Selling on Ebay

Posts: 25 · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:21 am

I have bought a lot off Ebay but have never really sold anything until recently. In fact I had started only the previous week. both items went and congrats to the guys who won it.
Now, my questions, lol

How long does one wait for payment? a week? Two?

When it says "one item is eligable for a second chance offer" does his mean that the winner has backed out and that I can give the second highest bidder a chance?

Truly, the two items I had put up were more of a test bed for me, to see how the process goes and at how well they would do. One went well but the other fetched a lower price than I'd expected, that's the nature of the game I guess. As it is, should the two transactions go well in terms of payment, I might put some more of my stuff up for sale.

Your advice,tips and so on will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Posts: 100 · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:38 am

If you didn't already, you should have set a limit of how many days for payment... (i.e. Payment must be received in four days...).

If you didn't set a limit, I don't see why someone wouldn't have checked their e-mail and made some attempt at contact, or payment, with the first week (especially when they have an interest in your item).

Posts: 4545 · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:49 am

forkbeard wrote:

I have bought a lot off Ebay but have never really sold anything until recently. In fact I had started only the previous week. both items went and congrats to the guys who won it.
Now, my questions, lol

How long does one wait for payment? a week? Two?

When it says "one item is eligable for a second chance offer" does his mean that the winner has backed out and that I can give the second highest bidder a chance?

Truly, the two items I had put up were more of a test bed for me, to see how the process goes and at how well they would do. One went well but the other fetched a lower price than I'd expected, that's the nature of the game I guess. As it is, should the two transactions go well in terms of payment, I might put some more of my stuff up for sale.

Your advice,tips and so on will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

This is for everyone, not just you Forkbeard. Personally, I would actively discourage anyone from entering the Ebay selling world at this time. If you are going to dabble, and not turn it into a full time business or hobby. At this time, due to the financial crisis, you are going to get far less for items than you would in the past in a straight auction (as opposed to having it sit in an Ebay store), and with all of Ebay's new regulations and restrictions, it's going to be harder and harder to jump through the hoops they have set. Right now, every week, it's hard for me to assimilate and work with Ebay, and I've been doing it for 10 years.

My suggestions would be to go outside ebay in most cases. Research the item, see what it typically goes for, and advertise here and on the classifieds on Dragonsfoot. If it's a rare, in all likelihood someone at one of these two spots are going to be your target audience anyway. Also using this method you can accept checks or money orders (which ebay is cutting out of payment methods) which will save you 15% off your final price you would have gotten on ebay. Not to mention you will probably be dealing with a collector/gamer like yourself, and have better communication. If you want, and the item is popular, you can even take offers which allows yourself to pick the best one.

If you really, really want to sell on Ebay, and are ready for the myriad of hassles that pop up everyday, then I would suggest switching your payment methods to "Paypal immediate payment" to eliminate what will be half your problems, people waiting too long to pay. Having to deal with late payments is a tough call, and often merely informing the buyer of that leads to bad feelings and negative feedback. Far better to just cater to the people who are willing to pay up front and in full if you are just going to sell a few items.

For your questions, I generally wait seven days before sending a reminder invoice.....sometimes they just don't arrive, for whatever reason. After ten days, especially when I've heard nothing from the buyer, I would file a non paying bidder report, this sometimes gets people's attention, and they will pay you pretty quickly. If not, and you have to file, it's a huge hassle. You can no longer leave negs for deadbeat bidders, and you have to wait ten days for the bad buyer to respond before you get your money back.

If you are a new seller (low feedback), there are unscrupulous buyers that will specifically take advantage of you, from your inability to leave feedback, to the fact they can file against you on paypal and delay or sidetrack your payment. Unless I was selling a load of stuff, and making good money, I wouldn't want to deal with the mess Ebay has become now.

Mike B.

Posts: 105 · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:23 am

Personally I wait a couple of weeks but also said a couple of emails/ebay messages asking if everything is OK in the mean time. Means that when it comes round to Paypal disputes etc. you have evidence to highlight what you have done as a caring sharing ebay seller.

