posted on January 8, 2001 04:39:17 AM new
yes...stay away from newbie bells and whistles like gallery (link to auctiva), feature, qualify buyer, etc. I don't use buy it now.
Hustle around the supermarkets for small boxes and ship parcel post - let your buyer know that...
And, as others stated...know your market, stay away from the retail (things that everyone has or can get)...
build a web page with link to your auction...
It's a business - so, plan and organize as such....
great question....thank you
posted on January 8, 2001 02:01:04 PM new
Since 1998, I have been selling "part-time" on ebay up through November of 2000.
I have made money, yes, but I never count on it to pay the bills -- in 2000 I used it to buy some antique furniture I have been wanting and to take 2 nice vacations.
And the term "part-time" is a fallacy -- for almost 3 years I came home from work to list, pack, and email until midnight or later. On the weekends I was out buying stuff and taking pictures. I spent more hours on ebay than I did my regular job. I gained a bazillion pounds by parking my butt in front of the computer. I had no life -- I never read, watched TV, gardened, exercised, went to a movie. I realize others have been able to have a better balance in their lives, but I found that ebay completely consumed my time.
I still have quite a bit of inventory but rather than take ALL that time to list and sell it on ebay I am selling it at a local auction this month -- frankly, the local auctions have been bringing higher prices than ebay lately, and even paying 20% I think I will make a better profit. And when I consider the value of my time there is no question that selling locally makes more sense.
Things like insurance, medical benefits, retirement etc. are very important and ebay could never pay for those. I would never ever try to do this full-time, because I just don't think the money is there.
I think most of us have had those exciting moments of making lots of money from a small expense -- one of the last things I sold before I quit in December was a Sevres plate for over $400 that I paid $20 for. It was exciting and I was thrilled -- but for each one of those, there are many others where the profit is very low and I figure I end up making minimum wage or less, considering all the work that goes into each auction (I don't sell multiples of anything).
posted on January 8, 2001 02:17:02 PM new
the priest--
i have included the auctiva link inmy auctions. I am not sure if it realy did more to increase my sales or not. You mentioned to stay away from it.
WHy? For me it really didn't matter if it was there or not just wanting to know if it did me more harm than good & why? Any input is appreciated.
posted on January 8, 2001 02:35:45 PM new
THIS IS EXTREMELY STRANGE
I usually sold 15 items for every auction I listed at least was 15 items a promedium was from 15 to 30 for every auction, how many hits? from 1,100 to 1,300 then SUDENLY from one day to another everythin stopped and I only could make from 3 or 4 sales I though my listing wasn't available for searching etc. etc. I run every kind of test even from different computers and commections and everything was ok, so eBay was no the problem, and I didn't change anything in my ad, BUT after surfing eBay for a while I noticed that most of power sellers with more than 4K o 5K also have stopped selling and at least 3 of those guys who have the flying star 10K also have stopped selling, I listed again to see what happened and again I only got 3 bids (3 sales per auction) how many hits? 1,174 as usual. I think everything is because Bush is assuming the presidency, and that's a coincidence because since Dec 10-15 everything stoped. Now I don't sell anything but I have 3 more projects that I was working on it that will make me rich, so I'm not so concerned about it, but I still feel for those people who are not making any money, Does eBay know this? ...Oh, that's why the are advertising on TV, but if they don't say/explain what eBay is, how we can expect new members/customer eBay doesn't even show its web address, thousands and thousands of people doesn't know what eBay is, and never will have the idea that they can be found on the Internet. Many people think that eBay sells destroyed houses almost for free.
posted on January 8, 2001 04:03:39 PM new
I've been selling on Ebay for about 4 months now. It's great part time income, but it's a LOT of work. Like someone said in a previous message, you'd have to work 10-12 hours a DAY to make any kind of full time income. I invest most of my free time after my full time job (nights 6-10, all day weekends) and I still only 'net' about $600 a month (after all expenses.) I'm not selling anything anyone else couldn't obtain, so it can be done by almost anyone. My full time job is in an office adjacent to an outlet mall which has been a BIG PLUS; NWT is a big seller! Also on the plus side, I am doing most of this work in my slippers.
posted on January 9, 2001 04:07:02 AM new
hi araindrop15...I'm sorry. I'm not against auctiva gallery. But I noticed that when doing it...and, then clicking through my own auction to it - Auctiva took a very long time to load.
Plus, when I inquired to several buyers of mine, most expressed the same challenge - too long to load, didn't have time...
It's a great idea...sorry, I didn't mean it as a put down. Thanks
