I’m after a little advice please.
I have a camera which I’m looking to sell on evilbay and I’m looking for a few pointers to maximise my sale price.
I’ll be putting up plenty of pictures and a detailed description of the camera and included items.
What do I need to say to protect myself from being ripped off.
I’m thinking of UK sellers only, 1st class recorded delivery,
Also is Sunday around 9pm the best time to end the auction?
I’m thinking of having a reserve of £120. Although they tend to go for over £150+. Or would it be better just to have a BIN?
Any other things I haven’t considered or pearls of wisdom?
Thanks

Try selling on Gumtree/STW first? eBay can be a pain in the arse for selling small electronics.

Obviously I’ll be advertising on here too. Gumtree is pretty ropey but there is another local site I’ll be putting it on.

Recently, if you ignore the vast swathes of tyre kickers, Gumtree hasn’t been too bad of late.

Anyway, to actually answer your question.

-Take loads of pictures of the camera, especially of anything that can link the camera to you.
-Note down all serial numbers. Again, photo them.
-Don’t use 1st Class Recorded. It only covers you up to £50. So RMSD, which gives cover up to £500, or MyHermes/Collect+ with the appropriate insurance.
-Set the buyer requirements. This way you’ll stop anyone from abroad or with naff all feedback.
-Set collection as an option, so you might still be able to do a cash sale/save posting.
-If doing collection, do not take paypal as payment.
-Auction ending times don’t seem to make a massive difference, but Sunday night is as good as any time. Obviously, If doing a BIN, then this won’t be an issue.
-On that, do a BIN or straight up auction. Reserves are for pussies 😛

Dont expect too much and you’ll be happy if you do. Ebay can be very random. I’d ignore the reserve…you want rid so get rid. A reserve can put people off bidding (it puts me off).

Don’t put a reserve on it, I won’t bid on anything with a reserve. Just start it at the price you want, or if you want to get the most possible for it 99p.

How do start it at the price I want?

Yes it’s a funny one selling on eBay. I start all my auctions including £8k’s worth of Volvo XC90 at 99p. People think they will get a bargain and focus on it and then over the course of the week tend to pay at least what it’s worth.

Always a bit risky and scary due to the fact that the final bids come in in the last few seconds! However, some you win and some you lose.

I can’t really afford to lose money at the moment. Plus I’m not a happy risk taker. I’d rather sell it for an amount I’m happy with or not at all. I think a reasonable BIN or best offer would keep me sane. Any downsides to this option?

Yes, you almost certainly won’t sell it and you’ll incur fees.

I understand what you are thinking, but EBay is not really a selling site for items such as second hand cameras, unless you follow my process. It will sell and possibly for more than you expect. ‘Watch’ a few similar sales to give you an idea of how it works and what people get.

Rockape has it. 99p start and hold your nerve. As long as you have good pics and description it will sell for top dollar. Only exception is rare, unusual or bulky items.

Lots of pics, honest description and avoid catch all phrases like “good condition” or “as new”

I recently sold a DSLR on ebay. I took decent photos of camera and all accessories along with a lengthy and honest description. I went with a BIN fixed price or best offer. I got nothing for a few days then the offers started rolling in. I was happy with the final price.

I generally state that I’ll post within UK and Ireland. Returns not accepted.

Returns not accepted

If only – if they say they want to return it – you pay both ways!

Beware the feedback blaggers.

Sold a coffee machine ‘parts not working’ with description “works but leaks”.

Numpty paid 1/5 new value and then filed a SNAD claim- because ‘it leaks’. If you don’t accept return and postage costs (or settle with a partial refund) eBay will then send him a postage label, at your expense(!). So 25+ costs to me.

Of course he had an ‘offer’ for me, as it was only suitable for ‘parts not working’.

I was tempted to go and pick it up personally 🙂

All that said, that is my only bad trade so far!

I’m reluctant generally to sell anything on eBay I couldn’t afford to lose. Thinking like a trader helps – maybe sell some tat/have a clear out to get some experience?

If you list well at .99p it will sell: 94% of time for market price, 4% for 25% more. and 1% of time for only 33% 🙂

Remember you get the high prices from folk chasing bargains – some times they get them!

If you want an absolute minimum, list it to start at the price, don’t use a reserve.

bonchance

If only – if they say they want to return it – you pay both ways!

Beware the feedback blaggers.

