Saturday, December 11, 2010

The hilariousness of selling on ebay

Advice for this new game.

 Be careful of listing too low. I sold some MightyWorld toys  for 99 cents and then had to pay ten dollars to ship!

Don't get depressed if your item doesn't sell. Apparently I am such an emo I feel rejected if no one bids on my item.

Does it seem to you ebay has become the place for unwanted miniatures to rotate around and around, over and over, week after week? It must be the result of with free listings? I have seen some of the same items float by for a year!

My younger daughter will hold up an item and say "What about this?" and I will say "OH NO! That belongs in the... house". She wearied of it after everything she held up I claimed to need.

When my elder daughter, mother of my little assistant, set up her own house all my extra stuff migrated there.
Now that my second daughter is planning setting up HER own household, we have already been through the attic. I remember wheedling antiques from my own mother, and now the daughters are asking for the very same ones!
Ha! The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess!

BUT! we made $24.00! so everytime we go to a restaurant we say, "Oh bartender... I'll have another, I'm making money now on ebay..."

10 comments:

Amy's Miniatures And Smalls said...

Oh so funny. You are rich probably beyond your wildest dreams with that $24.00. Congrats! eBay is hard work. I love when you have a listing that says RED, RED, RED and then someone emails you and asks what color it is. And so it goes. Thanks for the tips!

Pubdoll said...

So sad to hear you had to pay money instead of getting money for some of your stuff. Auctions are always a risk, but perhaps it's better with a higher starting price. So far I've been giving all my leftovers to my daughter and they're starting to pile up in her room, so I wonder if you think the money earned on selling stuff on ebay is worth the trouble?

Rebecca said...

I hope you didn't pay the shipping yourself? If a buyer wants to pay $1 for the item, and $10 shipping, no problem - in fact, I quite often do myself! But making a loss of $9 would not be fun :-(

Kikka N said...

This happened to me when I was selling my "stuff" at fleamarket... They took 27euros/week rent for the corner. I did sell things for 25 euros. They even took some % for selling... so I was totally in -euros when I got out at the end of the week. The owner of the fleemarket said to me; Your prizes were too low, dear..

Shale said...

I am having the same problem selling on eBay. Shipping always costs more than I anticipate. So far I am down about $25.00 mailing items I underestimated the shipping on.

Live and learn, I say. It is always nice to find a good home for the things you can't use. So I will keep trying.

Susan

My Realitty said...

Hi Kikka, Yes shipping is the big problem. For all the people who make miniatures and sell them on etsy maybe it is easier because they ship the same size over and over. C

My Realitty said...

Amy, I am so jealous of people who live in the heartland like you do and come across the fabulous antiques you do! C

My Realitty said...

Pubbdoll, because it is free it is fun to list on ebay. Learn from my mistakes and just put, "Postage to be determined" and then you will be safe. : )C

My Realitty said...

Rebecca. It was my fault. Perhaps we should say "Seller beware"... : )C

Sans! said...

Such a funny post :), Carol. I have always just been a buyer . It's good to know the seller's woes as well :)