CALL FOR HELP!!! I need a "little" eBay help, please

[gmack5]

I'm thinking seriously of setting up a business on eBay, my partner is a Seamstress and, of course, I'm a Woodworker, so we're thinking of calling the business "Stitches 'N Stix", so that takes care of a business name.

The rest of the process is up in the air! I have very limited experience dealing with eBay and find that my knowledge base tank is dang near empty!

If someone has that sort of knowledge, and would be willing to share their insights and skills, I'll be more than happy to pay for any phone time, so long as they live in the USA. (I have an unlimited Call Pack)

If someone could recommend any GOOD books on the subject, I'll check them out and probably acquire same ASAP.

I'm looking forward to talking to some of the Forum "Gurues" on that sugject soon.

TIA,

Clueless George (AKA gmack5)

[final_t]

You might want to check your local library for one of the many, many books on eBay selling and etc.

eBay itself maintains pages and stuff for helping with selling - user education, if you will:
http://pages.ebay.com/education/selling.html
http://pages.ebay.com/education/advanced.html

Plus they have a forum-like thing set up:
http://hub.ebay.com/community?_trksid=m37

Good luck!

[DonHo]

I'm not claiming to be an ebay guru by any means but I'll give you what little I know. I parted out my bt3100 a couple of months ago, didn't list it on ebay just here on bt3, but in order to get paid I upgraded my paypal account to enclude a bank account. That let me send request for payment emails thru paypal. The cost was 30 cents a transaction + a small percentage( as I remember less than 3% and goes lower the more you sell). Paypal keeps track of things for you, you can even print shipping labels and pay for shipping from your paypal account. I just realised I guess I'm not telling you about ebay but paypal On the other hand since paypal and ebay are related I'm guessing they would work about the same.
You can get some good info from ebay itself, just log into "my ebay" and on the left side of the page there is a "start selling" link that will give info.
Good luck,
DonHo

[Scottydont]

There are a lot of resources out there. I have over 300 buy/sell trades on Ebay. I would suggest that you don't get too bogged down in all of the seller/listing tools out there. If you plan on listing many items at once or repeat listing of the same items there a tools to do that.

Know your Market
My philosophy on Ebay has always been based on researching what similar items are selling for a price items accordingly.

What will differentiate yourself from any other Ebay seller?
The second concideration is putting the effort into writing a listing that is professional looking and informative. Sometimes I write listings in MS Word and save them as HTML before pasting the code into the listing. There are also some great listing building tools out there if you Google it. Do some critical reviews of other peoples listing and note what you like or don't like and work towards incorporating what you like into your listings.

Shipping
I always post with a low flat rate shipping. It may not always cover my true shipping cost but I look at it from a buyer perspective, make it easy for me to calculate the total cost of an item and don't hose me on the shipping. In some cases I will offer items with free shipping if it is highly competetive. In the end people will pay the total of what they are willing to pay but they will look at the free shipping items first.

Pictures
Quality photos are a must. Make sure you have a decent quality digital camera. Mega pixels are not as important and good optics. Concider lighting and maybe even a small photo tent for taking pics of your items. In both cases you don't have to break the bank or get too technical but like they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Don't try to eat the the whole elephant, take one bite at a time. That way you can keep the fun factor high.

Anyway just my quick two-bits before I get back to work after a lunch break.

[Uncle Cracker]

You're gonna name your business "Stitches 'n Stix"??? Well, sew wood I...

[Hoakie]

You're gonna name your business "Stitches 'n Stix"??? Well, sew wood I...

Congrats Uncle Cracker, you did a darn nice job dovetailing that bit of humor into the conversation

[rja]

I considered selling my ironwork (and iron and wood work) on ebay until I started visiting the seller forum and saw a few threads about hand crafted items not selling so well, that it is a venue for cheap manufactured stuff, and that people are looking for bargains, like in a flea market. Your mileage may vary. But I decided to sell my stuff on etsy instead. Try www.etsy.com for all things hand made. I have had sales on etsy and it has worked well for me. (While you are there, try www.rjablacksmith.etsy.com)

[ironhat]

Really nice work, rja. It almost looks like you dicast those leaves. very fine!

[dkerfoot]

I average about $3000 a month in eBay sales. It is about 20% of my currently online sales. I'd agree ebay is mostly a commodity clearing house.

My advice, start small and see how it goes. Provide AMAZING customer service or it will haunt you forever.

DO NOT PAY FOR ANY "GET RICH ON EBAY" BOOKS OR VIDEO PACKAGES THAT COST MORE THAN $30. There is no substitute for experience.

[eccentrictinkerer]

I considered selling my ironwork (and iron and wood work) on ebay until I started visiting the seller forum and saw a few threads about hand crafted items not selling so well, that it is a venue for cheap manufactured stuff, and that people are looking for bargains, like in a flea market. Your mileage may vary. But I decided to sell my stuff on etsy instead. Try www.etsy.com for all things hand made. I have had sales on etsy and it has worked well for me. (While you are there, try www.rjablacksmith.etsy.com)

I'm pretty sure some of those items are forgeries!

[rja]

Everything I make is a forgery. The leaves are all hand forged and no two come out alike. One thing I would like to work on is incorporating more wood turnings into my work.