I had heard that this was the case, and took it to be gospel. I recently sold a PS3 which I went to great trouble to describe. One of the D pads was sticky, and I described the fault. Seller demanded I dispatch it immediately so he could play the games. Which I did.
A month later (presumably after he’d finished GTA5) he raised a case against me saying he’d only gotten round to using it and the controller was totally unusable. I knew he was just on the blag, but I offered him £15 towards a new controller. He rejected it, ebay sided with him and froze the item cost+ postage from my ebay account. Case closed I thought.

I decided to contact ebay and point out the facts of the case and that I had stated no returns, that I was a private seller not a retailer. One day later they closed the case in favour of me, and released my funds.

Stating no returns means nothing if the buyer claims the item is ‘not as described’
i.e. broken

don’t send it 1st class recorded delivery, you won’t be covered

paladin – Member

Stating no returns means nothing if the buyer claims the item is ‘not as described’
i.e. broken

Which is exactly what the buyer did in my case, and yet as I just posted, ebay found in my favour when I pointed out the details.

I sold a bridge camera not so long ago,had a tiny scuff on the lcd screen,I highlighted this and sold it for “parts not working”,it was clearly fine and I took lots of pics,you had to really look closely to see the scuff and you could only see it in a certain light,I set a fair price and with “make me an offer” choice and I got full price,wrapped it up in bubble wrap,recorded delivery and off it went,full proof selling,good luck.

jimjam – Member

Which is exactly what the buyer did in my case, and yet as I just posted, ebay found in my favour when I pointed out the details.

So you proved that it was as described then…..

EBay generally sides with buyer, and its really easy for them to go down the N.A.D. route and be successful. Even sending you back an empty box, which you have to pay for the privilege of receiving.

In prefer now to set a B.I.N. slightly above what I want to get for the item, but allow offers. Generally get what I want that way.

I’ve stepped away from e-bay for the moment and I’ve put it on a couple of local sites.
I’ve also put it on STW classifieds.
[shameless plug mode]http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-ot-fuji-finepix-hs30exr-bridge-camera[\shameless plug mode]

paladin
So you proved that it was as described then…..

EBay generally sides with buyer, and its really easy for them to go down the N.A.D. route and be successful. Even sending you back an empty box, which you have to pay for the privilege of receiving.

Well not really. How could I prove the functionality of something that was hundreds of miles away?

I believe what you’re saying is true, I think there are a lot of chancers on ebay trying to exploit the system, which is why I go to great lengths to describe and photograph any items that are used or marked. However I think ebay are slowly getting wise to this too and my experience is that they aren’t so inflexible as they used to be.

Ebay’s process is designed to favour the buyer but I’ve been through it probably a dozen times as a seller and never lost a case. Not doing anything clever, just stating the facts clearly and following the process. It can be quite frustrating and time consuming though- intentionally so I think.

I think the “Ebay will always side with the buyer” nonsense is now so widely accepted that most people don’t even bother fighting. And then they complain and say “ebay always sides with the buyer”.

Only placed the ad half an hour or so on the local site and I’ve already had an e-mail from a known scammer!

Really interesting feedback on winning cases with eBay.

In my case I had the description ‘bang to rights’ – the buyer was clearly making unreasonable demands.

I still gave a partial refund, purely because the buyer g’tee eBay offers seems immutable and ppl on the internet say you will lose i.e. any spurious NAD claim is effectively covered by the g’tee, if the buyer just makes up a reason or states it doesn’t work.

In my case if I lost I would have 25+ courier costs and the item back taking up space. I don’t think the blagger was very sophisticated though – given he stated the problem was the very defect mentioned(!)

I was cross about the chancer though, so would have gladly taken 30% odds of winning.

It seems I will certainly roll the dice, should this happen again 😛

Only placed the ad half an hour or so on the local site and I’ve already had an e-mail from a known scammer!

At least they’re overt. I’d prefer to bat away those enquiries, than get a SNAD email drop into my inbox after 3 weeks.

I know I am being harsh on eBay, and it does work most of the time, but it’s just when it doesn’t you realise how skewed the whole thing is in favour of the buyer. Plus eBay are like herding cats when it comes to dealing with them.

Yes – but I guess the flip side is it gets the buyers, by providing confidence.. I guess most of us are buyers and sellers.

Knowing the g’tee exists means I often have more confidence buying on eBay – than certain well known stores!

Hence why I say think like a trader if your selling, rough with smooth- most folk buying are bona-fide after all 🙂

IME provided you shift more than 1 or 2 things, eBay is unbeatable at finding a buyer at ‘market’ price.. Just don’t shift stuff high value stuff you really could not afford to lose – without taking precautions (cash collect only etc.).