George Michael's Range Rover That he crashed in A Photography Shop's Window has reportedly been sold on eBay. The full story is Here
Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Saturday, 5 November 2016
eBay Sellers Feel Abandoned As The Older Selling Tools Will Be No Longer Supported
I came across this story today. eBay have decided to hang up some of their older selling tools such as Selling Manager & Pro as well as Turbolister. Their area a lot high volume sellers are not happy about it. You can read the full story HERE
Thursday, 3 November 2016
The 8 Top Places Where eBay Sellers Can Get Great Stock From & Make Massive Profits.
Car Boot Sales, Flea markets & Swap Meets
When most eBay Sellers start selling they will usually sell things that they have laid around the home that they no longer use. They get bitten well and truly by the money bug want to keep selling but have nothing left that they don't use. Getting stock can be can be one of hardest things for eBay sellers to over come. However there is a good number of options.
Car boots sales are where I get the vast majority of my stock. If you do get to go round the boot sale buy as ethically as you remember these are ordinary people that are having a clear out or they may need to get cash fast to buy food. In the past I've given more than the stall holder has asked for, especially when the seller maybe a child who has come along with their parents and they have given their son or daughter a small section of the stall to sell some of their old toys. One time in particular springs to mind when I asked a little girl how much the Nerf Recon I was told 50p this particular gun is worth about £15.00 I told her I would pay her £2.50 her parents were happy & the little girl was ecstatic to say the least. This has happened on a few occasions if I think there is a good profit in the item then I will give what the seller has asked without haggling.
There are eBay sellers however who will stop at nothing to get to the good stuff first and have no qualms rifling through box's going into the back of cars, they're like a lot vulture around a carcass. Don't go down this road you can still make plenty of money without lowering your morals to what is nothing more than a pack of hyenas fighting over scraps. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with haggling to get the price a lower to make a profit which has to be decent enough for the work into researching, listing & packing the item. Also for me personally if I know the seller is a dealer who is there each week, the gloves come off. If they can't be bothered to do a little research on the items they're selling that's their tough luck and I will always haggle with any dealer to get the price down.
Always arrive early in the morning to a car boot sale, they usually open to the public about seven a.m. Getting there early means you get to the best bargains first, however there will also be a couple of hundred other resellers doing exactly the same and you'll all be usually looking for the same things. There is a sort of unwritten law while you've get it in your hands you get to refuse it first and no one else can buy it. Have a look at the whole stall, see if you can put together a collection of things you want to buy and sort a deal out for all of it. Get into every area on the stall there will usually be box's under the table that have just had a load of stuff dumped into them, go through every single thing, don't overlook anything which can make you a profit. Not so long ago I grabbed quite a dirty cardboard box that was buried under a pile of stuff underneath a pasting table. I opened it up and there was a Asus net book. The seller she explained that she couldn't get it to work. I thought it had be worth £12.00 as spares or repairs. We agreed on £3.00 I took it home charged it up, it worked fine. It sold it a few days later for £58.00. I picked it quite late in the morning, which meant a number of resellers had missed it. All because they couldn't be bothered to look hard and dig in the dirt a bit. There is a Yorkshire saying "where there's muck there's brass." (brass: Yorkshire slang for money)
Local Auction Houses
Auctions are fast and furious and great fun to boot. You need to have your wits about you. You really can't rest even for a minute. However if you prepare properly you can get some really good stock at fantastic knock down prices.
Auctions usually work on fortnightly or weekly schedules. They put out a list on line a few days before the auctions takes place. The vast majority of auction houses will also email you the list. Have a good read though it and mark down any items that interests you on the sheet. There is always a viewing day before the auction go have a look at what you've marked down. You need to add up what you think you can get for the item and decide what your willing to pay. What I personally do is divide it in to three and one third is what I'm willing to pay to get this item. You may need to spend some time doing this I've spent all day at auction viewing days but the rewards are well worth the effort.
The day of the auction get there early I like to sit at the back of the room so I can see who is bidding against me. You have to watch every item that's coming through the auction I've picked up some really good buys this way but you have to think on your feet and act fast. Auctions can move at a furious pace and that's how the auctioneer likes it. It's easier for people to make mistakes and run the bidding up which means more commission for the auctioneer. When the items you've marked come up for auction its personal preference when you make a bid. I wait until there is only one bidder left and it looks like they've won before I jump in. This is where you need to be really disciplined and stick to your maximum limit DO NOT! go over it. It's so easy to think just one more bid, just one more, just one more, before you know it there is no profit left in the item and you've won it. For buyers there is also a buyers premium to pay which is usually between 10% & 15% of the winning bid which you must factor in when your working out how much your maximum bid will be. All that's left is settle the bill and pick up your goods.
Friends & Relatives
A friend of mine just asks people if they have any stuff they don't want that she can sell. She gets a really good amount if quite high quality stock. She'll go through it all, sell the good stuff on eBay or Amazon. Anything that's got questionable quality or has bits missing she'll save them up and take them to the local car boot sale. This is a system she has been using for years and she does really well out of it.
Charity or Good Will Shops
Only a couple of things to remember here check everything is complete and if its possible that its
working. Sometimes people have done a car boot sale and this is stock that hasn't sold for one reason or another. It maybe because it broken or has parts missing. The goods you can get at charity shops is now not as good as it once was. The big players such as Oxfam, Bernardo's & The Red Cross the all having eBay accounts and have dedicated teams looking for rare or vintage goods for eBay or Amazon. There is still stock that gets overlooked and a lot of the smaller local charities don't have eBay accounts or the resource to start one. Don't haggle in charity shops its there for a good cause & most of the colleagues are volunteers so don't give them a hard time. Ask what the price is if its not priced up and pay up. Go to charity shops on different days and different times there is always stock coming in so no two days will be the same.
Retail Arbitrage
This is very new to me and its something I've just started dabbling in.
Retail arbitrage is when you buy from a retailer an then resell for a profit. You can buy this stock in bulk usually after seasons have finished. So end of summer for such things as camping and outdoor and after winter for toys and games. Retailers need space and it maybe not worth shipping back to the local depot to hold onto as it won't be next years hot item. The retailer still needs to make as much out of the stock as they can but they also need the space for the next promotion. So goods are marked down to a fraction of the price and as time drags on the lower the price will go. Like all things eBay and Amazon there are a lot of resellers who are looking out for deals just like this. It's a case of who is willing to hold out the longest and get the best price before committing to buy. Once you have the goods list them as one lot in quantity. Put them on a BIN & good until cancelled, they'll then trickle out until you've sold through and hopefully made a good profit on each one.
Nic Hills who I've mentioned on the blog before is a master of retail arbitrage. Check out his video's. He talks about it at length in a few of them.
eBay & Amazon
These are an obvious but so many people over look them. I'm seeing more and more auctions set up for "collection Only" in other words "cant be bothered to post it" this type of auction attracts very few bids and are a great place to get stock from. You can also complete a search for auctions in your local area and drill this down to as close as you want. Complete the search using lowest price at the plus post and packing first start with a category that you already sell in. Don't forget to go through the wholsesale and joblots category. You can get some really cheap lots which can be broken down and sold separately.
Finding items on eBay or amazon to flip on can be time consuming and tedious but it can also pay off really well and like everything you'll only get out what your willing to put in.
