Thread: questions about selling on Ebay

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I have several Mercedes Benz parts that I would like to sell, along with my Ford Tempo ( as a parts car ) but, all I have ever done is buy off Ebay and very little of that ( 4 items since last april when I opened my account )... what do I need to know before I list somthing? I know I want a reserve on basicly everything, unless it's somthing small

Figure out how to package up what you sell and how much it will weight, helps for figuring shipping costs which might affect bidding.

Howdy!,
Don't use a reserve price, bidders don't like them, set a starting price that you can live with, and you'll get more bidders. Plus if it does not sell, you'll have to pay a % as if you did sell it. I have relisted things and sold them for more with the reserve removed than when it had a reseve price auctions.
If you don't put how much shipping is, they are going to ask, know what it weighs & size before you list it, their going to ask. I inflate the shipping by no more than $2.00, it'll never be the same when you actually ship it. I don't make money off shipping I charge actual shipping costs.
I only except Paypal, cashiers checks, I will take a personal check, but I have to sit on them in the bank for a week before it clears, their bank. I do the same with cashiers check, money orders, postal checks, Make sure they clear BEFORE you ship!
If you have more then one of anything sell one at a time, you'll get more the if you say you have 2, 5, 10, etc.
Do 7 day listings, more people will see it I don't end auction in the mid days, I like about 7:00 pm west coast, 10:00 east coast to end at. and not on friday nights & saturdays (night is ok), more people are gone or busy during the day, or during shows like Idol, they forget.
I sell and buy on Ebay all the time.

Good Luck!

Pat

I am a former Ebay-aholic, and over the years have sold literally tons of stuff there.......everything from small car parts to 4 of my own boats. I say former because Ebay is changing to the point where I really don't care for it any more. The new rules are making it very tough and the rates are getting so that by the time you take out listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees, etc, Ebay is the real winner.

However, that being said, I have made a bunch of money and gotten higher prices than I would have gotten any other way. I have also only been stung a few times by people who bid and don't pay.

Here are some things I learned:

1) Always put a gallery picture so that people can see a preview of what they are going to look at.

2) We found no difference if we ran the ad for 3 days or 5, and the 3 day listing seems to do just as well. We ended up running exclusively for 3 days.

3) I DO use a reserve price. If I want $100 for something that is the reserve I put, but I put something like $ 10 as an opening bid. It gets the action started. I shy away from bids where the guy puts a high number to start out. As an example, I sold one boat for $ 9400 with a reserve of $ 8000, but my starting bid was $ 500. I had 30 some bidders on that boat.

4) The heading is very important. I always use the words "hot rat rod" in every car or car part ad even if it isn't a rat rod thing because that category gets the highest number of lookers historically. If it is a big item that you are not going to ship, put your location at the end of the heading, for example:

1949/49 FORD TUDOR/HOT RAT ROD/V8/SW FL.

The reason I do that is so someone looking at cars will say "hey, here is one in my area" and stop to look.

5) Spell your terms out clearly. If it is a car, tell them you want XX amount paid via Paypal immediately (Like $ 500 or so) and the balance in cash when picked up. If it is a car or something being picked up they generally will email you and say they pick it up and pay cash, but you have to spell out in your ad that you want it gone in no longer that XX number of days. The reason for getting the down payment is to show they are serious. If someone says to me they are coming in a day or two, I let the down payment slide.

6) The only hassles I have had are on bigger items like boats and cars. Some people think they are bidding so they can come and THEN make a decision to buy or not............NO WAY. When they bid they own it, and you need to say that in your ad. Even doing that sometimes you get the occasional flake.

7) If it is a car, take lots of pictures, like maybe 5 or so, and if there are areas that are not perfect, spell that out and shoot some pictures of them. You want to be honest and not have someone call you out on it when it comes time to pay.

I'm sure every person who sells on Ebay has their own methods, but these are some that have worked for me. Good luck.

