How do you sell on ebay?

[Zerrlander]

I signed up for an ebay account years ago thinking that I would sell a bunch of things from around the house ... and I never did ... I'm a pack rat haha.

Now ... I actually have an online product to sell! I still have the account, but I'm not sure how to get the ball rolling. Has anyone successfully sold items on ebay and if so, how do you go about it? How much does it cost, etc.?

[jomaxx]

There are a number of books on the subject, and it would be worth investing in one of those if you're going into this as a business. Seems like there's a lot to know.

[Zerrlander]

Is there any book in particular that you would recommend ... preferrably a short one. Is there an "ebay for dummies"?

[LifeinAsia]

Yup- do a Google search for "ebay for dummies"

[Essex_boy]

English speaking world - 11am GMT and 7PM GMt are teh busiest times.

I find I get around 10 - 15% more if the sale starts and ends at that time

[Zerrlander]

Oh, that's good to know. I didn't even think of times and stuff. How long do you let a sale run for ... and how do you decide what your min bid will be?

[eljefe3]

Search around the net for a bit and look for "ebay forums" and there's tons of info out there. Our member base here is more for professional webmasters as opposed to ebay sellers, so that's why there's not as much info here as there would be on ebay's site itself.

[Zerrlander]

Oh, thanks for the tip! I'll look for some eBay Forums, I have a few more Q's :)

[Essex_boy]

I start my auctions at around £1, Ive several mates who have accounts and they ahem are always interested in what I have to sell.

[gamiziuk]

Now if you are just looking to create eBay links to put on your web site, go to "eBay editor kit".

[thegreatpretender]

I start my auctions at around £1, Ive several mates who have accounts and they ahem are always interested in what I have to sell.

I think that's a good strategy. When I'm looking for something on ebay I always browse thru listings that have already bids on them.

[spaceylacie]

Ebay has a tutorial on their site that takes you step-by-step through the process of posting an item for sale. It doesn't discuss strategies though. A few years ago a thrift store opened near me with all clothing $.50, I picked through their selection every couple of days looking for name brands and started all bidding at $.99. They tended to gets lots of bids, some pieces selling for $20, $30 and up. The store ended up closing down though, they asked me what I was doing with all the clothes and I told them, maybe should not have...

Even though it was easy money, there was more work involved than I originally expected. Photographing, taking measurements, packaging, shipping, dealing with emails from buyers... an entire room of my home, in addition to a good portion of the rest of the house, was overtaken by Ebay merchandise and packaging supplies. I don't think I'll ever get back into direct sales.

[phantombookman]

I start my auctions at around £1

Essex, I am sure you already do this but there are huge numbers who do not

Start at 99p it's 25% cheaper!

People who just clip the bands must be worth millions a year to ebay. It's 0.75p more to list at £30 than £29.99 for example.

This is all down to sellers to be aware of, but what is a disgrace is:
List something at £9.99, it fails to sell, relist it:
Ebay auto prompts you to go for half price start. Not £4.99 but £5 which is 25% more expensive