Things You Never Thought You Could Sell

The.Far.Tall.Knight

I first got into selling on ebay about 10 years ago. Lets make it clear I am not a business seller I am just an ordinary chap next door (so to speak) but I will sell anything! I am renowned in my inner circle that if you dont want it give it to me "I may have a use for it".
99.9% of the time I betcha whatcha like someone out there in the "www." will have a use for it and I will ship to anywhere in the world (and have done and still do). My neighbour once put out a mini fridge for the refuse collector so I asked if he didn't want it, could I have it? He said no problem and it was in good working order, so: sold it on ebay for £25! Someone was throwing away a dog cage which was in great condition so it did puzzle me as to why they were just throwing it away so onto ebay it goes and it sold in 24hrs for £30! One of my better ideas was to buy up a bulk lot of Heston Blumenthal Xmas Puds and they went for twice the price I paid shipping to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany. Most of the time I just sell stuff I have no more use for, CD's & DVD,s are easy to sell (jiffy bags are 5 for £1 in poundland) and postage for a single DVD/CD is no more than £1.25 you'd be surprised what people will buy on ebay, my list is almost too long to list: Take bottle gift bags, they are about £2 each in the shops but I save them and when I have a bag full I pop them on ebay as a bulk job lot of 15 or 20 and boosh! nice little earner! In the last year alone I've turned out 258 selling transactions with total sales of £2,312 selling just odds and ends, since I started on ebay in Oct-2005 I've turned out 963 transactions with a total sales amount of :£11,771.21
OK ebay & paypal take their cut (work on 15%) but still...........

Cinders2001

The.Far.Tall.Knight wrote: »

I first got into selling on ebay about 10 years ago. Lets make it clear I am not a business seller I am just an ordinary chap next door (so to speak) but I will sell anything!......
.......OK ebay & paypal take their cut (work on 15%) but still.

Looks like I should be taking a leaf out of your book.
Keep us updated with any tips!

fenwoman

I have a friend who really has little common sense. IN her eyes, if she has something she doesn't want, it's worthless and she'll throw it away rather than offer it for sale. So I take all the stuff she regards as worthless and flog it. I've told her what I do and she still doesn't believe people would pay for it.
Best sell for me was a Goblin teasmade from the 1970's, bought at a local auction because it was only a quid and I thought I might use it. It went for £30. And an old woodworking plane with some extra blades, in a wooden case, which I hoiked out of a skip, went for £65!

The.Far.Tall.Knight

Cinders2001 wrote: »

Looks like I should be taking a leaf out of your book.
Keep us updated with any tips!

TIPS? NO PROBS:
Always keep an eye on the free listings, eg: you get 20 free listings on the "auction" or the "buy now" format (per month).

Always check your emails from ebay as they usually give 100 free listings on "buy now" or the "auction" format every so often, particularly at holiday periods to increase sales potential and that's quite lucrative as it can save you over £35 in listing fees because generally one listing (that has to be paid for) is about 35p per listing, be wary of listing an auction format for a starting price of 99p just to get the free listing because you must be prepared to sell it for 99p, think of anything more than that as a bonus. An acquaintance once listed a drum kit at the starting price of just 99p simply to get the free listing but was gutted as thats all it achieved.

On the "buy now" format 99% of the time I give free postage as it will be set into the price somewhere EG: an item I am prepared to sell for £5 will be listed as £6.25 or £7.80 with free postage if I know the postage will be £1.25 or £2.80 etc, but don't be tempted to "price bump" by overcharging on postage as you will get sussed and eBay can get a bit humpty about it.

Look for the same item that you're selling on google and ebay to check out your competition

Be aware of your postage I always check three options, (A) Royal Mail (B) MyHermes (C) parcel2go [and a pair of kitchen scales/tape measure is a good guide]

Be aware of restricted items and forbidden items both on eBay and what the courier can and can't send through their systems, eg eBay will not allow prescription items that need to be prescribed by a doctor or vet for example and Hermes won't insure anything glass but they will carry it whereas Royal mail will carry & insure, (NB: any claim for lost/damaged items within Royal Mail if it wasn't signed for takes several weeks, if it was trackable it's a bit quicker, you can't send certain aerosols via Royal Mail or lithium batteries because they use airlines for moving freight but Hermes will allow as they are generally a road transport system, the eBay app is very useful and I'd be lost without it although it has limitations on its functionality so if you're selling something that is a bit heavy and bulky you would need the website for that, pick up in person is always welcome as is cash on collection/delivery (bulky or not) and if it's not too far I will even deliver (within the boundaries of the county with a consideration for the fuel if it a bit out in the sticks).

Packaging? Nah you shouldn't have to pay for packaging I have a box in my loft I keep the packaging in from items I have been sent and I never throw a box away, eventually I will even use the box, supermarkets are a great source of cardboard boxes, think of bubble wrap as plastic gold I once rescued about 100 feet of it from a skip:

Motto no1 "everything is for sale - eventually"
Motto no2 "no one will buy that! Why not you did!"

eBay's community forum (like this one) is a great place to ask experienced sellers for advice and if I think of any more tips I'll be back. TTFN

The.Far.Tall.Knight

fenwoman wrote: »

I have a friend who really has little common sense. IN her eyes, if she has something she doesn't want, it's worthless and she'll throw it away rather than offer it for sale. So I take all the stuff she regards as worthless and flog it. I've told her what I do and she still doesn't believe people would pay for it.
Best sell for me was a Goblin teasmade from the 1970's, bought at a local auction because it was only a quid and I thought I might use it. It went for £30. And an old woodworking plane with some extra blades, in a wooden case, which I hoiked out of a skip, went for £65!

my sentiments exactly, fenwoman

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine

Wow! I've finally got to the end of this EPIC thread, after at least a couple of weeks of part time reading. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed so far - it's a serious source of inspiration, and, at times, good humour!

