How Cool is eBay?

[Simon]

My 12yo daughter just did her first eBay sale using my account.

Listed a pair of tap shoes she has outgrown after about a year of weekly classes. Took her about 20 min to take pics and write her ad.



After some fierce competition she sold them for $1 more than we bought them new! Maybe being worn in commands a premium?

I reckon she should start buying second hand tap shoes from her dance mates for $10 a pop and start her own eBay business! Girls her age have feet that grow about a cm a week so the shoes are outgrown whilst still in excellent condition.

Better than my first job in the greengrocers at $3 p/h .....

Cheers,

 

[Ricardo29]

its not such a stupid idea simon.
kids her age will, if not already, be experts on it...they can make good bucks buying and selling in demand goods.
they know whats in, whats cool, what kids want.
get her onto it i say

 

[redwing]

Never got into E-BAY ..?

But I've heard of people selling just about anything loose lying around the house..

Whats the most interesting item sold or best result those of you that use e-bay have had

 

[Sultan of Swing]

Good for her Simon....

....just don't let her get too addicted to selling stuff on it!!

In a Tassie paper a week or so ago there was a story of a guy here that was quite addicted to selling stuff on eBay.

He ripped off about $30,000 worth of stuff from his employer and sold it on eBay for $6,000. It really does make you wonder.... lol

Cheers

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

I've only sold one thing on Ebay, got a good buyer. Had to sell my ticket to Motley Crue, because I'd moved from Melbourne to Brisbane and couldn't go. Wait ten + years for them to tour and four months before they tour have to move cities.... ah, such is life. Completely utterly totally spewing about it still... it wasn't just Motley Crue I missed but Motorhead as well damnit!

Couldn't get a ticket for up here - they'd sold out long before I got here. Good thing is that I got about 40 bucks more for the ticket than I paid for it.

Mark

 

[Barracuda]

We've bought and sold quite a bit on eBay.

Our biggest sale was an old fridge that we bought 2nd hand about 8 years earlier - got more than we paid for it. Recently sold old ceiling fans (and switches) that we had removed from the ceiling and an old answering machine (only received $1 for that). I've even sold an old pool cleaing head (jetvac) that I cut off the hose with a knife... eBay saves lugging it to the tip - you can always do that if it doesn't sell.

 

[alwayscurious]

whole laptop

I love ebay
I Sold a laptop which I posted to perth. $285 for the lapop, $25 for postage (registered post). It was an old IBM but still a good un.

I sold off all my unused periphials from my PC. Now I need some of them again!

Ah well.

I like browsing for books on ebay. I usually try to get some ending soon and have bought both interesting and useless motivational books from ebay.

I re-sold the useless ones.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

I've sold 2 small blocks of rough sawn wood for $61 I paid $60 for 10 years ago from a woodworking show. Also sold a 2nd hand pair of boots a few years old for $255 to a guy in New York.

I started off on ebay just over 6 months ago selling a pool table for about $700 which I paid $400 for from the trading post a few years ago.

So I bought another similar one from the trading post for $300 and sold for $660 one week later on eBay.

I ended up selling over 170 new pool tables in the 2nd half of last year.

Now all the copycats jumped onto the idea and crashed the market, but there is still a good margin left.

I'm still eBaying and have reached platinum powerseller status so far. The market exposure is huge.


Good luck.

Adrian

 

[Ricardo29]

sold concert tickets once.
i had 2, sold 1 on the provision the buyer come with me, and made sure was a female buyer.
she paid $300, tickets cost me $150, and we ended up together for 15months. dodgy i know...but worth it!!

 

[calvin@34]

My 12yo daughter just did her first eBay sale using my account.

Listed a pair of tap shoes she has outgrown after about a year of weekly classes. Took her about 20 min to take pics and write her ad.



After some fierce competition she sold them for $1 more than we bought them new! Maybe being worn in commands a premium?

I reckon she should start buying second hand tap shoes from her dance mates for $10 a pop and start her own eBay business! Girls her age have feet that grow about a cm a week so the shoes are outgrown whilst still in excellent condition.

Better than my first job in the greengrocers at $3 p/h .....

Cheers,

Simon,
where they sold for $31?? My wife wanted to buy some as our little girl (like most, I guess) wants to be a ballerina. We missed the closure as my wife isn't so surefooted in ebay as yet but she is watching some others!

Funniest thing we saw was some-one advertising a Whole outfit (bought at Coles for $19.95) for $45 + postage. Had elevent bids on it!

Is your daughter still in Bleett/ dancing? might have to keep in touch when she outgrows the next set!

 

[Simon]

$51 mate!

She is all keen to sell more stuff. Less stuff the better I say!

 

[redwing]

Weird How things work-

Came home today and my wife wanted me toget onto e-bay (she's into scrapbooking as is her mum and she's looking for a Sizzix Die set)..

So currently on E-Bay, we'll have to sign up on it..

Any Tips / Traps ??

Redwing

 

[Todd]

1 tip I have, is be aware of what you can source the item for from other places, dont get caught up in the auction thinking its a bargain without knowing what it really costs elsewhere.

 

[Simon]

Dont bid until the last 10 -30 seconds, depending on your internet speed. Bid what you wish to spend and add a few cents to it. ie if the bid is at $15 and you are prepared to pay $20 then flash in at the last minute and bid $20.10. Because the bid goes up in $1 increments you cannot then be beaten with a $21 bid - must be $21.10 and most people use round numbers.

