Ebay sellers thread (other platforms too)

[QuarterMillionMan]

Some questions for disneysteve, did you list it at $100 and the buyer paid $100? Or did you list it higher let's say $120 and the buyer offered $100 and you accepted? Last question, would it have been more profitable if you listed it for auction and started the listing at $100, do you think you could have gotten more?

[disneysteve]

Some questions for disneysteve, did you list it at $100 and the buyer paid $100? Or did you list it higher let's say $120 and the buyer offered $100 and you accepted? Last question, would it have been more profitable if you listed it for auction and started the listing at $100, do you think you could have gotten more?

The last one like it that sold went for $98.56. I purposely listed high at $129 so I'd have room to bargain. Someone sent an offer for $100 and I accepted it, and was perfectly happy with that amount.

Auctions on ebay are really best for items of uncertain value but high demand. You want to let the market set the price and hopefully get two or more people into a bidding war. This was not the item for that scenario. Had I auctioned it, it may or may not have sold, and I wouldn't have started at $100. Auctions need to start lower to attract bidders, but then you run the risk of only getting one bid and the item selling for that low price. I'm pretty sure I did better listing it with a set price.

To give a good auction example, a few months ago I listed a lot of vintage GI Joe stuff - 2 dolls, 2 footlockers, and a bunch of accessories. It's hard to put an exact value on a large lot like that so I did an auction. I started it at $30, which I knew was way low. It got a ton of watchers and multiple bidders and ended up selling for $365 which is way more than I would have priced it at had I done a fixed price listing.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Member since 2014, 100% positive feedback (392).

[disneysteve]

Member since 2014, 100% positive feedback (392).

Member since 1997. 100% positive feedback 1,211.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Wow impressive for that long and that many.

[disneysteve]

Wow impressive for that long and that many.

Only about 10-20% of buyers leave feedback. I’ve certainly sold (and bought) a lot more than 1,200 items in 25 years.

[disneysteve]

At the same sale where I bought the trains, I bought 3 pieces of glass - 2 vases and a bowl, all matching and really beautiful items. I didn't know anything about them but could tell they were quality. No labels or markings. I paid $5 each so $15 total.

Did some research on my own which led me to believe they were Murano glass from Italy. Joined 2 Murano glass groups on Facebook and posted photos there. Not only did they confirm they were Murano but one user actually had a scan of the original dealer catalog showing my items from the 1960s. That was cool.

Anyway, I listed one of the vases for $59 and accepted an offer this morning for $53. Another example of a 10x return. I listed the bowl a few days ago and will now list the other vase as well. I did tell this buyer that I had 2 but she only wanted one.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm curious How will you pack & ship it without it cracking? And if you don't mind me asking how much did you charge for shipping?

[disneysteve]

I'm curious How will you pack & ship it without it cracking? And if you don't mind me asking how much did you charge for shipping?

I sell a lot of breakables so I'm not concerned about that at all. I have a stock of both small and large bubble wrap, brown kraft packing paper, and sealed air pillows. The main thing when packing fragile items is to make sure there is a minimum of 2 inches of padding all around the item and more is better. Then make sure the wrapped item is snug in the box with no movement when you shake it. This vase is 9" tall and 5" wide. It will go in a 15x15x15" box. A couple of inches of bubble wrap and then nestled in crumpled packing paper on all sides to cushion it. It's also important to fill voids so I'll stuff packing paper into the vase. That helps keep it from collapsing if there is an impact. The same goes if you're shipping a mug or anything with an opening large enough to stuff.

Many sellers say to double box breakables. I've never done that and have never had a problem.

This vase is going from NJ to CT. I charged $13 shipping. It may be slightly more depending on final weight with packaging but I will likely also resize the box to 15x15x11 which will be more than sufficient and reduce the shipping cost. I don't care if my quote is off a bit now and then because I have a good profit margin and that goes both ways in that sometimes my final cost is less than I charged so it all balances out over time.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Once I sold a new boxed dish set but was afraid it would break in shipping so I made it free local pick up and a woman in Long Beach came to pick it up. It took long to sell because only local buyers nearby would be attracted to it. And I don't have all those shipping supplies that you have.

