Ebaying for friends - how/if to charge?

Goldiegirl

hollydays wrote: »

A scenario that worries me with friends is if you start an item at .99p that she thinks worth a lot more, and then it only sells for .99p

These days I tend not to start anything at 99p

My friend doesn't have any preconceptions about what price she wants for her things. She knows that, with eBay, somethings will go for a low price and others will go for a price that is much better than imagined.

Apart from this one friend, I'd never consider selling for anyone else, as I just don't have the trust in them that's needed, and I suspect things would turn unpleasant if things didn't go smoothly.

You need an excellent relationship for this to work. If you aren't 100% sure, I wouldn't advise selling for anyone else

RFW

Mistral001 wrote: »

Are there any people doing this professionally?

There was a few attempts at Ebay drop shops a few years ago, there were a few decent US businesses then. No idea about the US but they seem to have all disappeared in the UK.
The idea was to drop your items at a shop and they would list them on Ebay for you and then pay you.

The only way I can see it working professionally is if the owner of the items is told that they will only see about 35% of the sale price. That is essentially the problem, no one wants to see someone sell something for £100 and only get £35 back. Factor in Ebay and Paypal fees, storage costs, labour, shrinkage, postage, etc and the seller is not earning a big chunk of the sale price either and they're the ones with the work and the risk.

forgotmyname

Yeah, there were a couple of ebay shops locally, they didnt last long.

Too many fees to make a profit i think. Quite labour intensive listing everything and the risk of selling something for much less than simialr auctions.

Flyonthewall

RFW wrote: »

The only way I can see it working professionally is if the owner of the items is told that they will only see about 35% of the sale price. That is essentially the problem, no one wants to see someone sell something for £100 and only get £35 back. Factor in Ebay and Paypal fees, storage costs, labour, shrinkage, postage, etc and the seller is not earning a big chunk of the sale price either and they're the ones with the work and the risk.

Silly really - people are happy to trade in electronics for a fraction of the price they're worth to places like CEX. They clearly state the price they give and the price they sell it for. Many would think nothing of them offering £35 for an item and selling it on at £100.

Yet tell them they're getting 35% of what it sells for and they see it sell for £100 and they're unhappy about only getting £35 lol.