Thoughts on eBay?

[dragonxx21]

Recently started thinking about getting rid of stuff from previous hobbies (MtG, longboarding, etc) and have been thinking of places where I could potentially sell them. I posted in local classifieds and couldn't really get any "real" offers as a lot of the stuff I have is mostly for people who are already into those hobbies (a lot of "Who would pay that much for cards?!").  I've thought about using eBay but am sort of worried about the chance of having to let my stuff go for nothing, but looking at completed sales, a lot of the stuff I'm selling seems to be selling on eBay for a reasonable amount of money. What sorts of experiences have you guys had selling on eBay?

[PointyFox]

I sell all the time.  Just be aware that eBay takes a percentage of the final value including shipping, along with PayPal who take a percentage of the total amount.  I think it's somewhere around 14% of the total combined. 

Always take pictures of the items from different angles, describe the item as best you can, and if you live in the US, make it mandatory to use eBay's Global Shipping Program for the buyer if they're located outside the CONUS.  You can do that in settings.   Also always ship insured with tracking.  Otherwise people can claim they never received it or that it arrived broken and you will be out all the money.

[dragonxx21]

I sell all the time.  Just be aware that eBay takes a percentage of the final value including shipping, along with PayPal who take a percentage of the total amount.  I think it's somewhere around 14% of the total combined. 

Always take pictures of the items from different angles, describe the item as best you can, and if you live in the US, make it mandatory to use eBay's Global Shipping Program for the buyer if they're located outside the CONUS.  You can do that in settings.   Also always ship insured with tracking.  Otherwise people can claim they never received it or that it arrived broken and you will be out all the money.

So how exactly does it work to sell on eBay? Do you set the cost of shipping or is that all determined by eBay?

[tp4tissue]

I sell all the time.  Just be aware that eBay takes a percentage of the final value including shipping, along with PayPal who take a percentage of the total amount.  I think it's somewhere around 14% of the total combined. 

Always take pictures of the items from different angles, describe the item as best you can, and if you live in the US, make it mandatory to use eBay's Global Shipping Program for the buyer if they're located outside the CONUS.  You can do that in settings.   Also always ship insured with tracking.  Otherwise people can claim they never received it or that it arrived broken and you will be out all the money.

So how exactly does it work to sell on eBay? Do you set the cost of shipping or is that all determined by eBay?

you can ship using ur own method.. OR buy the label through ebay..

figure out whichever is cheaper.


The most important thing is Eye catchers... Free shipping.. up for "BID" instead of Buy it Now..  No reserve..

[noisyturtle]

I sell all the time.  Just be aware that eBay takes a percentage of the final value including shipping, along with PayPal who take a percentage of the total amount.  I think it's somewhere around 14% of the total combined. 

Always take pictures of the items from different angles, describe the item as best you can, and if you live in the US, make it mandatory to use eBay's Global Shipping Program for the buyer if they're located outside the CONUS.  You can do that in settings.   Also always ship insured with tracking.  Otherwise people can claim they never received it or that it arrived broken and you will be out all the money.

So how exactly does it work to sell on eBay? Do you set the cost of shipping or is that all determined by eBay?

You can set it however you wish. I recently bought something that I won for .99¢ but paid $25 shipping on, but in that case the shipping was actually the value of the item.

[dragonxx21]

I sell all the time.  Just be aware that eBay takes a percentage of the final value including shipping, along with PayPal who take a percentage of the total amount.  I think it's somewhere around 14% of the total combined. 

Always take pictures of the items from different angles, describe the item as best you can, and if you live in the US, make it mandatory to use eBay's Global Shipping Program for the buyer if they're located outside the CONUS.  You can do that in settings.   Also always ship insured with tracking.  Otherwise people can claim they never received it or that it arrived broken and you will be out all the money.

So how exactly does it work to sell on eBay? Do you set the cost of shipping or is that all determined by eBay?

you can ship using ur own method.. OR buy the label through ebay..

figure out whichever is cheaper.


The most important thing is Eye catchers... Free shipping.. up for "BID" instead of Buy it Now..  No reserve..

If you were to ship using your own method, does eBay still take a cut of that?

[PointyFox]

You can set the cost of shipping, but it's much easier to set a shipping method and have eBay calculate the shipping based on where the buyer lives and the weight you put in for the item (always add more to account for packaging).  You can also specify free shipping on an item if you want.  If there is a shipping cost calculated, the invoice to the buyer will include that in the total they have to pay you.  Then after they pay, you ship the item.

[PointyFox]

I sell all the time.  Just be aware that eBay takes a percentage of the final value including shipping, along with PayPal who take a percentage of the total amount.  I think it's somewhere around 14% of the total combined. 

Always take pictures of the items from different angles, describe the item as best you can, and if you live in the US, make it mandatory to use eBay's Global Shipping Program for the buyer if they're located outside the CONUS.  You can do that in settings.   Also always ship insured with tracking.  Otherwise people can claim they never received it or that it arrived broken and you will be out all the money.

So how exactly does it work to sell on eBay? Do you set the cost of shipping or is that all determined by eBay?

you can ship using ur own method.. OR buy the label through ebay..

figure out whichever is cheaper.


The most important thing is Eye catchers... Free shipping.. up for "BID" instead of Buy it Now..  No reserve..

If you were to ship using your own method, does eBay still take a cut of that?

Yes, eBay always takes a cut of the shipping because as the turtle mentioned, people could set a high shipping price so eBay would charge them less in fees if they only charged based on final value.  They used to do that and a lot of people were using this to get around it.  But eBay caught on and started charging a fee for the shipping total too to prevent this.

