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So, are any of you out there eBay masters? I need cheap and easy software that I can show my mom so that she can set up auctions for albums, dolls, crystal, jewelry, and magazines.I need something that she can do quickly and easily. It'd be great if you had any tips for her, as we're all new to this. How do you avoid getting ripped off?
-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000
Hey Pamie - there's also Amazon.com auctions. I've bought and sold stuff there, but not on E-Bay. I like it better.
ps - I'll buy the WWII signs if no one else does!! Are you auctioning them?
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
To avoid getting ripped off you can use an escrow service, such as escrow.com.
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
i'll go for some of the depression glass! i love the stuff and my mom has a ton she inherited from my grandmothers and other family. is it in good condition and how much do you think your mom will part with it for? i live in houston, if that makes it convenient...
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
There's a company that's trying to make a simple front end to all the auction programs so you could search/post on all of them at once. I have a friend who was working there ... what did I do with his card ... ok ... www.auctionflow.com. Doesn't look like they're live yet. Too bad.
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
I've sold a lot of stuff on eBay over a 2 year span. Your eBay description can contain most HTML tags, including images and hot links. I generally use Netscape Composer ( any HTML editor will work). When the item description is finished, save it to a file. Open the .htm file with a text editor (notepad or similar). Copy all of the html text between the <body> tag and the </body> tag (excluding those tags) and paste it into the eBay description text box. (That's what I did to compose this response...)In your description:
Know what these items usually sell for and notice how they have been presented (especially those which have sold for the highest prices). I have purchased poorly described or mis-categorized items on eBay and later resold them , again on eBay, for 2 - 3 times as much. If all of this sounds like too much trouble, just sell it a garage sale (or tag sale as most are referred to in New England).
- place the item in the most appropriate category
- buyers search within specific categories
- you can change categories any time before the close of the auction
- the title can contain only 45 bytes
- choose your words wisely
- use key words which will match those that the buyers enter into the search engine
- place a reserve on the auction if you want, but start the bidding a $1.00
- display images of the merchandise
- you must host your own images, eBay won't do that for you.
- describe the item(s) exactly; do point out defects (or they will comeback to haunt you)
- have separate auctions for each item unless they are part of a set
- in the description for each item, refer to the other auctions and provide a hot link to your "other auctions" URL.
- when practical, specify a fixed shipping cost
- offer to reduce shipping on multiple purchases
- accept personal checks; ship after it clears your bank (its much easier for a buyer than for him/her to buy a money order)
- as a seller, you are in the drivers seat... don't ship until you've got the $$
- if the buyer insists on using an escrow service, have him/her pay for it (escrow services are an advantage only for the buyer)
- I often ship upon receipt of a personal check if the buyer has a good rating... but I don't advertise that
- keep good records... some buyers' e-mails will not mention what they bid on or the auction number
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
I'll take the vanity. I have sold some stuff on e-bay with success. I don't know how to put pictures up there though. And the tutorial they give you is hard for me to understand. Maybe I'll come down to Stratford and buy some things. I pass right by it. Did you know that Meg Ryan is from there. I have all kinds of irrelevant information that no one cares about.
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
OK, so I'm off-topic -- but I couldn't find a good thread for this. Pamie, * my * grandmother has my mother's "Patty Playpal" sitting on her couch in her living room! And the doll is wearing my baby glasses from when I was eight months old! (Yeah, I had crappy eyes then, worse now...)
But it's the freakiest thing...it looks like there's this oddly-dressed little kid sitting on the couch, and it's actually this frickin' doll...egads...
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
I recommend signing up for an intermediary payment service like PayPal or X.com (which have actually merged, but they have slightly different flavors of service). You get your money FAST and it's guaranteed. None of this "check's in the mail and then wait to see if it clears" BS. Paypal is slightly better in that it has more users on Ebay and it allows buyers to use a credit card (easy purchases=more bidders). Another minor benefit is that you get $5 for signing up now (whoopee! I hear you cry).PayPal is at https://secure.paypal.com/refer/pal=jkarakash%40clariion.com
X.com is at (suprise) http://x.com
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
Paypal is very unreliable (I was unable to connect for several days last week), is only available to Americans, and does absolutely nothing to prevent you from getting ripped off.And if you use the URL John supplied, he gets a $5 referral bonus. Cute.
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
Go Dave, break it down!