I built it up slowly. It is easily the best way as it can start getting too much if you list 40-50 auction items all at once. Measn you experience all the screw ups and problems first hand and you find you limit as to listing size. My shop topped out at about 200 items at any one time which I was comfortable with lokking after along with a full time job.

Take your time and go where it takes you.

My general thoughts regarding ebay are.....Although there are problems with ebay with annoying bidders I find it a convenient place to sell. You reach by far the greatest number of prospective buyers. For a more rounded ebay advice input try the ebay forums. There are a lot of very helpful people on there that give advice on anything from dodgy buyers/sellers to tax requiriements to selling tips. Give them a go before you make you mind up.

I got back into D & D three years ago through ebay. I was bored at work and typed in Dungeons Dragons and here I am.

I'll shut up as I'm off to the boring work. Good Luck Smile

Posts: 105 · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:25 am

Oh and if you are having a general clear out it is easy just to stick anything on there rather than a car boot sale or second hand shop and you will get more for it.

Posts: 2339 · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:55 am

I would also suggest doing a bit of research on each item to obtain a price that you are looking for and then listing them here and on Dragonsfoot or RPG.net in the classifieds section.

As Mike said the Ebay fees alone will cost you around 10-15% of the final auction price. Your auction also may or may not hit your target price.

One idea is to offer the items up on the forums first and Ebay the remaining stuff.

Posts: 413 · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:00 pm

Mars wrote:

I would also suggest doing a bit of research on each item to obtain a price that you are looking for and then listing them here and on Dragonsfoot or RPG.net in the classifieds section.

As Mike said the Ebay fees alone will cost you around 10-15% of the final auction price. Your auction also may or may not hit your target price.

One idea is to offer the items up on the forums first and Ebay the remaining stuff.

If I run an auction I always start off with my target price and anything more than that is gravy.

Posts: 827 · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:11 pm

Mars wrote:

I would also suggest doing a bit of research on each item to obtain a price that you are looking for and then listing them here and on Dragonsfoot or RPG.net in the classifieds section.

good advice would have said same. more common items in normal condition also sell well on dragonsfoot it seems + overheads for these on ebay make awkward if want to sell one on each auction

Posts: 610 · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:45 am

Hmmmm. I think all of you are offering good advice overall, but eBay still has it's place for some markets. Forkbeard, I don't know exactly what you are selling, but researching and offering stuff for sale on D&D sites is a great place to start. However, there are lots of D&D items that are more common/less rare that sometimes do not sell well or easily on these kinds of sites. Especially on Acaeum as opposed to Dragonsfoot, my sense is that there are more discriminating buyers here who are not really interested in any items in merely very good condition(there are exceptions,... like me!). So, start with the D&D sites with your sales(as recommended by others), and if they haven't sold after a month or two, I suggest you offer them up on eBay. eBay is good for selling off cheaper and common items.

My personal experience is that items sell better as the weather gets colder. You are entering prime selling season historically.

I'd also like to comment on the timing from a market analysis standpoint. The economy is clearly going down. However, the toy sector usually does better than other sectors whenever there is a downturn. Parents will cut back on their own luxuries before they cut back on their kid's fun. It could be argued that we aren't really selling toys because what we sell is primarily sold to adults, but this trend is worth noting as you analyze what you sell and how.

The perception on gas prices is that they are high. Reporters are noting that internet sales are healthy as more people shop from their computer. Yeah, the eBay stocks are going down, but sales are doing better relative to lots of other businesses.

Forkbeard, here's one other thing to consider. You take a risk of not selling the items at all the longer you wait. You could lose them to fire, moths, rust, whatever. The interest for these items could also go down as baby boomers get older and die. Electronic items do seems to be growing in interest with each successive generation. Even if you sell these items with a "10% loss," you'll make that up in a couple years by investing the money. I know the stock market is crazy right now, but it will go up. It is better to get a 10% loss than a 100% loss. I am not trying to scare you; it's just something to consider.

