ebay selling?

How many of you guys sell on ebay? What are tips and things? How much does ebay take out? How much do the stores cost you?
Difference between having an auction and strictly buy now? (costs and other)

I've only bought stuff on ebay but never sold anything.

I have an ebay store. The store really isn't worth while unless you have alot of things to sell. Some tips I've learned are;

1. A picture is really worth a 1000 words. Make sure your pictures are clear and show the object well.

2. Always be truthful. Describe in detail any flaw what your selling might have. If not the buyer is going to be unhappy and leave negative feedback.

3. Be quick and prompt with your shipping. People hate to wait.


Hope that helps

yeah it does. I planned to take pictures. So the cost of the store isn't worth it unless you have lots of things? How much does it cost? How much do they take out?

I want to start out small because it's costly and then just reinvest until i can buy supplies.

My husband sells a lot on ebay but he's in bed right now so I can't ask him how much it costs. I think ebay bills something like $1.50 for each $20.00 sold, but don't hold me to that! I'll ask him tomorrow and if you haven't gotten any answers I'll post it.

One good thing, the post office will supply you with free priority mail boxes. You have to pay the shipping (you have to order them in bulk) but they are much safer than a lot of boxes sitting at home...especially if your cats are like mine and think boxes are THEIR territory!

I also recommend if you don't have a paypal account, set that up. It makes getting the payments so much easier and you can print the shipping labels from your computer and arrange to have the post office pick them up (in most places).

Good luck! You will be amazed at what people are interested in! We found an old clock at my MIL house and put it on ebay. It didn't even work, but here it was a rare style and sold for $118.00! We were amazed!

Yeah i have paypal, i've had that for a long time so we're all good on that front.

If you dont mind, ask him about shipping too, does he charge a flat fee (for small items) or actually go out and calculate? I'm thinking that charging a flat fee will help cover the cost of packing and so forth.

I like to know all I can know before throwing myself into stuff like this.

I've been selling on ebay for 5 years. I have a store. I think I pay like $15 a month to have the store. But when you list items in your store it only costs .06 as opposed to .75 for an auction and in the store its good for 30 days whereas the longest you can go for an auction is 10 days. You do have to have I'd say at least 40 items in your store to make it worthwhile. I've been doing pretty well with it though.

I've always been big on not overcharging for shipping. That's just me, I hate when sellers charge $6.00 to ship something that weighs like 3oz. It's pretty ridiculous. So I have a small kitchen scale that goes up to 5lbs, making shipping so much easier. Anything 13 oz and under ships first class and a pound and up gets shipped priority mail. I may charge .50 handling fee at the most. Otherwise I charge exact shipping. (I know I am a rare breed LOL). You can order free shipping supplies at www.usps.com. Once you have the weight you can just print the label online through ebay/paypal.

Feel free to ask my any questions. I have something like almost 2000 feedback (100% positive ) so I have quite a bit of experience.

Ok so you get the envelopes for free from the post office site?

What kind of paper do you need to have to print the labels..seems like that would be really easy as opposed to going there all the time.

At first though, I'm going to start small and see if I can even sell, just trying to think ahead if things ever work out.

Things are starting to get unfoggy ..slowly..lol

Thanks for the cost info, I needed to know that. If you don't sell the item, do you still pay the .75?

You've gotten great information. I've only sold a few items on e-Bay. When you sell without a store, they walk you through the steps. I think they charge you by the boxes that you check when setting up the ad. Like $0.15 for a picture, $0.35 for the ad...that kind of thing. I don't think it ever costs very much. I had a Paypal account for purchasing, and it was easy to convert it to selling. They have steps to walk you through that also. I've never had an item not sell, so I don't know if you have to pay if it doesn't sell. I think probably you do, since you are purchasing the ad, but don't take that as gospel.
I know when I purchase, I always check out the seller's ratings. I check comments to see if people mention quick shipping, good packaging, fair shipping prices, honesty in advertising, good quality merchandise, good communication. Those are the kinds of things that are important to me, so those are the types of things that I try to do when I sell.

Edit to add: I have a digital baby scale that I use to weigh the kitties on. It has come in very handy for checking the weight of the package and using that weight to print up a pre-paid Paypal shipping label that you can do once the item is sold on e-Bay


Good luck! Hope you get rich!!!


Pookie & the girls

Originally Posted by Rosey

Ok so you get the envelopes for free from the post office site?

What kind of paper do you need to have to print the labels..seems like that would be really easy as opposed to going there all the time.

At first though, I'm going to start small and see if I can even sell, just trying to think ahead if things ever work out.

Things are starting to get unfoggy ..slowly..lol

Thanks for the cost info, I needed to know that. If you don't sell the item, do you still pay the .75?

Click to expand...

Yes you can get free envelopes, boxes, etc. from www.usps.com to the order supplies section or you can actually go into the post office and they usually will have a few supplies out there, you just take what you need.

You can print the label on regular paper and just tape it to the package. However, I have peel and stick labels that I bought from a stationary store (easier for me).

If you have not bought anything on ebay I would buy a few small items just to build some feedback. Most buyers will be hesitant to buy from a seller with little or no feedback.

If you dont sell the item you still have to pay the .75 fee. If you relist the item and it sells the second time, the second fee is waved.

Thank you guys so much! You have totally enlightened me!

I do have some feedback and it's all + so that's good.

Thank you thank you!

I'm scared of Ebay I would get way too addicted.

I am extremely addicted

Me too. Maybe we could start up our own 12 step program!

Hi...I'm Pookie, and I'm addicted to e-Bay!

I would also consider insurance for items over a certain amount or offer it as an additional fee on the sale. There have been times that the post-office has lost stuff. The buyers get P.O'd, but what can you do? At least if you insure it it isn't as bad. I've been burned as a seller, so I include insurance on items and also use a delivery confirmation so no one can say "oh, it never showed up." and then complain to pay-pal who will refund them no-questions asked. There are scammers on the buying end too!

I always use delivery confirmation but I'm not a big fan of insurance. To me its not worth it. The PO has told me that you need receipts to be able to file an insurance claim, and even then it takes days, weeks, even months to get a refund. If the item is expensive I'd say go for it but the items I sell average about $10 each so insurance is pointless in my opinion. If they have a problem or dont receive their package its quicker and easier for me to just refund. (out of almost 2000 transactions I've only had to refund maybe 2-3 times)

Yup...the price-point is the key for insurance, but delivery confirmation should be done with everything. It's worked for me.

yeah i'm definately going to track it.

btw delivery confirmation is FREE when you print your labels through ebay/paypal/usps

oh awesome!! that is so good to know!!

what kind of labels do you get? i've never printed labels on my printer before.