Selling on Ebay

[hoo]

Hi, just wondered if anyone else who is thinking or going through the process of emigrating, is selling any of their unwanted items (currently stuck in the loft) on Ebay.

I've got loads to get rid of. It's going to take me probably 3-4 months to do it! I'm hoping to raise a few funds to help out with the visa process!

[mandisfam]

Hi there, well I sell bits all the time on ebay, mainly outgrown stuff from the kids and other unwanted items.

Have you not done it before???

Good Luck
Mandisfam

[steveNem]

We are considering this but dont really know where to start. I have lots of bits and pieces we could easily sell and make some extra cash off. I just need to know a bit more about the selling process first. I have a few handbags that I have never used at the top of my wardrobe which should bring in some much needed £.

[hoo]

I have sold items before on ebay, but not on this scale before. Am trying to get rid of loads of clutter, that I don't want to take with me!!

I still got a load of baby stuff in the loft, bearing in mind my kids are now 9 and 5!!

[mandisfam]

I do find with selling on ebay it does take up a lot of time.....to the point I now only sell things and I think are worth all the effort involved.....

The most I have ever had on at once was about 30 items, and when they all ended the amount of time it took to pack it all up, address it and then go to the post office with it all, it took up a lot my time in the evenings.....although I did make nearly £150.

The trouble with baby stuff in my opinion is that there is so much on there, and you need to have a top make to make any decent money.

Good Luck with the clearing out and selling.
Mandisfam

[fiona1975]

I agree with the point about it taking loads of time. For me the hassle of taking good photos of items and compiling the ad is the biggest pain! I've recently sold £80 worth of toys,shoes and clothes. I find people want something for nothing though! I've sold brand new shoes and dresses for a few quid! Better than giving them away though if you can make some cash for the Australia fund!
Top Tip! My dad bought me a 'holiday fund' money box today, its like a tin can that you cant get into till its full (have to open with tin opener) Good for people like me who are always dipping into piggy bank for parking change or paying window cleaner etc! Hold £500 in pound coins. Am going to put it by the front door and charge £1 enrtry! LOL

[hoo]

Originally Posted by fiona1975

I agree with the point about it taking loads of time. For me the hassle of taking good photos of items and compiling the ad is the biggest pain! I've recently sold £80 worth of toys,shoes and clothes. I find people want something for nothing though! I've sold brand new shoes and dresses for a few quid! Better than giving them away though if you can make some cash for the Australia fund!
Top Tip! My dad bought me a 'holiday fund' money box today, its like a tin can that you cant get into till its full (have to open with tin opener) Good for people like me who are always dipping into piggy bank for parking change or paying window cleaner etc! Hold £500 in pound coins. Am going to put it by the front door and charge £1 enrtry! LOL

I've only got 11 items on there so far, last night I put on three and that was most of my evening taken up with getting a decent photo and then spending ages, filling out the on-line selling form to get it on.

I too have put new items on, which I know will sell for a fraction of what it cost me, but as you say, every little penny helps.

Haven't started with the loft and baby products yet, but don't mind how much I get, as long as I don't have to hire a skip and get rid of it!!

[CharmedP3]

I have sold plenty of stuff on ebay in the past....but I've also listed plenty that hasn't sold...and you still have the ebay fees to pay even if it doesn't sell...so consider carefully if you think it COULD sell....

Be very organised....work out what size box/jiffy you will need and how much it will cost...work out too the postage costs to mainland UK....get all your pics organised and then take a few hours to start listing....

Good idea to look out for 10p listing days (often Thursdays it seems) to save you money.

Decide whether you there is a minimum you are prepared to sell something (bear in mind 99p bids usually attract more viewings) but if you have a designer handbag for example that you really don't want to sell for less than £25 for example to make sure you set a reserve price.

And (don't take offence) have a good look at what you want to sell and ask yourself would you be happy to receive THAT item in it's current condition... just because you like it or because it holds sentimental value to you...sadly doesn't mean it will mean to same to someone looking for a bargain!!

I am compiling two piles of unwanted items...things that I have some value on Ebay and others that whilst someone will want are likely to fetch little and I am therefore also doing a carboot sale .... the people who go to those really REALLY want to pay peanuts but hey if I can get a few peanuts for my unwanted items better than binning it I reckon lol

GOOD LUCK

I had a shop on ebay for a few years selling fairtrade bags and clothes and also sold alot of my old sttuff earlier this year.

The biggest tip would be make sure you photgraph it well, if its clothes and you have lots to sell invest in a manequin (you can get them of ebay for about £8, and its well worth it as you can get a better idea of what clothes look like rather than them being lay flat on a bed, also try and photo everything against a white or very pale background, so the only thing that is in the photo is the item.

Think aswell about how you describe things, never put 'as new' in the title or 'like new' as t will be removed by ebay, and if you have bids on it they will be lost. Think of what the new big trends are and try and gear your listings around that Goth is big for this year (Only took me 20 years to come into fashion!) so anything black, velvet, purple or black, can be described as Goth, when I search for clothes I just put in Goth, so if you had for example a black skirt, I owuldnt get to view it. Check out the prices of other things similar to your and see how they have been described.

Ebay has lost a lot of favour recently with the new feedback changes, I havent sold on there for a few months due to sellers only being allowed to leave negative feedback, in the space of a two weeks I had 4 items not paid for, when previously I had sold for 5 years solidly and had only ever had 2 notpaid for.

Dont over price on your packaging either as you will get bad feedback, I used a set of kitchen scales and did my postage through paypal, which is so much easier than going to the postoffice, you just have to put the weight in and if you want it recorded or ordinary mail and it prints out a postage label with the address and everything on, then you can pop it in the postbox if its small enough or drop it at the sorting office (graham, bless him was posting around 30-40 items a day for me)

One other important thing, you now HAVE to accept paypal as a payment, which means you may be open to chargebacks, so if you have anything of value make sure you sended recorded or special delivery.

Hope I havent taught you how to suck eggs here, but having so much experience with it (I had three accounts 2, were powersellers and have over 5000 combined feedback) thought I would share it wth anyone who wasnt too sure.

But nowadays Id rather do a carboot sale, its quicker cheaper and you cna set the price to what you think it will sell for without having to pay extra (putting reserves on costs more than starting a certial price)

Good luck, oh and they have a great community chatroom on there too, just dont use your selling ID to go on as they slate your listings!

[Jaynie]

Why not have a garage sale instead, get all your booty together, make up some signs and give it a go! They are really popular over here you might start a new trend and if you are selling your house you might also get some people wanting to view at the same time!