evilBay questions

[adam lancia]

Hi all,

I've got a few questions about using ebay to sell items. I think I have some things that will sell well on the bay but I don't have a paypal account for them to withdraw their fees from. What are my other options for covering their fees? I've been screwed by a buyer/paypal once and that was enough for me.

Auction setup questions: is there any particular "best way" to set up an auction? Any tricks to keeping the fees down while still being able to sell the item? Anything I should put in the item disclaimers as far as "due to the nature of the hobby" ( ) kind of stuff? After seeing and hearing about so many transactions going bad, I'm a little more than leery. Thanks in advance!

Adam

[rhoonah]

I've only sold on eBay once and it was pretty easy. I did only accept PayPal and again, it was easy. I sold some PC memory and I listed a flat fee of $5 for the shipping anywhere in the lower 48 states... I think it cost me under $2 in the end so I made a few bucks there as well. If you don't use paypal, you can require a money order or bank check be mailed to you (I personally would rather use a PO Box than my home address). I wouldn't accept a personal check because you will need to wait for it to clear and you are out the fees to the bank if it bounces.

My recommendation would be to setup a PayPal account... it only takes minutes to do. Then determine the size of the box and weight of the items that will be mailed and go to usps.com and get some shipping estimates.

I am sure that some more experienced ebayer's will have better advice, etc.

-Joe

[highwayracer]

Hello Adam,

There's no way to legitimately sell an item through ebay without them getting their share. The only thing they can't touch is the shipping fee, but they also do not permit an excessive shipping chage...they will pull the auction.

As for the auctions, I've began using only the "Buy it Now" with the option to "make an offer". The only problem with this is that you set a cap on the amount vs. having people out bid each other. The other side of the coin is that you set too high of a BIN (even though you're willing to take much less) and you scare people off...or, piss them off.

With the BIN, you can also specify the "Immediate Payment Required" feature. Essentially, the auction is still live until the winner of the BIN pays. This may become helpful since ebay has given buyers the freedom to bid without any consequences.

There are plenty here that have more experience than myself, so I'm also interested in hearing their responses.

Regards,
highwayracer

[adam lancia]

Thanks for your replies guys. I know ebay will get their cut no matter what, what I'm avoiding is setting up another paypal account. Is there any way to sell on ebay without having a paypal account? Thanks!

[RichieRich]

The other side of the coin is that you set too high of a BIN (even though you're willing to take much less) and you scare people off...or, piss them off.

In my case, I would say scare. There have been tons of auctions lately with insanely high BINs, I haven't bothered as they are so high, reasonable offers appear disrespectful. Remember to do some research when pricing.