posted on July 31, 2005 07:34:57 PM
Why you should really take the time to know what you are listing....
I few weeks ago I stumbled across a hideously badly listed widget. First it was sold as a set when it was two entirely different items. Second, the title was too basic. It had broadstroke keywords with none of the specifics so unless you had a diligent searcher the item would never be found (i.e. say it was a toy car - they used Hot Wheels but not the era, year, car type or model.... but it wasn't a car ). They did not use a gallery pic so that diligent searcher had to be REALLY diligent not to just pass it by. Then although the pictures were good, the description bad. It was about three lines and basically just covered the condition rather than the actual item. Found it, and won with the opening bid of $50. Got them, rephotographed them, wrote good descriptions, put the relevent terms in the titles and last night the two closed for almost $300 combined.
OK granted, if everyone knew what they were selling I would not be able to do those types of flips as frequently as I do but still....
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
- Ann Coulter
[ edited by fenix03 on Jul 31, 2005 07:37 PM ]
posted on August 1, 2005 05:01:55 AM
My sister keeps asking about what exactly that I do on Ebay. She's not familiar with it and is just curious. I think she can't understand how I can actually make so much money. She asked where I get my items to sell and I replied that I run my entire business on items that I purchase from Ebay. I then said "I'm like a stockbroker. I buy low and sell high."
I'm like you Fenix (but on a smaller scale). I know my category and what to look for. Granted, in my category, I will never be able to purchase something for $3.00 and sell it for hundreds. BUT, I can and do purchase something for $3.00 and sell it for $20-30 and sometimes more. No, I won't get rich, but I'm enjoying myself and making money.
posted on August 1, 2005 07:52:51 AM
You're right, Fenix, but sometimes it's hard to get all the "relevant" information in the 80 spaces allowed by eBay. I sometimes sell Hot Wheels in "lots" (more than 4 items) and can't possibly get all the important info in the title space. So, I have to rely on the standard "vintage"/Lesney terms and hope for the best. I DO include the necessary info in the actual description though.
posted on August 1, 2005 08:22:59 AM
just like buying in a garage sale,you could end up with items which dont sell - tie up your capital and gather dust .
-sig file -------
Eat grass,kick ass,never go belly up!
posted on August 1, 2005 08:39:20 AM
Stop - not if you know what you know the product and know the market. I buy and resell a couple dozen items a month (and I have a large cache of items that I have bought but am waiting for the holidays). The only item that did not sell on the first listing is one that I actually kinda wanted to keep so rather than placea price that I could sell it at, I set a price that I was willing to sell it at. It sold on the relist.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
posted on August 1, 2005 08:46:34 AM
It's a good thing no one know everything about everything. So out of curiosity, how much time do you spend going through listings looking for poor desciptions, bad photos, incorrect attributions? No doubt there are lots of Holy Grails on eBay -- but you must have tons more patience than I do. And you know what? Sometimes, they ARE just really bad items, with concurrent poor images et al.
posted on August 1, 2005 09:17:51 AM
Birgit - Since I am self employed and have insomnia I have plenty of time to do searches. I search for specific lines and only search items listed in the past day (then put them on a watch list) so that helps limit it but I still end up dedicating a couple hours a day to it.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
posted on August 1, 2005 09:33:16 AMI would not be able to do those types of flips as frequently as I do but still....
So, fenix do you really want to tell sellers here to, 'know what they are selling'.. or just to tell us once again, how smart you are (and how much time you have on your hands) verses the rest of the world?
posted on August 1, 2005 09:59:43 AM
There is the opposite side of this coin. How about the seller who has a pretty common, easy to identify item and lists it as rare, one of a kind, or about 100 years older than it is? Do you ever get an uncontrollable urge to write them and say so? I am guilty of occasionally sending a polite note to tell a seller what they really have. I can only think of one time when the seller made a correction to a listing.
I know, I know I should mind my own business!
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on August 1, 2005 10:18:59 AM
Stopped doing that since one seller virtually became suicidal when I very nicely wrote her about a totally misidentified item. She posted her entire rant on the listing too. After all, an antique dealer had told her that's what it was.
Personally, I'm grateful -- one shouldn't look like a complete idiot. And have ended more than one listing which wasn't what I said/thought it was.
And fenix -- to get back to the subject -- it's always a thrill to hear that there are flips to be had in cyberspace too. Just when you think the world is devoid of great buys, someone comes along to prove you wrong.
posted on August 1, 2005 10:32:53 AM
I bought a Hamilton Military Watch at an estate sale for $15.00. It had a "crack" on the crystal. When I got it home & started cleaning it, I found the there was no crack, but a piece of scotch tape across it. The case was coin silver with all of the information stamped on the back. I took it to a friend who repairs watches & clocks. He said this was from WWII & probably worth #100.00. I put it on with a reserve of $50.00, it sold for $560.00!!!
Life Is Too Short To Drink Bad Wine
posted on August 1, 2005 10:53:29 AM
Here a little example.
My husband is looking for some tweeters on ebay - he wants only one kind and they are selling for big $$$.
I told him to type in "small speaker*" and he could not believe some to the stuff he came up with - not the one he wants but some really good buys because the sellers won't go to the trouble to put the name of the speaker in the title or didn't know what they were selling.
posted on August 1, 2005 11:01:05 AM
Sanmar Wins! Nice one!
