My first foray into selling items on eBay.

[Chordata]

So I have taken the dive into eBay. Over the last 5 days I've listed about 15 items (all DVDs, some bundles, etc.) for sale. I was discouraged until yesterday when NONE of them had any bids and my listing fees were $10.00+

Finally some movement today! I have a couple items with multiple bids and others with multiple watchers. Some of my items end tomorrow night. So far, some people are getting steals (e.g., a trilogy for $0.99) which kills me, but oh well.

What has your experience been with selling items on eBay? Ever lose big? Ever win big??


[P.S. I am not trying to violate any rules here, and I think I've not crossed the line. This thread is not to advertise my sales, etc. Just about the experience of selling on eBay.]

[supersix4]

usually the few things ive sold redskins parking pass and my enV1 sell phone

my phone sold for 165 with 15.00 shipping on a buy now

and my parking pass sold for 87

usually if they are things people REALLY want then just list them at or around the price and they will get snapped up

[Blu-Benny]

i've sold a bunch of stuff on ebay, haven't realy lost a lot of $$$, one thing that did kill me was i listed something like 10 movies, all 2 disc dvd sets, sold for $36 only.

i could've made 2x that had i been patient and just kept them all till our garage sale last week.

[scweb13]

Two big winners items that sold for me were a Macabre - Ed Gein long sleeve t-shirt for $65 and a mint AFI -All Hallows Eve 7" orange vinyl record for $225. Most of all the other stuff I've sold, has been pretty much average price and I've never really lost money on much.

[Beta Man]

I go to NY and Boston every year at the same time for a memorial thing (9/11) and I purchased tickets to a Red-Sox game..... good seats... etc.. from Stub-Hub 2+ months before we were supposed to go...... either way, that particular year, after 4 or 5 years of the memorial event being held the same day of the week, etc.... They changed up the date, and It conflicted with when I was going to be able to make the drive from NY, to Boston (We drive from Ohio, to NY, then Boston, then back to Ohio...) Either way... I had these tickets I couldn't use.....

The Red-Sox, Vs. The Yankees...... AT FENWAY.... and The Yankees were on the verge of not making the post-season.....

Either way.... I figured I'd hit the jackpot with Ebay, and lost a couple hundred dollars on the pair of tickets.....


GOOD NEWS though.... The weather was great while I was there, etc... and on the night of the game (was a Sat. Night Game....) it had about 3 hours worth of Rain Delays or something ridiculous, and got called after 7 innings or so..... and the Red Sox won by 4 or 5 runs I think..... either way.... I just remember telling my wife...

"Thank goodness we didn't go to THAT game!"

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

i've sold a bunch of stuff on ebay, haven't realy lost a lot of $$$, one thing that did kill me was i listed something like 10 movies, all 2 disc dvd sets, sold for $36 only.

i could've made 2x that had i been patient and just kept them all till our garage sale last week.

maybe, I know with video games and watching the prices I think sometimes you luck out then taking it to gamestop and getting $.50-7 per game/movie.

I know if I ever sold video games it would be an all or nothing deal rather then get $10-30 at game ripp off

[brettallica]

Hoping to sell a certain item on eBay at a value of $x is just like shopping on eBay and trying to find a certain item for $x or less: it all depends on the market for the item at the time of the auction. That's a pretty dynamic atmosphere in which to try and predict that an item will sell for a certain price.

The good thing about buying is if you don't need it immediately, you can usually just practice patience and eventually buy it for a reasonable price.

When selling, you don't have that luxury, since you're at the whim of the current market for that item, which as stated earlier is unpredictable at best -- unless you're talking about staples of the collectibles world like certain baseball cards or comic books or something. Then on top of that you have listing fees, which generally aren't much, but definitely cut into the final take-home.

I've only sold a handful of things on eBay, but when I have, I've had a set minimum in mind. You can either set a reserve (which I believe costs money), set a minimum (which can be unattractive to those who like to hunt and engage in a bidding war, like I like to do sometimes), or simply end the auction early if you're sensing that the item won't sell at the price you think it should.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by brettallica

Hoping to sell a certain item on eBay at a value of $x is just like shopping on eBay and trying to find a certain item for $x or less: it all depends on the market at the time of the auction. That's a pretty dynamic atmosphere in which to try and predict that an item will sell for a certain price.

The good thing about buying is if you don't need it immediately, you can usually just practice patience and eventually buy it for a reasonable price.

When selling, you don't have that luxury, since you're at the whim of the current market for that item, which as stated earlier is unpredictable at best -- unless you're talking about staples of the collectibles world like certain baseball cards or comic books or something. Then on top of that you have listing fees, which generally aren't much, but definitely cut into the final take-home.

