I've been trying to clean out things and have turned to eBay to sell stuff I no longer use. It has been quite a bit of effort getting things listed and packaged for shipping, but it has also been fun. My goal is to get rid of stuff. Making any money on it is a bonus, but not my primary objective. I don't want to lose money however. (Note that much of this stuff is not typically what Goodwill would take. Goodwill was always my go to place for unloading clothes and other household items.)
My eBay selling experience is now just over 3 months old. It hasn't been the smoothest 3 months. So far I've had buyers for 20 auctions. Out of those 20 auctions, 3 never paid and two days have passed since a 4th one ended and the winner has let two days go by and still has not paid. My experience has been when payments don't come almost immediately, the probability of ever getting paid is very low. It's kind of a pain to go through the unpaid item process to get the eBay fees from the sale credited back.
A couple of my two biggest sales have been problematic. The first winner of the auction for my Scooba robotic floor cleaner did not pay and after some messages exchanged where he made promises and kept delaying, I laid down the law and said either pay or I'll go through the unpaid item process so I can list it again. That pissed him of and he backed out and scolded me for high shipping cost, despite the fact shipping costs were clearly stated in advance. Scold the USPS, UPS and FedEx for that.
I relisted the Scooba and it did sell. The new buyer got it, but reported the battery was dead. Crap. I hadn't used it in a while, so it's possible it was bad. They do need replaced when they get old. So I really had no alternative than to make it right and find a new battery to send to him. Batteries are over $30, so that cut in to my profit. I sold the Scooba for a little over $100.
Next problem was with my bug zapper sale. I was elated that someone took me up on my inflated Buy-It-Now price of $34, for a zapper I bought at my neighbor's garage sale for $12. The buyer (from Davenport) got the item which was identical to one he already had and immediately reported the internal fan was defective. I had no idea. Maybe it was always defective. I had no alternative but to refund his money including shipping. So I lost money on that transaction. I confirmed the fan was bad and could probably fix it, but it's probably not worth it. I think it zaps most bugs without the fan. The fan is supposed to pull mosquitos in that are attracted to the black light, if you believe any of their claims.
Those were my two worst experiences. I sold an older digital thermostat that was replaced when I went geothermal. About a week after I sold it, I found the owners manuals. So being a nice guy I will send them to the buyer at my cost. Seems like the right thing to do, even though I said they were missing and pointed to a website to get electronic versions. It's a pretty nice thermostat and the glossy manuals are very detailed on how to install and configure it.
A little about the fees. It appears from what I have sold that eBay takes 10% of the price including shipping. Payments are handled through PayPal which also takes a modest fee similar to a credit card fee. Once and a while the shipping you pay is less than what was billed to the customer for shipping. That's nice when that happens. I guess it is due to special eBay rates or something.
So this eBay experience has been quite mixed. Many of my items go unsold, but as I dig into the bowels of my storage closets, I keep finding more and more stuff to unload. This process could go on for a long time, unless I give up on it first. It's hard to predict what sells. I would have never thought the zapper would have gone, especially when the Buy-it-Now price was more than double the auction starting price and it went right away. On the other hand I have listed a very nice bathroom scale that measures many parameters. But I want to replace it with a connected scale, that automatically loads it into my health tracker apps. It's a cool glass scale, but there are currently no bids. But it's early and most bids come late.
I think I've been making a mistake with the length of the auction. I tried to end the auctions at around 9:00 PM on Sunday. I've been opting for 10 day listings when possible, but when I am too late to hit the Sunday end time, I'll use the 7 day auction. I am really thinking my next auction will be for only 3 days. It seems when an auction doesn't end for a long time, it gets buried and not seen. Most of the action comes near the end. Listing and relisting if it doesn't sell using 3 day auctions, may be a better way to get it seen by more people.
Now I better go get that jelly bean dispenser listed.
My eBay selling experience is now just over 3 months old. It hasn't been the smoothest 3 months. So far I've had buyers for 20 auctions. Out of those 20 auctions, 3 never paid and two days have passed since a 4th one ended and the winner has let two days go by and still has not paid. My experience has been when payments don't come almost immediately, the probability of ever getting paid is very low. It's kind of a pain to go through the unpaid item process to get the eBay fees from the sale credited back.
A couple of my two biggest sales have been problematic. The first winner of the auction for my Scooba robotic floor cleaner did not pay and after some messages exchanged where he made promises and kept delaying, I laid down the law and said either pay or I'll go through the unpaid item process so I can list it again. That pissed him of and he backed out and scolded me for high shipping cost, despite the fact shipping costs were clearly stated in advance. Scold the USPS, UPS and FedEx for that.
I relisted the Scooba and it did sell. The new buyer got it, but reported the battery was dead. Crap. I hadn't used it in a while, so it's possible it was bad. They do need replaced when they get old. So I really had no alternative than to make it right and find a new battery to send to him. Batteries are over $30, so that cut in to my profit. I sold the Scooba for a little over $100.
Next problem was with my bug zapper sale. I was elated that someone took me up on my inflated Buy-It-Now price of $34, for a zapper I bought at my neighbor's garage sale for $12. The buyer (from Davenport) got the item which was identical to one he already had and immediately reported the internal fan was defective. I had no idea. Maybe it was always defective. I had no alternative but to refund his money including shipping. So I lost money on that transaction. I confirmed the fan was bad and could probably fix it, but it's probably not worth it. I think it zaps most bugs without the fan. The fan is supposed to pull mosquitos in that are attracted to the black light, if you believe any of their claims.
Those were my two worst experiences. I sold an older digital thermostat that was replaced when I went geothermal. About a week after I sold it, I found the owners manuals. So being a nice guy I will send them to the buyer at my cost. Seems like the right thing to do, even though I said they were missing and pointed to a website to get electronic versions. It's a pretty nice thermostat and the glossy manuals are very detailed on how to install and configure it.
A little about the fees. It appears from what I have sold that eBay takes 10% of the price including shipping. Payments are handled through PayPal which also takes a modest fee similar to a credit card fee. Once and a while the shipping you pay is less than what was billed to the customer for shipping. That's nice when that happens. I guess it is due to special eBay rates or something.
So this eBay experience has been quite mixed. Many of my items go unsold, but as I dig into the bowels of my storage closets, I keep finding more and more stuff to unload. This process could go on for a long time, unless I give up on it first. It's hard to predict what sells. I would have never thought the zapper would have gone, especially when the Buy-it-Now price was more than double the auction starting price and it went right away. On the other hand I have listed a very nice bathroom scale that measures many parameters. But I want to replace it with a connected scale, that automatically loads it into my health tracker apps. It's a cool glass scale, but there are currently no bids. But it's early and most bids come late.
I think I've been making a mistake with the length of the auction. I tried to end the auctions at around 9:00 PM on Sunday. I've been opting for 10 day listings when possible, but when I am too late to hit the Sunday end time, I'll use the 7 day auction. I am really thinking my next auction will be for only 3 days. It seems when an auction doesn't end for a long time, it gets buried and not seen. Most of the action comes near the end. Listing and relisting if it doesn't sell using 3 day auctions, may be a better way to get it seen by more people.
Now I better go get that jelly bean dispenser listed.
