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Questions about Ebay?

#1
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2/26/07 at 4:45pm
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I very confused and frustrated right now. I cannot figure out if I can set a reserve price for my sale items. I feel like I am getting screwed right now. I never saw anything about setting a reserve or anything like that. Does Ebay do this automatically?

I may have more questions later on.

Thank you in advance,

Seth=L
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#2
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2/26/07 at 5:13pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

You CAN set a reserve, but honestly, it turns off most bidders. They'll see the reserve, and not bid. If it doesn't make the reserve, the item doesn't sell, and all the bidders who bid below that will want it anyway and try to get you to sell it.

Depending on the item, and the price, it is best to probably just set the opening bid close to what you want to sell it for.
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#3
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2/26/07 at 5:47pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Eh, I set the opening bid a small bit different then the "Buy It Now". Makes life easy.
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#4
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2/26/07 at 5:47pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

About where you set your opening price, you can enter a reserve. You undoubtedly missed it. Ebay does not automatically enter a reserve. In fact, I believe they'd get rid of reserves if they could as they don't make any money on items with reserves that aren't met. Ebay allows your auction terms to be changed if there are no bids, although I'm not 100% certain you can add a reserve. I think you can though. If there are bids and you still want a reserve, you'll have to cancel all bids, end your auction and restart it with the new parameters.

But I agree with Jon - I hate reserves and I rarely bid on auctions with a reserve. If you absolutely need a certain price, set that at your opening but don't be surprised if there are no takers, even if it's reasonable.
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#5
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2/26/07 at 5:55pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Yeah, most times you are best off setting a ridiculously low starting bid with no reserve and making sure you put keywords in your title that will drive traffic. That will get people bidding and watching your auction.

When I'm selling something on Ebay, I'll look at completed auctions and find the ones that sold for the highest amount, then take cues from their title keywords and categories.
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#6
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2/26/07 at 8:55pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Thank you guys, you have been a great help. I am a complete noob to selling things on the internet. I placed the first bid at a high enough mark to keep it from being sold for dirt cheap and then at the same time without it being to high. I think I did the best I can. I will just have to wait and see what happens over the next few days.

Thank you again for your help, I am feeling much less frustrated.
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#7
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2/27/07 at 7:11am
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

I usually set my opening bid for the minimum I'll accept & the Buy-It-Now price for what I'd really like to get for it, no reserve. Once someone bids, the BIN option disappears. I'm amazed how often the price gets driven higher than the original BIN price. Works for me.
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#8
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2/27/07 at 9:51am
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

I also will not bid on reserve price auctions.

Just set your opening bid at the minimum you're willing to sell for. Don't play games.

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#9
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2/28/07 at 12:30pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveHo
I usually set my opening bid for the minimum I'll accept & the Buy-It-Now price for what I'd really like to get for it, no reserve. Once someone bids, the BIN option disappears. I'm amazed how often the price gets driven higher than the original BIN price. Works for me.
I also did not see the option to have a Buy it Now price. Were would that have been?
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#10
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2/28/07 at 12:52pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
I also did not see the option to have a Buy it Now price. Were would that have been?

I don't think you're paying attention. All the pricing options are on the same page in the same area. I entered a mock auction to be certain that things haven't changed. The Reserve Price box is to the right of the Starting Price box! The Buy It Now box is right below the Starting Price box! It's pretty obvious - look again.
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#11
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3/1/07 at 5:44pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by alan halvorson
I don't think you're paying attention. All the pricing options are on the same page in the same area. I entered a mock auction to be certain that things haven't changed. The Reserve Price box is to the right of the Starting Price box! The Buy It Now box is right below the Starting Price box! It's pretty obvious - look again.
I am a noob at selling stuff on the internet, I probably just missed it. Thanks again.
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#12
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5/30/09 at 11:10am
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

I'll resurrect this thread, rather than a new one. I'm going to do my first sale on eBay and I'm looking for advice on the process.

