Ebay (selling) noob - help please

[Raify]

afternoon all,

I've had plenty of smooth, easy purchases from Ebay, but the time has come to sell off some of my unwanted stuff.

I have RTFM on the ebay selling advice page, just wondered what other experienced ebayers did.

1. Do you get the whole package ready for posting, with box / packaging + price before starting the listing?

2. Copy the descriptions from other auctions of identical items?

3. Always enter a reserve?

4. Is it necessary to have a PayPal account? :
a) in order to pay Ebay's fees
b) in order to receive payment

I really don't like PayPal, too annoying and American.

Many thanks in advance

[medicineman]

Its worth having an idea of what your going to charge for P&P before the auction or though I usually get packing stuff torwards the end of an auction. Try not to rip people off for P&P.

I always have a reserve.

Be prepared for people making you offers before the end of the auction, you can end it early but your not covered by ebays various policies then.

Desciptions, I have "lifted" them from other websites in the past. I also think a couple of pics are important esp on the listings page.

Paypal is a pain but alot of people do like paying by it and they tell you the money has been transfered, it offers both sellers and buyers some additional protection but you can pay ebay fees by credit card if you want.

Hope this helps.

Oh forgot to add, auctions finishing on Sunday pm always seem to do better.

>> Edited by medicineman on Friday 25th February 14:54

[rude-boy]

medicineman said:

Desciptions, I have "lifted" them from other websites in the past. I also think a couple of pics are important esp on the listings page.

Please be VERY careful here!!!

look at:-

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=157921&f=141&h=0

[Raify]

Thanks,

I was going to use my own pics naturally. Don't want to risk hot-hosting a pic that magically turns into grot!

Looks like I'll have to give in and get a PayPal. I was hoping to get by with personal cheque / bank transfer...

Can you choose when the auction ends then? (in order to make it end Sunday afternoon)

[miniman]

Bear in mind it will take a while to get your PayPal account set up to receive payments - you will most probably have to verify your details using their process of them making a small payment into your account and then you telling them what the amount was. OK if you have Internet banking, but not if you have to wait for a paper statement to come through.

[Raify]

Cheers, better get started on that now...

Jees, this ebay selling nonsense means I'm going to have to set foot in a Post Office

I thought those days were behind me, after I managed to sort out road tax over the phone.

[medicineman]

Soory meant sometimes lift a description from a manufactures site say for example a DVD player. I never lift pictures, I always take and host my own.

[zcacogp]

I sold my first thing on EBay earlier on this week ... and made a 60p loss! Find out how much the P&P will be before putting the item up on the site.

(I put down £1, thinking this would more than cover it. In practice, it cost me £1.75p to post, and only sold for 15p. Still, it was a useful lesson to learn before I flog something more expensive.)

You also need a paypal account for the Email address you have registered on Ebay. I have a PayPal account for a different Email address to that which I use for EBay, and the buyer paid to my Ebay Email address. This caused a problem, but wasn't insurmountable.


Oli.

[trooperiziz]

I used to sell a lot of games on ebay and always did the following.

Had jiffy bags ready
start at £1 no reserve
start on thursday night for a 10 day auction
charged £1.50 for p&p
posted as soon as paypal, or bank tranfer, or cheque arrived.

Never had a problem with that system.

[simpo two]

Raify said:

1. Do you get the whole package ready for posting, with box / packaging + price before starting the listing?

You might not sell it, so I wouldn't go that far - but giving postage costs is helpful.

Raify said:

2. Copy the descriptions from other auctions of identical items?

Text maybe, with modifications, but not pix. Best to take your own anyway.

Raify said:

3. Always enter a reserve?

If there's a minimum you'll sell it for, you can either do that or simply start the auction at that price. However, the latter will cost more and can deter buyers. '99p' always gets them going - assuming it's a popular item.

Raify said:

4. Is it necessary to have a PayPal account? : a) in order to pay Ebay's fees b) in order to receive payment

Neither, but if I were you I'd learn to live with it. When I've bought things from sellers who don't take PayPal (usually second-hand booksellers!) it's a real pain, either having to send a cheque - which is slow and takes a week to clear - or opening another account with NoChex, MoneyBookers etc. PayPal is fast, easy, and 95% of people use it. Depending on the type of account you may be charged 3.4% + 20p on each transaction, but you are entitled to add this to the final sale price if you make it clear in the advert. It's your call, but on small items it adds up.

[minghis]

miniman said:

Bear in mind it will take a while to get your PayPal account set up to receive payments - you will most probably have to verify your details using their process of them making a small payment into your account and then you telling them what the amount was. OK if you have Internet banking, but not if you have to wait for a paper statement to come through.

Yep - and this takes longer than you think. Had over a grand paid to my paypal account by a buyer on Monday and I still haven't seen the deposits in the current account. Rang them and they were very helpful but told me that until my account was verified (which in itself takes a good week or so) that a 7 day wait was normal.

Really frustrating to see a punter go away with something that he's paid in full for but I can't get at his money for what seems like an eternity...