My recommendation. Keep researching and selling. There is lots of information I left off in this post, but maybe I've given you some more things to think about that will prove helpful. Cool

Posts: 346 · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:09 pm

I agree with benjoshua. Ebay is still a good place to sell stuff. I also agree with the simonwh's advice above that you keep it manageable. Too few items and you will be overlooked, but if you put 20 or more auctions up and describe them well, the ebay searches will pick at least one of them up and then buyers will have a look at your other listings.

We are just entering into the busy season, as folks start thinking about holiday gifts.

I have also found some good deals lately on ebay as people convert their collections to cash. Better condition available than the norm.

Regarding the "second chance offer" bit, I think that's ebay's way of letting you sell a duplicate item to the second-highest bidder.

Consider the rpgmarketplace venue as well. Quite a money saver. Good luck!

Posts: 20 · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:33 pm

I don't know. I just jumped into eBay selling (nerelas333) with a test-run of 9 auctions, and have not exactly been thrilled with the experience.

For starters, PayPal and eBay for some reason put a "hold" on the first payment I received (from a BIN from an Acaeum member on an RPG item). The payment was processed and the balance in my PayPal account reflected that. BUT, the funds were (and are still) unavailable for 21 days, or until eBay is able to confirm that the transaction was successful and the buyer is happy. The criteria for that as stated in the Order Details are either 1) the buyer leaves positive feedback, or 2) 3 days after the Delivery Confirmation shows that the item has been delivered. Now, I shipped the item the next day, it arrived the day after that, and the buyer was kind enough to immediately leave positive FB. However, the funds are still being held. It still remains to be seen if two days from now (3 days since delivery) they release the money based on condition #2.

That being said, I did immediately receive the funds from my other 7 auctions...oh, except for the two where the buyers (non-RPG items) have decided to take their time paying..3 days and counting on one of them. So I'm left wondering why one was singled out for this bizarre "protection" measure (first?) and not the others.

In any case, not exactly a good way for eBay to make me feel at home as a new seller. It's not as if I need the money right away, and it isn't all that much, but it kind of irks me that they would abitrarily determine I was untrustworthy enough to warrant such treatment.

Anyway, I probably will not be selling again anytime soon.

Posts: 408 · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:46 pm

I would encourage you to sell - even in a down economy, fall-winter is a great time to turn a small profit.

I would advise against using eBay as a serious venue. I won't go into the reasons other than to say that they'll take a huge chunk of your profit margin, they will take the customer's side over you every time (even if the customer is deceptive), and small sellers are taking a beating.

For RPG items, I would recommend the classifieds here, possibly Dragonsfoot, and possibly Amazon.

For general use items I would recommend your local Craigslist.

Curiously, eBay has become so corporate that they're turning on the people who made them successful. As a result, they're tanking and further constricting their paltry assistance to small sellers, a vicious cycle that will likely end in implosion (and you having headaches and not much money). We rose up from Internet p2p sales and regional get-togethers, to eBay, and now we've gone in the other direction again.

(I used to sell thousands of items and make a good profit; now I can't even break even unless I get lucky. I'll never be going back to eBay as a seller.)

Posts: 413 · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:11 pm

nerelas wrote:

I don't know. I just jumped into eBay selling (nerelas333) with a test-run of 9 auctions, and have not exactly been thrilled with the experience.

For starters, PayPal and eBay for some reason put a "hold" on the first payment I received (from a BIN from an Acaeum member on an RPG item). The payment was processed and the balance in my PayPal account reflected that. BUT, the funds were (and are still) unavailable for 21 days, or until eBay is able to confirm that the transaction was successful and the buyer is happy. The criteria for that as stated in the Order Details are either 1) the buyer leaves positive feedback, or 2) 3 days after the Delivery Confirmation shows that the item has been delivered. Now, I shipped the item the next day, it arrived the day after that, and the buyer was kind enough to immediately leave positive FB. However, the funds are still being held. It still remains to be seen if two days from now (3 days since delivery) they release the money based on condition #2.

