Any Ebay.ca users out there?

[CJK]

For years I've been hearing how people have been able to make good money selling things on Ebay. I have an old Vic 20 that I'd like to sell. I haven't done ANY research on Ebay so I know it will take a while. I have a personal paypal account, but will I have to get a business one too?

Any firsthand experience with Ebay.ca would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wee-haggis]

For years I've been hearing how people have been able to make good money selling things on Ebay. I have an old Vic 20 that I'd like to sell. I haven't done ANY research on Ebay so I know it will take a while. I have a personal paypal account, but will I have to get a business one too?

Any firsthand experience with Ebay.ca would be greatly appreciated.

I have used it quite a bit (buying and selling) and my experience is very favourable. Its like everything else....after a while,you get used to it and its easy. You don't need a business acount if you are selling the odd item.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Commenting on the VIC 20...a few years ago, my friend found an Atari computer system at a flea market...he got real good money on Ebay for it. The collectors really like the computers from that era. Good luck on the auction!!

 

[CJK]

Thanks to both of you!

Interesting info about the VIC 20. I hope we can get a good price for it. Thanks!

 

[CJK]

I just checked Ebay and there is a current VIC 20 computer up for auction and there has only been one bid for 10 pounds or $20 Canadian. That seems rather low to me. Any thoughts of another place I could sell the computer?

 

[pxlbarrel]

I just checked Ebay and there is a current VIC 20 computer up for auction and there has only been one bid for 10 pounds or $20 Canadian. That seems rather low to me. Any thoughts of another place I could sell the computer?

Hmmmm..there now seems to be a glut of VIC 20's. Sorry for getting your hopes up. However, that being said...I don't know of anywhere else to sell it.

One thing though...when looking on Ebay to see how much you think you can sell your stuff for, always look in the completed auctions. Experienced Ebayers don't bid on stuff till the very last minute. An auction that's still going usually doesn't tell the real story.

 

[CJK]

Thanks again. I must admit I'm a little overwhelmed with Ebay so far! I haven't even started selling yet! One question for you if you don't mind. How do the fees work? Do all the fees get put into my account and I just pay monthly? Do I use a credit card or paypal to pay for it? I'd rather use a credit card to pay the fees, but receive payment from buyers via paypal. Is that possible?

*Edited to add* - I just figured out that I can use a credit card for the fees. I guess the best way to understand how Ebay works, is to jump in and sell something. I understand I can only auction off 1 item at a time until I reach a feedback of 10. Here goes nothing!! Thanks for your help!!

 

[SandraC]

Hello ~ I have a small business called Heailng Arts. [my website www.freewebs.com/healingarts/ ] I have been selling items thru Ebay for quite a while. I use Paypal and love it ~ it pretty easy to use. Blessings ~ Sandra

 

[CJK]

Hi Sandra. Thanks for the link! I'll have to check it out.

Do you use a business paypal account for your selling? I'm still unclear what the difference is between business and personal other than the fees associated with a business account. Thanks!

 

[pxlbarrel]

The biggest difference between a personal Paypal account and a business or premier account is the ability for a business or premier account to accept credit card payments as opposed to just money transfers (ie, somebody has some money in their Paypal account already and pays for their purchase....their credit card doesn't even come into play.)

There is also a fee (of course there is!) attached to accepting all payments when you have a business or premier account. A personal account can accept payments (again...just money transfers) for free. However, I believe that personal accounts also have a limit as to how much you can accept per month.

The Paypal fees are actually quite competitive with actual merchant credit card accounts. They'll rip you off in currency exchange though. (If you're selling to Americans, they like U.S. prices but see if you can persuade them to pay in Canadian so you can set the exchange rate.)

If you want to get your money out of Paypal rather than having it sit there tempting you to buy more stuff on Ebay (the ultimate garage store heaven for pack rats!), then you need to associate the account with your bank account. There are instructions on how to do that on Paypal. There are multiple opinions on what kind of bank account you should associate with Paypal (not your main one, separate from all other accounts, blah blah blah). If you really want to scare yourself silly, go to the Community Boards on Ebay and read the Paypal board. Actually, if you filter out the crap there, you can get some very good advice on those boards.

Good luck!!

 

[CJK]

pxlbarrel - thank you! You seem to be a wealth of knowledge! I'm going to try to stick with my personal paypal account (which I already have associated with a bank account).

I've learned today that I really need to buy a few things before people will feel comfortable buying FROM me. Was that true in your experience? Now I'm figuring out what to buy. Oy! It's quite a process learning the ropes, but I'm being told that it's well worth it in the end!! Thanks again!

 

[pxlbarrel]

I started out on Ebay a while ago so it was a lot easier to do things back then. The restrictions were not as...well, restrictive, as they are now. Feedback is still the name of the game....so I used to buy up all kinds of stuff to get feedback. But now...it looks like people are getting smarter. Before people buy, they'll look at the feedback and while positive feedback for buying is still better than no feedback, they'll notice if you've gotten any feedback for selling too.

Then again...if you're shown as trustworthy to send money, then you should be trustworthy to send money to.

As to what to buy...haha...it was way too easy for me to find stuff I wanted. I collect so much stuff (Disney, Star Trek, Buffy, electronics...and on and on and on) that I had too much to pick from. What's a girl to do?

In the beginning when I started selling, I only accepted money orders or cheques...which was great because I cashed them for American cash...which at the time was 1.50 CDN. I collected enough American cash for spending money on a trip to the States. The only time I needed my credit card was for the hotel...everything else was cash from Ebay. So I thought it was well worth it! Those early morning drives to neighbourhood garage sales paid off.