Auction Power Guide

I am in the middle of Ebaying a massive pile of things that I don’t want or don’t use anymore from around my house. I’m about 25% of the way through it all right now and am realizing that I am literally getting owned by both shipping and Ebay fees.

I know that the fees are standard and there is nothing that can be done about them, but my concern in this question is the shipping. I’m a frequent shopper on Ebay as well and constantly buy things like $1.50 cables with free shipping from China or books for $7.00 with free shipping from the US. However, when I go to the USPS (the place I’ve found to be the least expensive to ship from so far), I generally get charged much higher prices than what these people that sell to me must be getting.

I was recently charged $6.85 to ship a book in a bubble mailer envelope and $13.xx to ship a 5lb set of pool balls. I always tell the post office clerk that I would like to ship my items using the least expensive and slowest route possible. If the sellers that I purchase from are being charged these shipping prices, then they are making little or losing money on sales.

I’m hoping someone could give me some insight on how these sellers are shipping their items. There must be something I’m missing. I can’t continue to sell items such as books when I’m selling them for $5 if I have to ask $6.85 for shipping.

Thanks in advance!

for items weighing 13oz or less, use first class mail/parcel. it goes the same way as sending a letter and is charged per oz

for books, use media mail.

if you are shipping priority mail, and the package is heavy, look into using flat rate.

the reason why the chinese cables can ship free is probably because they send what is the equivalent of first class mail since the package is light. books are shipped media mail which is a lot less expensive than other services.

http://postcalc.usps.com/ use that to calculate prices for your listings (but you need a general idea of weight for your packages).

all you really need to do is not offer free shipping for now(until you become more familiar with postage). have calculated shipping in your listings so that the buyer pays for it and you dont worry about how much it will cost you. but you need to know the weight of what you are shipping

I’m looking for a reliable source / web site to order wholesale items to start selling on eBay. Would also appreciate any tips. Thanks in advance!

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My wife, my 5 yo son and I can ride bike at normal speed on the bike trail. However, my 3 yo daughter on her bike with training wheels is slow and she gets tires fast. I have considered the seat that attaches to the back of my bike and also a bike trailer. However, the trailer costs over $150. When she grows out of it in a couple of years, it will be useless to us. Are there other options that I am not aware of? Thanks in advance.

The trailer is probably the best and safest way. And it need not become obsolete. Once everyone’s able to stay together, you can use the trailer to haul the picnic stuff to the gorgeous meadow along the bike path or the extra clothes you’ll want if the weather looks like it’s going to change.
And, as long as you take care of it, you can sell it to someone else who needs it either through a classified ad, on ebay, Craigslist or through your local bike club, many of which have annual bike gear sales. There are probably many other new parents who would like to find a used trailer at a good price – for the same reasons you have.
You might want to shop around and see if one’s available at a good price for yourself!

Hello,

Last year I bought a lot of Christmas supplies, decorations, Christmas themed toys and baby clothes, etc. on after-Christmas sales to sell on eBay. Do you think it is too early for me to list them or should I wait until the end of October? I want to get them to my customers before the mail gets all blocked up with Christmas gifts. Any advice will help.

Thanks in advance!

I don’t think it’s too early, but are people looking for them yet? Will you get your best prices for them if you don’t have lots of shopper yet?

My gut feeling is to list these items in the middle of November when people are more in the spirit of shopping so you can get your best pricing. The Post Offce has such reduced volume of mail these days that unless you are shipping in the last couple of weeks before christmas, you are not going to encounter high volume/slow shipping.

I’ve been researching ways to make money from home and decided on trying out selling stuff on ebay. So far its just been things around the house that werent needed and its been "ok" i guess but im an amerature to say the least.

I’m looking for tips on how to increase my sales. Ways to make my listing stand out and look more appealing. Stuff like that. I’ve read that free shipping gets peoples attention, but how can i still make a decent profit from doing things like that?

Also im wondering what are good/popular things to sell on ebay. Im willing to look around at thrift stores and was thinking of maybe shopping at goodwill and coming up with childrens clothes lots as i have a good eye for whats cute but these are just ideas.

