Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[disneysteve]

Makes sense. I didn’t look that closely at the comps.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I listed a used Dell laptop core i3 processor 11th generation auction style beginning at $59 + $20 shipping. I just got this offer for $55, debating if I should take it. 2 weeks ago I started the auction at $89 but no takers and the auction expired.

[disneysteve]

I listed a used Dell laptop core i3 processor 11th generation auction style beginning at $59 + $20 shipping. I just got this offer for $55, debating if I should take it. 2 weeks ago I started the auction at $89 but no takers and the auction expired.

Auctions should really only be used for rare and unusual items that have good demand and for which you can't establish decent comps. Auctions for common readily available items almost always sell for below market value because ebay isn't an auction site and most buyers don't want to wait a week to find out if maybe they get to buy the item.

I have no idea if $55 is a fair price or not but you have the tools at your fingertips to figure that out. I'm sure you can use Product Research to determine what similar laptops are going for.

[disneysteve]

There is a book that I learned about in my ebay groups or on the podcast maybe - Entertaining by Martha Stewart. It's what we call a BOLO, something to be on the lookout for. At every estate sale, I check the cookbooks and other books and finally found a copy on Friday. Bought it for $5. Listed it on Saturday and sold it on Sunday for $60. I might have been able to get more if I waited but I am perfectly happy with that ROI and quick flip so off it went today.

I went to multiple thrift shops and estate sales over the weekend and didn't buy any china which was disappointing. My trip to NC is rapidly approaching and I don't have nearly as much stock as I would like. I'm just under $3,000 and was shooting for $5,000. I've got 15 more days to shop so hopefully stuff will turn up. I'm planning to hit several thrift stores tomorrow outside of our area. I'm hoping that will turn up some stuff for me. I'm heading to an area about 30 minutes north of us. I mapped out 5 stores in a fairly small vicinity. I don't know that I'll get to all 5 but we'll see how it goes.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm always amazed at how much ROI those books profits make for you. Every semester in college after the semester ended I'd look forward to reselling the books at the book store buy back. They always low balled the price they'd buy it back for but I knew they had to make a profit upon reselling it so it was all good. I just accepted the offer for $55 my used Dell laptop. I changed out the M.2 NVMe SSD 126 GB with a used one for $9.99. I didn't want to sell the laptop with all of my data on the OEM original SSD even though I restored the system to factory settings. I will use 2 pliers and break in pieces the original OEM SSS.

[disneysteve]

I'm always amazed at how much ROI those books profits make for you.

Every semester in college after the semester ended I'd look forward to reselling the books at the book store buy back. They always low balled the price they'd buy it back for but I knew they had to make a profit upon reselling it so it was all good.

A lot of resellers think books aren't good to sell but that's because they're trying to sell mass market best seller type of books that were printed in the millions. If you stick to smaller run books, vintage, antique, niche topics, you can do pretty well with them.

I love when DD was in college. We bought almost all of her books used on Half.com, ebay, and Amazon. As soon as she was done with them, I resold them. I even made a profit on several of them. I don't remember exactly but her entire 4 years of college only cost us a couple hundred dollars net for books by buying used and reselling.

I just accepted the offer for $55 my used Dell laptop. I changed out the M.2 NVMe SSD 126 GB with a used one for $9.99. I didn't want to sell the laptop with all of my data on the OEM original SSD even though I restored the system to factory settings. I will use 2 pliers and break in pieces the original OEM SSS.

Good job. Money in your pocket and an item out of your house.

[ua_guy]

I honestly can't remember if I've posted about this before, but I'm returning to the idea... I have no intention of becoming an eBay seller-hobbyist, but I do have an inventory of things I'd like to send down the road. Some of them (IMO) are just too good to toss or donate (A goodwill store isn't the right audience). I've got some old and hard to find electronics for vehicles, and I think I may finally put some of the more collectable pieces of my childhood toy collection up. It's been sitting in boxes for decades taking up space, and it's probably just time... I'm not looking to make big money, but I do want this stuff to get to people that want it.

In thinking about it, I've amassed a collection of boxes and packing materials that could be reused to send this stuff out. I suppose the next thing I'll need is a seller's account (or maybe I can use my existing one) on eBay? The last unknown that I need to sort is shipping. I've received eBay merchandise shipped through Pitney Bowes, Auctane Shipstation, USPS, stamps.com, and a few other venues. Is there a preferred one for low-cost or does each piece need to be evaluated separately?

[QuarterMillionMan]

This is my simple packing setup for shipping. Take my Dell laptop that I just sold. I kept the original box and wrapped it with poly vinyl and taped the shipping label (Domino's gift card to cover sensitive information). Ebay makes it easy to print the shipping label and applies a nice discount as well. Ebay gives 3 shipping options; USPS, Fedex, or UPS and Ebay calculates the costs for shipping for each which makes it easy and applies a discount as mentioned earlier. Ebay allows you to print the shipping label vs going in-person to a brick and mortar store. You won't need Pitney Bowes, Acutane, Stamps.com, etc. Everything is done from Ebay's website. Disneysteve recommended that I use Pirate Ship but as a novice seller Ebay's shipping meets all of my needs.

