Selling on ebay

[Woodland Woman]

Does anyone have experience they can share about selling on ebay?

What is the best way to get started?

Are those kits you see advertised any good?

 

[punkin]

I've sold and bought quite a few things on ebay. The site has their own tutorial for beginners. Registration is free.

I have personally never had any bad experiences on ebay. I think I'm up to around 350+ positive feedbacks.

Sometimes, buyers are a little reluctant to purchase from "newbies." But, you have to start somewhere.

I don't do it as a money making thing, sometimes just a way to get rid of unused items. I've always gotten more money than if I had a yard sale.

 

[inchworm]

I started selling without a packet from TV or without going through the tutorials. It is kind of idiot proof - just click on the thing you want to do. But, I bought from ebay a lot, so I may have been more familiar with it than I gave myself credit for.

Inchy

 

[inchworm]

By the way -- I think the shipping issue is the most confusing. Start with something small that is easy to pack and ship.

 

[inchworm]

Oh -also -- check to see if that type of item sells before boterhing to list it. If there are already 200 listed with no bids, then don;t list it.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

For the best 'tutorial' spend a week or so reading the ANSWER CENTER.

http://pages.ebay.com/community/answercenter/index.html

You will find more information about what kind of things to plan for. The books aren't really necessary. There is no 'magic' bullet. It is a lot of work for a little money. Some things sell better than others, some are so overstocked they don't sell at all.

Ebay has made some critical changes in the last couple of years that impacts small sellers, in particular.

Best advice, start small, start with something you have laying around you don't care what you get for it, so you can go through all the steps without risk.

 

[sylvie]

Yep, the shipping still confuses me.

You never know how the buyers will act; I gathered a couple handfuls of little pine cones and figured that I'd get a dollar. There was a bidding war for them and I got $25! Go figure. I think it was how I worded my listing contrasted to the 15 others offering the same thing.
Describe it as best as you can, including known defects, take good pics with a digital camera and look at how others worded for the same product. I think reading others listings was the most instructive for me, especially when they had more legal inclusions.

 

[Woodland Woman]

Thanks for all your advice. I may try it especially selling things the way punkin does , selling things around the house I don't need. And something small and not delicate so shipping will be easier.

 

[DollDoctor]

I have been selling on eBay for 12 years as part of my regular income. eBay is constantly evolving and changing, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. This past year they instituted some changes that were very annoying to those of us who are long time users, including forbidding buyers from paying by check or money order. I don't really see how it is any of their business how my buyers pay me.
They have also made it difficult for new sellers to get started. They seem to want to cater to the "big business" sellers who are listing 1,000 of the same item at a time, and the "little guy" is being inconvenienced.
My hope for 2009 is that some other auction service will step up and start to fill the void. It will be difficult because eBay is so entrenched, but they have P***d off enough sellers that the opening exists for a competitor.
I don't mean to discourage you from trying eBay - it is still the only game in town and, despite the economic downturn, still a valid way to earn extra money, or even make a living. But do follow the advice already given to learn as much as you can and make your listings stand out from the pack with excellent photos and thorough descriptions. You don't need to purchase any kind of extra materials - all the info you need is right on the site. Do make sure you have the right size box to ship the item in before you list it! Good luck to you and feel free to email me with any specific questions.

 

[Beekissed]

I've never had any luck buying something on ebay....

I would find an item that had been there for awhile and that noone had bid on, bid on it and before I had even completed the bid, "someone" had bid higher than me....over and over.

It made me wonder if these sellers had some program that automatically topped any bid by one or two cents until the price got up to where they wanted it. It has happened to me each time!

I even did an experiment and found an obscure item that had been listed for quite some time and hadn't had any bids....I placed a bid...sure nuff, before I could even reset back to the page another bid popped up over mine! Needless to say, I don't do ebay anymore!