Selling on Ebay- what is better - Auction or one set price?

[Vash01]

I finally decided to close my Etsy account and try to sell my items on Ebay. This gives me a lot more options, like items that were not made by me, and they don't have to be 25 years old. I have many items that I have never used- jewelry, sports related, scarves that were not made by me, etc. I hope to sell some of them.

I chose my own price, instead of the very low prices suggested by eBay. I don't know if that is a mistake. However, I don't want to sell at throwaway prices. I will sell the item only if I get something for it.

The question I have is- is it better to go for the Auction or just name one sale price? Right now I am using the Auction for sports memorabilia and there seems to be some interest. For the scarves I wrote a fixed price, with the option to allow ebay to lower the price every 5 days until it reaches a certain number (specified by them). It seems there are views but no offers yet.

If anyone has experience selling on eBay, I would appreciate some recommendations.

 

[Vash01]

Nobody answered my question and l learned it the hard way.

Ebay always recommends very low starting price for auctions to attract bidders. Unfortunately nobody raised the bid and two of my items got sold fir the starting price, which was very disappointing. Both have already paid on paypal for those items.

Can I still refuse or am I locked into the deal? I may call ebay to find out. It breaks my heart on one of those items in particular.

I cannot switch from auction to one set price. However, I am going to raise the starting bid in all my auctions, or I am going to have deep regrets.

 

[soogar]

I don't sell my stuff on Ebay but I do buy there all the time. I've bid in auctions where the reserve was not met and the item was not sold.

Personally, I prefer just buying the item or making an offer. Would putting a price on the item with a make an offer option be an option for you?

A buyer can back out of a deal but usually you have to ask the seller. I rarely use this option but I have done it in the past and have always been allowed out of the contract. Can you contact the buyers and see if they will release you? Say it was a mistake?

 

[PrincessLeppard]

Since you are a new seller, I would be hesitant to pull the items as it could set you up for bad reviews very early in your selling stint. If I saw that on your profile, I would be hesitant to place a bid or buy from you. I would chalk it up as a learning experience and then set a reserve for anything else you don't want selling low.

Also, you can look and see what similar items have sold for recently (or if they have sold at all). It may not be worth it to set a higher price if it's well over what similar things have sold for.

 

[snoopy]

What PL said. You shouldn’t really pull the sale now, just write it off and move on. I would definitely leave a bad review if a seller did that to me.

 

[Vash01]

Since you are a new seller, I would be hesitant to pull the items as it could set you up for bad reviews very early in your selling stint. If I saw that on your profile, I would be hesitant to place a bid or buy from you. I would chalk it up as a learning experience and then set a reserve for anything else you don't want selling low.

Also, you can look and see what similar items have sold for recently (or if they have sold at all). It may not be worth it to set a higher price if it's well over what similar things have sold for.

Thanks and I agree.

The similar items are not really like what I have, so their low pricing would make me close shop.

It sounds like I need to set up a Reserve. I didn’t see it whenI was posting my items for sale. Ifemember that in the past there was a certain minimum price, but I didn’t see that option. I will look again.

 

[Vash01]

I don't sell my stuff on Ebay but I do buy there all the time. I've bid in auctions where the reserve was not met and the item was not sold.

Personally, I prefer just buying the item or making an offer. Would putting a price on the item with a make an offer option be an option for you?

A buyer can back out of a deal but usually you have to ask the seller. I rarely use this option but I have done it in the past and have always been allowed out of the contract. Can you contact the buyers and see if they will release you? Say it was a mistake?

After I had placed some items on Auction, I decided to just put a set price on the rest of my items. It seems to have 'make an offer' option if someone is watching

 

[vesperholly]

If you are selling clothing and jewelry, try Poshmark. It's a set price sale, but both sellers and buyers can make offers. I've had very good luck selling so far.

The best part for sellers is that shipping is entirely separate - the buyer pays a flat fee and you are sent a USPS priority label by Poshmark. No need to try to "better" your sales by offering free shipping and then eating the cost.

 

[Vash01]

If you are selling clothing and jewelry, try Poshmark. It's a set price sale, but both sellers and buyers can make offers. I've had very good luck selling so far.

The best part for sellers is that shipping is entirely separate - the buyer pays a flat fee and you are sent a USPS priority label by Poshmark. No need to try to "better" your sales by offering free shipping and then eating the cost.

I will check them out. Thanks.

 

[nyrak]

I've used ebay for years, used to do auctions now lean towards set price/buy it now with the make an offer option.

That is until Facebook marketplace came about, sure it's a smaller market to sell too (local area) but you don't have to worry about postage, fees, etc.

I still use etsy for handmade items & craft supplies.

What's my favourite of the three? Hard to say, depends on the item, but I am enjoying decluttering with FB marketplace.

 

[Vash01]

I had never heard of fb marketplace. I must check it out. I had no success selling on eba and etsy. Considering how high the postage costs, I think it would be better to sell locally.

I sold two t shirts on ebay at garage sale prices. That was painful, and I had to go to the P.O. To ship them. One of them didn't cover the full shipping cost. Nothing else got sold. I am giving up on it. I recently placed two of my skating outfits on ebay. If they sell i may place more on it. I may wait for a month before giving up completely. The local skating rink used to accept skates and costumes for sale. I may go there to see if they still do. I have not gone there in three years. I should also check if the rink near my home offers that. It seems i should stick with the local market.

 

[vesperholly]

I believe there are groups on Facebook that are skating apparel specific where you can sell your dresses.