In particular, do you set a starting price at $0.01 or at my actual desired minimum price? Do I need photos of my actual item, or are stock manufacturer's photos adequate (especially since eBay charges for photos!)?

eBay gives these tips. Any clunkers there that shouldn't be followed?
  • Find out What It’s Worth
  • Get Free Shipping Supplies
  • Start Pricing Low with No Reserve
  • Include Reasonable Shipping Costs
  • Maximize Your Item Title
  • Describe Your Item in Detail
  • Include Photos
  • Communicate
  • Save a trip to the Post Office
  • Tell your Story
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#13
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5/30/09 at 11:33am
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Those tips seem fairly solid (though I have no clue about the free shipping supplies).

A few more tips based on my own experience:

I usually send an e-mail to the buyer when I ship something so they know it's coming. I also tell them that I will leave feedback when they do.

When it comes to shipping, don't estimate. Make sure you have the box or envelope that you're going to use to ship and that you enter the correct size and weight of the package because you can end up paying more than the buyer paid for shipping.

If you're selling an older collectible item (a toy, a book, a comic or a baseball card), multiple pics are probably a good idea.

It all depends on what you're selling but I sell a fair amount of DVDs and I just start each auction off at $1 (especially with the eBay listing costing $.25) rather than having a minimum or setting it at what I hope to get.
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#14
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5/30/09 at 11:36am
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

I almost always set a starting bid of $0.99 even if the item is worth hundreds of dollars. I find that the low starting bid attracts a lot of interest.

As for photos, actual if at all possible. I know when I'm buying I feel much more comfortable about an auction if the photos are not stock. You don't have to pay for photos on Ebay. They give you one free, and then if you want to put more, just upload your photos to someplace like Photobucket and code them in HTML in your auction body. They'll show up fine. Just make sure you code it so the actual pictures appear and not just a link to them.
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#15
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5/30/09 at 2:19pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Ok, thanks. I didn't know I could use HTML in my ebay listing and reference off-site photos. Good tip.

I'll have to postpone my listing for a couple days, until I figure out how I'm going to ship it and the exact costs. But that's fine; no need to be hasty and do a sloppy job.

I'm selling a common home theater item; ebay shows that they do sell and for reasonable prices. So I hope to get a few bucks for it
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#16
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5/30/09 at 3:15pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
•Get Free Shipping Supplies
Some shipping services, like FedEx and USPS, offer certain sizes of containers and envelopes free of charge. It doesn't hurt to ask before you buy something.

I have a book I bought on Amazon titled Absolute Beginners Guild to eBay. If someone is planning to sell more than a few items on eBay I think it's a good idea to get a book like this. Mine was new and current but cost $3.00 plus a bit for shipping. Well worth it too me.

It lists the 5 most common eBay listing mistakes.

1) List in the wrong category
2) Set the starting price too high
3) Don't adequately discribe the item
4) Don't include a picture
5) Don't charge enough for shipping

Another important thing it mentioned is when to start your auction because that determines when it will end. You want it to end sometime in the late afternoon/early evenning when there will be many potential last minute bidders to bid up the price and not at 2 AM when everyone is still sleeping.
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#17
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5/30/09 at 5:18pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Is there a particularly good "ebay for dummies"? I'm stymied by basic things, like how to edit my listing after previewing it, or how to embed photos from Picasa Web.
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#18
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5/30/09 at 6:21pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by gene c

5) Don't charge enough for shipping

I will not bid on items that charge ridiculous amounts for shipping. For example, I was looking at an Adcom preamp. The item weighs less than 10 lbs shipped and typically sells for about $100.

The seller had buy-it-now for $110 (not a bad amount), but wanted $40 for shipping and handling....LOL. At that weight you can buy a box, plastic, and peanuts and have $25 left over after shipping FedEx or UPS ground. He was advertising - I want a sucker!