Don

Thanks for the help, makes sense not using a reserve.. the first Item I ever bought off Ebay was a exterior sunvisor for a '49-'52 Chevy, reserve price was only $100 and I kept getting frustrated cause I bid like 3 times and didn't meet the reserve. I ended up dropping $272 for it. it is in mint condition ( was restored for another car ) so it was worth it.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I am a former Ebay-aholic, and over the years have sold literally tons of stuff there.......everything from small car parts to 4 of my own boats. I say former because Ebay is changing to the point where I really don't care for it any more. The new rules are making it very tough and the rates are getting so that by the time you take out listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees, etc, Ebay is the real winner.

However, that being said, I have made a bunch of money and gotten higher prices than I would have gotten any other way. I have also only been stung a few times by people who bid and don't pay.

Here are some things I learned:

1) Always put a gallery picture so that people can see a preview of what they are going to look at.

2) We found no difference if we ran the ad for 3 days or 5, and the 3 day listing seems to do just as well. We ended up running exclusively for 3 days.

3) I DO use a reserve price. If I want $100 for something that is the reserve I put, but I put something like $ 10 as an opening bid. It gets the action started. I shy away from bids where the guy puts a high number to start out. As an example, I sold one boat for $ 9400 with a reserve of $ 8000, but my starting bid was $ 500. I had 30 some bidders on that boat.

4) The heading is very important. I always use the words "hot rat rod" in every car or car part ad even if it isn't a rat rod thing because that category gets the highest number of lookers historically. If it is a big item that you are not going to ship, put your location at the end of the heading, for example:

1949/49 FORD TUDOR/HOT RAT ROD/V8/SW FL.

The reason I do that is so someone looking at cars will say "hey, here is one in my area" and stop to look.

5) Spell your terms out clearly. If it is a car, tell them you want XX amount paid via Paypal immediately (Like $ 500 or so) and the balance in cash when picked up. If it is a car or something being picked up they generally will email you and say they pick it up and pay cash, but you have to spell out in your ad that you want it gone in no longer that XX number of days. The reason for getting the down payment is to show they are serious. If someone says to me they are coming in a day or two, I let the down payment slide.

6) The only hassles I have had are on bigger items like boats and cars. Some people think they are bidding so they can come and THEN make a decision to buy or not............NO WAY. When they bid they own it, and you need to say that in your ad. Even doing that sometimes you get the occasional flake.

7) If it is a car, take lots of pictures, like maybe 5 or so, and if there are areas that are not perfect, spell that out and shoot some pictures of them. You want to be honest and not have someone call you out on it when it comes time to pay.

I'm sure every person who sells on Ebay has their own methods, but these are some that have worked for me. Good luck.

Don

Thanks for the help.. I just have 4 boxes of parts that fit '77-'83 MB 240D's ( I parted out a '83 b4 it went to the crusher )... but I have no 240D, my dad has 1 but it's mint cond and needs none of these parts.


For the Tempo. I'm going to make it clear, it's sold as is, where is. pickup only. I just cleaned it out today.

Don spelled it all out been on ebay seven years have only did 35 buy and sells but explan it all in the listing and you won't get to many headaches. If there is no pic i pass the add may have been a good part but the pic catches my attention . Allways have in there you reserve the right to end listing for having it listed locally.

Oh one other thing this Craigslist is up and coming and its free . Here you place the amount you want if it sells here its your local listing to end Ebay.

I'll just mostly reinforce what others have said. GOOD pictures are a must, some folks put up a small, poor resolution pic...........complete waste of time. The better the pic, the more thorough your description, the more likely you'll get more and better bids. On a really nice piece I employ the "make this picture larger" option, helps make the buyer feel more secure, and cuts down on the number of email questions. You want to think about this stuff as if you're the buyer not the seller............what would you be looking for in pics and description if you were buying.?

