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redshoegirl
member
eBay rocks my socks
redshoegirl
member
Over the years I've bought quite a bit of stuff from ebay, but never sold anything. Then recently I started going through all of the surplus baby stuff we have and decided to get rid of some of it, and ebay is my new best friend. I'm not going to be a millionaire any time soon lol, but with the profits from the stuff I've sold, I've bought the boys their Sophies, some new clothes and sleep sacks, and am considering getting a couple of Bumbos.
No real point to this post. I'm just happy not to be bleeding money for once. 
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Re: eBay rocks my socks
I love Hawaii!
Tara & Ian . 4/24/2008 . The Kahala Planning . Married
Yup, there are fees for listing the items (starting at $0.50 and working up, depending on how many photos you put up, if you get extra features like a bold border around your listing title, etc), and they also take a cut of the final price (for the price range of items that I sell, it's 5.25%).
For setting prices, I do two searches - I look to see what items similar to mine are currently priced at, and also check the completed listings to get a rough idea of what they generally sell for. So if something sells for $15 almost every single time, I might put it on with both a starting auction price of $10 as well as a buy it now option of $15. A lot of buyers do the same searches I do, so they'd know that either of those choices are reasonable. To calculate shipping costs, I go to the Australia Post website and work it out ahead of time so I'm not taking a loss there.
How to set the lowest bid depends on what the item is, and can get tricky if it's something that's difficult to put a pricetag on. For example, right now I'm selling two bulk lots of baby boy clothes. They tend to vary wildly in selling price due to the number of items in the lot, the brands of clothing, the season, and simply who happens to be wanting to buy at the time - and while the vast majority of listings get multiple bids, most parents are looking for used clothing on ebay specifically to get a good deal and have a price limit in mind.
In that situation, a lot of people start it at $0.99 in the hopes that it will start a bidding war, and that often works out...BUT you have to be willing to take the risk that it might actually sell for $0.99. Because I don't sell very many things (so I can't make up a loss by profits from lots of other listings), I set mine at the "break even, plus a little extra" point. If it costs me, say, $3.50 to put the listing up and pay potential selling fees, I might start it at $5 - that way even if it only gets one bid, at least I haven't actually lost money. There are probably better methods, but it's working for me so far lol!
I love Hawaii!
Tara & Ian . 4/24/2008 . The Kahala Planning . Married
No problem! I was flailing a little when I listed my first couple of things - it really is a bit tricky until you figure out a system that works for you.
Luckily with a lot of the baby stuff I've sold (monitors, timers, etc.) they're in fairly high demand and relatively easy to price. On the other hand, I have NO idea what the final price on the baby clothes will be - I think around $20-$25, but you never know.
Yes, thank you! I'm an ebay virgin, and I might want to sell a few baby things myself....this will be very helpful!
yay! glad you are making some money
i hate the fees on ebay, so i try to sell on craigslist whenever i can. i know you don't have that as an option but just sayin' that's what i do here
there is also another site i came across called bonanzle. i am not sure how much traffic it gets or if it is even for folks in australia, but i know that people like it over ebay b/c the fees are lower. plus you can negotiate a price w/the seller by making offers and they counter offer.
for clothes i am not sure about there but i think in general unless they are new w/tags, most people only want to pay $1-2 per piece of used clothing here
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
BAHAHAHA! Nah, I decided just to donate that stuff to the Salvation Army. They'll probably pull it out of the bag and go, "WTF? We can't get rid of this!"
And yeah, Jaime, the fees are a PITA but there aren't any other options here - well, there are other sites that you can use, but ebay gets the most traffic by far.