For our ebay experts...

[amp]

There are sooo many of you here that sell on ebay, and I have been thinking about it, but have been a big chicken. Just reading your suggestions for others has me realizing that I know even less than I thought I did about how to go about doing it! I've bought on ebay a handful of times, but never sold a thing, and think I would like to. Let's just say reading your input up till now and reading their instructions & rules has been overwhelming and intimidating! So here goes....

How do you know what will sell?

How do you know what it will sell for?

I have some collectibles that I tried to research on ebay, but couldn't find many past sales to indicate their worth and the info out there online is contradictory, so how do I know if I should pick a reserve price or a minimum bid or what?

Do you sell small things (like clothing or collectibles in lots or separately? How do you decide?

How do you make sure that it is cheap enough for others to think it's a bargain, and still make it worth your time and money to post it with ebay and ship it?

How do you know how much it will cost to ship, without taking it to the post office/mail place/UPS? Do you have a scale?

I tend to only purchase w/ CC thru paypay and I understand it costs more if you are a seller and have this option. Do you really get any interest if you don't offer CC paypal?

Any other suggestions? I really need to do this, but am very chicken and keep saying I will, but never do. Help me get started! Thanks!

[jk3]

Definitely give it a try. I've made some money but it's also a lot of fun. I mainly list clothing and toys. From time to time I find items at closeout sales + try to sell those too. For specific items, I try to track others that have sold and are selling. With clothing it's easier to know how much shipping will be. A short time ago there was a thread in the layette section with amazing tips so definitely do a seach for that thread. I sell things separately but at time sell things in lots. I seem to make more if I sell items individually. I like to work through Paypal so that I don't have to deal with checks or money orders. I don't mind losing a little bit here or there because of the convenience.

It can be time consuming so I usually sell items for one week and then wait a couple of weeks to list a slew of other items. Turbolister is supposedly a time saver but I haven't looked into it yet.


Jenn
DS 6/03

[JLiebCamm]

The best way to know what will sell and for how much is to do a search of completed items. Sometimes you have to put in different descriptors to find what you're looking for.

If you can't find a comparable item on Ebay to determine a price, just make sure that you set the reserve at a price that you could live with, no matter what. But believe me, the market dictates the price well on Ebay. If the item is truly collectable and valuable, there will be more than one person bidding on it. When Ebay first started (around 1996 I think) I got some deals on first edition books, but it has become such a phenomenon now that these deals are hard to come by.

I think children's clothing sells well in lots but adult clothing is often best separate. Toys are also good in lots. But anything collectable or unusual is best separate as people are looking for one particular item.

You can start an item cheaply but set a higher reserve on it. This bugs me sometimes though; I would often rather know the reserve up front. When I list, my opening bid is the lowest I would part with the item for, and I don't set a reserve.

As far as shipping goes, some people get items weighed prior to selling them and can use the UPS/USPS/Fed Ex web sites to figure shipping out by zip code. I usually just write 'buyer pays actual shipping costs' and figure it out after the sale. If the item is lightweight you can just send it at the set Priority Mail rate. Some people also charge for packing materials but I don't like doing that.

I never offered a CC option through Paypal and it hasn't been a problem for me. That being said, I haven't sold on Ebay for a few years so things may have changed.

Hope this helps!