........................

[C.Ann]

Any info would be greatly appreciated! :)

[Humpbacks1962]

Yahoo's fees are lower, to begin with, and they are fixed. Ebay's are a percentage of what you start them at and what they sell for. Have it in mind when you do your approximation, but throw in about $3.50 or more for shipping, depending on the size and weight of your item. Do not go too low or you'll end up covering the cost of the mailers and postage.

It may help to just throw in a whole bunch of stuff together, like puzzles and toys, not making it too bulky, and activating the "buy now" feature where you pay shipping if the items sell at the buy now price. For example, you start selling your things at $5.00, but if the buyer uses the "buy now" feature and pays $30.00, for ex, you cover shipping. Sometimes it helps sell things faster.

Wanda

[DMRick]

I have been selling on eBay for a couple of years. I've done a little on Yahoo..but since they have so few buyers, even though their fees are much lower (neither they or eBay's listing fees are on a percentage..they both go by the amount you start your item..and Yaho's is less than eBay's), and since Yahoo has very few buyers, it's no savings..and what they do buy, goes for much less than I get on eBay...and several times, for some reason, on Yahoo..bidders don't seem to think they actually have to pay for what they bid on.

You need to start at the minimum you wil be happy getting, since that may be what the item will end at. To discover what you might expect to get, look at completed auctions. If you are selling books, or computer media, look into shipping media rate (so your buyers will still be interested, one they figure their shipping). Obviously, if your item is only worth $1.00..by the time you list it, pay listing fees, and end value fees, it's not wise to list that item. I however, sell "gadgets" for as low as $2.49 and make a nice profit. However, since I have duplicates, I can sell a Dutch auction, and often sell 3 at each listing, which costs me .30, plus .25 for a gallery picture, and 2.2% end auction fee. That still leaves me over $6.00 profit. The buyer pays for shipping. I charge $1.00 for shipping and handling for up to 4 "gadgets", and that covers the cost of the mailer as well. Of course I also sell more expensive items, as I wouldn't want to make trips to the PO for one "gadgets" order..my handling fee wouldn't cover the gas.

Now, to keep this on Disney topic LOL..we do use our auction money for our trips..already have our air and our Mother's Day meal to Cape May paid for!

[C.Ann]

Hope this works out..

[friskylady]

I'm curious to know how I might earn a little extra too!

[DMRick]

I auction craft items, stuff from my attic, stuff I found at garage sales, stuff hubby no longer needs. Anything and everything. Just go on eBay and look up some items you have, and see if it's an item that sells well on eBay.

[C.Ann]

:)

[friskylady]

I'm certain I can find unused items around the house! Getting them photographed, scanned, and uploaded will be a necessary chore though, I agree.

[jgates]

The easiest thing might be to invest in an inexpensive digital camera. It would probably pay for itself in time & convenience very quickly. Or you could go for a little nicer one, that has more memory (or bigger memory card) and rechargable batteries, etc & use it on your trip.

[4crusinransiers]

I have been a seller on Ebay since 1998. You would be surprized what people bid on!
I find all kinds of stuff to post and sell. I have picked up little nic naks and such at the thrift shop, not knowing the value, but knowing they were old. Spent 4.99 on a item once and the bids went up to 65.00!
Another thing that sells very well are childrens used clothes, yes the stuff you box up and send to the thrift shop or goodwill, box up a lot of 5 or 6 shirts , the same size. (make sure to add enought S/H) Brand name childrens clothes sell well, levi, gap, old navy.......:smooth:

[DisneyFan09]

I recently subscribed to Snapfish.com through mypoints.com and what you do is send them your regular 35mm film for development and they send you your prints and you also get your pictures put in a "computer album" on their website. They send you the mailing envelopes and it appears to be cheaper than getting pictures developed in the traditional fashion. I haven't done it yet but I plan to and I would think that if you have pictures anywhere on your computer they could be put on Ebay. As you can tell I'm not computer literate. You also get your first three rolls developed for free.