Local Advertisements
By this I mean supermarket notice boards, Local papers, Facebook selling Groups & Gumtree. Again here speed is essential. You need to make very fast decisions whether there is profit left in it. Don't
forget your probably going to have to go pick the item up. Its no good if your going to make £10.00 profit but its going to cost you £11.00 in fuel to go get it. If you can, try and negotiate a better price before you go see the item. When I get in touch with the seller I'll say something along the lines of "you've got it advertised for £10.00 I'm coming a bit of a distance if its what I'm looking for would you accept £8.00?" they'll say either yes or no you can then make a decision whether to go anyway and probably pay £10.00 or give it a miss. I'll usually give it a miss but leave them my phone number and see if they get sellers remorse. I've had a few calls back saying they've thought about it and £8.00 is fine. Even if you don't get a call back you can still call them later and say something along the lines of "I've had a look round there is nothing else as good as yours is it still available?" This is all about he who blinks first "pays!"
By the side of the road
You can pick up some amazing items that people have
just thrown out for the trash man. You do need to make sure that it really is trash and its not just sat there while the the owner pops inside for a minute.
www.Scavengerlife.com is a website that's run by a couple in the U.S. They go round and pick up a lot of other peoples trash and turn it into good money, really good money. They do some fantastic pod casts and have done for a few years. Infact at the time of writing eBay sellers can listen to pod cast No 282.
When most eBay Sellers start selling they will usually sell things that they have laid around the home that they no longer use. They get bitten well and truly by the money bug want to keep selling but have nothing left that they don't use. Getting stock can be can be one of hardest things for eBay sellers to over come. However there is a good number of options.Car boots sales are where I get the vast majority of my stock. If you do get to go round the boot sale buy as ethically as you remember these are ordinary people that are having a clear out or they may need to get cash fast to buy food. In the past I've given more than the stall holder has asked for, especially when the seller maybe a child who has come along with their parents and they have given their son or daughter a small section of the stall to sell some of their old toys. One time in particular springs to mind when I asked a little girl how much the Nerf Recon I was told 50p this particular gun is worth about £15.00 I told her I would pay her £2.50 her parents were happy & the little girl was ecstatic to say the least. This has happened on a few occasions if I think there is a good profit in the item then I will give what the seller has asked without haggling.
There are eBay sellers however who will stop at nothing to get to the good stuff first and have no qualms rifling through box's going into the back of cars, they're like a lot vulture around a carcass. Don't go down this road you can still make plenty of money without lowering your morals to what is nothing more than a pack of hyenas fighting over scraps. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with haggling to get the price a lower to make a profit which has to be decent enough for the work into researching, listing & packing the item. Also for me personally if I know the seller is a dealer who is there each week, the gloves come off. If they can't be bothered to do a little research on the items they're selling that's their tough luck and I will always haggle with any dealer to get the price down.
Always arrive early in the morning to a car boot sale, they usually open to the public about seven a.m. Getting there early means you get to the best bargains first, however there will also be a couple of hundred other resellers doing exactly the same and you'll all be usually looking for the same things. There is a sort of unwritten law while you've get it in your hands you get to refuse it first and no one else can buy it. Have a look at the whole stall, see if you can put together a collection of things you want to buy and sort a deal out for all of it. Get into every area on the stall there will usually be box's under the table that have just had a load of stuff dumped into them, go through every single thing, don't overlook anything which can make you a profit. Not so long ago I grabbed quite a dirty cardboard box that was buried under a pile of stuff underneath a pasting table. I opened it up and there was a Asus net book. The seller she explained that she couldn't get it to work. I thought it had be worth £12.00 as spares or repairs. We agreed on £3.00 I took it home charged it up, it worked fine. It sold it a few days later for £58.00. I picked it quite late in the morning, which meant a number of resellers had missed it. All because they couldn't be bothered to look hard and dig in the dirt a bit. There is a Yorkshire saying "where there's muck there's brass." (brass: Yorkshire slang for money)
Auctions are fast and furious and great fun to boot. You need to have your wits about you. You really can't rest even for a minute. However if you prepare properly you can get some really good stock at fantastic knock down prices.
Auctions usually work on fortnightly or weekly schedules. They put out a list on line a few days before the auctions takes place. The vast majority of auction houses will also email you the list. Have a good read though it and mark down any items that interests you on the sheet. There is always a viewing day before the auction go have a look at what you've marked down. You need to add up what you think you can get for the item and decide what your willing to pay. What I personally do is divide it in to three and one third is what I'm willing to pay to get this item. You may need to spend some time doing this I've spent all day at auction viewing days but the rewards are well worth the effort.
The day of the auction get there early I like to sit at the back of the room so I can see who is bidding against me. You have to watch every item that's coming through the auction I've picked up some really good buys this way but you have to think on your feet and act fast. Auctions can move at a furious pace and that's how the auctioneer likes it. It's easier for people to make mistakes and run the bidding up which means more commission for the auctioneer. When the items you've marked come up for auction its personal preference when you make a bid. I wait until there is only one bidder left and it looks like they've won before I jump in. This is where you need to be really disciplined and stick to your maximum limit DO NOT! go over it. It's so easy to think just one more bid, just one more, just one more, before you know it there is no profit left in the item and you've won it. For buyers there is also a buyers premium to pay which is usually between 10% & 15% of the winning bid which you must factor in when your working out how much your maximum bid will be. All that's left is settle the bill and pick up your goods.
Friends & Relatives A friend of mine just asks people if they have any stuff they don't want that she can sell. She gets a really good amount if quite high quality stock. She'll go through it all, sell the good stuff on eBay or Amazon. Anything that's got questionable quality or has bits missing she'll save them up and take them to the local car boot sale. This is a system she has been using for years and she does really well out of it.
Charity or Good Will Shops
Only a couple of things to remember here check everything is complete and if its possible that its
working. Sometimes people have done a car boot sale and this is stock that hasn't sold for one reason or another. It maybe because it broken or has parts missing. The goods you can get at charity shops is now not as good as it once was. The big players such as Oxfam, Bernardo's & The Red Cross the all having eBay accounts and have dedicated teams looking for rare or vintage goods for eBay or Amazon. There is still stock that gets overlooked and a lot of the smaller local charities don't have eBay accounts or the resource to start one. Don't haggle in charity shops its there for a good cause & most of the colleagues are volunteers so don't give them a hard time. Ask what the price is if its not priced up and pay up. Go to charity shops on different days and different times there is always stock coming in so no two days will be the same.Retail Arbitrage
This is very new to me and its something I've just started dabbling in.
Retail arbitrage is when you buy from a retailer an then resell for a profit. You can buy this stock in bulk usually after seasons have finished. So end of summer for such things as camping and outdoor and after winter for toys and games. Retailers need space and it maybe not worth shipping back to the local depot to hold onto as it won't be next years hot item. The retailer still needs to make as much out of the stock as they can but they also need the space for the next promotion. So goods are marked down to a fraction of the price and as time drags on the lower the price will go. Like all things eBay and Amazon there are a lot of resellers who are looking out for deals just like this. It's a case of who is willing to hold out the longest and get the best price before committing to buy. Once you have the goods list them as one lot in quantity. Put them on a BIN & good until cancelled, they'll then trickle out until you've sold through and hopefully made a good profit on each one.Nic Hills who I've mentioned on the blog before is a master of retail arbitrage. Check out his video's. He talks about it at length in a few of them.
eBay & Amazon
Finding items on eBay or amazon to flip on can be time consuming and tedious but it can also pay off really well and like everything you'll only get out what your willing to put in.
