Ebayers?

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

Kim,

to see if anyone is "Watching" your auction, click on " My eBay". When the page loads you will have menus down the left hand side:

All Buying
All Selling
Want It Now
My Messages etc etc

Click on All Selling, then on the auction listing. There should be info there which tells you if anyone it watching the item. If people are watching it, it usually means:

a) they want a reminder close to the closing of the auction and so may be a serious bidder, or
b) they are selling, or considering selling a similar item and are curious as to the price you will get.

[slick]

I'm very new to ebay and I only buy. I have learned to watch an item closely and right before it ends, I bid and hopefully be the winner among the millions of others doing the same thing.

[catnapper]

Kim, go to the "My Ebay" link on the top of the screen.

Ah! Thanks!

Waaaahhhhh.... nobody is watching my listing! *sniff* I sure hope everyone is right about the last minute thing.

Yes, the cost of shipping is deterring me in some thing we like. If someone local wanted to buy it, I'd gladly have them meet me somewhere to exhange things without the shipping fee.

Jen, I figured someone would notice my ebay name! Fits, doesn't it?

[LoudLou]

I think the ad is great!
We buy a lot from Ebay and the only suggestion I have is "Buy it Now". Hubby and I shop a lot with that feature.

And yes it is very common for people to wait til the last minute to buy something.

[Cataholic]

I buy clothes from ebay.
I would look past the ad because of your shipping. I learned that people mark up shipping, and that makes me mad. Not saying YOU do, but, I would immediately think, "$9.00? ".

I would also break it down to size. For Jonah, I wanted ONLY a certain time, and didn't want to spend two pennies on something I knew he wouldn't fit.

On a side note...I wasn't really sure why these clothes wouldn't fit the baby- assuming it is a girl? Maybe you could wait six months, and then sell TONS of the stuff as a large lot, including the clothes the baby would then have outgrown?

[moosmom]

Perfect example of outrageous shipping charges...

I bid on a cat tree and won the bidding at $10.00. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying close attention to the SHIPPING of the item(or the feedback for that matter) which said "calculated". I thought, "WOW!!! I got a cat tree for maybe $25!!!" NOT!!! The shipping brought the grand total to $135!!!!! I emailed the guy and told him there was no WAY I could afford that kind of money and was not paying it. He said okay. I then checked out his feedback. BAD NEWS!!!! He had over 100 NEGATIVE feedbacks in a 12 month period. When I went to look at his feedback again, he made it so it's private and no one can see it. What does THAT tell you???

[Lizzie]

If I were you, I would save my Beatles stuff until you're a little more experienced. Start out with items you really don't care about just to see how it works.

Thank you for your advice, all of it was really helpful, and I've been thinking about what you said above. I have a few signed etchings that a downtown gallery would not take to sell because they are by an East Coast artist that isn't much recognized here. I'll get my feet wet with those. One more question, when you put down a base price, do you have to sell for that price if that's the only offer you get? So, you should put in a lowish but reasonable price to start with? For instance, the etchings cost me $100-$150 when I bought them 20 years ago. I doubt if they are worth much more than that now. If I put, let's say, $40 as a starting price on them, would that look reasonable?

This is a very useful thread, thank you for starting it, Kim ,and good luck with your sale.

[LoudLou]

Re: Shipping Costs---

With our business we ship almost everyday. A lot of times, believe or not, Fed-Ex, DHL, or UPS is better, faster, more secure and sometimes cheaper than US Postal... However- Shippers are now charging a Fuel Surcharge because of the high cost of gas. So anyway you look at it Shipping is always exspensive. Be sure to check the shipping before you bid. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Fed-ex may be a few dollars more but they have a great website and make tracking packages easy.

Case in point: I have 2 HUGE road cases in my living room. I at 5'10" can almost stand up straight in them! We bought them off Ebay for $25.00 each. Great buy. However we also understood that the Freight bill on them would make the total purchase price more like $500.oo... but I wanted them.

[Ally Cat's Mommy]

Thank you for your advice, all of it was really helpful, and I've been thinking about what you said above. I have a few signed etchings that a downtown gallery would not take to sell because they are by an East Coast artist that isn't much recognized here. I'll get my feet wet with those. One more question, when you put down a base price, do you have to sell for that price if that's the only offer you get? So, you should put in a lowish but reasonable price to start with? For instance, the etchings cost me $100-$150 when I bought them 20 years ago. I doubt if they are worth much more than that now. If I put, let's say, $40 as a starting price on them, would that look reasonable?

This is a very useful thread, thank you for starting it, Kim ,and good luck with your sale.

You have two options to make sure that you get a minimum price:

Either specify that figure as the Starting Price, or
List the items with a reserve. This is not visible to the bidders, it will just say " reserve not met" until someone bids over that figure. When I do this, I usually say in the text of my ad " Reasonable Reserve" or "Low Reserve" to encourage people to bid.

Placing a reserve DOES affect your listing fees, so add up the costs carefully before deciding how to list your item.


Also, RE EXTORTIONATE SHIPPING FEES as Donna experienced, you can report sellers who are overcharging on shipping and selling the item for a very low price to eBay. It is a way for them to circumvent paying the correct listing fees - when an item sells, you are billed by eBay a percentage of the selling price, EXCLUDING shipping, so dishonest sellers use this trick to circumvent eBay fees.

[auggie]

Your shipping charges are not too high.
Shipping rates are based on weight and distance. (Fuel surcharges are included)
For example: The UPS cost of a package weighing only 1 pound and shipping from TX to PA would be $6.36 and you would have to drop it off at a UPS location.
If you arrange for UPS to pick it up the package the cost would jump to $ 10.51.

Shipping the same 1 pound package just across town would cost me$ 5.52 at to lowest rate.

Btw. Congratulations on your future grandchild!
I guess we can start calling you grandma now.