posted on December 25, 2006 08:44:01 AM
Merry Christmas to all -- our family celebrates Christmas Eve, so it seems almost appropriate to check listings, etc. today. Ahem.
Need your advice on this:
Have an old piece of Staffordshire transferware with a rare scene of the Great Exhibition of 1851, Crystal Palace. From what I can see, the subject gains most interest in the UK. So, while I sell internationally on the US site, would I be better served to list on the UK site? As near as I can tell, the default for a search on that site is finding listings on eBay UK?
posted on December 25, 2006 02:24:11 PM
I can not see where that would give you any sales advantage, however, since when you search, I believe it searches on all eBay sites.
///////////////
Nan,
it is all english sites -New Zealand,Canada,UK,Australia and USA.
posted on December 25, 2006 02:24:39 PM
birgittaw - I just posted my first ebay.uk item this week. It was quite easy -
nanntique, is correct in that all you have to do is go to ebay.uk, sign in and list your item. However, be prepared for the following:
Be sure to state in the item description that the item is not located in the UK, and will be shipped from wherever you are located.
All prices must be in British Pounds. And, all shipping costs will be stated the same way. You can find a quick money conversion tool at www.xe.com.
If you know the domestic shipping costs, include that within the item description.
There are some advantages in listing on ebay.uk, because many buyers from Europe, and the UK use the site. Further, the item will automatically be displayed on the ebay.com site, and the ebay.ca site along with the ebay.uk site, without having to drill down into listings from International sellers. The exception is ebay.au, which lists the item in the International sellers section.
Also, if you have skype, it is automatically listed as a means of contact on the ebay.uk site. However, the skype link does not appear in the ebay.com and ebay.ca descriptions.
This is my first listing on the UK site. It will not be my last, as I plan to do so on a weekly basis in 2007.
Check out my listing. It is #300062902859.
Bill K-
I almost forgot. I have pictures stored on Vendio. The item picture was placed at the bottom of the description, rather than on top. So, don't be surprised if the same happens with your listing.
[ edited by kozersky on Dec 25, 2006 02:28 PM ]
[ edited by kozersky on Dec 25, 2006 02:37 PM ]
posted on December 25, 2006 03:07:18 PM
Even at a ripe old age, I'm impatient and curious. So I listed it on eBay UK, after I discovered that a search on that site only gives you UK listings unless you change your default on the advanced tab.
I list with turbolister, and it was very simple to just change the site with a drop down menu. I did have to do a small download to be able to use that function, but otherwise, it told what needed to be changed, including shipping, location and even categoties. Listed in two categories with gallery photo, cost was $1.66 starting at 5 pounds -- it would have been $1.40 on the US site.
As you can see, all info is located where it normally would be but I use html code inserted into description as the path to pics on my comcast space. I did like the additional pottery categories found on the UK site -- much more comprehensive.
I'm quite curious how this will work out. Shipping is not going to be cheap, so we'll see what happens. This ends on New Year's Day, when at least I KNOW Brits are probably not watching football.
posted on December 26, 2006 01:12:06 AM
birgittaw wrote; So I listed it on eBay UK, after I discovered that a search on that site only gives you UK listings unless you change your default on the advanced tab.
This is an old complaint, that the default ebay.co.uk search only shows items located in the United Kingdom. They promised to fix it in 2004, then again in 2005 and last time around June 2006. (I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.) Don't be tempted to list your location as e.g. Los Angeles, California, U.K. as anyone (especially a competitor) can easily have your auction cancelled for "misleading" location.
Listed in two categories with gallery photo, cost was $1.66 starting at £5 -- it would have been $1.40 on the U.S.A. site.
It would have been cheaper to list your Staffordshire starting at £4.99; with the same listing options your total cost would be £0.60 (versus the £0.85 you paid starting @ £5.00). By the way all non-resident sellers are exempted VAT so in many cases the fees to sell on the U.K. or Irish eBay sites are often lower than the U.S.A. site.
I've been selling to the U.K. since around 1999 and have found it to be much more profitable and less expensive than the U.S.A. Most buyers are happy to use bank transfer (free in the U.K.) which reduces overheads compared to expensive intermediaries like PayPal and is considerably faster than old fashioned checks or postal money orders. European buyers can similarly pay by bank transfer for free too - even cross border if they use BIC + IBAN.
posted on January 4, 2007 11:05:03 PM
birgittaw - I sold my item. It took two listings. The second one was on a special listing day. So, I guess I will be refunded the lower listing price.
The listing had 74 hits the first time and 62 hits the second time. I think that is pretty good. Got 35.650 GBP = 69.0351 USD
posted on January 5, 2007 06:56:01 AM
Was delighted with my sale; while I don't know if high bidder would have found it on the US site, it certainly was worthwhile and an interesting experiment. I too will list more on the UK site -- one third of my sales last week were international ones after months of not having much overseas activity. Without those, it would have been a very marginal week.
ALL bidders on one item were from Italy, Czech Republic, Japan and Switzerland. An old radio horn/speaker. Who knew?
posted on January 6, 2007 02:06:20 AM
The nice thing about listing on the UK site is that those occasional auctions seem to attract good bidding interest. A low starting price like 99p or £4.99 always gets bidding going early (even 10-day listing) on collectibles, and Europeans have deep pockets (and strong currencies). We sell almost 100% internationally as our auctions tend to close at prices that domestic bidders (in NZ) can no longer afford. eBay prices on certain collectibles have been steadily climbing every year as the supply has gone from a stream to a trickle. Of course with mass market items it's been the reverse and prices continue to fall as sellers on eBay UK fight one another for market share. "We lose a quid on every sale, but we make up for it in volume."
