Posted on by Terry White

Why isn’t eBay easier?

nikond3001

Being a gadget guy, I’m always buying new gear, toys, gadgets, etc. This means that I usually always have something for sale. However, most times the stuff just sits here because of the effort it takes to sell it. For example, this week I’m selling my Nikon D300 DSLR Camera Body on eBay. I’ve learned over the years that when I get something new that I’m not going to keep it forever, therefore I try to keep the original box, cables, manuals, etc. intact so that when that day comes that I want to sell it I have everything ready to go. Even with that effort it’s not as easy as it should be.

 

Sell it locally

Whenever possible I like to sell things locally. This is just a lot easier. I tell my friends, family, etc. that I’ve got _______ for sale and see if I get any takers. If that doesn’t work, then I turn to my local users group. We have a very popular bulletin board (forum) where members can advertise their gear and sell it other members. Although I haven’t used Craigslist yet, many of my friends have had good luck putting stuff on their to sell locally too.

 

Sell it on eBay

When I can’t sell something locally, I usually turn to eBay. The problem is the process of selling on eBay isn’t as easy as it could be. It could be downright intimidating to a first time eBayer. When you decide to sell on eBay you’re going to need to:

  • Do a little research to see what your item is going for?
  • Gather your item and as many of the original contents as possible (box, manual, cables, etc.)
  • Take pictures of your item
  • Write a description of what you’re selling and try to include as much detail as possible
  • Then post your item. If you want it to stand out, you’re going to have to use a little HTML.
  • Answer questions from potential buyers
  • Hopefully sell your item
  • Then wait for payment
  • Finally ship your item and hope that the buyer is happy

Just looking at the list above makes me sigh. Although eBay is constantly improving their site to attempt to make it easier to create an auction, the process is still daunting. Many frequent eBayers turn to 3rd party apps to make the process easier. I did the same thing. Last year I bought an app called GarageSale. GarageSale attempts to make the process of creating an auction on eBay as painless as possible. You basically create you auction using a very friendly interface that’s all drag and drop. There are a ton of templates built-in to to spice up the look and feel of your auction. 

garagesale

Although GarageSale makes the process as painless as possible (within the eBay constraints), there is still too much for the user to figure out. GarageSale is for the Mac. Here’s a popular app for Windows.

 

eBay could be much easier if…

Have you ever gone online to a car manufacturer’s site to build your car? Better yet, have you gone to the Kelly Blue Book site to see what your car is worth? For the most part the experience is pretty easy and you can usually do it an about 5 steps/screens. So for eBay I’d like to start with a Google like search for the item I’m selling. The eBay site would then return with the average price that my item goes for. It would also come back with a "nicely written description" sample including the complete specs of the item I’m selling. Then I would only have to UNCHECK the items that I don’t have. Of course you would be able to change the description anyway you want, but this way you’d have something start out with instead of a blank page. Now in all fairness, eBay does allow you to pull down the specs for some items and even stock pictures, but you’re still on the hook to write the description and lay it all out.

 

The one time I got burned on eBay

Although I have a ton of success both selling and buying on eBay, I have been burned before.  Last year when the iPhone 3G came out, I sold my original 16GB iPhone on eBay. iPhones usually go for top dollar on eBay and my auction was no different. My iPhone brought in a really nice price! I know what you’re thinking, get the money up front! Well that much I knew. I only accept Paypal and the woman did pay me immediately! The money was in my account, no question. I could withdraw it either via my Paypal debit card or transfer it to my bank account. So what could go wrong with this picture? Here’s where I screwed up. I was a sucker for the "it’s a gift for my brother in the Philippines" story. I thought, "well I’ve got the money, she’s paying for whatever the shipping costs are, what do I care where I ship it?" Big mistake! I followed her instructions to the letter. She wanted it shipped to the Philippines with no insurance stating the real value so that he wouldn’t have to pay duty. You see where this is going don’t you? I shipped it via the USPS International Priority Registered Mail. It never made it to her brother. Although I could have had it traced by the USPS, they were only on the hook for $20 at that point! She contested the whole transaction with Paypal and even though I had complete documentation of everything that happened, including custom forms, receipts, etc., Paypal ultimately took the the money back out of my account and gave it back to her. So I learned an expensive lesson! I don’t ship things to 3rd parties. I only ship to the registered PayPal address with full tracking and insurance.

It took me quite a will to get over that one and to sell again on eBay.

