Really, you do.First of all, where else are you going to find posters like this?
This is winging its way to me as we speak from somewhere in Wisconsin. I'm out $11, and you can't tell me that's not a bargain. (It's a nice summer evening and I've had one screwdriver already and I'm probably not done and you pretty much you can't tell me anything, but still...)
Here's a better example. These are mountain bike pedals I bought for Diane some five years
ago. She didn't like them and I tossed them in a tool box and they've sat there for five years. Without the Ebay (I'm using the article in a Southern California fashion) these get tossed in the trash or sold at a garage sale for 50 cents. Instead, I listed them on the Ebay tonight with a buy-it-now price of $15 (plus $5.50 shipping) and I sold them in about 10 minutes. (I'm not even exaggerating. They went that fast.)
The Ebay took 65 cents and Paypal took 89 cents and the rest is in my Paypal account right now, awaiting transfer to my real bank account, (or further cool BMW posters on the Ebay.) (And yes, I will always call it the Ebay from now on.) Actual shipping will cost me $4.85.
In the last month or so, I've netted well over $1,000 from old motorcycle parts, my road bike or other stuff I really didn't need. (Yes, I sold my road bike. It's too damn steep up here to ride it, and I damn near killed myself learning that a week or two ago.) I'll list my magnetic ride-your-bike-in-your-house trainer tomorrow once I get it weighed.
So, here's what I've learned about the Ebay:
- Take good pictures and write a good, honest description and people will buy what you have.
- Weigh your stuff before you list it. It sucks to ship something for more than someone paid for shipping.
- Buy-it-nows work. Look at the stuff that's about to sell, price your item at a reasonable discount from that and do a buy-it-now price. People will pay a fair price for stuff they want. (On the other hand, if you want to try to get maximum value, let the auction run for the full seven days and hope people bid it beyond what you would have asked.)
- Buy stuff before you sell and build up 10 positive feedbacks. I'm not sure that matters, but it seems to help.
Anyway, if you've got stuff you're not using, there's a whole world out there that might want to buy it. You gotta love the Ebay!
2 comments:
I'm so glad you told us all this. I've been wondering if it's worthwhile to get into the eBay or not. We have some stuff that I hate to just give away, but I don't need it or want to store it until some random day in the future when we MIGHT want to use it, but I've been skeptical about the eBay. But now I might try it. Scott has some old Camaro parts that somebody would want, I'm sure.
It's certainly worth trying. And Paypal is the way to go, payment-wise, too. They take a cut, but so many shoppers on the ebay already have money in their paypal accounts or just get out a card and make a payment that I've been getting paid usually within minutes. (That's partly because I do favor the buy-it-now approach.)
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