Posts filed under ‘eBay’
My Rule for Selling on eBay
I’ve received quite a few emails since I wrote the post Tallies from 2012: How Much Money Did My Blog Earn? A reader asked me what I sold on eBay and if I have any rules for selling. The answers to both of those questions are pretty simple.
While I sold a variety of items in online auctions I made the most revenue selling electronics. I sold a variety of items including speakers, iPhone accessories, routers, weather stations and unwanted video games and consoles. In most cases my husband updated an item and I sold the previous model we owned.
I only have one true rule for selling on eBay. I must make a minimum of $10. Before listing an auction I run calculations to factor in PayPal and eBay fees as well as all shipping costs. If my profit is less than $10 then I won’t list the item. Instead I’ll typically ask family members if they have any need for it or give it away.
I’ve seen people list all sorts of things and sell them for just a dollar or two. By the time they pay for postage they must make less than 10 or 15 cents in profit. While this may add up over time it is not something I’m willing to do.
I don’t want to waste time taking pictures, listing items, waiting to get paid, printing shipping labels and dragging items to the post office or UPS. If I don’t make a decent profit on selling something I’d much rather give it away.
I also find that the cheaper the auction the more difficult it is to get winning bidders to pay. You would think it would work the other way around, but strangely enough my most expensive items are often paid for the minute the auction ends. For smaller auctions it can take quite a few days to receive payment and on more than one occasion I had to file a dispute when the winning bidder failed to pay.
How about you? Do you sell items on eBay and if so do you have any rules for selling? Do you have a minimum profit threshold or are you willing to list anything on eBay?
The High Price of Collectibles and Limited Time Offerings
A few days ago I found myself shopping for interactive story buddies, (otherwise known as talking stuffed animals), at Hallmark. My son absolutely loves books and I thought he might enjoy snuggling with a cuddly toy that sings, barks and makes other fun noises when you read out loud.
Before heading out to the store I searched online for the cheapest prices. I found Jingle, (the holiday inspired Hallmark dog), on sale for $8.73, but by the time I reached the checkout page it was completely sold out. Those silly stuffed animals retail for $34.95 so $8.73 would’ve been an incredible price!
I figured there had to be some for sale on eBay. I checked out the auctions but found most were selling for roughly $35. Some were slightly more and some slightly less, but by the time you added in shipping most were in the $30 to $40 ballpark.
I had no intention of buying my fourteen month old son a $35 stuffed animal. In fact if I hadn’t seen the cheap price at Hallmark I probably wouldn’t have had the bright idea to buy this toy in the first place.
I decided to call the Hallmark store closest to my home to inquire about prices. It turns out that our local store was selling them at 50% off. $17.95 was still more than I really wanted to spend, but I couldn’t seem to get the idea out of my head so I buckled my son into the backseat of the car and drove off in search of it. (Important lesson: Try a brick-and-mortar store before shelling out money on eBay. eBay prices aren’t always the cheapest.)
All of the Christmas items were marked down 75%. Recordable storybooks were on sale for $4.95 and the second and third books in the “Jingle” series were $2.49 each. I bought a couple of recordable storybooks, (my son received one from my parents for Easter and absolutely loves it), and the two Jingle books along with the Jingle stuffed animal.
When I got back into the car I logged onto eBay and searched for the two books I just purchased. I was astounded to find them selling for $13 to $17 a piece. The retail price of each book was only $9.95 and I’d just paid $2.49 each for them.
That’s when I discovered the value of limited time offerings. This year Hallmark designed the 2012 Jingle toy and compatible books. They won’t sell the same toy again next year. They may sell a newer version next year, but odds are it won’t be compatible with the older model. If you don’t buy the books now you may not have the opportunity to do so in the future.
This once a year offering causes people to log on to eBay in high numbers. Let’s say your wife bought you two of the three 2012 superhero ornaments. If you feel your collection won’t be complete until you find Captain America then you’ll log on to eBay and spend three to four times the original retail price in order to complete your collection. Lucky for you someone in the secondary market probably has what you want. Unfortunately the item you want may come with a very hefty price tag.
