Anyone selling on eBay?

[fourhats]

After several moves, and emptying the parental home, I find myself overwhelmed with stuff. I've donated what I can, and gone to consignment shops, but what's left has real value. I see that similar items have been selling pretty well on eBay (I checked on sold items, not just listings, in order to get a sense of pricing, etc.). I've read all the instructions and tips for selling, and am thinking of dipping a toe in the eBay water.

Has anyone out there sold things this way? I have purchased plenty of things through them over the years, but never sold anything and could use some helpful tips, hints, warnings, etc.

[spork]

I have been selling unwanted stuff on eBay since the time when you received a paper check in the mail from the buyer, waited for it to clear at the bank, then shipped the item. Some things I've noticed:

• Choose the shipping method that is most convenient for you. For me, this is bundling the cost of a USPS priority mail flat rate box into the starting bid and advertising "free shipping." For books I add $4.00 to the starting bid and ship media mail rate.
• If you are shipping USPS, print your own shipping labels with postage at home. You will get a discount on the postage and pay less than if you purchased it at the post office. Ebay makes this easy to do.
• Books have gotten incredibly tough to sell. If you see copies of your book with a starting bid of $0.01 and $3.99 shipping, well, you're going to spend more money on an envelope and tape than you're going to net.
• If you do list books, include the ISBN numbers in the listings.
• Put multiple photos of your item in the listing. For example, when I list used running shoes, I have front, back, right, left, top, and bottom views.
• I always choose "no returns" and specify this in the item's description. I do not want the hassle. My item descriptions are very detailed and my attitude is that people purchase at their own risk.

A yard sale is often a quicker and easier way to sell off unwanted possessions. Or Craig's List. And you don't have to pay a commission on sales.

[Hegemony]

Your hourly rate for selling stuff on eBay will often end up being pretty low unless you're careful. It helps if you spend the minimum on packaging — reuse boxes, buy tape on sale, go to the post office only when you're already driving nearby, etc. Get it all down to a routine.  Search for similar things and make sure you list yours in the same categories and with the same tag words, so people can find them.  Things sell better if you include shipping in the price.  If you do auctions rather than Buy-It-Now, have them end late Sunday evenings, as buyers like to surf the offerings on Sunday. You'll know after a month or so, once you get the hang of it all, whether the effort is worth it to you. It helps to regard it as sort of a hobby than happens to bring in money, rather than a profit-generating activity.

[fourhats]

Thanks Spork, and Hegemony, for these really useful tips. I generally donate books (or sell to used bookstores), so these are things that I'd like to go to those who will appreciate having them, rather than having them end up in my local thrift shops. I need to make some space after downsizing, so making much money isn't the objective. What you've suggested helps a lot.

[Hegemony]

One thing to know is that there will be local people who scour the thrift shops, and either sell the finds on their own specialty sites or on eBay themselves.  I have a friend who does just this with ceramics, and another friend who works for an online used-book dealer.  Nothing at a thrift shop in our town will get by them.  So if you get tired of the whole enterprise and donate your things to a thrift shop, someone will be looking for them and will get them to the right buyers.

[Anselm]

I sell mostly books for extra income.   I love doing it but the company is a disaster.   There are new gimmicks and rules every few months in their attempt to compete with Amazon and boost their share price.  Fees are much higher today.  You can refuse returns but if the buyer claims SNAD  (item not as described) then eBay sides with the buyer.  You can no longer offer short term fixed price listings.  Everything must be GTC (available until sold) unless it is an auction.  I advise not doing an auction unless you are certain that you have a popular item.  Otherwise you will be giving it away.   I still find nice things at thrift stores but the lack of valuable items is not only due to the sellers who are taking the nice things.  Goodwill sends their nicest items to be sold on Shopgoodwill.com.

At first I found it confusing and intimidating so I had to ask my students if they had sold anything on eBay.   I wish I started earlier.  My sales are on the way up but not because of anything the company is doing.  The trick is to find some specialty that interests you and become knowledgeable on what is valuable.  Common bulky objects should be sold preferable on Facebook Marketplace with no fees or shipping costs.   

[spork]

I always include the ISBN number for a book to avoid the "item not as described" possibility. I once had a buyer complain because I sold a publisher's desk copy that happened to have a different ISBN than the retail book. Same exact content, cover, everything. But the buyer was obviously going to try to resell it on the used textbook market.

[. . .]

what's left has real value.

[. . .]

You might be surprised at what is not valued at a price that makes selling on eBay worth the time and effort. Used clothing generally won't sell unless it is a fairly distinctive brand. A Prada bag will sell but not a Coach. Or a Patagonia jacket but not a Columbia Sportswear. A well-advertised yard sale might be a better way to quickly put a significant dent in the pile of stuff and get cash in hand without losing on commissions and shipping.

The days of eBay being a platform where you could easily earn a few dollars and keep items out of the landfill are long gone. It's mostly a host for digital storefronts now, and prices are usually better, at least for the products I buy, on Amazon.

[monarda]

As a buyer, I use eBay for clothing. It's become hard to find 100% cotton jeans that don't have spandex in them, and eBay has been my main source. I just bought a 15-pack of simple laser pointers. I give them to my research students. It's actually a great place to buy lab equipment. Our lab has an eBay account. We're about to buy more freezer racks, at about 1/3 the retail price.

For small electronics, we discovered swappa.com  I recommend that. We just got a new used iphone with 100% battery capacity.

[irhack]

I sold a single item on ebay last year- a musical instrument. I was surprised to receive a 1099 from paypal this January. So, on top of paypal fees, ebay fees, and myself underestimating shipping costs, I also had a 1099 to account for. Google said I could leave it off my taxes so I did, I'm sure I lost money on the transaction but I have no idea how I would prove that if the feds come calling. Just something else to consider.

I'm selling another instrument and am going through a local dealer. Forget ebay.

[fourhats]

Thanks for the reality check, especially about additional costs and fees. The items I was thinking of listing are British and French, and recently sold on eBay for between $35 and $155. In my small town, I don't think the local thrift stores would be interested, or that there would be a market for them, although there definitely seems to be a wider market. Clearly I have more thinking to do.

[magnemite]

For a time I bought and sold items regularly on eBay, but I stopped when I had a really bad experience with a buyer, who basically lied about something he had purchased from me, and got into some really personal character assassination types of statements in their feedback. This is when I found that eBay will do quite a lot to protect the rights and experiences of buyers, but not so much to protect sellers. So, decided this is not worth doing any more.

It is a decent, and relatively easy (until things go wrong) way to sell things, and so for a limited-time venture such as the OP likely has, this might be worthwhile. If you have not purchased very many items on eBay, I would recommend you do so to gain experience and user reviews- your "rep" as both a buyer and seller is important, and can influence whether someone will pay good money for what you wish to sell.

[fourhats]

Thanks, Magnemite. I've bought a lot over the years so have a high rating as a buyer. I hoped that might help me as a seller. But your story about a rude buyer is giving me pause, for sure.

[spork]

Thanks, Magnemite. I've bought a lot over the years so have a high rating as a buyer. I hoped that might help me as a seller. But your story about a rude buyer is giving me pause, for sure.

As an example, I recently sold a pair of used pair of New Balance running shoes. The first bidder sent me a message saying he bid on the item by mistake because he read "New Balance" as "new" and "I can't wear someone else's shoes." I replied by telling him that he needed to contact eBay. In the end someone else outbid him. But this is the kind of flakiness that one occasionally encounters. To be fair, the same thing happens with Craig's List.