Topic: how does ebay work anyway?

[1981cb650c]

I have used ebay but never sold on it before. How does selling on ebay work? Does it cost to list or only to sell? How many items can I list? etc. etc.etc

[Bob Wessner]

Go to eBay and prowl around. Lots of info on how to buy/sell.

[Klark Kent]

step 1: bend over
step 2: grab ankles
step 3: just kidding

list as many items as you want for a sliding scale rate plus (increasingly exorbitant) percentage of final sale price.
-KK

[seaweb11]

Go to eBay and prowl around. Lots of info on how to buy/sell.

[Gordon]

The overall cost to sell a particular item is determined by factors other than just the starting and ending price.

If you already have a good record as a buyer, and you're willing to start selling on that I.D., then you have a decent start because it's not wise to begin selling with a brand new, "0" I.D.  You'll just end up with a bunch of uneducated bidders and lower end prices that way. 

Doing a decent job of selling on ebay has a pretty steep learning curve, and, IMO, now is not a great time to get started.  Ebay seems to be doing their best to get rid of the small-time sellers, and are moving more toward the volume seller, "Amazon" type system. 

[S-Dog]

I just sold something with no reserve and $.01 start price. It sold for $98 plus $15 shipping... I was on the hook for around $3.35 total with 2 pictures

[heffay]

from the ebay site:

If you are not familiar with eBay’s fee structure, reviewing a simple example will help you understand how to use the fees tables to calculate the cost of selling an item.

Insertion Fee - If you want to sell on item on eBay, you create a listing using the Sell Your Item form. When you list an item, you are charged an Insertion Fee for the listing. The Insertion Fee is based on what you decide is the Starting Price of your item or the Reserve Price if one is included. For example, you want to sell your Sony camera. You list it with a Starting Price of $60.00. The Insertion Fee would be $2.00 (from the table on the fee page).

Final Value Fee - If the item sells, you are charged a Final Value Fee. The Final Value Fee is based on the final amount the item sells for. The Final Value Fee does not include shipping costs. For example, your item sells for $153.00. Your Final Value Fee would be $6.67. This is calculated as follows: $2.19 (.0875 times $25.00) plus $4.48 (.0325 times $128.00) for a total of $6.67.

Listing upgrades - Additionally, you may want to add a subtitle or an extra picture to your listing, a charge would be added for each listing upgrade. The charges also depend on the category and format you list in.

When you sell an item, you can review your fees on the Sell Your Item form before you submit your listing.

[754]

Be carefull out there..
Go to ebay and read the forums like soapbox.. it will enlighten you..

Be careful on your pricing, they wont tell you that 9.99 start is cheaper than 10.00 or 24.99 is less than 25.00

Seriously look at shipping.. pack like you would like to get it.. in one piece.. and ask yourself how long will that take.. some stuff takes longer to pack than you make on it, and shipping has gone way up.

The cost of not selling drove me away.. paying them money for something they never owned or touched.. just to take it for a walk on ebay..

A lot of smaller stuff just is not worth the effort..

[Uncle Ernie]

Ebay owns Paypal, and Paypal payments are on the total- which includes shipping.  Paypal charges the recipient 3%, so "fees" keep adding up.  Insertion fees are not too bad. Final value fees, extra pictures, enlarged pictures, start date fee (optional), an extra fee for a reserve, blah blah blah.
People seem to want a low start price and hate reserves.  I compromise and start higher if I'm afraid to give something away, but it's a gamble on timing and who sees the auction.
Take the wrapped package to the Post Office and weigh it.  You can figure postage at home on your computer, or just charge a flat rate.  GET INSURANCE automatically- don't even offer it.  Just get it.
Packing is very important; if the item gets to the recipients door damaged, you have to refund their money because they didn't order a damaged piece.  That's why you got insurance BTW- it's for YOU to recover YOUR money that you refunded.
Finding the right boxes drives me crazy.

Take big, well lit pictures and describe every stinky detail.  A lot of people take pictures in the garage with one bulb left on in the laundry room and all you get is a barely discernable shape.  Or, they take a picture of a bike with the sun BEHIND the bike.  Total shadow.  Bidders want detail.

[754]

Just throw it in a big enough box & getting shipping price plus a lb or 2 for packing material.. just in case it is a no sell..

And insurance will not cover you if you poorly packed it..

[DammitDan]

For example, your item sells for $153.00. Your Final Value Fee would be $6.67. This is calculated as follows: $2.19 (.0875 times $25.00) plus $4.48 (.0325 times $128.00) for a total of $6.67.

I didn't realize that the final value fee percentages were stepped like that.  I thought that the overall final fee was 8.75% of the selling price, not just on the first $25.