Apparently many people already know this. Google for items to sell on eBay and you’ll come across all sorts of information about making money from selling Hallmark ornaments. This also explains why I once saw a woman buy twenty identical Barbie ornaments from a Hallmark store the day after Christmas. Perhaps they were some sort of a special holiday collection. Apparently star trek, star wars and barbie ornaments all sell for big bucks.
This is just one of the many reasons I’m not a collector. I don’t want to pay three to four times the retail price for an ornament that sits on my Christmas tree for a few days a year. Of course, if my son falls in love with this little Jingle toy and something awful happens, (it breaks, gets lost, etc.), I’m sure I’ll head back to eBay and shell out big bucks for another one.
Successful eBay Sales and How to Convince a Spouse to Clean and Declutter
My husband finally decided to dig through the pile of computer equipment and hardware that is stacking up in the basement. While he still has a ways to go, (you should see how many cords are haphazardly falling in and around the storage solution downstairs), he did manage to dig out a couple of items we no longer need.
Six eBay sales later we earned roughly $250. eBay and PayPal captured nearly $30 in fees, but I’m still happy that we cleaned up some clutter and made a little cash in the process. We have at least two other items for sale that will hopefully net us another $50.
I found the bidding for my auction’s pretty interesting this time around. Before listing I placed watches on similar items just to see how much my auctions might earn. If the range was above $10 I listed the item. Item’s less than $10 will probably be shipped off to good will. Between the hassle of getting buyers to pay, dropping items off at the post office and fees from PayPal and eBay anything less than $10 doesn’t seem worth it.
This time around I measured and weighed items precisely so buyers could pay the exact price for shipping. I also offered multiple shipping services like UPS and USPS, though not one single buyer chose the higher UPS option.
I listed two identical items for sale which may have been a mistake. The first auction went for quite a bit, but the second auction sold for 20% less. I think a lot of people were watching the first auction because it received quite a few bids. Perhaps they were also watching the second auction, but didn’t have enough time to bid after the first auction ended. Next time around I need to end the auctions on different days or at least provide more time between their endings. In the big scheme of things I do think the combination of prices was just about average. The first auction sold for more than comparables, while the second sold for less. The average of the two was right in line with other auctions I watched.
I feel good about finding a second home for most of this stuff. We used much of this equipment when I was working from home, but now that I’m staying home with my son I don’t need much more than a simple laptop.
Now the question is how do I get my husband to finish the job of cleaning up the unwanted equipment in the basement? I don’t want to use the money as an incentive, because I know he’ll just buy more stuff that will ultimately end up next to the piles we already have downstairs, but I’m afraid if I don’t find a way for him to continue cleaning those other items will remain there indefinitely. Any ideas?
Oh eBay!
Why on earth would anyone bid on an auction when they don’t intend to pay? I was so excited to sell an unused Wii console and now I’m trapped in the nightmare of eBay’s processes for a bidder who refuses to cough up the cash.
I don’t even understand the bidder’s feedback. Negative feedback as a seller, but okay feedback as a buyer allowed her to bid?
Feedback is feedback and if you aren’t honest on one side of the equation why would anyone think you’d be honest on the other?
It’s all very disappointing.
Selling One Thing to Buy Another
I celebrated my first mother’s day this weekend. My husband, son and I went out for a long walk around the lake, attempted to make handprints and planted a beautiful tree in our front yard. Just spending time with the family was the greatest gift, but it turns out my little man had a gift all his own to give me. While playing on the couch between my husband and I my six month old son pulled himself into a standing position.
I looked at my husband and my husband looked at me. We were both in disbelief and plopped him back down into sitting position to see if he could do it again. Sure enough he raised himself onto his feet three times in a row!
He started the earliest form of a crawl a week or so ago, but I had no idea how quickly he would go from just rolling back and forth to making his way from one side of the room to the other. He’s unbelievably active right now and if I place him on the floor he’s off to the races in no time.
So it’s time to start baby-proofing the house. That means putting up baby gates, bumpers on tables and covering all of the electrical sockets. I actually got down on the floor of our living room and sun room so I can see the world from his perspective.
As I was pulling on drawers to the TV cabinet I found a bunch of stuff to sell including unused game consoles. I bundled them back into their original packaging and sold them on eBay. Unfortunately, the buyers won’t pay up and now I have to go through the awful process of trying to collect my money. Such a pain.
