Lets hear your Ebay selling tips

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Lets hear your Ebay selling tips

Posted: 6/16/2003 3:05:39 PM EDT

There are lots of little ways to amke selling easier, and get more $$$... lets hear yours.

Here are mine:

Always go ahead and specify the shipping charge, figuring its going as far as it can in the lower 48. This lets you close the deal quicker since you don't have to exchange emails about shipping costs, avoids buyers complaining about costs since its clearly posted in the auction, and will sometimes gove you a dollar or so more $$.

Good pics and descriptions are a must.

On high dollar items I always click seller will accept escrow buyer pays fees, and then point out in my description that since it is a high $$ item I will accept escrow. I have yet to have someone actually want to use escrow, but numerous buyers have mentioned they felt better about bidding since I was confident enough in my merchandise to accept escrow.

I always make a point to tell people to be sure to check my outher auctions in my description, not sure how much it helps but it can't hurt.

And I love paypals auction services, makes the whole deal easier.

Lets hear yours!

Posted: 6/16/2003 3:08:16 PM EDT

[#1]

Trust no one!!!!

Posted: 6/16/2003 3:21:58 PM EDT

[#2]

I offer free shipping on xyz product.My auctions always do well.I also accept basically any form of payment outside of hookers and livestock.

I keep my description to a minimum.I am not writing a novel and the ones who bid on my auction's know what they're buying.I can write up a long winded description, but I find it usually isn't that helpful.YMMV.

I go to great lengths to make sure the product ships that same day or next.I hate having to wait to have something ship, so I treat them as I would like to be treated.

I had a guy who was bidding on a Gibson J35 I had last year.He even went as far to call me and ask for the guitar to be played.He was in Md. and I in Ka.Actually, it was a couple guys who called who asked to hear it. Yeah, it sounded weird(request), but I believe this led the auction to close at nearly 10,000.

The winner overnighted a MO, plus paid for fed-Ex to pick it up.

The customer is always right.

Posted: 6/16/2003 3:26:38 PM EDT

[#3]

tagging this for later

i could use the advice

Posted: 6/16/2003 3:26:53 PM EDT

[#4]

This thread is very coincidental, since I'm going to do my first e-bay sale soon. I just set up the sellers account a few minutes ago.

I get the feeling that it's helpful to make sure that your title includes as many of the terms that people would search for as possible, such as the brand and uses for the item.

Posted: 6/16/2003 3:37:19 PM EDT

[#5]

model #30 ar15/m16 magazine

[:D]

Posted: 6/16/2003 3:37:51 PM EDT

[#6]

Putting your item in multiple categories can give it more exposure.
Having a thumb-nail pic can and does increase views. By this I mean, if a buyer does a search for an item and gets dozens of hits, when he scrolls down the page, seeing a thumb-nail pic before clicking on the actual item helps.

Posted: 6/16/2003 3:38:47 PM EDT

[#7]

Yeah, get as many keywords for searches as you can in for the title and description.

Have any of you guys noticed that when you start an auction off well below market value that the end result seems to be a higher selling price? I have often noticed that items I start for $1 sell at or above market, while items I start near market often get no bids. The only thing I can attribute it to is that more bidders early on means more people following teh auction or getting caught up in "bid fever". Of course this can come back and bite your ass sometimes if something sells too low. I started an antenna mount available from a well known dealer out for $5 out at 41 hoping to get $5 and it is at $15 now.

Posted: 6/16/2003 6:04:23 PM EDT

[#8]

End your auction on a Sunday evening.

More people are home lazying about and can keep an eye an eye on items they have tagged to watch.

Posted: 6/17/2003 5:41:07 AM EDT

[#9]

I do try to make most of mine end on Fri, Sat or Sun afternoon or evening.

Posted: 6/17/2003 5:54:48 AM EDT

[#10]

Before I sell something I do a search for recently completed auctions. That gives me an Idea how much I can get for the item. I then find the one that closed for the highest amount and do what they did.

Posted: 6/17/2003 6:21:46 AM EDT

[#11]

If you have an item that will sell for "a lot" of money, start the auction off at $3.00.. AND NO RESERVE.

You WILL get what it is worth. Heres the trick...You must be around for the end of the auction if it is an item that nobody has any interest in, so you can end it early if so.

The more people who think they will get something for cheap (no reserve) will bid on it. Of those people, you will get a few nuts who are overly-competitive (read: stupid) and CANNOT STAND TO BE OUTBID and a bidding war will ensue.

HINT...The price of something wanted by more than 2 people will skyrocket in the last 15 minutes of an auction, so do NOT remove the auction until the last second if you are sure it is not going to get many bids. (read: stupid item).