I've only sold a handful of things on eBay, but when I do, I have a set minimum in mind. You can either set a reserve (which believe costs money), set a minimum (which can be unattactive to those who like to hunt and engage in a bidding war, like I like to do sometimes), or simply end the auction early if you're sensing that the item won't sell at the price you think it should.

both times I watched a few of my items go found a price that I thought would earn me some but still make someone say wow I must have that like with my cell phone they were going for like 150-180 so I stuck it in the middle and wa-la 20 people were watching it and 10 had bid I think to like 92 then someone came and took that buy now price.

+ shipping on the phone I came on the high end at 180 - a few bucks

as for the parking pass they are $30 but you can't find them anywhere so selling it for 87 was great

[PH3AR]

welcome back O_V_N!


are you gonna behave?

[Chordata]

Thanks - it's good to be back and able to post.

Heck, I thought I WAS behaving. I'll be extra careful and nice now.

[phlydude]

I had a person who collected all kinds of stuff...he went through phases and collected just to collect (disposable income, no family to speak of and only my FIL as a friend).
Well, one of his collections was DVDs, mostly in the horror genre. He gave me something like 300 DVDs for free - I sold them and made over $600 on the batches that I was able to sell. The others that didn't sell went to charity for a tax write off.

You would have never thought some of these movies would have ever sold for more than a $1 but some of them were apparently hard to find, limited editions or OOP and commanded a nice sum. One movie sold for $25 and then the wh0re I sold it to complained and said it arrived damaged (I bubble wrapped them and put them in priority mail envelopes). I had to give her $5 back to keep her happy...I told her to ship it back but she refused and then she tried to yank back her paypal payment.

For the most part, most people are cool but some are looking to scam you where they can...but the new feedback system is MUCH nicer to the sellers than it used to be.

[Laney]

<3 Ebay

I sold my broken PS3 that cant read disc for $180 last month.

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by Laney

<3 Ebay

I sold my broken PS3 that cant read disc for $180 last month.

Did you represent that it was in working condition?

[Laney]

Nope I stated it in my description that it doesnt read disc and someone still bought it.

[Chordata]

Originally Posted by Laney

Nope I stated it in my description that it doesnt read disc and someone still bought it.

Nice!

[PH3AR]

Originally Posted by Laney

Nope I stated it in my description that it doesnt read disc and someone still bought it.

wow thats awsome, wonder how much my dirty socks are worth?

[atomik kinder]

I haven't sold anything on eBay for a few years now. There was a time when I was listing stuff weekly. I would sell off old Laserdiscs and DVDs and VHS tapes that I wanted. I made some good cash on some of the stuff. I had sources for items on VHS and DVD that people just couldn't bother looking for anywhere else. Movies Unlimited was awesome in that they carried everthing. I would buy a few copies of movies that I knew were selling well on eBay and make double what I paid. I sold a Star Wars Special Edition LD box set for over $400! I only paid $75 for it when I purchased it from Columbia House at half price! Before eBay, the only place I was able to sell used Laserdiscs to was Big Emma, they would give you a pretty good price and you could buy some stuff at a pretty good price too. Out of print stuff could be pretty expensive though. I have sold some collectibles too, but most of them I really didn't make much money on, I was just trying to sell them because I no longer wanted them. I think the post office people really liked me. I always had my stuff in order and ready to go.

I have a few things now that I would like to sell, but I know in this market I wouldn't get much of anything for them if they would sell at all. Timing is everything. I have seen some things go for triple or more their original value and then a week later the exact same item would be luck to get that original value. It depends on how many people want it and how badly.

[Chordata]

Had 5 DVD items sell last night. Not thrilled with the end price, but it's better than $0, and now I feel better upgrading to BD.

Shipping killed me. I totally did not factor in purchasing materials to ship, shipping confirmation, etc. I only charged $3.00, and it came out to about $5.00 per item (at least).

[phlydude]

That is the mistake...find out what flat shipping is and use as much free material as you can get from the postal service (envelopes, tape, etc). Tack on $1 - 1.50 on the shipping to cover the bubble wrap and the Paypal fees

[DutchBoy]

Originally Posted by O_V_N

Had 5 DVD items sell last night. Not thrilled with the end price, but it's better than $0, and now I feel better upgrading to BD.

Shipping killed me. I totally did not factor in purchasing materials to ship, shipping confirmation, etc. I only charged $3.00, and it came out to about $5.00 per item (at least).

Ship in a bubble mailer (size 0, 6x9"), First Class with delivery confirmation. A standard DVD will fit perfectly in them. .75c for the bubble mailer, .75 for delivery confirmation, and 1.50$ FCM will get it to anyone in the US within 3 days for $3.

It's how I ship all of the stuff I do on eBay now. I don't even offer anything else.

phlydude's advice is sound as well. You can order stuff straight from the Post Office (online) or pick it up there.

For me, I'm at Target all the time so I just usually buy a package of bubble mailers whenever I go in; I know I'll need them at some point in time. Plus, like I said, DVDs (or blus!) fit inside them perfectly and they are perfectly protected.