selling on Ebay advice needed

[Robbi]

evening all,

i'm looking to start getting rid of my worldly goods on Ebay but never done it before.

is it hard to set up, does it cost much ( commission etc ) ?

any pitfalls i should be aware of ?

if i set up a PP account with a debit card, i presume that the payments go straight into my bank account ?

all and any advice welcome guys

Cheers

Robbi

 

[Mad Canoe]

What you selling?

 

[mrcairney]

Yeah, give us first dibs!

 

[Mesquite]

It's very easy to set up and sell on Ebay. Some buyers tend to shy clear of new sellers without any feedback but it didn't stop my wife

You'll be told how much a listing costs before you actually list an item. Quite often if you list it for 99p starting bid it's free, again depending on the item. As for commission it depends on how much the item sells for. There's plenty of links that tell you what their commission rates are.

As for Paypal, they're quick to take money from your account to pay for goods but they don't pay money into your account until you actually do the transfer and it takes 3 or 4 days to show in your account. The other thing is I think they don't let you transfer money out until it's over £50

 

[Shewie]

Not sure if this will work ...

evening all,

i'm looking to start getting rid of my worldly goods on Ebay but never done it before.

is it hard to set up, does it cost much ( commission etc ) ?
You pay a fixed price depending on the value of the item you're selling, I think the guidelines are on there somewhere.You can set a low start price but then have a reserve price too, this costs extra though.

any pitfalls i should be aware of ?
Just the odd stupid request to send stuff to Nigeria or you might get asked to close the sale down before the time is up, avoid these

if i set up a PP account with a debit card, i presume that the payments go straight into my bank account ?
No it'll go straight into your Paypal account, you need to log in to Paypal and then transfer the money to your bank manually

all and any advice welcome guys
It's a pretty safe place to sell stuff really, the listing fees can be a bit of a killer sometimes if you're selling something worth a few bob. They do free listing weekends quite often so if you're not in a rush you can save a few quid.Use an auction listing rather than "Buy it Now", keep the starting price low enough to get some interest but not too low that you'll lose out if you only get one bid.
Only post the goods when you've received payment.
Watch out for suspect folk with no feedback history.

Cheers

Robbi

 

[Robbi]

thanks for that Mesquite, it's high value items i'm hoping to sell, motor cycle and lots of gear etc

Shewie, thats spot on mate, many thanks

 

[Mesquite]

thanks for that Mesquite, it's high value items i'm hoping to sell, motor cycle and lots of gear etc

I think that motor vehicles have a special listing and commission price but, as I said, you will be told exactly how much a listing costs prior to you actually clicking the final button to make your listing go live.

 

[Suffolksteve]

I think they are having a zero fees insertion weekend this weekend coming. It's fairly simple, just be honest about what you are listing, it's condition. Charge a fair postage price and invite people to view your more expensive items. For these it is probably best to do in cash so you can avoid the 5% paypal fees.

Ultimately for your general stuff you will get a better price than a boot sale.

 

[Robbi]

thanks for that SS, i'm going to try and set things up on saturday

 

[Jock]

I'd try selling some of the lower value items first. This will let you get some feedback from buyers before you move on to the more expensive sales. (Some people may be put off biding on an expensive item from as seller with no feedback as they fear being scammed)

Items finishing on a Sunday night attract higher prices than those closing at daytime during the week

always obtain a postal receipt in case your courier manages to disappear your goods on route to the buyer

Parcel up your goods ready to go as soon as you put the listing on , this will keep you punctual with your shipping

Don't bother putting items on for excessive periods a 3 day auction will generate as much interest

Mark on your advert that you wont stop early for a buy it now but that you may terminate the auction if you feel the item has reached its value. This encourages earlier bids= higher final price & also avoids having to reply to people who want you to give them a "buy it now price" (i.e. I think this item will go for a lot of money, I'm hoping you'll flog me it cheap because you're unaware of its potential)

Wrap your gear with plenty of bubble wrap (not the car obviously ) & address well with a permanent marker

 

[Samon]

Most advice has been said already but remember to describe the item as acurately as possible and reply to messages from your buyers quickly!

Also..let us have a look first

 

[Robbi]

nice one jock, good stuff there, i like the saturday night bit

 

[Barn Owl]

Don't take any crap from a buyer.

I.E. them saying a thing wasn't as stated, had that for a couple of perfect items.

I told them that if they had a prob', then take it it up with ebay and pp.

Furthermore any further slanderous accusations should be directed to my solicitors.

Never heard from them again, nor did I receive any neg' feedback.

 

[eel28]

Probably obvious, but not mentioned as yet, make sure you have some 'decent' recently taken photos which are actually of the item(s) you are are selling. There are so many 'lazy' sellers out there, that will blatently use a photo from the net, rather than take their own - or if they do use their own, some can be out of focus/blurred, taken last year while on holiday (probably before the storm trashed the the tent they are selling) or just a poor shot not showing enough detail.

Not too sure how it works with motorcycles, as these and property, are treated slightly differently to 'general' items. But as you are expecting a high sales price, the more photos you post the more interest you will get. Might cost a few more pennies per photo, but would be worth it in the long run.

 

[ged]

This is my personal experience of eBay:

In 2009 I opened an eBay account to buy a 7.5 tonne truck. I bid successfully on one that was near Bristol, 140 miles away from me. Private seller, self-employed haulage contractor but lost his contract with a big customer so he was selling his truck. I drove down there on my motorcycle to get the truck and the owner couldn't start it although he had said that it was in good running order. After messing about for almost an hour he borrowed a big truck-starter thing from a nearby truck dealer. When he connected it up, the truck caught fire. At that point I said the deal was off and drove another 140 miles on the bike. A nice day out for me on the bike, as it happened, but a waste of everyone's time and a lot of energy.

eBay didn't seem interested that the sale had been called off. They were quite awkward about it but eventually saw reason. Shortly after that they changed their terms of business, and had the new terms been in force at the time of my disastrous foray into Internet auctions it would have meant that they would have taken the money from me (a few thousand pounds) even though the deal was not done, and I'd probably have been trying to get it back from them for weeks. I closed the account, and I won't be using eBay again.

I wouldn't say to anyone 'Don't use eBay', but be aware that there are other parties involved than just the buyer and the seller. This can add to the sometimes already difficult circumstances of remote selling to an unknown buyer.