Raise £350 for Christmas - the new eBay challenge

[DinosaursHateUnderpants]

Post your listings and questions here. The purpose is to raise money for Christmas and I'll start by showing my (so far) meagre listings here

[bilblio]

I'll join in. I've only ever sold a few things on ebay before, but we're determined to have a clear out before DC2 arrives at the end of October. Plus I've just had a quote for my car insurance which will wipe out almost all my savings. :(

I'm also wanting to get some money together to start up a crafty ebay business while I'm on Mat leave so that I can hopefully quit one of my jobs.

Nothing listed yet though... when I do I'll put a link.

[LaWeasel]

Hi guys - can I join in? I am total selling on ebay newbie and we need to raise money pronto so trying to think of good things to sell: so far come up with an ipod nano gen 4, the wii plus games/controllers/guitars etc, cath kidston bag...

Is it worth bothering with DVDs etc? We have lots of TV series that wouldn't be missed. Maybe some board games too?!

Will post links when we've put them up.

[bilblio]

Hi LaWeasel. Wish I could advise on what sells, but I think generally it's anything depending on the day/week. Last time I sold things I did really well selling perfumes. MIL had a habit of buying me things I don't like, or can't use (really sensitive skin.)
I hadn't realised but some things I was selling aren't produced any more and people obviously like them a lot so there was a bidding war. A bottle of perfume I hoped to get £10 for when for £40+.

I'm not in a huge hurry to sell things so I've listed them at a high price (not much lower than high street, or "Buy it Now's".)
I've cursed before when I sold an expensive item, but listed it relatively cheaply, loads of people were watching it, but only one person placed a bid. This time I'm listing high and I'll relist if needs be.

Do you know you can search for Completed Listings?
If you search for an item you're selling, then on the left menu if you scroll down you'll see an option. It shows you how much things generally sell for. It gives you an idea what kind of price you're likely to get, and whether it's worth listing.

It's free listings this weekend too.
I listed a measly 5 things. :) Photographed more, thought I'd downloaded them all so deleted them photos off my camera... only to realise I'd only downloaded 2 pictures!!!!
Here's mine. Tomorrow I'll do better.... hopefully.

[fergoose]

One of the best bits of advice I got when I started listing was to have auctions ending in the evening, lots more potential buyers then.

I find items ending during the day don't get nearly as many buyers as those in the evening.

Also decent photos, honest description and reasonable postage and quick dispatch time.

[LaWeasel]

Thanks! Hopefully we'll do alright, we're doing all the photos tonight so I'll try and work out all the postage tonight too.

[LaWeasel]

Bad luck with the photos bilbio, ours keeps running out of bloomin' battery!!

[ClaimedByMe]

Hi, ive not been selling for long but am not slightly addicted!

Just now i have my broken netbook on ebay, sitting at £22 and has 9 watchers, due to end tomorrow!

I have some clothes to put on tomorrow and a loft full of toys butive been told to wait late oct early nov to put them on!

Good luck everyone!

[notcitrus]

Hello, I've been on previous Ebay threads but not for a while. I'm planning to list lots of stuff in September or at least before Christmas as have baby due next year and need both space and money!

Weasel what board games? Adult ones like Settlers of Catan, Carcassone etc do well, common kids ones don't. If you've got interesting ones for adults let me know! (board game geek)

Have a mobile phone that should make £60ish, and loads of BBC Micro computer bits. Annoyingly, there's a bit that should make hundreds... if we can find the chip that goes in it... it's in the house somewhere!

I need to order some mailing bags so can reduce p+p costs - and then get rid of excess jiffy bags...

[LaWeasel]

Nothing obscure! We also love board games (in fact I spent £30 on a used ebay Balderdash so I could have a particular edition once!)

I was tempted to get some of the rubbish ones (dr who etc) but looks like they don't sell much, so I'll probably just charity shop them.

The only nice one in the to go pile is a collectors Cluedo in a wooden box, but just discovered my toddler has drawn all over it!!

[bilblio]

Oh dear LaWeasel, can the Cluedo be cleaned up? I find microfibre cloths very handy.

