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

[Brianpore]

My dad goes to completed listings, looks at prices, and then goes a bit under that. In my opinion, this is a terrible strategy and only leads to a race to the bottom until margins become unsustainably low. You should try to differentiate yourself with good pictures and.quality items so that can you price above average to high. Not really news to you guys, but just my thougts on the pricing game.

I base the majority of my prices of sold/completed listings. I sort them highest -> lowest and then price them at or just under the highest items sold. Add or subtract a little depending on quality, color, size, etc but try to narrow it down as much as possible to see what others have recently paid for a like item. Goal is to always sell in the 10% of like items but IMO anything in the top 30% should be considered a good sale.

 

[VLSI]



I base the majority of my prices of sold/completed listings. I sort them highest -> lowest and then price them at or just under the highest items sold. Add or subtract a little depending on quality, color, size, etc but try to narrow it down as much as possible to see what others have recently paid for a like item. Goal is to always sell in the 10% of like items but IMO anything in the top 30% should be considered a good sale.

Yup, I agree with this. And completed listings are a great resource for gauging market value. My problem is trying to undercut everyone else. It can only end poorly. You don't make as much, and then all valuations of future auctions are brought down by your sale.

 

[Tweets]

People are just stupid....

Dear xxxx,

unfortunately we could not agree on any prices... i was going to buy several, but you did nothing but decline... by the way, on some pics you can see the purchased prices on the boxes, just for your knowledge...


- marsupialED EBAY BUYER



My response

Dear marsupialED EBAY BUYER,

You do realize that these are shoes from the 60's-80's and the prices are still on the box from back then? It has nothing to do with what they are worth...nor what I paid for them. You are an idiot and that's why we couldnt agree on anything. You seemed to think I was making money on shipping, I don't control what it costs to ship to Turkey and I'm not going to lose money on the shipping. You lowballed all your offers and expected me to take a loss on shipping. Good riddance dirtbag.


- xxx

 

[VLSI]



People are just stupid....

Dear xxxx,


unfortunately we could not agree on any prices... i was going to buy several, but you did nothing but decline... by the way, on some pics you can see the purchased prices on the boxes, just for your knowledge...


 
[COLOR=000]- marsupialED EBAY BUYER[/COLOR]
[COLOR=000] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=000] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=000] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=000]My response[/COLOR]
[COLOR=000] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=000]Dear marsupialED EBAY BUYER,


You do realize that these are shoes from the 60's-80's and the prices are still on the box from back then? It has nothing to do with what they are worth...nor what I paid for them. You are an idiot and that's why we couldnt agree on anything. You seemed to think I was making money on shipping, I don't control what it costs to ship to Turkey and I'm not going to lose money on the shipping. You lowballed all your offers and expected me to take a loss on shipping. Good riddance dirtbag.


 
[COLOR=000]- xxx[/COLOR]
[/COLOR]

Why were you so nice?

 

[suited]

Had a case opened against me because the buyer said I did not mention that these pants had a hole (unbelievable) - it looks like the seller is dropping it because they haven't responded to my comments:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331012003735?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649

Also, an update on my lost package. I have gone through the necessary steps, and now it's just a matter of waiting. They won't tell you if it's found, it will just show up on your doorstep one day. Based on what I've read online, you're lucky if you ever get anything back. A lot of it is stolen or auctioned off.

 

[Tweets]

Why were you so nice?

If you only knew what the first version said...had to edit out the profanity

 

[VLSI]

I bet. He acts like he is doing you a favor by trying to take them off your hands for any price at all

 

[capnwes]



Had a case opened against me because the seller said I did not mention that these pants had a hole (unbelievable) - it looks like the seller is dropping it because they haven't responded to my comments:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331012003735?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649

Also, an update on my lost package. I have gone through the necessary steps, and now it's just a matter of waiting. They won't tell you if it's found, it will just show up on your doorstep one day. Based on what I've read online, you're lucky if you ever get anything back. A lot of it is stolen or auctioned off.

Confused. Are you the buyer?

 

[suited]



Confused. Are you the buyer?

Opps, meant to say "buyer" in my post. I was the seller.

 

[capnwes]

Lol. I thought you were returning them and the seller was saying you didn't tell him about the hole after he took a pic of it.

 

[sn0wman]

Here is a list of tools i use aka "Tools of the Trade."




A 1500 watt Conair steamer (Conair) . 1500 watts of steam gets the smell out of most items .

A +++++++++

 

[TheNeedMachine]

This one has me flummoxed: A user inquired about an item a few minutes before it ended. I did not see their message in time, it ended, then the user asked later if they could still buy it (presumably directly thru Paypal) because they could see that it would be relisted tonight at 10pm. I thought "Hmm - did not know users could find items that are scheduled to start in the future", so I searched eBay and found:
Can anyone else see my scheduled listings before they are listed?
No. Only you (the seller) may see your pending listings before they are activated. Buyers will not be able to find your pending items via search or browsing, nor will they be able to bid on them until they are activated.
So that weirded me out, and I changed all my passwords etc.
Does anyone know of a legit way this user might have seen that my item is indeed scheduled to be relisted tonight?

 

[sn0wman]

Not aware of any way to do that -- by chance do you have a pattern of always relisting everything at 10PM on Sunday evening?

 

[Brianpore]

Quote:
They made an assumption. If they have been following any of your items, they would see you're pattern of selling/relisting/etc, and/or just made an educated guess that you would relist it tonight if it did not sell last week. Nothing to be concerned about

 

[TheNeedMachine]

Not aware of any way to do that -- by chance do you have a pattern of always relisting everything at 10PM on Sunday evening?

Not always - in fact, not usually. I like to mix it up - hold unsold items for a few weeks before resliting, or take advantage of whatever specials might be running for 10-day auctions (which I start on a Thursday night), 30-day BINs (which I list whenever), etc.

Quote:
Possible, though see above...and their last message to me was "Ok. I see. It looks as if it's scheduled to relist tonight around 10pm. If you are still selling I'd like to purchase for the original now" - the item is rescheduled for 10:05pm - around 10pm - which made me think they really could see it scheduled. In any event. not a bad idea to change my passwords anyway - it had been a while.

Thanks dudes.