Selling stuff on ebay.

Does anyone else do this? I know Madahhlia does because of her lovely pot. Since I decided that I would like to move house I have been selling a few bits on ebay and I just wondered what other peoples experience of this has been like? Personally I think it is a freaking nightmare!!!!!!:wallbang:

Val

 

Hello Gemini

I've never sold on e-bay but I have used Amazon Marketplace to sell books. It mostly worked very well - apart from the odd item which Royal Mail carefully lost en route. I live near a post office, which helped - it must be a pain if you've a long trek each time you need to post something.

I buy rather too much stuff on ebay. I notice that some sellers make it clear that they will not accept returns and I'd advise you to do the same. Nothing more depressing than getting things bouncing back to you when you thought you had offloaded them for good. Tell me more about your e-bay nightmare ... what happened?

 

I sell divisions from my daylilies quite regularly on ebay, no bad experiences, yet .

 

ive sold camcorder,cameras,horse tack ,books,dvds etc over a few yrs and ive only had bad feed back once which i didnt deserve but it happens xx i quite like ebay x

 

Gemini, if you don't enjoy it and find it a nightmare - don't do it - life is too short. If it is not financially worth while, just donate them to a charity shop. If it is items of furniture, some charities will collect.

I've bought and sold stuff on eBay and Amazon over the past several years, although I haven't sold for awhile now, never really had any problems, though.

:WINK1:

 

Because my items have been bits of furniture and a fish tank, I have put "Buyer Collects" which basically turns out to be hours waiting around indoors only to get an email later saying that they can't make it today!!!!!!:DOH: Also I always put "payment by paypal" a) because I like to build up some funds in my paypal account and b) because I think that if the buyer is collecting the item it would be too easy for them to start quibbling over the price once they are here. Well, they overlook the paypal request and just say "I'll bring cash" :DOH:which means more emails..................!! Grrrr, it's a lot easier buying stuff than selling stuff.

Val

 

I used to buy and sell promo CDs of bands I thought would turn out big (I made a large profit on everything I sold) and whenever I went to a gig, I'd get gig posters which they give for free and sell them, I once got £30 for 2 of The Joy Formidable Manchester gig, which only cost me £9 for a ticket!!

Depends what you're selling.. look on it first to see how much stuff goes for and if there's much of what you're selling already on there, because that brings the price down.

 

Hello Gemini, in theory its a good idea, sell your junk, er stuff and make some one else happy in the process.
Thing is I found selling the odd one off small item just not worth it.
You have to wrap it well, take it to the Post office, queue, queue some more for little money.

If its big or expensive, then yes ebay, but be prepared, what you think should "get a few quid" often doesn't, so I would suggest you look for similar items being sold and see what they finally go for.

I now put my junk on free cycle.

Buying, now that's different.

Also, as others have said, if its too much grief don't do it. (it can be grief)

Good luck

 

Heh, heh! At least with big items for collection you are spared the nuisance of wrapping the stuff up. And if the buyer gives you cash on arrival you won't have to pay a big Paypal fee on it!

But yes, it can often be a pain - but it's worth it when you have a nice juicy Paypal account full of spending money. I kind of see it as free stuff, although when the postage and fees have been subtracted it doesn't look nearly so good.

In terms of the time needed to list, measure, describe, check, communicate, find wrapping, wrap, check addresses, go to PO, go to PO again because someone didn't pay up on time etc etc it definitely isn't very cost effective but it's still satisfying seeing unwanted stuff grow into a nest egg. And for me, any money is useful.

I've trained various friends and relatives to sell as well. My sister is now up to around 550 points and another friend had an attic full of lovely vintage stuff which sold well.

With the collection on time issue it might be best to make it clear they've got a window of time in which to come, when you are available, so you don't feel you have to hang around waiting for them.

I do a big batch of selling and then have a rest for a few weeks. I'm always buying, though. I've probably had more bad experiences as a buyer than as a seller.

 

I do much of this and it has definitely cut out most of the non-paying bidders. I used to get at least one in each batch.

What counts as a policy breach? How doI find out about them?

 

We've sold alsorts of things on Ebay; but we always do a quick search on Ebay first to see whether particular items are selling and if it's worth listing a certain item.

Don't forget too that you have fees that are taken out that you have to take in to account when you put a starting price on them, make sure that with the fees removed you'll still get a price your happy with if it sells.

If you're seeling something that is pick up only, try and tell the buyer when 'you' are available so they arrange picking up the item, that's what we do and have never had a bad experience.

We've been selling a few plants recently and doing quite well, particularly with orange seedlings, something easily grown from pips but sell well at between £2 and £5 for a 2-4" seedling , we're not going to get rich out of it but it brings in a bit of extra cash. We've managed to pay off our last two holidays selling on Ebay :thumb:

 

Some of my friends do car boots instead if they have a haul of stuff. I've never done that.

I have sold the odd thing on ebay but over the years I have just found it too much of an effort for the small items. Plus the punative charges applied by ebay and paypal. So I only use it for one off items where I will maybe get a decent amount. I sold a coat last but it was worth it as it went for a decent amount. I once had a guy drive all the way from Peterborough for an electric fire! It was a nice one. But in general I find it a nightmare with the fraudsters, the nit picky questions, and the feedback! Ebay is good if you have one particular product and you don't want to set up your own website I guess.

Most of my stuff I give to charity now.

 

I used to be a full time power seller on ebay and specialised in antiques/collectables and anything I thought would make loads of cash

used to sell 60-80 items per week, used to go to at least 2 auctions per week and at least 2 carboot sales .... I rented 2 - large shipping containers where I stored most of the larger furniture items, whilst they were listed on ebay (wardrobes, chest of drawers, dining tables/chairs etc)

ended up being shut down, as I never registered for vat, and had a turnover of over £130 000 in the last 7 months of trading) .... there is a special unit called hidden assets which monitor carboots , ebay and auction houses and are catching those sellers who do not register for vat (if applicable), and those not declaring tax

there is no better place to sell than on ebay .... there are however some tricks that one needs to know as regards selling

ebay is like a giant pawn shop .... you either have your item displayed in the shop window for all to see, or it is hidden in the furtherest dark corner where no-one can see it ...

so, you need to advertise your heading very cleverly, and use the most typed/searched keywords ...

you can find these keywords on ebay pulse ( eBay Pulse: trends, hot picks, cool stuff and popular searches on eBay.co.uk )

very easy to use .... I will give a simple example ....

as it's a gardening forum, lets use a garden plant as an example ... so, assume you have a palm tree to sell

so looking at ebay pulse, under the section garden and plants, the following most searched keywords can be used in the title:

garden plants

then, on ebay pulse when you click on plants/seeds/bulbs, you have the following keywords:
plants
garden plants
bamboo
rose
bulbs
trees
lavender
hedge

so, make your ebay heading as follows

garden plants - palm tree - looks good with bamboo rose bulbs trees lavender or near a hedge

you will get more 'hits/views' and get a better price for your palm tree ....

now you see why many titles of items sold on ebay sound like garbage

hope this helps ..

as for ebay shortfalls, ebay got cr*p for sellers when they introduced the star rating system for sellers .... some buyers used to collect items from my home and still rate me poor for delivery and shipping costs?

it even got worse when sellers were stopped from leaving honest feedback (sellers may no longer leave negative feedback)

many buyers chance their luck, and try to extort large discounts .... so, when selling a used item, describe it in great detail and always cover yourself by including the clause ' item is not new, and does show some wear in places' ....

there are a lot more tricks to ebay