OT: Selling on eBay!?!?

[ender098]

Anyone ever sold stuff on ebay? Can you let me know about some of the pitfalls? I just posted my first sale item (A GoodyBag from Blizzcon 2009). I'm hoping to make $100.00 from it and buy a "PIT".
I was just wondering from anyone with experience selling what to be careful of. I know about Sellers not paying and having to relist items, but what about sellers fees? Are they outrageous?

Any advice, lessons learned or pointers are appreciated!

[rnrhero]

I sell stuff every once in a while. If you use paypal with it (which is to a great advantage because alot of people will not even bid on stuff if you do not except paypal) the fees come to about 10% from the sell price. Make sure they pay and you have cashed the money order or that the paypal payment has cleared before you send it. Also, it is best to find out exact shipping before you list because everytime I quote a shipping price I seem to get Jack-holed because it costs more then I thought it would. Make sure you have pictures also because most people will not bid without a picture. Buy it Now costs more.

[Goldbug]

I used to sell on eBay. Now it just is not worth it at all. Even though they have the biggest user base they charge exorbanent fees.
Paypal is a disadvantage because it is owned by eBay. I think it is also required now which must be illegal somehow. Not to mention it is not very secure at all.

http://www.powersellersunite.com/
Bonanzle seems to have become popular pretty quickly...
http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php

Are you going to auction your stuff or straight sell it? If you are just selling then I would not bother with eBay at all.

Here is my list of eBay alternatives...
http://ebaysux.yolasite.com

[ender098]

I'd like to just sell it, but finding a buyer can be a real pain. What I hate most about Sellers is what I'm hoping for.....letting buyers duke it out so I make make the most $$$. Funny, isn't it? When I buy, I hate trying to cut somones throat on an auction, but now that I'm selling, that's EXACTLY what I want to happen. Money truely does bring out the worst in us!

[Urban Saboteur]

Selling has become a different animal on ebay now.. they've leaned drasticaly in favour of the buyer due to the feedback policy changes. :(

If you know how much the value is on something i'd just create a list and pop it round all the forums online, keep it updated every 3-4 days by bumping it, eventually you'll sell it off, ebay will give you alot of coverage but it will also take a good chunk of your profits for it, you have seller fees % fees, listing/insertion fees and finally paypal fees to come out of your final sale price.

If you sell it without ebays help, your gonna have most of the profit to yourself.

I'm not sure how ebay works on the US site but usually the insertion fee is depedant on the listing value. I i listed something for say £1.99 the insertion fee might be 15pence. Where as I listed something for £14.99 the insertion fee might be more like £1.19.

My advice would be to cut out ebay alltogether and sell it to a base you already know, if its a product your familiar with and know the value, get the true value for it by private sale and pocket the profit.

[quintonarledge]

big lot of 25A vehicles & figs w/ free S&H
starts at $0.99!

GI JOE & COBRA 25th Anniversary vehicle & figure lot - eBay (item 320435118885 end time Oct-19-09 10:10:01 PDT)

You will get:

1. Target Exclusive M.O.B.A.T. from the "Ultimate Battle Pack" gift set with blue-prints (2008)
2. Target Exclusive Cobra Flight Pod (Trouble Bubble) from the "Ultimate Battle Pack" gift set with blue-prints (2008)
3. TRU Exclusive Snow Cat with blue-prints (2003)
4. KB Exclusive Crimson Sabotage H.I.S.S.
5. KB Exclusive Crimson Sabotage A.S.P.
6. A.W.E. Striker with Leatherneck - mint in box - never opened (2008)
7. Ghost H.A.W.K. with Lift-Ticket - mint in box - never opened, although it looks like Lift-Ticket is missing his mic (2009)
8. TRU Exclusive G.I.Joe Air Command, set 1 of 3 with Capt. Ace, Wild Bill & Skyduster - mint in package - never opened (2008)
9. TRU Exclusive G.I.Joe Sea Command, set 2 of 3 with Lt. Torpedo, Cutter & Deep Six - mint in package - never opened (2008)
10. TRU Exclusive Iron Grenadier Command, set 3 of 3 with Iron Grenadier Trooper, Iron Grenadier Officer & Destro - mint in package - never opened (2008)

[Lava Boss]

I still sell on ebay now and then. You can use pay pal to buy postage online (if you have a printer) and that saves on postage.

Recently. I have miscalculated shipping twice or ebay's shipping wizard lied to me. Shipping in general is the biggest hassle, between the calculater and the Post Office's increasing fees every 3 months or whatever.

You can host photos on imageshack and places then copy the code to the listing so you don't have to pay ebay for extra photo hosting (I'm surprised they haven't somehow stopped that).

Ebay definately isn't as good as it was. Requiring paypal was their biggest chicken-#$%^ move, the whole thing was built on feedback and they mucked that up, too. Even leaving neutral feedback required a written letter of consent from the Pope and the U.N.

There's craig's list, too. It has its own pitfalls, but no fees.