Selling stuff on ebay

[C.J.]

Don't do it myself,no particular reason other than laziness but my youngest decided to shift an item that's been lying around in the garden for some time.

I'm absolutely gobsmacked at the response, but more so, the price it's seemingly going for so far, with just a short time to go!
More than I paid for it 6 years ago in fact!

Other similar items don't appear to be shifting that well, and I wonder if it's because I /we put some decent pictures in, good description and a quite low starting price?

If this all goes well and gets collected without fuss, I may well have to start a 'winter rummage sale'

[lambrettalad]

A good honest description with decent pictures helps a great deal ,well done to your youngster

[C.J.]

A good honest description with decent pictures helps a great deal ,well done to your youngster

I wrote the description.

He took the piccies and loaded everything onto the Bed of Fleas though, granted.

Did this last year on an old Citroen ZX that I bought to sell.

By the time I got it through the mot, I thought, mmmm, never going to make anything on this, FAIL!
I was in two minds to scrap it tbh, but young C.J. persuaded me to try Ebay.

Glad I did, as I actually ended up making over £200 on it!

[charlie_morris_minor]

certainly good pictures and description help.. but when something is large and needs collection that is often the overriding factor, you need 2 or more people locally wanting it, to get a good price.

bad pictures can lead to a great bargin though as not many people bid on them, i bid on a dolls house for my daughter where the picture was so blurred it was difficult to see what i was buying but at 99p it was worth a punt as it was local.. i won and it was in perfect condition and came with lots of accessories that she had not bothered to list!

[kennatt]

people get into a bidding frenzy,and are determined that the other guy is not going to get it.The last time I put an old windsurfer sail on,it was worth £80 tops,Expecting and being happy to get £40,three bidders took it up to £150 and final bid of £155 won. The guy came to collect and agreed that it was as advertised,when he viewed it,but said he had got a red mist when bidding.I just couldn't take the mony from him,too ashamed to with the condition of it(Well used) took the £80. Got a good feedback

[C.J.]

people get into a bidding frenzy,and are determined that the other guy is not going to get it.The last time I put an old windsurfer sail on,it was worth £80 tops,Expecting and being happy to get £40,three bidders took it up to £150 and final bid of £155 won. The guy came to collect and agreed that it was as advertised,when he viewed it,but said he had got a red mist when bidding.I just couldn't take the mony from him,too ashamed to with the condition of it(Well used) took the £80. Got a good feedback

I'm bordering on this dilema myself now.
Bidding gone crazy and way over what I was expecting/hoping for (£80 now reads £161)

[C.J.]

Mental.

£180 with just 45 minutes to go for an item that only worth £100 max imo.

Bet he won't turn up for collection now.

[C.J.]

£201.01 for a trailer, that whilst it is indeed in quite nice condition, it's been used so not 'as new', and I really don't believe it's worth that amount to be fair. o .

I'm totally gobsmacked and embarrassed .
Only paid £125 for it second hand 6 years ago!

Now worrying that it doesn't look as good as the pictures portray.

The future' s bright obviously. The future is in trailers!!!

[kennatt]

On the otherside of the coin,I once saw U bolts listed for a minor and described as original,and very rare,and with an opening price of£20 each,I asked the seller.... are they made of gold,because I can get them from traders for £2.50 each... he replied yeh,gold and titanium if you want. He didn't put the question onto the listing I wonder why.

[bjbrownie]

I at one time owned 6 Rover SD1s, and disposed of them gradually over the years, including an attic and 2 sheds full off spares, after a year found a few left over bits namely a pair of rear wheel arch 'spats' off a Vitesse.
Put them on eBay thinking I'll get a tenner for them, they weren't brilliant as there were screw holes and scuffs, but they sold for just under £50- and I was going to bin them! A guy from New Zealand wanted them, these must be rare parts.

[sparesman]

Be careful when selling stuff on ebay to be posted. Since last month Ebay have charged commission on postage charges so now just to cover the real postage charge you need to add about 15% to cover the Ebay & Paypal charges and that is before the cost of any packaging. Also dont get caught out by the Post Office parcel sizes. The other day a lady in front of me was posting some bulky packages of ebay sales where she had charged £3 for post and they cost her £5.60 as they were too thick to qualify for the small parcel rate.

[C.J.]

Be careful when selling stuff on ebay to be posted. Since last month Ebay have charged commission on postage charges so now just to cover the real postage charge you need to add about 15% to cover the Ebay & Paypal charges and that is before the cost of any packaging. Also dont get caught out by the Post Office parcel sizes. The other day a lady in front of me was posting some bulky packages of ebay sales where she had charged £3 for post and they cost her £5.60 as they were too thick to qualify for the small parcel rate.

Whew!!

Couldn't find an envelope big enough for a trailer, so I've told the buyer to come and collect it himself.

[tysonn]

Viking sell big envelopes.

[bjbrownie]

I sold a toy car recently via eBay, and took it packaged it the local post office where I asked for 2nd class post and to be signed for- the guy tested it in the letter box slot thing and said it was too big to go in the slot so would have to charge more- I said if its to be signed for, why the f@ck does it need to be tested if its too big for the letter box? Unbelievable.

[MarkyB]

These are ' the good old days' , it's privatised now, mysterious illogical pricing will be the order of the day if we are lucky