Has anyone sold on ebay?

[BlueMoose]

I'm thinking of trying to sell some craft items on ebay. If anyone has experience selling, do you have any feedback or advice?

TIA,
Chrisi

[SandyM]

Speaking of addictions, Jewel..........:cool:

[tracey67]

Chrisi,

DH tried once and had a really bad experience. He was selling a projector and it had gotten about 8 bids (each one going up just a small amount), when all of sudden one person bid and upped the bid from around $350 to $800 with his ONE bid. At the time, he and I both found this very suspicious, but there wasn't much we could do. After this bid, all other bidders stopped. When the auction closed, he attempted to contact the "winning" $800 bidder. He sent one email and waited about 10 days. He then sent ANOTHER email and waited 2 weeks. He NEVER heard anything from the bidder. But wait, it doesn't end there...

eBay first charges you a listing fee (in his case, @ $5) - this is non-refundable, regardless of what happens.
they also take a percentage of your selling price AS SOON as your auction closes (again, in his case, this was @ $35).

So...his credit card was immediately charged for @ $40, even though he still hadn't heard anything from the "buyer". After his first email attempt failed, he contacted eBay and told them about the suspicious circumstances. They said that he had to wait a certain amount of time (can't remember how long) before he could fill out a form to get eBay's selling commission returned. After the second email and still no response, eBay allowed him to start filling out the paperwork to get the $35 returned. All in all, it was a HUGE hassle and took a lot of emails and about 3 months to get sorted out - plus he's still out the original, non-refundable listing fee.

I just can't imagine how someone can have so little of a life that they find it fun to mess with people's auctions like this, but I hear that it happens pretty frequently - and there's not much you can do about it. They let you rate buyers AND sellers, but DH can berate this "buyer" as much as he wants, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still out the listing fee and the time that he spent. Ever since then, he's been pretty gun-shy about using them again and hasn't tried since.

I'm sure you'll hear a lot of good stories about eBay, but this is ours.

tracey

[lisas3575]

Oooo, Tracey, that's so bad! I'm sorry that happened to you guys, and on your first item too! People can be so rude.

DH sells quite often on Ebay and has never had a bad experience. I say go for it-- if it's not your thing, you don't have to do it again!

Good luck!

[Jewel]

Originally posted by SandyM
Speaking of addictions, Jewel..........:cool:

Sandy? THPPTTHHTTPPHHT!!! :p

Chrisi, as for Ebay, I'm a buyer and a seller, and I've only had one bad experience, and that was as a buyer. Seller misrepresented the item and then wouldn't refund my money even after I sent it back to her. Finally after six months, my Visa company refunded my money, and debited her account...talk about satisfaction! A six month nightmare finally over.

HOWEVER I have nothing but good to say about Ebay and their service. I sell everything from antiques to household items, and have never had a problem from a bidder paying. I totally sympathize with what happened to Tracey, but it's not the norm. Too bad that happened on their first experience! The reason that Ebay's commission was so high for her was the purchase or reserve price for their auction was high. I just listed a cookbook on Ebay, and their 'listing' fee was only 30 cents, because I started the bidding under $5. They take a percentage, mostly in the 1-2.5% range, depending on what you're selling. If you're selling an item over $1000, then they're going to take more than if you are selling a $15 cookbook. Sure, it costs you...but on the other hand, what else are you going to do with your stuff? Seriously, we weighed it out. We had a really nice picnic basket given to us for our wedding. We're just not picnic people. If I sold that at a garage sale, I could get maybe $5. On Ebay, I described it in detail, took a few good digital photos of it, and sold it for $45 to a lady in Florida! Besides, I would rather box one item up and ship it knowing it HAS been sold, to lugging it outside and setting it on a card table, then hauling it back inside after the garage sale when it DIDN'T sell.

Some people sell on Ebay as a business. Others, like me, sell three or four items per month and get a kick out of it. It's a perfect way to find a buyer for an item. Antique dealers no longer have to rent a store location if they don't want to! Online auctions are now the antique dealer's best friend! Well, and the antique buyers like me! :D

As for crafts, make sure you give details about it, dimensions, what it's made of, etc. and take a few different views of it. Don't take personal checks is my other advice. I accept money orders and Visa and Mastercard through PayPal, a payment service. Which does cost me, yes, but only a buck or two for each sale and its worth it. More people will spend money if they can charge it. Sad, but true! :rolleyes:

Also, ANY time you buy, check the seller's feedback. You want to stay away from negatives! I'm Davesjewel on Ebay, and I'm proud of my 113 positive reviews!! :D

Also Tracey...the only reason that guy's bid shot up to $800 in one bid transaction was because the next hightest bidder's MAXIMUM was probably $799. The guy that bid before the deadbeat had to put his maximum in. On the screen, it will only show going up a fraction. If four more bidders come in and bid under that guy's max, it will drive the price up, but he's still the winner. The deadbeat went in and probably put a maximum in of $1000 or something to be cute. That automatically made the price go up to the REAL bidder's maximum and then over $1 or $2. Either the real bidder couldn't get in there in time, or didn't want to go any higher. My point is, someone wanted to pay that amount for the projector. Too bad the deadbeat was actually listed as the winner. Did you check the 'bid history' to see if it happened that way? You can see maximums then, as the seller. Too bad it happened! :confused:

[tracey67]

Jewel - thanks for the info -- it sounds like you definitely understand their system. I don't remember if DH ever looked at the maximum amounts, but I do remember that it was one big jump - straight from $350 to $800 on one bid.

