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Post by sjbrian on Nov 7, 2004 1:37:57 GMT -5
i plan to start selling on ebay. i've never done this before. can anyone give me some tips or recommendations? i've set up my sellers account for ebay and paypal. not sure how to go about shipping and packaging. what about fees? pricing?
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Post by Apolonio on Nov 7, 2004 7:17:30 GMT -5
Hello Brian, I sell on e-bay once in a while, Mostly odd ball stuff even a detector or two. I'm heading for work here in a minute and will post later in the evening with tips and do's and dont's. Customer always pays for shipping and you can get free shipping supplies including the shipping box from the post office or have the free shipping supplies sent to your home. Hope some of the others pitch in with tips too  Until tonight, Paul (Ca) |
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Post by RICK (Madera) on Nov 7, 2004 9:18:39 GMT -5
LIKE PAUL SAID THE POST OFFICE WILL SEND YOU TAPE, BOXES, PREPRINTED LABELS, BUT THIS IS FOR PRIOIRTY MAIL OR OVER NIGHT ONLY. SO ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ADD THE LITTLE CACULATOR ON YOUR LISTING AND IT WILL AUTOMATICLY CACULATE THE SHIPPING FOR PRIOIRY MAIL FOR YOU SO THE BUYER KNOWS EXACLY WHAT THE ITEM WILL COST YOU CAN EVEN ADD HANDELING CHARGES IN THE CACULATOR. GOOD LUCK!
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Post by Rudy on Nov 7, 2004 10:13:02 GMT -5
Hey Brian,
Since you have no track record, I'd advise that you start by selling some of the less expensive items first in order to establish a positive feedback record. I think many buyers would avoid buying an expensive item from someone with no established record.
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Post by sjbrian on Nov 7, 2004 21:52:14 GMT -5
well so far i have 68 positive feedback ratings as a buyer. that might help.
i had no idea that the post office gave away free stuff. very cool. that cuts down on alot of costs.
the things i want to sell are all hand made by me. these will just be small dollar items. everthing made out of wood. i've found that i can find all types of wood for free. the only thing i'll spend is my time.
where is the calculator? also it looks like paypal is free for personal accounts. does this sound right? my only fees will be the insertion fee and the 5.25% fee?
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Ron (CA)
GOAP (Grandmother of All Posters)
Posts: 1,271
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Post by Ron (CA) on Nov 9, 2004 2:44:48 GMT -5
USPS provides free boxes, but hat limits you to Priority Mail which is often time higher than UPS or Fed Ex Ground.
PayPal personal account is free but may not receive credit card payments.
Might want to look into that more if you plan on doing any volume as a lot of buyers use plastic when going through PayPal.
If you get a Standard account, plan on paying 2.9% of total + 30 cents/ transaction.
There is a reason Ebay bought Paypal. Now they get paid twice on most transactions.
Good Luck to you.
HH
Ron (CA)
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Post by cyberdan on Nov 9, 2004 15:54:41 GMT -5
Paypal is great, I have used it for years. A lot cheaper than a regular merchant account. You might also check out: www.bargainandhaggle.comSimular to E-bay but you go in with a high price and people try to bargain you down to what they want to pay. I have several items there. No listing fees, only commissions if something sells. If any body decides to sell here and has EXCEL on their computer send me a private e-mail . I have written a spreadsheet to figuer out pricing and fees. I will send it to you. I sell it on Bargain and haggle. |
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Post by Todd on Nov 12, 2004 19:50:28 GMT -5
hey sjbrian, what's your user name on eBay, if your selling some of your woodworks, would like to take a look.
Thanks, Todd
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Post by old4blue69 on Nov 13, 2004 20:32:02 GMT -5
Right now i am really pi#$ed off at paypal. after a $2,000 spending limit they ask for your bank account number. my dad really doesnt feel safe giving our bank account number out, so we canceled our pay pal account. has anybody else had any problems like this?
hh,
andy
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Post by sjbrian on Nov 14, 2004 11:42:03 GMT -5
you should be aware of the fake "paypal" emails. not sure if that is your problem. i used to get alot of fake emails from ebay and paypal.
my ID is 1coindigger1. i have'nt started selling yet. the things i plan to sell are just craft type things, but i may put up some display cases i've made.
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Post by old4blue69 on Nov 14, 2004 11:47:10 GMT -5
I kind of thought that they were fake, so i emailed paypal, and they confirmed that the emails were real.
hh,
andy
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Post by gerber on Nov 15, 2004 17:37:53 GMT -5
Brian,
I've done a fair amount of selling on eBay. While the others are correct in mentioning the free postal supplies for priority mail, you may also want to remain open to other shipping options that might be cheaper for the buyer, e.g. media mail, parcel post, etc. This, of course, is going to depend on what kind of items you are selling. For cheaper or heavy items, sometime priority can seem a little pricey and may dissuade people from bidding on an item (again, this totally depends on what you're selling). Since I sell a wide variety of items, I use all the different postal options--priority for valuable or breakable items (priority is handled more carefully than parcel post), media mail for books and videos, etc. Also, definitely use delivery confirmations when shipping items of even moderate value. If they claim they never got it, you either eat the refund or run the risk of negative feedback.
A couple other suggestions: get yourself a good programmable postal scale, one that can have its postal data updated via the internet. I have a Royal, and it has proved indispendable in figuring out postage for folks. It will cost you a bit up front, but will more than pay for itself in no time at all with the headaches and hassles it will relieve.
Also, definitely sign up for Paypal. Anything you can do to make it easier for people to pay will give you some advantage when it comes time for people to bid on your items. For example, I will never bid on an item that accepts on money orders and cashier's checks. It's just not worth the hassle to do this (and you will notice that folks who have these kind of restrictions are always lagging behind in terms of number of bids). Anything you can do to make it easy for the buyer will benefit you in the long run.
Don't use reserve prices unless the item you're selling is really valuable or unique and you can't afford to have the price end below a certain level. Again, this gets to the psychology of bidding (which is really important if you're a seller). People want to know what it's going to cost them. There's nothing more frustrating that bidding on something when the reserve isn't yet met, and you have no idea what they actually want for the item. To me, this is putting up obstacles for the bidder. I would rather open with a higher starting bid that put in a reserve as I believe it acts as a subtle disincentive to the buyer.
Hope this suggestions are helpful. Good luck with it. Ebay is a blast!
HH,
Dan
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Post by gerber on Nov 15, 2004 18:04:33 GMT -5
Oops, almost forgot. One important bit on pricing. As a general rule, start very low with your opening price. You want to attract as many bids as you can, because there is a certain psychology at work whereby bids attract more bids. Therefore, starting low will tend to spark the bidding process, and you will often end up selling the item for more than if you had started high to begin with. There are exceptions to this rule: if the item is really valuable or rare. you may want to start with a high bid or use a reserve. Otherwise, you want to do anything you can to attract bids on your item. People will naturally be attracted to your item to see what all the fuss is about.
HH,
Dan
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