Anyone here sell on ebay regularly?

It's probably been close to 8 yrs since I've sold anything on ebay. I've got a bunch of items I need to unload that I haven't been able to sell locally (not just car related).

Any tips, tricks or suggestions to make things go as easy as possible?

Not looking to get rich here, just trying to not screw myself too bad.

Thanks!

Sold a few things on there over the years. Far bigger audience that CL so that is an upside.

Best to get the items packaged and weighed first otherwise if the shipping doesn't come out right you'll have to eat it.

Super accurate descriptions and quality pictures are good to stay out of trouble. If the item has even small flaws let them know.

Once something is shipped I send the buyer a message and let them know it's headed their way.

That’s great advice, and really not much more you can do.

I don't sell much there anymore. The direct pay thing sucks as you have to have a bank account linked to ebag. I have a separate one at my bank and I don't leave much more than 20.00 in it just in case. Also bear in mind that if you sell over 600.00 on there ebag will send you a 1099 IRS tax statement.

and price your item high to cover there fees,they have gotten out of hand.and they wonder why there listings are down.seems the new selling place is facebook marketplace,but it has its down falls,very annoying IS THIS AVALIBLE is what everyone asks,

i haven't "SOLD" anything in a year or so.
it seems the pro sellers flood the market with multiple listings of the same thing and they apply "FITS" advisement on everything, this way their cheese grader ends up on a search for hemi piston rings. this seems to put the average seller at a disadvantage because their listings get buried this way.

i actually have my best luck with a auction listing for a week. if you list buy it now with no end date you will end up on the bottom of a 10000+ of listings.

when i sell i add shipping costs into the sale price. you will still have to pay a fee on in anyways if you charge extra for it anyway.

figure 15% of the price for ebay and payment fees,

Ebay just gets worse and worse!

I virtually any retail transaction the buyer pays the sales tax ... not on Ebay !! They take the tax out of the seller's revenue. Along with their cut.

Also, if you have no recent selling history you can't list anything for over $200. I'm not sure if you can set a reserve higher than that or not but you can't put a "buy it now" price of over $200.

i sell various things on ebay on occasion - in the last few months '2' of my items sold, and the buyers never sent payment... my options 'zero' ... can't leave neg feedback.... no options- and the fees have gone way up....

Yeah, total rip off, they add in the shipping cost and base their fees and charge you tax on the inflated value.

Way to much garbage on there now. I am surprised there isn't another "auction" site that gave them competition. Years ago Yahoo had a platform similar to ebay but they closed it.

Appreciate the answers given so far, thank you!

Maybe I should have asked, is there anything else out there? I'm only familiar with CL, Market place and ebay.

I was having good luck with marketplace, but its been going downhill as of late. Been getting more replies that seem genuine only to have them be a no call, no show. Because of this, I now make the buyer come to me (meet close by). 'Houston' covers a BIG area, so even if the buyer says 'Houston' they can be 40 miles away. I used to try and knock off a few miles for the buyer, but its not worth it any more.

I think the fees average out about 15%, plus whatever sales tax applies.
I usually run a 10-day auction, and price at or below the lowest price for comparable items.
Buy It Now price has to be 30% more than listing price.
A separate bank account works fine for the managed payment thing.
Some stuff sells pretty quickly, some takes for-freakin'-ever, depending on who's looking for the item you're selling.
Example: bunches of '60s-'80s new car brochures I've listed: the weird stuff sold quickly, yet the Jeep/AMC, Plymouth, and FoMoCo stuff languishes...
FB Marketplace & CL are only better for me in that there aren't the Ebay fees; but worse as far as "buyers" who actually show up or are a pain to deal with.

When I put an ad on CL I include the following:

"Send phone number and I'll call you. I won't reply by email or text".

If someone seriously wants what I listed, they'll send a phone number.

I believe that a lot of CL and Marketplace responses are phishing for personal info. You'd be surprised how many people say, 'what's your address' and then disappear when I reply that we can meet at the local CVS parking lot.

I've had reasonable good luck with C/L and FBMP. I do tell them to call or FB message and no texting s maybe that's weeding some of the flakes out

haven't sold on sleaze bay since last December due to the 1099 thing and their fees regulations etc. not to mention I had a fiarly high $$ item that was paid for and picked up locally. It took over 2 weeks for them to release the $ in spite of the buyer saying he head the item and was happy with it. They said I hadn't had enough recent sales to allow them to release funds on a large transaction. BtW my 20 year history of mainly buying and some selling with 100% feedback meant NOTHING!!!
Between the cost, the 1099 thing, and what that's going to cost for my accountant to file I've been sitting tight. I do have a few items that will likely be hard to sell and fairly $$ so I may be forced into it Will need to talk with the tax guy 1st though

I sell on Feebay every now and then. I think everything has been covered. I always search for the item I am selling to see if another one is for sale to gauge my price. I always price my stuff low as to sell quick and not screw around trying to sell for months. That's just my preference. I prefer Feebay over CL just for the protection I get from Feebay and the visibility. I also usually just do the fixed price and run it for seven days. Just my preference. And as mentioned good pictures are a must or people tend to pass you by or like me, are suspicious.

What leaves me dumbfounded is what people are looking for. On FBMP, I had a simple 5 shelf metal shelf unit that had seen better days, something you could by at Wal Mart not too long ago. The ad ran for ONE day and had over 60 views. I have a couple of Makita power tools I want to sell, like new, seen little use, BUT they're corded. Researched prices, priced mine accordingly, and...........14 views in two weeks. 14 views TOTAL for both items, and only one person actually contacted me.