 

 

A couple of eBay tips from past experience and from the eBay pros

  • Start with a very low opening bid price. I usually go with $1. This encourages people to bid.
  • If you’re worried about your item not going for the price you want. Set a Reserve Price. This guarantees that your item won’t be sold for less than you want. Also this helps with the first bullet above.
  • Charge a reasonable shipping price. If your shipping price is too high, it can actually scare people away.
  • Have your auction end on Sunday night. 6PM PT seems to be the sweet spot that the pros say use. 
  • No need to go 7 days on popular items. Usually you want your item to be listed for a week. However, if you’re selling a hot item chances are you can sell it in 5 days or maybe even 3 days.
  • Communication, Communication, Communication! Be quick to answer questions about your item. Provide as many details as you can in your description.
  • Ship it via a trackable service such as the USPS, UPS or Fedex. Don’t ship to 3rd party addresses!
  • Insure your shipment for the price it would take to refund the buyer in case something happens (lost, stolen, damaged, etc.)
  • DON’T SHIP YOUR ITEM until the money has cleared. Be wary of fake Money Orders and Cashiers Checks. 
  • Be prepared to have the funds held up by Paypal. Paypal has started putting holds on funds from sales of electronics. This is to help protect the buyer. Once the buyer provides positive feedback or after a certain time frame (a couple of weeks), the funds are released to you.
  • Lastly DON’T agree to ANY side deals outside of the eBay/Paypal system. If you do you basically have no protection against scams.
  • UPDATE BONUS TIP from my buddy Bruce – when in doubt, ask for a phone number. Simple as that. If it’s a scam then most likely they won’t respond or won’t want to give you a number. If they do give you a number, call it. Granted someone who’s really out to scam could just keep getting fake numbers, but chances are it’s too much work for the average scammer.

 

 

The Bottom Line

I still find eBay to be very useful for selling my older gear. I just wish the process was easier to do and I’d be more inclined to do it more often. Sure there are services out there that will post your items on eBay for you, but usually their commissions are usually higher than I’m willing to pay.

Also be sure to check out the eBay Desktop AIR app for both Mac and Windows as well as the FREE eBay Mobile app for iPhone/iPod touch.

 

31 Replies to “Why isn’t eBay easier?”

  1. Good of you share that experience with us Terry, I am not a frequent ebay user but the third party shipping trick was new to me. Thanks for the heads up.

    BTW, regarding you new blog design, I really can’t get along with the angle of your mug shoot. It should be tipped to the negative of what the angle is now. Just another old picky designer!

  2. Great post!
    A lot to think of for us who has loads of old electronic stuff stored at home. =)

    /Robin

  3. Hey Terry – sad to hear your story about the iPhone. That would piss me off if that happened to me. As someone from the Philippines, I would actually advice you not to ship anything here that’s valuable. The postal system is not that great. I’d ship items here if they were books but if it were electronics, I would just ask someone to bring it to me.

  4. You are total correct, abay should be easier. I also save all of my original boxes etc but it takes me ages to get around to actually putting my no longer used gear onto ebay.

    If your selling your D300 what are you shooting with now?

  5. Thanks for the insight to your eBay experience. I am glad you mentioned Supreme Auction for Windows users…I have been looking for new eBay app to replace using Auctiva which started charging a monthly fee to use the service online which I have used previously. I am going to try the Supreme Auction software in the next week and hope it all goes well.

  6. Terry, I would suggest you do try the Craig’s List idea when trying to sell it locally. I much prefer to use Craig’s List to Ebay as you deal with local people, minimize scam problems, and do not have to deal with shipping. Scams still can happen (I had a guy from New Mexico wanting to buy my bunk beds in Wisconsin). I just tell myself that I will only sell to someone that comes to my house with cash to pick up the product.

    1. Steve, I hear ya. The problem is that I just don’t feel comfortable with a lot of strangers coming to my house. I’ll give it some thought.

      1. I agree with your sentiment Terry. I am ALWAYS nervous when we sell something on Craigslist. We sold an old bedroom set once, and the guy who came to pick it up was driving a gigantic SUV with GPS and had two women with him. The bedroom set was for “their bedroom”. He was greasy and sleazy… kinda made me think of a pimp actually. I was nervous having him show up at our door to pick up the merchandise.

        1. I’ve sold many items through Craigslist with both positive and negative outcomes. You should talk to the buyer on the phone to get a good idea of the person and if you feel comfortable meeting with them in person. I’ve encountered a few scam artists along the way as well. Be careful is all I can say.

