I am thinking of clearing out some extra stuff on Ebay. Is it better to group a bunch of stuff together or sell it one item at a time? Any Ebay selling tips would be appreciated. Thanks.
It really depends on what you have to sell? If you have a lot of inexpensive stuff, i would say sell as a lot. If you have a lof of expensive stuff, sell individually.
As a general rule, I agree with Joshycfl. I would add that one big problem with singles is shipping. If I sell a $5 dollar coin on eBay and charge $5 for priority shipping, I will not get much for it. However, if my shipping is free, I may get $5 for it, but I lose a lot of that to shipping.
While I agree that shipping fees can mess with net profit, but I have found that when having the "free shipping" emblem up, buyers generally up their prices they are willing to pay.
My point being that selling a single $5 coin does not work well regardless of how you work it. You are going to pay ~1/3 of your income as shipping. Now if you sell a lot (5?) of $5 dollar coins, you should be able to ship them for <10% of your income.
I gotta agree with Josh and RLM on this one Cheap stuff, might want to sell in a lot. It is not worth it, to sell something for $1, with free shipping..Then you lose money! lol Now the more expensive stuff, yes, individually, and all separate... Offer free shipping to attract more buyers. I as a, buyer, am somewhat attracted to the coins I see, that I'm looking to snipe, with free shipping, because I don't have to factor anything else in my bid Good luck to you and your auctions
Don't be afraid to spend a little extra dressing up your auction, that extra $.70 could make or break an extra bid. Also, if you have large, detailed pictures, buyers will be attracted. This is all what I have experienced. Josh
Forgot about that... Get the gallery plus, so buyers can see the bigger pics, without going to your auction to see if they are interested...
If you have a a lot of stuff to sell you might consider setting up an eBay store as the listing fees are alot less but there is a monthly fee and a higher final value fee. You also get longer Buy It Now listing times I believe. See: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/storefees.html Or you can list them the regular individual auction way with no eBay store. It cost a little more to list, which totally depends on how much you start the auction at. But your final value fees are a little less. See: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html As a how much to charge for shipping, I recommend taking it to where ever you plan to ship it from FIRST. Weither it's UPS, USPS, FedEx. In the box, with the packaging material you plan to use in the box or bubble mailer, and have them weigh it and give you an estimate on the weight. Make sure to write down the weight. Because when you list an auction you can enter the weight of the item and let the eBay programing calculate it for the buyer depending on the buyers location. You can also add shipping service options once you have the weight to allow the buyer to choose how fast they want the item shipped. You can give the buyer options for USPS and UPS, for example, IF it is convenient for you to ship from those. And the grey area of eBay auctions is weither you decide to add a flat "handling" charge on top of the shipping charge. Or just eat it and take it as a loss. This could be your cost of the packing material and the gas to take it to the shipping location. And/Or you COULD guesstimate how much your eBay/Paypal fees maybe and add that into this "handling charge". But I wouldn't talk about that one in the auction as it's not really allowed by eBay. See: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-shipping.html That's why that last one is a grey area. To each there own. I've seen some crazy shipping and "handling" charges, but it comes in a $0.79 bubble mailer with $1 worth of postage.
Thanks for the info guys. I just listed some stuff for the first time and the above info was vey helpful.
For items less than $25, the Final Value fee really kills you (8.75%). Everything over $25 is the initial 8.75% of the first $25 and then only 3.5% on the rest. So if you want to sell three items for about $15 each, you're much better off if you can get about the same price if they were grouped together.
I use PayPal on my website with a graduated shipping fee according to the $ amount that a person buys. Seems to work out well. Don't know if that type of shipping is available on Ebay as I don't (and have no intention) of using them. Way too many problems with transactions I read all over the place about Ebay. I've had my coin website up there for about 15 years, and to date (knock on wood), have not had a single problem.
Do 5 or 10 "test" listings. Find out what seems to work and what mistakes you made. Look at completed auctions by others and find out what sold and what didn't and decide WHY. If you list lots of stuff with a problem in your description/TOS it'll drive you up the wall when the questions and complaints start pouring in.
I've read that it is a good idea to put a border around the outside of the main image that shown with your listing in eBay search results. I think the recommended color was blue. Also, if you are pretty confident that there is interest in your item(s), you could list them with an opening bid of $.99 to hopefully attract an early bid. Bids attract more attention than auctions with no bids, and more attention should equal more bids. You can also include related keywords in your auction descriptions so as to maybe get some traffic from search engines. Having a very nice photo of the item(s) should help as well. Using indirect or diffused lighting when taking a picture helps with that. Include as much information as you can in your description and clearly point out any imperfections so as not to have trouble down the road with the buyer. If someone sends you a question about what you're selling, add the question and the answer to the description. EBay makes it easy as all you have to do is check a box when replying to a question. If you're listing your items in multiple auctions, add something in your descriptions telling visitors to look at your other auctions as well.
Another must: use ebay or paypal or USPS to print shipping labels and pay for postage. If you were planning to add on "confirmed delivery" it can be .80 or more cheaper. For lots and/or heavier items, use a "flat rate" priority mail envelope or box -- the envelopes or boxes are free from the USPS (in fact, you can even order them on-line, and get them delivered free), and, best part: there are essentially no weight restrictions (limit is up to 70 lbs for shipping in the US). If it can fit in the box or envelope, then it mails. The smaller box (a bit larger than a VCR tape) and the thin envelope (12.5 x 9.5 -- I've put two mint boxes in there before; multiple rolls of quarters, etc) have a flat rate of $4.95. And, again, as per above, cheaper if you print your own label.
Good point, which relates to another strategy: I use "Auctiva" to manage my auctions. For one, it allows many, and good size, pictures for free. Secondly, it automatically lists my other ongoing auctions. Makes it easy to schedule sales, comes with design templates, and so forth. Down side: Auctiva was free, but I think starting June 1 they are going to charge 9.99/month for an account.
please don't use excessive exclamation points or "L@@k" marks, its really tacky and I shy away from those auctions.