Also any idea when it's best to list some winter coats? I've got several but maybe it's still a bit too early in the year.

I'm de-stressing about the photos by having a relaxing evening making cards... in the process of which I decided to go through my card making bits and see if there's anything I'll never use.
There's loads.
Ages ago FIL went to a charity auction and won a huge bag of stamps and decorative toppers. I've used some, but I'll never use it all. Most is still packaged and they've still got prices on.
Out of curiosity I totted the prices up. At retail value there's over £200 worth of stuff!
Tomorrow I'm going to sort them out and list them in packs. I'll not ask anywhere near retail price, but if I can put on what they should be worth I might get some decent bids. :)

[LaWeasel]

Hmm, that's a good idea. I have about twenty million beads somewhere. The somewhere may be the tricky part. Hope the stampers sell well.

The drawing turned out to be pencil so cleaned up fairly well and I'll give it a go with an honest description...

[sheepgomeep]

i really like this idea. Have sold nothing on ebay for a while but have put a couple of things on that have sold but still have a day to go. Ive raised so far ...... a fiver!! I do have loads more to go though

[ClaimedByMe]

Anything not nailed down today is going on ebay!!

So far i have found a littlest petshop toy and a monkey game still in boxes as they were duplicates........might be brave and head to the loft later......

[bilblio]

Oooh if I could get in the loft I know there's loads, and it desperately needs sorting, but I don't think I'd fit up there at the moment, and DH hates heights so there's no way I could persuade him.
I just want him to get his guitar pedals and coomputer power supplies listed... or at least help me with some descriptions while I list them.
The loft will have to wait till after this baby arrives.

Good luck today everyone.

[deemented]

I think i'll join in if that's ok?

I really need to declutter and hae bags of stuff i want to list, i just never get around to it.

Is it better to start everything at 99p still, or just go a bit higher?

[DecapitatedLegoman]

I've got shedloads (£350 a bit optimistic I reckon but you never know!) but it's finding the time to photograph everything. I have no room to lay things out, small DC getting in the way, I have petsso the dog-hair-removal-and-final-inspection takes a lifetime and I get so sick of bags and boxes of stuff lying around while they're in the photographed-and-listed-but-not-sold-yet limbo.

Anyway, enough excuses, I'm going to do a wee bit tonight :)

[DecapitatedLegoman]

Dee I go for 99p usually.

[MetalSian]

Last week I made nearly £250.
That was by selling things I had won xD.

Tickets to Bloodstock (Metal Festival), 4 Tickets to Alton Towers, and a Wireless Wifi Headset.

I'm good at winning things =D!

[bilblio]

It's free listings this weekend so if you want more than 99p for things you can list them today without getting the extra charges.

Personally I'll be listing a lot of things for more than 99p, because for the hassle of listing it I can't be bothered... if that's all I'm going to get I'll take it to the charity shop or stick it on Freegle.

[LaWeasel]

Is there a best day of the week to have your auction end?

Have just realised we are away next sunday, which would get in the way of posting things back etc, and don't want a rep as a bad seller!

So was thinking of doing 3 day listings for a few things tonight to end on wednesday?

[DecapitatedLegoman]

Weasel - if you're just away for one day it won't matter ... Or do you mean you're away for the week? If it ends on wednesday and they don't pay til late on saturday you will still have to post the following week or will look like you're slow, so be careful, unfair as it is.

[LaWeasel]

We're away saturday-wednesday... but yes, that's a good point if someone buys on wednesday but doesn't pay until friday night I won't be able to post it for ages.

Hmm. Might just have to skip the free listings weekend and wait until we get back.

[deemented]

Or put it on a ten day listing?

[Forgottensomething]

I'll join got loads of crap to shift :)

[notcitrus]

I only start at 99p for things I'm sure 3 or more people will bid on (two people means one invariably bids only 99p so you get £1.04), or sometimes if they're really easy to pack.

Otherwise I start at whatever I'd be happy to sell for, expecting only one bid. If it doesn't sell, saves me the packing effort and I can relist cheaper later (with no extra fees). Even selling at £1.99 with 10p listing fee means I get nearly twice as much than 99p listings, even better on free listing days.