Ebay Advice

[britman]

Since I am pretty well semi-retired I have decided to take the plunge and starting put a few items on "Flea Bay".  The shed has a number of vintage British bike parts and a few smalls left over from a antique business long since closed that are just collecting dust.  Please understand my computer knowledge is comparable to a stone age Pygmy with his first Bic lighter.  I have had a Paypal account for a number of years, (of course it is in the Wife's name only) and I have never used it other than to pay for items, no funds have never come in.  I have bought a number of items on Ebay, have an excellent rating but never sold a darn thing. 

I went over this morning and opened a separate checking account at a Bank where we do not maintain any of our regular checking, savings, or other accounts.  The new institution offers on-line banking, debit cards, and a number of other amenities all at no charge, I will use this account to complete transactions.  I am still researching on upgrading the Paypal account and the rules and regulations of selling on Ebay.

I thought I would see if any of you members who have been there and done that would have any advice for a challenged newbie in this endeavor.  Any tips on listings, photos, and shipping methods would be greatly appreciated.  Of course I know if a Nigerian Prince contacts me and needs my Social Security to claim an abandoned fortune, we are in the money.......


Thanks
George

[webmost]

Tell your grandson he can have 10% of anything he sells for you. That would be my advice.

[Northern Bill]

I have sold the remains of many projects on ebay over the years with great success and very little grief.  Paypal is definitely your friend here.

When I first started, the first thing I listed was something that I didn't care about either way. I started my bidding at 99 cents and used it as a learning experience.

Once I was ready to sell the stuff I wanted to make a few dollars on I looked on ebay for something similar to what I was selling. Then I went to the completed listings to get an idea what price I should be asking.  I started my bids at the lowest price I would accept.  The next thing I did was list several items at the same time.  For example, once I listed one part I would use the SELL SIMILAR function to list the other parts. This saves a lot of time.

The thing that gave me the most grief was the shipping.  Because I live in Canada and most of the buyers are in the US this was even more problematic.  To deal with this, I used the UPS and Canada Post websites to figure out how much postage would be to California (furthest from me).
Then I just added the shipping to my starting price and auctioned the item with free shipping.  I think this helped because bidders new exactly how much they would be paying for a part.  For example, if I wanted $100 for a part and the shipping to LA was $50 I started my bidding at $150 with free shipping. If the buyer was close by I actually made a little more because I didn't have to spend the full $50 on shipping.

Hope this helps.

[fotoguzzi]

Good advice from Northern Bill..
I'll add that you don't need an extra bank account. do everything with Paypal (sorry, you do pay a fee with them) . unless the buyer doesn't do PP then just have them send a check and don't ship until it clears, your regular bank is fine for that.

Lots of good photos help sell.
 never give out a phone # but if they want to talk have the buyer send you a phone #.

OFFER WORLD WIDE SHIPPING, on some items this greatly increases the bids.. things like old cameras and some old stereo equipment will astound you at the prices they bring from Japan, NZ and Europe. shipping in flat rate USPS boxes is about $60 ww.. the WW shipping works best with the flat rate size, if bigger explain the high cost to ship over seas in your auction.

always buy shipping insurance, photo the contents and the box w/label and save receipts  from the Post Office or UPS etc, for a claim.. the photos will help you get the claim accepted.

most of the time I do not offer returns and that didn't seem to be a negative to the buyer as long as your honestly describe the item.

[clubman]

Long time Ebayer, 100% rating. Yes, PayPal is your friend, their fees are a fraction of what a scammer can cost you, consider it insurance. NEVER give your soc. sec # to anyone other than a proven government agency. NEVER give your credit card# to anyone you haven't done business with less than 5 yrs. unless they have a sterling background.  If they don't take PayPal flip them off and move on.