Selling on eBay

[swedeace]

What exactly does one have to do to sell something on eBay? What are the advantages and disadvantages of setting this up? I don't mean advantages like, "You get to sell stuff." I was curious as to what is easy/difficult about setting up on how to sell items.

I have always bought stuff from eBay, but I have never sold anything. I am doing some organizing/cleaning this week. I found some vintage stuff I don't wanna throw away, so I would like to sell these items on eBay. I have stuff like some great John Ritter video interviews/movies/special appearances, articles from magazines (US, TV Guide, InTouch, etc...) and some other stuff that I don't really want to collect anymore.

I don't really understand after reading the selling instructions on eBay. How much would I get charged? So, I thought about asking people here to share your selling experiences. Is it really that worth it? I am sure people here have sold stuff on eBay.

Also, does anyone have any helpful suggestions on how to successfully sell?

Can anyone help?

[swedeace]

Wow.... I am truly amazed no one has responded yet. I have seen people talking about eBay around here, so I figured someone, at least, has some hints/suggestions on the whole "selling on eBay" topic.

Anyone care to share? Anyone out there? *echoes*

[dlemond]

I have limited selling experience with ebay, maybe 20 items or so.

The fees are easy to figure out, it really isn't that much. Go to this page on ebay for the current list. http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

To give you an idea, if you list an item for $20 and it sells for $65 the fees would be $.60 (listing fee for $10 - $24.99) plus final sale fee: $1.31 (5.25% of the initial $25) and $1.20 (3% of the remainder after $25- in this case $40).
So your total fee for listing something for $20 and selling for $65 is $3.11.


As far as selling goes, I usually look up the same item I am selling under "completed listings" and see who got the most money. (check out the top 3)

I then take note of his listing title, description, and anything else that stands out, to make mine similar or get ideas.

In the title you try to put as much info in there as you can and key words you would expect someone looking for the item might put in their search.

Say you were selling a DVD of Cinderella 2 - Dreams Come True and it was new and sealed and out of print.
Things you want to include are the full title, the fact that its new and sealed, the word Disney in there, and oop or Out of print,

Since you are limited in your title characters, you have to try to get as much in there as possible and may have to exclude something- if you have to you might opt out on "new" or "sealed" but try to keep one.

There is also an optional subtitle (more description) that goes beneath for $.50.
It's worth it for an expensive or hard to find item.

Always put in a picture. Always guarantee that your item is genuine (in this case say no import or bootleg for a dvd). Thanks people for looking and tell them to feel free to contact you with any questions.

Link up with Paypal (free), though it is more fees (when the person pays), it makes the transactions go much faster and you have backup if someone tries to screw you.
Other than that, only take money orders.

As far as listing price goes, I don't like reserves. I also dont have the stomach to list something incredibly low and find out later that not enough people watched the listing and it goes for well below what I expected.

Look at the completed listings for your item (if applies) and then see the highest and lowest it went for. Pick a figure in between the two that you live with if it happens to go at your list price.

Those are some initial tips.

[swedeace]

Originally Posted by dlemond

I have limited selling experience with ebay, maybe 20 items or so.

The fees are easy to figure out, it really isn't that much. Go to this page on ebay for the current list. http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

To give you an idea, if you list an item for $20 and it sells for $65 the fees would be $.60 (listing fee for $10 - $24.99) plus final sale fee: $1.31 (5.25% of the initial $25) and $1.20 (3% of the remainder after $25- in this case $40).
So your total fee for listing something for $20 and selling for $65 is $3.11.


As far as selling goes, I usually look up the same item I am selling under "completed listings" and see who got the most money. (check out the top 3)

I then take note of his listing title, description, and anything else that stands out, to make mine similar or get ideas.

In the title you try to put as much info in there as you can and key words you would expect someone looking for the item might put in their search.

Say you were selling a DVD of Cinderella 2 - Dreams Come True and it was new and sealed and out of print.
Things you want to include are the full title, the fact that its new and sealed, the word Disney in there, and oop or Out of print,

Since you are limited in your title characters, you have to try to get as much in there as possible and may have to exclude something- if you have to you might opt out on "new" or "sealed" but try to keep one.

There is also an optional subtitle (more description) that goes beneath for $.50.
It's worth it for an expensive or hard to find item.

Always put in a picture. Always guarantee that your item is genuine (in this case say no import or bootleg for a dvd). Thanks people for looking and tell them to feel free to contact you with any questions.

Link up with Paypal (free), though it is more fees (when the person pays), it makes the transactions go much faster and you have backup if someone tries to screw you.
Other than that, only take money orders.

As far as listing price goes, I don't like reserves. I also dont have the stomach to list something incredibly low and find out later that not enough people watched the listing and it goes for well below what I expected.

Look at the completed listings for your item (if applies) and then see the highest and lowest it went for. Pick a figure in between the two that you live with if it happens to go at your list price.

Those are some initial tips.

Oh, okay. I understand it a little better now. Thank you very much for taking the time to explain it all. I appreciate it very much.