of a buck or two to recover the fees on shipping.

I'm sorry, Ebay charges 9%. 12% is the total of the Ebay and Paypal fees. I know a lot of sellers are leaving Ebay with the fees going up year after year and Ebay making it too easy for a buyer to claim an item didn't arrive or was damaged even if it arrived in fine shape.

[Kevin W Johnson]

I do Craigslist for a lot of stuff because I don't want to pay the minimum 12% and I get cash right away and the buyer can't get their money back. I had really good luck during the holiday season as everyone showed up as they said they would and no hassles with price. I generally advertise a price 5% to 10% more than I really want so the buyer can offer less if they want. I generally meet buyers at the Burger King down the road for safety reasons.

Bingo! I do the same, theres a Food Lion just down the road I use for a meeting place. Pricing a tad high usually always nets the price I wanted as well. Even if i sell for less than it would have sold for on ebay, time I don't have to pay ebay, paypal, or worry about scammers filing false disputes, it's well worth it. Once you deal with craigslist enough, you also know how to pretty much avoid the spammers and scammers there.