[thechat] Too Much Stuff

Sabrina Dent, Apperception sabrina.dent at appercept.co.uk
Wed Sep 24 11:00:41 CDT 2003



> -----Original Message-----
>  On Behalf Of Luther, Ron
> Q1 - There's gotta be an experienced eBay seller on here 
> somewhere. Any 
> tips? Pointers? eBay for "dummys with 'too much stuff'"? Something?

A few times a year, I hit ebay as a seller and sell off a ton of stuff.
I just set aside 4 hours for taking photos and doing listings and crank
through them. Photos are really important.

I normally make up an HTML template and do auctions with no reserve.
People do not like reserve auctions. I do 10 days for unusual items, 7
days for run of the mill items. Search for items like yours that are
selling to determine the starting price.

For clothes and toys, you can do lots -- sell three items together, or a
box of clothes all in the same size and condition. Lots work best for
kid stuff.

Books almost always sell, though it's a pain in the arse to list them. I
steal images from Amazon and state the condition. I usually just start
at $1 for every book, and state the price printed on the book so people
feel they're getting a bargain.

Remember that making money isn't always the point -- getting rid of
stuff is often more important. I mean, I'd pay someone to make more room
in my house, so if I don't make a lot of money, I'm fine with that. Do,
however, get your postage right or you can lose money, which is bad. (In
the UK, I flat-rate the postage; in the US, I provide my ZIP code, the
weight of the item, and a link to the USPS rate calculator, since
shipping costs depend on destination zone. Again, an HTML template is
your friend here as you only need to change the shipping weight for each
item.)

> Q2 - One of my things that (*sob*) 'has to go' is incredibly 
> large, heavy, 
> and expen$ive.  How the heck do you sell something like that 
> (I'm thinking 
> eBay may not be the right 'channel' here folks) 

What is it? Ebay can be a good outlet for unusual or snazzy stuff --
heck, people sell cars for thousands and thousands of $. One option is
to list this item with a reserve price -- you start bidding at say $100
but you set the reserve price for $500. The item isn't sold unless
someone hits $500, but the reserve is unknown to the bidders.

For heavy item auctions, you need to either state that shipping is at
the buyer's expense and arrangement, or you can be kind and calculate
shipping to a few destinations to give people a guide price.

One thing, tho -- if you're selling many items, I'd wait to do this
particular auction until the last. Feedback and ratings on Ebay are
important, and if you have no feedback, buyers will not bid on a $pendy
item from you.

Other option: local paper, classified listings.

Good luck!

--Sabrina

--------------
Sabrina Dent
http://www.darlingbri.co.uk 

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