Tell me some things about ebay

[True]

Iv bought plenty of things on ebay so in that regard I'm fine lol.

However, I have never sold anything? And I kinda dont plan on selling things "regularly." However, I was planning on auctioning off a custom with 100% money made being donated to a non-profit.
I want to advertise it on multiple social media to get as much attention for it as possible, so I guess Ebay is really the only place I could actually set up a legit auction where everyone would have access to bid.

So I guess, What are the fees like? Is this even worth it? what should I look out for?

I was once told that, unless you have a ebay shop that sells regularly, that setting up an auction as a one time thing, can be kinda a ripoff?

[Khayman81]

I have tried it several times and I could never sell anything on ebay. Buying is ok. But selling. I tried many different things and even ponies with free shipoing and nothing. I know people who sell a lot there but for me it was just impossible... so I gave up and I put my ponies on sale here. We'll see if someone wants them ^^

[LadyMoondancer]

Definitely look up their rules for fund-raising / charity auctions.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-nonprofit.html

IIRC, they will pull your auction unless you have it set up so that the payment goes directly to the charity.

For example, let's say your charity was the World Wildlife Fund . . . You would have to set up the auction so that the winner's payment went directly to WWF.    It could not be a case of "send it to my PayPal, then I'll send it to WWF."

[True]

Definitely look up their rules for fund-raising / charity auctions.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-nonprofit.html

IIRC, they will pull your auction unless you have it set up so that the payment goes directly to the charity.

For example, let's say your charity was the World Wildlife Fund . . . You would have to set up the auction so that the winner's payment went directly to WWF.    It could not be a case of "send it to my PayPal, then I'll send it to WWF."

Huh, I guess I understand why they do that, I mean otherwise ANYONE could say they're doing a charity auction to get hype and make a bunch of cash. The group I'm planning on supporting is a small rescue animal shelter, so I wonder if they have a paypal set up already? I mean they're not new, so probably? I guess Ill have to ask next time I'm around.

Thanks so much for the information, I had no idea that this existed, and honestly it makes life a lot easier to do it this way. xD

[gullideth]

I occasionally sell on ebay.  I feel like the fees are high and it's tricky to list things so that the right audience can find them. I feel like they wait forever to bill you and sometimes take a while to pay a newer seller too.  Overall I only use ebay for newer or valuable items and prefer etsy overall.  Maybe you could do a silent auction or raffle instead.

[nhal039]

Fee wise om ebay is about 10%, shipping also gets fees. Then you have paypal fees on top of this. Ebay can also hold your funds for 21 days even after you post the item and the item has been recieved.
Its really not that fun to sell as a seller on ebay

[Loona]

Fee wise om ebay is about 10%, shipping also gets fees. Then you have paypal fees on top of this. Ebay can also hold your funds for 21 days even after you post the item and the item has been recieved.
Its really not that fun to sell as a seller on ebay

nhal039 summed up what I wanted to say perfectly.
I have only ever sold on eBay 3 times, and luckily I did manage to sell all 3 things, but I believe it's because they were rare-ish items, and then-recently sold auctions convinced me there will be interest in them. without this I don't think I would have even tried selling the items there, "regular" items don't seem to sell well there, the buying options are just too vast.
if you calculate with 10%, you should be fine, but do not forget that this also refers to shipping fees (which is weird IMHO). and yes, if you are a new seller, and if you fail to provide a tracking number that is fine by them (I do not know which one qualifies. I sold internationally, and my country's local post's tracking number did not qualify), or send without tracking, they will hold your funds for 21 days before they become available. if you are selling because you are in urgent need of money, this can be nasty...
good luck selling if you decide to give it a try! ^^