New Ebay Challenge. Gold make £300, Silver £200 and Bronze £100 by the start of olympics.

[Tortoise]

Welcome to the new Ebay challenge.
Good luck all.

Thanks carrots, I think I'll do the same. It's very disappointing to sell things so cheaply and that approach certainly seems to be working well for you - you're flying it!

It varies massively for me nsjuly. This week was a great week but next week I will be surprised if I sell anything at all. My listings for the coming week are a weird and wonderful assortment of items starting at 99p.

I will clear the packing and postage of this lot and then think about relisting the bigger items or waiting for a free listing weekend again.

Is there any pattern regarding the free listing weekends or are they just randomly announced?

Hi folks,
Here is an example of one of my lists:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280867394314?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649
now I've remembered to do links properly!
Not sure what to set the price at - too low and it might 'cheapen' the item, too high and there will be no interest. Will re-do some of the photos.
The measurements idea is really good - especially for nonstandard items like the crochet skirt.

Well, since joining a couple of weeks ago I have reached bronze so I am quite happy with the results. I agree with Carrotsandcelery I prefer to have a higher starting price and less bids. I only tend to list things at 99p if they don't sell after a couple of listings or random things that I am not sure if worth listing. I seem to make more money that way.

Greeklove the prices seem alright but I would put the size on the title and ensure that the photos are upright. Sorry photos on the side would put me off bidding but that might just be me

YY - sideways photos make me really cross!!

I'm another one who hates selling at 99p.

We are not doing that great. Our stuff sold on sunday for £129, but once you take off fees.... huge suitcases collected within the hour, so thta was good. I under quoted on the postage for the thing I posted yesterday. I said £2.50 because others had. But it cost £3.05. I now its only 55p, but how to you KNOW what to charge?
I did list a dress yesterday, for b-i-n, £100, with offers. But the recessison has hit my e-bay selling hard . people want something for nothing, not like the good old days of selling in 2005, or 2007. Then, I'd get 69 bids and things would rocket in the last few minutes. Not now.
I must list more. I must list more. so unmotivated. I still have plenty of things of £50 - £100 to list. But our target of £800 seems a long way off.
I also do have lots of smaller items to list. But I am doing higher value first.
Like carrotsandcelery, I will not list at 99p anymore. I will list the osh-kosh clothes at £2.99 or £3.99, becasue you just don't get the number of bids that you used to.
Am loving reading the thread and picking up tips.

I want you all to critique my dress listing, but am too scared to put my e-bay name here.

Geeklove I think your postage prices seem quite high - and the strapless top postage is over £4 for what looks like a small item, and dresses which are bigger you are quoting less.

Oblomov - do you not have accurate kitchen scales? I weigh each item with its expected packaging before I list it, then I look up exact costs on the Royal Mail website. If it is close to the price band border I will quote the next price up. The tricky bit is sometimes working out whether you will be able to get the package slim enough to go as "Large letter" or whether it will be sent as "Packet". Some of the local Post Office staff delight in balancing my light jiffy bag vertically in their gauge and announcing that it will not pass through freely so cannot go as Large Letter. On the other hand I have had others squeezing the air out of my poly mailers so that they will fit through the gauge when I was expecting them to go as Packet. Aarrgh! I must admit that I have twice flounced out of the Post Office with my package when they have refused to accept it as Large Letter. Each time I have re-packaged, kept it flat in my bag on the way back to the PO and got it accepted OK.

The price difference between Large Letter and Packet for light items is going to be even greater after the price rises at the end of the month. At present, for small light clothes etc. I use a sheet of thin A4 card and wrap the item round that, keeping the thickness as even as possible (Some origami experience is useful! ) Then I put it in a flat plastic food bag from Tesco that is just a bit bigger than the card and tape the top down right across, excluding as much air as I can. I put that in my poly mailer, squeeze the air out and tape the open sides at the top. The card gives it enough body so it doesn't flop when they balance it on their gauge and the close-fitting poly bag keeps it flat and stops it bunching up.

Maybe this is a bit OTT, but I hate paying more for postage than I need to!

