Quote Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
I am a former Ebay-aholic, and over the years have sold literally tons of stuff there.......everything from small car parts to 4 of my own boats. I say former because Ebay is changing to the point where I really don't care for it any more. The new rules are making it very tough and the rates are getting so that by the time you take out listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees, etc, Ebay is the real winner.

However, that being said, I have made a bunch of money and gotten higher prices than I would have gotten any other way. I have also only been stung a few times by people who bid and don't pay.

Here are some things I learned:

1) Always put a gallery picture so that people can see a preview of what they are going to look at.

2) We found no difference if we ran the ad for 3 days or 5, and the 3 day listing seems to do just as well. We ended up running exclusively for 3 days.

3) I DO use a reserve price. If I want $100 for something that is the reserve I put, but I put something like $ 10 as an opening bid. It gets the action started. I shy away from bids where the guy puts a high number to start out. As an example, I sold one boat for $ 9400 with a reserve of $ 8000, but my starting bid was $ 500. I had 30 some bidders on that boat.

4) The heading is very important. I always use the words "hot rat rod" in every car or car part ad even if it isn't a rat rod thing because that category gets the highest number of lookers historically. If it is a big item that you are not going to ship, put your location at the end of the heading, for example:

1949/49 FORD TUDOR/HOT RAT ROD/V8/SW FL.

The reason I do that is so someone looking at cars will say "hey, here is one in my area" and stop to look.

5) Spell your terms out clearly. If it is a car, tell them you want XX amount paid via Paypal immediately (Like $ 500 or so) and the balance in cash when picked up. If it is a car or something being picked up they generally will email you and say they pick it up and pay cash, but you have to spell out in your ad that you want it gone in no longer that XX number of days. The reason for getting the down payment is to show they are serious. If someone says to me they are coming in a day or two, I let the down payment slide.

6) The only hassles I have had are on bigger items like boats and cars. Some people think they are bidding so they can come and THEN make a decision to buy or not............NO WAY. When they bid they own it, and you need to say that in your ad. Even doing that sometimes you get the occasional flake.

7) If it is a car, take lots of pictures, like maybe 5 or so, and if there are areas that are not perfect, spell that out and shoot some pictures of them. You want to be honest and not have someone call you out on it when it comes time to pay.

I'm sure every person who sells on Ebay has their own methods, but these are some that have worked for me. Good luck.

Don
Thanks for the help.. I just have 4 boxes of parts that fit '77-'83 MB 240D's ( I parted out a '83 b4 it went to the crusher )... but I have no 240D, my dad has 1 but it's mint cond and needs none of these parts.


For the Tempo. I'm going to make it clear, it's sold as is, where is. pickup only. I just cleaned it out today.