Selling on Ebay

[Tone2TheBone]

My thread on the OCD pedal got me to thinking. How many of you sell on Ebay? I know a lot of you buy but do you sell as well? If you do sell.....how did you start out selling stuff and was it hard? Meaning....was it difficult to get people to bid on your things if you had low feedback because you were starting out. Obviously the more you've sold the more feedback you've received. Do any of you sellers have some advice to a 1 positive feedbacker?

[aeolian]

I've sold a few items on eBay, so can't say I have expert opinion.

Early last year I decided to sell my 1979 Les Paul Custom (after owning it for about 25 years I finally decided it is not worth keeping because I have another guitar I like better). I wanted to try eBay but at the time had not tried selling on eBay before. I got my feet wet by selling a vintage pedal, thereby figuring out how to do Paypal. Then I went on and sold the LP and it went smoothly.

I think the most important things are a clear and complete description of the item and good pictures. For the LP I set a reserve, although with the other few items I did not because they were low value items that even if the bidding do not go well I'm not out a lot of money.

Don't know whether this can help, and that's my experience.

aeolian

[duhvoodooman]

I built up a few positive feedbacks as a buyer before selling the first time. Having just one feedback is tough; some people will definitely shy away from that. Try to compensate with a detailed and accurate description of what you're selling, including defects/drawbacks (e.g. "has a few scratches and some buckle rash in the back, and one scratchy tone pot"), and some good, clear photos of the item. Don't try to be too slick or glib.

[Tone2TheBone]

Very cool comments guys thank you. Aeolian, I'm going to go about it your way too and sell maybe some pedals or something small. Thats kinda how I envisioned it. Your experience is very helpful to me. DVM, I've had friends sell fly rods for me on Ebay and boy did they know how to make something sound extraordinary! I would call them up after I'd see the auctions they'd done for me and go "you overdid it on the descriptions they'll never sell!". But guess what....they did and I usually got a lot more than my reserve. I think I'll fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to my own descriptions. Thank you also for your insight there. Thanks too Spud!

[Robert]

I've got 26 positive feedbacks on eBay. I agree, sell a few things small and make respond to buyers' questions and ship as soon as you can.

A 100% positive feedback rating is the goal.

I think I'm gonna sell an old DOD delay/sampler pedal next!

[Tone2TheBone]

I've got 26 positive feedbacks on eBay. I agree, sell a few things small and make respond to buyers' questions and ship as soon as you can.

A 100% positive feedback rating is the goal.

I think I'm gonna sell an old DOD delay/sampler pedal next!


All the stuff my friends sold for me I'd package and ship myself after the auctions were complete. I'm real good about that. I'd usually ship that day or the next so I could get my grubby hands on that moolah! Thanks for your tip sir.

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Tone .. with low feed back you have to do something to establish trust with your prospective buyer , let them know that you are on top of your game ... clear pictures , detailed description , let the buyer know how you will ship and package the item , something like " i will double box the amplifier and pack the outside and inside box with styrofoam peanuts and remove the tubes and wrap in bubble wrap " .. let the buyer know that you care about how the item will arrive .. and tell them " i'll ship within 24 hours of recieving payment. do your best to establish a level of confidence , I buy and sell on ebay on a pretty regular basis and have shipped guitars across the continent and also bought from the other side of the continent , and i can usually tell from the way a item is written up if a seller has his shite together even if he has little or no feedback .. hope this helps...6S9L

[Tone2TheBone]

6S9L - Thats a really good tip. With all this great help I'll be a powerseller someday. Thanks!

[warren0728]

i am interested in this thread too....i have been thinking about selling stuff on ebay (mostly antique cameras) but was worried about having no feedback as well.

I am wondering if it is really worth the trouble with all the time spent photographing, listing, answering emails, shipping and such for an item that may only go for 10 or 20 bucks....

thoughts?

ww

[Tone2TheBone]

i am interested in this thread too....i have been thinking about selling stuff on ebay (mostly antique cameras) but was worried about having no feedback as well.

I am wondering if it is really worth the trouble with all the time spent photographing, listing, answering emails, shipping and such for an item that may only go for 10 or 20 bucks....

thoughts?

ww

Holy Toledo I forgot about camera parts...:eek: I need to revise my Ebay auctions list.

[Spudman]

I'll sell almost anything on Ebay if I'm given the chance. That stuff that you were going to give to Goodwill...sell it. A little bit here and there adds up.

