eBay

[judy]

Originally Posted by 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.

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 & 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.....