SO i finally have started to put some (only 2 at this point) coins on ebay to sell. I have taken one listing down. It just did not sell. It was a pre '64 nickel, basically a hole filler and I had it at a buy it now and I'm sure the price was too much. Lesson learned there. The second coin that I listed I am sure will sell but at what price? It's a 1998 P Washington error quarter. Off Center punch. I'm not sure if I can link the ebay listing here or not. If I can, someone let me know and I'll put it on here so you can look at give me some helpful criticism. What have you found works when listing ebay sales. What have you found that doesn't. Do those of you whom do sell on ebay offer returns or not? I'm curious and would like some helpful hints. Thanks a bunch!
Most eBay sellers do offer returns except on bullion. Some only offer returns on graded material others on everything. A lot of buyers don't like paying for shipping as well so most sellers just offer "free" shipping and have the cost in the item price
Thanks Baseball21! I thought about that myself and I'm in what I think is a learn and see phase. I am trying to get everyones opinion on here so I don't have to make the mistakes to learn from etc. So to point to your first point, I've heard others say that 99% of sales on ebay are ok and people can be trusted as far as returns and getting the same item back you sent out. I worry about this part because I've heard that Ebay supports the customer more than the person selling the item, regardless if the customer is right or wrong. Have you ever bought anything on ebay? If so, what is your preference when it comes to the shipping situation? Do you like it to be free shipping or have it spelled out for you in a price? I go both ways with this camp. I can see if you like free shipping, a lot of people do but I'm also sure that if I am getting free shipping, it's calculated in the price. I thought about this and if I offer free shipping, then there cannot be any negative feedback with shipping. Thanks for the reply!
It is much more buyer friendly than seller friendly. There are some scammers on there but for the most part most people are honest. You do have to preemptively block anyone that comes off like they could be an issue though. Interestingly enough a lot of people have more problems with cheap sales than they do with more expensive items I don't care either way just final price, but a lot of people do exclude things without free shipping in their searches. Hard to find unique items it wouldn't matter to much but cheaper items charging for shipping will end up hurting you for a lot of them in my opinion. A lot will just sort for free shipping and never even see yours.
I offer free shipping on items selling for $20 or more. Under that amount the buyer pays. Think about it, if you sell something for $5 and pay the shipping yourself, you'll sometimes (depending on size and weight) pay $2.60 for postage, plus the cost of the envelope/box/packing and gas money to get it to the post office. Then there's the ebay listing fees and ebay and paypal final fees, not to mention Auctive fees if you use that service. So, in the end, your $5 sale might net you $2 - hardly worth the effort. Plus, many will be more likely to bid on a listing for $5 plus $2.50 shipping than $7.50 and free shipping. It's just human nature, they just see the item price. On more expensive items you can include the shipping cost in the listing price and it won't be as noticeable.
Oh.... I list something on ebay once or twice a year just to remind myself why I stopped listing on ebay...
The times I have sold coins on Ebay, I have had better success with more listings. You also need items that draw people into your store. I found raw Morgan dollars and ASE coins did well. Slabbed coins also sell. There are numerous tips to sell that would fill pages of a thread. But, you can't sell much if you don't have much to sell.
Your presentation is nice, the photos are perfectly salable, the starting price very reasonable, and shipping rather cheap; all positives. The only possible concern is your lack of selling history. Unfortunately, some place too much weight into it (this board is all the evidence you need to verify), but everyone has to start somewhere, and considering how eBay backs buyers, it's mostly unnecessary. Either way, I wish you luck and will keep my fingers crossed that the experience is a positive one.
Edit your ebay title to include the word "Error". That'll make it easier to find in a search by error collectors (your target audience). And eliminate the "?20%?". Buyers can estimate the offset from the photos. 2 bids already, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it bid much higher. Should be fun to watch the final minutes. Good luck!
Well, just put it in the envelope to ship. It went for more than I thought it would. All of the bidding drama happened in the days prior to the end of sale and not last minute. Thanks for all your advice!
