Fed Ex Ebay?

Has anyone ever tried this?
http://www.fedex.com/us/office/ebay-drop-off.html

I tend to lose more money than I should when I sell something, (and then there is the hassle of it all), so I was thinking about looking into this. I've never heard of anyone using it, though.

The magic words are: "Get paid up to 80% of the selling price."

I try to avoid eBay as much as possible as eBay and PayPal both take their percentage out of every sale, and if you offer free shipping or shipping at cost, you still end up losing out on the overall sale.

I don't know how Mim can stay in business with eBay's fee structure!

Ebay Valet takes a good chunk for commission, I believe 20 - 30%

Choirguy said:

The magic words are: "Get paid up to 80% of the selling price."

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That part is OK, since I might otherwise get nothing for an item. I don't know how so many of you manage to buy and sell a lot, since I don't seem to be able to figure out how to safely sell. The only times I've sold musical instruments, it didn't go well.

Joyful Uke said:

That part is OK, since I might otherwise get nothing for an item. I don't know how so many of you manage to buy and sell a lot, since I don't seem to be able to figure out how to safely sell. The only times I've sold musical instruments, it didn't go well.

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I am new to the process, but I have had very good success so far. In my limited experience, I find that the safest route is to buy and sell on UU. I have also used Flea Market with success. As a seller you get paid first. If you insure the package when you send it, then you are protected in that way. If you are a buyer, and have any uncertainty about seller, use Paypal and it offers protections to the buyer if package does not arrive as described by seller. I seems like a lot of folks on here have had good success buying and selling.

Joyful Uke said:

I tend to lose more money than I should when I sell something, (and then there is the hassle of it all), so I was thinking about looking into this. I've never heard of anyone using it, though.

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Haha...you think you're losing money now, just knock off another 20% using this service! at least...

I have never made any money buying and selling ukuleles, but have had good luck buying and selling here on UU and on craigslist, locally.

UkerDanno said:

Haha...you think you're losing money now, just knock off another 20% using this service! at least...

I have never made any money buying and selling ukuleles, but have had good luck buying and selling here on UU and on craigslist, locally.

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I literally got nothing from one "sale", (i.e. the instrument has changed hands and I'm out any money), so 20% off of that wouldn't make any difference.

I guess I'm a wimp, and not brave enough for something like craigslist. Too many stories of people having harm come to them.

I'm mulling over the idea of the trade-in or consign option at Elderly Music, since no one seems to have any experience with the FedEx Ebay option.
http://www.elderly.com/buy_trade.html/

Has anyone done the Elderly option?

UU is likely your best bet, where do you live & what are you thinking of selling?

Joyful Uke said:

I literally got nothing from one "sale", (i.e. the instrument has changed hands and I'm out any money), so 20% off of that wouldn't make any difference.

I guess I'm a wimp, and not brave enough for something like craigslist. Too many stories of people having harm come to them.

I'm mulling over the idea of the trade-in or consign option at Elderly Music, since no one seems to have any experience with the FedEx Ebay option.
http://www.elderly.com/buy_trade.html/

Has anyone done the Elderly option?

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I have dealt with Elderly many times and have mixed feelings about them. Their inventory and prices are great. Customer service is hit and miss depending on whom you deal with. The shipping department once sent me an electric guitar I bought via mail order by just sticking the guitar/case in a big guitar box. No padding at all. Just a guitar case bouncing around in the box. I was stunned. Also, I once returned a used acoustic guitar I bought via mail order because the set-up was terrible and they accused me of messing up the set-up?! Why would I do that? Finally, their consignment service is fine, but be prepared to pay them up front for any work (including set-up) that they feel the instrument needs. Otherwise, they will only sell your item labeled "As-Is", which is like putting a big red flag on your items that will scare away some buyers. Its semi-extortion....

Back in the day, when ebay first started, there were businesses who would list items for people and sell them on ebay for a cut. Back then ebay was this big scary thing for a lot of people. They only knew that their friends were selling all their junk on ebay and making money, but they were afraid to do it themselves for some reason. All the stories about people getting ripped off I guess. And Pay Pal was all new and scary too. But then they all disappeared. Like internet cafes. Just like this deal with FedEx, they had a little store front, and you brought in whatever it was that you wanted to sell, and they took care of everything. So FedEx is just taking an old trick and turning it into a new one. I think it is interesting.