[friskylady]

You're all great!:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[C.Ann]

Sent an e-mail to Snapfish today..

[OzFan]

I started selling stuff I had laying around in Feb. I listed used books, DVD's and not played with in a decade N64 games on Amazon. I made enough money to pay for our 5 night stay @ PO. Then I listed my daughters clothes she out grew on Ebay. I made enough money to pay for ALL of our 5 day hopper passes,(3 adults & 2 children). My husband who quit smoking for a year has put up his "cigarette money" each day. That paid for our airfare. My dream vacation hasn't "cost" an arm and a leg. I say go for it on Ebay, you will be VERY surprised that your stuff will sell. My advice to try to group your items. Take pictures in a well lighted area. Make sure you mail ended / paid auctions quickly so you get positive feedbacks. Good luck!!
:earsgirl:
29 days and counting!!!!!!

[Biyanna]

Can Walmart or Cosco put them (pics) on a disk for you? I'm planning on getting started on Ebay soon also. I must admit that it has me alittle scared. (I've heard about some bad experiences) But, w/the economy like it is I can't let a few bad experiences stop me. Especially if it means no Disney. And I can't let that happen. :p

[ceecee]

It might be cheaper to look for a digital camera. The one we started with was a Jam cam bought on sale for $29.99. Not great photos, but I did pretty good none the less. I have to agree with the above post. My kid's clothes that sold was boutique brands or gymboree. Some of the other stuff I would have done as well at a garge sle (considering the ebay and paypal fees involved. Most of my new with tags things sold good as well. MY size 4 designer clothes hardly got anything.

[Ellen aka Snow White]

Can the smaller items be scanned and put on ebay?

[C.Ann]

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

[ceecee]

Try looking for a Jam Cam, they were discontinued and marked down at our Comp USA and Best Buy. ToysRus had them as well (although not on sale) There is also a WWF camera at Toysrus for $29.99 not the greatest but it worked for me...the plus on the Jam Cam was it was SO EASY to use, I could do it all by myself (HAHA). Good luck!

[DolphinBound]

Why don't you go to eBay and search on digital cameras, then use the sort feature to sort by lowest price...you can then see what you can get at the lowest price. Also. Buy.com has reasonable prices and a nice selection of digital cameras.

[lakoda]

OzFan,
Just curious...do items such as video games sell better on Amazon? We have some PS2 games to sell and noticed you sold your N64 games on Amazon but the clothing on ebay.

[OzFan]

The cool thing about Amazon is you don't need to take pictures of what you want to sell. They already have them on there. My N64 games sold very well as did my DVD's. Amazon charges a higher fee than Ebay, but Amazon pays you to ship it out. I sold ALOT of books with my Amazon account also. Books that were just sitting around collecting dust. I made over $400 on Amazon alone. They do all the collecting of the money and every 2 weeks they deposit what you sell in your account. I too went out and opened a seperate account. I'm VERY paranoid... That is a VERY good move on your part. I find that good quality kid clothes sell the best. My biggest sale was for an American Girl Dress it went for 78.00. Hope this helps! Good Luck!

29 days..... but who's counting!!!!!!
:earsgirl:

[DMRick]

AND eBay won't have access to our regular checking account in terms of their insertion fees and what-have-you.

eBay doesn't take payment out of our checking account (opps..edited to say, that I forgot about the newer ebay direct pay..however, I would rather pay by credit card..as I have more options, if there is a problem, and I collect points for stuff on my credit card..I would never give eBay that much control.). You do still have to have a cc on file with eBay for verification(you didn't use to).

A camera really depends on what you want to do with it..if you just want it for eBay..then 1 mega pixels is fine..in fact the Mavica on sale in Walmarts as today, is a honey of a camera for eBay. The lower pixel Olympus is good too. Some of these camera's work better with separate readers, and they would get hooked up to your computer and work like another harddrive. They are very reasonable at buy.com. Most models use different cards/sticks/flash. Keep in mind that if you plan on taking a lot of family photos and printing out bigger than 5 X 7, this camera won't be very good for that.