That being said, I did immediately receive the funds from my other 7 auctions...oh, except for the two where the buyers (non-RPG items) have decided to take their time paying..3 days and counting on one of them. So I'm left wondering why one was singled out for this bizarre "protection" measure (first?) and not the others.

In any case, not exactly a good way for eBay to make me feel at home as a new seller. It's not as if I need the money right away, and it isn't all that much, but it kind of irks me that they would abitrarily determine I was untrustworthy enough to warrant such treatment.

Anyway, I probably will not be selling again anytime soon.

(That was me )

I've never heard about this paypal thing holding up the money before. On my end it immediately showed that the payment was completed.

Posts: 4545 · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:13 pm

nerelas wrote:

That being said, I did immediately receive the funds from my other 7 auctions...oh, except for the two where the buyers (non-RPG items) have decided to take their time paying..3 days and counting on one of them. So I'm left wondering why one was singled out for this bizarre "protection" measure (first?) and not the others.
.

Three days isn't bad. It's not unusual to have 7-10 day waits until payment these days. Customers are getting slower and slower as they realize there is little you (the seller) can do about it.

Mike B.

Posts: 20 · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:52 am

Badmike wrote:

Three days isn't bad. It's not unusual to have 7-10 day waits until payment these days. Customers are getting slower and slower as they realize there is little you (the seller) can do about it.

Mike B.

Yeah, you're right, it's not that long. I guess I just don't understand why someone who snipes an auction wouldn't immediately initiate payment (I always do). Presumably if they wanted the item badly enough to sit at the computer waiting for the auction to end to place their bid, they'd want to also pay right away so I can ship it to them...? I did receive both of the remaining payments within a couple hours of posting my last message. It was the realization that, as you say, I could do nothing about it if they didn't pay that was making me anxious.

After adding up my shipping costs (I took a slight loss intentionally, to encourage bidding), listing fees and FVF, and PayPal fees, it was hardly worth listing my items. None of them were particularly valuable and some were fairly heavy, so the nickel-and-diming really took a chunk.

Posts: 827 · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:48 pm

lucyjoyce wrote:

I have also found some good deals lately on ebay as people convert their collections to cash. Better condition available than the norm.

read that as saying ebay better place to buy than sell just now?? Smile

cannot even sell a fazzle it seems even if was t+t

Posts: 1573 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:50 am

Nerelas - the individual probably didn't wait at their computer . . . they most likely used automated sniping software. The bid may have been "placed" when the auction still had many days left to go and was remotely sent in by a company like auctionsniper.

Posts: 4545 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:42 am

Rakeesh sah Tarna wrote:

read that as saying ebay better place to buy than sell just now?? Smile

cannot even sell a fazzle it seems even if was t+t

With the financial crisis in the US, as with stocks, cars, and houses, it's definitely a buyer's market right now. Not to say true rares won't get close to their highs, but the more common stuff in a lot of cases is going dirt cheap. I will be interested to see what the latest Lumberjaques Fazzle goes for in this depressed economy, should be interesting.

Mike B.

Posts: 827 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:07 pm

Badmike wrote:

With the financial crisis in the US, as with stocks, cars, and houses, it's definitely a buyer's market right now.

yes might be good time to buy if have $$. even better as non-us buyers paying premium for many countries in last month or two

Badmike wrote:

Not to say true rares won't get close to their highs, but the more common stuff in a lot of cases is going dirt cheap. I will be interested to see what the latest Lumberjaques Fazzle goes for in this depressed economy, should be interesting.

am sure will make $800 jk. tsojco interesting too as other already has $950 bid ^^

Posts: 2130 · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:35 pm

I just cancelled my ebay store Smile

After donating the fees for the last few months, stupid high seller dues and a relativley bad attitude about it.

I somehow feel good Confused

Anyway I am going to list some stuff on RPG marketplace soon, probably after christmas. Smile