Extreme eBay challenge-pay off credit cards £4000

Goldiegirl

hummingbird wrote: »

Also does anyone have any tips on photographing jewellery? Particularly rings? Mine always look out of focus although photos I take of other items are usually ok! I see other peoples sharp clear photos of their rings and bracelets etc and wonder how on earth they do it??!!

If I'm photographing jewellery or anything small , I use the macro setting on my camera - you can get clear close up photos of small objects.

I am seriously exhausted from listing, dealing with messages, wrapping, posting, staying in for collections. I have wrapped and sent 19 items today and had three items collected.

I know how that feels..... although it's a buzz when something sells, the packing can be very hard work. I try and plan things so that I only have a few difficult parcels to wrap at any time - the rest I try and make sure are things that will just go in a jiffy bag or mailing bag.


I also try and work it so that I only have one collection item ending per weekend, and one heavy item to go by courier. Any more than that, I find a bit too much


The worst weekend was when I had 23 items to pack - it was manic!


Having said that, I really enjoy eBaying. I've been doing it for nearly 5 years, and I've decluttered loads of things from the house. I also sell things on behalf of my friend. We go 50 / 50 on the profits, but I pay the fees out of my 50%. It's no hardship to sell for my friend, she has shopaholic tendencies, and gets bored of things quickly, so she always has lovely things that fly out for a good price.


I like eBay so much, I've also now got what I call a micro business account on eBay. I sell hobby related things, which I enjoy sourcing, people like buying, and even better, they go in an envelope, so I can post at the post box, instead of queuing at the post office.


I'm selling all our old LP's at the moment, so I'm just going to get on and prepare some listings. I like to have a library of photos and listings ready, so when listing day arrives, it's quick to copy and paste from word on to eBay


I've subscribed to this thread, so will be reading with interest - good luck!

Broke_Kitty

Do you guys tend to list a lot at 99p?

I feel like now that you can't list things and put a reserve on them that I don't want to get ripped off for items that are BNWT!

Goldiegirl

I still list a few things at 99p, but not so many these days.

The ones I do list at 99p are small lightweight things that will go as a letter or large letter.

Now that eBay charge the FVF on the postage too,(not to mention PayPal fees) there's not much left as profit on a 99p item.

I tend to either wait for the free listing weekends, so I can list for a higher amount, or if it's something nice that I think will sell for a reasonable price, just go ahead and list it and pay the listing fee

hummingbird

Thanks Goldiegirl for the photography tips!

Got back on Sunday in time to list a few things on the free listing
w/e

I think most of us find we go through times of great enthusiasm and other times when we get discouraged and it all seems like a lot of work for little reward!

However I love it most of the time! My latest breakthrough has been to use mailing bags more often as they are much more flexible than jiffy bags and very lightweight. I also use bin bags to wrap parcels - very effective.

chickennoodle

Good to see everyone's been chatting and providing useful info and updates. So over the weekend I got up to £216.54. Yippee. Got to admit I'm flagging a bit though with the relentless wrapping and the ladies in the post office are going to start hiding when they see me coming with another pushchair loaded with parcels!
My actual real life job (though that feels like eBay at the moment) is quite seasonal and has picked up this week so I'm not sure what I'll manage. Got a 5.30 start tomorrow so I'm not going to do anything tonight.
I've got 31 active items but most have been relisted twice so not expecting much.
Plan for this week is to pull out all my maternity wear and list that ready to go on at the weekend. I've been told it's best to have items end on the weekend....anything thoughts on this?

Buffythedebtslayer

216 pounds is impressive! Well done


That is what I always found difficult the keep going. I think in the end I did my auctions Sunday to Sunday/ Saturday to Saturday as that was the time I had to do it, at that point I was getting rid of stuff rather than aiming for maximum profit. I also said I could only go to the Post Office on Saturdays (I didn't, I went on Monday but sometimes I couldn't make it) which in theory meant people were waiting over a week for their goods. I didn't make big bucks at all! but I did sell stuff.


I am thinking this time I might write all the descriptions and do the photos on the Sunday and start the auctions on the Wednesday saying that I will post on Saturday.


Still impressed with the amount of money you have made




Keep going XX

Floxxie

too_much_debt wrote: »

So Sorry Floxxie, not sure what I had in my head, I think I put Soolin as she is/was the board guide for Ebay Board.


Please accept my sincere apologies! I have changed the posts to reflect the correct user name.

Absolutely no need to apologise...being called Soolin suggests I know a great deal about eBay, and while that is not true, I am happy with the illusion

too_much_debt

Apparently it is free listing tomorrow (23rd) for 10 day listings.


Was posted on the '!!!!!! make me rich Ebay' by another user.

Goldiegirl

chickennoodle wrote: »

I've been told it's best to have items end on the weekend....anything thoughts on this?

I've got various theories on this.


I think it's a combination of what is convenient for you, and when the people you are selling to are likely to be around.


I tend to have most of my auctions end at the weekend, because it's convenient for me to list over the weekend, buyers are likely to be at home, and also, I'm able to post on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, so I know I'll be able to get everything posted.


I work on Thursdays and Fridays, so it's not good for me to end an auction on Wednesday evenings, as I can't get to the post office until Saturday


However, I sell my old jigsaws, and it seems that older retired people buy these ( you can tell from their names, they are all called Stanley and Ethel:rotfl:) and they are generally likely to be home during the week. I've got a week off work in March, so I'm going to experiment with having some jigsaw puzzle auctions ending mid week afternoons, just to see what happens.

dottyanne

I'm going to do this too, however I think I may take the eBay fees into account also as they do mount up and I've only sold 13 things this week and the eBay fees were over £22, there's also paypal fees to consider and postage hmmmmm which way us easiest ?