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feemcg

First Time Ebay Selling

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I have bought quite a lot of stuff from ebay (mostly hatching eggs :roll: ) but have never sold anything, but tonight we have put our beloved caravan up for sale (item no. 150150057793 if anyone wants a nosey!). We have had fantastic holidays in the 'van but OH wants to get a new car and doesn't want to tow any more (and I'm not putting a tow bar on mine!) so we've bought a static van instead.

I feel quite excited that we have an ad on ebay, but not very confident of selling it as there are hundreds of caravans for sale (we've put it in Adtrader and Gumtree too).

Anyone else managed to sell a 'larger' item on ebay?

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thats a lovely caravan, i hope you get a good price for it.

you have some great photos, i think that is the key to a good sale.

 

i have sold loads of things on e-bay, mainly buggies and baby things. i have found it to be the only place to get a good price for things as you have such a wide audience. i buy alot of things on e-bay because it is quick and you can find almost everything on there.

i bought an eglu and rablu as well from e-bay.

 

the best time to buy is when eastenders is on or at meal times, i have had loads of bargains over the last few weeks when phil almost got married, as people forgot to bid.

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because there are alot of people sitting around bored, the shops are shut after 4 so they look online for a bargain. Although in the summer alot of people will be in the garden having a BBQ so i am not sure if its any different. i always used to do a sunday auction, now i do 'buy it now or best offer' because i get a better price.

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Yes,it was me :lol:

I have been Ebaying for years & have over 1400 pos feedback score, so I know a bit about selling (& a fair bit about buying too :wink::lol: )

 

In my opinion auticons that end on a Sunday,from midday onwards attract more bidders, as people have the weekends fee to look at the site. Even better is to start on a Thursday for 10 days.

 

I tend not to use Buy It Now, but have added a BIN link onto my auctions (basically, make me an offer & I will see if I can refuse it).I just add the BIN if I agree to whatever they are offering.

 

These days WHATEVER I am needing to buy in my life, I look on Ebay first!

 

We have sold lots of big things - 4 tractors, an old Austin sports car, my beloved old Beetle.............& we have our old double bed listed right now.

 

 

One thing I did notice on your listing is this (Hope you don't mind...........)

You have a high starting bid, but also a reserve.

You will pay more for the listing as the starting bid is so high.If you reduce it to 99p, not only will you get a LOT of bids, but your fees will be MUCH lower, & you can't sell it for pennies as you still have a reserve :wink:

If it doesn't reach the reserve then you can contact the highest bidder anyhow.

 

Its often good to start low to attract bidders. I always start my auctions at 99p as that is the lowest fee bracket.

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My sentiments exactly Cinnamon!

 

I start auctions on a Thursday for a ten day listing. This does mean more bidders get in on the auction bumping up the price

 

I would reduce the start price to 99p too. The lower it is more people feel like a punt and pop a bid on - and as soon as you have the first bid more seem to follow...no-one likes to be first!!

 

I would also try putting your van on www.caravanfinder.co.uk - I look there all the time for vans and it's well publicised in the caravan mags.

 

Now if you had the 2005 Sterling Eccles Diamond I would be bidding. We want an end bathroom L-shaped kitchen layout on our new van and possibly L-shaped lounge too, like on the Swift Challenger 460 2005 model

 

:oops:

 

A

xx

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Oooo I buy & sell on ebay all the time! Got stuff on at the mo infact - money will buy me some nice Euros for Normandy! :wink:

 

I've had some great stuff off there, loads of craft stuff - I watch the shopping channels, then go immediately on ebay! I never buy anything without consulting ebay first. Usually much cheaper. You have to be able to suss out scams tho.

 

I desperately want a kenwood chef at the mo after seeing one on Ideal World, but that one was over £300! :shock:

 

I've had loads of chickenalia off ebay too - including chicken jibbitz for my crocs! 8)

 

Emma.x

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I always start allmy auctions at 99p and I don't use reserves either. Things tend to find their own level and I want to keep my fees down. I usually try and end my auctions on a sunday night - when people are bored, home and there is nothing on the telly.

 

Having said all that some things will sell just as well in a 24 hour auction finishing on any evening, things like mobile phones and they really aren't worth putting on a longer auction as they don't get the bids till the last day.

 

Of course there are still numpties out there. I just auctioned a mobile phone which I knew would go for around the £80 mark. I had someone bid 99p and ask me to end the auction early as "I really need this phone". For 99p????

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Oh yes, Numpties are rife on Ebay :lol::lol::lol:

Had one just this week asking if I could send the item he had won (to Saudi Arabia,no less) then he would forward payment when it had arrived :roll:

 

In fact I hve had a real rash of non paying bidders over the last month of so.

Its enough to drive you spare :roll::?

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Thanks everyone for your replies, good to know so many of you have had success selling.

As it turns out we've put it on on a Thursday for 10 days, but thats just coincidence.

Sarah and Andrew, I really appreciate you're advice - It makes sense what you say about the lower bidding. I was completely bamboozled when I read the page about fees etc.

Thanks again :D

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I take it that the caravan is for collection only, but you listed paypal

 

Never ever use paypal for collection items, as the person can just say you didnt send it, since there is no tracking number etc, and get the money back, and keep the caravan, its happened before

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I have accepted Paypal for collection only before & will again (despite their astronomical fees).

When the item is collected I get the buyer to sign off saying that they have accepted & taken the item.

I reckon that should be fine, as it is clearly stated as collection only so a tracking number shouldn't be relevant.

 

If however they pay by cheque make sure they do not collect until the cheque has cleared!

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I would go for cash on collection, bankers draft or bank transfer on a high value item. Highest value item I sold was my Granny's timeshare and they transferred the money to my bank account for that. I sold a car (through auto trader not Ebay) for 9k and I met the lady and we went to her building society together and they transferred the money to my account whilst I stood there (I know it's not instant but it gives you peace of mind seeing the transfer done). After that we went and did the paperwork for the car.

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Sarah and Andrew, I really appreciate you're advice - It makes sense what you say about the lower bidding. I was completely bamboozled when I read the page about fees etc.

Thanks again :D

 

Fee, so long as there are no bids you can edit the listing to reduce the starting price.

Ebay will reduce the amount it has charged you too :wink:

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Hubby made a killing on Ebay a few years ago. He bought some JVC kits for use on a computer with your digital camera for £1 from a discount store, & got between £40-£50 quid for each one :D:D:D

He is always on the look out for stuff to sell, he once bought a cassette single of that song that was on the Vodafone advert with David Beckham (can't remember- can you dig it?) for peanuts before it was used on the advert & sold it for £5. :D:D:D

I'm sure your caraven will sell :wink:

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We have had some good ones too.

The Hubby once found 3 gorgeous Tiffany style lamp shades at the tip & nabbed them.They went to America for about £40 each,plus postage & they were very heavy :shock:

 

Then once I bought up a big stock of a UK music magazine had a free CD by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers & was entirely about the group, & they went for about £10 each to the US & all over the world.

 

I started with TY beanie babies - got really into collecting the really rare bears then decided to sell them off. Most went overseas & I made heaps on them (they paid for a holiday :P )

 

Now I mainly sell just clothes the girls have outgrown, bits & pieces that Brian decides he no longer needs & the odd vile christmas pressie that the in-laws have given me 8):lol:

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