Local Advertisements
By the side of the road
just thrown out for the trash man. You do need to make sure that it really is trash and its not just sat there while the the owner pops inside for a minute.
www.Scavengerlife.com is a website that's run by a couple in the U.S. They go round and pick up a lot of other peoples trash and turn it into good money, really good money. They do some fantastic pod casts and have done for a few years. Infact at the time of writing eBay sellers can listen to pod cast No 282.
Friday, 23 September 2016
Saturday, 20 August 2016
Pair jailed for total of 18 years for 'sophisticated and cunning' eBay conspiracy (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
A pair of crooks are each starting a nine year prison sentence for selling £1.25 million worth of stolen and counterfeit goods on eBay. You can read the full story HERE
Friday, 29 July 2016
EBay & The Taxman
I added a post to the blog some time ago on declaring any earnings you make on eBay, Amazon or even just selling at the local car boot sale.
I found this story in a local paper about and eBay seller that thought he could cheat the system. Wrong answer Taxman and his buddy Vatman are really good at finding dodgers. If your buying and selling on eBay for a profit its very easy and simple. Register your business with Revenue & Customs, they will even help you complete the forms. Then keep up to date accounts of your earnings and pay any Tax & Vat due.
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
DeLorean DMC-12 Back To The Future Time Machine For Sale On eBay
Although this wasn't the car used on the film it is an officially licensed product by NBC - Uninversal and comes with all the correct paperwork. The vehicle has also been signed by most of the film's cast and crew, including the guy who designed original movie car. The bidding currently stands at $50,500.00 its ends in a few hours so you better be quick if you fancy it.
Monday, 25 July 2016
Sellers On eBay Cash in On The Pokemon Go Craze
I found about this game when my 14 year son came downstairs still in dressed in his night clothes holding his smart phone like he was tracking something. He said "I'm going outside, I won't be long" I asked my wife if he'd got the part of Captain Oates in the school play. He came back a few minutes later saying he'd found a Weedle and went back upstairs. I looked at wife and said "what's going on". She said "its a game they're all playing". On a positive note I suppose it gets him outside and a dollop of exercise, sort of.
On the back of this latest phenomenon sales of Pokemon related items have gone through the roof with a sale on eBay every 12 seconds. Some people have even sold their Pokemon go accounts for some quite substantial amounts of money. So if you have anything Pokemon laid about I would suggest you get it on eBay pretty sharpish, I really can't see this latest fad being about too long.
Fox business picked up on this story you can read it HERE.
Monday, 18 July 2016
Police Get Involved Over The Sale of Three Dinky Cars!!
These sort of stories never cease to amaze me. It was originally wrote in the Daily Mail. If you want to read the full story its HERE
Thursday, 14 July 2016
Great Video on How eBay's Search Priorities Auctions.
Although it's now three year old this video is a great example of what you need to do to your auction to get it moved up the results. Listening to the lecture right the way though is tough going. However if you stick with it there are some real gold nuggets in there.
Tuesday, 12 July 2016
$8000.00 A Month Selling Used Phone, Laptop & Tablet Cases.
I love stories like this. There is so many people buying online and returning items that they don't want that there is a huge market buying and selling many of the returns.
When companies get the returns back for what ever reason they usually sell them off in lots which can be purchased cheaply by anyone. This is a story of an entrepenuer who has found himself a fairly big slice of the action. He buys these lots breaks and then breaks them all down and sells them individually using eBay. The best bit is he makes around $8000.00 a month for his efforts. Not bad for stuff that would have once ended up in the bin.You can read the full story HERE
When companies get the returns back for what ever reason they usually sell them off in lots which can be purchased cheaply by anyone. This is a story of an entrepenuer who has found himself a fairly big slice of the action. He buys these lots breaks and then breaks them all down and sells them individually using eBay. The best bit is he makes around $8000.00 a month for his efforts. Not bad for stuff that would have once ended up in the bin.You can read the full story HERE
One of The Funniest Most Honest eBay Item descriptions I've Ever Read
This is one of the most honest descriptions of an old, bright yellow Nissan Micra I've ever read. The car has SOLD aswell, proving honesty is always the best policy. However what the seller has done is to add a good dollop of humour into the listing, which includes how his day is going while he's writing the description. He's also taken a good clear photo of the car, which the vehicle looks pretty good in. If you want a laugh you can read it HERE
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
Pieces of Material From Christo’s Floating Piers In Northern Italy for Sale on eBay
I found this article about Christo's Floating Piers in Northern Italy. The story and photo's went viral on Instagram and during the sixteen days the attraction was open it was visited by an estimated 1.2 million people. The local police said the true figure was even higher.
Some of the golden material that covered the pier has found its way on to eBay (no surprise there.) The price is a bit of a surprise through, 1000.00 euros is the opening bid which is about £840.00. There are no bids at the moment and with only fours to go I doubt its going to sell. This is the Auction if your interested. Building the floating piers was a pretty big task, I found this video showing the construction. It's now all being dismantled, an amazing story.
Some of the golden material that covered the pier has found its way on to eBay (no surprise there.) The price is a bit of a surprise through, 1000.00 euros is the opening bid which is about £840.00. There are no bids at the moment and with only fours to go I doubt its going to sell. This is the Auction if your interested. Building the floating piers was a pretty big task, I found this video showing the construction. It's now all being dismantled, an amazing story.
Angelyne 2008 Corvette Sold on eBay $14,100
Angelyne has sold her 2008 Corvette on eBay.com it managed to bring $14,100 which for me is a pretty good deal considering a private purchase can be upto $15,000 for a similar age and milage auto. This one is pretty pink which may have affected the price. However the car has a pretty good celeb pedigree and has been seen on TV and in films. The Corvette is also set to be in Jame's Franco's "Masterpiece."
Not the best video of the celeb "socialite" but you can see the car pretty well. For my Two penny's worth, great car but it desperatley needs a respray with a diffrent colour. You can see the closed Auction HERE
Not the best video of the celeb "socialite" but you can see the car pretty well. For my Two penny's worth, great car but it desperatley needs a respray with a diffrent colour. You can see the closed Auction HERE
Wednesday, 29 June 2016
BOLO Children's Dress Up Clothes & Accessories
Dress up clothes and accessories are great items that can be picked up dirt cheap and sold for what can be quite a large profit on eBay. The best ones to look for are from TV shows or from movies so any super heros like Batman, Spiderman, Transformers, characters from Star Wars, Fireman Sam & Bob the Builder. Stick with well known manufactureers such as Hasbro, Marvel & Kenner. Stay away from simple face masks with the elastic strand at the back. Make sure it's in good condition and any electronic sounds work well.
Good quality super hero masks are always a big hit. This is Venom mask from Marvel's Spiderman movies. Ths one is collectible as it's a Marvel mask from 2006. This one should bring approximatley £25.00 to £30.00. There is also a matching web slinger that squirts a foam type spray. These are a little harder to come by and should bring just under the £20.00 mark.
Transformers are always going to be a big hit. This one is Hasbro Optimus Prime. It can change the wearers voice. There's also a button on the side that plays some pretty awesome voices and sounds. This one was one of my six year old's favourite dress up toy's. He now has some other favourites so this went onto eBay. It sold pretty much straight away. This type of mask will bring about £20.00.
