How to REALLY Buy and Sell Stuff on eBay
A long time ago, I was one of those eBay “scalpers” that bought Tickle Me Elmos and Nintendo Wiis, among other things, to resell them on the online garage sale known as eBay. It was a profitable enterprise, and even though the game has changed considerably since then, eBay is still the absolute best place to sell your unwanted stuff.
These are a couple of tips that I’ve picked up from nine years of selling on eBay.
Buying
Here’s some things to remember when buying items on eBay:
Get a price check. This means checking the average completed price of whatever it is you’re buying. To check completed listings, you’ll need to log in as a registered user. After doing a search, check the left panel for the “Completed Listings” filter:
Check completed listings to get a sense of how much something costs.
You may also want to add a price filter – for example, if you’re searching for a cell phone and you don’t want to see cell phone accessories, just set your minimum price to $200 (or another reasonable lower limit).
Check feedback. The only real way to tell a legit seller apart from a fraudster is feedback. Ideally, you want to see a perfect (100%) positive feedback percentage, but anything above 99% is generally fine. Sellers should have a decent selling history (at least 50 in my book), and better feedback comments.
Know how to bid. You should always bid a minute (even thirty seconds) before a regular auction ends. It’s called auction sniping. The reasoning is pretty simple – bidding earlier unnecessarily increases the price and probably won’t help you, since most of the bids come within the last couple of minutes anyway. This also helps you from getting into bidding wars with other buyers – set a bid price, and stick to it. Don’t worry about it if you lose – they’ll be other items.
Make offers. Sellers have the option to add a “Best offer” option for Buy it now auctions. This allows potential purchasers to submit bids that, if accepted by the seller, automatically ends the auction at that price. If you’re considering an item that has this feature, always make an offer. You should generally aim for a 10-20% discount on your item, more if the item being sold is fairly common or not in high demand.
Throw your (buyer) weight around. As a buyer, you have far more weight with eBay than the seller. This comes into play when you buy something that isn’t exactly as described in the auction description. Always voice your complaints to the seller first, and only file a claim with eBay if that falls through. Most sellers don’t want to deal with the potential hassle of getting their Paypal accounts frozen or going through a long, arduous returns process, and they’ll usually offer a partial refund.
Use eBay Bucks. eBay bucks is a new loyalty program that gives you a small percentage rebate, currently 2% on most purchases. The problem is that the bucks you earn can only be used several months later from the purchase date. That means you can’t just buy something, get a huge rebate, and then turn around and buy something else the next day.
Don’t forget your common sense. If it’s too good to be true, don’t buy it. There will be other chances.
Selling
It’s gotten a lot tougher to be a seller. But keep a few simple rules in mind:
Estimate your profits. Use an online calculator to figure out eBay and Paypal fees, or do a quick estimate by subtracting 15% from the average ending price. The eBay fee table can be found here, and remember that Paypal normally takes a 2.9% cut. The final value fees are the ones that you’ll want to pay close attention to – these vary from 8% to 12%.
Write a solid title. This, along with your gallery picture, is the first thing people will see when they find your auction. A good title has the full name of the item, STRATEGICALLY CAPITALIZED TEXT, a one-word description for the condition of the item (“Perfect”, “Excellent”, etc), and additional text if you have space (“+ Bonus”, “FULLY LOADED”, “BUY NOW”).
Write a solid description. Take the time to create a good custom template that you can use, and pay special attention to your auction description. Start it off with a large-but-not-too-large headline, use call-to-action phrases (“Buy this item now!”), and write a short summary followed by some bullet points of what’s included in the auction. Remind the buyer that they can watch the item. (watching an item means that eBay will send email reminders before the auction ends) Don’t use weird italics, flashy colors, extra large fonts, or anything that is possibly offensive to the eye. Remember, this description is what will win over the buyer at the end of the day.
Time your auctions. The best day to start a normal seven-day auction is Sunday. I’ve personally found that the best time is 10 pm EST or 7 pm PST, and that’s when I schedule my regular auctions. Buy it now auctions don’t matter quite as much, since a person can buy your item outright at any time. You may want to do three-day BINs instead of the standard seven if it’s a particularly hot item.
Price your items right. Pricing items is a delicate business. For regular items, I always start at 99 cents since this attracts more bids, and more bids may make your item seem more attractive (eBay may also bump your item up on the list if there’s a lot of bids). For Buy it now items, I generally take the market price and add a slight premium to it. However, this is a general rule and really depends on the prices that other sellers have set. You don’t want to have the most expensive or cheapest price. (the only exception to this rule is if you are selling something that has to be sold quickly – then you may want to price it below other items)
Always price your items a cent below a big number. For example, 49.99, 99.99, or 124.99. This is an old school marketing trick (just take a look at most items at a store, or any infomercial).
Offer free shipping. When I worked at an ecommerce DVD store, free shipping trumped pretty much every other promotion or discount. It’s the same on eBay, and maybe even more so because it’s a relative rarity now that eBay has removed the incentives for adding free shipping. It’s still worth it, however. Conversely, lowering the price of an item and adding an obscene shipping price to make up for it does not work well.
Sell items that are worth selling. If an item has a value, then it’s sellable. However, to be worth selling, it has to be sellable with an acceptable amount of hassle for an acceptable price. Things like iPods and other consumer electronics are always worth selling, but your CD collection might not be. Anything that is big and/or heavy is also not worth selling on eBay. Sell those things on Craigslist instead.
If you don’t have an account on eBay, what are you waiting for? Register here.
