EBay

"did you do it?"
"yeah, I did"
"how much"
"I don't know yet, but I think some people are "watching" me"
"Oh, that's a good thing"
"is it?, I don't know who they are."
"Thats okay, that's how the bidding starts."
"Ohhhhhh. I get it. "

See. It looks like an illegal deal is going down. =)

I actually finally succumbed to the beast. It's fun......but man, it is slow waiting for the days and hours to go by. Right now I am 3 for 4 on sells. Whoo hoo!

Some things I learned and a few tips about Ebay:

You can sell the first five things every 30 days for free insertion fees. This means, you can sell the items at whatever cost and ebay takes a 8.75% cut of the sell price (not the shipping) up to a certain amount.

You get to post the item with 1 picture (however you could create a collage with picasa or another photo program and post a few pictures as one.)
Take Clear Pictures, with the intent to make the item look its best. Drape a cloth over a table if you have to. Make sure you take pictures that do not have an attempt to deceive. You want to sell your item to someone who really needs or wants it, not trick someone. If you have to be tricky.....I say give it to charity. I am only selling stuff that I like and would buy myself. Be Honest.


You get to write as much about the product as possible. Be Honest and Use FACTS. I have been bullet pointing the Facts at the top and then details.


Shipping:
Ha! This is the part where it gets tricky. You can sell things using the post office flat rate, however I realize (after lengthy talking with postal lady) if you get your own boxes or have boxes lying around then the cost is usually much cheaper to ship the item, by as much as 50%. Now if you are shipping lead weights, then go with the flat rate. Factor in cost of materials(boxes, envelopes) before you do it.

Returns:
I think it is only fair to allow returns for something as long as someone is willing to pay for the return shipping. If the item ends up not being that great to the buyer, then why not allow returns? I pretty much feel it is a good faith buy and sell so lets all be fair. =)

Wish me luck in the Ebay spring cleaning and selling-a-thon!

Antibloggedy