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
Nancey,I'm pretty sure my mom isn't parting with the vanity. There are tons of relatives behind her that want it if she can't take it.
Thanks so much for all of your help, guys. These suggestions are great. And I'm loving the mail from you guys asking to take some of this stuff off our hands.
It's good to know there are other pack-rats out there wanting to continue my gramma's legacy.
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
Pamie, I used to sell on ebay all the time. I did all my own image creating, hosting, and so forth, but I probably know more about that than your mom does. (No offense to your mom ... if she's done graphic design for web pages, then I apologize.)There are services available that will host the images and help you process your listings easily through ebay -- I think honesty.com is one of them but I would have to check later. I may send you a private email if I find out more specific stuff.
You get a LOT more money if your listings have images. The difference is very noticeable. It's worth getting your hands on a digital camera, scanner, whatever. Images should not be too large in size or people get disgusted and leave -- I tried to keep them down to 25-35K max.
I always placed a reasonable reserve on my ebay items even though ebay tells you that means they might not attract so many bidders. All my items sold well, reserve was almost always met. I had very few problems with buyers sending money late, etc. I was only "ripped off" twice on ebay in a couple of years, and those were me buying items, not selling them.
By the way, I have a lot of doll (and some toy) pricing and info books, and would be happy to help if you want any information on that. Some dolls look junky and old and it turns out that they're worth hundreds of dollars, even if they're beat up. I kid you not. Email me -- if you want to send photos or upload them somewhere, we can work it out.
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
In fact I was just thinking that the little blonde doll (not the decapitated head doll) looks sort of like a really old Madame Alexander. And they're worth a bunch!
-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000
Pamie--The big doll in the box with the model horse on her face is a Sweet Sue, and the little bisque one in the box is a Nancy Ann Story book. If the horse is a Breyer horse it could be valuable too. The little doll is probably worth about 40.00 and the Sweet Sue maybe a little or a lot more depending on what shape she's in. I remember being scared by big dolls when I was little too. Now I collect them, now that they're not my height that is. Everything about ebay has all ready been said: Get your money before sending an item, Provide a good description and a photo etc. I agree with Dave that Paypal is problematic, although plenty of people like it.
-- Anonymous, May 20, 2000
I've never even been to ebay.But I am all about depression glass, so please let us know.
-- Anonymous, May 20, 2000
I've used PayPal.com almost exclusively for eBay, and I've never had a problem.-Sara
http://fauve.cc
-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000
We sell on E-bay all the time. (Accumulata and Ginkgo Leaf Books are our user names there.) Since we already have our own credit card system from another business, that's not a problem, so I can't speak about paypal or anything like that. However, we do accept checks and money orders as well. Actually we have rarely had a problem with payment in any case. Only on a really substantial sale would we actually wait 'til the check cleared. But usually people will give you cashier's checks for those sorts of things because they are aware of your concerns as well. The biggest problem we've had so far is with the US Post Office--someone cut open a package and took stuff out of it. So we are hassling with them on sorting that out right now.E-bay's tutorial is not all that difficult and tells you everything you need to know about how to list, and about uploading pics. Actually all you need is a place on your server to store your pics and you listing merely links to them like on a web page. It's not hard. Remember-- whatever pics you upload, make them no more than 72dpi...that's all you need..and it loads fast. Also don't put in all kinds of flashy trash..that is so annoying and so unprofessional. If I am going to look at an item all I care about is that the item is accurately described and that I can see a reasonable picture with all the pertinent information. Tell the truth...you'll sell a lot more that way, being straightforward, and be sure to describe nicks, chips, dents and dings... all that stuff.
I would not put a reserve on things unless they are really so valuable that you would not let them go for any less than your reserve. People don't like reserves. Start your minimum bid at something you really feel is reasonable for the item. If it is valuable, and you listed it correctly, 9 times out of 10 it'll sell for what it's worth.
And don't forget you are going to charge them actual postage, too. So you don't loose money.
In the end, keep in mind that you are going to be packing and shipping all of that stuff, and it's not an easy job, especially on a larger item. You have to do a good job because people frown on getting damaged merchandise...so you really have to think...is it worth it to go to all of the trouble or should you just unload it at a garage sale or ask a dealer to come an make you an offer. Dealers will lowball you though.
It's such a lot of work to clean out an estate, I don't envy you...good luck!
-- Anonymous, May 30, 2000