My 1st Ebay auction (selling)... suggestions?

u wont t be able to sell it for the most because of your rating....ratings are huge in ebay...

 

1. Offer full communication
2. Luck and timing will get you max money. It is suggested to end your auction on a Saturday or Sunday night as that tends to be when most people are browsing around the internet.
3. Longer auction lengths will give you more chance for exposure, but again, it's a matter of the right people searching eBay for your product at the right time. You do have a high demand item and probably would benefit from at least a seven day auction.
4. Stock images will ensure to the bidder exactly what they are bidding on. Personal images will ensure that you do have the product on hand.

I haven't been selling very long...but have found that people like to throw out a bid on stuff that is low priced (i.e. $.01 or $.99)...even if it is something that is worth significantly more. Usually it's a matter of just getting people interested and getting bidding action. If you want, you could price it this low, but set a reserve price to ensure that your product doesn't get overlooked and actually ends up selling for $.01.

Good luck...it's a lot of fun...and it's amazing what people are willing to pay for your junk....errrrr......personal artifacts!

 

E-mail, phone, fax, mailing.

 

Use the same title and content as the 1 who got the highest price. You may not get that price because of your feedback but you at least know that he/she used the right wording to be picked up in most peoples searches.

Use GOOD custom pictures - the better the pic, the higher the price (usually) and custom means you didn't just copy it from somewhere - you have the item.

Be a person in some of your disciption and offer to respond to all questions within a certain time frame (24 hours?).

Be flexable on your payment types. MO only auctions regularly go for less than others. Setup a paypal account (accepting cc is up to you but specify whether you take cc in paypal in your payment description), and offer MO or cashier checks for those that fear online finance trading. I'd stay away from Personal Checks, but that's just me. If you do take them, be sure and state that you will wait until it clears before shipping.

Most people like USPS so you might want to go with them stating that you'll ship within X days/hours of the payment clearing (this will cover e-checks with paypal) via X (shipping mode). Priority - is up to you but it usually doesn't cost that much more. Include insurance and tracking in your shipping price. Being new that protects you and them on an item of this value. And you can send them a tracking number when you sent it so they can watch for it.

You cannot communicate enough with a buyer - the more communication, the more at ease you'll make them feel that you will do the right thing.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I heard to have your bidding time end during "primetime" hours when people are home, perferably on Sunday.

 

I don't know how I forgot about that - VERY important!

 

You might want to buy a few cheap things you need to prop up your ratings. I'm always suspicious of folks with zero ratings so I'm sure other folks are, too. Make clear in your listing that your software is legal - much of the software on EBay is not legally supposed to be sold, I've found that out the hard way.

 

0 rating + selling high priced item = bad combo.

Likewise, be wary of people with very low feedback that are paying with PayPal - they could be using a stolen credit card.

I tend to use custom photos and have over 600 positive feedback. There's still a ton of luck involved. I sold something for $60 that sold the day before for $120. The earlier auction's seller had fewer feedback, worse pictures, and a vague description. Go figure.

 

Yes, thought you had a zero ranking. It depends on the market.
Advertising online outside of EBay probably helps as well.

A friend of mine collect those Hummel figurines but stopped and wanted me to sell them, hoped to get $100. I gambled and set the opening bid at $10, and folks got competitive and bit it up to $120. But I could have been burned if no one else bid on it after the opening bid.

In another case I sold something recently with the starting bid of $100. Other folks started the same item at $10 and got $120+ and someone else started at $100 and got $200+.

It's just weird to me how some things I sell go way beyond what I expect and some things don't sell for what I think they are worth. If you like to gamble set the opening bid at $1.00. If you want a sure thing to the opening bid higher - you'll only get more *serious* bidders, but if you set the opening bid lower, some folks might bid and get emotionally involved and you suck in
more people.


edit: I try to make it clear that I only want to accept PayPal cash. PayPal cash requires that the buyer have cash in their account like a checking account. Credit card purchases tack on a three or four percent fee to the seller.

edit 2: use amazon and Half.com to fairly price your item. Some items go for more on amazon.com's marketplace, some items go for less. If it goes for more on amazon.com's market place, it *may* be more worthwhile to sell it there, it's easier to sell, but amazon takes a bigger cut.

 

I have never bought, sold, or tried to buy or sell anything on E-Bay, and the only time I even looked on there was when someone in here posted a joke sale in there about a year ago( Ghost Jar, or something like that?)

Without getting into my personal stand for anachrosnism, is there anyone else out there like me in this regard?

 

I was the same way about EBay but I have a couple of hobbies and found some used items there that I could not find anywhere else, unless I bought new at several thousand, and I went for used, and haven't looked back. Still wouldn't buy a big ticket item, way too many horror stories for me.

 

I have bought out of print records, Hakeem statues, a b****in' black leather members only jacket... Ebay rocks.

 

droxford,

I have a rating of "55" on eBay (like 86 totals, 56 unique, and 1 ******* that left a retaliatory negative) and all of those were as a buyer.

It does MAKE a difference if you are trying to sell and all your ratings have been based as a buyer.

Many people have good suggestions here, but try selling some stuff that is cheap to build up a reputation as a seller and then sell your software stuff.

 

If the price hasn't been bid up to the amount you want, just cancel the auction ten minutes before it ends. You can't back out once the winning bid goes through, but you can stop the auction before that happens. It's a sort of slimeball trick, but it's an easy way out if you aren't getting the price you want.

 

Cancelling doesn't work if someone has bid. One is obligated to sell if someone has bid. Plus you lose the listing fees if no one has bid and you cancel.

 

Actually they can because it's happened to me more than once when the price was too low. But before they cancel the auction - they must first cancel all the bidder's bids - the seller has the right to cancel any bids. Once all the bids are cancelled - he closes the auction. I'm sure they are out the listing fee but I don't think they are out any other fees.

But ebay does rock for those hard to find hobby items, car parts, cds and chilli pepper items for those Cinco De Mayo parties when you're 1000 miles from the border.

 

If no one is bidding on it and it's close to over, just have a friend who has an ebay account bid on it. Or, set a low minimum bid, but have him bid at your reserve amount. That way, even if it doesn't sell, you'll know for about how much it goes for...and can even offer a second chance option to the next highest bidder.