# Need to get rid of stuff - eBay?



## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I haven't ever sold stuff on eBay, and I'm really leary of getting into it. There's not a Craigslist city anywhere close, so that's really not an option.

I need a mentor who has done eBay selling a while to help me through the learning curve.

Help!


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## uncle (Jan 26, 2009)

I'll start you out, I don't get here everyday but I can start you.
*First*, register with ebay, it's free.
*second*, you need to get a feedback rating, and this comes from buying and selling. anytime you have a transaction on Ebay, a number will be listed next to your screen name. This is your feedback or reputation.
I will buy from someone with little or no feedback, but it has to be something I really need. If given a choice, I like to buy from someone with a feedback over 10.
To get your feedback quickly, just buy some cheap little something, a dollar or three, from several different sellers. Pay quickly, and they will leave you a pos. feedback.
*Third*, you need to setup a PayPal account, it's also free. This will allow you to pay for and receive payment quickly. Ebay owns Paypal and it is a little boys club, but it's the best thing going. You need to link a bank account to paypal, and I set up a different account just for this.
Paypal will confirm your info by making 2 depisits into your listed account, when you receive the deposits, just log onto paypal and tell them how much they were and your confirmed.
*Forth*, Start listing you items with ebay. They have a sellers format that walks you through the listing process step by step.
Be as descriptive as you can. Think of any questions I might ask about what you are selling and answer this questions in your listing. Try to get your shipping charges as accurate as possible when you list. The USPS has free shipping supplies and flat rate boxes you can get.
REMEMBER, Ebay charges you to list and sell, Paypal charges you to receive money, and shipping miscalculations cut into your money so research these fees and plan accordingly. 
I hope this helps, I'll be checking back to see how your doing.
Brian


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

As I have purchased items on eBay, I have the first three items done!:clap:

Do you take the item to the post office to get an estimate on shipping before you list your items?

Do you always (or as often as possible) use the post office's flat rate shipping boxes?

Do you always have a "buy it now" price, or just let the bidding process determine the price?


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## nancy237 (May 29, 2008)

I am learning from this thread also...

I have gotten the account and paypal set up but I get stumped on how to 
estimate shipping.


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

Best way to go is to get a scale - weigh your item and if you have the box that you'll ship it in - even better. Weigh all that together and allow some extra for packing material, newspaper, what have you.... You can go to USPS.com and if you have the weight, the buyer's zip code, and your zip code - you can get a quote on the rate. You might even be able to build that into your item page on ebay! Try listing one item and just see how it goes... When I was doing it - I downloaded turbo lister, a service of ebay. It used to cost to use paypal - there might be a fee, so be prepared for that and add that into your item's opening bid... Ebay was very infromational too - you could almost walk through the process without listing something. Just go check it out and see what you need!


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I have a personal PayPal account. Do I need to upgrade it to a Premier account or a Business account?

I'm looking at the fees. It's more or less 9% of the selling price, correct?


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Do you take the item to the post office to get an estimate on shipping before you list your items?
> 
> Do you always (or as often as possible) use the post office's flat rate shipping boxes?
> 
> Do you always have a "buy it now" price, or just let the bidding process determine the price?


I often take the item to the PO to get it weighed. My baby scales are pretty good, so I use them the most. I just add 2 pounds to most items I sell to compensate for the box and packing.

Make sure you enter the box size into the USPS calculator you see on ebay!!!!!!!! Ask me how I know that one!!! Even the boxes that you don't think are oversized might be by an inch.

I offer both flat rate box shipping and "in my box" priority and parcel post. I always put "I am happy to flat rate this item if needed for $XX". This helps out the buyers in nearby Chicago, as well as the buyers on the west coast.

The above, IMO, help my sales the best. I also don't mark up shipping, and if I do, it is usually less than $1.

I have 4 philosophies on BIN. 
1.) Sometimes, I price it at the tip-top of the market. I am surprised how many times something sells priced at the top of the market. 
2.) Sometimes I just want a fast turn on my money, and will sell something cheaper than the others, just to get it sold.
3.) Sometimes I just need to get something sold, and I need it out of my way.
4.) I do like BIN/Best Offer. That gives folks the opportunity to negotiate with you on price.

BIN does lock you into a guaranteed price for your item, unlike an auction.

