I am ebaying some furniture from the Mum in laws house
and have been getting some stick from the sis in law for not putting a reserve on stuff .
What do you think is the best way
buy it now or best offer. 8)
Get your sister in law to open her own account and stop moaning at you?
If you have put a good description, nice pics and it ends at a sensible time then it will sell for what it is worth. 99p start, no reserve and live with what-ever it sells for, if the SIL thinks its worth more then sell it to her.
I'm with Edric on this one. She should put up, or shut up.
- lots of pics - take photos of the bad bits
- lots of description - say "non smoker house, no pets, doesn't smell, very clean" explicitly (if it's true!), lots of people will just ignore it otherwise. Put in what brand, model, whatever if you know it. Give exact sizes for all dimensions.
- no reserve imho. My uncle buys/sells furniture. Second hand furniture is not worth a lot.
IMHE, if you offer delivery for fifteen-twenty quid, you can make quite a bit of money that way too...
can't speak for anyone else but having a reserve puts me off bidding. If I come across the item later and it has passed the reserve, then I might bid but I usually just forget about it.
A reserve is used where an assessment of market value can be made which is independent of the results of the current auction. If Sotheby's say the lot is worth £25,000 based on the results of previous sales of comparable items then setting a reserve is sensible in case no-one with the means to buy at a realistic price wants what you're selling that day, in which case you put it away and sell it another day when they do.
If you want rid of the item for what you can get for it then setting a reserve is fatuous, you're simply pre-judging what the market will pay, and if you're wrong then you're left with the item and no money.
For superior presenation, use Auctiva.com. It's free for 30 days.
The reserve has to be £50 or more, otherwise do a buy it now.
Get your sister to list!
Cheers
I dont ever put a reserve on anything stuff finds its own value imho
I dont really care what it makes but it has to be out of the house by friday so .99 and buyer collects is ok by me
The sister is car booting stuff today so I would like to beat her total
with the ebay stuff
I use reserves as I don't want to let stuff go for a song, if I had not I'd have sold a kona frame for £65 rather than the £185 it went for the second time I put it up for auction.
Furniture is funny stuff if it is ercol or cassina a classic brand it will hit its price if its just a sofa then it might go for very little.