Need advice! Best way to sell large lot?

[LuvTruly]

I hope it's okay for me to ask this here!   I feel bad becuase I mostly only post here now when I have something to sell.  :/  But I need some advice.  I have a huge lot of ponies to sell, I was all decided to sell them on ebay since I figured a large lot (100 ponies) would get the best exposure and price there.  But after looking into it a bit, I am now scared to do it!  I really need the money (I am trying to save up enough to fill my oil tank before winter)  and I see that paypal charge backs are more common than I'd like and I've read paypal always sides with the buyer.  Is this true?  Is there any way to protect yourself from that?  I read conflicting things, that if you have proof of shipping it's enough, but also that it doesn't always matter.  Any thoughts or advice?  It would be much appreciated. 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I hope that some regular sellers come and give you advice!    I think some of the sticky threads in Trader Support may help you.  Here's one on shipping in particular:
http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,283453.0.html

[FantasticFirefly]

I'm not the best person to respond, I stopped selling on ebay while the fees were very reasonable and it was buyers who often got the short end of the stick from the shady sellers who were pulling scams at the time.

On ebay there's always the chance of a mad bidding war. I had people bid up super common ponies I listed (like 84' Sundance) to $25-$30 or more! These were cleaned/groomed ponies and a lot of my customers for the super common items were not collectors, just people wanting a clean, nice vintage toy they had as a kid for the nostalgia. Nobody on the pony collecting forums would, or will ever pay those prices. That's where ebay had the advantage for me.

Since I started all my auctions low I had misses as well from things that should have been a shoe-in to end high. mail order dabble ended for $40, chuck-e-cheese baby for $5, another for $1. After I discovered the forums I worked out what I was paying in the fees and average sale prices I was getting, also the time I spent on sales. Between ebay/forums I noticed the forums were my better option -less hassle, more money overall.

I still do a lot of buying on ebay. Usually, the lots I normally see end for a few dollars per pony, even with a few htf ponies thrown in. They will often end lower with USA only shipping, which more sellers are doing to protect themselves from fraudulent charge-backs. (You need signature on delivery for paypal seller protection, which can be either expensive to get internationally, or unavailable with USPS).

If you are realistic in that each pony will not go for full value inside a lot, you should be fine selling here or on ebay.  (I bought a fairly priced lot from you, so I don't think this is an issue ) Perhaps try here first, to save on fees.

[Sanadaookami]

In my experience large lots don't bring the best prices- Most of the time they work out to around $2 per pony with shipping... If its all commons or G3's you might be ok with a lot- or if you just need to move them faster. But over all selling individual will get you the most money.

Ebay can be tricky but as long as you list everything carefully (note any flaws no matter how small) get some kind of tracking (print online shipping is handy for this) and get a receipt when you take the package to the post- most of the time you will be ok.

Or you can just toss up a photo hear and let the community make offers

[FantasticFirefly]

Oh, yes. Singles get far more money. But I have sold G1 lots when I wanted either space or money quickly. Or I simply didn't have time to sell as singles (sometimes time is money). As long as you are comfortable with the fact the buyer will most likely keep some of the lot and piece out and sell the rest it's not a bad way to sell if you don't have time on your side.

To get better lot prices I'd divide ponies into smaller groups, still giving me the advantage of liquidating excess quickly, but for more per piece. So softs together, babies together, uni and peg set together etc. Either by set, year, breed, babies, adults. Or if you just have random ponies, by condition.

[hathorcat]

I think you have to factor a lot of elements in - G3s remain a little unpopular outside the rarer releases at the moment - so as many don't sell as sell when listed on ebay.

The easiest and most successful way of selling them on does seem to be either listing with the minimum starting price and having lots of patience or listing them in lots as you would prefer. If you decide on the later, I would suggest smaller lots as very large lots can be off putting to buyers due to shipping prices. You could try selling by set or even just in groups of 6 to 8 at a time.

If they are all relatively common G3s and you are selling in lots $1-2 per pony is about the best you will probably achieve.

For specific questions about how best to protect yourself in selling on ebay, I would suggest a thread over in the TS forum.

Dont ever worry about posting...no matter the subject - everyone here is always happy to give their thoughts and opinions!

Good luck whichever way you decide to go, I hope you raise enough

[LuvTruly]

Thank you all for your input on this!  I don't have time to sell them individually unfortunatly.  The majority of them are g3's.  Mostly ones that were common at the time at least.  When g3's were in their heyday I went through a phase were I bought one of each that I could find, and now I have just tons of them and even with a daughter who likes them I just can's store hundreds of ponies in my tiny house anymore.  Even after I sell these ponies I have bins and bins of MIB G3's plus she's likely to want the FiM ponies that I don't have anyway.  I realize that $1-$2 per pony is likely all I'll get but I'm pretty okay with that.  In fact I'd be quite thrilled to get $2 each for them!  I don't have time photograph each pony or descibe them and honestly I don't even remember their names anymore, so that's why I was hoping to just put them all on ebay in a big lot, lol.  They won't all fit in one box so I think I'll have to break them up into at least 2 lots.  Or I could just put them on craigslist, lol!  I would rather they go to a pony person though.  I am just nervous about selling on ebay since I've been reading about all the problems people run itno with bad buyers and ebay always siding with buyers.  Oh well.  I'll come up with something! Thank you all again!


Post Merge: October 23, 2012, 01:34:28 PM

OMG I have been so sick this week I forgot I decided to sell them indivdually and ordered a postage scale so I would be able to calculate shipping.  Ha!  So I will probably start posting them here next week some time and then put the leftovers on ebay or something!