Anyone fancy an eBay challenge to kick off the New Year?

[Bottl]

My eBay/fb sales have been nice and steady over the last 12 months - particularly larger, more obscure items but I've come to a bit of a halt with the smaller bits and pieces so I'm going to spend a couple of hours this afternoon listing.

Anyone fancy joining me? My income has dropped quite significantly since September so I could do with boosting the funds to give me a little buffer. I also need to drastically reduce the amount of stuff in my little house and as the charity shops are closed, this could be a good compromise while I wait for them to reopen (whenever that might be).

Welcome @fridaynightdinnerandbaileys!
Yes, my house is definitely too small/has too much stuff and has a permanent eBay pile in at least one room

Hi @heathergem! I started selling when my ds was a tiddler (18 now) and I have definitely changed my listing habits. I only list for a fixed price after checking the sold price of similar items. Sometimes I'll put a cheeky price on but then drop it a bit if not selling.
I also set a min sale price of £10 so that after fees etc it's worth the effort. Anything I think is worth less than £10, I donate to the charity shop/local giveaway fb group.
The other advantage of fixed price listings is it doesn't matter what time they go live/are due to finish so you don't need to give timings any thought - which means I'm far more likely to create a listing if I have a spare 2 mins.

I sold one of my random 'for parts' items at 4am - I was half expecting an email requesting cancellation but nothing so far so will pack it up and walk over to the courier later which will double as my daily exercise/10,000 steps...just hoping the snow and ice have melted by then

Oh poo, my latest buyer just messaged to say they didn't realise it was for parts and can they have a refund

I've had three sales today, predictably all spaced out so I've braved the snowy roads to drop them off three times.

Re how things have changed on EBay, I'd agree that there are fewer auctions and more fixed price listings than 10 years ago. That's ok for me - like the other poster, I set it at a price that I'm happy to sell at as I'd also rather donate it to a charity shop than make £1 or whatever.

I still do some auctions (e.g. a bundle of kids' clothes or tech) but I set the minimum price at a level I'd be willing to accept. That said, there's research that suggests you get a higher overall price if you start auctions at 99p than a higher price.

I also second setting your filter to show sold/completed items and new/used to give you an idea of actual sale prices. Sometimes if something isn't selling, I put the price up a little bit and add the "best offer" option to be knocked down on price. Or take out the free postage, reduce the price and charge for the postage. Strangely both seem to work quite well.

@heathergem welcome to the thread.

I'm finding Buy it Now listings are very successful currently although, perversely, I'm preferring to bid on auctions when buying as I like the excitement of not knowing whether I'll buy it or not! I really have nothing else to look forward to ☺️

Hi! Sorry, I meant to continue posting but it dropped off my watched list.

So I've successfully sold 50 items and made £800 in January. I found some bits from years ago (for example, I bought a hair serum really cheap in a sale about 6 years ago (like £3) planning to use it - I didn't and it's been sitting in a box but I just sold it for £16! Crazy stuff.

But my turnover has been incredible. Now I have some other heavier bits to clear and not sure how best to do that. Ebay seems difficult because shipping is hard. Any other ideas (or couriers you could use if you do - thinking new, boxed cot beds, etc)?

[quote mum2jakie]@heathergem welcome to the thread.

I'm finding Buy it Now listings are very successful currently although, perversely, I'm preferring to bid on auctions when buying as I like the excitement of not knowing whether I'll buy it or not! I really have nothing else to look forward to ☺️[/quote]
I'm finding that too, though I am massively impatient! I've managed to sell quite a few bits but I get panicky if nothing is happening in the first day.

I do like the watching of bids. I imagine (on a slow scale) it's like watching the stock market

Sales are still strong. I like having the 'accept offer' function in addition to the Buy It Now price.

Wow - 50 sales - that's good going, @TrialOfStyle

@TrialOfStyle - that's fantastic! I think Hermes accept parcels up to 15kg. Many moons ago, you used to be able to book parcelforce slots through a third party - I used to use that a lot for posting buggies (self-confessed pramaholic) but not sure if that's still an option.

I wanted some Trinny makeup and a Dyson airwrap but didn’t want to pay for them so I sold stuff on eBay £549 last month and got what I wanted ! I’m keeping going but am running out of what to sell 🥴

Another max £1 selling fee promo this weekend!!

I sold another item this week but haven't listed anything new for ages. Really need to go and sort some stuff out

Same here. Sound a single item and need to list some items this weekend. Good luck everyone!

Hi TrialOfStyle
I used to sell skincare, bath and body products, BUT, potential buyers were always asking me for the sell by/use by date. Do you find that too?

Put them in the listing. People don't want to buy out of date products.

@bebarkered

Hi TrialOfStyle I used to sell skincare, bath and body products, BUT, potential buyers were always asking me for the sell by/use by date. Do you find that too?

I did have that with a mascara a couple of years ago. Since then, I just take a picture if it has a use by date otherwise I don’t mention it and nobody seems to ask!

Generally speaking people don’t want out of date stuff, but there’s a particular brand that only deals with ‘fresh’ products and changes their items quite frequently so there’s a big market there for out of date things. I guess it just depends.

I’m just popping back as I’m still busy! I did sell one heavy item via Parcelforce as I don’t have a printer, and managed to get another sold for collection so that’s gone well. So far I’m around the £1400 mark but I’d definitely running out of things to sell now .

Unfortunately it’s mostly gone towards a debt but it’s been a huge help clearing it.

How’s everyone else getting on?

Morning!
Anyone around to help me with a query?
I've got an interested buyer on Marketplace and they're sending a friend to collect. What's the best way to sort out payment? I'd prefer cash but if that's not possible? Would PayPal friends/family be the safest for me?
Item is also listed on eBay. I'm wondering if it'd be better to ask them to buy that way, pay through paypal and then get the qr code upon collection.

Most people say cash only on marketplace so you could insist. PayPal friends and family should be ok, or even a bank transfer?

@TrialOfStyle - wow, great running total!!

I've lost track a bit of my total and listings/sales are a bit slow at the moment. However, have unexpectedly had interest in two items this morning on marketplace so have spent the last couple of hours messaging back and forth trying to seal the deal One of the listings is for 2 sofas so quite a big task to get them sold and collection arranged - I'm just waiting for the final thumbs up. They want to have them collected in a couple of hours so I'm on tenterhooks waiting for their reply as I'll need to move all my furniture around to get them to the front door.

I've had another £1 fvf promo this weekend so might try and get a couple of things on.

@Bettina500 - thanks, yes, I usually ask for cash but this is for nearly £200 so I thought an alternative might be better.

Damn it, they've just pulled out