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eBay sellin'


fini

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Since my back is of questionable durability, I've decided to give selling stuff on eBay a go, not just to clear stuff out, but to try and make a significant dent in our expenses. I sold quite a few things a couple of years ago ( that was primarily a money-making endeavor as well), but I'm going to be more serious this time! I've got one thing on there now, just to get my feet wet. I noticed the fees are substantially higher now! I think I paid around 3-5% when stuff sold, but now it's 3-4 times that! Eh, cheaper than opening a store, I guess.

Anyone else doing this on a regular basis? I know a lot of us use eBay to move unwanted equipment.

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Thought about Audiogon for the good/expensive stuff and/or Craigslist for miscellaneous stuff? Two percent fee with Audiogon. Zilch with craigslist. You can crosspost here to increase interest.

You don't have to box thing up with craigslist or even Audiogon, if you are willing to live with local-area buyers or buyers that can arrange their own shipping.

Chris

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I sold some stuff and bought some stuff on audigon. the audiogon crowd is a little snooty. finger prints on face plates or micro swirl marks from cleaning can get you bad feed back. read the sites gear rating code, and make sure you rate your gear at the correct number.

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Hi JW,

It sold yesterday (a leather messenger bag). But I have another one taking its place! [;)] Otherwise, there will be a wide variety of stuff I'll be selling. One pretty cool thing is a pair of AR-LST speakers.

Well, wouldn't you know, the first thing I list in a long time gets sold to a fellow in China. Of course, he's asked me to put a much lower value on the customs forms in order to lower his "taxes." I know I've seen ebay listings where sellers state flat-out that they won't do this. Other than cheating China out of some tax dollars, is there a down-side to this? I could imagine in an insurance claim situation (if the package is lost or stolen) the customs form value could take precedence over the stated value on the insurance form. Thinking about it, I probably couldn't make the value different on each form. What experiences with this do you guys have?

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I sold some stuff and bought some stuff on audigon. the audiogon crowd is a little snooty. finger prints on face plates or micro swirl marks from cleaning can get you bad feed back. read the sites gear rating code, and make sure you rate your gear at the correct number.

You can get much better prices on audiogon.

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Since my back is of questionable durability, I've decided to give selling stuff on eBay a go, not just to clear stuff out, but to try and make a significant dent in our expenses. I sold quite a few things a couple of years ago ( that was primarily a money-making endeavor as well), but I'm going to be more serious this time! I've got one thing on there now, just to get my feet wet. I noticed the fees are substantially higher now! I think I paid around 3-5% when stuff sold, but now it's 3-4 times that! Eh, cheaper than opening a store, I guess.

Anyone else doing this on a regular basis? I know a lot of us use eBay to move unwanted equipment.

I've sold some stuff on ebay. The wife coaches me into it about once a year, to clear out clutter of un-wanted gear. Been doing that for about 3 years now, not including the big Cornwall Sale I had about a year ago, before moving back to Texas.

Ouch!! to 8% fee collection. Does this include Paypal fee's or is it a straight up ebay fee? Wow, seems crazy high, considering the volume of merchandise moving through that site. Wow!!

FYI, there is a new Cyber Auction player in town, it's called ebid, http://www.ebid.net/ , I've never tried them, but I suspect their fee's are more reasonable. They've grown considerably in a relatively short time.

Good luck selling your gear. FWIW, I belive selling prices are generally better between Oct. to Dec. Don't sell in April, prices are generally are down due to Uncle SAM's pension plan.

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Other than cheating China out of some tax dollars, is there a down-side to this? I could imagine in an insurance claim situation (if the package is lost or stolen) the customs form value could take precedence over the stated value on the insurance form. Thinking about it, I probably couldn't make the value different on each form. What experiences with this do you guys have?

I sold things to Germany, England, Russia, China, Japan and Indonesia. I was skeptical at first, but it brought in more bids, and some of the foreign bidders were actually begging to be allowed to bid. The 1 country that I've read re-occurring nightmare storys about is Italy, but with a name like Fini, you should be okay. Hehehehehe [;)]

On falsifying forms, I did the favor initially and reduced the declared value as requested,... but after a few times, I decided to stop, and I have. My Russian or Japan Buyer (can't remeber which) told me that he would be taxed something like 60% the declared cost.

The one and only scare was the Indonesia transaction. That one I won't forget because it took shipping an unreasonable length of time. Buyer initiated the Paypal Refund Process, and I had to submitt proof of shipping. I emailed PDF copies of all the shipping reciepts and forms. Between the time required to show proof of shipping and Paypal asking the Buyer to be more patient, the package finally arrive (took over 8 wks from the time it left my hands), and the Buyer thanked me profusely and was overly appologetic.

So, based on my experience, I don't think it was as big a deal I initially thought it would be. And increased number of bids makes it worth doing or at least trying. Falsifying information on the declaration form is a personal decision. Like I said, I didn't mind doing it at first, but decided I would stop after a couple times. Be advised that not all countrys are the same with regards to the forms your're required to fillout, but their mostly all the same. Just make sure you save all your shipping paperwork copies, and make sure you press-down hard enough on the forms containing carbon-copies. Yes, those kinds of forms are still out there, so make sure you can clearly read the SHIP TO address, date, item, etc.etc.

I feel that if I had not saved my ship-to paperwork, Paypal would have screwed me. I base this opinion on the information Paypal requested I submit. Cover your ***-ets, always.

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