[disneysteve]

In thinking about it, I've amassed a collection of boxes and packing materials that could be reused to send this stuff out. I suppose the next thing I'll need is a seller's account (or maybe I can use my existing one) on eBay? The last unknown that I need to sort is shipping. I've received eBay merchandise shipped through Pitney Bowes, Auctane Shipstation, USPS, stamps.com, and a few other venues. Is there a preferred one for low-cost or does each piece need to be evaluated separately?

You need a postal scale. You can get a good one on Amazon for $25 (and probably find a used one on ebay for less). I recommend this one: https://www.amazon.com/Accuteck-Ship...1zcF9hdGY&th=1

You can definitely ship using used boxes and bubble mailers. The only thing to watch for is that you can't reuse Priority Mail boxes unless you are actually shipping with Priority Mail, which you really never need to do since they created Ground Advantage a couple of years ago.

The easiest and generally cheapest (or extremely close) way to buy your postage is right through ebay. They give a very nice corporate discount. Be sure to go into your shipping preferences and opt out of passing along your discount to buyers. Let them pay retail price while you pay the discounted rate. That way the difference helps offset your fees and materials.

USPS is generally going to be your preferred carrier unless you're shipping larger items (over 20" long) in which case UPS usually wins. You can use the shipping calculator on ebay to check. Pirateship.com also has a good calculator.

Post or message me any time with questions. I'm happy to help.

[disneysteve]

Everything is done from Ebay's website. Disneysteve recommended that I use Pirate Ship but as a novice seller Ebay's shipping meets all of my needs.

Pirate Ship used to have an advantage in that they offered Cubic Rate shipping with USPS and ebay didn't, but ebay added it last year erasing that benefit. Now I really only use Pirate Ship for personal shipping and occasionally for ebay when I need a Media Mail label for an item I didn't list in a category that offers it on ebay.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Be sure to go into your shipping preferences and opt out of passing along your discount to buyers. Let them pay retail price while you pay the discounted rate. That way the difference helps offset your fees and materials.

Oh wow, thanks for this nugget of information. I always thought it was automatic and didn't know I had to opt out. For my laptop I had priced shipping at $19 for USPS ground advantage. When I printed my Ebay shipping label the shipping was only $9 so I thought cool the $10 automatically gets added to my total sale. So since I didn't opt out ahead of time that $10 went back to the buyer?

[QuarterMillionMan]

This is my payment page from Ebay. Buyer offered $55 which I accepted. Buyer also paid $19 shipping. Total $74. Ebay's promoting the ad $11.16. So, $74 - $11.16 = $62.84 - $9.25 shipping = $53.59. It doesn't look like the $10 went back to the buyers and I think I got the extra $10.

[disneysteve]

Oh wow, thanks for this nugget of information. I always thought it was automatic and didn't know I had to opt out.

It used to be automatic. They changed the default last year.

For my laptop I had priced shipping at $19 for USPS ground advantage. When I printed my Ebay shipping label the shipping was only $9 so I thought cool the $10 automatically gets added to my total sale. So since I didn't opt out ahead of time that $10 went back to the buyer?

No. If you set a flat shipping price, that's what the buyer paid you. You can see that in the order details. What I'm talking about is if you do calculated shipping. Then the buyer pays based on their location. If you pass along the discount, buyer will pay exactly what you pay, meaning you lose money in the process. If you opt out of passing along the discount, buyer will pay the retail price while you pay the commercial rate.

[disneysteve]

Buyer offered $55 which I accepted. Buyer also paid $19 shipping. Total $74. Ebay's promoting the ad $11.16.

I thought you promoted at 8%. $11.16 is 15% of $74.

You really should reconsider promoting at all. You paid ebay an extra $11.16 for no reason.

[disneysteve]

I went to multiple thrift shops and estate sales over the weekend and didn't buy any china which was disappointing. My trip to NC is rapidly approaching and I don't have nearly as much stock as I would like. I'm just under $3,000 and was shooting for $5,000. I've got 15 more days to shop so hopefully stuff will turn up. I'm planning to hit several thrift stores tomorrow outside of our area. I'm hoping that will turn up some stuff for me. I'm heading to an area about 30 minutes north of us. I mapped out 5 stores in a fairly small vicinity. I don't know that I'll get to all 5 but we'll see how it goes.

I ended up hitting 6 stores on Tuesday, 4 of which were new to me. I spent $52.47 and got stuff selling to Replacements for $490 plus a few things that will go on ebay.

Yesterday, DW and I went to 2 stores. We spent $57.04 and got stuff selling for $241 plus items for ebay.

Two day total of $109.51 spent and $731 in items for Replacements plus the ebay stuff. Not a bad outcome. That brings me up to $3,454 for Replacements with just under 2 weeks before my trip. Hopefully I can get that up to $5,000 by then. It's clearly possible seeing as I made over $700 in 2 days so a couple more successful outings like that would get me there. We'll see how this weekend's estate sales go and then there's a live auction on Monday.