As an aside - DH HAS had good luck BUYING on eBay (with all my prior rambling, I didn't have time to add it, but I don't want you to think I'm trashing them -- just the deadbeat). He's bought a few items and always had a really good experience with the seller. And he has made a point of only buying from people with good reviews - so these DO definitely make a difference when you're a seller.

And I also think their commission amount is pretty fair. I mean, if he HAD actually sold his item for $800 - well, $35 commission seems downright cheap, considering that many auction houses take 10-15% of the selling price. And you're right - where else are you going to be able to sell some of this stuff if it weren't for them?

tracey

[BlueMoose]

Thanks for the input. I know some of my friends have had good experiences. I just found out that one of our local coupon websites has now expanded to let people place free ads with pictures and everything! So I think I might give that a shot first. That way I wouldn't have to worry about shipping. I love selling my stuff at shows, but its also a lot of work, and can be a big pain in the a**...setting up and taking down, finding a sitter,etc.

[Beth]

I thought there was a way a seller could remove a bid, but perhaps that doesn't help if the auction closes first. Also, I thought you could contact the second highest bidder if the first doesn't respond in the required time (even if they are not obligated to buy, they may still be interested). The other thing you might consider is relisting (they refund the listing fee if it sells the second time, with some conditions attached) and seeing about blocking or deleting any bids from the phony buyer.

DO make a non-payment complaint....three is enough to remove someone from the board, and then no one has to worry about them. If there was an error on the bid, they should have gone through proper channels to deal with it and helped you deal with the top real bid.

I had one auction where I was making a maximum bid of $5.00, but for some reason, e-bay didn't recognize the decimal and it got entered as $500. Imagine my shock! I immediately looked to see what I could do to cancel the bid and sent an e-mail t the seller. The item wound up going for something near, but only slightly over the $5, so I paid the auction price and the seller adjusted the shipping cost (it was a very small item and the shipping charge was very high for the size and weight). We were both happy.

I have only bought a few things, but I have picked up a few hints from observations and discussions with sellers.

Buyers are more secure and bid more when the seller accepts credit cards through Paypal or similar. Checks are next, then cash. Money orders or the payment services based on money orders (Bidpay) are least desirable. Who wants to pay $5 for a MO for a $5 purchase?

I purchased more from two sellers who had flat shipping rates regardless of how many items you bought....makes lifes easier for both of you.

One of those sellers uses priority mail with delivery confirmations so he alsways knows buyers get the package, and that everything was in that one package.

Your hunches will most often be correct, but if something seemed good then seems it may sour, try to talk. I found that I could request a phone number for a seller, and when I did, I found that they also got a copy of the email and my ohone number. They then knew I was concerned. I never had to call....I got e-mails from both of them. One had been injured in a car wreck and the other had a family emergency. I got both shipments promptly after that and both sellers couldn't have been nicer.

I'll let you know if I think of anything else.

[Mamasue]

Jewel....how is shipment price determined? Do you have a scale?

[Jewel]

Originally posted by Mamasue
Jewel....how is shipment price determined? Do you have a scale?

Mamasue, I DO have a Stamps.com scale for my website business, but it only goes up to 10 lbs, and I often sell items weighing more. I try to ALWAYS put a shipping price in the auction listing, to make things much easier for someone wanting to pay quickly through PayPal. Sometimes I will do a search on the same item I am selling (if there is one listed on auction) and average my shipping costs with the ones listed. For books and such I ask for $2, most anything else between 2-9 lbs I'll ask for $3.95 to $5.50 for Priority Mail. A few times I've asked for shipping that ended up being a bit too low, but I look on the bright side and say "OK, so I had to kick in an extra buck for shipping, but I got $34 for that ugly vase that Aunt Mabel gave me for my birthday!!" All works out in the end...unless Aunt Mabel is the one bidding on that dang vase! ;)

[jmarie]

Hi! It's been awhile since I used this forum. I saw your question and just thought I'd throw my two-cents in! I have probably done as much selling as buying on eBay.
When you think about it, you can put your item in a yard sale and get practically nothing for it, you can run it in the classified ad's, and maybe get a buyer, or you can post it on eBay and have your item viewed by thousands of folks, worldwide.
I sold my whole Princess House Fantasia Collection and received more than I paid for it, largely due to the fact, that I got most of mine at half price, or hostess gifts. But, I had the collection for 6 or 7 years and had used it a lot. It was still in perfect condition, but I really enjoyed it. Then, when I wanted a new look, I got my money back. That's just one group I sold. I like eBay because the customer pays the shipping. You really can't lose.
Now, I listed an item once, and a guy reneigged on it. I checked his feedback and saw two strikes. I gave him his thrid and sent complaint in and they kicked him off the board! Another time, this guy tried to get me to reduce price, after winninb bid...complaining that he paid too much. I kept record of emails, sent them to complaint dept and they got in touch and suggested he pay...he did. (Then he had the audacity to ask me to give him a favorable rating...which I did not! I just didn't give him any rating. )
But, considering all the good that happened, as far as my sales and purchases....I think eBay is first rate. Even an auctioneer will charge you 10%.
If you have a digital camera, or access to one, it makes things so much easier. Before I got mine, I would just go to other auctions and steal their pictures and use them. Copy and paste!
Most folks on eBay are just super people...I have corresponded with some more than once. When I find someone very knowledgable about something I am interested in, I write and pick their brain, and they are usually really happy to share their knowledge. Because of this I have learned a lot about Jadite Glass, which I collect. And by the way, I can purchase my jadite on eBay far cheaper than I can in an antique store. I just have to be careful and not get too anxious. Wish you could see my collection, ALL from eBay!
Well, I have rambled! Hope this helps! Give it a try...I think you will be amazed! and be sure to let us know!