If you plan to "play" with the photo..butting a border around or whatever, you need to make sure you have a program that can do that..and you might want to check out Crucial.com for more inexpensive memory.

You also want to look into a scale, so you aren't cheating yorself on shipping. Know where your shipping supplies are coming from..being in my area, you can have 250 ft of 12" bubble wrap delivered for $20 from Lelands in Glens Falls. I ship mostly Priority, so I use PO boxes, but if your things are light clothing or small light items, the bidders will want cheaper shipping..or if it's books or records, they may want media mail..then you have to come up with plastic envy's and boxes.

For stuff I put up, Amazon doesn't have pictures..that usually only works for books and cds.
You and I have talked, and as I mentioned, before I invested too much money, I would suggest you try eBay first..either by having a friend/relative (or myself LOL) take some pictures..and see if you even like it. Some people don't..sometimes people are upset that they either get no bids, or they aren't as high as they has hoped..or they find end of auction notices and collection, not what they thought it would be. You have good times and bad times on eBay. I love it, I make money at it..but I also devote a lot of time to it.

But for extra trips to visit Mickey...it's worth it!!

[Ellen aka Snow White]

I am considering trying to sell scrapbook supplies on ebay - can you use a scanner for things like this??!!

[ceecee]

Yes, you can use a scanner for flat objects.

[C.Ann]

Happy Easter all! :)

[cindala]

If you scan pictures you've taken on a regular camera, does eBay give you instructions for submitting the pictures online? I'm just about to get started too, and I have to go buy a scanner. Is there one that I should look for or with minimum requirements in order to do the job correctly? (Our computer is 350mz) Thanks for any help!!!!:D




:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[DMRick]

Any scanner will do the job..as will most cameras. Some stuff I scan, some I take photos. I usually scan it in at 150DPI, then I bring the pic into Paint Shop Pro, and reduce the pixels. I then save it on my harddrive. You can then, when filling out your eBay sell form, choose to use their pic service (first picture is free), and they will lead you throuh navigating to your harddrive to where you stored it. (Or you can scan it at a lower res and save it).

I really don't care for the way most eBay's pictures look, so I use Auctionwatch.com to put up my pictures. That is very easy, and you can fill out your eBay form right through them. I actually now use their whole system for putting up my stuff (which costs extra..ten cents to list (with as many pics as I want) and 1% of the final sale..worth every penny to me!). For just picture hosting, it's .10 for the first picture and .04 , I believe for each additonal picture in the ad...which is cheaper if you use more than one pic through eBay..and much nicer and clearer. You can opt to have a large thumbnail for quick loading, and then buyers would click beneath the pic to get a bigger picture.

Again, though..before I bought a scanner, just for this..put a couple of things up, by asking a friend to take a picture or scan, or use one roll of film and either scan your pics if you have a scanner, or have them developed on cd..use Sam's to have them developed cheaper if a member...eBay is not for everyone..some just don't like it.

[Buckleybunch]

Oh my goodness.. why haven't I thought about this???
I have a garage full of my kids clothes.. Gymboree...mostly..
OZfan, can you tell me how you set prices for clothes???
I could probably have my dream trip paid for too.. I just don't want to sell them and not feel like I'm not getting a good price.. and the thought of the s/h stuff scares me...

Thanks

[Buckleybunch]

Oh my goodness.. why haven't I thought about this???
I have a garage full of my kids clothes.. Gymboree...mostly..
OZfan, can you tell me how you set prices for clothes???
I could probably have my dream trip paid for too.. I just don't want to sell them and not feel like I'm not getting a good price.. and the thought of the s/h stuff scares me...

