Selling on ebay?

[JerryM]

Hope this topic is OK.

I have various items and books I would like to sell on ebay. I have never done so.
There is a guy on TV that advertises he will send you a CD that tells you how, and is free except for about 7 bucks postage.

I suspect some here sell on ebay, and wonder if the CD is a scam or if there is a good place to learn how to sell.

Any help will be appreciated, and if this is not a subject allowed please delete.

Thanks,
Jerry

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[pcon]

I say scam...it's not hard to list something on ebay. The hardest part is determining what it's worth if you want to set a reserve price.

[jca1]

Ebay itself has instructions on how to sell stuff, look there first for free.

[JerryM]

Thanks, guys. I'll see what I can find out.

Regards,
Jerry

[Mardet65]

Make sure you touch base with whoever does your taxes or gives you tax advice. There's a lot more involved than just listing the items and collecting the money. Better to preempt a potential problem than to run into it blindly.

[jfl]

It is really easy; the process is well explained on ebay.
Familiarize yourself with the abbreviations, like NWT (new, with tags), etc
What makes a difference is:
1. Good pictures
2. "Romancing the stone"; go beyond a purely technical description of the item, explain the way to use it, to wear it, what extra features you can add, be personal.
3. The price; reserve or no reserve

Look at similar items offered for sale, which one appeal more to you ?
Then find out why.

Don't copy word for word somebody else description, unless it is the manufacturer web-site.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

[jfl]

Another thing I forgot:

Choose carefully the end time of your auction; lots of buyers, including myself, like to "snipe" (placing a bid in the 2 or 3 last seconds) to avoid being outbid.
Therefore the end time should be preferably late afternoon on the week-end; remember there is a 3 hours difference between the East and the West.

[Bunny]

Scam. DIY and make sure you check with your accountant. Lurk on eBay a little and see who's doing power-selling and how they're listing THEIR items to attract business, then model your listings accordingly. That's all there is to it.

Personally, I require paypal ONLY and payment within 24 hours of auction end. And I send everything out with a tracking number. Had a scammer swear he didn't get a $1000 piece of artwork and paypal reversed the payment right out of my account! I called paypal and instantly faxed over the delivery confirmation thingie that you can print out from the usps website, and got my money back, and then reported him to eBay.

[JerryM]

Thanks again, All. I have been studing the ebay site and instructions.

How do you get the money paid with PayPal?

Regards,
Jerry

[PNUT]

Yep, you don't need a CD or books to figure out how to sell something on EBAY, especially if it's just a couple of items or something once in a while. Even for having your own EBAY Store you don't need instructions although it might not hurt. I used to have an EBAY store and bought the CD and books, if I can find them I'll mail them to you for free.

[SIGP250]

Hope this topic is OK.

I have various items and books I would like to sell on ebay. I have never done so.
There is a guy on TV that advertises he will send you a CD that tells you how, and is free except for about 7 bucks postage.

I suspect some here sell on ebay, and wonder if the CD is a scam or if there is a good place to learn how to sell.

Any help will be appreciated, and if this is not a subject allowed please delete.

Thanks,
Jerry

His Cd's are not scams but they are very introductory, like chapter one of a ten chapter book. I consider this a somwhat deceptive come on to buy addditional product from him.

I would advise Ebay for Dummies.

There is not much you can sell on Ebay related to firearms. Pay-pal also owned by EBAY will have nothing to do with firearms.

You might be able to sell books but that would be about it on EBAY.

[Riana]

His Cd's are not scams but trey are very introductory, like chapter one of a ten chapter book.

I would advise Ebay for Dummies.

There is not much you can sell on Ebay related to firearms. Pay-pal also owned by EBAY will have nothing to do with firearms.

You might be able to sell books but that would be about it on EBAY.

If you're cautious about how you list/photograph things, you actually can sell firearm-related things. I bought my first holster on eBay, and recently bought two more there. You just can't show a real firearm in your pictures, or list a firearm. Accessories like holsters, etc., seem OK.

I used to sell on eBay, but have since given up on them. They changed several policies (ie. Sellers can only leave positive feedback, Paypal payment required, etc) that left a bad taste in my mouth, so I quit selling. I am selling a few audio books on Half.com, though (yes, I know, an eBay company, but they handle things differently).

