Hi Aggro,
Boy have you gotten a lot of great advice. The one thing I didn’t see mentioned is where to store your pictures. Yes, you need to take good photos…I use a 3.2 megapixel digital camera which works great. However, I’ve found that if I use Ebay’s picture hosting, the photos don’t look that good because they get minimized or something by Ebay.
Most internet providers, including mine, let you store photos on web space they provide. I copy all my photos out to my internet provider’s web site and then put the HTML into my description when listing on Ebay…I use the Ebay description format for HTML. My photos look better that way.
1-Search for it, see if anything like what your going to sell is even being bid on
2-Use multiple categories if possible
3-Use a paypal account
4-Ship worldwide (just make sure you state buyer pays shipping and handling + insurance)
5-BE SURE to put on all your auctions “ALL SALES ARE FINAL”
6-offer to answer questions and provide extra photos via email, buyers will ask!
7-Be honest
8-Be kind
9-If at first you don’t succeed try “try again”
and last but not least:
10-Sell your items around holidays like thanksgiving and before christmas, you’ll be amazed at how fast they sell and for how much!
I’ll come home and she’ll have some nice new throw rug for the living room, and I’ll be like, “What was that, $300”… and she’ll respond, “$35 on Ebay”. It’s nuts. Seriously - she’s outfitted our whole house that we moved into a year ago with stuff from ebay.
Lately she’s been aquiring baby outfits for like $2 each. You’ve gotta love the internet.
I can only relate my experience from a buyer’s perspective; as far as paypal or money orders go it depends on the item I am bidding on (usually used brass locos usually WELL USED) , I prefer paypal auctions but I have went to the post office or bank for MO’s. You might be better off to specify a money order drawn from a U.S. bank as oposed to the post office. I once had a postal money tagged with a 20.00$ U.S service charge because the teller at the seller’s bank had never seen a Canada Post money order despite being in American funds (and there is a problem with mail fraud on money orders being cashed not by the intended recipient).
Paypal will get you more bids (even though you pay paypal a little, I have found I come out much further ahead with Paypal, and usually get 95% of my auctions paid for within 24 hours - usually less than 4 hours - of ending).
Combine like item smalls, particularly used equipment, to reduce listing fees. There is nothing more annoying than having someone list modern intermodals with 40’ wooden boxcars.
Initially, I only shipped to the US. Got over that after some begging from international bidders. Just require paypal for those (Paypal is available almost everywhere now). I have shipped without complaint, to the UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, France, and Germany. Just make sure you say internationals will pay actual shipping. You can look up costs on the Postal service website. When shipping overseas, I like to give the bidder the choice of how fast they need the item. The difference between a week and 6 weeks Australia was something like $30 (they took the slow option and it still got there in 2 weeks). Paypal also converts foreign funds to US funds (and vice versa) so that draws more bidders too.
Pictures are a must.
Stay what is wrong with it if something is broken (even a little). I listed a box of broken stuff as A Box of Broken Stuff. It sold for $30. Someone out there wants it. Just say what it is.
Also, don’t just say Santa Fe. If you can, work in SF, ATSF, or whatever initials you can in the title. People search different ways. The more people you reach, the better off you are.
Ebay has added features which let you know how many people are watching your auction. This is fun, as you can see the snipers mass for the final volley.
Having sold over $3,500 of model railroading items over a six week period, I have learned a few things that may be useful to you.
Paypal costs you money. Don’t use it! Accept money orders only. You are not Santa Claus, your objective is to make money.
List your items for a minumum period of time and start bidding at the lowest price you will accept. Serious bidding happens in the last few minutes and if you don’t get your starting bid price, then you can reconsider your starting price and re-list the item. …Don’t blame bidders for getting something for nothing because you did not set an acceptable starting bid price.
Get organized! Maintain a three ring binder to collect printouts of completed bids, emails, receipts, and listings of bid status. Write notes on printouts for each item you sold (date and time payment received, date and time mailed, shipping method, tracking number, etc.) Have a place to store items that have been sold but are awaiting payment.
