Brenda,
I buy and sell on Ebay (I've been taking a bit of a break on selling), so I
will give you some of my opinions on your questions, mostly where I differ
from those who have replied already on the list.
At 12:56 PM 09/25/2005 +0100, you wrote:
I realise that I'll need to open a PayPal account, (or restrict it to GBP
cheques and clear the cheques before parting with the goods).
I've resisted PayPal in the past for my own book sales because of the high
charges - it works out at 55p on a single book or 3-07 GBP on a trade
order for ten books.
As a buyer, I don't even bother with auctions that do not take
Paypal. There is rarely anything I need badly enough that I would go
through the trouble of making a non-electronic payment. I could pay with
Bidpay, but that costs me extra, and Paypal is free as a buyer.
Someone on the list mentioned about not accepting credit cards through
Paypal and only opening a non-credit card account. Sometime in August,
they changed the rules and you may not accept Paypal on Ebay without
accepting credit card payments. Therefore, there is no way to avoid the
Paypal charges.
As a seller, I only accept Paypal. Being in Israel, accepting checks or
money orders would be too much of a hassle for me. Not worth the chance of
having more customers or higher bids. Besides, I love seeing the money
immediately, or almost immediately, and I love being able to ship
immediately. Even though my items take about a week to get there, my
buyers often claim fast shipping in the feedback.
1, The minimum reserve price with Ebay is 50 GBP. If I'm realistically
hoping for about 25 GBP for an item then a reserve price is not an
option. Should I therefore set the opening bid at what I consider the
reserve price to be, say 20 GBP? If I set it very low and someone bids
just a penny more am I obliged to sell?
There are experienced sellers on Ebay, with high feedback scores, that
start their auctions very low. They can do that successfully because they
know that the bids will usually rise to what the item is really worth, due
to their reputation. As a low feedback or new seller, you should start
your bids at the lowest price you would be willing to sell at.
2, There are a lot of low value items - would it be better to put these
into 'lots' ie five different lace mats, or try to sell each item
individually? Postage on five is likely to be the same as postage on one,
it's the packaging that costs!
Items that are really only worth $1. or so each should definitely by listed
in lots. Preparing a listing (photos, text, etc.) is time consuming and
the low value items are not worth your time individually. The extra Ebay
charges do add up, too.
3, Most of the items would benefit from "laundering to freshen them
up"! A mammoth task, so would it harm the dresses if I iron them
unlaundered in order to get a decent photo?
I get the impression that most of the items you are selling are not worth a
lot individually, so, again, I don't think it's worth your time to work too
hard on it. You should state the condition of the item honestly, in the
listing. Yellowing, stains, possibly where they are located, if you think
it's important. And state that it is being sold as is.
Good luck and please let us know your Ebay ID when you do start selling.
Debbie
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