Photo - I don't mind when people mistakenly list items as something else but those that do it on purpose annoy me as well. There is a line of figures that I collect and was constantly looking for that one ellusive piece. At any given time I could do a search for that manufacturers piees and find up at least 50 listings that included the manufacturers name but maybe once a month would one of them actually be accurate. Luckily I found the elusive one about a year ago and no longer have to sort thru it. I used to laugh at the listings that had RARE! in the title. I mean if it had been what they were claiming it to be it would be rare but the actual piece they were selling was as common as blonds in California.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
- Ann Coulter
[ edited by fenix03 on Aug 1, 2005 11:11 AM ]
posted on August 1, 2005 11:32:07 AM
Sanmar, not to knock you or anything, but you obviously did not know the market for this watch, or what you were really selling, if you were willing to let it go at a $50.00 reserve, correct? Did you just get lucky, or was the 50.00 reserve just rouse, and you knew it was going to go over 500.00 from your stellular marketing genius?
.
[ edited by dblfugger9 on Aug 1, 2005 11:32 AM ]
posted on August 1, 2005 12:00:10 PM
Those RARE ones crack me up! I don't write, but really want to. One of the items in my category that was listed as "rare", I pulled up 3 other listings at that moment and had 5 of them sitting in a box.
There was a new seller in my category and she learned her lesson about using the word "rare" in her listings. She got a royal chewing out from a customer when the customer found out it was "rare".
Now, I do have a VERY RARE pattern that I have held onto and will be listing in the middle of September when the bids go back up. I have never seen it before (and I KNOW my stuff) and can see that it will be a hot item. At least I *think* so, but you never know in Ebayland what something will go for!
posted on August 1, 2005 12:30:29 PM
Even more annoying that "rare" is "unique". There are some things on eBay that are unique but I expect there are very few. I even read a description that said with a lot of authority "I am assured by the greatest living expert on this widget that there are only two known to exist." Well I have one, at least two of my friends have one, and I have seen at least three sell on eBay. That makes way more than two that I know about.
I think eBay should publish some guidelines like the grading standards in some fields:
Unique = Only one
Rare = Very few made or survived
Mint = like new
Very old = Longer ago than year before last
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on August 1, 2005 12:59:56 PM
Dblfugger. Sanmar knew enough to give a careful description of the watch with (I assume) good pictures so the collectors could find it and that is enough to know. Seems to me there is no such thing as an absolute market price for most things with eBay. The competition sets the price. If you have two people who really want something that is not common there is no way to know where the price will go. -----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on August 1, 2005 01:54:41 PM
Yes, yes, I gave a very detailed description of the watch including all of the data that was stamped on the back(which didn't show well on the pic),& very good pics of the face. I was sure it would go for at least $200.00, but put a small reserve on it to CYMA. Two bidders got into a bidding war & the price skyrocketed. The winner was so eagar to get it that he FedExed overnight with a USPS MO!
posted on August 1, 2005 02:41:46 PM
The trick to finding some of those deals hiding out there must be to think like a stupid person - OK, if I were an idiot, how would I list this 19th Century Rose Medallion charger? Pretty oriental antique platter with flowers. It does work, and it's amazing what you can come up with. It can make your brain hurt though!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on August 1, 2005 03:28:21 PM
Photosensitive: ...Seems to me there is no such thing as an absolute market price for most things with eBay. The competition sets the price...
That was kind of my point. No matter how well the item is or is not described, there are many other factors that will go into the final closing price of the item at the time. And many of those factors are completely out of the control of the seller. I, too, watch certain items. One, I see it selling in a range of 9.99 through 40.00. These are not rare items, they are common household products. I also see warring on one auction, when there are three exact others listed right below it & priced lower. I see bidders paying 17.99 for gift cards that are worth 10.00. I see auctions with the worst pictures, and what, in imo, is the most goofyist worthless items selling extremely well.
You cant say, 'know what youre selling' and 'know your market' and thats the pat answer all the time. Because ebay is just not that static. What works wonders one week, could fall flat on it's face the next, or do even better. Granted, it helps to have keywords that buyers can find the item with, but if the price isnt right, or the buyers arent online...no matter how well the auction is done, it might not get bids.
posted on August 1, 2005 03:54:23 PM
::I see bidders paying 17.99 for gift cards that are worth 10.00::
I love those. Never seen anyone bid over the cost of a gift card but I have seen then go within $.25 of the value of the card - never quite understood that one.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
posted on August 1, 2005 04:10:01 PM
I've seen it fenix. I was watching this one seller for awhile. She bills the cards as mystery cards anywhere from 5-50 and currently she's got at least 8 negs and a few neutrals, because apparently they are all just $10.00 gift cards!!! I started watching it because I couldnt believe people keep bidding and dont even read the prior feedback of what the others are saying they got! Or that ebay lets her keep selling like this over and over. Her shipping was 4.95 and I guess some thought they could get a $50.00 gift card for 12-15 dollars. But somebody must have complained though, because she has since changed the mystery and tells the value of the card, and also lowered the shipping charges.
I give up on trying to figure out these buyers moods and/or their motivations!
posted on August 2, 2005 01:08:19 AM
A few years ago, Coke had a promotion with a credit card company. If you won, you got an ATM card with cash on it. I won $20... I pulled the $20 and sold the card without cash for $30. I was guessing a coke collector would like to get one.
). They did not use a gallery pic so that diligent searcher had to be REALLY diligent not to just pass it by. Then although the pictures were good, the description bad. It was about three lines and basically just covered the condition rather than the actual item. Found it, and won with the opening bid of $50. Got them, rephotographed them, wrote good descriptions, put the relevent terms in the titles and last night the two closed for almost $300 combined.
Caroline