Hats from TV shows such as Bob the builder and Firmean Sam are really popular with smaller children and can be picked up second hand really cheaply. They can be found at virtually every boot sale, charity shop, garage sale or auction. While these sort of dress up items won't bring in massive amounts of profit these are the bread and butter sort of items that any eBay business relies on. They sell really well in either winter or summer when parents are looking for cheap ways to entertain their kids. Buttons on top of the helmet play appropriate music and phrases from the programmes. These hats bring bout £10.00 to £12.00 each but can be picked up as cheaply as a £1.00 each
There are some great dress up accessories that will also bring good money online. These are Wolverine claws if you can find a pair they are worth much more than having just one. If you can get one it will bring £13.00 to £17.00 but two can realise anywhere from £34.00 to £40.00
Good quality super hero masks are always a big hit. This is Venom mask from Marvel's Spiderman movies. Ths one is collectible as it's a Marvel mask from 2006. This one should bring approximatley £25.00 to £30.00. There is also a matching web slinger that squirts a foam type spray. These are a little harder to come by and should bring just under the £20.00 mark. 
There are some great dress up accessories that will also bring good money online. These are Wolverine claws if you can find a pair they are worth much more than having just one. If you can get one it will bring £13.00 to £17.00 but two can realise anywhere from £34.00 to £40.00 Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Some Great Funny eBay Stories
http://ppcorn.com/us/2016/02/17/ebay-15-tips-and-tricks-you-didnt-know-part-2/
Saturday, 6 February 2016
How To Sell Absolutely Anything On eBay The Ultimate Guide!
How To start off With eBay The Right Way
If
you want to buy and sell on eBay it is very simple. You register for an
eBay and Paypal account and that's it your basically set. A Paypal
account isn't strictly required but it makes the process a lot simpler.To start with you should purchase a few items off eBay. This also allows you to see the whole process from a buyer's perspective. It also allows you to build up some feedback on eBay so people can see that you a trustworthy person to deal with.
Once you've bought a few items off eBay you can then move on to selling. Again the process is very simple. Start with a title, add a picture, a good honest description, set your price, work out the postage costs. Click on submit. That's it your done
eBay has now turned into a totally different animal than the early days. eBay now has over one billion transactions every day and thousands of businesses around the world rely on their eBay account for a source of income.
So how easy is it to make money off eBay? Well if your considering using eBay as a full time business model then you need to look at a few things: -
1. Competition. What ever it is you want to sell on eBay I guarantee someone will be there and probably selling it cheaper than you can buy it. China's introduction onto eBay has been meteoric and the Chinese have totally embraced it.
2. Fees: - eBay makes its money by charging fees for every item you sell these fees can add up to a substantial amount depending on what features you want your auction to have.
The Final Valuation Fee (F.V.F) varies a great deal on what the final selling price of your item is. Paypal also charge fees and take a cut of the money sent to your account. As a matter of fact eBay owns Paypal which is why it's difficult to operate an eBay account without a Paypal account (eBay Paypal are now separate companies)
3. What to sell: - One of the most asked questions on the eBay forums is "what sells well on eBay?" What I do is to sell items that I have a lot personal knowledge or a passion about. For example I was in the Army for quite a number of years. So I have quite a lot of personal knowledge about military clothing and equipment. I'll purchase these virtually anywhere I can find them and then sell them for a really good profit. I'm a massive kid at heart so also sell a lot of games and toys which are really easy to pick up from Car Boot Sales.
What I suggest you do to start is start selling some items laid around your home. Everyone has some clutter that can be sold on eBay & you can sell virtually anything. Don't try and sell anything illegal eBay have very got very good at finding these, closing the auction and suspending the seller so don't even try. I'll go into depth with eBay again in a later post with a few do's and dont's when it comes to selling and how to get the best possible price.
Getting The Right Category
When
you're ready to start selling on eBay. Choosing the right category you
would think would be a fairly simple process. But I have seen so many
auctions listed in the wrong category that either didn't sell or sold
for far less than they should have. This is how I make sure I get the
right category when I sell anything on eBay.
Choosing a category is the very first thing you do when you start to
list your item. When you open the first page there is an entry box that
says, "Enter a few keywords or a title to describe your item." You want
to enter a very broad search term, so if we go back to our leather
jacket example. The search term I would personally would be simply
"leather jacket." You could enter a descriptive i.e. "women's leather
jacket" but I personally choose not to. I want to see how many
categories have the words leather jacket in them. The categories are
listed in popularity order so the category with the most items with that
search term in it is at the top and so on.
The leather jacket example brings up: -
Clothes, Shoes & Accessories
Women's Clothing > Coats & Jackets
Men's Clothing > Coats & Jackets
Vintage Clothing & Accessories > Men's Vintage Clothing > Coats & Jackets
Women's Clothing > Dresses
Kids' Clothes, Shoes & Accs. > Boys' Clothing (2-16 Years) > Coats, Jackets & Snowsuits
Women's Clothing > Tops & Shirts
Women's Handbags
Vintage Clothing & Accessories > Women's Vintage Clothing > Coats & Jackets
Vehicle Parts & Accessories
Clothing, Helmets & Protection > Motorcycle Clothing > Jackets
Clothing, Helmets & Protection > Other Clothing & Protection
Clothing, Helmets & Protection > Motorcycle Clothing > Leathers & Suits
This is where you get to choose which category best describes the item you're selling. You can add a second category if you want. So for example if your selling a ladies vintage leather jacket you could list it in:- Women's Clothing > Coats & Jackets. As well as:- Vintage Clothing & Accessories > Women's Vintage Clothing > Coats & Jackets. However remember doing this will have the effect of doubling your listing fees for the item. Try and stick to one category if at all possible, its expensive enough to sell on eBay. Put a tick in the box on the category you want to use, click continue, close the listing variations pop up screen (I'll go into detail about this in a later post) click continue and your ready to add a title, item description, photo's and postage.
The leather jacket example brings up: -
Clothes, Shoes & Accessories
Women's Clothing > Coats & Jackets
Men's Clothing > Coats & Jackets
Vintage Clothing & Accessories > Men's Vintage Clothing > Coats & Jackets
Women's Clothing > Dresses
Kids' Clothes, Shoes & Accs. > Boys' Clothing (2-16 Years) > Coats, Jackets & Snowsuits
Women's Clothing > Tops & Shirts
Women's Handbags
Vintage Clothing & Accessories > Women's Vintage Clothing > Coats & Jackets
Vehicle Parts & Accessories
Clothing, Helmets & Protection > Motorcycle Clothing > Jackets
Clothing, Helmets & Protection > Other Clothing & Protection
Clothing, Helmets & Protection > Motorcycle Clothing > Leathers & Suits
This is where you get to choose which category best describes the item you're selling. You can add a second category if you want. So for example if your selling a ladies vintage leather jacket you could list it in:- Women's Clothing > Coats & Jackets. As well as:- Vintage Clothing & Accessories > Women's Vintage Clothing > Coats & Jackets. However remember doing this will have the effect of doubling your listing fees for the item. Try and stick to one category if at all possible, its expensive enough to sell on eBay. Put a tick in the box on the category you want to use, click continue, close the listing variations pop up screen (I'll go into detail about this in a later post) click continue and your ready to add a title, item description, photo's and postage.
Item Specifics
When you've got you
title sorted you can move on to some of the fairly easy stuff. It's
little tedious but needs adding and can make all the difference. Adding
things like - Subtitle, Condition, Condition description, and item
specifics will make a difference to the sale of the item. I'll take each
one in turn.
Item Sub-title
If you just need to many words in the item tittle and can't reduce it you can also add a subtitle to your item. This gives you another 90 characters. It can be a great idea but remember eBay gives you very little for free. So you pay to add a subtitle. I've never personally used a sub-tittle. I have come close on a couple of occasions and I' wouldn't shy away from it if I really thought the auction would benefit from it.
