Are there any Ebay experts here? Need advice selling big ticket items.

[Arkitech]

I've been a seller on Ebay for a couple of years now but mostly for lower priced items (30 bucks or less). I'm in the process of getting rid of a few items which I'm hoping will get a high amount of bids and money of course (900.00+), things like high end DJ equipment, vintage stereo equipment, rare video games and a large amount of comic books.


I'm just wondering what's the best way to get the big dollars. I'm thinking of starting my items off at .99 with a hidden reserve. But then I'm wondering if I should just do a buy it now listing at the max amount I think I could get for an item. About 2 weeks ago I did a buy it now for a new, unopened PS2 copy of FFVII (greatest hit release). It sold for 100.00 bucks, roughly about 6 hours after I listed it. Now I'm wondering if I should have made it an auction.



Any suggestions from you experienced Ebay gurus?

 

[Soundmanred]

PS2 copy of FFVII

??

 

[Doppel]

I'm mildly interested in this, too. I'd never, ever want to send something high-end to low bidders. Ebay has a terribly useless system to not allow bad-rated people from bidding, but I wish it were possible to limit to, say, people with a 95% rating or higher and minimum of 20 sales history; it should be an option for the seller.

Is it acceptable in ebay auctions to, in the listing, say you'll only accept from certain people (like I mention) and anybody not meeting that criteria will automatically have their purchase cancelled?

I am thinking specifically of the awful lot of ps4s I saw being bought by people with a 0 rating. I have to imagine a lot were scams.

 

[Ksyder]

Any suggestions from you experienced Ebay gurus?

Yeah, just do a buy it now. That is the only way you will be sure to get what you want. People don't bid on auctions as much nowadays. You can always add the best offer option. With items that its hard to ascertain the value of, not sure what the best strategy is.

What kind of high end dj equipment are you selling? PM me if you want.

 

[Ksyder]

Is it acceptable in ebay auctions to, in the listing, say you'll only accept from certain people (like I mention) and anybody not meeting that criteria will automatically have their purchase cancelled?

Theres some criteria when you list an auction where you can block bidders with 0 feedbacks as well as a couple other things. But I think the system will block them automatically. There is no 'canceling' someones purchase after the auction is over because that would undermine how the whole system works.

 

[Arkitech]

??

lol, PSX

 

[Arkitech]

I'm mildly interested in this, too. I'd never, ever want to send something high-end to low bidders. Ebay has a terribly useless system to not allow bad-rated people from bidding, but I wish it were possible to limit to, say, people with a 95% rating or higher and minimum of 20 sales history; it should be an option for the seller.

Is it acceptable in ebay auctions to, in the listing, say you'll only accept from certain people (like I mention) and anybody not meeting that criteria will automatically have their purchase cancelled?

I am thinking specifically of the awful lot of ps4s I saw being bought by people with a 0 rating. I have to imagine a lot were scams.

There is an option when setting up your listings to exclude people with no ratings or negative ratings. I think there's a few other features as well to weed out the dead beats.

 

[Soundmanred]

lol, PSX

I read it as XII on PS2 first and was wondering how you suckered somebody into that!

 

[Arkitech]

Yeah, just do a buy it now. That is the only way you will be sure to get what you want. People don't bid on auctions as much nowadays. You can always add the best offer option. With items that its hard to ascertain the value of, not sure what the best strategy is.

What kind of high end dj equipment are you selling? PM me if you want.

I have a pair of Technics 1200's (M3D's), the ones manufactured in 1997. I also have a pair of Denon CD decks, a Vestax mixer and a Korg Kaos pad.

Prices are all over the place on the 1200's, I've seen some go for as little as 150 a piece to more than 1000 a piece.

 

[Arkitech]

I would love to get into restoring/repairing vintage stereo equipment. Once I clear out some space in my home, I'm hoping to setup a little repair area.

I used to work with a guy who was into collecting, repairing and selling Sony Walkmans. It was obscene what some people would pay for some of those units.

 

[alkemyst]

Buy It Now. I never had a problem with eBay or PayPal though. I don't use it much any more.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I have a pair of Technics 1200's (M3D's), the ones manufactured in 1997. I also have a pair of Denon CD decks, a Vestax mixer and a Korg Kaos pad.

Prices are all over the place on the 1200's, I've seen some go for as little as 150 a piece to more than 1000 a piece.

It primarily has to do with condition and what extras are included. Are yours mint or do that have cosmetic issues? What needles are included? Do you have the original boxes? The headshell (lid)? Have they ever been professionally serviced? Do you have road cases for transporting them?

Include as much information on these as possible and, most importantly, have a lot of good quality pictures.

As others have said, if you are looking for a specific price, do a BIN. You can also set it up to allow for Best Offer. If you do that be sure set a minimum best offer price to keep the lowballers away. With Best Offer you can also somewhat vet the buyer first so if they have low feedback or bad feedback you can always decline their offer.

 

[smackababy]

What I normally do is start the auction off fairly low and set a Buy It Now for like 20% more than I expect it to sell for. I also always say "bidders with less than 10 feedback will have their bids canceled."

