Seriously? you think FR is your personal blog space?
Did the same thing many years ago, and kept at it for several years. Back then we only did auctions. Then I got tired of having to go to the post office every day. Got tired of paying eBay every month, and simply got tired of dealing with people. I made the mistake of selling to people overseas, and I always ended up taking it in the shorts on the postage, despite using the USPS postage calculator for size and weight of the packages I was mailing. I got tired of putting up with the fake accounts people created to make purchases they never planned on completing, and eBay was not very supportive of sellers at that time. Somehow I can’t imagine it’s any better now. The amount of money I was making wasn’t worth my time or effort, especially having to buy the shipping supplies to go with it.
Books do well. Amazon has a secret division (as far as I could figure out) that order books from half-bay and have ‘em drop shipped to the purchaser.
If you are, I'm still looking for you and I will find you.......
Good luck. I sold off some stuff a few years ago and agree it’s hard, mainly because of the shipping uncertainties.
But I had a problem with a guy who won an auction but wouldn’t pay. Then on the private ebay mail he called me everything in the book, not once but probably 50 times. I (finally) got ebay on the phone and a supervisor (finally) told me the guy would probably be suspended. But he had a fairly high rating and nothing was ever done.
So What Else did You learn?
My Ebay account is roughly 3 months older than your FR account.
I’ve got around 140 feedbacks despite around 1000 auctions.
Ebay sucks balls.
It eats 10% of your sales and paypal eats another 3 to 4% depending on domestic or international credit cards. Yes, you will pay paypal fees for international cards even though you only ship to the US. Eat it loser as that’s you’re only option.
So Ebay is valuable to dispose of shit that really has no value, otherwise you’d never sell it there.
I have around $30k in sales on Feebay over the past 18 years, every bit of it is for items that I wouldn’t lose any sleep over if someone ripped me off. Believe me, I’ve had any number of scams run on me on Ebay. Most of them involve charges that are marked fraudulent after you’ve shipped. Be prepared to pay to get your item re-directed or just realize you’ve lost it.
That said, out of around 1000 auctions, I’ve had issues with maybe 30. Of those, I’ve paid extra around 10 times to get the item not delivered. Yes, I’m willing to eat the cost so a scammer doesn’t get my item. I hate thieves.
I bought and sold on ebay for several years.
It finally dawned on me that the one making money on ebay was ebay.
I had my son do it for me. I sold a bunch of Sega Saturn games, one of them I got $500 for. I got new chrome wheels for my 2013 Challenger with the proceeds.
After nearly a year of selling for her, I branched out into selling my own T-shirts. I found out that 5X shirts would sell for the top prices and I found a wholesaler at the flea market that sold licensed sports shirts of that size for just $2.50 each.
I also sold a lot of digital cameras back when the Sony Mavicas sold for $350 to $400 each and I found a supplier in Los Angeles who would dropship them for me for just $250 each.
The last time I did a lot of eBay selling was about 2 years ago when I sold a lot of dog food. One buyer purchased almost $1000 worth of dog food from me. So many bags that it took me 2 days of packing to ship them out.
My "secret" is that I offer free shipping but it turns out that the higher prices I get more than covers the shipping cost.
I have sold (and bought) on Ebay almost from it’s beginning. It used to be fun but Ebay has taken most of the fun out of it as they now cater to mega sellers and not the “little guy”.
I still dabble, not like I once did.
Best advice: don’t guess at your shipping cost, don’t sell beyond the lower 48, insure anything over $50 - and add that fee to your mailing cost. Be aware that Ebay not only charges a percentage of the final value, but also a percentage of your shipping cost. Added to the PayPal fee, that comes to about 15% of your sale.
And, count yourself lucky if you sell one item for every five you list.