It was a 12 piece Gibson dish set. It was a free gift from Valley View casino. Sometimes the free gifts are nice products. Sometimes those free gifts are worthless.

[disneysteve]

Once I sold a new boxed dish set but was afraid it would break in shipping so I made it free local pick up.

I hate shipping dishes. When I have bought some, which I've since decided not to do anymore, I piece them out rather than deal with shipping a whole set. I'll sell just 2 or 4 plates or bowls at a time. Even if I could get more for a set, it's not worth the hassle.

[disneysteve]

I need to learn to check things more carefully when shopping. Two fails this weekend.

I bought a lot of video game discs, PlayStation and XBox. I didn't open and inspect each item. Got home and found that one case was empty. Also, a couple of them don't have the manual. Not so bad overall. I got them cheap enough that it won't matter. I should still make a nice profit, but had I known that, I would have tried to pay a little less.

I bought a boxed DVD set of a PBS series only to get home and realize there are 10 discs in the box but the set actually came with 12 so one sleeve is missing. Nothing I can do about that one. I'll try to sell it as is but it's obviously worth less than I thought. It was only $2 so not a huge loss fortunately.

On a positive note, my goal is to earn at least $500/month profit from my ebay sales. I hit that on October 14th. I'm now at about $707 as of today with 15 days left to the month. I'm hoping I can get up to $1,000 for October. And I'm just about at my goal of 200 listings. I'm at 194 right now (was 196 but I just sold 2 items). I've got a bunch of things to list today so may get to 200 before the end of the day.

[disneysteve]

One thing I love about ebay is that I'm always learning new things.

I bought a tote of video games yesterday as I mentioned above. Also in that tote was a stack of gamer magazines. I'm not a gamer. Don't play them. Don't sell them. This was a totally blind purchase with zero research before buying.

I came home and researched the games and they all go for about $7-15 so not too bad. I paid $30 for 9 games plus the magazines. I listed a few of the games last night and the rest today. Two have already sold for $8 and $12.

After dinner tonight, I decided to check out the magazines. Turns out those are worth more than the games. 5 issues of the Beckett Yu-Gi-Oh guides which sell for about $15 each. One Pokemon official guide that goes for $20-25. And 9 issues of Game Informer magazine which aren't worth much individually but I can probably get $15-20 if I sell them all together. So probably $100 or so worth of magazines along with the $70 or so of game discs from my $30 purchase. Not a huge win but easy to list and ship. I'll take it. And I'll put those magazines in my mental database of things to be on the lookout for when I'm out sourcing.

[disneysteve]

I hit my listing goal and am currently at 201 active listings. That could change at any time, of course. I sold 5 items yesterday and 1 today and just sent out offers on 4 more. I just have to keep listing more to stay over the 200 mark.

I bought a tote full of LEGO Bionicles on Saturday. There are 15-20 figures. I need to dump them out, see which ones are complete, and then try to match up the loose parts in the bin with the ones that are not complete. That should be fun.

I responded to a "curb alert" post from the Freebies app today. A house nearby apparently had a yard sale on Saturday and put everything they didn't sell out at the curb for folks to take. It was a lot of stuff. I could have taken much more but didn't want to overwhelm myself so I picked through and selected just a few items that I thought might be worthwhile. I haven't looked everything up yet (I did no research curbside). I'm sure a few things will go back to the trash or Goodwill but hopefully at least a couple of things will be worth selling.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Question for the boards, what would you do in my situation. I ordered this antennae from Canada $40 plus $20 shipping which was delivered in my apartment mailroom on 10/17/22 (I was in Mexico and returned home 10/18/22 at 1:00 am but it was not in my mailroom). My apartment complex has 40 units so someone stole it, bummers. Should I consider it a loss. Should I file a claim with eBay? What options do I have? It took a few weeks for it to arrive and I was looking forward to testing it out but now my jaw on the floor.