The reserve thing is kind of a judgement call. I agree it has the potential of limiting bidder interest, and overuse is risky to a degree. I use it to protect myself on pieces I feel are way above normal quality. The potential buyers may otherwise lump my part in as no better quality than the scurvy one they saw last week. You can emphasize that in your description, but having the reserve helps. Remember, those who bid this week aren't always the ones who will be there next week. The guy who values what you have more so may not be looking today, but will be tomorrow. I'm a curmudgeon about disclosing reserve. When someone writes wanting to know what it is I won't tell them because I don't believe they're a serious bidder. My reply is "bid what you think it's worth, if it's enough you'll see the reserve, if not then it's not what you want to pay".........that's the whole point of an auction, get people to compete and try to outbid one another, if the buyer doesn't like that kind of deal then fine..........don't participate in auctions! Otherwise............MAN UP!

I use the shipping calculator, and as mentioned add a fudge factor. I do it by adding a couple pounds to the actual weight (yeah, I weigh the part and a box before listing to get close). Again this accomplishes two things; it cuts down on the emails (which can sometimes be a pesky nusance), and it asures people that you aren't going to pad the shipping to make up for disappointing bid amounts. This has been a rising problem on ebay for the past couple years, people gouging on the shipping after the close because they thought they should have gotten more for the part. Some people who don't realize how expensive it has gotten for shipping will perhaps balk at what the calculator shows, but in time they'll learn or leave. To give you an idea of how "sensitive" an area this has become, there's a satisfaction rating on sellers using a star system, 5 stars being the best. The only area where I have a fraction of the fifth star is in shipping cost, even though what I charge is based on the calculator that the buyer knows before he bids (if he's paying attention), and sometimes it's a little above, or below actual (usually less than a dollar either way).

Deciding whether to kill an auction early if the price competition doesn't seem high enough has gotten riskier (yet another reason to use the reserve when necessary). More folks are aware of esnipe and won't be placing a bid til the last few seconds. As a buyer I use it often so as to not cause competition in the bidding and keep the price down (again, it's all part of the auction process, if someone doesn't like it they should stay away). As a seller I watch the number of people that have earmarked the item. If it's a high number there's a good chance that a sniper is waiting......not a guarantee, just a good chance. It's a gut call, again, some weeks are better than others. BTW, summer is probably the worst time to sell, but best time to buy, fewer buyers to compete for/with.

As for cost it has gotten higher. I also use paypal figuring that that increases the number of buyers because they don't have to make a trip to get a money order (I choose not to mess with checks), even though that runs around 3% fee. The paybacks are that a majority of the items I sell at any one time get paid for within the first 36 hours after auction close. That means I can make fewer trips to the shipping office/post office because multiple items are paid at once. The money orders come to a PO box, so that takes two trips (though they're usually tied in with other purposes). I figure on an approximate total selling cost of 10%, which ends up pretty close. If they pay with MO it would be 3% less, a small bonus. If they're local pickup then I don't have to spend time packing, another bonus. Some think 10% is a high number, but after having done the swap meet thing for more than 30 years, I feel it's a good trade off. I'd hate to count the hours I've spent loading the truck, working through the conga line to get to my stall, unload the truck, sit in unpredictable weather for a couple days, wait in the conga line to get to my booth to load out at the end of the meet, and then shuffle in the conga line to get out and unload at home again. I'm toooooo old for that game anymore. Besides, almost every auction cycle I get at least one surprise......an item will sell for waaaaayyyyy more than I expected......I like that!!

Craigslist is a good alternative, I recently offed a lot of good parts from a '40 Ford through there. Almost every guy who came over to pick up part A ended up seeing a couple more things he needed/wanted and drove off having left more pictures of Ben Franklin than he originally planned.

Cool, thanks... I have a lot of parts that are ok condition and some parts that are in good condition and valuble such as the perfect cond 240D Grille w/ the star emblem still intact and not broken off. prices for originals run $150-200, I'd be happy w/ $50 but I certinly don't want to let it go for some ridiculously low number.