Thread: questions about selling on Ebay

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I'll just mostly reinforce what others have said. GOOD pictures are a must, some folks put up a small, poor resolution pic...........complete waste of time. The better the pic, the more thorough your description, the more likely you'll get more and better bids. On a really nice piece I employ the "make this picture larger" option, helps make the buyer feel more secure, and cuts down on the number of email questions. You want to think about this stuff as if you're the buyer not the seller............what would you be looking for in pics and description if you were buying.?

The reserve thing is kind of a judgement call. I agree it has the potential of limiting bidder interest, and overuse is risky to a degree. I use it to protect myself on pieces I feel are way above normal quality. The potential buyers may otherwise lump my part in as no better quality than the scurvy one they saw last week. You can emphasize that in your description, but having the reserve helps. Remember, those who bid this week aren't always the ones who will be there next week. The guy who values what you have more so may not be looking today, but will be tomorrow. I'm a curmudgeon about disclosing reserve. When someone writes wanting to know what it is I won't tell them because I don't believe they're a serious bidder. My reply is "bid what you think it's worth, if it's enough you'll see the reserve, if not then it's not what you want to pay".........that's the whole point of an auction, get people to compete and try to outbid one another, if the buyer doesn't like that kind of deal then fine..........don't participate in auctions! Otherwise............MAN UP!

I use the shipping calculator, and as mentioned add a fudge factor. I do it by adding a couple pounds to the actual weight (yeah, I weigh the part and a box before listing to get close). Again this accomplishes two things; it cuts down on the emails (which can sometimes be a pesky nusance), and it asures people that you aren't going to pad the shipping to make up for disappointing bid amounts. This has been a rising problem on ebay for the past couple years, people gouging on the shipping after the close because they thought they should have gotten more for the part. Some people who don't realize how expensive it has gotten for shipping will perhaps balk at what the calculator shows, but in time they'll learn or leave. To give you an idea of how "sensitive" an area this has become, there's a satisfaction rating on sellers using a star system, 5 stars being the best. The only area where I have a fraction of the fifth star is in shipping cost, even though what I charge is based on the calculator that the buyer knows before he bids (if he's paying attention), and sometimes it's a little above, or below actual (usually less than a dollar either way).

Deciding whether to kill an auction early if the price competition doesn't seem high enough has gotten riskier (yet another reason to use the reserve when necessary). More folks are aware of esnipe and won't be placing a bid til the last few seconds. As a buyer I use it often so as to not cause competition in the bidding and keep the price down (again, it's all part of the auction process, if someone doesn't like it they should stay away). As a seller I watch the number of people that have earmarked the item. If it's a high number there's a good chance that a sniper is waiting......not a guarantee, just a good chance. It's a gut call, again, some weeks are better than others. BTW, summer is probably the worst time to sell, but best time to buy, fewer buyers to compete for/with.

As for cost it has gotten higher. I also use paypal figuring that that increases the number of buyers because they don't have to make a trip to get a money order (I choose not to mess with checks), even though that runs around 3% fee. The paybacks are that a majority of the items I sell at any one time get paid for within the first 36 hours after auction close. That means I can make fewer trips to the shipping office/post office because multiple items are paid at once. The money orders come to a PO box, so that takes two trips (though they're usually tied in with other purposes). I figure on an approximate total selling cost of 10%, which ends up pretty close. If they pay with MO it would be 3% less, a small bonus. If they're local pickup then I don't have to spend time packing, another bonus. Some think 10% is a high number, but after having done the swap meet thing for more than 30 years, I feel it's a good trade off. I'd hate to count the hours I've spent loading the truck, working through the conga line to get to my stall, unload the truck, sit in unpredictable weather for a couple days, wait in the conga line to get to my booth to load out at the end of the meet, and then shuffle in the conga line to get out and unload at home again. I'm toooooo old for that game anymore. Besides, almost every auction cycle I get at least one surprise......an item will sell for waaaaayyyyy more than I expected......I like that!!

Craigslist is a good alternative, I recently offed a lot of good parts from a '40 Ford through there. Almost every guy who came over to pick up part A ended up seeing a couple more things he needed/wanted and drove off having left more pictures of Ben Franklin than he originally planned.