I've started photographing various bits and pieces that in this house that never get used, and I'm aiming to use the tip to list them on Thursdays as 10 day auctions (that way the listings will run through 2 weekends and finish on a Sunday, thus reaching far more potential bidders). Fingers crossed for some good sales!

What do folk find best when it comes to starting prices? Starting at 99p and then hoping a bidding war ensues? Or setting a starting price that is 'reasonable' (i.e. you wouldn't curse yourself if it didn't go for any more!) when considering the actual item in question?

rogue999

Sold my broken (well they blew up actually!) 10 year old original GHD hair straighteners for £10 the other week. Sold as broken and for parts only, they had quite a few bids too!

determined_new_ms

A_Phoenix_of_Tangerine wrote: »

Wow! I've finally got to the end of this EPIC thread, after at least a couple of weeks of part time reading. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed so far - it's a serious source of inspiration, and, at times, good humour!

I've started photographing various bits and pieces that in this house that never get used, and I'm aiming to use the tip to list them on Thursdays as 10 day auctions (that way the listings will run through 2 weekends and finish on a Sunday, thus reaching far more potential bidders). Fingers crossed for some good sales!

What do folk find best when it comes to starting prices? Starting at 99p and then hoping a bidding war ensues? Or setting a starting price that is 'reasonable' (i.e. you wouldn't curse yourself if it didn't go for any more!) when considering the actual item in question?

I've taken on board TFTK's advice. I put the starting bid at the lowest I would be happy to accept for the item. I've found most things go even if you have to relist them a few times

The.Far.Tall.Knight wrote: »

TIPS? NO PROBS:
Always keep an eye on the free listings, eg: you get 20 free listings on the "auction" or the "buy now" format (per month).

Always check your emails from ebay as they usually give 100 free listings on "buy now" or the "auction" format every so often, particularly at holiday periods to increase sales potential and that's quite lucrative as it can save you over £35 in listing fees because generally one listing (that has to be paid for) is about 35p per listing, be wary of listing an auction format for a starting price of 99p just to get the free listing because you must be prepared to sell it for 99p, think of anything more than that as a bonus. An acquaintance once listed a drum kit at the starting price of just 99p simply to get the free listing but was gutted as thats all it achieved.

On the "buy now" format 99% of the time I give free postage as it will be set into the price somewhere EG: an item I am prepared to sell for £5 will be listed as £6.25 or £7.80 with free postage if I know the postage will be £1.25 or £2.80 etc, but don't be tempted to "price bump" by overcharging on postage as you will get sussed and eBay can get a bit humpty about it.

Look for the same item that you're selling on google and ebay to check out your competition

Be aware of your postage I always check three options, (A) Royal Mail (B) MyHermes (C) parcel2go [and a pair of kitchen scales/tape measure is a good guide]

Be aware of restricted items and forbidden items both on eBay and what the courier can and can't send through their systems, eg eBay will not allow prescription items that need to be prescribed by a doctor or vet for example and Hermes won't insure anything glass but they will carry it whereas Royal mail will carry & insure, (NB: any claim for lost/damaged items within Royal Mail if it wasn't signed for takes several weeks, if it was trackable it's a bit quicker, you can't send certain aerosols via Royal Mail or lithium batteries because they use airlines for moving freight but Hermes will allow as they are generally a road transport system, the eBay app is very useful and I'd be lost without it although it has limitations on its functionality so if you're selling something that is a bit heavy and bulky you would need the website for that, pick up in person is always welcome as is cash on collection/delivery (bulky or not) and if it's not too far I will even deliver (within the boundaries of the county with a consideration for the fuel if it a bit out in the sticks).

Packaging? Nah you shouldn't have to pay for packaging I have a box in my loft I keep the packaging in from items I have been sent and I never throw a box away, eventually I will even use the box, supermarkets are a great source of cardboard boxes, think of bubble wrap as plastic gold I once rescued about 100 feet of it from a skip:

Motto no1 "everything is for sale - eventually"
Motto no2 "no one will buy that! Why not you did!"

eBay's community forum (like this one) is a great place to ask experienced sellers for advice and if I think of any more tips I'll be back. TTFN

timbstoke

I noticed Poundland were selling Belkin USB3 cables about 6 months ago. On a whim, I bought one, put it on Amazon at the same price as everyone elses, stuck it in a drawer and forgot all about it.

It finally sold this weekend. £11.24 after Amazon have taken their cut.

timbstoke

rogue999 wrote: »

Sold my broken (well they blew up actually!) 10 year old original GHD hair straighteners for £10 the other week. Sold as broken and for parts only, they had quite a few bids too!

I've bought a few pairs of broken GHD's in the past. They're pretty simple bits of kit, and it's almost always a simple thermal fuse that's gone. 10 minutes work and a £5 part, and you can usually relist for £50+.