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

[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!!!!!!

 

[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!!!!

 

[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!


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! 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!

 

[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?