Comments on: Selling Stuff On Ebay For The First Time

By: Am

Am — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:59:19 +0000

I agree that reserve auctions are to be used cautiously, as well. After all, sellers want to assume a buyer wants a steal of a deal, and if they see Reserve Not Yet Met and that Snoopy Pencil Sharpener from the 1970s has a current bid of $32.99 they may feel intimidated and move on. They might wonder, Gosh, what does that seller want for it? $100? $200? A better choice may be “Buy it Now or Best Offer”. That’s in my opinion and experience (9 years on eBay). I just sold a stereo amp from the 80s which a little research like you described gave me an idea of how much I could get ($250), but my unit was a little used, a little scratched and I needed the cash so I listed it for $100 or best offer. I wound up selling it for $100 but got many offers –and I got the offer at the very last second of the listings life on ebay (You can post Buy It Now ad infinitum (sp) for 3 days or as much as 30 days plus a month to month fee thereafter.) I figured if I had done a reserve auction I might have been disappointed for it not to have sold at all so the Buy it Now or Best offer is a great set up. You command your top price but Buyers have a way to let you know just what they’d be willing and able to shell out and you’re in control of accepting those terms or not.
Also, you’d be surprised these days coupons, club card certificates, etc all sell very well. Don’t throw out that Macy’s ad or your Baby’s R Us circular with a $50 off coupon (I made those up). Sell them on ebay and as long as they cover your ebay fees, paypal fees and postage they are great tools for recouping those costs on other sold items or just plain money makers for you , depending. Certainly you can earn more selling them on Ebay than just by recycling those $$ off offers in the recycle bin!

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:52:04 +0000

My experience with Ebay (I have been using Ebay for 11 years) is that there is no real reason to have an auction longer than 3 days unless you are selling something truly unique. It will sell in 3 days if it is going to sell. If you have no ratings at all, people will not buy from you. Buy some things and be a good buyer (pay promptly, primarily) and build your feedback up. Also, use reserve prices cautiously. I prefer to price accordingly and if I think that Ebayers won’t pay what I believe my item is worth, I will sell that particular item on Craigs List. Finally, if you can get your hands on gently used or new children’s clothes, they will sell every time!

By: Agantx

Agantx — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:45:48 +0000

My name is Mark. I’m from NYC too. I loved your post about making money. Especially the part about surveys. I didn’t know that it’s possible to make $150 in 3 months with them. Obviously you done your research and through trial and error discovered which survey websites work. You already listed some of them that you use. I was thinking why don’t you tell us all the survey websites that you use? In this way you will save us time since you know which ones are real and which ones are fake. Thanks a lot!

Mark

By: Brian Woodland

Brian Woodland — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:20:19 +0000

I enjoy your blog… Interesting story and great ideas for becoming debt free. Please keep up the good work.

I’ve used eBay off and on for both selling and buying, so I got a marketing email from them the other day about inserting listings for free. I went ahead and listed a couple of items that I’d been trying to sell locally (craigslist) without success. I paid a little for some extras (extra photos, bold listing, etc.), but for two items I paid around $2.

I can’t link to their website from work (blocked), but I think it’s a general promotion going on right now to submit up to 5 items each week for free (before extras).

Regards, Brian

By: Bucksome

Bucksome — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:02:49 +0000

Good luck with the relisting. I listed five items for the first time last month and sold two (a Wii game and a cookbook). I’ve since sold several DVDs and books on half.com.

I haven’t tried clothing items and can see how that might be a little harder to sell than the items I did with the free listing option.

FYI, your ebay score is a combination of feedback from buyers as well as sellers.