[Freakdaddy]

I've sold quite a bit of stuff on ebay over the years but not enough to merit any attention from the IRS. I wouldn't mess with the CD's as it really won't help any more than the step-by-step tutorial ebay has while you're listing your item. I'll probably repeat some already offered advice but here goes.

Quality pics are a must and use proper lighting to show off your item and any flaws it may have. If it is just a "standard" item, I usually take only one picture of it but if it is something more unique or something I feel will bring good money, I'll include multiple pictures to enhance the appeal. Remember, no "dark" or blurry pics.

Research what you're selling and see if any similar items are listed on ebay and more importantly, what categories they are listed in. Books are a prime example. You might get more money if it is listed in the "Collectibles" category as opposed to the "Children's books" category.

End your auctions in the evenings if possible, preferably after 6pm PST which would also make it 9pm EST. This will get the most exposure and hopefully the greater number of bidders as they will be home from work. I usually try to end mine on Sunday evenings but that's mainly because my work schedule has changed and I can't list things in the evenings like I used to. I've also have had good luck with Saturday and Sunday mornings. The last thing I want to do is to have my auction end on a Wednesday afternoon at 2pm or when people are in their cars sitting in rush hour. I used to run my auctions for 5 days but now have to do them for 7 days. I prefer 5 though.

Be fair on the shipping charges. See what similar items are being charged for shipping, high and low, and try to pick the middle ground. Keep in mind your expense (boxes, packing material, gas) so you don't cheat yourself but you also have to keep that happy medium so potential buyers don't think you overinflating the charges to just put more money in your pocket. Unless it's a high dollar item, I normally just ship it through USPS the cheapest way possible without any extra insurance. I usually don't do delivery confirmation unless it goes for a lot of money or I just get a bad feeling from the buyer. I usually research the buyers feedback if possible to determine this as well. Also make sure to package your item very well to avoid any damage during the shipping.

Be very accurate on your description and note any flaws. With books, it's always a good idea to take a picture of the copyright page as first editions can bring more. Take pictures of any manufacturer's stamps or "Made In" marks too. I use the first paragraph to give an accurate description and this is what I use for the second paragraph:

Payment is expected to be received by me within 10 days of auctions end. They winning bidder should use Paypal as that is the only form of payment ebay allows on auctions such as this. Your item will promptly ship as soon as payment arrives. I will combine shipping on multiple auction wins so be sure to check out my other listings. I will only ship to the lower 48 states. Thanks for looking and GOOD LUCK!!

If you honestly miss something and the buyer confronts you on it, do what you can to make it right. I've had a couple of instances where I screwed up and offered a full refund (minus the cost of shipping back to me) but for whatever reason the buyer decided to go ahead and keep it. Things like this will help maintain postive feedback as any negative feedback is the kiss of death for sellers. The bad thing is it may be the buyer trying to pull a fast one on you...you just don't know. Except for a couple of isolated instances, I've always have had good luck but no money gets refunded until I have that item back in my hands.

I do all my auctions as a "No Reserve" type auction as my personal experience as shown these work best but it is a gamble if you have a high dollar item. My feelings are I want to create that competition between buyers as no one likes to lose and the more people you can get involved, the better your sale will go. It also helps to show more bids on the listing page as you might get the curiosity up of people scrolling through as they will click on it to see why it's having so much bidding activity.

As far as getting set up with Paypal, it's a pretty painless procedure and is really easy to get paid and paid quickly. Although I'd rather not do business with them, I don't have much choice if I'm going to sell off of ebay. ebay does have the reputation and you do make quite a bit of money as the exposure you get so I guess you have to play by their rules.

Hope this helps some.

[JerryM]

I really appreciate the responses, and they are very helpful.

Most of what I want to sell is books. I have a fair number of hunting books, and had thought that my son would find them interesting. However, he is not a "reader" as I am, and has little interest. I figured I might as well sell them on ebay, and save the family some trouble someday.

Many thanks. Have a great 4th of July, ALL.

Best,
Jerry