Most of the time, if I start an auction, I do so with a 99 cent start, and take my chances. It has worked out very well except one time, but I still made a decent profit on the item.

If you have really slow selling items, do a BIN for sure. This will include very specialized tools, equipment, rare books, etc. You don't want a $100 item selling for 99 cents in an auction because very few people bid on those items.

Does all this make sense?

Clove


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Yes, this is helping tremendously. There is a LOT to learn!

Thanks for the info.

Still hoping for answers on the PayPal question, etc.

:goodjob:


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## uncle (Jan 26, 2009)

I don't have the premiere paypal. My volume and size is fine for regular paypal.
you can always use what you have and investigate the Premiere as you track your expenses.
Get an account with USPS and they have a great shipping calculator on there. You can even print your shipping labels off the site.
Brian


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## SaratogaNZW (Feb 10, 2009)

Just in case your items get lost in the sea of Ebay stores, try Overstock.com Auctions, at http://auctions.overstock.com/.
Not an ad, just shameless self promotion from a fellow HT'r.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

I have a regular paypal account, even though I live off what I sell on ebay.


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

Do you have to pay income taxes on what is sold on Ebay?


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## MorrisonCorner (Jul 27, 2004)

Yes, and no...

You pay income taxes when you turn a profit. So if you bought something several years ago, and now find you no longer need it, that doesn't alter your basis (what you paid for) the item. If you paid $20 for the item you're selling on ebay, and you get $15 for it.. that's great, but it isn't a profit and it isn't taxable. Not for sales tax, not for income tax.

On the other hand, if you make a habit of cruising yard sales and picking up items for $1 that then sell on ebay, after expenses, for $4, you would owe income tax on the $3 profit. And, depending on your state, sales tax as well.

That said, there is an allowance made for hobbiests. The usual disclaimers: check with your tax person if you think you may owe tax.


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## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

I bought an up to 30 lbs scale off eBay. #LS-30. Works quite well. If over 30-lbs I use a bathroom scale. Something that heavy, and not going in a Priority Mail flat rate box, will go UPS, and they are not as pickly on exact weight as USPS.

When you do a listing you input the weight range and shipping options. eBay then includes the current price in their initial invoice. If you are doing the invoicing, there is an option on the form for calculating shipping. (Its a small click on button in the shipping area.)

A problem here is I ship out enough through UPS to where I have a 'commercial' account with them. They charge me less than what eBay calculates. Here I refund the excess shipping to the buyer - which makes me look pretty good.

Go to your local P.O. and ask for a Price List, Notice 123. If you know the weight, easy to look up shipping.

I have USPS and UPS accounts both through PayPal and individually with them. For example, I need to send out something through UPS which I didn't sell through eBay. We have a UPS drop-off point in town so I just leave the pre-paid packages there for the UPS driver. Occasionally I'll see him parked somewhere and will do the transfer there.

On USPS Priority Mail the postal carrier is required to come to your residence to pick up packages (if they complain about it, go talk to the local Post Master). If it won't fit in roadside mailbox I have a magnetic sticker I leave on the front of the box saying I have a package pick up. Typically I leave them just inside the garage with the door up. I ship out enough to where they loaned me one of their white baskets, which comes in right handy.

I charge $1 handling PER SHIPMENT. Say the buyer buys four items and pays for each of them individually through PayPal. They will not only pay way more for shipping then needed, but also $4 handling. Here I refund excess S&H charges when cut the label.

USPS will give you not only free, but delivered, Priority Mail packaging containers. Can be ordered off of their site (www.usps.com). I mostly use flat rate boxes, but have some of the other non-fr boxes on hand.

I'll guess 90% of what I send out is PM, 5% first class and 5% UPS.

I predominately sell through my eBay store. I do two bidding auctions a week as teasers to drive people to the store.

On eBay you can add a view counter to the listings. Can be beneficial. For example, if you are getting lots of views, but no sales, likely the item is over-priced. Few views either you don't have it listed well or it is something of little interest. I have one item which has over 10,000 views, but only some 200 sales. Rather tells me I can't raise price much even though I need to as my costs to make it have gone up.


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

COSunflower said:


> Do you have to pay income taxes on what is sold on Ebay?


And in Michigan, you need to pay 6% of your internet purchases (for out of state instate needs to charge for them) tax to the state on your income tax return.


