Some eBay questions - I've not sold there before

I know many of you ukers move your ukes over to eBay if they don't move here on the Forum Marketplace after a while. I hope you can give me some advice.

I'm trying to sell my son's basic high school clarinet at a big discount, in a case and with reeds, songbooks and music stand—a great low-cost option for parents who aren't convinced of a kid's interest.
It hasn't moved on Craigslist for $325 or $275. At the beginning of the school year I sent photos of the whole package to all the music teachers and band directors in local schools. No bites.

So now I'm thinking of eBay, but I have no history there as a seller. How do you make yourself seem credible on your first auction? I have reviews of myself as a buyer (all good, except one from a deceptive seller who didn't like my review of him).

In your experience...
Is it good to have a short auction?
Where do you start your price point?
Is it good to have a Buy It Now option?

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can give me.

For what it's worth, I've been a buyer and seller on eBay for many years. This is the selling philosophy I've settled on:
1. Check Completed Sales on your item to get an idea of its value. If none, find some other source of information;
2. Decide for yourself the lowest amount you would be will to take for the item;
3. Set your minimum bid at that amount;
4. Set a Buy Now price 10 to 15 present over your minimum bid amount;
5. Do not set a reserve price;
6. Make sure you know what your continental U.S. shipping is going to be, and have the buyer pay it;
7. Use UPS or FedEx so you have reliable tracking;
8. Insist on Paypal.

That's how I do it, and I've sold everything from automobiles to kazoos on eBay with no problems. Of course, with high value items like automobiles, you will want to use a different payment method. But always, always have the money, which means that the buyer's check has cleared his bank, before you hand over the high value item.

Great stuff here Geo...but how much are the fees?
And why no reserve?

Thx

I haven't sold anything on eBay in years. I think it used to be about 10% of the sale in fees to eBay and an additional 5% to PayPal.

Have you tried taking it to a local music store and see if they can sell it on consignment for you? You may even be able to trade it in for store credit towards a shiny new Ukulele?

Hi, VegasGeorge. Did you have an answer to my question about how to make me credible as a seller on my first ebay sale?

And Lloyd, nearby are a guitar store and a strings store, where violins and violas are rented and sold. Good idea, though.

Yes, fees are 10% to eBay and about 5% to Paypal so you need to account for that in your pricing. Those fees (the eBay one anyway) apply on shipping as well so often it looks better to set a higher price with free shipping.

On the credibility issue, I'm afraid there is no easy answer there. I would put a paragraph in your item description that addresses that, for example "hey this is my first sale but I'm a good eBay buyer and you can trust me - really" - some folks may be put off with the zero feedback but if the product is good, price is fair, description is accurate, etc., that's the best you can do.

I think a 5 day auction with Buy It Now is a good place to start. Most items now don't have a listing fee so if it doesn't sell, you can relist, change the price, whatever and try again.

Jim Hanks said:

Yes, fees are 10% to eBay and about 5% to Paypal so you need to account for that in your pricing. Those fees (the eBay one anyway) apply on shipping as well so often it looks better to set a higher price with free shipping.

On the credibility issue, I'm afraid there is no easy answer there. I would put a paragraph in your item description that addresses that, for example "hey this is my first sale but I'm a good eBay buyer and you can trust me - really" - some folks may be put off with the zero feedback but if the product is good, price is fair, description is accurate, etc., that's the best you can do.

I think a 5 day auction with Buy It Now is a good place to start. Most items now don't have a listing fee so if it doesn't sell, you can relist, change the price, whatever and try again.

Click to expand...

I agree with everything Mr. Hanks wrote. I have had luck with Fixed Price 30-day listings (not auctions), which can be revised for price, description, photos (you get 12 for free, so use all 12), shipping, etc. at any time for free. It even renews itself every thirty days for free. You can change the listing ten times a day, if you want. One huge advantage over an auction is that you get to check a box that says "pay with Paypal immediately", or some such thing, when you list the item; so unlike a auction, where one might win and never pay, with that feature, the item will not even be unlisted until they pay.

The item TITLE should use every single word a person might search under for that instrument. Not fancy, just effective, since all searches are generated by titles only on eBay (not content, descriptions, etc.)

Here's one of my current listings just as an example, Ginny. Since it has Martin strings, I put it on there so that Martin uke searches will have this come on their searches. Note: if one manipulates the title (e.g kamaka martin pono koolau alll on one title just to get eyeballs), eBay unlists the item the moment someone reports it, and they will. lol
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201195074410?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Note that it is listed as all sales final, as is. That used to mean something--now, with Paypal gurantee, basically the ball still remains on the Buyer's court. At any time when they get the item for any reason, they can (at their expense) send the ietm back to you for a full, automatic Paypal refund. Whether one should use that terminology now, and I have it there, is questionable--it may turn off buyers, but on the other hand, it may make them think twice about returns. Tough to know. I use the words sometimes, and not other times.

I think it will be a challenge to sell a $300 instrument with no feedback, but I could be wrong. I don;t even look at listings with less than about ten feedbacks. One way around this--sell about ten things that are cheap (people are willing to risk smaller amounts on a zero feedback seller), or buy a few things on eBay first, just to build up your feedback. Maybe buy five things, sell five things (the candlesticks in the hutch, the Snoopy figurine on the mantle, etc.) to get feedback. It'll pay off in spades with future uke sales--Jim's right, the 15% overall fees are high, but I have found that the additional eyeballs on eBay over UU can generally get the difference in a boosted sale price over selling at UU Marketplace, Craigslist, and such.

G'luck, Ginny.

Is there a Clarinet Underground forum?

Try here, http://www.woodwindforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?191-Clarinets