I was just looking at eBay, and they will take 10%-20% of your sale price, depending on the amount of the final sale, format and style of the ad, and so on. Paypal adds another 2.9% (plus $.30). It doesn't take long before 25% of your sale is gone.

And that is based on the idea that you actually get what you want for an ad, versus making the starting bid $1 and getting a fraction of what you hoped for (even if you had a realistic idea of what something was worth).

One of the great things I see here on the UU forum is that sellers often have used market value in mind, and are occasionally willing to drop prices if something doesn't sell (also: would probably take a lower offer if it fell into their idea of a fair offer). Craigslist can work the same way.

With several ukuleles, I have contacted the seller, saying, "I will offer $X," and most of the time, that is accepted, and there is no pressure when getting the item because the price was already negotiated. Once a person declined an offer of $30 on a $50 ukulele--and that was okay, too.

Craigslist is fine if you meet in a public place, and if you feel the need, have backup. I understand the dangers--one of my former choir students was the victim of a terrible crime related to Craigslist (she was brutally murdered by a young man pretending to be a set of parents looking for a nanny).

As for the whole FedEx thing, if you are curious, try it--but my guess is that you won't walk away with any more money in your pocket than you did trying eBay yourself. As I added earlier, I won't sell on eBay anymore.

Rollie--the whole idea of an eBay store front is a central plot element in the movie "40 Year Old Virgin."

Choirguy said:

I was just looking at eBay, and they will take 10%-20% of your sale price, depending on the amount of the final sale, format and style of the ad, and so on. Paypal adds another 2.9% (plus $.30). It doesn't take long before 25% of your sale is gone.

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In Germany, and probably all of Europe, eBay takes 10% of the (successful) sales price or €199, whichever is less. 50 auction listings per month are free. For businesses, there are flat fees (ranging from about €40 to €200 per month) that can reduce the percentage-based fee to 7.5% and 5%.

In the US, it also seems to be 10%, with no cap as far as I can see (source). There are some special (and promotional) features that add costs. It's interesting that there are slight differences between the regions.

Not trying to argue, but some categories of sale increase the percentage above 10% above $75.

It does seem like that the fee structure of eBay US is a little convoluted, with various exceptions.

I have only sold one item on eBay, and it was an analog synthesizer that sold for over a grand. I wasn't particularly happy that I had to hand over 10% of that, but then again, I welcomed the relative convenience of selling it that way. It was a too specialized item to sell locally, and I wanted the extra protection (vs. advertising it elsewhere). I was a bit paranoid about the whole thing, especially since I had quickly received various PMs from users who wanted to buy it directly from me, bypassing the eBay fees, and it seemed so fishy to me. After reading some horror stories about incidents where someone sold an item and the buyer then falsely claimed it arrived in a dysfunctional sale and returned a broken device of the same type (and keeping the working unit), I took various precautions, like taking photos of the serial number and close ups of connections and buttons that I hadn't posted, all with UU-style name/date notes. It all went well, but doing this regularly with valuable items would stress me out.

As a buyer I really like eBay. It's relatively safe, there's a large amount of auctions, and everything is tracked and documented. It's unlikely I would buy a uke on eBay, though, especially something more expensive. I'd get those used here on UU (bought two ukes from UU members) or just from a reputable store.

Choirguy said:

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Rollie--the whole idea of an eBay store front is a central plot element in the movie "40 Year Old Virgin."

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I've not seen that movie, but now I guess that I will have to.

Mivo said:

As a buyer I really like eBay. It's relatively safe, there's a large amount of auctions, and everything is tracked and documented. It's unlikely I would buy a uke on eBay, though, especially something more expensive. I'd get those used here on UU (bought two ukes from UU members) or just from a reputable store.

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I buy stuff on ebay, but not like I used to. I used to also sell stuff on ebay, but these days it seems like when I go on ebay to sell something, there are already hundreds and hundreds of the same thing selling at cut throat prices. The last couple of times that I listed something I hardly got any views at all. I also find that when I'm buying stuff as well, there is so much listed, but at least with buying you can filter it out a bit when you are buying. But anyway, ebay isn't what it used to be. I haven't gotten a real deal there for years. But I'm sort of anti Amazon, so ebay is the first place I go to find something.

Sounds like there is no perfect option, so it might be a bit of chosing your poison.

My plan is to hold steady for the winter and then decide what I will part with, and how to do that. Or, maybe I'll convince myself that I don't need to part with anything. The plan is to sell one, though.