 

[nyrak]

I had never heard of fb marketplace. I must check it out. I had no success selling on eba and etsy. Considering how high the postage costs, I think it would be better to sell locally.

I sold two t shirts on ebay at garage sale prices. That was painful, and I had to go to the P.O. To ship them. One of them didn't cover the full shipping cost. Nothing else got sold. I am giving up on it. I recently placed two of my skating outfits on ebay. If they sell i may place more on it. I may wait for a month before giving up completely. The local skating rink used to accept skates and costumes for sale. I may go there to see if they still do. I have not gone there in three years. I should also check if the rink near my home offers that. It seems i should stick with the local market.

I think FB marketplace is fairly new....I just noticed it recently anyway It's super handy, I've left a few things on my porch for buyers recently - wouldn't do it for high priced items - but for $5-$10 I don't mind the risk & haven't been burned yet.

I don't think ebay is as popular as it used to be, everyone is looking for a bargain...I've burned myself by mis-estimating postage prices too, sometimes it's way more than I was expecting, then you have to factor in supplies, fees, etc. Local is easier.

I still like etsy for handmade items & craft supplies. The buyers are more willing to pay a decent price (seems to me anyway) and for the most part you're dealing with a smaller market, crafty people usually know what they're looking for & what items are worth. And it's so satisfying to sell something you've made too

 

[Vash01]

I think FB marketplace is fairly new....I just noticed it recently anyway It's super handy, I've left a few things on my porch for buyers recently - wouldn't do it for high priced items - but for $5-$10 I don't mind the risk & haven't been burned yet.

I don't think ebay is as popular as it used to be, everyone is looking for a bargain...I've burned myself by mis-estimating postage prices too, sometimes it's way more than I was expecting, then you have to factor in supplies, fees, etc. Local is easier.

I still like etsy for handmade items & craft supplies. The buyers are more willing to pay a decent price (seems to me anyway) and for the most part you're dealing with a smaller market, crafty people usually know what they're looking for & what items are worth. And it's so satisfying to sell something you've made too

I didnt have any success on Etsy. I didn't stay on it very long though. I was turned off by their complex website, not much help available (even through the community) and their multiple charges which would make it impossible to make a profit. On these on line selling sites it seems the buyers are the winners and sellers are losers.

I did look up facebook marketplace. Definitely a decluttering site, which I can use. They did have some framed photos and may be paintings, for moderate prices. So i may try to sell a few of mine. If the skating outfits don't get sold on ebay, i can try to sell them locally on fbmp. Also my spare pair of skates would be better sold locally (no postage).

 

[Vash01]

Just wanted to give an update, after reading the suggestions and trying out some of them.

I settled down on ebay. For sometime (long time) nothing happened. Then I got a couple of orders. They were auction starting prices, so I got very little profit out of it, but at least I learned how to ship, with help from a postal employee.
So my conclusion is that it is better to use a fixed price, and not get into auction. The chances of people competing for a product are very low.

So far I have sold 11 items, (according to ebay) but one of them had to be a canceled order because somehow I posted a scarf that I no longer had (I must have gifted it). I offered a similar scarf, but the buyer declined so I had to cancel the order. I saw that it is marked as a defect against me. All the other orders went well. I am making small amounts of money while getting rid of some things that I am no longer using, like 4 skating outfits.I had so many of those! Now I still have three that I can use, and one that I kept for sentimental reasons (I had embroidered it myself and sewed on a few sequins so I didn't want to sell it at a throwaway prices). The skating items attracted a lot of interest but the jewelry, paintings and sports items did not.

So I decided to try facebook marketing. I posted t-shirts and jerseys of local teams like Suns, Cardinals, etc. I sold the Kurt Warner jersey almost instantaneously (got 7 inquiries within a few hours). I listed bigger items like bigger paintings on facebook because I won't have to ship them. None of the other items got any inquiries but there are many viewers, so hopefully some more will get sold. It seems if you leave the items listed and relisted- on both ebay and facebook- the chances of selling are better. I just have to be patient.

At some point I may try Etsy again but right now these two are keeping me quite busy because I have to prepare them for selling- take pictures, measure dimensions where necessary, prepare the items for shipping, then take them to the P.O. There is a lot of work involved. I would like to raise the prices but lower prices improve the chances of selling. I would like to sell more of silk scarves, but may be I just have to be patient.

 

[Skittl1321]

I believe there are groups on Facebook that are skating apparel specific where you can sell your dresses.

Do you have any names? I only have a few to sell, but I'd love to sell them for more than a dollar or two that they would go for on our local facebook marketplace...

 

[vesperholly]

Do you have any names? I only have a few to sell, but I'd love to sell them for more than a dollar or two that they would go for on our local facebook marketplace...

No idea, I don't belong to any. There's a search function

 

[Vash01]

I have been selling on eBay and Facebook marketplace. The FBM is giving faster results, probably because I am focusing on local interests. It is also nice to not have to ship anything.

ETA- Something strange happened today on the FBM. I posted an item (Collectors Plate from the 2002 Olympics) for sale. The admins rejected it, without giving a soecific reason. I looked up the link they provided and there was no way their rules could reject this. So I sent an explanation to defend it. However, I was so disgusted by what they did to my beautiful plate that I removed it. I am thinking of selling it on eBay , but only if I get a good price for it. It will be a pain to ship it be ause it will require a lot of packing. That is why I had posted it on the local marketplace.