Ebay Virgin!

[1983]

Yes, I am. Bout to sell some stuff of my own.

Tips and advice would be GREATLY appreciated, folks. :)

<33

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by 1983
Yes, I am. Bout to sell some stuff of my own.

Tips and advice would be GREATLY appreciated, folks. :)

<33 never buy a virgin off ebay ...you just know your getting ripped off.

[1983]

Originally posted by morrocan roll
never buy a virgin off ebay ...you just know your getting ripped off.

Check. :p

[Crispy]

Don't bother with reserves. Just set the starting price @ the lowest price you're willing to let the item go for then anything above that amount is profit.

Buyer pays postage:) State what the postage cost will be when you create the auction then the price appears on the invoice along with the final price of the item. So the buyers knows the total price to pay you.

Make sure payment has cleared before sending the item to it's new owner.

You being the seller than you're in control of what goes. If the buyer suggests something which you don't like then tell them where to go.

Just a few pointers:)

[Tweety]

Apparently you get more money if it ends on a sunday, dunno how true that it though.

[Joolyknockers]

If you get confused, the ebay discussion boards are really helpful!

If you are selling on a small scale I wouldn't accept paypal payments as they eat up quite a bit of your profits. I have a premier account so I can accept credit card payments, but I only just realised how much it costs me. Bank transfer or cheques are the way to go, and it's free!

Make sure your postage and packaging is realistic as well, when I started out I wasn't charging enough for the jiffy bags I was using and did myself out of money.

[Joolyknockers]

Originally posted by Tweety
Apparently you get more money if it ends on a sunday, dunno how true that it though.

Oh yeah...you need to time your auction end so it finishes at a time when most people are at home...hence Sundays being good, and any time after 7pm. You get your last minute bidders then :)

[SuzyCreamcheese]

start all auctions at 99p. that means you pay the lowest fees. same fee for starting at 1p or 99p but start it at £1 and youre into the next fee band. Its worth it as I have found plenty of times that items with a high start price dont go for as much, and often things with a low start price attract more watchers and then more bidders at the end (obviously its a risk you take though, it may go for less than you wanted) I personally wouldnt expect a high start price on a second hand item.
Always put a small picture alongside the listing as i hardly ever look at ones without the index picture as you have to click on it and its faffing around. Its worth the extra 15p.
Make sure your photo/photos of the item are clear and you describe it accuratly - especially any faults.
Try to get it so your auction finishes on a weekday evening. They go for a lot more that way. I imagine sundays would be OK too, but definitely not weekday daytimes as everyones out at work.
Keep your postage and packing costs accurate. People DO take postage costs into account when bidding.

[SuzyCreamcheese]

Originally posted by Joolyknockers

If you are selling on a small scale I wouldn't accept paypal payments as they eat up quite a bit of your profits. I have a premier account so I can accept credit card payments, but I only just realised how much it costs me. Bank transfer or cheques are the way to go, and it's free!

.
but on the other hand, a LOT of people dont bother buying if they cant pay instantly - me being one of them unless I REALLY want the item. It would certainly put me off impulse buying if I had to write a cheque and go to the post box, then the hassle of waiting till it clears before you get your item - I probably wouldnt bother 9 times out of ten, and I know mr Brite wont buy if he cant use paypal or nochex either.
You definitely get more bids if you accept paypal so it evens itself out.

[Tweety]

Originally posted by rainbow brite
but on the other hand, a LOT of people dont bother buying if they cant pay instantly - me being one of them unless I REALLY want the item. It would certainly put me off impulse buying if I had to write a cheque and go to the post box, then the hassle of waiting till it clears before you get your item - I probably wouldnt bother 9 times out of ten, and I know mr Brite wont buy if he cant use paypal or nochex either.
You definitely get more bids if you accept paypal so it evens itself out.

Don't you find you hardly make any profit though, especially if you sell something for 99p?

[SuzyCreamcheese]

Originally posted by Tweety
Don't you find you hardly make any profit though, especially if you sell something for 99p?
only if it doesnt get any bids, and it has happened before (which pissed me off) Ive made a loss before, but 9 times out of ten the ones with lower starting prices attract more bids in the end. To be honest though, I wouldnt sell anything that I wasnt sure would sell. You research it first. What sells and what doesnt. Dont sell swimming costumes in december etc, and things with brand names sell better.
If you do make a loss or not much profit on something its not entirely bad news because its still building up good feedback which is your greatest selling asset of all.
another top tip - dont use free listing days. EVeryone else uses them and things dont sell for much because theres so much competition.

[Olive]

Originally posted by rainbow brite
but on the other hand, a LOT of people dont bother buying if they cant pay instantly - me being one of them unless I REALLY want the item.

i agree. i will not buy something over ebay unless i can pay there and then with paypal, and i know loads of people who are the same.

also your title is important, cause that's what people search. you have to get as many relevant words in there without just writing anything down there, cause then ebay will take your auction down for keyword spamming. and make sure it's spelt right. it's SO easy to miss a letter or two, especially when you're listing a whole buttload of things.

also beware the no-feedbackers. most of them are genuine, but a lot of them won't pay. which loses you money and is REALLY annoying. i sometimes just put a line in my description saying if you have no feedback or lots of negative feedback, you must email me before bidding, or i'll just cancel your bid.

