eBay

[judy]

Who's bidding on stuff on eBay? I'm bidding on expandable cordless phones at
the moment and waiting for a pair of beige leather gloves.

I'm using the Bid Assistant for the phones - I may win, or it may take a while to get a good buy.

I love eBay!

Are we allowed to post about it? I hope so...if not, sorry Admin.

[AngieDoogles]

I don't think there's a rule against posting about eBay. ;) Besides, I think admin forgot about us. :eek: lol

I bid on stuff sometimes, but it's pretty random. That's where I get my cameras and I'm also randomly checking on the GPS system I want, but I'm not going to bid on that until the rest of my financial aid money comes in and I pay off rent for the year. I always feel so much safer about purchases after I've done that.

Anyway, good luck! I hope you win what your wanting at a really good price! :thumbup:

[Janet]

I want to get on and check out WW cookbooks. Maybe I'll do that later this evening.

[Gina]

I like ebay , I use to sell and buy. I haven't been looking for anything in particular but I do browse here and there. You can get awesome stuff that is hard to find. I have had luck selling to..

Good luck Judy! Hope you win your auctions.

[Marilyn]

Hubby and I are hooked on E-Bay. We both buy and sell there, and have saved lots of money on our purchases, and got more than we could have anywhere else for things we have sold. E-Bay is AWESOME!!!!

I'm going to checkout the purses that Janet recommends and see if I can find a deal. Hubby likes checking out the vintage cars. We've bought cars and parts for cars, I bought a 36 foot 5th wheel RV, books, dishes, stainless steel flatware, perfume, all kinds of stuff. Sure helps us stretch our hard earned dollars.

The key as anywhere is don't buy it unless you really need it or have the disposable income to afford it, and know the value of what you are buying or selling and be smart in what you do.

I've watched people pay higher than new retail for a used item. How dumb is that???

[Tink]

I buy off Ebay several times a year. Especially when I'm Christmas shopping or need something like electronics or even a specialty fabric for a project.
I've never sold anything there yet though.

[highlans]

I am an ebay adict :D have brought all sorts old and new but really need to start selling some of my stuff. My daughter was mortified when I brought her some second hand jeans but when she recieved them and I only paid ?3 for them changed her mind and have since brought her other stuff. Had some things from one person really good bargains was then bidding on a handbag from her and ebay pulled the item but would not say why? gutted as was nice bag. So keep on bidding:D Oh and I brought myself for xmas a whitegold ring.

[Gina]

I am an ebay adict :D have brought all sorts old and new but really need to start selling some of my stuff. My daughter was mortified when I brought her some second hand jeans but when she recieved them and I only paid ?3 for them changed her mind and have since brought her other stuff. Had some things from one person really good bargains was then bidding on a handbag from her and ebay pulled the item but would not say why? gutted as was nice bag. So keep on bidding:D Oh and I brought myself for xmas a whitegold ring.


One word of caution with Ebay, if you like luxury designer bags be VERY CAREFUL, for many sell knock offs and charge you an exuberant amount. Know your handbag for there are a lot of scammers selling on there and of course in jewerly like with Tiffany & Co. they have a lawsuit against ebay. So be careful and know what your bidding on...

[Janet]

I would like to 'someday' try to sell some things on ebay instead of having a garage sale, but I've heard it is expensive to sell on ebay...is this true? I tried to sell a fleece dog coat on ebay a few years ago, but I don't remember if it was going to cost me if it sold...it didn't sell. I was so disappointed.

[judy]

I don't think there's a rule against posting about eBay. ;) Besides, I think admin forgot about us. :eek: lol

I bid on stuff sometimes, but it's pretty random. That's where I get my cameras and I'm also randomly checking on the GPS system I want, but I'm not going to bid on that until the rest of my financial aid money comes in and I pay off rent for the year. I always feel so much safer about purchases after I've done that.

Anyway, good luck! I hope you win what your wanting at a really good price! :thumbup:


I'm going to start looking for a GPS system after I get the phones. I have to look them up in Consumers' Reports first. I've heard Garmin is the best at the moment. I want one that talks and has a larger screen.

Janet, which did you finally decide on after you researched them?

I'm always looking for something on eBay. I do the comparison shopping and you definitely have to be careful that you're not paying more there than you would elsewhere. I also never buy designer stuff on eBay anymore.

I just ordered 3 boxes of 100 brand name wee wee pads for $22 each. She's charging me $15 for combined shipping, and it goes to a dog rescue place. That's a good deal!

I've never sold there, although I have plenty to get rid of!

[DianaB]

I LOVE e-Bay!!!! I check things out every day and my watch box always has things in it that I'm watching. Whenever I need something it's the first place that I look! I collect children's dishes and cabinets from the 1900's so that's usually what I have in my watch box. I got a really good buy on some items last month. I was really excited when I won the bid and still excited when the box came. It was some children's dishes from the 1850's or earlier. The seller didn't have them listed right or they would have sold for much more.