[GNXFan]

I have figured that it costs about 20% of the selling price for me to sell on E-Bay after I pay the listing fees, final value fees and PayPal fees. If you only have some small low priced stuff you are probably better off selling it elsewhere.

[heffay]

lots of people will add into their item description that they have added the listing fees into the sale price as they feel it is not the sellers responsibility to pay them.

honestly, i have absolutely no problem w/ this.  first, if someone is willing to disclose this measure they have taken then i automatically feel better about buying something from them.  secondly, i tend to agree.  the customer pays for the item and the shipping, why not pay for the opportunity they received to make the purchase.  it can go either way though... i've never actually charged more in an attempt to recoup the listing and selling fees.  just disclose what you are doing and no one gets hurt.

the thing i learned the quickest on ebay, though?  pay attention to shipping prices!  that's how people justify lowball starting bids by just jacking up their shipping to account for the low sale price. 

[nickjtc]

If you are selling multiple items it is worth waiting until there is an 'eBay Price Promotion'. Usually, about once a month, they reduce listing fees, across the board, to 10cents.

Also if you are selling something and want to target a specific audience you can log on the other sites, internationally. So if I want to sell something that may appeal to a Brit I'll list it on ebay.co.uk rather than ebay.ca or ebay.com.

As a bidder I have found that a possibly beneficial strategy is to bid on an item and then bid again at a higher price, staying witihn your limits, of course. This then shows as 2 bids and lets potential competitors know that you've upped the ante; it may help deter someone who is not committed to buying the item.

[tortelvis]

Just throw it in a big enough box & getting shipping price plus a lb or 2 for packing material.. just in case it is a no sell..

And insurance will not cover you if you poorly packed it..

+1
I work for a parts wholesaler and we ship a LOT of packages! It's standard practice for UPS to automatically declare "insufficient packaging" if anything gets broken. You're better off packing the hell out of stuff and charging a couple bucks extra to cover yourself. I see the boxes come off the truck every morning and there are always damaged packages. THe manufacturers should know better, but we get things like gas tanks shipped in a cardboard box with NO packing! One tank had to be ordered three times form Yamaha before we got one that wasn't dented. Take care.

[Uncle Ernie]

I tried telling potential bidders what was going on, and why I didn't want to use Paypal- Ebay pulled the auction for "fee evasion".  Ebay is sort of like Disneyland- they don't want the customers to know what goes on behind the scenes.  So- now I charge more for "shipping and handling".  When the winning bidder contacts me, I'll give then a discount for paying by check.

Having shipped hand-made lamps for quit a while, I'd guess I'm a pretty good packer.  It can take half a day to pack something properly- not to mention finding the right box.

[Gordon]

Well, my previous post about the direction of ebay was really just speculation, but here's the new, official word from an article in the NY Times.

"Less than an hour after being named to the top spot at eBay by the departing chief executive Meg Whitman, Mr. Donahoe said in a conference call with analysts that the company must move more quickly and aggressively to make eBay more appealing to buyers and sellers.

In an effort to reinvigorate growth of the core eBay site, Mr. Donahoe said he would shift eBay’s emphasis from auctions to fixed priced listing, which could make the experience of buying on eBay more like the one customers have come to expect from sites like Amazon.com. ."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/technology/24ebay.html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin


So much for letting the public decide the market value of an item.  It was a nice social experiment while it lasted.

[nickjtc]

In an effort to reinvigorate growth of the core eBay site, Mr. Donahoe said he would shift eBay’s emphasis from auctions to fixed priced listing, which could make the experience of buying on eBay more like the one customers have come to expect from sites like Amazon.com. [/i]."

So much for letting the public decide the market value of an item.  It was a nice social experiment while it lasted.

That is a worrisome scenario. If I wanted to buy on Amazon or anywhere else that is 'retail' for that matter, I would do so. The reality is that there are still bargains to be had on eBay......as long as the bidder gets to decide how much he/she is prepared to pay. Perhaps eBay is under pressure from the powers-that-be to make it easier for them (the p-t-b) to monitor how much tax revenue they are losing each year.

[heffay]

Thought about giving ebay a try, seems like too much effort! Maybe I will end up giving the smaller items away.

you should... i enjoy it.
if you're in it for the money go elsewhere.
if you're in it to get rid of some stuff and make a bit of dough for your own project... that's where the fun lies.
i dig the surprise at the end of the auction, i like easy and fast ebay experiences (none terribly disappointing to speak of for myself), i like not having to leave my office to buy parts or sell them.   i've found things on ebay i haven't been able to anywhere else.

i've sold a lot of things on ebay... no vehicles... and i don't think i've ever paid over 10 dollars all said and done to list and sell.
i can deal w/ giving away 10 bucks to make 100... just the nature of the beast in my opinion.