Purple, you are amazing! I think, from your post, that I must conclude that I am out-and-outright Lazy !! I just bung it on, if everyone else quotes a price, so do I|. My box yesterday, was just over the 500 g mark. Now I wish I had bubble-wrapped it, just that little bit LESS !!
But seriously, thanks for the tips. Will try harder.

Purple that is dedication.

I weigh items and check on the postage calculator on ebay. I am beginning to get a feel for what things will cost on the children's clothes front. I have made a few mistakes but usually the calculator gets it right.

If I find I have overcharged for postage then I usually refund the excess.

In 9 years of buying and selling, I have never had one person complain about excessive postage. I have never refunded.
Mind you, I, myself, have never once complained, even if I thought it was a bit much. Once I had someone charging me £4 and it only had postage of £2. But i just put it down to costs of bags, bubble wrap, getting to the post office, etc. It never occured to me to compalin.
I tell you, I am far too nice, for all the e-bay shit !!

I think the dress may need more photos - or even on a mannequin or someone wearing it - I don't think the photos do it justice to be honest. Maybe more close ups too?

Also your postage - for an item of that value it needs to be Special Delivery or courier with adequate insurance. Standard or Recorded post only insures you up to £46 and without a signature a buyer could claim to not receive and get their money refunded.

Goose, thank you. I will do those things immediately.

Also if you are having folk collect make sure you only take cash and not paypal.

It taks a lang spoon tae sup wi a Fifer!

I made some mistakes on postage early on in my eBay "career" which meant that I sold some lovely heavy woollen jumpers for peanuts. I have been extra-careful ever since. But it does take me a long time to package stuff......

I also write long detailed descriptions which take time, but then I don't tend to start things at 99p. Any small kids' things which are only worth a pound or two I save up and take to the next NCT sale in my town.

Dresses, max p&P = £4.75
But Special Delivery is £5.90
What do I do, please?
It won't let me increase my postage.

You have to absorb the cost of the postage into the item price - or use a courier who may be cheaper

Sending fully insured with a signature is for your protection not the buyers so you must use the correct postage service for the value

Thank you. Have adjusted.
Am losing the will to love with e-bay at the moment. It seesm to take dh, about 2 1/2 minutes to list something. Me, 2 1/2 DAYS. Literally !!
I research, find similar on e-bay, google 50 sights, photo x10, rotate them, re-size them, save it to another zip, because old computer non working, royal mail, re charges. That bl**dy dress has taken me about 6 hours of work to list. And it still looks crap. No one I know has a mannequin.
Do you all list something in 5 minutes? 6 hours of my time, is hardly cost effective !!

I need days to do listings, too, am getting faster. I think I looked at Turbolister once but rejected it... for some reason.
My only problem with your dress, Oblomov, is I'd like to see it on a manequin or a human body. Just to see how it hangs.

Sorry Geeklove, but sideways pictures are a problem, and your pictures are a bit dark, don't show the colours well. Quality of pictures is ever so important with clothes (am not an expert, either).

I've never had a buyer complain about postage, either, even when I charged £5 over RM cost (but then it was 99p purchase on an item that would cost £40 new). Only once do I wish I had complained about what I had been charged (in retrospect).

Also Oblomov - you state the dress is unbranded but then go on to say it is Dusk - could you change the unbranded to Dusk in the specifics?

I would also name the boutique you bought it from as people may search using that name

I agree though - mannequin or model is required otherwise a buyer cannot appreciate the shape or hang, and for £100 you need to show the dress a lot better than it is to be honest.

Thanks for the tips. I did what you said. Very compliant, me! Bundled ds2 into the car, drove to the high street. looked at all shops with mannequins. asked 2. one let me photograph it. nice lady. have now uploaded it. added name of street. listed it as dusk. I can do no more. Actually, I am not prepared to do anymore.
Have asked MN 3 times for my original post to be deleted, only because I don't think, anonimity wise, dh would like it, for me to declare our ebay username, and thus, exactly where we live.
But REALLY appreciate all your comments, re my dress. so, thanks.