I'm getting ready to put a bunch of tools and such up on Ebay.
I know there's a passel of Ebay aficionados here on the Wreck and I am soliciting their advice/advise.
What do I need to know?
Thanks for the advise/advice.
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker (ret) Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:
-- In golf, it's not the score that counts--it's the company!
Anything a fellah setting up a new shop might be interested in, or is it all professional humongo industrial-sized stuff?
Michael
Lots of pictures if possible. An accurate description and if you don't know what it will cost to ship an item, state that the buyer will pay only actual shipping costs. I no longer bid on an item unless the seller states shipping amount in the ad or makes the above statement.
Tom Watson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Would it be worth my while to drive to you from north Jersey?
keywords in the description- especially popular ones like sought after brand names, and of course the most commonly used name for the tool (or better yet, multiple names for the tool)
Tom, Do a 'search' for the items you intend to list. This will give you an idea as to which categories they are in - as in should you list in more than one ?
Also, how are the items described - I've seen identical items actually SELLING for both low & high prices, the only difference seeming to be the text.
Sometimes having a LOW 'starting' price - with a 'reserve' of 85 percent of what YOU WANT is the way to go.
DON'T get 'antsy' when you don't see bids - sometimes nothing happens until the LAST DAY or so.
DO follow the 'tricks' to paragraphing & fonts.
What you may already know is any numbnutz can sell and buy on eBay. In other words, got credit card?
Now, as for presentation, this is where the vast majority of "amateur" eBayers fall down. It's actually simple really. If I may?
First, the eBay Kisses of Death (eKoD):
1) No or a bad picture. A bad picture is as bad as no picture. Take a minute to clean up and crop a picture. Lighten them as need be and please, please, please don't have the item back lit as in, "let's put it over here in the doorway where the sunlight will shine on it". Also, we don't care about your cats, don't need to see them in the picture and, well, don't like your cats. Also, remove all the crap that's piled on top of the item before shooting it. Bring home some cardboard, the stuff that comes on top of the 4' X 8' units of particleboard at work and make a makeshift background. Though we like to see your shop, it makes for a cornfusing picture when it's all jumbled together.2) No or bad description. An over described item will also cut down on the number of questions e-mailed to you. Do your research. As a for instance, you have a Yankee screwdriver. Is it a pre-Stanley North Bros. or a post North Bros. Stanley?
3) Pick up only. You've cut the number of likely bidders to those capable of or willing enough to make the drive to Spotsylvania.Second, key words, disclaimers and the fine print:
1) Use as many words as possible that may be on someone's list of search key words. For instance, a Rockwell saw is a Rockwell saw but teknikally it's also a Delta. Also, is it a pre-Stanley North Bros. or a post North Bros. Stanley? See how I was able to get in key words that may not have been present had I not done the research.2) Purposeful misspellings or altered spelling. There are band saws and there are bandsaws. There is Delta and there is Delat. Any of these will bring back hits.
3) State very clearly all the things that people don't take the time to read like, "This item weighs a gazillion pounds and ships via USPS from zip code XXXXX". It also doesn't hurt to state that you don't do postal calcs prior to the auction's end and that the prospective winners should visit the USPS site for rates. You don't want to be chasing rates down for people who will then decide they don't want to pay $5 to get it from there to here and don't bother to bid.4) Use the word B*tch*n to describe the item. Don't ask, just do it. And, always end the auction with PEACE!!!
For some examples of well thought out and written auctions that didn't take a long time to compose (some same text cut and pasted from one auction to the next) visit this auction page.
Not a prob.
UA100
"Condition of this item is considered to be very"
ummmh, very what?
Good eye. One of the problems of per-writing the text and not following through with a good proof read.
None the less, the seller is happy with what the item is currently bid up to and thinks that it wouldn't be bid to that without the thorough research done.
UA100
Snip
Ditto that. I've seen some items go for a song because I intentionally search for items that have misspellings in the description. E.g. a (like) new Unisaw went for like $400 because it was listed as "tablesaw" rather than "table saw."
If you can hit a lick just right, you can get as much as the new retail value of some items. People freak out the last hour of an auction or so and your blurfl that has 2 bids on it will go to like,
50 bids the last hour. Go figure.Good luck, Tom.
-Phil Crow
Not to disagree but my explanation of this is, a smart bidder won't draw attention to something by ramping up the bid. I mean, the auction ends at a pre-determined time. There's no need to exert anything until it's necessary.
I also think that there might be a sub-culture who wait and watch to see what's being bid on and attach a value to that. In other words, "Hey! There are five guys here bidding on this. Maybe I oughtta". Yeah, it's a stretch and a view into the shallower end of the gene pool...
Me? I load a snipe, go to work, go to bed, go about my business and let the chips fall where they may. Snipes do show up as one of those "last minute bid-ups" but I'm not there frantically hitting the Bid button ten/five/four/three/two/one seconds before bidding ends.
UA100
I wasn't aware this was possible. How do you do it?
Art
I go to AuctionStealer.com, log on, go to the bidding page, add in the number of the auction, tell it how much and submit.
There are others.
UA100
I understand that eBay is changing things up to make this harder to do with 3rd-party sniping services.
snipped-for-privacy@FreshCoffee.biz
I agree, but as a seller, I don't care whether or not the bidder is "smart." I just care that his/her money is green.
I agree to that as well. But once again, the higher bid is more money in my pocket. I could be wrong, but I would imagine that in the history of eBay, no seller has sent a message to a winning bidder saying, "You paid too much. I'll give the blurfl to you for x dollars instead."
I, for one, don't appreciate those high-pressure tactics .
I have to admit, I went through that with an Emmert I was looking at a couple of months ago. I had set my personal limit at $150 and I watched the end of the auction with bated breath. I mean, it was an Emmert Model 82 for a hundred and fifty bucks! The price went from $120 to $215 in the last 3 minutes of the auction. It took all my willpower not to hit that damn button. For a hypothetical enactment of the results, see thread entitled, "How to infuriate your wife."
I'm not disagreeing with anything you're saying, Keith. I guess my motives in this regard are less altruistic.
-Phil Crow
On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 16:28:38 GMT, Unisaw A100 brought forth from the murky depths:
Which software snipe did you buy and why? I usually don't bid until the last day (with a low amount) or at the last hour. Sniping software would allow me to do better and to get those early morning east-coaster auctions.
----------------------------------------- Jack Kevorkian for Congressional physician!
operating. That would be to automatically extend an auction by 5 minutes whenever a bid comes in within 5 minutes of the planned end of the auction. I'm aware of other online and "live" auctions that work this way. I wonder what the downside from eBay's POV would be to doing this. For the record, I don't have a problem with sniping services, and I don't even see why it would be a problem again from eBay's POV.
todd
Like what?
UA100, who enjoys the conversational aspects of this whole thing but does draw the line somewhere...
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