Posted: 6/17/2003 11:26:22 AM EDT

[#12]

I have a question for Devil. I have yet to sell on Ebay but am thinking about it. So are you telling me you can actually stop the sale and remove the item at the alst minute so nobody gets it? That would defeat the whole point of Ebay or "reserve"price. Or do you mean you are bidding on your own item? Please explain...

Posted: 6/17/2003 12:37:26 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
I have a question for Devil. I have yet to sell on Ebay but am thinking about it. So are you telling me you can actually stop the sale and remove the item at the alst minute so nobody gets it? That would defeat the whole point of Ebay or "reserve"price. Or do you mean you are bidding on your own item? Please explain...

View Quote

A seller can cancel thier own auction at any time. You are not supposed to do it just becasue you don't like the selling price, but there is nothing to stop you. I cancelled one once when the item was damaged while I was auctioning it (dropped and dented), and another time when I actually sold the item offline (nobody had bid on it yet or I would have let the auction run its course).

Posted: 6/19/2003 12:20:09 PM EDT

[#14]

I just may have found another trick. I have several military vehicle radios from the 1950's listed, and only one of the shock mounts they would be mounted in, so the people bidding on teh several radios are all bidding against each other to get the one mount..... it is already twice as high as I expected!

Posted: 6/19/2003 12:25:25 PM EDT

[#15]

Everytime I sell a bb gun, I put "FULL AUTO AR15/M16/MINI14/AUG CHEAP CHEAP MUST SELL" in the title

Posted: 6/19/2003 12:30:03 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Before I sell something I do a search for recently completed auctions. That gives me an Idea how much I can get for the item. I then find the one that closed for the highest amount and do what they did.

View Quote

One even better than that is to just send a message to the #2 bidder and offer to sell your item to him for his bid and cut Ebay out of the deal all together!!!

I have been very lucky to get deals on reloading equipment and that stuff sells well on Ebay. I start almost all my auctions at $0.01 with no reserve. For the items I typically sell there it has been great.

Posted: 6/20/2003 7:14:47 PM EDT

[#17]

Going by what my wife spends my hard earned money on.

And going by what her friends spend their husbands hard earned money on.

To sell it in the southwest USA it must have one or both of these in the discriptions.

"Vintage"

"Old Mexican"

i.e. "Vintage AR15 mags for sell. Built by old Mexican"

Good as sold!

Thank goodness i am not Vintage or of Mexican heritage.

She would try and sell me.[shock]

Posted: 6/20/2003 10:00:05 PM EDT

[#18]

dont forget to put RARE!! in your title

Posted: 6/21/2003 8:16:27 AM EDT

[#19]

Take GOOD photos and lots of them.

I've passed over items I thought might be great deals, because the piss poor photos just might be covering a multitude of sins.

As a buyer, I will carefully read the description and weigh the defects. Don't sugar coat defects. That is a real turnoff.

Know what you are selling. I just bought a distiller really cheap becuase the seller thought you needed a chiller for the item. What was he thinking? IT is cooled by incoming feedwater.

DON'T PUT "L@@K" IN THE TITLE. Man, I hate that.

Posted: 6/21/2003 8:26:47 AM EDT

[#20]

Communicate immediately with bidders during and after the auction. Like [b]GarandShooter[/b], I also include the fixed S&H for the lower 48. I have also had good success with starting the item at $1.00 with no reserve. I actually tested this with two very similar items of equal value. I was looking to get about $25 for the items. The first one was listed with a starting price of $15 and eventually sold for $27. The second one, a week later, was listed with a starting price of $1 and sold for $42. Furthermore, the second one had much more activity near the close of the auction. It was very interesting.

Regarding pictures, I usually post 3 or 4 low-res pictures, but encourage interested bidders to email me if they want more pictures or higher resolution images.

Posted: 6/21/2003 8:54:22 AM EDT

[#21]

1. Ditto the other posts regarding ending auctions on a weekend, preferably late in the evening.

2. Don't overcharge on shipping...you can make more money by raising your minimum bid price and reducing your shipping fee.

3. Build an excellent feedback profile by responding FAST to winning bidders and by shipping promptly. Hell, I'll even ship items before I receive payment if someone has excellent feedback or I have dealt with them in the past successfully.

Posted: 6/21/2003 9:29:02 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Trust no one!!!!

View Quote

SO TRUE...I no longer buy on EBay after my wife was ripped off bidding on some Fiestaware plates.

And I have no interest in selling any of my belongings.

Posted: 6/21/2003 9:36:41 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
model #30 ar15/m16 magazine

[:D]

View Quote

Ya sure thats how my f*ckin e-bay account got suspended. I'm mad as hell and have lost a lot of $$ because of the suspension. E-bay didn't want to hear a word other wise to reinstate my account. Gunbroker has been getting all 0of my business the past few weeks.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Lets hear your Ebay selling tips

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