colterphoto1 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 ok, I"ve got a lot of Klipsch parts odds and ends to sell, probably gone as far as I can go here. But have to get this stuff out of here and need the buckies, ya know? Let's assume I have like 40 different line items to sell. Any hints on how to write them up quickly and get them posted? What length of sale is best for stuff like this? I think I've got the photo angle down and can even put several views together in a collage photo so dont' have to pay extra for additional images. I've heard things like 'start sale on Sunday and run 7 days so you give potential buyers the whole weekend at the end of the sale period-' makes sense to me. Any more tips for a novice eBay seller? Thanks, Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigStewMan Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Good Evening Michael, I've never sold anything on ebay (never tried); but, from a person that loses a lot of auctions, i've grown to like it when an item has a Buy it Now price. That way I can decide if I'm willing to pay that price and not have to worry about someone sitting at their computer a minute before the closing time and outbidding me. i also don't know paypal so i don't know how much it benefits the seller; but, i've wanted to bid on numerous items and discovered the seller stating that he would only accept paypal. that turns me off and i forget about that item. just a few observations from a buyer's perspective. good luck selling your wares. i think i'll now go listen to Mike Nesmith sing "Salesman" although i'm sure you're not selling what is purported to be the items involved in that song. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Start your auctions low. It might cause some anxiety, but since eBay is such a widely-shopped marketplace things will sell for what they're worth. Only exception is if you have something you're not willing to ship due to size/weight/etc. Then its a matter of who's close by that wants it.Make sure you specify where you'll ship. If you only want to ship to United States addresses, make that clearly stated. Even then you'll still get the ding-ding who wants to know how much it would cost to ship something to Zimbabwe. I personally ship only to United States addresses. Schedule your auctions to end in the evening. You can specify the start time (and thus the end time) of an auction. 8:00pm PDT is what I usually start at. If you have mutiple items you're listing, stagger them out slightly so that you might get someone to buy more than one item for you. I've read that Tuesday night is the most shopped eBay night.Pay for the listing to be shown in Bold only if you have something very unique or if you expect it to sell for quite a bit of money. The fee for a listing showing up in bold is up to $2 now and that can eat into the amount you get pretty quickly if its a lower priced item.Encourage bidders to check out your other auctions but don't mention specifically what they are since eBay frowns on that.If you've been on eBay for a long time (even if only as a buyer) and/or you have 100% positive feedback, draw attention to that in your listing. I usually put something like "I have been on eBay since 1998 and highly value my 100% positive feedback. Please email me with any questions you might have!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 http://pages.ebay.com/sell/top10tips.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted August 21, 2009 Author Share Posted August 21, 2009 Thanks guys, now about the mechanics of laying out my page, photos and text? Should I build a PDF file template to fill in for the lower portion of the ad, stick with whatever eBay gives me for free or ?? I get the feeling this is gonna take a whole bunch of time if I'm not careful. M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 If you have several items for sale that are very different from each other it can take a long time to set up each listing. If they are the same or similar eBay lets you save your listing as a template and then you can list multiple items very quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Thanks guys, now about the mechanics of laying out my page, photos and text? Should I build a PDF file template to fill in for the lower portion of the ad, stick with whatever eBay gives me for free or ?? I get the feeling this is gonna take a whole bunch of time if I'm not careful. M Make a template of sorts in a simple Word document and just leave the description part to be filled in for each item. Keep it simple, don't oversell. Make sure to account for the fees for ebay and Paypal when you determine the lowest amount you will take for an item. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H. Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 If I may.........also factor in reasonable shipping fees, so You don't get bitten by having to pay extra to ship something........... All the best in your venture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 One thing that I've taken to doing is put a 'make an offer' on it. Example, take an item that would have a market value of say, $1,000. I might put a buy it now price of $1,200 realizing that I probably won't get that HOWEVER, soemone can make an offer and if someone comes along with maybe $850 I can choose to take it or not. If someone likes the item and doesn't want to risk losing it they just MIGHT hit the BIN. I sold a 300B amp this way. As it turns out the guy happened to be looking for this very type of amp and made made me a sufficient offer that was still below my BIN but otherwise acceptable to me so I took the offer and closed the deal. Someone might say I screwed myself out of a possibly higher price but... I was happy with this price AND frankly, took some peverse pleasure in denying a "sniper" their chance to try to take it on the cheap at the very end. (I'm not too much into the sniping deal and wish ebay would change their operation a bit to make that a moot point) Also, I think this might have lower initial listing fees (but for all I know, they might charge more if a transaction happens) I don't necessarily agree with the 'have it end at night' because most everyone is going to try to snipe it and if they use a sniping service it won't matter what time it ends. There's nothing wrong with that logic but just seems to me the sniping deal kind of makes that less an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Once you list an item Ebay will ask you if you have another similar item to sell. When you say yes, then you can adjust your copy/pictures for the next item without starting over from scratch. [] I start items that I suspect will be well recieved from a buck. If I need a minimum selling price I start the auction at that price. a BIN sometimes is a good way to make money quicker. Hidden reserves are a joke and make Ebay the most money. Make shipping options clear. I always ship next day after payment if anyway possible. Ending on Sun. or holiday always seemed best to me. You are at the mercy of the buyers, especially in the feedback dept. Treat them well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 If I may.........also factor in reasonable shipping fees, so You don't get bitten by having to pay extra to ship something........... All the best in your venture. I agree. I got bitten a few times on the shipping charges that the ebay calculator figured versus what the actual costs were. Sometimes it was because my box size and weight was larger than I thought. So now I enter the information into the auction a little larger and heavier than they actually are to compensate. Just a little. It seems to work out good for me. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 This tip might not be for everyone, but it sure works for me on ebay. My ebay account exec. talked me into trying all my auctions as "buy it now" only and free shipping. He said a significant number of ebay users only search for items listed that way, so, the only way to reach that group is that type listing. That really increased my ebay sales. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 List your items for $250,000.00 BIN and then proceed to preach about how everything you own goes up in price.....wait, thats been done before [][][] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winchester21 Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I would say you need to sharpen your photo skills or buy a better camera. Just kidding - Obviously Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Be sure to have a paragraph or two that states all your terms and conditions. Some people just don't grasp concepts or read with any comprehension. I have a number of MS Word HTML templates that I would be happy to supply you. I used to sell pretty regularly but not so much anymore since the rules and terms have changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted August 26, 2009 Author Share Posted August 26, 2009 Yes Charles, I'd like that. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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