 

[Mide]

Having a reserve is stupid these days...I usually ignore anyone who has 'em. Best way is to do a .97 starting and a set buy it now. Of course hopefully your item is one that is well searched and has a market price as well as competitors or else there won't be enough peeps willing to bid your item up. When you sell remember to get a signature confirmation with shipping. Additionally be ready for non-paying winners. there are tons of them now on Ebay

 

[OCGuy]

Not bulk, nor big ticket.

 

[Subyman]

Always buy it now. People don't want to wait 7 days. You will get all your action on an auction in the last 12 hours. Most of my buy it nows are purchased within a day.

 

[John Connor]

I'm an eBay guru and buy and sell all the time. With high ticket items you will want to avoid charge backs. You can set your listings up so that people with negative score, etc can't buy.

http://www.ebay.com/gds/how-to-avoid-chargebacks-on-paypal-/10000000005695639/g.html

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/manage_bidders_ov.html

With a buy it now I think the buy it now price has to be like 23% higher than the bidding price.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Yeah, just do a buy it now. That is the only way you will be sure to get what you want. People don't bid on auctions as much nowadays. You can always add the best offer option. With items that its hard to ascertain the value of, not sure what the best strategy is.

+1 Sold a lot of pricey items (NIB i7 980, 3820K, couple of 4770Ks, etc.) recently, all using Buy It Now.

I set a price I'm happy with, John / Jane Doe buys it, I pack + ship it, the end. (most of the time - you have some knuckleheads from overseas who will buy my items when I clearly state US50 only, or claim a NIB processor is defective, etc.)

Beats the sh*t out of Craigslist - no getting stood up, dealing with clingy / flakey / sometimes downright crazy buyers. etc. Sometimes even beats FS/FT here as you never have to communicate with the buyer if things go well. They click, you ship.

Only thing I don't like is Meg Whitman turning eBay CSRs into a bunch of pussies who only pander to buyers and take their side in every f*cking thing.
They keep forgetting it's not only the buyers who make eBay what it is.

 

[Aikouka]

When you want to get a feel for what something should go for, just look at current auctions to see what competition you have and then look at sold auctions. It only takes maybe a minute or two worth of research to get good information, but you don't need to be aware of any changes in the market. For example, I need to keep in mind that the NVIDIA cards have had a price drop recently, so auction rates from October or September are probably not a good meter on which to base my product's value.

Oh, and if your products are worth good money, consider paying for insurance yourself. I've never had a buyer pay for insurance, but you can be sure as hell that they'd raise a fuss if their product was destroyed in shipping... and eBay would probably side with them. :\

...and, most importantly, have a lot of good quality pictures.

This is what I think a lot of people forget. I see way too many auctions with the stock photo or just really awful photos. Although, having to deal with the photos is one of the things that makes me cringe when it comes to putting stuff on eBay.

 

[Ksyder]

I have a pair of Technics 1200's (M3D's), the ones manufactured in 1997. I also have a pair of Denon CD decks, a Vestax mixer and a Korg Kaos pad.

Prices are all over the place on the 1200's, I've seen some go for as little as 150 a piece to more than 1000 a piece.

Dang. Nice. I used to dj at raves in my 20's so I had some 1200's and a vestax mixer as well. One of the turntables is still around but another one broke and a friend was going to fix it but we lost touch with him, they were heavily used at shows.

My buddy had a mixer with a kaoss pad, those things are cool. My friend sold his technics mkii's and he was shocked, he got like 350 a piece for them, after using them for 10 years.

I can see why you are concerned with the value of that stuff, i was told they don't make 1200's anymore (? surprised) so they are still valuable from what I can tell.

 

[Ksyder]

This is what I think a lot of people forget. I see way too many auctions with the stock photo or just really awful photos. Although, having to deal with the photos is one of the things that makes me cringe when it comes to putting stuff on eBay.

very true... bad pictures can ruin chances of selling something. People need to learn to use the macro setting on their camera. Also ebay now hosts pictures for free so theres no reason not to put many many detailed pictures on there.

 

[Ksyder]

I set a price I'm happy with, John / Jane Doe buys it, I pack + ship it, the end. (most of the time - you have some knuckleheads from overseas who will buy my items when I clearly state US50 only, or claim a NIB processor is defective, etc.)

Beats the sh*t out of Craigslist - no getting stood up, dealing with clingy / flakey / sometimes downright crazy buyers. etc. Sometimes even beats FS/FT here as you never have to communicate with the buyer if things go well. They click, you ship.

Only thing I don't like is Meg Whitman turning eBay CSRs into a bunch of pussies who only pander to buyers and take their side in every f*cking thing.
They keep forgetting it's not only the buyers who make eBay what it is.

I totally agree with the convenience aspect of ebay, no back and forth emails on usually, its a very easy experience. Obviously craigslist is good for larger items, etc.

I know how ebay sides with the buyer usually and that is a disappointment. My dad sells heavily on ebay and he was telling me recently that there are some recent changes that are good for the seller, like it won't let the buyer leave a negative without first contacting the seller.

 

[mikeford]

Auctions are NEVER a sure thing, for big ticket items I would just use Ebay as advertising, not some extract the last dime of value strategy.

 

[DesiPower]

I wouldn't do it, too risky, I would sell it on Craigslist

 

[poofyhairguy]

When you take the picture for the product, put your username printed on paper in the picture of the product.

It proves the picture is your item, and it gives the buyer confidence.

I always sell for higher than the average for a product when I do this.