Condition description
This is where you get to put in your own words what the condition of the item is. This should part never be missed, especially if the item is used. You don't need to go into much detail at this point, its just sort of a summary that prospective bidders can read quickly. The most important thing to remember BE HONEST! If there's marks and scratches say so. If its in new you could add, "still factory sealed" or "new but missing box" "never worn missing tags." You can use a bit of salesmanship here. Writing things like "used marks and scratches but does not affect the operation of the item" is fine. Try no to use ambiguous terms such as "like new" or "mint." Using terms like these are open to personal interpretation. What you might think looks "like new" someone else may have a different opinion and that's how problems start.
Condition
This is in a form of a drop down box. You have a number of choices you can add. The best advice pick one! Don't leave a little line through it. Buyers either want new for a quality item or used because they want to save a few quid. Leaving a small white line means yours is unspecified and wont fall into either category. There are some categories, which have some additional item conditions for you to choose. The most common alternatives are refurbished, or seller refurbished, ideal if you're selling automotive or computer parts.
Item specifics
You can add item specifics for the item your selling. Each category has it own set of item specifics. These item specifics cover such areas, as manufacturer, weight, size and a number of other areas. I do use this part but I'm not a slave to it, I sometimes I find the specifics can be a bit generalised (if that makes any sense)
eBay's catalogue
eBay's catalogue is now vast and covers ton of items that eBay already have the details of and places them in your listing. I've used it loads of times and find it invaluable. Especially if I'm selling anything like video games consoles where there is lot of variants of basically the same item. All you have to do is put in a search term and put a tick in the box of the item your selling. You can also use eBay picture catalogue for the item. I don't use this, as I like to take a picture of the item I'm sending to the customer then there can be no argument.
At the time of writing
this post, eBay U.K has just given sellers up to 12 photos on all their
listings totally free of charge. But as with everything else, as one
hand giveth so the other hand taketh away. Shortly eBay are going to
start applying the F.V.F to the postage charged by sellers. I personally
think this is a real cheap shot by eBay to grasp at a few straws for
the shareholders. As usual there is the sounds of revolution in the
forums, but as usual it will amount to nothing and sellers will just put
up with it and soldier on.
Item Sub-title
If you just need to many words in the item tittle and can't reduce it you can also add a subtitle to your item. This gives you another 90 characters. It can be a great idea but remember eBay gives you very little for free. So you pay to add a subtitle. I've never personally used a sub-tittle. I have come close on a couple of occasions and I' wouldn't shy away from it if I really thought the auction would benefit from it.
Condition description
This is where you get to put in your own words what the condition of the item is. This should part never be missed, especially if the item is used. You don't need to go into much detail at this point, its just sort of a summary that prospective bidders can read quickly. The most important thing to remember BE HONEST! If there's marks and scratches say so. If its in new you could add, "still factory sealed" or "new but missing box" "never worn missing tags." You can use a bit of salesmanship here. Writing things like "used marks and scratches but does not affect the operation of the item" is fine. Try no to use ambiguous terms such as "like new" or "mint." Using terms like these are open to personal interpretation. What you might think looks "like new" someone else may have a different opinion and that's how problems start.
Condition
This is in a form of a drop down box. You have a number of choices you can add. The best advice pick one! Don't leave a little line through it. Buyers either want new for a quality item or used because they want to save a few quid. Leaving a small white line means yours is unspecified and wont fall into either category. There are some categories, which have some additional item conditions for you to choose. The most common alternatives are refurbished, or seller refurbished, ideal if you're selling automotive or computer parts.
Item specifics
You can add item specifics for the item your selling. Each category has it own set of item specifics. These item specifics cover such areas, as manufacturer, weight, size and a number of other areas. I do use this part but I'm not a slave to it, I sometimes I find the specifics can be a bit generalised (if that makes any sense)
eBay's catalogue
eBay's catalogue is now vast and covers ton of items that eBay already have the details of and places them in your listing. I've used it loads of times and find it invaluable. Especially if I'm selling anything like video games consoles where there is lot of variants of basically the same item. All you have to do is put in a search term and put a tick in the box of the item your selling. You can also use eBay picture catalogue for the item. I don't use this, as I like to take a picture of the item I'm sending to the customer then there can be no argument.
The All Important Title
If you want to sell something on eBay the title is one of the most important parts that you must get right.
When a buyer searches for any item they will be quite specific with what they want. So you have to think like a buyer. "What search term would I use to find the item I'm selling." If your lucky enough to get your item listed in a search you only then have a second or two to get them to look at your title, read it and get them to want to investigate further by clicking on your auction
You only get a few characters to give a name to your item that will catch the bidders attention and make them want to investigate further.
eBay is responsible for over 1 million auctions per day ending in the U.K alone and your one item is out there among it all.
Don't waste letters make sure you get the best possible exposure you can. You must make a perfect description of you item in only 90 characters spell check everything you can and then spell check it again.
There are lots of people out there that are more than happy to search for your item through websites like misspelled words and can save an absolute fortune. If it saves the buyer money its coming out of your pocket not eBay's they get paid whether it sells or not. Make sure you use as many of the 90 characters as you can but don't do stupid things like putting "L@@k" or "great bargain" nobody searches for either of these, so don't use them. It also really does put a lot of people off even clicking on your item.
We'll look at an example we'll use the example of my old favourite "a leather jacket" (it's still a sore point with my wife.) Have a look at this title "Girls Leather Jacket" its just doesn't say anything about the item whatsoever. The seller has given no thought to the title and the buyer will look at this and think "what a lazy seller, am I even going to get the jacket and how bad is it really going to be." Now look how the title could be improved with just a little thought. "Girls Next Black Waist Length Leather Jacket Size 12 To 14 Years Very Good Condition." That is a lot better title. It gives the seller a lot better chance that someone is going find their item, click on it to see the picture and read the description and more importantly make a bid.
This is the real meat content of any listing for an auction on eBay.
You really need to take your time here and make sure you get this bit
right!
There are thousands of different ways you can write your item description not one of them is right or wrong. I'm going to go through the way I write an item description. If you want to you can then use this as a starting point and then build you're own style of writing.
At the top of the page I'll write a title of what I'm selling. This is not necessary, its something I've always done. I personally think it's a good way to start the description. Also anyone looking for your item may have possibly looked at hundreds of the same item, so it makes yours stand out a little from the rest. I then start on the meat of the item description. I always start the same way and say something like "this is a great widget that's in very good condition. There are some faults and these are..." This is where I list the faults of the item especially if the item is second hand. I always get the bad news out of the way first. However I do use a bit of salesmanship and will down play any faults writing things like "none of the marks and scratches affect the operation of the item." Or "the widget is missing a wigwam however these can be easily and cheaply picked up if the new owner wants to and the widget still works absolutely fine without it"
Before I ever come to list anything on eBay I always test & clean it fully. This helps the item look a lot better in the pictures. If I'm selling a video games console I go to the trouble of deleting any stored game information on the HDD or memory card.
I will then list all the good points but I also say how this will
benefit the buyer. If you just sell features of the item your
prospective bidder can say "so what?" So sell a feature and then back it
up with how this will benefit them. So if for example your selling a
printer, a feature would be the printer has it own email address. The
person looking at the printer can say "so what." But if you follow up,
with "this means you can print your pictures from anywhere in the world
and is ideal for sending pictures straight home to the family". It
sounds a lot better and that's a feature and a benefit. When I'm writing
my description I'll add as many of these as possible. You can write
these in a form of bullet points. I prefer not to and write them in long
hand. I finish with a summary of the description and another reason why
the prospective bidder should become the buyer. Right at the very end I
always finish with "Thanks for looking and good luck."