Thanks

[OzFan]

I usually look at similiar outfits or pieces to see what they are selling for. I then ship out priority. $3.50 for under 3lbs. I weigh outfits on my bathroom scale then if it is over 3 lbs I call the post office to see what priority shipping will be, then I charge that. Be careful to only ship in the lower 50 states, I have been burned once from a buyer from Hawaii. Sometimes I even include free shipping on BUY IT NOW items. You can ship cheaper this way. Just have fun, and remember RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!!! It takes some time but in the long run it is worth it!
:earsgirl:

28 days ......but who's counting? ME

[DiznEeyore]

Don't forget you can get all kinds of rates (priority, first class, media mail, etc.) on the www.usps.gov site. It's really helpful!!

[kim]

We buy and sell on ebay too. I sell my daughter's clothes that she has outgrown. I definitely get
better prices on Ebay than a garage sale. One time I listed a Little Mermaid Bed Ruffle. I bought it on
clearance at JC Penney for $9.99, used it for a couple of years, put it in a yard sale for $1.00. It didn't
sell. I put it on Ebay and got $30.00 out of it!!! I'm putting my Ebay money back to buy my daughter a
cherry bedroom suite. A piece at a time.

[DisneyFan09]

I've never sold anything on Ebay but I've done quite a bit of bidding and buying and it never ceases to amaze me how much some of this stuff goes for! I've seen used Gymboree clothing sell for more than brand new! I have a ton of stuff I could sell but have not had time to get started.

[Snow Brite]

I don't know how to quote some one, but a few posts up there is mention that someone got burned shipping to Hawaii. I live in AK and USPS postage is the same here as it is anywhere. It is UPS an FEDEX that are more expensive because there is no GROUND option only air. I buy on Ebay and hope to start selling this week and postage from and to HAwaii or Alaska is the same as any other state.

Just an FYI as we get "geographically discriminated" against quite a bit! LOL!;)

Jennifer

[DMRick]

I live in AK and USPS postage is the same here as it is anywhere.

Well, not always, if it's a heavier package. If a priority package is over 5 pounds, it then goes by zones..and it costs a lot more to ship from NY to HI, than, for instance from NY to Ohio.
It's going to be a real pain with the next PO increase..all priority over one pound will be zoned. You can easily get your shipping costs from the PO on line rate area. If something is over 5#, and I dont' know where they live, I will often put my zip code in, and tell them I'm shipping Priority, and they can see for themsleves the cost. Often times, though, if it's a heavier package, I call UPS and have them pick it up direct It's actually cheaper than going out to my UPS place (try not to use Mail Box etc or other mailing places..the surchange can add a lot to the price). I call the night before, (I check on line to see the cost first, once I have my bidders addy), they tell me the amoutn, I have a chcek ready, and it's picked up at my door next business day.

For clothing, I have used tryvek envies..it makes the shipping a lot less..I wouldn't want to sell something very light, and charge priority. I would prob lose bids.

Also, for those of you who don't realize it..at the PO priority site, you can print out your own labels and get delivery confirmation for free (saves .40 each package). If you use an inkjet, just be sure you put clear, and smooth tape (it says not to, but they don't mean it) over hte label, in case water gets on it..it'll run if that happens.

For pricing, as I said before..go to eBay..click on the search tab on the top of the home page, and when it opens, click on completed items.

[Buckleybunch]

Can you give me the link of the PO information?

"Also, for those of you who don't realize it..at the PO priority site, you can print out your own labels and get delivery confirmation for free (saves .40 each package). If you use an inkjet, just be sure you put clear, and smooth tape (it says not to, but they don't mean it) over hte label, in case water gets on it..it'll run if that happens. "


Thanks
Linda

[DMRick]

the link to the rates at the PO is:


http://www.usps.com/shipping/eps_rate.htm

The link for the free shipping label and delivery confirmation is:

http://www.usps.com/cgi-bin/api/shipping_label.htm
(and your po sholdn't scan this..the first "scan" is considered when you print it out. If you want more proof that you shiped it, you can bring both sides of the label, and ask your po to date stamp them by hand.)

