Advice on Ebaying some parts...

[Monte_SS]

Ok, I need some advice and or some good tips on how to successfully use ebay to sell some parts.

I am getting laid off from my job at the end of March. I have a friend at work that has amassed lots of parts over the past 20 or so years and wants me to sell some on ebay for him and he will give me a set percentage. I have never sold anything on ebay, in fact I have only purchased one item from there and it was several years ago. I am just looking for some knowledgeable people to maybe give me some advice on the best way to do these things to avoid as many issues that newbies would normally make. Things like the best payment methods, how to avoid scams, best way to set shipping prices etc. Anything along those lines as it seems that I may be very busy trying to clear out a few busses full of stuff. Thanks in advance to any and all that give advice. Gonna be a long summer it appears.

Thanks,
Monte_SS

[Mr70]

I would make your Ebay ID password completely diffferent from your PayPal ID password,to avoid scammers hijacking them..and make all your auctions end between 7PM & 10PM central time on Sunday nights,from what I have seen.

[Monte_SS]

Thanks, I am going to write all this down as the suggestions come in. Don't want to let my friend down (I am sure he is doing this to try to help me out so I want to do as good a job as I can) Can't beat good friends!

Monte_SS

[YenkoYS-199Stinger]

I agree with mr70 and if you start your auctions on Thursday evening and pay the extra $0.40 you can run a 10 day auction, capture both weekends and it will end on Sunday evening.


--------------------
Chris
1967 Yenko Stinger YS-199
Southeast of Disorder

[92646]

Track down Jason. I think he goes by nova ss. It seems that he has a good track record of happy people and he does a good volume. I dabble in it to support my camaro habit and I come out ahead more often than behind. The most important thing is to know all the information on the part before you go to sell it. You might get your feet wet with the cheaper stuff before you go to the expensive stuff. Watch all of your fees when you figure the reserve or the minimum starting price. I prefer to start my ads on a Monday or Tuesday and I always have them end during the week not the week ends. Do not schedule your ad to end on a holiday. There are allot of scams out there so stay away from anything that looks like english is a second language. You will get allot of offers so you will learn to spot most of the scams. Try to do most of your e-mailing through e-bay. Try not to end your auction early because you may be shooting yourself in the foot and leaving some money on the table. That and it can upset people trying to play by the rules. E-bay offers no protection, there is no security in anything they offer. It is no better than running an ad in the paper but you get allot more potential buyers and that is all they really offer. Remember you are selling the pictures so take the best pictures you can. The people can not touch the items they can only bid on the pictures and your description, so make them good. Track ads with the same items you are thinking of selling and see what they did to make their parts get more money than the next guy. You are welcome to e-mail me at [email protected] if you need more help.
Mark Sheppard

[nuch_ss396]

Monte_SS,

I would also suggest getting set-up to use Paypal as it
makes receiving payments much faster than getting the
auction winners to send money orders. However, some will
not want to use Paypal, so money orders are the other option.

Make your descriptions clear and concise. The more information
you leave out ( like casting dates, casting numbers, etc. )
the more e-mails you will need to answer.

Lastly, I'd highly suggest spending a good day looking through
car parts on eBay so you can get an idea of good descriptions,
how many images are required, etc..

Remember, the more information ( written & pictoral ) you
provide, the less you will have to answer repeat questions.

Steve

[tom406]

I think Paypal is a must, at least on the auctions I bid on. However, I've been reading about several people who have had bad experiences as sellers. Paypal is part of Ebay now, so the relative lack of protection holds true for both. The bad experiences involve shipping expensive items, having the buyers claim to have never received them (even with signatures), using their credit card company to push on Paypal, who refund the money then freeze the seller's account or take it from the seller. Several things have to go wrong for this to play out, but imagine shipping out a $1500 block, then having Paypal seize $1500 from your account to repay the credit company the buyer used! That one deal could unwind all of your potential profits and your buddy's good will. There are some seller's forums you should read up on.

Sell cheap things first and build up your feedback rating by making those people happy. It will help your bidding later by increasing bidder confidence.

[nuch_ss396]

[ QUOTE ]
...Sell cheap things first and build up your feedback rating by making those people happy. It will help your bidding later by increasing bidder confidence.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point Tom

[Monte_SS]

All are wonderful ideas! I already have a paypal account set up. My friend also suggested selling some less expensive items to kind of test the waters and get used to the whole experience before selling some other hard to find items that are likely to bring in some larger amounts. A large majority of his parts (from what I could tell from initial peek into the buses) are fairly small items but he does have some very hard to find original parts. I will continue to write this info down and keep me a "cheat sheet" as to how to run this. I have a very good digital camera and will take pics as others will need to see condition etc. Does ebay actually "host" the pictures or will I need to set up some webspace to host them myself?
Also, I only live about 3 miles from the local UPS terminal so my shipping method would most likely be through them.

Monte_SS

[3macs1]

Just some feedback based on my experiences. I have been a solid E-bay member since 99 so did not have to worry about rating which was good but never sold anything, probally in 30 years. So I was a few months ago a newbie also to selling.
Just some things I would pass on in addition to all of the great feedback already received.
Don't list more than 10 items at a time until you get comfortable. Just finding boxes to ship your stuff will keep you busy.
Try to mix your parts up if you can, what I mean is if you have some NOS and some used don't list all the nos at the same time or all say the camaro first then chevelle. Space them out 3 chevelle, 3 camaro. That way a guy may want more of your chevelle stuff but if it is listed together he cannot afford it all at once. See what I mean??
If you have some rare accessories list them one ot two at a time in your 10 items.
Check every item you have to see in the closed auctions what it may have went for in the past so you know it's true value.
Check every item you have to see if another is currently running, if it is put yours away for another time.
Make sure if your part is NOS that is spelled clearly out with a picture of the box and you make sure to tell the bidders this is not repo.
Remember with the listing fees, selling percentage and paypal cut. Look at losing 9-10% per item so factor that into your listing.
Offer both ups and postal shipping.
Charge only the actual shiiping costs no padding
The e-bay listing fees add up quick and you pay them if you sell or don't consider that when listing. Yes the bold looks great and is $1.00 but not worth it on a 12.00 old part.
Try your best to run no reserve auctions, somethings you have no choice but it seems people would sooner see a higher starting bid knowing it is going to sell than a reserve.
Don't label your boxes until you have the cash in hand.
Hope this helps