What have I been waiting for?!?!

Well.....after much prodding from many friends/colleagues and yes....money4nothing, I went ahead and decided to list a couple items on Ebay.  I haven't sold on ebay since 2006.

I've been a bit under the weather and decided since I'm sittin' around dinkin' on the computer, I might as well list a couple things and see what happens.  One already has a bid on it plus one watcher and there's 6 days 16 hours left!  Funny thing is, it's an item I could maybe get $5 for at the local flea and it opened at $19.99.

So thanks to all my buddies (both close and virtual) who pushed me~Wow!  What a waste of 6 years eh?!

Congrats Rockin!! eBay can be a real pain. I got lucky and pulled in about $1900 in December. Fees figured out to about 20%, but in all reality, I can't get those prices anywhere else.  Fiber optic decorations pull in the most for me (especially snowman ones). I find them for less than $5 (usually because the light bulb is burned out) but fix the bulb and can get anywhere from $50-100 for them (check out Hallmark Mitford around Christmas). Avon Halloween and Christmas scene ones do very well too, and easy to pick up at yard sales cheap.

I also find that if I put something on auction, to have it end on a Sunday night (anywhere between 8pm and 11pm). My Buy it Now items seem to do really well on Sat/Sun mornings.

Good luck!!!!  now...if I could only find the motivation to get my stuff pictured/listed......

Good luck!!!!  now...if I could only find the motivation to get my stuff pictured/listed......

Yep, getting pics taken is half the battle for eBay !  I've got a set of vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sheets I should get on though. 

I find ending on Auctions on Sundays and Mondays 7-10Pm eastern are the most productive.

I find ending on Auctions on Sundays and Mondays 7-10Pm eastern are the most productive.

I think I'll try my next batch for a Sunday evening close. Been doing Saturday night end times, but will switch it up this week and see how it goes.

Plus it buys me an extra day to get my listings together!

Ebay can be profitable despite the fee's.  I've had several items that I couldn't sell at the flea or CL.  Put them on ebay and they sale.  May or may not be but $5 profit but is more then I had.  I use mostly priority flat rate boxes and online postage.  So just drop off the packages on my way home since I pass 3 post offices.

Well.....after much prodding from many friends/colleagues and yes....money4nothing, I went ahead and decided to list a couple items on Ebay.  I haven't sold on ebay since 2006.

Now I just need to follow my own advise. LOL

Go Rockin.

Suppose to be a rainy day tomorrow so maybe I will get mine done. 
Already have my pictures taken.

Hope you feel better. But making money will help that. 

When ebay does the free days like yesterday and today is a great time to post all those small single items that may sell but not for a ton of money.  This is the time that I put up my $1 - $5 starting bid items like cloths, books, glassware, etc.  I use my 50 free a month for $10 and up items.

Now if it's towards the end of the month and I still have XX number of free listings and no more larger items, the small value comes back out.

Hardest part is doing all the pictures and pre-work.  I've not tried it but ebay has various tools you can use for listings.  One is a way to load an excel file to create multiple listings.  Need to look into that and see if it cost or not.  If not I may start to use it.

When eBay had all their outrageous fees for extra pictures and stuff, I started using Auctiva. It costs me an extra $9.95 a month, but I have become so used to using it. I also get the discounted insurance rates, which helps as the post office prices keep going up. 

When you guys list on eBay, do you package everything up when you post? I normally do, and then put one of those sticky notes on the box. I have also gone to using shredded newspaper for packaging. Over Christmas, I got most of my presents from eBay (my kids are into stuff that I just can't go into the store and buy). I was really surprised how crappy some of my stuff was packaged.

We cleaned out our first locker yesterday. Now today, I get to go and sort everything and find out what I need to get listed. Oh how I wish it was like SW, buy the unit and someone else gets paid to do all the work!

Gratz Magic on your first locker.  Hopefully it will be a good one for you.

On ebay - I't all depends on the item and if I have multiple's of it.  I package the item, weight it, etc. but I don't "close" the package.  A few times I've had people win multiple auctions from me and then can save us both on shipping.  As for package material - I get everything from work.  I grab any boxes that I need from the loading doc before the campus recycle people come and get it.  I save the bubble wrap, air packs, foam pellets, etc. from when we get in supplies and computer parts.  Your newspaper can work well depending on the item your shipping.  I found a website years ago that listed various packing material and what they are good to use.  Best of course was the liquid foam that companies use that fill every nook and cranny of the box.  Great for breakables but really can't re-use it.

I agree with you on how some other people package things.  No matter what I ship I make sure it doesn't bounce around at all or much in package.  I had one guy ship me a megladon tooth (fossil) once before just wrapped up in a newspaper.  I gave him neutral feedback as that was real risky and I was pissed.

Ebay can be profitable despite the fee's.  I've had several items that I couldn't sell at the flea or CL.  Put them on ebay and they sale.  May or may not be but $5 profit but is more then I had.  I use mostly priority flat rate boxes and online postage.  So just drop off the packages on my way home since I pass 3 post offices.

Yeah people complain about the fees me included but there's no denying ebay has a huge audience, at the flea market maybe you have a few hundred people seeing your item, on ebay you potentially have a few thousand.

I agree with the poster who said taking pics is a pain, gotta take the pics, upload on phootbucket as to not pay extra for pics and then put the html in, doesnt seem like that much work but when your trying to list tons of items it gets to be a pain.

I've found for most items the 1 free picture is enough.  I also offer to email them higher quality pictures if they want.  Of course I've not gotten all fancy with ebay yet and don't use any of the tools.  May have to start as I'm getting more and more into it again.

Well I've now sold 5 items, received 2 positive feedbacks (don't expect one from a newbie and the other two items are in shipment somewhere across this vast country), have 10 items up for sale and one of those with a bid and another listed today (with two watchers.....don't ya just love them!), so all in all......
Yeah!  What was I waiting for?!?!  Excellent additional avenue for moving some of the more eclectic or specialty items.

And thanks to those here that gave out some advice.  I've got numerous items ending on Sunday~I'm anxious to see how that strategy works out!
Now if I could only grab a locker or two so I've got some flea market inventory~~~~~

Congratulations!!!   

Congratulations!!!   

I'm not allowed to talk to you.  You see I've been known to wear purple and gold during football season and well.....cheeseheads and Vikings.......

Oh well~it's the off-season so we're good until say.....September~