Any tips or suggestions at all would be great as im pretty inexperienced.

Thanks in advance 🙂

Selling on eBay is exactly like selling in any other marketplace except that the usual barriers to entry such as cost, employment, etc., are virtually non-existent and instead of just a few thousand potential buyers, you have access worldwide to over 181 million potential buyers![1] For those who have already experienced selling through garage or yard sales or through swap meets, you’re already well and truly familiar with selling on eBay.

Most importantly, whether you’re a novice seller or someone who has been selling for a while, is to realize that there isn’t any single secret to sales success. There are some generalizations that apply but even they have their exceptions and the reality is that you need to try out the selling your own way until you find the way that produces the most success for you, your items and your approach. Rely on your common sense, good observation and research skills as well as being an excellent communicator and you’ll be able to make a success of selling on eBay. Don’t make it any harder than it is, which really, isn’t that hard at all!

Here is a little to help you start on your way to becoming an eBay seller, whether you’re a small home business, a big business, or just trying to sell some stuff you may have sitting around.

I am a mom of 4 chidren and have recently posted some items for sale on Ebay. I’ve heard that a lot of people have had success doing this. I’m concerned though that no one is bidding on my items because I don’t have a rating score yet. How will anyone trust that I will ship them the merchandise they purchased or that I’m legitimate. I know I would be skeptical to purchase anything from someone w/ no rating score. Can anyone give me any tips. I’d love to hear some success stories! I’m not looking to be rich. Just make some extra spending cash for the kid’s and myself. I am a stay at home mom and thought this would be great for me. Thanks in advance for your responses!
Thank you…thank you for all your responses. I know the fees Ebay charges sometimes makes me wonder if it’s worth the while. Guess I just have to be patient.

My personal opinion, I think ebay has dried up.
But, dont worry about your lack of rating score.
Everyone starts at zero. You may wish to buy in ebay a few things to get your numbers up. People hardly even leave feedback anymore. Now, ebay appears to be a liquidation centre, so sure, try your things that are sitting around at home. I got some good cash back when I liquidated my jewelry business, last January 2006, BUT, certainly never got more than what I originally paid. This past year I sold nice NEW wooden toys, that was unsuscessful. Imagine I did not make it to December, christmas time! My feedback is almost 300, a fast rise to superseller in Feb2006, then downhill. Those add on ebay fees can be unwittingly cumbersome, and shipping fees. Maybe my biggest shortfall is that I live in Canada. Ebay is a great place for those looking for a bargain, but you dont want that bargain to be at your expense. So, I think used items, and used toys could do you well. You do have a large market base (USA).

I hope my experience story was somewhat helpful to you.

I am thinking of getting a new computer, not right now, but soon cause ours is 7 years old and a bit slow and with updates not supporing the old windows packages and some other issues too, we want to either upgrade or buy new.

so what i would like to know in your opinion which make/company is the best to go to, give the best sales service (ie don’t try to sell you the highest priced rubbish, promising it does what i want and find that the graphics card is worse than we got now say!

also want a company that if i should need them, have good after sales service too. often a sore point with computer stores/co’s

right I am after a good, reasonable priced, fast machine, with good graphics and sounds for game play, as well as home/office like MSworks/broadband, decent basic software, without loads of school child programs, not lookiing to buy via ebay sellers either.

does anyone just do the tower, without mouse/keyboard cause we got good ones?

thanks in advance for any sensible advise

This is U.K. Answers, so I’m going to assume you live in the U.K.
I had my system built by a local shop that I checked had been in business for a while. I found them by word of mouth advertising. They asked me what I wanted to be able to do on the p.c. and helped me design a system within my budget. The price included set up and delivery.
I’ve had to call them out three times. Twice I got a quick response and the problem was fixed at my home for £30 – £50. The other time they talked me through what to do on the phone and there was no charge.

If you can’t find anywhere like this, then think about somewhere a bit pricier like Evesham. Frankly, all the big companies will sell you a system using the lowest grade components they can use, slapped together in a factory. Profit margins are so low that its a wonder any of them are still in business. They get their money back from the expensive phone support.