He got zero bids and probably wonders why!
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#19
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5/30/09 at 7:21pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Is there a particularly good "ebay for dummies"?
There are too many eBay books on Amazon for me to say which is best but I found Absolute.... very helpful, though the price is much higher than I paid.
Quote:
I will not bid on items that charge ridiculous amounts for shipping.
I agree. Over charging for shipping probably scares a lot of people away from the listing. But I think the author felt most sellers don't take into account the amount of time it takes to box and ship the item as well as the container cost and the actual shipping charge. But you can only ask the buyer to pay so much before they walk away. Also, some of the shipping calculators are not always accurate which I'm sure leads to some of these inflated shipping estimates.
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#20
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5/30/09 at 7:54pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF
Is there a particularly good "ebay for dummies"? I'm stymied by basic things, like how to edit my listing after previewing it...
I don't have an auction running right now so I can't check but I'm fairly certain that there's an "Edit Listing" option right near the top of your auction's page.
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#21
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5/30/09 at 8:13pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TravisR
I don't have an auction running right now so I can't check but I'm fairly certain that there's an "Edit Listing" option right near the top of your auction's page.
Pressing that button does nothing for me. I emailed eBay, as it makes no sense.

Regarding shipping: I plan to charge whatever USPS or UPS says is the price. Hopefully the shipping system adjusts for the buyer's location so I don't have to charge the maximum it could cost to ship cross-country. I think I've got a box and spare packing materials to use, so no extra charge for that.


Further exploration and I found the "advanced" editor that allows HTML and figured out its preview mode. This seems more useful.
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#22
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5/31/09 at 9:36am
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Thanks, all, for the tips. I got my listing created, tuned up, and online now. Here's hoping for a successful auction!
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#23
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5/31/09 at 10:55pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by gene c
There are too many eBay books on Amazon for me to say which is best but I found Absolute.... very helpful, though the price is much higher than I paid. I agree. Over charging for shipping probably scares a lot of people away from the listing. But I think the author felt most sellers don't take into account the amount of time it takes to box and ship the item as well as the container cost and the actual shipping charge. But you can only ask the buyer to pay so much before they walk away. Also, some of the shipping calculators are not always accurate which I'm sure leads to some of these inflated shipping estimates.

That and some items just need more care when sheeping, for example an engine would require some properly packaged way of getting to the buyer in one piece, and that may not be just the cost of the package itself, but the work involved in it.
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#24
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6/2/09 at 5:25pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

My auction has been live for 48 hours (since Sunday afternoon) and it has no bids. It's a 7-day auction. Is this a bad sign?

I could understand that this item might not have strong appeal right now, but others of its kind have sold recently for fair prices.
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#25
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6/2/09 at 7:43pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF
My auction has been live for 48 hours (since Sunday afternoon) and it has no bids. It's a 7-day auction. Is this a bad sign?
In my experience, no. I think when people see that there's 5 or 6 days left on an auction, they just think "I'll check it out in 4 or 5 days and see what it's at". If similar items have sold recently and you have a good opening bid and fair shipping, you should get a similar price.
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#26
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6/3/09 at 2:10pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TravisR
In my experience, no. I think when people see that there's 5 or 6 days left on an auction, they just think "I'll check it out in 4 or 5 days and see what it's at".

Agree! I never bid on an auction until there are just a few days left.

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#27
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6/3/09 at 2:30pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Yup. The earlier people bid, the higher it'll drive the final price at the end of the auction. Not as good a scenario for sellers, but it's better for the buyers.
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#28
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6/3/09 at 4:35pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Thanks for the encouraging words. I need them, since my Craigs List ad isn't doing anything either. (But it's a high priced, niche item.)
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#29
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6/4/09 at 11:35am
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt^Brown
Agree! I never bid on an auction until there are just a few days left.

I usually don't bid until the last minute or so (sniping).
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#30
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6/4/09 at 6:22pm
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Re: Questions about Ebay?

Quote:
Originally Posted by roygrady
I usually don't bid until the last minute or so (sniping).

lol same with me, it really depends on the product but i guess sniping is a little harsh
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