Weigh all of your items in their packing material and cartons before you list them. Do not seal the packages until bidding is completed. This allows you to easily combine items and save the buyer shipping charges.
Compare the cost of shipping methods and let the buyers determine if they really want to pay a premium for speedy delivery. Priority Mail is a premium service and costs more. Parcel post will usually arrive a few days later at a fraction of the cost. UPS can be cheaper than USPS depending on destination and UPS provides the additional benefit of tracking the item.
Items shipped out of the country require US customs forms. Standing in line at the post office may not be cost effective, so you might want to consider limiting your offering to the continental US. Postal “outlets” cannot take parcels for shipment outside of the US due to the US customs requirements.
Always have the item on its way to the buyer within a f
I’ve had to sell my father’s collection when he had to move to an assisted living home and give up the hobby. What I have learned:
PayPal charges about 2.5%. As a new seller (and only 4 feedbacks as a buyer), I felt I had no choice but to accept PayPal to get bidders to bid. I now prefer PayPal, and 95% of my buyers use it. I get the money within hours of the end of the auction. The buyers have a little bit of a safety net using PayPal - they can dispute the charge like any credit card. That is one danger of using PayPal for the seller - if a buyer disputes the charge, a hold of the disputed amount plus is put on the seller’s checking account tied to PayPal. This has not happened to me - yet. The other drawback to PayPla is the phishing - you WILL get e-mails trying to get at your PayPal account. I never respond to an e-mail about PayPal. I go directly to the PayPal site using either the link in my bookmarks or type in the URL myself.
I carefully inspected every item I sold before listing (very time consuming). If anything was loose, I repaired it. I checked for chipped paint and took pictures that showed the chips, as well as putting it in the item description.
Again, as a new seller I had to make my buyers feel comfortable and safe. I offered a buying price refund (but not shipping) policy for 14 days. Only one buyer challenged my assessment of condition, but he declined to return the item when I offered to take it back and refund both price and shipping. He left no feedback, but that’s better than a negative.
I used very low starting prices (about 25% of what I realistically hoped to get) with no reserve to encourage bidding. The LHS with a Buy It Now price in reality sets the ceiling for a given item. Very few items have not gotten a realistic price, and even those did better than I would have done trying to sell it locally through ads or garage sales or train meets.
Quality items get quality prices, junkers do not. I
I agree completely! I have used PayPal for about $500 worth of purchases in the past 3 months with only one unsatisfactory deal. I am currently at war with an unethical jerk in LA who insists that his sale to me of 5 Roundhouse cars for $6.01 should cost me $10.00 each for shipping (all bought within seconds). Apparently this is a valid sale but I most certainly will not pay $50.00 for $15.00 worth of shipping, even if ebay bans me. (I have not paid and I continue to refuse to pay)
My standards may not be high…but they’re mine! [:)]
Paypal charges 1.9% plus 35¢ so a modest one dollar handling fee will cover transactions up to about $35 if it really concerns you. You’re going to pay more in listing and commission fees than you will in paypal fees. Believe me on that.
To list for sale,
Clear, well lit photos, large enough so they can be seen without having to squint. Lay out your terms, let people know if you will combine packing for shipping and either have a flat rate or a shipping calculator. To continue answer questions when asked, start your auctions at what you will accept unless you just want the stuff gone, tell them when stuff will be shipped. If you cannot ship by a promised date, let people know what’s going on. Detail not needed but folks generally appreciate the 20 second effort of letting them know what’s happening with thier purchase, especially when you have thier money. Basically, treat them as you would like to be treated. .
This one is one of mine, offered for reference only.
If you use ebay you will end up sooner or later getting ripped off. PT Barnum would love ebay. Watch out. And do not expect any help from ebay, they are on the sellers side since they pay them and you dont.