Ebay Virgin - advice / opinions welcomed!

TraceB

I've want to sell some Robbie Williams' concert tickets on Ebay as after buying them I discovered that I was pregnant (and so baby will be just a few weeks old when the concert takes place!). I've never really trusted Ebay (one of the girls at work her boyfriend sells loads on it and is a real wheeler/ dealer type and seems to make money out of v strange things!!) so emailed friends first to see if they wanted them at cost price (for 1 reason or another there weren't any takers). Anyway, I thought that I might as well bite the bullet and put them on Ebay. I really wanted to know what people thought about the following:

* will people by from me even though I have no 'ratings' as I've not sold anything before
* can I put a minimum price on them auction (I want to get at least what I paid for them)
* my aunty suggested receiving payment by paypal but then said I could only spend that money on Ebay, are people willing to pay by cheque as I would prefer this?
* I have 4 tickets - do you think they would be easier to sell as 2 pairs of 2?
* The concert isn't until September - should I wait until nearer the time, would I get more for them?
* Will it cost me very much to put them on Ebay? Would want at least £100 for 2 tickets.

Sorry for all the questions! Help is much appreciated!

Trace

Contains_Mild_Peril

Buyers may be a little wary if you have no feedback, so it might help if you bought and sold a couple of low value items first to collect a few positive feedbacks.
I would definitely advise accepting Paypal (though if you tick the box to list it as a payment option, you must be willing to take any Paypal payment, so if your buyer pays using a credit or debit card and you only have a Personal account, you would then have to change it to a fee-paying acount to accept the payment). Paypal does offer buyer protection, which will reassure customers, who will probably then be more likely to trust a newbie selling expensive items. Some customers will prefer to pay by cheque (e.g. if they have no paypal account and don't want to set one up for a one-off transaction), but offering Paypal is a good selling point.
You can withdraw Paypal payments to your bank account, but it takes about 7 working days to clear (there is also a 25p charge for any withdrawals of less then £50).
I'd offer them as 2 pairs rather than a group of 4, but mention on each listing that another pair is also available.
I've never sold tickets before, but I'd guess probably slightly nearer the time (maybe 6-8 weeks before the concert date) may be more profitable (I don't know the tour details, but this might incur a slight risk of extra dates being added, which could reduce the value of tickets).
EBay listing fees are detailed here
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/fees.html
but if the concert is sold out, I'd list with a start price a little below face value, especially if you have good seats - there is very little danger of Robbie Williams tickets selling for peanuts.
Good luck.

Chalky87

Agree with the comments above....just to add; sell later in the year, nearer the time of the concert. In the mean time sell some less expensive items, customers will be more willing to buy these from a newbie. I'm talking items under a tenner, as I wouldn't personally mind buying something low cost from a 0 rated member...then as your feedback gets better you can try higher priced items and hopefully by the time you come to sell the tickets you'll have a healthy feedback score and make a healthy price for them!

lizsil

I agree with the others, leave it until later and try to trade a few bits and pieces between now and then. But I also think it pays to be honest in your description. As in 'although I'm new to Ebay, these are genuine tickets' or whatever. I think Paypal's the best route as it's so secure - and fast and you can transfer it to your bank account for a small fee. But if you offer personal cheque or postal order too, people who haven't got Paypal won't be put off.

blue_haddock

Also you aren't meant to sell things on ebay that you don't physically have to hand so tickets that often aren't sent out till a couple of weeks before shouldn;t be sold till you have them in hand.

scottishchick27

You'll make quite a bit of money on these in my opinion. I had 3 extra Billy Connelly tickets last year, made £150 profit. Paid our travel and accomodation when we went to see him. Wait till about a month nearer the time. Check out what other tickets are going for then. Try to make sure your auction ends on a Sunday evening as you tend to get a bit more then.
You can put a reserve on them but you are 99% sure to get at least what you paid for them, seeing as they are Robbie William tickets.
I agree with the others in trying to build up your feedback. Buy some books etc. Or else you could ask your mates boyfriend to sell them for you if he has decent enough feedback.
If all else fails, sell them to me for cost price, I've got good feedback and I'll shift them no bother. LOL. :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

essexhoney

a friend of mine put hers on ebay 2 weeks ago 2 tickets buy it now for £120 and they went within 40mins of being listed!

she probably could have got a lot more for them though if she had of auctioned them though

soolin

Firstly, definitely get yourself some feedback, the price you get as a newbie will be far less than you will get with some good positives behind you. Can you buy a few bits and bobs for the baby, or maybe some other items first?

Tickets are problematic on ebay as they are a grey area, you may well find that your listing will be removed . If the tickets are sold with restrictions about no resale, or not transferable then they cannot be sold only returned to the promoter, however many people do sell these tickets siccessfully. You are supposed to declare the face value of the tickets as well as your license number if you are a licensed ticket seller, otherwise you will be merely touting them which is again against the rules not only on ebay but even in person if you stood outside the venue and tried to flog them like the other touts.

If you do decide to list them then most people will want to pay by paypal so make sure you have a premier account as a basic account will not be able to accept any form of payment apart from a direct paypal balance transfer. Unforrtunately that will mean you will pay paypal charges, so factor them into your expenses when calculating how much you need to sell for.Incidentally, you can withdraw your paypal balance to your own bank account if you wish you don't have to spend it back on ebay.

lastly, make sure you quote for special delivery postage as sending recorded will only cover you up to £32 of loss.

One other thing, you can only sell items that you can guarantee to deliver within 30 day sof auction end, so if you don't have the tickets yet you must not sell them.

AS for other places to sell, have you thought of contacting the fan club or similar as it might save you a lot of hassle?

Soo

Contains_Mild_Peril

If you have a Personal Paypal account and someone tries to pay you using a credit or debit card, it will show as pending and you will then get a message asking you to "upgrade" to accept the payment. Since you can do so very easily at this stage, unless you plan to make a habit of selling, I'd suggest starting with a Personal account, and if you're lucky someone might pay either from a Paypal balance or from a bank account without a debit card, in which case you would avoid Paypal fees. If they do pay with a credit or debit card, no problem, just change to a fee-paying Premier account to accept the payment.

TraceB

for all you advice - very helpful! i think that i'll leave it a few months
trace