E-Bay Help - First Time Seller

[PCGUY112887]

Hey guys. I finally convinced my mother into letting me sell some things on ebay. I have an N64, a Sega Gensis, and a Game Boy Color to sell. I had a few questions...

I was looking at compleated auctions for N64's, and noticed they all started around $10 and had no reserve, and would end between $70 and $100 with games and such. What i'm afraid of is for some reason my stuff going for a very low price. I could set a reserve, but I read no one likes that. I could also start it higher, but when I look at people that started their auctions higher they got no bids at all before it ended.

What would you suggest I do? Go ahead and try to do a reserve or what?

Also I was looking at the Sega Genesis's for sale and noticed that not many sell for all that much, so I was considering selling the Sega and N64 together as a lot?

And for the gameboy, I went ahead and wrote a page up. I was wanting your guys opnion...
http://www.spudfiles.com/Ebay/gameboy.htm

Any other tips/suggestions? Thanks!

[Rumrunner]

I am pretty sure that no one else can see that you have a reserve. I haven't been in a while, but I am 99% sure...

as for the page, that is the nicest page i've ever seen someone do for e-bay.

[Knivez]

They can tell there is a reserve if it hasn't been met. It will say Reserve Not Met.

[PCGUY112887]

I changed the link in the first post, it now includes images.

[four4875]

my only suggestion for it would be better pictures. it looks as if your camera doesnt like close up shots. maybe you could take them farther back so it can focus nicely then photoshop the pics down to cut out the excess?

[PCGUY112887]

The digital cam isn't mine, it was my aunts and I had limited time to use it so I rushed, it's gone already :(

[Superjed]

Yea, other then the fuzy pictures, its great. :thup:

Let us know what you get for it after its done.

[jack222]

Just so you know, back when i was a active seller, look wasn't a key. If i had a lot of information there and every spec and gave them a reason why i sell it, other ways of contact eveyrthin that makes you look like your going further then you have to is what i as a buyer and seller think is what people like. When i look at a auction i look for the price, item, and specs. Thats what i care about. Looks good though.

Just my .02$.

[PCGUY112887]

I took your advice and modified the page a bit with reason and contact. I'm not going for a sexy page, i'm going for something effective and easy to read (otherwise i'd make a cool template and such :p). However I can't help the few blurry images, think I should leave them or just take the blurry ones off? (for example, the blurry one of the back of the gameboy isn't totally needed).

Aside from this I am also selling an N64 and Sega, I hope to list Wednesday or Friday night (Wednesday night if I decide to do a 10day auction, I want the auction to end on a friday or saturday evening).

[SocketMouth]

From what I understand about ebayers they definitely don’t like reserves. I would set your price to the lowest price you are willing to sell it for and then hope you get a couple of bids. I haven’t done that much shopping at eBay but your page already looks 1000x better then most of the auctions. Nice work.

[fabulouscoops]

I think you have to pay for each picture after the first one so keep the number down. Ebay selling depends a lot on presentation and yours is great. It also depends on feedback rating. If you have a low rating, it might make sense to buy a few small items to build your reputation. People like to see 100% positive feedback if you have a really low number of sales.
If you want to use a reserve price, do it and come clean in the description. Like "I am new to Ebay and I wanted to make sure I got a reasonable price, please don't let this stop you from bidding". I think folks would like to see real people who provide quality stuff over a big time seller who is turning over junk. List it low and trust in your quality presentation.

[SocketMouth]

fabulouscoops, I haven’t sold anything on eBay yet but I do plan to do so soon. Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought if you hosted the pictures on your own web server then you don’t have to pay eBay for them.

Well except for the picture people can see in the search results before they have even clicked on your auction.

[PCGUY112887]

If you host the images yourself, you don't have to pay for them.
I may host only 1 just so the image appears in the search results... which is exactelly what ebay wants me to do :p.

I've never done anything on ebay, so I have 0 reviews. Right now i'm talking to my mother and she's afraid of me starting it at say $20 and only getting $25. I don't want to set a reserve, yet also when I look at people that started theirs high they didn't get any bids. Maybe I could start it a bit higher and say that i'm new and need at least that much :p

[SocketMouth]

Kind of shifty starting at $25 dollars.

Words that have never come out of my mouth before…
“I agree with your mother.”

What’s worse? Having to re-list or getting nothing for you’re stuff.

[PCGUY112887]

^^ Good point. I will tell why I set it higher and such, hopefully whoever is looking at it sees me as a human not someone trying to rip them off.

Edit -

To set a Buy It Now price, you need to meet at least one of these requirements:

* Achieve a feedback score of at least 10.
* Verify your contact information (using the ID Verify service).
* If you have a PayPal account, achieve a feedback score of 5 and accept PayPal as a payment method.

That sucks :(
There is no way I can go ask my mom to buy 5 small things :p

[jack222]

Just so you know, in a study, a starting amount ending in .98 was most eye appealing. Im not sure why but yea. Start it at 1.98$ and set a reserve.

[PCGUY112887]

Humm now I must decide... start the auction higher, or start it low and set a reserve, but tell what the reserve is at the top of the auction...?

Anyways I updated the Gameboy page again, and this is the N64+Sega page
http://www.spudfiles.com/Ebay/N64.htm

If I decide for a reserve I will be changing those pages again of course :p

[jack222]

you always get more if you sell stuff individually just so you know.

[SocketMouth]

I must be the only one who sees those auctions that start at $0.98 and says “screw it I’m to lazy to go in a bidding war” and buys the one that will end in 30min with 1-2 bids at a reasonable price.

[PCGUY112887]

you always get more if you sell stuff individually just so you know.

That's what I thought about doing... but look at the auctions for Sega's... their crap :p

Edit - Ah crap... I went looking harder and found some segas like mine that sold for good $.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62054&item=8184845605&rd=1
For example.

Edit 2 - OK I changed it up.
http://www.spudfiles.com/Ebay/gameboy.htm
http://www.spudfiles.com/Ebay/N64.htm
http://www.spudfiles.com/Ebay/Sega.htm

[Superjed]

Wow, you shoud get some good $$ then. Looks good, and I like the honesty about why you are selling it. If I were bidding then I knew I was buying from a normal person.

[PCGUY112887]

Thanks. Here we go, got it all set up. Thanks again guys!
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZpcguy112887

[fabulouscoops]

Good Luck. I am sure they will sell for a good price. Now the waiting begins. Don't be surprised if you get last second bidders. Ususally noobs bid early and often and drive the price up, but the pros put it on their watch list and swoop in with 30 seconds to go.

[PCGUY112887]

Oh well guys, none of them sold. Lots of bids, but apparentelly there are some blind stupid people on ebay, since it said the reserve yet there were tons of bids all UNDER the reserve.