Tips for selling on ebay

[plushroo]

I have accumulated a good deal of g1 ponies that I consider custom bait (marker, missing horns, no symbols, etc.) It's about 70 ponies. I was going to put a group shot up and offer them for a few bucks a piece, but I've tried that in the past and end up stuck with the same common ponies. I'm thinking about listing them on ebay as a lot with a $100 starting bid and see where it goes from there. I currently only want to deal with US shipping since it would be a huge box to ship, but know I could get more if I offered international. Thought about splitting into two lots, but if the same person wins both auctions it would be the same issue. Problem with offering international is it's so complicating to get tracking on international shipping without charging the buyer a huge fee to ensure it gets to them. I worry about another chargeback for non receipt of items. Any tips on how best to sale them? I also have a price limit on selling on ebay. Any idea how to get that lifted? I don't like to sell much on there due to the fees, but I kind of need to get rid of a bunch of ponies and could use the money for other stuff I want. I like to offer free shipping to attract more buyers and just include it in the start price so I don't lose too much if only one person bids. I don't sell much so I don't want to shell out tons of money for a shipping scale, but it's hard to get a quote for shipping if you don't know where that winner is going to be from. How do others get around this?

[dragonfly]

Nowadays, I limit most of my sales to USA only. However, things like ponies have such a large international market that you can really lose out on buyers and higher auction prices by excluding them. I tend to use flat rate international priority envelope and make a note in the auction for international buyers to contact me prior to bidding for a custom shipping quote. I've found that they really know their shipping prices and can tell you how to package up the ponies for a good price and will be patient with slower shipping. I know a lot of sellers simply won't ship to Italy, period, since packages disappear so frequently there.

Either way, you can pack them up and take the box to the post office, they will weigh it for you and tell you how much it will cost with different shipping methods.

I think pricing the starting bid at the minimum you'll be willing to accept is a good way to go and have been seeing more and more sellers doing this lately vs. the old advice to start an action at $0.01 or $0.99.

Why not try and list them separately and sell them here? You will get a higher price per pony by selling individually vs in a lot. I'm not sure about eBay price limit.

Moving to TS for you

[LadyMoondancer]

Thought about splitting into two lots, but if the same person wins both auctions it would be the same issue.

What if you sold one lot one week, and the next two weeks later? 

Problem with offering international is it's so complicating to get tracking on international shipping without charging the buyer a huge fee to ensure it gets to them.

I usually ship by International First Class and cross my fingers that I have honest buyers.  But if you want tracking, my suggestion is to offer Priority International shipping.  Yes, it is crazy expensive.  But hey, maybe there will be a couple buyers willing to pay that much shipping.

I don't sell much so I don't want to shell out tons of money for a shipping scale, but it's hard to get a quote for shipping if you don't know where that winner is going to be from. How do others get around this?

You could put the ponies in the box, including the padding and so on, and take them to be weighed at the post office.  Or a UPS Store or Fed Ex station could weigh them.

Other than that, I'm not sure.  I guess you could use a home scale, if it was accurate enough.  Stand on the scale while holding the box of ponies.  Then stand on the scale without the ponies.  Find the difference of the two numbers, and that will be the weight.

[plushroo]

Good advice I will consider! Thanks. Wasn't sure whether I should have posted this in trader support or the corral so thanks for correcting it for me .

[bluerose9978]

I recently sold a custom bait lot on eBay. There were 10 ponies and I started the lot for $10 + shipping. It was actually pretty popular and I sold it for more than double the starting price.

Have you thought of maybe even dividing your baits into 7 lots of 10? They may even sell better that way. And if you decide to make selling ponies and other items something you want to do more often, it may not hurt to buy a kitchen/postal scale. I use mine almost daily!

[svleonard]

I would never start an auction at 99 cents unless it's a hot item that you know people are going to fight over.  Start the auction at the minimum price that you are OK with, keeping in mind that ebay and paypal will each take their cut as well. 

When you're dealing in specialized collector's items, then you have a smaller number of people interested in the item.  So, when you start the auction very low, you run the high risk of selling it for next to nothing. 

[LadyMoondancer]

I agree, you cannot count on an auction generating enough watchers / bids for it to go above the minimum bid.  A lot of the times I just list straightout BINs (Buy It Now) these days instead of auctions.