Check out ETSY.com
I buy a lot and I mean a lot on Ebay. Most of it rather valuable (I have an antiques booth) and I’ve never had any major problems. But after hearing nightmare tales from others I would never sell on Ebay. But since you have already taken the plunge be aware that Ebay policies favor the buyer even in the face of evident fraud (evident to anyone with common sense. If you are selling anything of value require a signature. If it is a trusted buyer you could waive this. But not as a general rule.
Also photograph every step of your packing process. You would be shocked to know how many items are “lost”. Worse, how many returns are not what was sent out. It happens quite a bit. So my advice have a number label for your items. Make sure that number is on your packing slip. Photograph the item with the label. If you can have yourself photographed packing the item, so much the better.
Mind you, nothing will keep you 100% safe from scammers.
Have a clear return policy. Have a clear shipping policy. Flat rate shipping is your friend. Good luck and don’t cheat yourself.
The WEIRDEST sale I ever did on eBay was when I sold a bio book about Gene Roddenberry to..... Gene Roddenberry Jr. What? Like he didn’t already have that bio about his father on hand?
My experience with EBay: It is unethical. I use to list 2 products. Both were unique, handmade, and consistently the same measurements. One was small (3 oz.) and could be shipped via the post office. Shipping prices typically were accurate and consistent. The other product had to be shipped Fedex due to size 30lb. 27x21x17. The shipping price is estimated. More often than not, the true cost was higher because of ‘Additional Handling fee - $12.00’. The additional handling fee is generated if Fedex verifies the weight and measurements. The fee is charged even if the dimensions and weight are correct. The seller cannot contact Fedex to complain. Many companies use this practice to generate extra fees.
Marketing: Both items I sold were unique. Most sellers do not realize that their items can only be found by searching Ebay’s website. Only ebay store owners benefit from a google search which costs @$25/month. For example: if you put the hope diamond on ebay and you are not a store owner, Google will never show it despite it being one of a kind.
Scams: Always ship to the billing address. If a product is shipped elsewhere, the card holder can refute payment and win. This has happened to me several times, customer always wins despite requiring a signature and ID. FYI, the card holders name is NOT verified during processing, only the address and zip.
Fees: ebay charges 10% and paypal charges 3% of the selling price and shipping charged. Ex. $25 item and $5 shipping, $30 total. Fees - $3.90. If one sells $20,000 and 200 items per year, then you will recieve a 1099 so you can give the IRS 25% as well.
Complaints: ebay and paypal will side with the customer. Plan on it.
Workarounds: Buy a domain name containing your product in it. Ex. www.hopediamondforsale.com. If the consumer types in google “hope diamond for sale’, your domain will be high on the list. Make a video of the Hope Diamond titled ‘Hope Diamond for sale’. Put your website in the video. Create a one page site with a ‘buy’ button and use Stripe to process your payments (flat fee of 2.9%). Host the site on Siteground (reliable and cheap $40 per year). The purpose of the video is for search results. Search engines show the top results for websites, videos, and images. Videos are easier to rank in if unique.
I hope this was helpful, if not - I tried :)
bump
Ping!
A great deal of work.
Three bits of advice.
1. Always ship with a tracking number.
2. Always respond to complaints promptly. Ask for pictures of the problem.
3. Take a picture of the product beside the address label, the product with packing in it's open box and the package sealed up. This provides back up for when someone complains that you did not ship the correct product or you did not pack it properly. It will not totally keep you out of hot water but it does help.
Last thing, (so it is four bits) check your work. Check it again. If you can have someone else check what you did. You will make mistakes, but this cuts down radically the number you will make.
I actually sell product on eBay.
They’re hobby / niche items that aren’t worth getting a Universal Product Code for, which Amazon is now mandating.
So I need to sell through our website, which Google is going to rank well below anyone else, and eBay.
I understand Amazon demanding UPCs so they can track what is sold and by whom, including killing sales of illegal, counterfeit or contraband products. But it is frustrating to be crowded off.
I have a friend from high school doing this (class of ‘89). He left a corporate job at 30 and dove into ebay. He and his wife live very comfortably with their several canine kids.