The good news is that the game consoles will pay for the double wide baby gate I purchased to prevent my little tike from leaving the living room. I’m hoping to baby proof the room well enough that I can leave him in there rather than placing him in the playpen. He’s a big kid. In the 95th percentile already and that little space seems so tiny for him.
Nesting Urges and Layoffs Provide the Incentive to Search for Dough
Since I’m now more than half way through my pregnancy I feel the sudden urge to rearrange the house and remove all visible clutter from our home. We moved all of the items out of the soon-to-be nursery last weekend so my husband could paint and as I looked at the piles of stuff gathering in the little room we use as a closet I started to feel a little bit edgy.
How To Get My Money Back for All of Those Things I Should Not Have Purchased
Over the years my husband and I have purchased many items we’ve barely used and quite a few that have never seen the light of day.
First there are the infamous electronics. We owned an Apple TV and a Popcorn Hour that were used for less than a month. There’s a Wii Fit collecting dust underneath the table that holds our television and a Playstation that’s just as dusty right beside it. We owned DVDs at one point that we watched only once or twice and video games that are still in their shrink wrapped paper.
There was also that $400 pile of men’s dress clothes we purchased for a job that my husband never accepted and bags of shirts and pants that I shipped to Goodwill after wearing them on one and only one occasion.
We certainly didn’t set out to waste the money. We had every intention of watching DVDs, exercising with the Wii and wearing the clothes we purchased. It’s just that for some reason or another we ultimately realized the Apple TV didn’t work quite the way we hoped, exercising to the same video games became boring, and those clothes that looked so amazing in the mirror at the store, didn’t look quite the same way once we got home.
After cleaning out the closets and decluttering our home I’ve come to a couple of solid conclusions. First, if I buy clothes I must jump around in them while I’m still in the dressing room. A lot of the clothes I donated just weren’t comfortable. They were too small in one place or too large in another. Now, before I purchase anything new I really need it to feel just right.
If I can prevent yourself from purchasing unwanted and unncessary items in the first place, I’ve won the battle. If I can’t stop myself from buying something I move on to step two.
If I decide an item is worth purchasing I stow the receipt in a special binder and try the item on at least one more time at home. If I decide I still want it, I place the item in the front of the closet so I’ll be forced to look at it each time I open the door. If I don’t wear it within a week or two I gather the receipt and take it back to the store. I hate to waste time returning unwanted stuff, but I’d rather take the time to get back my money while I can.
A lot of stores have short return policies these days, so I make certain that I mark a date on my electronic calendar so I won’t forget to go back to the store.
Unfortunately, electronics aren’t quite as easy to deal with, but I have come up with a quasi-solution for them too. I know that I won’t be able to return the item once the box has been opened, but I still store the box anyway. I have a couple of plastic tubs in the basement that I reserve for this very purpose.
If my husband decides he doesn’t want some piece of equipment he recently purchased, (which usually happens because it doesn’t work quite the way he expected), then I immediately take pictures of the item, including the box and list it on eBay.
Now this sucks, because we will never recoup the cost of the original item, but if we list the item right away we can be certain to get the highest price for it. There’s no sense in waiting months or years to sell an item that is outdated. A new model will sell for close to it’s manufacturer’s listed price while an old model will sell for only pennies on the dollar.
Of course, in an ideal world we would never buy items that we don’t use, but let’s face it life doesn’t always work out that way. While we are much more careful these days and think long and hard before buying something, it is inevitable that we will end up with something that we no longer desire.
When that time comes I now have a plan for dealing with our unwanted stuff and I can now reclaim a good portion of the money that would have otherwise been wasted.
Parting with More Stuff
I used to struggle with getting rid of my possessions, but these days I find it easier and easier to give away my stuff. I still have a hard time with certain books and a few articles of clothing, but most everything else could disappear without bothering me.
Tally From My Black Friday Clean Out
I finally added up the books and eBay sales from my black friday clean out. Total sold: $163.59. Not too shabby!
Suggestions on How to Sell My iPhone
I have two old iPhones that my husband and I are no longer using. Do you think I should sell them on eBay or to a used cell phone purchaser like gazelle? I think I can make more on eBay, but I also know it can be more of a hassle. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve tried one or the other.