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## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

Selling on ebay can be very interesting  

Across the top of the home page, is a SELL tab. You can click on that to get more information. This page is interesting there. 
http://pages.ebay.com/sell/top10tips.html 

There are a lot of forums there to read and learn from. 

If this is all new to you, start with items that you know more about, to make it easy to get started. Nothing worse than getting frustrated. 

I have 2 scales. One I bought at Staples for $ 25 and a baby scale, I bought at garage sale for $ 2. When I want to sell a item, I get it in a box, put on a scale so I know the shipping weight. When you use ebay's selling page, you just use the method of how you will mail, and then insert the shipping weight. For example I am selling a lot of box lots of books right now. So I use media mail through the USPS. I do most everything right at home. After the buyer pays, just pay and print a label, and take to the post office. All I have to do is set it on the counter, they stamp the other half of my label, and I am good to go. I do pay for a DC which is .19 online, and have them scan that. That way I can track the packages. 

And yes this is my ebay user id


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## paintlady (May 10, 2007)

Does anyone know what the current fees are for selling on Ebay. Also what is Paypal charging now to receive payments? I haven't sold for a long time. Shipping is also a factor as it is getting so expensive to ship- but I have a bunch of new jeans to get rid of.


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## ladytoysdream (Dec 13, 2008)

This is the sitemap page for ebay. You should be able to get a lot of your questions answered here. 
http://pages.ebay.com/sitemap.html 
Selling fees are 8 and 3/4 per cent .0875 .........I just round that off to 9 % 
I sell mostly lower dollar items so not sure where the percent goes lower for higher ending $$$ auctions. 
Paypal charges the seller 35 cents per transaction and then 3 % of the total money. So if a item sells for $ 10 and then has $ 5 shipping....paypal will get the 35 cents plus 3 % of $ 15, which is 45 cents. So 80 cents for paypal. 

Currently ebay has a promotion where the first 5 auctions you list are free ...(no listing fee ) . Supposed to get that once every month now. You do have to pay the final selling fees on a free auction listed though. And if it does not sell, when you go to relist it, it's like a normal auction that gets relisted.


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

i use to do auctions found out i wasnt making much went to a buy it now or best offer price i valued it and others on there like it and put the price high and waited for offers best offer to me took it and if i needed it shipped i would make sure the offer would be able to cover the shipping get a postal scale and you can get an idea on the weight of it before you package it up


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## Woodpecker (Mar 8, 2007)

This sounds like rocket science!


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

When you sell something, make sure you use delivery confirmation, or signature confirmation if required (when the value is over $250?). If you print your shipping labels through paypal, you get great discounts on the confirmation services. The reason why you should never ship without that, is there are some buyers that will take advantage of the fact that you do not have online proof that it was shipped, and will get their money back (and odds are, keep the item as they likely have it). As someone else mentioned in another thread, insurance is for the seller. I'm not saying that you should insure everything you sell/ship, just the ones that are over whatever value threshold you are comfortable with.....should it get lost or damaged, you would need to make the buyer whole (refund or replace). Insurance covers that for you. Me, somewhere in the $50 or so range, I tend to insure.....or if it is a very fragile item.


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## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

eBay will shortly stop offering the insurance optional option. Their logic: It is always been the responsibility of the seller to have the package delivered intact. They have the option to include insurance in their handling charge. For those abusing the system (see next paragraph) it won't change things.

I suspect what was happening is they were receiving complaints from buyer they paid for insurance but the seller didn't include it - making it extra profit to them.

Haven't decided what to do with USPS. Insurance for the first $100 is included in the base UPS rate.


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## jmtinmi (Feb 25, 2009)

Paypal has a .30 + 2.9% of total (which includes shipping)

I find a box first, then weight and measure to determine USPS rates online. I round up on weight to account for packing material. This is the biggest help in getting packages in the mail right after payment. Customers really like getting their packages right away.

I also state a .75 Supply fee for books, and $1.25-$1.50 for other items. As long as I'm upfront about it, bidders understand. A bidder asked once what it was for, and I told her tape, printer ink, and computer paper. I usually ship right from home, saving me a trip to the post office. 

All of my listing have the following--

Questions Answered Promptly
Smoke Free/Pet Friendly Home
Shipping Charges, plus $1.?? for Supplies
Thanks for Looking!


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