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Want to start selling on E-bay. Any tips?
DarkWarrior
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__BANNED USERS regular
I'm having a clear out and decided to get rid of some things including my old Nes Games, SNES games and potentially the NES and SNES as well and some comics.
My first problem is pricing, I looked up the game Totally Rad for instance and it goes from £3.79 up to like £36. No harm in throwing it on there at £36 if someone bites but is there anywhere to get an actual approximate value of a game or is it just a case of whats on E-Bay? I seriously question that game getting £36 though.
Second problem, what level of checking should I be performing on equipment? I have a NES but I stopped playing it because the RF cable broke. Last time I checked, like a decade ago, it was working. I can plug it in and see if it comes on but even if the RF Cable worked, I dont have a TV with an RF slot anymore. Same with the SNES.
Is it worth sending recorded delivery? I dont know what the extra costs would entail but I'd rather be sure if someones gotten something, we're not going to be talking about a fortune here but I'd rather not get ripped off.
Any other tips that I'm not aware of but should be?
My first problem is pricing, I looked up the game Totally Rad for instance and it goes from £3.79 up to like £36. No harm in throwing it on there at £36 if someone bites but is there anywhere to get an actual approximate value of a game or is it just a case of whats on E-Bay? I seriously question that game getting £36 though.
Second problem, what level of checking should I be performing on equipment? I have a NES but I stopped playing it because the RF cable broke. Last time I checked, like a decade ago, it was working. I can plug it in and see if it comes on but even if the RF Cable worked, I dont have a TV with an RF slot anymore. Same with the SNES.
Is it worth sending recorded delivery? I dont know what the extra costs would entail but I'd rather be sure if someones gotten something, we're not going to be talking about a fortune here but I'd rather not get ripped off.
Any other tips that I'm not aware of but should be?
DarkWarrior on
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Quick n dirty pricing: check completed listings.
No clue on UK shipping.
Edit: The Gamecube, N64, and SNES all used the same AV connection; don't know if that helps.
If you are able to check items, that's better, if not, just say something like "Worked last time I checked, but that was 10 years ago". You'll get a bit less money, but it shouldn't be that bad.
EDIT: ALso £25 for McDonaldland? Jesus christ.
If you do do it:
1. Research both ebay and paypal fees.. they suck the life out of any profit you hoped to get.
2. Have everything shipped trackable and REQUIRE a signature with insurance.
3. take videos of stuff working before you ship them out. Cover your ass basically. (this has saved me EVERY time. I take videos of the item working, then of me packing it up and shipping it out.)
Ive been a seller for about 3 years on ebay.. been using it forever. I would never recommend it to anyone. There is ALWAYS someone out there looking to get something for free. Paypal now allows chargebacks from credit card companies.
Recent selling experience:
I sold a LG Voyager Cell Phone NEW in box.. Purchased as a replacement device from Verizon wireless directly. It sat in my closet unopened for a year. I decided to sell it for $200 ($200 less than retail)
While my wife recorded this.. I opened up the box, powered on the phone, made a test call to verizon and put the phone back in the box and packaged it up.
I sold the phone to a kid (can always tell by the e-mails they leave when they ask questions) who paid via paypal.
I shipped out the phone and within 2 days the charge had been reversed in my paypal account, now leaving me -$200 because I had transferred the money out.. The phone Hadn't even Arrived at the kid's house and they did a chargeback. I presented all this to paypal with the video and proof that the phone was still in transit.. They said that becuase the item was in transit that they couldn't reverse any charges.. fine.. I contact the seller the day it arrives.. he said he hasn't received it... yet he signed for it and I have that now as proof.. Contacted paypal again.. they will review this blah blah blah...
1 week later.. I get a response stating that they found the resolution in the buyers favor.. that he recieved the phone.
That's not what i was disputing!!! I was disputing the chargeback for this kid trying to scam me...
Called paypal, went through 2 layers of their resolution center folks.. they are looking into it.. that was last week.... no response yet.
I hate paypal.
I know youre in America but what kind of fees? I didnt know Ebay skimmed off the top and why the hell does Paypal?
Recorded Signed For
Add a signature to First and Second Class 74p plus 1st or 2nd class postage
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump1?catId=400023&mediaId=400028
...I have no idea how much that is.
EDIT: ebay takes cash for listing the item, and a % of the final sale price-shipping. Paypal takes cash for transferring the money to you, plus a % of the sale price.
I've been selling for years and I've never had an issue with Ebay or PayPal.
Start your auctions low. No one bites at auctions that start near the price you're hoping to get. Look at "COMPLETED" auctions under the Advanced Search tab for the relative value of things. Never look at what people are listing them for. Some people have some really weird ideas about what their merchandise is worth.
So I may not get £40 for a NES Darkwing Duck!?
I'll look at the advanced thing, WoW gave me some basic skills in this.
I agree.. Initially everything was fine for about 2 years selling on a regular basis. Ive just given up on buyers with all the crap I've had to deal with.
As far as fee's go.. everything is based on:
1. your insertion price. (heh)
2. images (I would recommend hosting images off ebay, and using html templates)
3. your final value fee
4. type of auction
5. paypall fee to take the money out.
All fees vary based on price points.
$40 would be in the original box, possibly sealed..
(yes I know pounds vs dollars.. just a generalization there)
Edit: that was Ducktales I used to love.. I dont remember the Darkwing duck game.
the first thing I ever sold on ebay was a car.. I remember it being a couple hundred in fees. I was shocked.
This was a $20,000 car... with a buy it now.
Also, your experience with eBay and PayPal will depend a lot on the kind of items you are selling and who you sell them to.
