E-Bay dos and don'ts?

I am looking to unload much of the gear (rods and reels) I've accumulated
over the years. For some of it, E-Bay seems like the best choice. Any
important tips and hints for E-Bay novices?

How about these storefront E-Bay middlemen? (There's one just around the
corner from me). Any caveats to offer?

On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 10:21:07 -0700, JR wrote:

I am looking to unload much of the gear (rods and reels) I've accumulated
over the years. For some of it, E-Bay seems like the best choice. Any
important tips and hints for E-Bay novices?

How about these storefront E-Bay middlemen? (There's one just around the
corner from me). Any caveats to offer?


Here's what I do for what it's worth:

- Restrict to Canada and U.S. only.
- Don't use any fancy galleries, bold titles or stuff like that --
just jacks up the cost.
- Open a PayPal account and encourage its use by the buyers.
- Take really good pictures.
- Put in good descriptions, thorough but not wordy. I usually include
some info about fishing applications as not every buyer is up to speed
on that sort of thing.
- Use some HTML to dress up the description but don't overdo it.
- Set up a "ME" page that describes you as a fisherman. Fishermen
like dealing with other fishermen. It also puts a face to you.
- In the shipping details, state that any uninsured, untracked
shipments are the responsibility of the buyer. If it goes astray,
it's their tough luck.
- Use reserves for the good stuff but no reserve for the cheap stuff
or stuff you really, really want to get rid of.
- Use the "Buy Now" feature but don't put too high a price. I pick a
number based on what I think a store would sell that used item for.
- If you use "Buy Now" and a reserve, make sure there's some daylight
between the amounts.


To give you an idea of the worth of pictures and description. I
bought two inexpensive, uncommon reels from the UK that were in
excellent condition and came with DT lines and backing -- also in good
shape. The photos weren't great and the description said nothing so
as a result, I got them really cheap. I kept one reel, both lines and
the backing, then ebayed the other reel and got a fair price for it.
After I netting out the sale of the surplus reel, the reel I kept,
plus the two lines and backing ended up costing me $9.00 USD.

Peter

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On Sun, 03 Jul 2005 10:21:07 -0700, JR wrote:

I am looking to unload much of the gear (rods and reels) I've accumulated
over the years. For some of it, E-Bay seems like the best choice. Any
important tips and hints for E-Bay novices?

How about these storefront E-Bay middlemen? (There's one just around the
corner from me). Any caveats to offer?

Hi Jr,

To add to what Peter posted... If you have a host, you can host your
own photo's rather than letting E-bay charge you .15 cents per photo.
It doesn't sound like a lot, but it all adds up. Keep in mind that
Ebay nickel and dimes you for EVERYTHING! There is the listing fee,
then when/if your item sells, they get a chunk of change out of that
too.

TIME: You want to make sure that your item is listed at a time when
most people are using their computers. For instance, don't post your
item at 2am or 7am. You may get bids, but you won't get the bids you
might get if you list it at 9pm (9pm eastern = 6pm western) this is a
great window to sell stuff in.

As Peter said, the better the photo's, the more chances you will have
to sell your items. Clean crisp...

Make sure your items are as clean as possible too. People don't like
dirt. I know that seams obvious, but you should see some of the stuff
that looks like it's been through the mill. These typically get bid
on very low.

One last note. Be HONEST with potential buyers. You don't want bad
reviews. If you're selling something that's beat up and worn, make
sure you put in your add that the item looks worn.

That's about it from me for now. I hope this helped.

Dennis
-=Paraleptropy=-
http://www.neflyfishing.net
0 Limit,Catch -n- Release

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Paraleptropy wrote:

To add to what Peter posted...
much good stuff snipped

Many thanks to both you and Peter, Dennis. This should help a lot.

JR