[dragonxx21]

Hmm... a 14% cut isn't that bad... but at the same time that makes it slightly less worth it to sell on eBay. Do you guys usually find that your items sometimes get sold for little to no money due to no competing bidders or things of that nature? How much of a hassle is it to sell on eBay? Is it usually fairly easy for the transaction to go through? Ex. Someone buys your item. They get invoiced. You get the money. You ship out the item.

[PointyFox]

Hmm... a 14% cut isn't that bad... but at the same time that makes it slightly less worth it to sell on eBay. Do you guys usually find that your items sometimes get sold for little to no money due to no competing bidders or things of that nature? How much of a hassle is it to sell on eBay? Is it usually fairly easy for the transaction to go through? Ex. Someone buys your item. They get invoiced. You get the money. You ship out the item.

Yes, it's easy and works just like that.  Junky or common items don't go for a lot.  Collectable, rare, or high-end items sell well.  I don't bother selling things I can get less that $10 for.  Otherwise I may lose money on shipping if it's large and I underestimated its weight, as well as the cost of the packing materials. 

[metalliqaz]

You don't have to worry about letting it go for nothing.  You can set a reserve price.

[dragonxx21]

Hmm... a 14% cut isn't that bad... but at the same time that makes it slightly less worth it to sell on eBay. Do you guys usually find that your items sometimes get sold for little to no money due to no competing bidders or things of that nature? How much of a hassle is it to sell on eBay? Is it usually fairly easy for the transaction to go through? Ex. Someone buys your item. They get invoiced. You get the money. You ship out the item.

Yes, it's easy and works just like that.  Junky or common items don't go for a lot.  Collectable, rare, or high-end items sell well.  I don't bother selling things I can get less that $10 for.  Otherwise I may lose money on shipping if it's large and I underestimated its weight, as well as the cost of the packing materials.

Right now there's only one thing I really want to attempt to sell on eBay and it seems to sell for a decent amount according to the completed listings. Does setting a reserve price usually deter people from bidding?

[PointyFox]

You don't have to worry about letting it go for nothing.  You can set a reserve price.

You can also set a starting price, and a "buy it now" price.  Though be aware, certain features cost extra, such as having a reserve price.  I think the fee for reserve price is 1% of the reserve price.

The reserve price can deter people from bidding as they may think it may be too high and it would be a waste of time bidding on it.

[dragonxx21]

You don't have to worry about letting it go for nothing.  You can set a reserve price.

You can also set a starting price, and a "buy it now" price.  Though be aware, certain features cost extra, such as having a reserve price.  I think the fee for reserve price is 1% of the reserve price.

The reserve price can deter people from bidding as they may think it may be too high and it would be a waste of time bidding on it.

Hmm alright. I've bought things from eBay before, but never sold. Is there anything special I have to do to my account or can I simply just set up a listing?

[PointyFox]

You don't have to worry about letting it go for nothing.  You can set a reserve price.

You can also set a starting price, and a "buy it now" price.  Though be aware, certain features cost extra, such as having a reserve price.  I think the fee for reserve price is 1% of the reserve price.

The reserve price can deter people from bidding as they may think it may be too high and it would be a waste of time bidding on it.

Hmm alright. I've bought things from eBay before, but never sold. Is there anything special I have to do to my account or can I simply just set up a listing?

I don't think so..

[dragonxx21]

Is it possible to make a listing on ebay.com if I'm Canadian, or will I have to use ebay.ca?

[dustinhxc]

I try to make my best guess at shipping and I'll do a reserve or buy it now. Except for iPhones anytime I sold them I put me at 99 cents because I knew they'd go for $500+ 64gb versions so it's up to you if you take the risk. You will get more in the end if you start cheap and people have a bidding war. But if it's not something as popular as an iPhone then it may go for 99 cents

[fohat.digs]

I have bought and sold upwards of 1,000 items on ebay over the course of more than a decade using 3 different accounts. That is about half and half, some items of realistic fixed value (eg computer components) and some that were very hard to place a value on (eg rare vinyl LPs).

FIRST - remember that ebay is totally focused on keeping buyers happy and providing them with bargains.

Anything that provides a benefit to the seller adds a fee. Ebay would love to have everything be a straight auction for 7 days or less and starting at $0.01

I think that "reserve" is totally stupid and confusing. If $25 is the least that you are willing to accept, start the bidding at $25. A $15 bid is just a frustrating waste of everybody's time. I also recommend that you do not mix auction and Buy-It-Now.

If you have reasonable knowledge of what an item will sell for, list it at a fixed price Buy-It-Now. Ebay will tap you for a higher fee, but the sale is transparent and you get your money immediately (if that is important to you). You will pay more if the sale runs longer than 7 days, if you feel certain that it will sell quickly, do not go "Until It Sells" until later, if necessary.

My advice is to list at the highest price that you believe you could possibly get, and reduce the price by 10% per week until you sell it. This top-down "reverse auction" guarantees a good price for the seller, where a conventional bottom-up auction gives buyers an opportunity for a bargain (which you, as the seller, do not want to happen).

As much as I hate ebay's rapacious fees, it is worth it to get a world-wide forum to look at my wares. Learn the Post Office flat rate box fees, especially for international. And international is a headache and nightmare, not least because of tracking issues.

[fohat.digs]

You will get more in the end if you start cheap and people have a bidding war.

You will get more in the end if people have a bidding war.

Starting cheap is ebay's ugly lie and propaganda.

[Tym]

You can set a reserve but that always seems pointless, just set the starting price at the minimum you will let the item go, calculating in, ebay fees and paypal fees. Then add an accurate shipping price.