I'm thinking if ebay doesn't work then maybe going to a pawn shop?

i have sold a ton of "stuff" on the bag over the years, things that you would think nobody in their right mind would want, or be searching for.
now with that said, i just occasionally buy, and i haven't sold anything for many years.
when buying items, it often times pays to research the item you are interested in from different sources such as amazon or the manufacturer/marketer of the item at hand. many times the bag is much higher, even with free shipping, than the other sources are. that includes paying for shipping from the others.
toward the end of my selling days, i started to offer free shipping, and that required realistically researching shipping costs and methods.
with all the fees and now taxes collected, plus the 1099's sent just because i lost money on big items just to get rid of them, i believe my selling days on the bag are over.
this area is rather rural, and considered repressed, [i think that's the fancy word for "somewhat poor"] so selling on craig's list, or market place, plus a couple of local buy/sell marketing sites, travel is almost guaranteed to be part of the deal. and it seems most buyers are too lazy to come look at what you are offering, so that means more work for you, taking pictures, etc. then, after all that work on your end, the prospective buyer says : "well, er, um, i guess i'm not interested.".............
as others have said, unless you know someone, meeting at the local truck stops or convenience stores is the only [somewhat] safe place[s] to finalize the deal.
and that is after you weed through the "do you still have it" and "will you trade for my broken lawnmower" goofballs..........

There IS an Ebay alternative !! It just needs to gain momentum.

https://hibid.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwv4...B4wiwTMQj10tQWLh1Eqtn1hhQ7xoCcmQQAvD_BwE

thanks Stanton !
that looks like something worth checking into.

Are you sure the section they were in was the best one? I've found it to be difficult picking the right section. Now if they search "Makita" they will come up regardless.

Interesting. The dealers who list with keyword spamming, "Fits: " and put every car ever made, or list the same product 1000 times are ruining Feebay.

One way to get around the "Fits" BS is to add "-fits" to your search term(s).

The following search terms generate over 63,000 matches:

1972 Road Runner

The following search terms generate over 3,100 matches:

1972 Road Runner -fits

Hopefully this helps.

Mike.

Are you sure the section they were in was the best one? I've found it to be difficult picking the right section. Now if they search "Makita" they will come up regardless.

As far as I know I am, and I have Makita in the main subject line.

And I have clear pictures.


Thanks for the link Stanton, I'll check it out!

how are the $$ handled? IE: 1099, and any buyer protection from ripoffs ?

Every selling platform must issue a 1099-K now, if you sell over $600.00 for the year. CL or forums are about the only places left to skirt it for now.

That’s a tricky way to sell. You may sit on the items for years if your prices are too high.

Yep. Its harder to get around the chinese ads that flood ebay but doing the -fits does knock a lot of them down and makes it easier to find the sellers who usually have better stuff.

I couldn't find how to do a fixed price (Buy It Now) sale. But I could have missed it.

I did a search for 69 Charger (anywhere) and got 12 results, Not one of them was anything related to a 69 Charger. Am i missing something?
One that hasn't been mentioned is offerup It has it's issues but i have bought some things from it(local pick up). And "is it still for sale" you have to ask on the non auction sites because people don't close/delete the add. You will listings from 10 years ago. At least CL has time limit of about two months. There is another one that you bid/buy and they deliver it for you but forget the name.

Thanks Mike! I wasn't aware of that!!!

I know a lot of folks hate Facebook, but it is THE place to sell stuff now. Ebay is a ripoff and Craigslist is a ghost town.

Facebook has it`s share of issues also. Car parts swap meets are still the best way IMO.

Is there a way to get around the $600 reporting?
Way to pay outside of FB?

Ain't no way to get around that $600 reporting. All the companies are mandated to comply, the few that don't currently, will have to fall in line soon, probably before the end of the year.

Each place has its pros & cons...
I had a pair of Torque-Thrust(15x8) for Chrysler, mounted/balanced with a pair of Hoosiers street drag tires I won @ the Pedersen Museum never on the ground.
I took the wheels/tires to the Spring Fling Swap Meet, that had tons of Mopar buyer guys...
The only offer I got was $50...
Gee thanks guys, the wheels sold on Summit were $175 each, which are now made in China, yet mine were actually US made.
Next I placed on ad in Craigs List for best offer, within 4 hours I got over 40 calls...
1 guy drove out 50 miles to my place and offered me $400 for the wheels/tires.
He peeled out (4) $100 bills and they were his... He did ask if they would fit a Mustang and I told him yes,
Mopar and Mustang wheels are the same except for Mopars the center was slightly larger..

Just my $0.02...

local or in person is the only way I know of.

Everything done in person and paid w/ cash.

FB definitely has it's issues, but around here it's the only way to sell stuff. More BS offers and people that will ghost you than I ever had when dealing on craigslist.
Nobody uses craigslist around here anymore. Used to be page after page of parts for sale there. Now there might be one or two things added per week.
Stuff I know I'll need to ship, I usually sell through the classifieds here on Moparts.
Swap meets are few and far between in my area. I'd much rather do that, but there aren't many mopar guys locally so it wouldn't be worth it.

one more swap meet around here, at a fire department 40 miles away november 6th.[don't forget to turn your clocks back]
last one until spring.......

i haven't had any issues but use FB messaging or have them call. NO TEXTING. that might help

If you're not selling eBay...how are you handling payment. Obviously cash in person is best, but those items that are shipped?

Postal money orders are always a safe means.
No reporting by PO I believe.
But ebay kinda bands that method few years back.
Still you can fanaggle doing it if you're slippery about it.

when i buy or sell something not on ebay. i only use paypal goods and services option.
YES there are fees involved but at least the buyer has some protection if the deal is a scam. most any other payment method this isn't possible and the buyer is out his $$$.

haven't had to ship anything yet so it hasn't been an issue.