Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[LivingAlmostLarge]

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She’s got the master to learn from. At CVS I was behind a woman buying Arianna Grande’s God is a woman perfume $55.

is that cheap or expensive?

[QuarterMillionMan]

I pay $8 for men's cologne so $55 for women's perfume seemed expensive.

[disneysteve]

I pay $8 for men's cologne so $55 for women's perfume seemed expensive.

$55 for a brand from a big name celebrity is cheap. It's crazy what people, men and women, pay to smell awful. Thankfully neither of us can stand the stuff so we don't buy any.

[disneysteve]

We went to an estate sale last week. In the bedroom, I found 3 vintage sealed packs of Joe Boxer men's underwear from Kmart. I paid $5 for all 3 packs.

It was one 4-pack and two 2-packs. I listed the 4-pack as one listing and the two 2-packs together as one listing.

Two days after listing them, the two 2-packs sold for full asking price of $119.

I have no doubt that the 4-pack will sell soon enough too.

I offered "free" shipping so I'll pay a few bucks to mail them but I'll still walk away with a very nice return on my $5 investment just from this sale, and even better once the other pack sells.

People are crazy but I've got no problem with that.

[disneysteve]

Our daughter is plugging along well with her growing ebay business. She has now made 18 sales in 8 weeks. Her weekly ebay payout yesterday was over $100 for the first time. She's up to 41 active listings and I know she bought 3 or 4 items the past few days that aren't listed yet. We've got a big estate sale to go to tomorrow and a few others over the weekend so hopefully she'll find some more treasures to sell from those.

[disneysteve]

It's been fascinating to have a front row seat to a brand new reselling business as I watch my daughter build her ebay empire. It is very strongly reinforcing everything that I always preach here about reselling being a great option for anyone looking to earn extra money.

She started from scratch with nothing on December 10. Two months later she has made 21 sales and grossed about $680. It's not a ton of money but she also hasn't been going at it full time. It's still a nice chunk of change and if someone was behind on their bills or trying to save up an EF or boost their retirement savings, it would certainly be helpful.

Her latest sale came this morning. A candle she bought at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago for $3 sold for $45. She bought two candles at that sale and had already sold one of them for $30. So a $6 purchase turned into $75 in sales in just a few weeks, so maybe about $60 net profit, 10 times her investment. Rinse and repeat and that becomes a nice steady income stream.

[Fishindude77]

Interesting way to make some $$ if you have the time, interest and patience to do it.
Most folks around here tend to use FB Marketplace and Ebay has kind of taken a back seat to FB.

I recently sold a couple things of my dads on FB and had them spoken for and sold within hours.

[ua_guy]

I don't think Ebay has taken a back seat to FB Marketplace. Completely different experiences mostly because it's designed around transacting and shipping online. eBay works very well in the space it's intended for. IMO it's not meant to compete or replace with Craigslist or FB Marketplace. CL's and FB Marketplaces, Offerup, are geared towards local pickup, in-person/ in-cash transactions. Different tools for different reasons.

I'd sell a used washer/dryer on FB Marketplace. I'd list a rare classic car part on eBay.

[disneysteve]

Interesting way to make some $$ if you have the time, interest and patience to do it. Most folks around here tend to use FB Marketplace and Ebay has kind of taken a back seat to FB. I recently sold a couple things of my dads on FB and had them spoken for and sold within hours.

ebay and marketplace are different animals. They serve different purposes and different audiences.

I use marketplace to sell larger items that aren’t easily or affordably shipped. And I buy a lot of stuff on marketplace that I resell on eBay and elsewhere. Marketplace is when you just want it gone and are hoping somebody in your area will want it. But if you want the best prices for your stuff, eBay is the way to go.

My ebay listings are seen by over 130 million people around the world, and I have made sales to pretty much every developed nation and all 50 states. Just in her first 2 months, DD has sold to buyers in 14 states. You don’t get that kind of reach with marketplace.

[ua_guy]

Marketplace and CL make it difficult to post in multiple areas as a seller, or search broad areas as a buyer. Craigslist specifically encourages in-person transactions only. It's a very manual process to either buy or sell beyond local reach, and the platforms don't facilitate remote transactions (buying/shipping) anyway.

For hard to find car parts, I've found some that I really wanted to buy, and I found them using nationwide search services for Marketplace and CL. Those services are clunky, but they do exist. Problem is, more than half the time I've contacted someone through those listing results from far away, they are simply unwilling to sell to me because I'm not local and can't do the transaction in person.

I too have bought things from all over the world on eBay.

[QuarterMillionMan]

FB market place and CL and Offer Up are good ways to get robbed or worse killed. Ebay is by far the safest way to sell items.

[disneysteve]

FB market place and CL and Offer Up are good ways to get robbed or worse killed.

I don't think that's true. Meet at Dunkin Donuts or your local police station or some other public place and don't go alone. If you're selling furniture or big stuff that needs to be picked up at your house, don't do it alone. Have someone else there with you and avoid doing it after dark.

I've bought and sold dozens of items on Marketplace. I've had people come to the house. I've gone to other peoples' houses. I've met at public places. I always take a look at their Facebook profile before agreeing to any business with them so I can at least see that they are a real person. Somewhat regularly I find that we have mutual friends or some other connection since they are mostly local. If their profile is blank, no photos, no friends list, I may pass on selling to them. If I'm buying, I look at their seller profile and ratings.

If you get robbed or worse in the course of a FBMP transaction, it's likely because you failed to do your homework first.

[ua_guy]

Same here. Dozens of items, some in neutral settings, some at our house, some at other people's houses. DH is my backup and vice versa, we usually go together, or the other is standing by. Never had a bad transaction from Craigslist or Marketplace. Not that it can't happen. Not a reason to be any less cautious. But it feels like about 99% of people on there are just buyers and sellers using the platforms as they are intended. At least for the stuff I've bought and sold.

I bought a car a few months ago off FBMP, everything went fine.

And of course I research buyers and sellers online if the opportunity presents. I also use a Google Voice number for buyer/seller communications, aside from my actual cell number.

[disneysteve]

I also use a Google Voice number for buyer/seller communications, aside from my actual cell number.

I never give out a phone number. I just use FB Messenger.

Also, I never give anyone my actual address until they are on their way to my house. Until then, I just give them a general idea of where I'm located usually telling them the address of the car dealer down the street or the swim club in our development.

[ua_guy]

The alternate phone number is mostly for Craigslist, although I see they've recently introduced a chat feature. I have not used it yet. I've mostly used FB messenger for transactions on there, although with the last car I bought I wanted a more direct contact with the seller. The title transfer was going to be complicated. Normally I'd have the seller meet me at the DMV and we'd transfer the title real-time but it was Veteran's Day, DMV closed, and I had enough information to know all of this was very low-risk and I wasn't going to get burned. I did need to call her after the sale and obtain another signature, and she was prompt and helpful just as I had expected.

Different methods for different sales. All in all, a phone number is very low risk if someone asks for one. To be doubly sure, and to keep my primary cell for close friends/family and primary contacts only, I use the Google Voice number for everything else. It's my business line I also use it for eBay transactions when shipping.