[Joolyknockers]

Originally posted by rainbow brite
but on the other hand, a LOT of people dont bother buying if they cant pay instantly - me being one of them unless I REALLY want the item. It would certainly put me off impulse buying if I had to write a cheque and go to the post box, then the hassle of waiting till it clears before you get your item - I probably wouldnt bother 9 times out of ten, and I know mr Brite wont buy if he cant use paypal or nochex either.
You definitely get more bids if you accept paypal so it evens itself out.

I totally understand what you are saying. I just get a bit cheesed off when I've sold something for say £2, then Paypal eats some of it, then your final value fee and listing fee and then most of my tiny profit has gone! :crying:

I've done a couple of online bank transfers and all has been good. Theres no fees and it's quick, especially if your buyer is with the same bank as you. Safer than a cheque on the fraud front as they don't have your signature.

[SuzyCreamcheese]

Originally posted by Joolyknockers
I totally understand what you are saying. I just get a bit cheesed off when I've sold something for say £2, then Paypal eats some of it, then your final value fee and listing fee and then most of my tiny profit has gone! :crying:


I know what youre saying. Ive had it happen to me too, but the only solution to that is really knowing your market. That only comes with experience, but some things just arent worth selling on ebay because there isnt really the market for them and unless youve got loads of things selling for cheap then it isnt even worth your trip to the post office.
Ive learnt from my mistakes in the past. I sold a quiksliver swimsuit once which would have fetched £15 /£20 if id sold it a month earlier just before season started, but instead I didnt get round to selling it until season was well underway - people had already bought their cossies, and I got about a fiver for it so was pretty pissed off with myself, cos after fees etc, Ive made no profit at all, and ive even made a loss once or twice because of taking a risk, but usually the risk pays off.

[Monserrat]

Originally posted by morrocan roll
never buy a virgin off ebay ...you just know your getting ripped off.

What Mr Roll means is that each eBay member has a score. They get +1 for each reliable sale/purchase, and -1 if they failed to pay or ship their item. People who have zero will be the eBay virgins. Everyone has got to start from somewhere though. People with zero scores start off with smaller/cheaper items until they get about 5 points. Some sellers will specify that you must have a certain score (like 5) in order to make a bid.

[Rainbow Phoenix]

always make sure your postage covers yours paypal and listing fees too :)

[SuzyCreamcheese]

Originally posted by Rainbow Phoenix
always make sure your postage covers yours paypal and listing fees too :)
You can tell the people that do that and its actually against ebay rules, its called "fee avoidance". I personally dont bid on auctions with excessive postage charges.

[Jim V]

Gotta agree, I always expect to pay the fees and paypal charges out of my own pocket when selling, I remember how much it would piss me off when I paid 5 for postage and get something with 3 first class stamps stuck on.

As to starting at 99p, only for things you're just getting rid of. For anything major, as was mentioned above, just start at the minimum you are willing to accept.

Oh and personally I would never use buy it now options, cost you more to list and I always set them too low.

And ignore all the wierd emails, I'm selling an xbox and have had about 40 bloody emails asking for a buy it now price even though it doesn't have one oh and one email for 'urinatingboy' who wanted to turn up and pay cash in person!

[Ilora-Danon]

Originally posted by Rainbow Phoenix
always make sure your postage covers yours paypal and listing fees too :) That's a big no no in my book.

I was ripped off by an american seller, who said 'no reserve price, low start price' and then made all the money on the postage and packing... they tried to charge me $36 for postage purely because their item didn't go for much.

Ilora x

[Jim V]

I had the same thing happen with an Austrailian seller, I bid and then realised they wanted like 3 times the buy it now price for the postage.

Glad they changed the system so you can at least see the basic postage when bidding.

[Mr_Wobble]

A good subject heading that will catch the buyers eye.

Include a photo! Or scan. Showing a clear shot of the item really helps.

A good, honest, description, of the item. You can dress it up a bit with some emotive words though, which helps.

Make sure you mention the p&p costs, so they know how much they will be paying for them.

Starting low will help get interest in your sales, but only do the 99p ones on stuff that's not that valuable, or that you just want to get rid of at any price.

Put the aucition on after 7pm, and no later than Midnight. Try to have it end on a Saturday or Sunday as that's when most people will be in and surfing - the rule about ending the auction after 7pm isn't so hard and fast on a Sunday - I'd say anytime after lunchtime is good (2pm onwards).

At least get a Certificate Of Posting from the post office if you're not using one of the registered/signed/insured services. The C.O.P. is free, and you can make cliams on it (see Post Office for details), and it proves you've posted it.

[Monserrat]

Cheers for the warnings here about using extortianate postage prices to evade eBay fees.

See what the dickhead is doing on this eBay item (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1039&item=3773361237&rd=1). These things cost about £20 in the shops. He is offering buy-it-now for 99p, but the postage is £18. The thing on that page could really be posted for about £2.