Any luck with eBay?

[disneycutie165]

I'm looking to sell some things on eBay here soon if I don't think of anything else. Has anyone had any luck with eBay? Is it worth it to try? The items I have are not particularly worth much but thought maybe it would be an option to get rid of some things.

[texas211]

I haven't sold myself, but I think so. I've bought some pretty odd stuff from ebay, so I think potentially anyone can sell stuff there. Now, profit margin, probably hit and miss depending on what you want.

[BIGDOG]

I have been selling on ebay since 1998 and do very well in the Fall. I can normally sell enough for our Fall Disney trip and Christmas for the kids. I do hunt around and invest all year prior, putting away till Fall to sell. I would recommend researching everything you want to sell and listing a little under simular auctions like yours and list as a buy now auction. People hate to wait till the end of auctions and be reasonable or even free on shipping.

[#1donaldfan]

I've sold a few things on there.....I've never thought much of buying through the year to sell in the fall to fund a trip ... that's a great idea !!

[Ian]

I've been selling on eBay since the late 90's. Every couple years I do a kind of Internet yard sale and dump all the clutter we've accumulated. A lot of times I'll sell like older electronics that have been replaced and things like that ... sometimes I even buy things with the express intention of selling them on eBay if I can get them for the right price.

Success is a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes i sell things and I get WAY more for them than I ever expected and other times they go for the 99 cent opening bid even though similar items have sold for 10 or 20 times that much. Just like an other auction there is some risk, but it's a good way to clean house and make some extra cash at the same time.

A few tips ... stay away from setting reserve prices. That's usually a self-fulfilling prophecy as bidders hate auctions with reserves. I've played around with all kinds of different approaches to starting prices and I've found that starting at 99 cents and just letting it go pretty much always delivers the best results. Most people are there to bid and they're more likely to get carried away bidding against someone else if you start low. If you can, free shipping is a good idea. You normally end up getting more for the item anyway so it comes out in the wash and eBay tends to frown on over-charging for shipping anyway. Most importantly always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS spend the money for delivery confirmation and (if the item is valuable enough) insurance. I've gotten taken advantage of more than once before I started to do that regularly with people that claimed they never received what I sent them and eBay policy basically makes it so you have no choice but to issue them a full refund in that case.

[Mendelson]

The items I have are not particularly worth much but thought maybe it would be an option to get rid of some things.

I know some people have a hard time throwing things away, but there's so much work involved in this - taking pictures, posting, responding, packing for sending, scheduling shipping - that given your above statement, it's probably best to just throw that stuff away. Your time has a value, and you've saved a hoarder from adding one more thing to his pile.

[Ian]

I know some people have a hard time throwing things away, but there's so much work involved in this - taking pictures, posting, responding, packing for sending, scheduling shipping - that given your above statement, it's probably best to just throw that stuff away. Your time has a value, and you've saved a hoarder from adding one more thing to his pile.You're not wrong, but I will say that eBay has made it easier over the years to list items. Many times you can just enter a SKU number now and eBay does the rest so it's not quite as cumbersome as it used to be.

Also, there is some value in freecycling things vs. tossing them in a landfill, so worst case you can throw them up on one of the numerous freecycle sites out there to get rid of them. Better than trashing them.