I need advice on Ebay selling...

[John Prophet]

Am interested in selling some stuff on ebay.

I notice I need to set up a sellers account by giving credit card and bank info...or if I dont want to do that I can become "ID verified". if you sell on ebay, which way did you do this..what are the pros and cons of each way?

What type of payments should I accept?

How do I know beforehand what the shipping charges will be? Do I need to get something like a scale and a UPS chart or something?

Pass along any wisdom please

JP

[dragonb]

Not a pro by any means...
I've probably sold 30 things on ebay.

I just registered with a credit card, so not sure on that other way of doing it.

type of payments: I try to stay standard, accepting paypal, personal checks(which I make sure clear based on feedback rating)

Shipping charges, I guess. usps.com and ups.com both let you figure out prices, so I guess, but a scale would be the way to go, to get more exact prices. Also, most people use a "handling" charge. That way you can just say a blanket $5 for shipping, and then if it's between 3 and 5, your basically covered.

And one suggestion, for books, I've found half.com to be a lot easier.
Also, make your auction look good, keep it standard, use CAPS sparingly, try to be as descriptive as possible.

Also, if just starting out an ID, it's best to buy 5-10 things first, and get at least a few positive feedbacks. I rarely, if ever bid on a seller that has a rating below 5, or for that matter below 100.

good luck, dragonb

[daveleau]

Shipping can either be an estimation on your part, or you can check tables on each respective shipper's site to get a good idea of what it will cost. You may want to limit sales to other countries or offer to calculate shipping charges for them at the end of the auction. I have done this in the past and always state in the auction that shipping charges will be actual amounts and nothing will be added for "handling".

USPS: http://postcalc.usps.gov/ (This is my favorite way to ship b/c it is quick and the most reliable)
UPS: http://wwwapps.ups.com/QCCWebApp/req...iso_country=US ( be sure to NOT put "Fragile" on any package or it WILL arrive broken (I have had this happen countless times)
FedEx: http://www.fedex.com/ratefinder/home?cc=US&language=en

I am not sure how ID verified works. Any eBay charges come directly out of my credit card account (debit card).
ID Verify page:
http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyan...ify-login.html

When selling, look at other people's pages where they are selling similar stuff. This always gives me good ideas of what to do and what NOT to do when posting my ad.

[Nighthawk]

How do you accept money orders? Do you just treat it like a check and deposit it at the bank, or take it to where it was purchased, or ... ?

[chapmc]

A money order is treated like a check. It is as good as the issuer usually a bank or US post office.

[daveleau]

Make sure you only accept bank or USPS Money Orders b/c these can be countereited easily. I have never had this happen, but have heard of it before.

[John Prophet]

So they snail mail the money order to you and then you ship?

Seems slow but I guess its only a few days after all.

JP

[Hoosier724]

I have always used USPS money orders and a money order is a good a cash, go to your bank and there should be no questions asked.

[hidiver1]

Most productive way to sell is to accept PayPal and post your pre-figured shipping charges right in the listing. Then you get paid right away and can ship the stuff the next day. Also a lot of people make their auction times too long - it's one thing is you're selling a big ticket item, but for most stuff, 3 to 5 days should be the max. Also, with the feedbacks - people tend to bid more when they have some confidence in whom they're dealing with - people with zero or a couple of feedbacks don't get that much play.

[kraw]

I accept Paypal and USPS money orders only. Why? if you get frauded by someone and paid with a USPS MO they postmaster general will inspect the problem (or something like that)

as far as shipping goes, I tell them I will only charge actual shipping charges and no handling charges. If they want an estimate, I will ask for their zip, and go to the window at the P.O. If not, and they want the item shipped the next day (or same day) I tell them to pay via PayPal and add 15 bux (more if I think it will cost more to ship) and I will return the change in the box. Works everytime


ebay is a great way to get rid of junk



wanted to add, I always send stuff out USPS (convenient for me since we have a window here at the airport) unless someone has a FedEx acct, then, I fill out the paperwork and drop it off at the FedEx air facility here on the airfield