Things you should avoid when writing an item description.
I see a lot of people writing an item description like they are the auctioneer and start with something like "right then here we have for auction" Don't do it looks really corny. Another thing you should avoid writing is "you are bidding on" " NO! I'm not bidding, I'm just looking." Don't use all capitals for your item description it looks like your SHOUTING. Spell and grammar check your work. Minor mistakes will usually be over looked but you should try an avoid any.
Something that is very near and dear to my heart is Terms of sale
(TOS) that sellers put in item listings. I regularly see auctions with
terms and conditions so long and complicated that you would need a
degree from Oxford University to understand them. You do need to set out
a few of your expectations such as payment time, delivery surcharge
area’s & your return’s policy but that’s it. This is your
opportunity to tell prospective bidders that you’re a responsible seller
and a trustworthy person to deal with.
eBay & Paypal set their own rules for sellers and they're very simple.
1. The item must be received within 7 days of the seller receiving cleared funds.
2. If the item gets lost in transit it’s the seller’s fault. It’s then the seller’s responsibility to get the money from the courier and they must refund the buyer or send a replacement.
3. If the item gets damaged or doesn’t meet the buyers expectations then you the seller, has the right to ask for the buyer to send the item back at their cost, however you must state this in the auction. The buyer is entitled to a refund on its return including the original postage cost.
That’s about it, three fairly simple rules that eBay and Paypal use. However when I’m looking to buy anything on eBay I see T.O.S such as:-"If it gets lost, tough." Or "If it gets lost the buyer has to claim from the courier." Or " I package my items really well if its gets broken it’s the buyers responsibility." Or "I only post on a Monday so if your payment reaches me after this, you'll have to wait." These are examples of terms of sale that I have seen on people’s auctions. Nothing has a buyer hitting the back button faster than unfriendly, long-winded or unfair T.O.S. Using T.O.S that go against selling by distance laws is a waste of time anyway. Paypal have the power to reach into your account and refund the buyer, if they don’t receive the item they’ve purchased. Below is the T.O.S that I use in every auction I have on eBay.
PLEASE NOTE: - We insure all our
packages against loss or damage by our courier. We also take full
responsibility to get them to you safely and in a timely manner. All our
items can be tracked on line and we will inform you of any problems that
could affect the delivery date. If you would like to add a phone number
at checkout we'll inform you ASAP. To try and keep Postage &
Packaging charges as low as possible we do re-use packaging items (e.g.
boxes, jiffy bags etc). In the unlikely event you don't receive the item
we'll offer you an identical item, if this is not possible we'll give
you a full refund.
It’s short, to the point and I try to put he buyer’s mind at rest and within it’s The Selling By Distance Regulations.
When anyone walks into a store and makes a purchase, there is usually only two people involved, the buyer and the seller so very little ever goes wrong. On eBay however the people involved in the sale are:- Buyer, seller, courier, eBay & Paypal. This is at the very least. This means things will go wrong from time to time and unfortunately it’s the seller that has to foot the bill when they do.
When a buyer searches for any item they will be quite specific with what they want. So you have to think like a buyer. "What search term would I use to find the item I'm selling." If your lucky enough to get your item listed in a search you only then have a second or two to get them to look at your title, read it and get them to want to investigate further by clicking on your auction
You only get a few characters to give a name to your item that will catch the bidders attention and make them want to investigate further.
eBay is responsible for over 1 million auctions per day ending in the U.K alone and your one item is out there among it all.
Don't waste letters make sure you get the best possible exposure you can. You must make a perfect description of you item in only 90 characters spell check everything you can and then spell check it again.
There are lots of people out there that are more than happy to search for your item through websites like misspelled words and can save an absolute fortune. If it saves the buyer money its coming out of your pocket not eBay's they get paid whether it sells or not. Make sure you use as many of the 90 characters as you can but don't do stupid things like putting "L@@k" or "great bargain" nobody searches for either of these, so don't use them. It also really does put a lot of people off even clicking on your item.
We'll look at an example we'll use the example of my old favourite "a leather jacket" (it's still a sore point with my wife.) Have a look at this title "Girls Leather Jacket" its just doesn't say anything about the item whatsoever. The seller has given no thought to the title and the buyer will look at this and think "what a lazy seller, am I even going to get the jacket and how bad is it really going to be." Now look how the title could be improved with just a little thought. "Girls Next Black Waist Length Leather Jacket Size 12 To 14 Years Very Good Condition." That is a lot better title. It gives the seller a lot better chance that someone is going find their item, click on it to see the picture and read the description and more importantly make a bid.
The Item Description
This is the real meat content of any listing for an auction on eBay.
You really need to take your time here and make sure you get this bit
right!
There are thousands of different ways you can write your item description not one of them is right or wrong. I'm going to go through the way I write an item description. If you want to you can then use this as a starting point and then build you're own style of writing.
At the top of the page I'll write a title of what I'm selling. This is not necessary, its something I've always done. I personally think it's a good way to start the description. Also anyone looking for your item may have possibly looked at hundreds of the same item, so it makes yours stand out a little from the rest. I then start on the meat of the item description. I always start the same way and say something like "this is a great widget that's in very good condition. There are some faults and these are..." This is where I list the faults of the item especially if the item is second hand. I always get the bad news out of the way first. However I do use a bit of salesmanship and will down play any faults writing things like "none of the marks and scratches affect the operation of the item." Or "the widget is missing a wigwam however these can be easily and cheaply picked up if the new owner wants to and the widget still works absolutely fine without it"
Before I ever come to list anything on eBay I always test & clean it fully. This helps the item look a lot better in the pictures. If I'm selling a video games console I go to the trouble of deleting any stored game information on the HDD or memory card.
I will then list all the good points but I also say how this will
benefit the buyer. If you just sell features of the item your
prospective bidder can say "so what?" So sell a feature and then back it
up with how this will benefit them. So if for example your selling a
printer, a feature would be the printer has it own email address. The
person looking at the printer can say "so what." But if you follow up,
with "this means you can print your pictures from anywhere in the world
and is ideal for sending pictures straight home to the family". It
sounds a lot better and that's a feature and a benefit. When I'm writing
my description I'll add as many of these as possible. You can write
these in a form of bullet points. I prefer not to and write them in long
hand. I finish with a summary of the description and another reason why
the prospective bidder should become the buyer. Right at the very end I
always finish with "Thanks for looking and good luck."Things you should avoid when writing an item description.
I see a lot of people writing an item description like they are the auctioneer and start with something like "right then here we have for auction" Don't do it looks really corny. Another thing you should avoid writing is "you are bidding on" " NO! I'm not bidding, I'm just looking." Don't use all capitals for your item description it looks like your SHOUTING. Spell and grammar check your work. Minor mistakes will usually be over looked but you should try an avoid any.
Terms Of Sale.
Something that is very near and dear to my heart is Terms of sale
(TOS) that sellers put in item listings. I regularly see auctions with
terms and conditions so long and complicated that you would need a
degree from Oxford University to understand them. You do need to set out
a few of your expectations such as payment time, delivery surcharge
area’s & your return’s policy but that’s it. This is your
opportunity to tell prospective bidders that you’re a responsible seller
and a trustworthy person to deal with.eBay & Paypal set their own rules for sellers and they're very simple.
1. The item must be received within 7 days of the seller receiving cleared funds.
2. If the item gets lost in transit it’s the seller’s fault. It’s then the seller’s responsibility to get the money from the courier and they must refund the buyer or send a replacement.
