Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

capnwes · Dec 18, 2012

The last second Christmas shopper rush has hit me!!

6 unexpected high BIN sales in the last 18 hours. Wish me luck to get them there on time. I offer no guarantees.

MrDV · Dec 18, 2012

I went ahead and listed on ebay through the holidays even though I had not had much success in the past during December.
Capnwes' recommended I use fixed price and best offer to protect my auctions.
I've had a very good month, thanks for the advice.
Now I must decide wether to stick w the fixed and best offer format or go back to auction, or do experimenting w a little bit of both.

mjt73106 · Dec 18, 2012

MrDV said:
I went ahead and listed on ebay through the holidays even though I had not had much success in the past during December.
Capnwes' recommended I use fixed price and best offer to protect my auctions.
I've had a very good month, thanks for the advice.
Now I must decide wether to stick w the fixed and best offer format or go back to auction, or do experimenting w a little bit of both.

I have found that both formats have their place. As I am sure that you have found, I always allow a "Best Offer" option on the BIN format. You are going to get them via messages anyway, this just formalizes the process. I also recommend setting automatic decline / accept level to help save your time for low offers or ones that you feel that you would accept.

mjt73106 · Dec 18, 2012

yossi said:
(I'm cross-posting this question from the "ask a question, get an answer" quick-question thread. )
I don't intend to make selling on eBay a thing I do on the regular as an added source of income. But I do have some nice stuff that I'd like to sell, and I frequently come across good stuff in thrifts that I'd like to flip.
Is there a good rule of thumb for when it makes sense to

Sell it myself, as an inexperienced seller with not too many ratings

Consign it with someone experienced, probably from SF

Sell it on the B&S fora here

? I'd like to maximize profit to me. I don't want stuff to sit around forever, but I don't need to get it out of my house tomorrow or anything.
E.G. sell exotic high-end brands here; don't sell expensive stuff on eBay if you're not an experienced seller; sell stuff yourself if you expect it to got for less than $40, etc?
Forgive me if this has been addressed already; I did some searching but didn't find anything.

I do not know a rule or guidline. If eBay selling is something that you really feel that you are able to do, by all means give it a shot. However, I would suggest that if your volume is less that 20 items a month or less that $1,000 per month, I would think that it is better to consign your items and do something else with your time. These are just my initial thoughts on the threshold amounts that for most people would work. Consignments are specialised, with Spoo specializing in the more high value items.

As you can see by this thread, one can spend a lot of time listing, selling, collecting, shipping, and dealing with the after sales side of the transactions. Ebay makes it more difficult now for the small time seller, i.e., holding your money for two weeks or more and limiting the items that you can list.

Hope that this helps and good luck.

Steve Smith · Dec 18, 2012

Brianpore said:
If everything sold at the BIN price it would be $898,003.74 over 450 items.

Brianpore · Dec 18, 2012

Steve Smith said:
Quote:
I'd much rather have your inventory

I'm sure your global sales are a lot better then mine.

Steve Smith · Dec 18, 2012

Brianpore said:
I'd much rather have your inventory

I'm sure your global sales are a lot better then mine.

Are you kidding? All I have is some clothing and some shoes. You have a big ass barn in your inventory.

suited · Dec 18, 2012

redsfaithful said:
When someone buys something with a Buy It Now in the first day after listing do you assume you had it listed too cheaply? Or are you just glad for a quick transaction?

I am thinking I made a mistake here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221167578498?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649

I have found a few suits recently that seem completely unworn, pockets still sewn shut, etc. but am having a hard time pricing, because I know they still aren't NWOT. And on nicer labels it seems like there's such a huge range of prices. When I was looking at Canali sold listings it seemed like it ran the gamut from $100-$600. Any thoughts? I'm new at this obviously.

I bought 2 new Isaia shirts to resell at a BIN price and one sold in less than 8 hours. That was 2 months ago. The other is still listed. I've had other similar experiences with items that are closely related. I think a mix of quick transactions coupled with holding out on certain items for the right buyer makes sense.

Steve Smith · Dec 18, 2012

ruben said:
I've learned that it's useless to pickup anything, especially pants with an odd-numbered size.

This is an excellent point, and one which I have intended to mention. Odd sizes are slightly slower sellers on SF and bring significantly less on ebay.

yossi · Dec 18, 2012

mjt73106 said:
[COLOR=000080]I do not know a rule or guidline. If eBay selling is something that you really feel that you are able to do, by all means give it a shot. However, I would suggest that if your volume is less that 20 items a month or less that $1,000 per month, I would think that it is better to consign your items and do something else with your time. These are just my initial thoughts on the threshold amounts that for most people would work. Consignments are specialised, with Spoo specializing in the more high value items.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=000080]As you can see by this thread, one can spend a lot of time listing, selling, collecting, shipping, and dealing with the after sales side of the transactions. Ebay makes it more difficult now for the small time seller, i.e., holding your money for two weeks or more and limiting the items that you can list.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=000080]Hope that this helps and good luck. [/COLOR]

That's really helpful, actually. Thanks!

caseyfud · Dec 18, 2012

Shipped a package to a buyer with 0 feedback and an unverified address, and it arrived today.

Positive feedback :slayer:

Edit - forgot to mention it was also an international shipment

SpooPoker · Dec 18, 2012

caseyfud said:
Shipped a package to a buyer with 0 feedback and an unverified address, and it arrived today.
Positive feedback

andrewgreg · Dec 19, 2012

Even ship items to intl buyers on forum is a hassle.

Brianpore · Dec 20, 2012

So I get an email with the questions below this morning..... I feel like no matter how much I try, he is not going to be happy with the suit.

Quote:
My nice reply:

Quote:

VLSI · Dec 20, 2012

and block...

That lady on the game with wrong address never ended up paying again. Gave me some **** about paypal holding the funds for the refund and that she was just going to buy it from a store... stupid woman.

Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

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