Help, Please

[patg1942]

Does anyone here sell or has sold items on Ebay? I have some items too expensive to give away, and find Ebay's instructions confusing. Of course, at my age, everything can be confusing!!
What I would like is some pointers on how to get started, etc. Thanks for any and all responses.

[Anon001]

I have been selling on eBay for several years. PM me for the details you need. I'll gladly help ya.
Paul

[Anon001]

I'll go ahead and give you a couple basics.

Have you already set up a seller's account on eBay? If not, you need to do that.

eBay no longer allows cash, personal checks, or money orders to be paid on most transactions. Transactions have to be completed with electronic payment. The easiest to use is PayPal.

You need to set up a PayPal account if you don't have one yet.

After that, it's just a matter of listing your items in an auction format, with or without a reserve price (the least you would take). You also need to determine a beginning auction price. Keep in mind that it needs to be enough to cover eBay selling fees and PayPal fees.

The other thing you can do is to list an item at a fixed price instead of as an auction. With Fixed Price, you can list it for 30 days.

You'll also need to determine, in advance, how you want to handle the shipping cost.

The Post Office is about the cheapest if you can use First Class or Flat Box rate. With Flat Box Rate, you buy the box and for one flat cost, you can ship anything you can fit into it. However, each box has a limit. You can check into it on usps.com (http://usps.com) . I use them for all my shipping.

You have to know your shipping costs prior to listing an item.

By using PayPal, you can pay for you shipping online through your account and print the shipping labels on regular printer paper.

PayPal has what they call their "Multiple Shipping" tool. It allows me to enter the shipping weights on each item and print all the shipping labels at one time. That eliminates me having to print each one separately which cuts my time down to 1/4th which is good, because I ship 3 times a week and many times I'll print 20+ shipping labels at a time.

If you need further help or details, PM me.

Paul

[patg1942]

Thanks, Paul, for the info!! I just have to get the weights on the items and go from there. Two items I'm selling are sewing machines, and I saw someone say FedEx was a really good way to ship stuff like that.

The other things, I'll use the USPS box plan. One question: how do I figure the postage on an item, or does Ebay automatically calculate that?

[Anon001]

You can do the shipping either way. You can set the shipping cost or you can use the "shipping calculator" that is based on the locations of you and the buyer, and the weight of the item.

Something as heavy as a sewing machine would probably best go by UPS or Fed-Ex. I would check both. You want your weights to be as accurate as possible. Because of the volume of orders I ship each week, I bought a Postal Service scale.

If you ship with UPS or Fed-Ex, keep in mind that you will also need the dimensions of the box to calculate shipping costs.

I usually include free shipping on my "fixed price" items. I know how much it costs to ship. To get my retail price, I figure the cost of my ingredients and all costs associated with what I make. I calculate a margin, then add the costs of eBay selling fees, PayPal fees, plus the cost of shipping, which allows me to sell it as "free shipping". But, the way you do shipping would vary based on what you are selling, what the market will bare, and the shipper you use.

Paul

[backlash]

If it were me and I didn't intend to make it a ongoing deal I would sell the stuff on Craigslist.
Put it in the Portland, Oregon Craigslist and it should sell then you won't have to deal with shipping.
I have never sold on eBay so I am no help.
Good luck

[leera]

I much prefer craigslist too,have bought and sold a fair amount of items using it.

[Anon001]

I like Craig's List, too. But for some things, it isn't feasible. If I had one or two items, I would most likely try them first, but if I can get more from eBay, or if I have as many orders as I do for one type product, eBay can't be beat.

Paul

[backlash]

I like Craig's List, too. But for some things, it isn't feasible. If I had one or two items, I would most likely try them first, but if I can get more from eBay, or if I have as many orders as I do for one type product, eBay can't be beat.

Paul

You're right.
If you're selling more than 1 or 2 items eBay would be the best choice.
I sell just a few things and I prefer local, cash only, no shipping.
My biggest problem with Craigslist are the people that email wanting more info and wanting to look at or buy the item and then never follow through.
I have an 81 Datsun 4X4 pick up on Craigslist and I've had 6 or 8 emails and nobody followed up.
I'm going to list it again and see if I can get rid of it.
I got if free so it really isn't a big deal but I would like the cash.

[Anon001]

You're right.
If you're selling more than 1 or 2 items eBay would be the best choice.
I sell just a few things and I prefer local, cash only, no shipping.
My biggest problem with Craigslist are the people that email wanting more info and wanting to look at or buy the item and then never follow through.
I have an 81 Datsun 4X4 pick up on Craigslist and I've had 6 or 8 emails and nobody followed up.
I'm going to list it again and see if I can get rid of it.
I got if free so it really isn't a big deal but I would like the cash.

I can understand that. Between my listings on eBay and my websites, I get several emails a day from customers. Almost all of them asking the same questions over and over.

Paul

[patg1942]

You're right.
If you're selling more than 1 or 2 items eBay would be the best choice.
I sell just a few things and I prefer local, cash only, no shipping.
My biggest problem with Craigslist are the people that email wanting more info and wanting to look at or buy the item and then never follow through.
I have an 81 Datsun 4X4 pick up on Craigslist and I've had 6 or 8 emails and nobody followed up.
I'm going to list it again and see if I can get rid of it.
I got if free so it really isn't a big deal but I would like the cash.

Let me know when you re-list the Datsun. I'd like to see the ad. What city do you list in? Thanks.