3. If the item gets damaged or doesn’t meet the buyers expectations then you the seller, has the right to ask for the buyer to send the item back at their cost, however you must state this in the auction. The buyer is entitled to a refund on its return including the original postage cost.
That’s about it, three fairly simple rules that eBay and Paypal use. However when I’m looking to buy anything on eBay I see T.O.S such as:-"If it gets lost, tough." Or "If it gets lost the buyer has to claim from the courier." Or " I package my items really well if its gets broken it’s the buyers responsibility." Or "I only post on a Monday so if your payment reaches me after this, you'll have to wait." These are examples of terms of sale that I have seen on people’s auctions. Nothing has a buyer hitting the back button faster than unfriendly, long-winded or unfair T.O.S. Using T.O.S that go against selling by distance laws is a waste of time anyway. Paypal have the power to reach into your account and refund the buyer, if they don’t receive the item they’ve purchased. Below is the T.O.S that I use in every auction I have on eBay.
PLEASE NOTE: - We insure all our
packages against loss or damage by our courier. We also take full
responsibility to get them to you safely and in a timely manner. All our
items can be tracked on line and we will inform you of any problems that
could affect the delivery date. If you would like to add a phone number
at checkout we'll inform you ASAP. To try and keep Postage &
Packaging charges as low as possible we do re-use packaging items (e.g.
boxes, jiffy bags etc). In the unlikely event you don't receive the item
we'll offer you an identical item, if this is not possible we'll give
you a full refund.It’s short, to the point and I try to put he buyer’s mind at rest and within it’s The Selling By Distance Regulations.
When anyone walks into a store and makes a purchase, there is usually only two people involved, the buyer and the seller so very little ever goes wrong. On eBay however the people involved in the sale are:- Buyer, seller, courier, eBay & Paypal. This is at the very least. This means things will go wrong from time to time and unfortunately it’s the seller that has to foot the bill when they do.
Taking Good Pictures.
At the time of writing
this post, eBay U.K has just given sellers up to 12 photos on all their
listings totally free of charge. But as with everything else, as one
hand giveth so the other hand taketh away. Shortly eBay are going to
start applying the F.V.F to the postage charged by sellers. I personally
think this is a real cheap shot by eBay to grasp at a few straws for
the shareholders. As usual there is the sounds of revolution in the
forums, but as usual it will amount to nothing and sellers will just put
up with it and soldier on.
Until there is another equally strong selling platform on line, eBay
hold all the cards. eBid is up and coming, but its got a long way to go
and at the moment its just a shadow of eBay.
Right that's the bit of a rant out of the way. Moving onto how to take good photos. As I've said you now have up to twelve photos to put with your auction totally free of charge, so use as many as you need.
This is what I do. If my item has several parts, I'll take a group photo and use this as the gallery shot. I'll then take a close up picture of each individual part. I may even take more than one close up and capture all four sides. If you take lots of photo's especially using profiles, any prospective bidder gets to see every angle and this will help cut down on any problems when the winning bidder receives the item.
So to take a good photo. The photo is only going to be as good as the weakest link in the chain. Cell phone's now have some great quality cameras on them and are more than adequate to handle a picture for an eBay auction. You don't need a 14MP digital SLR. That said if you have one, use it. The pictures it takes will be so much better than a camera phone.
Choose a well-lit room. The best light to use is natural light. So
unless its totally unavoidable do not take your photo's at night using
artificial light, it gives them a soft orange appearance and never, ever
use the flash on the camera, your item will look really washed out. The
best type of area to use is one with a very plain background. Stay away
from areas with busy backgrounds, this takes focus from the item you’re
selling. Put a sheet or drape up if necessary. I personally use an old
red velvet curtain or an old white cot sheet. I also sit small items on a
box that's under the cover it produces a really nice picture especially
when selling jewellery. If your selling clothes put them on a dummy or
get someone to model and have stand in front of a plain background. Crop
their head off after you've settled on which photo to use. If at all
possible have the natural light coming from the side this often gives
great result.
Take a number of photos from different angles. When you’re happy with the photo's you’ve taken. Choose the ones your going to use for the auction and delete the rest. Crop and adjust the pictures to clear as much of the background as possible. This will make the item look as large as possible in the listing. Do not artificially adjust the image by copying and pasting over faults that are actually on the item. This will ultimately lead too not as described claims. Upload your photos and your all set.
OK,
so you've had a clear out of the garage and decided to sell the widget
you found at the back that no-one’s used in years. You've given the
widget a really good clean made sure its working. You've got the
category right. You've added a great title with some good keywords.
You've got the description nailed whether it be fully written or in
bullet points. Worked out a fair price and put the cost the cost of
posting the widget. The photos look first rate and the auction has run
for 7 days. Success you have a winning bidder and your item's sold for
more than you were expecting, Fantastic well done!
This is where you need to make sure it all goes really well. To start with immediate action and send an invoice to the buyer ASAP. Don't give them chance to get buyers remorse and cancel the sale. I use the invoice generated by eBay. You can if you want to write one yourself and save it as a template for future, it really doesn't matter just get it off soon as you can.
Give the buyer as many ways to pay as possible make it easy for them to pay you. I still receive cheques & postal orders in the post from senior citizens that still want to conduct business that way. Discourage sending cash through the post. It still amazes me how many people put a £20 in an envelope, stick a first class stamp on it, drop it in the mail box and expect everything to be fine. I guarantee if it goes missing it will be your fault, you stole it. Really discourage this
Once you've being paid and every thing's cleared. Get the widget packed and posted ASAP. The buyer should receive it within 7 working days of payment clearing. When you send the parcel ask for proof of delivery and have it traceable on line. This will protect you in the event of a scam and them saying they didn't receive it. That said everything at the post office costs money, so its more to get as signature on delivery. I've set myself a limit of £10.00. I'm willing to loose anything below this amount and won’t bother paying the extra. To date Royal Mail have lost only a handful of the thousands of parcels I've sent out. I can't remember a time when I got scammed down to postage. I lost more money to Paypal in the early days when they just sided with the buyer regardless of what happened.
Leaving feedback has always been a bit of a bone of contention on eBay forums with 50% saying sellers should leave it first when the buyer pays and 50 % saying buyers should leave it first when they receive the item and are happy with it. I'm firmly in the second camp. The buyer should leave feedback when they've received the item and they're happy with it. If they're not, the transaction hasn't completed and its up to the seller to put it right. Finally something I do, just send and email in few weeks to make sure everything is fine with the widget and the buyer is still happy.
Right that's the bit of a rant out of the way. Moving onto how to take good photos. As I've said you now have up to twelve photos to put with your auction totally free of charge, so use as many as you need.
This is what I do. If my item has several parts, I'll take a group photo and use this as the gallery shot. I'll then take a close up picture of each individual part. I may even take more than one close up and capture all four sides. If you take lots of photo's especially using profiles, any prospective bidder gets to see every angle and this will help cut down on any problems when the winning bidder receives the item.
So to take a good photo. The photo is only going to be as good as the weakest link in the chain. Cell phone's now have some great quality cameras on them and are more than adequate to handle a picture for an eBay auction. You don't need a 14MP digital SLR. That said if you have one, use it. The pictures it takes will be so much better than a camera phone.