I have sold some things on e-bay before. Some things it really paid off and others I didn't do so well. I think that it really pays off to research your item to sell before you list it. I made over $300 a couple of Christmas's ago with a $3-4 investment. ($232 of it was for perfume that I paid $1 for at a garage sale!!!) My husband was excited but you just don't come across things like that to sell every day.

[judy]

I LOVE e-Bay!!!! I check things out every day and my watch box always has things in it that I'm watching. Whenever I need something it's the first place that I look! I collect children's dishes and cabinets from the 1900's so that's usually what I have in my watch box. I got a really good buy on some items last month. I was really excited when I won the bid and still excited when the box came. It was some children's dishes from the 1850's or earlier. The seller didn't have them listed right or they would have sold for much more.

I have sold some things on e-bay before. Some things it really paid off and others I didn't do so well. I think that it really pays off to research your item to sell before you list it. I made over $300 a couple of Christmas's ago with a $3-4 investment. ($232 of it was for perfume that I paid $1 for at a garage sale!!!) My husband was excited but you just don't come across things like that to sell every day.


I remember seeing some of your lovely things when we showed pix of our homes.

Don't you love when the boxes come? I let the dogs smell them all over before I open them. It makes them so happy!

[Ponyup]

I don't buy much on ebay anymore, but I was addicted for a while. It was like a triple thrill for me. I'd get excited when I'd win, & then when it'd come in the mail & then when I'd get positive feedback. AAAAhhhh it was fun.

I was searching EBAY for out of print Dean Koontz books, but I've succeeded in getting all the ones i want & they can get pretty expensive. Other than that i mostly buy CD & movies.

[Marilyn]

As Diana and Gina said you have to be careful and research what you are buying or selling on E-Bay.

Janet, with regard to the cost of selling. When you build your listing there are a lot of options for embellishing your listing to make it prettier or more attractive, list in more than one category and such. The value of the item, how much in demand it is, and the amount of competition, should determine how it should be listed. I always use a gallery picture which is what displays a picture of the item beside the title in a simple search. And my other listing decisons are based, again on the criteria just mentioned. If you don't go with a lot of the extras, the listing is pretty inexpensive. When you are buiding it, you are told what each item costs, and when you finish and preview you can see your total cost and go back and delete some of the embellishments if you want to.

The key is to know your market, and post really good pictures. Clean background, clear images. If it's an item that I think the bid will go high enough on, I'll add the feature of allowing them to supersize the pics. My thought is that if your pictures are good and clear, you aren't trying to hide any defects. So people can bid with greater confidence.

Happy E-baying!!!! I've sold items on line for much more than they would have sold for at a garage sale.

Oh, one other thing. I suggest that after you take your pictures that you box the item for shipping and determine accurately what it will cost to ship. I have listed shipping several ways, but prefer to only ship to the contiguous 48 United States and since I am in Texas, I will check out costs to ship to the most expensive case like New York City and/or Seattle and offer shipping one or two ways charging a fixed shipping cost for each option that I know will cover my actual cost of shipping and packaging and a dollar or so for my time and gas. You can use E-bay's shipping calculator or go to www.usps.com (http://www.usps.com) & www.ups.com (http://www.ups.com) to determine the cost.

[Marilyn]

One other cost I forgot to mention. They do charge you a small commission for your sale. I don't know the percentage, but it's pretty small, and it may only be charged if the sale is over a certain amount. I'm really not sure. You may want to check this out. I do know it was not enough for me to be upset about it when I saw the invoice.

Ebay keeps the cost pretty low. They are counting on volume. If they make a dollar on each sale, and there are a million sales.....

[Janet]

JudyJanet, which did you finally decide on after you researched them?

I haven't bought one yet Judy, ended up getting Ricky more things for his Wii game system. But, from what research I did I will most likely get a Garmin. I Garmin was first and then TomTom.



Thanks Marilyn for all the information. I just may have to give ebay another try sometime. It does sound a bit interesting.

[judy]

I looked on Consumer's last night and those two seem to be the best. eBay is a little confusing - I just glanced at what they have. I'll have to go through it better.

I won the phones! Panasonic expndable with 2 phones. I got it for a decent price
and the warranty is still good for one year.

[Janet]

Way to go Judy!!! :bravo: :bravo:

[DianaB]

I looked on Consumer's last night and those two seem to be the best. eBay is a little confusing - I just glanced at what they have. I'll have to go through it better.

I won the phones! Panasonic expndable with 2 phones. I got it for a decent price
and the warranty is still good for one year.

That's great, Judy!!!! It's always exciting to get a good price on e-Bay.

[DianaB]

Janet, if you're going to sell on e-Bay one way to do research is to check the prices of items (like you're wanting to sell) that have already sold. To find this area click on the line that says "Advanced Search" to the right of the "Search"button. It will take you to a page that has a lot of blanks to fill in. On the second line down click the square that says "Completed listings only" and enter on the top line what you're looking for. Auctions that have already finished can be viewed here. Then "sort" by the highest price and find out what they did in their auction that made it sell so well and do that in your own auction. Check out where they listed it and what their description says. I hope that this helps. If not call me when you get ready to do this and I'll help you.