A few days a go I was bidding for an item and eventually lost it to another bidder who won it for around £180; which was a very good price. I went back the next day to see if a similar item had been put up and I found the EXACT same one for sale and that the same person who won the last one was bidding on this lot.

What do you think is going on behind the scenes here? Is the seller getting a friend to bid to up the price? Or do you think the seller asked the winner to decline their offer so that they could see if a better offer could be made this time around? Or is there something fundamental I’m missing like not meeting a minimum bid requirement?
Thanks Margie! There was no "reserve not met" tag on the old listing and there isn’t one on the new one either… I’m pretty sure it’s the exact same one as the last listing; same detailed pictures and same description but maybe I’m wrong.

Still taking advice/answers! Thanks in advance…

Go back and look at the completed listing for the first one you were bidding on and see if it says anything about "reserve not met". If there was no reserve on it, and it showed up again, either the seller has more than one of these items and is just listing one at a time, or there is bid shilling going on, which is against ebay rules. Shoot the seller a question, ask them how many of these do they have available, and see what the answer is. If you suspect bid shilling, report the seller to ebay. By the way, if this is what they are doing, they are idiots in more ways than one, because every time they cancel a transaction ( hoping to make more money) they must pay several fees. On an item this expensive, they are losing approx. 20 pounds each time they cancel !!!
Hope you get to the bottom of this.

Well this is what is happening, I have purchased $60 worth of goods from Ebay off several different suppliers. At the time i went to pay the the people i actually had $0.00 in my paypal, My mum said i can still pay for the items and paypal will take it as a credit thing. Two days later i put $60 in the paypal account, i waited for the payments to clear for several days and then it saild Declined "Insufficient funds"

I used the pay now button from ebay to pay with paypal the first time, the second time i tried to pay (With the money now on my paypal) I could not click on the pay now button from ebay so i simply clicked the "Send money" on paypal to the sellers correct payment email address. All good and well, But they still say they have not received payments and will cancel the sale if the money does not clear in 4 days.

Paypal said that the payment was sent on the 3rd of Feb its now the 17th of Feb! whats going on?

Is it possible to claim back that money if i may of sent it to a email address that is wrong or anything like that?

Thanks in advance,

>> HyperSpeed <<

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Steam ID: Retailsucks
Games: CoD MW2
Feel Free to Add Me!
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This has been happening to me.

I changed my primary email with Ebay and Paypal. I had to go into my Ebay store and change that email address on every item in my store.
You made a purchase, and Paypal defaults BACK to the old email address, which is no longer connected to my account. You send the money there, I cannot get it.
Then you have all the hoops to jump through to fix the problem.

First- Go to the item and check on payment. It should send you to the Paypal transaction. If it says that seller has not claimed the money, then BINGO! it went to the wrong address.

Second- Cancel the payment.

Third- Contact the seller and ask for the correct email address to make payment to, or better yet, ask for a new invoice with the correct email.

Fourth – Make payment again.

Would be so much easier if Ebay and Paypal were not so greedy that they accept payment to email addresses without accounts.

Well this is what is happening, I have purchased $60 worth of goods from Ebay off several different suppliers. At the time i went to pay the the people i actually had $0.00 in my paypal, My mum said i can still pay for the items and paypal will take it as a credit thing. Two days later i put $60 in the paypal account, i waited for the payments to clear for several days and then it saild Declined "Insufficient funds"

I used the pay now button from ebay to pay with paypal the first time, the second time i tried to pay (With the money now on my paypal) I could not click on the pay now button from ebay so i simply clicked the "Send money" on paypal to the sellers correct payment email address. All good and well, But they still say they have not received payments and will cancel the sale if the money does not clear in 4 days.

Paypal said that the payment was sent on the 3rd of Feb its now the 16th of Feb! whats going on?

Thanks in advance,

>> HyperSpeed <<

———————————-
Steam ID: Retailsucks
Games: CoD MW2
Feel Free to Add Me!
———————————-

You should contact PayPal and or eBay. be careful, the seller, unless they have a high number selling stat.. could be trying to scam you. Contact PayPal and eBay ASAP