Choose a well-lit room. The best light to use is natural light. So
unless its totally unavoidable do not take your photo's at night using
artificial light, it gives them a soft orange appearance and never, ever
use the flash on the camera, your item will look really washed out. The
best type of area to use is one with a very plain background. Stay away
from areas with busy backgrounds, this takes focus from the item you’re
selling. Put a sheet or drape up if necessary. I personally use an old
red velvet curtain or an old white cot sheet. I also sit small items on a
box that's under the cover it produces a really nice picture especially
when selling jewellery. If your selling clothes put them on a dummy or
get someone to model and have stand in front of a plain background. Crop
their head off after you've settled on which photo to use. If at all
possible have the natural light coming from the side this often gives
great result.Take a number of photos from different angles. When you’re happy with the photo's you’ve taken. Choose the ones your going to use for the auction and delete the rest. Crop and adjust the pictures to clear as much of the background as possible. This will make the item look as large as possible in the listing. Do not artificially adjust the image by copying and pasting over faults that are actually on the item. This will ultimately lead too not as described claims. Upload your photos and your all set.
Your Work Really Starts When The Auction Ends!
This is where you need to make sure it all goes really well. To start with immediate action and send an invoice to the buyer ASAP. Don't give them chance to get buyers remorse and cancel the sale. I use the invoice generated by eBay. You can if you want to write one yourself and save it as a template for future, it really doesn't matter just get it off soon as you can.
Give the buyer as many ways to pay as possible make it easy for them to pay you. I still receive cheques & postal orders in the post from senior citizens that still want to conduct business that way. Discourage sending cash through the post. It still amazes me how many people put a £20 in an envelope, stick a first class stamp on it, drop it in the mail box and expect everything to be fine. I guarantee if it goes missing it will be your fault, you stole it. Really discourage this
Once you've being paid and every thing's cleared. Get the widget packed and posted ASAP. The buyer should receive it within 7 working days of payment clearing. When you send the parcel ask for proof of delivery and have it traceable on line. This will protect you in the event of a scam and them saying they didn't receive it. That said everything at the post office costs money, so its more to get as signature on delivery. I've set myself a limit of £10.00. I'm willing to loose anything below this amount and won’t bother paying the extra. To date Royal Mail have lost only a handful of the thousands of parcels I've sent out. I can't remember a time when I got scammed down to postage. I lost more money to Paypal in the early days when they just sided with the buyer regardless of what happened.
Leaving feedback has always been a bit of a bone of contention on eBay forums with 50% saying sellers should leave it first when the buyer pays and 50 % saying buyers should leave it first when they receive the item and are happy with it. I'm firmly in the second camp. The buyer should leave feedback when they've received the item and they're happy with it. If they're not, the transaction hasn't completed and its up to the seller to put it right. Finally something I do, just send and email in few weeks to make sure everything is fine with the widget and the buyer is still happy.
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
eBay Get to Decide How Much UK Tax They Pay
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/google-facebook-amazon-ebay-apple-7251746
Saturday, 23 January 2016
BOLO Scrabble & Risk
Like Monopoly these games has been around years and are still very popular but also still easy to get hold of from flea markets and car boot sales.
Scrabble is a great thinking, learning game. It also a great game for kids to learn new words and makes them think how words are formed.The 1955 version looks pretty much the same as the modern version and the tiles are scored exactly the same. The only real face lifts to Scrabble have been to the design of the box.
Vintage Scrabble
this edition came out in 1955. This board game is another thing that people collect with a passion. When released it had wooden tile racks and a black cloth linen tile bag. I sold one of these a few days ago it sold on a Buy it now for £12.49
Deluxe Scrabble
This edition of Scrabble actually belonged to me. I bought it in the mid 80's when I was in the Army, probably to relieve the boredom at that time. Quite hard to come by now I sold this for £27.99. Which if I remember rightly was a bit more than I paid for it new
Large Print Scrabble
Like the deluxe version this one is quite hard to come by but if you do come across one "buy it". I paid £3.00 for this one at a car boot sale and it was in immaculate condition and didn't look like it had been ever played. I think I under priced it sold within a few hours for £23.99.
Modern Edition Scrabble
Scrabble is one of the few games I will buy a modern used edition. It has such a good following they're still really easy to sell of and usually bring about £10 to £11.50 depending on the time of year, board games will sell a lot better in the winter months.
Travel Scrabble
Still Really popular This edition is from 1955 and is in amazing condition. These usually sell for £8.00 to £10.00
Risk again has had a few face lifts over the years and there are a lot of different variations for the game. Transformers Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars Risk has also gone on line and some of the Dawn of War 40K games are variations of the Risk board game.
Risk is an amazing game the more that play the better the game is. Its played like a strategy game by completing the missions you have on the card you draw at the beginning of the game. You might get "own 24 territories" or "wipe the blue player from the game". When I played it it was beat up the kid no one liked. He would fend off one attack only to be hit from somewhere else on the next go and as the saying goes "you can't win em all" (never mind its all Character building stuff)
Original Risk
This is the game I remember playing there are two sets of rules. One for long games and one for quick games. Risk is still hugely popular. The last one I sold managed to bring £27.99 which I paid 50p for at a car boot sale.
Modern Risk
Another game I have no problem with buying the modern version. Even when used the game still sells really well. This one sold on a buy it for £17.99 within ten days.
Transformers Risk
This is one of the Risk Variants I struggled a bit with this one to sell it and it stuck around for a few months. I paid £2.50 for it and It sold a month or so later for £14.49 so not the greatest mark up but it did O.K and I still made some money.
Scrabble is a great thinking, learning game. It also a great game for kids to learn new words and makes them think how words are formed.The 1955 version looks pretty much the same as the modern version and the tiles are scored exactly the same. The only real face lifts to Scrabble have been to the design of the box.
this edition came out in 1955. This board game is another thing that people collect with a passion. When released it had wooden tile racks and a black cloth linen tile bag. I sold one of these a few days ago it sold on a Buy it now for £12.49
This edition of Scrabble actually belonged to me. I bought it in the mid 80's when I was in the Army, probably to relieve the boredom at that time. Quite hard to come by now I sold this for £27.99. Which if I remember rightly was a bit more than I paid for it new
Like the deluxe version this one is quite hard to come by but if you do come across one "buy it". I paid £3.00 for this one at a car boot sale and it was in immaculate condition and didn't look like it had been ever played. I think I under priced it sold within a few hours for £23.99.
Scrabble is one of the few games I will buy a modern used edition. It has such a good following they're still really easy to sell of and usually bring about £10 to £11.50 depending on the time of year, board games will sell a lot better in the winter months.
Still Really popular This edition is from 1955 and is in amazing condition. These usually sell for £8.00 to £10.00
Risk again has had a few face lifts over the years and there are a lot of different variations for the game. Transformers Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars Risk has also gone on line and some of the Dawn of War 40K games are variations of the Risk board game.
Risk is an amazing game the more that play the better the game is. Its played like a strategy game by completing the missions you have on the card you draw at the beginning of the game. You might get "own 24 territories" or "wipe the blue player from the game". When I played it it was beat up the kid no one liked. He would fend off one attack only to be hit from somewhere else on the next go and as the saying goes "you can't win em all" (never mind its all Character building stuff)
This is the game I remember playing there are two sets of rules. One for long games and one for quick games. Risk is still hugely popular. The last one I sold managed to bring £27.99 which I paid 50p for at a car boot sale.
Another game I have no problem with buying the modern version. Even when used the game still sells really well. This one sold on a buy it for £17.99 within ten days.
This is one of the Risk Variants I struggled a bit with this one to sell it and it stuck around for a few months. I paid £2.50 for it and It sold a month or so later for £14.49 so not the greatest mark up but it did O.K and I still made some money.
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