[Marilyn]

Janet, if you're going to sell on e-Bay one way to do research is to check the prices of items (like you're wanting to sell) that have already sold. To find this area click on the line that says "Advanced Search" to the right of the "Search"button. It will take you to a page that has a lot of blanks to fill in. On the second line down click the square that says "Completed listings only" and enter on the top line what you're looking for. Auctions that have already finished can be viewed here. Then "sort" by the highest price and find out what they did in their auction that made it sell so well and do that in your own auction. Check out where they listed it and what their description says. I hope that this helps. If not call me when you get ready to do this and I'll help you.

Wow, great information, Diana. I didn't know how to do this. I always search and see what is currently listed to see if they are selling, if so for how much and how they are listed. Did not realize you could search and see completed listings. Learn something every day!!!!

[DianaB]

Wow, great information, Diana. I didn't know how to do this. I always search and see what is currently listed to see if they are selling, if so for how much and how they are listed. Did not realize you could search and see completed listings. Learn something every day!!!!

It's a handy feature to use. There are also little things that you can do on your searches to make them a lot easier. Here's the page that explains it.


http://pages.ebay.com/help/find/search_commands.html

For instance....... I look for children's dishes but I also look under miniature, toy, and doll dishes. I can look for them in one search:

(child*, toy, doll) dishes

The astrick means that word and any forms of it that come after the astrick. Child, child's, childs, children, children's, childrens

It's all one search not several. I don't think that a lot of people know this. Also you can also subtract words. Like this:

porcelain doll -new Meaning I want to search for porcelain dolls, but not new ones.

I can also use the parenthesis to keep words together and search the whole description such as (Houston Texas). Only the auctions that have those words side by side will come up.

I'm not too sure how well I explained this but there is the link to e-bay that explains it. I hope that it helps you!!!

[judy]

So Diana....I'm looking for Harley Davidson, Transformers, and Spiderman long sleeve shirts, size 8 for my grandson. How would I set it up?

[Janet]

WOW! Diana, you are really good at this. It will be awhile before I'd even try selling. All my stuff is in the garage now. When I go through it this spring I'll have to check what I think may sell on ebay. I think it would be fun!

[Tink]

Sounds like a lot of stuff to learn and remember for my old tired brain. I love going to grage sales etc so have found things I thought might sell for a profit, but haven't dared try it yet. lol

[DianaB]

So Diana....I'm looking for Harley Davidson, Transformers, and Spiderman long sleeve shirts, size 8 for my grandson. How would I set it up?

Judy, I would probably do a search like this:

(spiderman, harley davidson, transformers) shirt* (long sleeve*, LS) (8, small)

Sometimes long sleeve is abreviated to LS so it doesn't take up too much space. The astrick is in case of someone putting in long sleeves and shirts. Then the 8 and small are in parathensis because of how the shirt sizes might be listed. You would want to narrow your search in the boy's clothing section. Let's say that after you run your search that you have a lot of pj's that show up and you're not interested in them. You can add -(pj*, pajama*) to have them taken out.

I ran a search on e-Bay using the search that I have typed out for you and this is what I found.

http://clothing.search.ebay.com/spiderman-harley-davidson-transformers-shirt-long-sleeve-LS-8-small_Boys_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQcatrefZC12QQfromZR40QQ sacatZ11452QQsatitleZQ28spidermanQ2cQ20harleyQ20da vidsonQ2cQ20transformersQ29Q20shirtQ2aQ20Q28longQ2 0sleeveQ2aQ2cQ20LSQ29Q20Q288Q2cQ20smallQ29

Not too many shirts showed up so you could take out the (long sleeve*, LS) and see what would come up then.

Tink, I've found that once I started using the short cuts that it really wasn't hard to remember them. I was surprised when I looked at the page that there were some that I had forgotten about but I don't think that I would use them much any way.

Judy, if you run a lot of the same searches you can save them and not have to type them in all the time. Just click on "save this search" after you have it typed in. To access it just go to "My Ebay" and look down the left side until you come to "searches" a page will open up with all of your favorite searches and you just click on the search you want. I hope that all of this isn't too confusing. It really is easier than it sounds.

[judy]

Darn, you're good! I did take out the "long sleeves" and found 3 shirts!

I'm going to have to refer back to your example for my next search.

Thank you Diana:kiss:

[Janet]

Diana...where did you learn all this..especially what to type in?

[DianaB]

You're welcome, Judy. Just let me know when you need help again.

Janet, I was fustrated on e-Bay because I was doing soooo many searches and I had things coming up in my searches that I didn't want so one day I just went through all the different information icons and came across it. It has been so helpful to me and I've tried to tell others but it's hard to explain when really it's very simple. I think that surely there are similiar things to use on the internet too but I haven't ever taken the time to find them. It would be so helpful in searches if they did.

[judy]

I just looked at my Paypal history for the past 2-3 weeks. I think I've spent over $200! Well - the 200 pee pee pads were $81.00 and the phone was $53.00.

Considering how many things I've bought, that's not too bad.