Selling on ebay

Crowqueen

Good luck. I hope you get a good price for your items. Selling is an art you have to master, once you get it right it is always very satisfying.

Also one big tip is to look at what you look for as a buyer and then apply that to your own selling.

binnie

Sorry I wasn't meaning to sound nasty.
I know you only wanted advice. I was just meaning, "I didn't know we were allowed to advertise on here". Cos if we are, I would like to advertise as my sales are so slow and I am panicking.
All the best with your sales, sorry if I upset you.

top_drawer_2

binnie wrote: »

Sorry I wasn't meaning to sound nasty.
I know you only wanted advice. I was just meaning, "I didn't know we were allowed to advertise on here". Cos if we are, I would like to advertise as my sales are so slow and I am panicking.
All the best with your sales, sorry if I upset you.

Dont worry, I didnt understand why we weren't allowed to post links because I didnt understand the amount of traffic that must go through plus how many of them must sell on ebay.

PM your link and I will have a look or is it really specialist stuff you sell? like hardware or tools then I dont think I will have much use for them.........

binnie

I just sell fashion handbags and jewellery

firesidemaid

buy (from car boot) or borrow (from library) book on ebay/selling, they can be quite useful.

i agree with other posters, plus with any defects/damage i take clear photos and then say something like (as long as it is true/still wearable) that defects do not detract from the lovely item/fabric etc.

also, you could suggest, for example with kimono, that it/fabric could be used for sewing/craft purposes etc.

you have to describe it so that people think - 'oh that's fab i want it' whilst being honest at the same time.

start a little lower, maybe £2.99 instead?

sometimes it's just the variation of one week to another. remember your key words and link to current fashion trends/words where you can.

Crowqueen

buy (from car boot) or borrow (from library) book on ebay/selling, they can be quite useful.

Most print guides to eBay are now out of date, or give useless or misleading advice which could do harm to your account. Most of them are written by people with very few scruples about how to treat their buyers, and the ones that are accurate can only be so until the next round of eBay changes or legislation come in. Something bought from a car boot sale is likely to be considerably out of date and, given the changes that have happened in the last few years, particularly with the advent of the 2008 Unfair Trading Act which is to blame for most of the unpopular eBay changes (notably the business seller v private seller debate becoming important), should probably come with a health warning.

In a random google on "eBay selling guide", I've just seen someone advocating inflating postage costs to make items appear cheaper and encouraging keyword spam.

All a manual can really do is show you how the site works, which you can see for yourself in about ten minutes. Knowledge of how things really work comes from accumulating wisdom yourself, reading other people's experiences and having them comment. In retrospect, I know I criticised your decision to display your ID details here - Soo advises against it - but being able to see your listings and comment on them from a buyer's point of view was probably better than having you read a book or a magazine.

Keeping tabs on eBay really means keeping up with the forums, both here and on the official forums, asking posters there for advice - they would have the up-to-date ideas and they would know what eBay does or does not permit.

soolin

I completely agree with Crowqueen, the real tips are on places like this not in out of date books.

I've been selling now for around 11+ years and still have to alter the way I sell sometimes either because the rules change or because I notice something that a competitor is doing works well and so i follow their lead. On my business account I also have to change what I sell quite a bit, the things I could sell say 2 years ago aren't the thnings i can sell now. People's requirements change, fashions for certain items come and go and if I don't follow the buyers I don't get any sales.

alfiesmum

Just had a read through this thread, some excellent tips for selling here! Even for me, who's been doing it a while now. But I noticed that the OP cancelled all bids on an item, ended it, and then started it again. Coz it might have not got enough bids the way it was before. If I were one of those buyers, I wouldn't bid again on principal.

And also that she purchased a pair of trousers from a charity shop mistakenly thinking they were worth a few quid, and listed them on eBay. Now if you're listing things that are yours, and you longer want them, surely what ever you get for them is okay? Especially if you're buying them in a charity shop in the first place, you're not really laying out wads of money, so you can't be really peed off when you dont get much for them, third hand. By the way, I buy all my clothes in charity shops, that's not my point. On eBay, you'll get for it, what people think it's worth. If you're having a good ole clearout, it's still a great way to do it! Best of luck with the remaining auctions, but dont get your expectations up that it will fund a lavish Christmas. Just make sure you're not like me, spending it on more pointless carp as soon as a payment hits the Paypal account!! hahaha

Crowqueen

Just make sure you're not like me, spending it on more pointless carp as soon as a payment hits the Paypal account!! hahaha

Oh goodness yes, we've all been there. I meant to fund my new iPod through selling various bits and bobs a while ago, I sold a graphics tablet and my old faulty iPod, then used the money to buy more Star Trek DVDs (!) when I only made about £25. It took three months of counting the pennies to get enough for one of the new nanos.

top_drawer_2

alfiesmum wrote: »

Just had a read through this thread, some excellent tips for selling here! Even for me, who's been doing it a while now. But I noticed that the OP cancelled all bids on an item, ended it, and then started it again. Coz it might have not got enough bids the way it was before. If I were one of those buyers, I wouldn't bid again on principal.

And also that she purchased a pair of trousers from a charity shop mistakenly thinking they were worth a few quid, and listed them on eBay. Now if you're listing things that are yours, and you longer want them, surely what ever you get for them is okay? Especially if you're buying them in a charity shop in the first place, you're not really laying out wads of money, so you can't be really peed off when you dont get much for them, third hand. By the way, I buy all my clothes in charity shops, that's not my point. On eBay, you'll get for it, what people think it's worth. If you're having a good ole clearout, it's still a great way to do it! Best of luck with the remaining auctions, but dont get your expectations up that it will fund a lavish Christmas. Just make sure you're not like me, spending it on more pointless carp as soon as a payment hits the Paypal account!! hahaha

On the other hand, from a sellers point of view I spent two evenings last week preparing to put these items on ebay, photographing them and messing about with the website, then photographed them so if the opportunist feels they dont want to bid on my item "on principle" now they are not getting a bargain due to my inexperience then fair enough. Past experience tells me these will the type of people who will email me later to complain about some petty perceived "fault" anyway and demand I refund with the threat of bad feedback if I don't - some people really have no morals.

Why is this MSE always presumes the worst? Maybe I bought the trousers in a charity for a particular purpose (a office job during the summer) and then returned to uni and have no use for them now (my job definitely has no call for smart trousers).

lol even if I sold everything at top price there's no lavish Christmas on the cards in this house. But the money may cover some rent for the week I will have to take off over Christmas or travel to go home to my parents. Hence I am not willing to let things go for a lower price than I think is realisticly fair.