If you're selling cell phones to people with low feedback then your odds of being scammed are pretty high because cell phones are extremely popular and people with low feedback or bad feedback are more likely to scam you. You can specify in your auction that you won't sell to buyers with less than 10 or 20 feedback and that can help. More obscure items are less of a target for scammers.
I only have 50 feedback so I'm not a veteran by any means but I've never had any problems with scammers or PayPal.
That right here makes a sale..
Clear pictures, and LOTS of them.. (hense why I reccomend offsite hosting)
And yes, I sold electronics for the most part. Doesnt matter if the buyer has 0 feedback or 5000 feedback.. I never sell to folks with neg feedback or 0 feedback Be careful what you sell and you'll be fine.
Yup they keep that pretty quiet too. At no point before I sold a desk on ebay was I told they would take a cut of the profits. First I even knew of it was when they sent me an invoice, at first I thought it was a scam.
Other than the unexpected invoice my selling experience on ebay was pretty easy but I got lucky with a good buyer who obviously did it for a living. As others have said have videos and pictures coming out your ass, there is such thing as having too much evidence on your side since paypal are very much on the buyers side (see DJcalvin). Keep your pictures for some time afterwards too no telling when an unexpected claim could come in. One of my friends had a guy try to claim on a hard drive six months after the sale.
I considered just selling all the spider-man comics as a bundle, theres like 37 of them though and i imagine the postage would be ridiculous because of the weight.
Does it cost more to put them up for a long period of time and thus increase the chance of increasing the bid?
Having a week long auction may increase the number of people who notice it slightly but I've noticed the way with ebay auctions is the real bidding tends to happen in the final few minutes or seconds even.
Listing items at the minimum price is a better deal if you have reasonable feedback, and are selling an item in demand.
eBay changed their feedback policies a while back, and buyers can no longer get negative feedback. Before that, I had one person win and not bother to pay in about 5 yrs of selling. After that, because people aren't afraid of negative feedback, I have had at least five people not pay in the last year. I always put a note on my auctions now saying 'payment is due within 5 days or I will file a non-paying bidder report'.
It's really a question of how much your time is worth to you. If you list them all below a dollar, you don't have to worry about looking up how much it's worth. but you may lose a rare and valuable item for hardly anything if no one's paying attention. If it's a really uncommon item, that sometimes happens.
If there are items that occasionally sell for less than average, you're taking a risk. If it's really popular, there is no risk. If it's worthless and not desirable... well then you're lucky to get anything for it, although you want to price it above your listing+shipping costs so you're not taking a loss at least. I personally don't know much about selling low-value items on eBay. I would think it's a greater amount of labor involved in listing, communicating, packing, shipping; so it may depend on your competency, quantity, and motivation.
Always use completed auctions to gauge value. If there are few completed auctions, it will not give you an accurate price, since it could be a desperate buyer or shill bidding (the seller on a different account bidding on his items to make it seem like it's worth a lot). This makes it difficult to price items that are listed rarely. The prices can fluctuate greatly. I don't really know how to predict trends / interpret the data. but I guess you can just list it and roll the dice.
Fees. eBay starts at 9% for final value. (most other fees are minimal) If you use a fixed price listing, it's usually 12%. for PayPal, it's 3%, so you're looking at at least 12% of your item cost before shipping, and 3% of shipping (if it's a high fixed price, factor that in). eg: I was looking at selling something for $38+$12 shipping, and I'd end up paying about $5 in fees, which means I really have to charge $55 on eBay instead of $50.
It's crappy. If you can sell elsewhere and get more, do so. It may take you more time due to a smaller marketplace, and time is money, so you have to weigh time VS money. eBay makes it EASY. Just don't forget to do your calculations and evaluate whether the rates your paying yourself through eBay are worth it.
Pictures and descriptions. If you're selling something common and worthless, it's not going to matter much, since you're putting in labor time for nothing. Depending how many you have and how valuable the individual item is, you won't want to go the extra effort with describing the condition. All common stuff, just go through your batches of making photos.
Video games don't usually need shots from all sides. Although for NES and SNES, it's nice to know that the label that wraps around to the top is good on the front and top. Two pictures, or a single angled shot if you can get the whole front label in focus. Instructions and boxes if included.
Wow. I hadn't heard of people making videos of testing and packing items. I thought I was crazy for considering doing that myself. Wave of the future, man. I was actually thinking about video proof of opening a package if I had to make a claim (if a seller sent me a box of newspapers or rocks or something), but that would have to be done at the post office so you could see a trusted postal office employee handing you the package so you couldn't repack the box and open it later. Then again, that would also require you to test and pack the box at the post office before having it delivered.
This has probably already been mentioned, but if you're selling something commonly available, do a search in eBay and alter your settings to reveal finished searches. Very informative as to the final price you expect.
I also find it helps to be thorough with pictures. I'll frequently only use one picture (I end up getting a lot of free auction postings this way, which saves me a small amount of money each time and a lot over time), and explain clearly "What you see is what you get", and it actually works better than just using a generic picture. For something like an SNES game, get the entire game box contents into one frame.
Here in the states, we can mail things using media mail, which is a special cheap price for "media", which is generally obtrusively heavy. Odds are, your package will get banged around a bit more and it will certainly take much longer, but you can ship a box of books for cheaper than you'd think.
Try searching for some Nintendo die-hard gamer forums, I know there's one out there that focuses on the N64 and the Gamecube. There tend to be systems set up on those forums for the buying and selling of games and while games in poor condition or non-original packaging won't be attractive to the collectors on those forums, there are people on those forums who just want to have a retro gaming blast...I should know, I picked up two N64 consoles and about 30-40 games for a few hundred dollars there just last year.
I can't remember the URL though, I'm sorry.
Im kinda surprised there arent any real alternatives to E-bay though, its a pretty terrible site and hasn't improved in years.