I'm amazed at what is one man's trash is another man's treasure. I've gotten money for stuff I never imagined anyone would want. Don't second guess what you are planning to get rid of. Shoot it - list it. Simple.

Don't forget to get some boxes for shipping too. If you stop in to a Kmart around 8:30 or 9 am they will either have a bunch of boxes by the compactor, floating around the store or will have some shortly. Usually they will let you have them if it isn't too many. They do make money recycling their cardboard. This goes for almost any chain store.

There is some great advise on this thread. Good luck.

[Tone2TheBone]

Good advice Senor Papas. Another concern of mine are those wacky emails I get constantly about my Ebay account being invaded, compromised, about to expire etc. I've heard those ARE phoney right? And never respond to them? Anyone know for sure?

[marnold]

Another concern of mine are those wacky emails I get constantly about my Ebay account being invaded, compromised, about to expire etc. I've heard those ARE phoney right? And never respond to them? Anyone know for sure?
My guess would be that they are almost 99.9% likely to be fake. Check the URL that they link to. Not the text of the link, the URL itself. It usually will begin with a domain other than .ebay.com. Rather than click on the link, just go to eBay itself and log in. If there really is anything wrong, you'll find out there.

[Tone2TheBone]

My guess would be that they are almost 99.9% likely to be fake. Check the URL that they link to. Not the text of the link, the URL itself. It usually will begin with a domain other than .ebay.com. Rather than click on the link, just go to eBay itself and log in. If there really is anything wrong, you'll find out there.

Thanks for the info Marnold. :)

[aeolian]

eBay is aware of these phishing emails. If eBay sends you email it is addressed specifically to your eBay account name in the body of the email. That's how you can tell it is legit.

aeolian

[Tone2TheBone]

eBay is aware of these phishing emails. If eBay sends you email it is addressed specifically to your eBay account name in the body of the email. That's how you can tell it is legit.

aeolian

*nods up and down* I see...I'll have to remember these things. Thanks man!

[Spudman]

Never ever ever ever ever ever (sorry I had my looper pedal on) open any ebay email asking you for: verification, is your item still for sale, will you sell outside of ebay, what is your reserve, can I be included into your accepted bidders list, etc.

Never click a link from any ebay email. I'm saying email and I'm not referring to your ebay selling status or watched items or ending soon emails that you get regularly.

If you receive any email from ebay asking you for anything ALWAYS go to your MY EBAY page and check your messages first. If the same thing is listed there as the email you just received then it is legit.

If it is not there: 1. go back to your email program 2. open the email so you can read it (don't click any links) 3. hit forward message in the tool bar and type spoof@ebay.com in the address 4. send the message 5. delete the email now.

[Tone2TheBone]

Spud - and this is because?

nasty viruses? scary clowns? wha? :)

[warren0728]

mostly phishing...you go to a site that looks like an ebay site and fill in all your contact info usernames passwords, cc numbers and such and bam...the bad guys have your info

ww

[Spudman]

Because there are people out there that want to mess up your life. Like warren says. They will take all your money and spend it without asking you first. I had it happen to the tune of $1600.

When you click or open something one of the phishers sends to you it puts a program or virus into your computer and they will get all your financial information if they can and you won't know about it until it is too late.

Credit card companies are getting pretty good at spotting the action on your account and notifying you, but by then the scammers have already done damage. It's a pain to fix it.

[Tone2TheBone]

Ahhh ok. Wow. Maybe this is why I'm scared of Ebay. I'll try to keep my wits about me. Thanks guys. :)

[r_a_smith3530]

Ahhh ok. Wow. Maybe this is why I'm scared of Ebay. I'll try to keep my wits about me. Thanks guys. :)

Tone, it really isn't all that bad, you just have to act smart. You wouldn't walk through the worst part of town wearing a $1,500 Armani suit, with Bling hanging off every inch of your bod, and you have to use the same sense when working eBay.

The only emails I open from eBay are the ones advising me that a watched item is ending soon or a Favorite search notice. SBC's SPAM blocker is pretty good at separating the wheat from the chaff, but my rule of thumb is that when I receive an email warning about some account issue, I go to eBay on my own and check for messages. If there is a problem with your account, you will find a message there.

Somewhat more worrisome than eBay though is PayPal. Read and understand their agreement. You may save yourself much grief.

If you've got an hour or two to burn, stop in at your local Borders or Barnes and Noble and skim through any number of books they have on eBay selling. Then do a little Internet research as well. Finally, start out small and work your way up. There are many people who started out just cleaning out their closets, who today make a decent living off of eBay. Who knows, you may be able to also.