Fees for special service are here:

http://new.usps.com/cgi-bin/uspsbv/scripts/content.jsp?D=9743&B=-10856#special

[cindala]

DMRick,
Thanks for the the info on getting pictures onto the eBay site. I printed out your post, and hopefully I'll be able to figure out what to do. This picture thing seems quite complicated to me!:eek: You said that I can put pictures up from a cd. Is this more difficult? Hopefully not, since I would like to try that first before investing in a scanner. Thanks for all your help!:)




:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[gm]

hi I cannot find your post on how to post pictures on Ebay. I have an olympus 1mega pixel but for show only (lol) I know how to take pictures but not how to post. Can you explain how exactly to post on Ebay. thanks so much. For example: once I take the picture of the item then what next to get it on ebay?:D :D

[DMRick]

Putting pictures up on eBay is very easy if you are using eBay's service. The give you one picture for free. I don't happen to think their pics are the best, clearest pics, but it is easy, and lots of people use it. When you go to the eBay sell form, as you fill it out, you will be given an opportunity to go to wherever you have that picture, and upload it into their system. If it's on your harddrive, you wil navigate to wherever on your harddrive it is. If it's on a CD, then you would just click on the browser that comes up when filling out your eBay sell form, and click on whichever drive your CD is, and then navigate to the picture you want on. I assume that you would have already looked at your pic tures and written down the numbe rof the one you want to use.

Some people, as I mentioned, would rather sign up for auctionwatch.com, and use their picture hosting. You do have to pay a dime for the first picture, but each picture in the same auciton is less, so this is best if you are putting up several pics, and are very nice looking, and I put mineup as thumbnails to load fast, then people can click to make them bigger..

The best way is to go to eBay and go through their tutorials for new sellers..then, after doingthat, if you have a specific question, I can try to help you. Auction watch also has free community boards, where questions can be asked, as do eBay.

If you have more expensive items to sell on eBay, I suggest selling smaller items first, and building up some feedback.

[gm]

thank you so much dmrick. I am printing your thread right now to keep next to the computer. Thank you :D :D

[Cinders]

Just Bumpin for a friend with garage sale leftovers. ;)

[MaggieMouse]

I'm glad this was bumped.

I just started selling on EBAY and I'm getting some good tips on how to cut down costs. Also, my DD has some beautiful clothes, My Mom and Auntie are always buying her stuff. I would have never thought to sell these on EBAY. Looks like I will be listing more stuff to save for my next WDW trip!

I couldn't believe how much money I made in just three weeks on EBAY. I made $200 towards this trip and that's not including the stuff I just listed this weekend!

I just want to comment to make sure you keep your end of the deal, those feedback comments go a long way.

[cindala]

MaggieMouse,
Good for you!! What did you sell so far? :):D:)




:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Momto2funkids]

Make sure you keep good records.

We use just a simple spiral bound notebook. On it we divide into sections across the two open pages. The categories we use are

Auction number & date of closing

Item name

Winning bidder and address (filled in later)

Communication (when emails were sent, when buyer contacts us and how he will pay, etc)

Mailing date (when the item was shipped)

Winning Bid

Listing Fee

Final Value Fee

Shipping cost (noting whether we pay or buyer pays)

Cost of item (if something specically bought for selling on EBAY. If it just something we have around the house anyway, we ususally just mark it as $0.00

Other costs + / - (sometimes shipping is more/less than you estimated)

Profit / loss

With the winning bid and the listing fee, Final Value fee and cost of item across the top, we simply subtract all those and come out with the profit / loss.

But definitely write everything down as far as communication with the buyer. It is very easy to get mixed up and / or forget things if you are selling many items at once.


As far as other hints go, when setting a minimum bid, set it the very lowest you can afford to go without losing money. Higher starting bids tend to steer people away from your listing. The final price will be determined by market demand anyhow, so it often doesn't really matter if your starting bid is low. I've put things up for $.01 just for the heck of it. Doing that tends to generate interest.

Also, check out how other similar items have their titles listed. The inclusion of one word could make a big difference in how many "hits" you get. Example, when selling Legos, most people list them as Lego Legos so that people searching for either will get their listing.


Hope this helps,
Jo