To ebay or not to ebay

[nelliegemini]

Me and OH have spoken about selling on ebay for years and never got round to it. We now need to seriously get rid of some stuff (or move house), and just when we're ready to dip our toes in, I see threads warning about bad payers etc. So .....

Is there an alternative to ebay?
Is ebay worth the hassle?
How do I start? (bearing the first thing I want to sell is a pair of gorgeous red shoes - there are over 4500 pairs of shoes already on there).

Any advice would be appreciated - I don't even like the ebay site!

[vicky]

It wouldn't hurt to 'test the water' with the shoes or something else. Yes, there's problems but the only alternative I've found is boot fairs and to be honest I've done one and that's my lot! Much prefer the comfort of my home and not having to dedicate a whole day!
I don't think it's worth selling for less than £10, otherwise you have to do photos, text, wrapping and going to the postbox...for the sake of 99p or whatever you make...things worth less than £10 I normally do as bundles to make it worthwhile (eg 3 pairs of shoes)
I use Auctivia which is a free site that has the layouts, but for a test just go straight onto Ebay selling bit. If you accept Paypal it's quicker but there are fees, cheques are slower and more hassle but less fees.
Let us know how you do!

[nelliegemini]

Thanks Vicky, I too have done the car boot route - very scary sometimes with dealers jogging alongside your car as you drive in, and then people turning their nose up at your junk (it may be junk but its MY junk!).

I will have a go with the shoes, they should be worth more than £10 and they're just old enough to be vintage type trendy - although I can no longer walk in them!

Then ...... the great clear out!

[ixi1456]

theres also ebid eBid Online Auctions - Buy & Sell in our Fee Free Internet Auctions for United Kingdom which is free to list anything for as long as its unsold then they only charge a % of the final fees cheaper than ebay but also a lot slower but is catching on fast

[Gwen11ian]

When I moved overseas from NZ I sold every thing on Gumtree.com.. even our car! Free to post, free to sell, and very easy to use. It's not an auction, so you just put your asking price (or best offer).

Don't know how much use it gets in the UK.. I sometimes look at the London branch, but it doesn't seem to be as popular as Ebay (where as in NZ it was about 50:50).

[Glutton4...]

I'm a seasoned eBayer, both buying and selling, and have to say I find it addictive. I go through phases, like now , when I can't be bothered to take the pics and write the descriptions, but it's probably because I've got other things to do. A wet week will come along and I'll be off again. My entire Chicken Coop/run/feeders set-up was funded by stuff we sold on eBay when we moved house.

You'll be surprised what sells too. Good stuff may fetch very little, but 'cr@p' will fetch more! I check similar items and guess the postal charges, but I always put a note in my listing to say something like 'I've estimated postage, but will refund any overcharge.' That tends to earn me better feedback, because people don't like being ripped-off. I recently paid £4 post and packaging for a book. The packaging (a Jiffy bag, would have cost £1 at most, if bought singly (and why would a book seller buy them singly?), and the postage was less than a pound.

Beware sending fragile/expensive items, I've had to refund for items broken in transit, and not delivered, even though I'm sure all was well (sometimes you just get a feeling?!).

Anyway, don't be put off - it's a great way of making some extra money and keeping stuff out of landfill sites!

(Sorry, I'm waffling...)

[nelliegemini]

(Sorry, I'm waffling...)

Nooooo! Waffling good. Lots of advice there, and I have heard of others who have to refund because goods arrive damaged ....... allegedly.

I work in a charity shop and it's obvious sometimes that people are buying to resale (even in my boom or bust weight saga, I've never bought size 12 and size 16 on the same day) - but my theory is, as long as they've paid the asking price, I'm happy.

As I said, I will experiment with the shoes, and ixi1456, I will try eBid for another item, time is no problem ..... well within reason.

[Snadger]

Nooooo! Waffling good. Lots of advice there, and I have heard of others who have to refund because goods arrive damaged ....... allegedly.

I work in a charity shop and it's obvious sometimes that people are buying to resale (even in my boom or bust weight saga, I've never bought size 12 and size 16 on the same day) - but my theory is, as long as they've paid the asking price, I'm happy.

As I said, I will experiment with the shoes, and ixi1456, I will try eBid for another item, time is no problem ..... well within reason.

I have bought many a book from a charity shop and made a killing on eBay!

Oxfam know there books though and must have someone knowledgeable pricing them!

[Marthaclematis]

Snadger! I am shocked... you are joking aren't you?

[matthew2riches]

What about a carboot sale?

[sharonr]

Me and OH both sell on Ebay.
I start all my auctions at 99p. Somedays things sell well and other days they don`t. As long as you have a good photo and description I think you can do well.
My OH calls it a glorified car boot, which it is.

[blackkitty]

I mainly sell (as a business) on ebay. Don't worry too much about the scare stories. The great majority of buyers are great. I think most sellers who have lots of problems sell high risk items such as mobile phones etc.
1 tip, Time your auctions to finish in the evenings

[Mrs Dobby]

We sold our bikes on ebay recently, both good quality road bikes, I took lots of piccies, wrote a full description of everything and listed them with the original new price aswell as what I thought was a reasonable price (they were in almost new condition, with lots of extras) after looking at what others were selling similar items for.

I managed to make about 70% of the new cost back on each of them, which then paid for our 'new' ebay camera kits (2x 2nd hand Canon Eos10D digital SLR's plus lenses, filters, tripods and a bag!) so unused goods (just dont get the time to use them any more) were swapped for something we are both getting pleasure from, a good swap IMHO!

Be careful buying on there tho, its easy to pay more than you would from an online retailer, and easy to get carried away with a bidding war!

[sharonr]

I finish my auction`s between 7pm and 7.30.
After people have had dinner and before the soaps/football start.

[nelliegemini]

Thanks for all your wonderful advice - I'm just taking piccies at the moment and will be ready to go soon!