If you bid from day one you are showing your hand too soon and just upping the price. All the action happens in the last few hours. Most people are lazy and will only search the items finishing in the immediate future.

Lastly check postage and handling fees before you bid. Some people will add an exorbitant amount ie $20 for something costing $6 to post. This is a built in profit and a trap for new players. Worst offenders are the HK based sellers. You might be pleased to get a $0.01 bargain to find it is $39 postage on top.

But it is really quite simple and quite fun - addictive too. But obviously selling is fine - esp if you are selling junk from your garage. Be careful you don't get caught up like a game where you must win at all costs. Paying more than a product is worth as a result.

I am sure your missus knows the true value of scrapbooking gear.

You don't need an account to search eBay - just to bid. So explore away!

 

[calvin@34]

1 tip I have, is be aware of what you can source the item for from other places, dont get caught up in the auction thinking its a bargain without knowing what it really costs elsewhere.

I second that! I don't even bid unless it is in the last couple of hours of the auction. Learned that the hard way, put a bid on when it had 9 days to go and thought I'd won it. Hooray, great going until I got the outbid notice after it closed (I was off line at the time).

I don't buy unless I can get it for 3/4 of the new price including postage. Currently I average a 50% auction success.

Hope that helps

 

[wylie]

I've bought and sold lots of things on eBay and love it. Just got home from collecting a funky leather lounge for a bargain price. Bought a fantastic chrome italian chaise last week (same seller).

We have bought Six Feet Under DVDs, watched them over several weeks, and onsold them for the same money.

Too many stories to tell about eBay. You can get some fantastic furniture for very good prices. I know a family in a $1.3m house with nothing to sit on. They should get onto eBay. If you watch and wait, you WILL find a bargain.

Don't tell everyone though, okay!!

Wylie.

 

[Mr. Fabulous]

I was talking to a bird from Canada who goes to garage sales and finds antique stuff and sells it on Ebay for a living. Does realy well apparently. I tell ya fella's, I wish I'd bought and kept skate decks from the 80's - up until maybe a year ago, mint condition decks were selling for thousands.

Mark

 

[doreilly]

had its day

I think eBay has overrun its usefulness for a lot of people.

Their fees have increased constantly since they renamed to eBay and are now considerably higher than other auction sites (they do still have the most traffic however).

But the thing that is beginning to really p*ss people off is the fraud, eBay don't care, the fraudsters no this and commit more.

Wait until a foreign scammer wins your auction and you don't want to post as they have no credibility (and chargebacks can occurr after the money has cleared), and eBay still charge you you're listing and selling fees.

Or just until you buy something that never turns up, this happens with local sellers more and more now.

Keep an eye out for google, they already have a classifieds website base.google.com they have the payment mechanism - google video/earth etc.
They will bring the 2 together soon, but don't want to p*ss off their biggest advertiser - eBay.

 

[MarkR]

Redwing,
Tips:
1) Check other prices i.e. watch the auctions for a week or two, check the trading post, Big W, etc, etc.
2) Watch out for postage costs, if I can buy a similar item in Big W for $22, & it will cost me $4 + $15 postage from HK then I'll go Big W, it's easier to exchange/refund.
3) ALWAYS check sellers details i.e. how many negative feedback items they've got, I won't buy unless someone's got LOTs of good feedback i.e. don't touch someone with regular disputes or a new seller (unless the items unusual or the cost is low so you're willing to risk losing your money
4) ALWAYS pay for registered postage, otherwise you've got no comeback if it doesn't turn up
5) Set your max limit & then you can pre-bid i.e. set max limit to bid up to (& as per other advice use part #'s not rounded #'s.
6) Know what you're buying i.e. if it's a book or something, fine, but if it's something you don't know the brand of be very careful you know what it's going to look like (measurements, etc), not what you think it will look like.

Have bought quite a few things, had one fraud & one dodgy product, rest have been fine. One thing about Paypal, it doesn't guarantee a refund i.e. in the case of the missing DVD (fraud) I got nothing back even though they'd 'deregistered'. I know where she lives & would happily knock on the door even though it's only a small amount, but Canberra's a bit far away.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Simon]

I think eBay has overrun its usefulness for a lot of people.

Their fees have increased constantly since they renamed to eBay and are now considerably higher than other auction sites (they do still have the most traffic however).

But the thing that is beginning to really p*ss people off is the fraud, eBay don't care, the fraudsters no this and commit more.

Wait until a foreign scammer wins your auction and you don't want to post as they have no credibility (and chargebacks can occurr after the money has cleared), and eBay still charge you you're listing and selling fees.

Or just until you buy something that never turns up, this happens with local sellers more and more now.

Keep an eye out for google, they already have a classifieds website base.google.com they have the payment mechanism - google video/earth etc.
They will bring the 2 together soon, but don't want to p*ss off their biggest advertiser - eBay.

Thats very negative slant.

I have had 200+ transactions.

I have been pleased with nearly every transaction and those that weren't up to expectation have not been worth worrying over.

I think it is getting better and better all the time at bringing the market together. Where else would a 12 yr old sell her tap shoes so well? her dance school has a second hand selling deal but she got 500% more via eBay.

I guess if you are the sort of person who looks for reasons why not to do things then eBay would be madness.

Seems people love it tho in practice, and it is just a bit of fun for most.

Cheers,