How SHOULD I have listed this?

Nicki

I am a complete newbie to selling stuff on ebay, but we are in the process of redecorating at the moment, and I have listed a couple of items for sale.

The first item I listed was our cooker. I didn't have a clue what price if any it would recover so just put it on as a straight auction. I was literally inundated with people asking me to give them a BIN price, which I refused to do, because the cooker got a bid early on and I didn't think it was fair to buyers to change the rules and withdraw an item for sale once they had started bidding. That item still has a short while to run.

The second item I listed was our sofa. Following my experience with the cooker, I offered a BIN price as well as an auction price. It is a reasonably expensive leather sofa in quite good nick, and I thought it looked OK in the photos, but the auction finishes imminently and it looks like it is going to sell for 99p! (I did have someone email me earlier today and offer me £15 for it, but again I thought that unfair to the original bidder to withdraw it from sale for a BIN less than the advertised one)

This is the listing. Other than set a reserve price in future, what other tips do people have to improve how I list things in future. I do have some other bits and pieces to get rid of and it would be good to get the process right for the future.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160905361492?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Thanks for any advice.

QuackQuackOops

Not sure why you are asking now as the auction is still running and you dont know the result, which could be very high.

But the simplest of advice is always start at a price you are happy to accept.

ETA not to forget, always list these kind of things so that they finish when the most people are online.

chemical.galaxy

Mention whether you are a pet free smoke free home.

Perhaps a more descriptive title to draw your buyers in '2 seater Brown leather sofa from Emporio in VGC' (you must be sure it is vgc!)

Other than that you seem to have covered everything

You can tell how much interest you have by the number of watchers and questions you get, many people will wait till the last moment to bid...

I always start my listings at 99p and don't bother with reserve - but start at the lowest price you would be happy with, if it's £20 then start at £20...

Good luck!

Pembroke

Hi Nicki, well there's only three ways of really getting a good price. It all depends on how much you're willing to spend in fees.

First you can list with a reserve as you say but the minimum amount for that is £50 and you pay the fee even if the item doesn't meet the reserve.

Second you can just start the bidding at the lowest price you're willing to accept and third you can wait for a free listing day and start the bidding at the price you're willing to accept, the difference being the a free listing day won't cost you a listing fee but on a normal day you pay a fee that's proportional to the start price.

If you're listing on a normal day then hunt out the Ebay help pages that tell you what fees you pay as sometime listing something a penny lower will save you a lot of fees (for instance £49.99 may be a lot cheaper than £50).

Apart from that your listing looks good, the description is good and if the photos are free in your category then use the full allowance.

Nicki

QuackQuackOops wrote: »

Not sure why you are asking now as the auction is still running and you dont know the result, which could be very high.

But the simplest of advice is always start at a price you are happy to accept.

Im just assuming as it has only one bid and so few watchers that it isn't going to take off and trying to learn for next time! But maybe you are right and it will suddenly become popular. The cooker took off immediately and its the only thing I have to compare it with.

I do need to get the sofa out of the house and if I hadn't put it on ebay I would have had to hire a van to take it to a secondhand shop or put it on freecycle, so if it goes for 99p, then so be it. But I do have some nice side tables to go on next, so any other tips from anyone other than adjusting the start price (is that different to putting a reserve on?) would be very welcome

tattycath

There is a charge for having a reserve price-you can't put a reserve under £50 (as far as I am aware). I hope this helps.

QuackQuackOops

Buyers generally dont like reserve prices and sellers dont like them much either because they cost quite a bit to use plus the minimum reserve you can have is £50.

Make sure your titles are great and use all the characters you have available.
Descriptions need to be thorough and honest. If there are any scuff marks, say so.
Use plenty of pictures and always picture blemishes/scuffs.

Offer the buyer a decent returns policy. Some sellers dont do this because they fear all buyers will want to return everything but sellers who have a good returns policy generally have fewer problems than sellers without one.

End the listing in an evening inbetween 8 - 10 pm. Try to avoid the soaps though.

Offer collection and not just delivery but if you do offer collection always ask for cash and never paypal.

Dont forget to include all measurments.

Anything else I can think of Ill add later but thats about it for now.

forgotmyname

Dont start large items at 99p. All too often they sell for 99p.

You need several buyers at the same time all close enough to collect.
Rarely will that happen and you get peanuts for the items.

Depends how desparate you want them gone.

I bought a table and the guy sold the dresser for 99p. Probably a couple of hundred £'s worth at an antiques auction.
But it was very large and heavy.

He had relisted it twice already.

chemical.galaxy

You did ok in the end

baffcat

Don't list for a starting price less than you want for it. If you list for 99p, it could sell for it. Reserve prices cost, can't remember how much, but likely as much as starting your listing for more. 99p listings often get more bids sooner, but if they don't.........

soolin

I have to say I think you are very brave selling large collection only items for your first ever sales!

Glad to see you got a reasonable amount for the sofa though, well done.