          1. I’ve bought & sold a ton of things on craigslist. I have even made a fair amount of money this way. It’s a bit of a hassle as far as scammers & flakes etc. but once the transaction is completed I walk away from the exchange cash in hand.

            Here’s some tips:
            1) set-up a separate email account so that scam buyers don’t have access to your actual email adress. I also change change this every year or so, if I notice a lot of spam offering me money for deals with recently deceased rich Nigerian nationals.
            2) don’t share any personal information until you have communicated with the buyer and feel that they are serious about your item and not too sketchy
            3) I will not set up an appointment until the buyer sends me a contact phone number. I then call them (with my number blocked) to talk to them about the item or an appointment. If I feel comfortable about making an appointment I will give them a contact number over the phone or offer to email appointment details.
            4) unless it’s furniture, I meet buyers in a public location. (starbucks, parking lots) That way they don’t know where I live.
            5) never ever ever respond to the people who are interested in sending their “associates” to purchase your item as they are currently out of town. Once you respond to these scammers, you will be flooded with spam. (I know from experience hence my insistence on #1)

            I only recently sold a few items on ebay after years as a buyer. It wasn’t a bad experience, but I know there’s some of the risks you mentioned in your post.

      2. Terry,

        I’ve had lots of success on Craigslist. In fact I hardly ever use e-bay anymore. When delivering or picking something up, I always have the person come to my office during the day, or meet a neutral, populated area such as Best Buy parking lot. I usually bring someone with me as well. For furniture or larger things, I open the garage and put it out in the driveway when they are on the way. I then close the garage and my dog lets me know when they arrive. The person never sets foot in my house or garage.

  7. Ahh, I want it the D300. I’m in Thailand and usually shop from ebay but hardly to get what I want because of no shipping outside USA and I understand that why.

    I wish I could live in USA.

  8. Our local NBC affiliate offers a free a classified add section on their website. I have had more success selling here than on eBay. I think the biggest reason is if someone is interested they can meet up and see the product. In Utah its the premier way to buy and sell online.

  9. Technically, your title is misleading. It’s not that selling on eBay is particularly difficult, it’s that selling your stuff on ANY auction site takes time and effort. You’d have to go through all those steps for any auction.

    Keep in mind, though, that in the days before eBay, you’d be paying to take out an ad in your local newspaper and getting 1/20 what the item was worth. eBay has made it far easier and more profitable to sell unneeded items than ever before.

    I agree, however, that their customer ‘protection’ system is ridiculous. I bought an expensive item and when I received it, it had been severely misrepresented. I did exactly what the seller asked me to do (ship the item to a third party for evaluation) and they still refused to refund my money – and eBay backed them up because I no longer had the item in my possession.

    Still, I’m miles ahead using eBay for both buying and selling, so I can live with an occasional problem. I do NOT, however, ever leave money in my Paypal account.

  10. Terry, I love you blog and love the new design, but I do miss the simple button at the bottom to navigate to previous/older posts, instead of using the archives. I travel a lot for work so I sometimes go days without checking you blog… Any chance we can get that button back???

    Keep up the great posts, there are so many posts that I have enjoyed and learned from!

    Thx for dedicating time for sharing so much with us.

    Tiago

  11. Hmmm, first Scott Kelby is selling his D300. Now Terry is selling his. What does this say for the desirability of the D300 after Scott says he prefers his new D5000. Now if either one of them would sell direct to the reader base.

    1. William, both Scott and I have have other cameras. Like I said in my eBay listing, I’m using my D700 more now and the D300 was just sitting most of the time. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because I had a newer, better camera. When I got the D700, I figured I use the D300 as a backup and I did. Just not often enough to keep it. I’ve had my D300 since 2007, if it wasn’t desirable I wouldn’t have kept it that long.

  12. After many heavy sighs, and a closet full of multiplying electronics, although most were phones, I decided to try Gazelle.com when I sold my original iPhone. It worked so smoothly that I am doing the same thing with my 3G and several other electronics. While I don’t get the highest price that I might get with eBay, it’s hassle-free, green, and gets crap out of my closet.

  13. Of course Terry using an application such as garage sale will help you create, track and follow up on the sale. And it will help assure you did everything right.

  14. Hi Terry,

    Thinking of places to sell. Have you tried the NAPP forums. They do have the small section. You could always try there first, give it a few days if nothing happens go to ebay.

  15. Terry,

    As always to give good evaluations. I though I was unique in not wanting to bother with eBay. I just put up something on Craigslist. It was very easy to do.

    I also like the design of your new blog. Did you notice that today that Blurb Books is accepting PDF from InDesign?

  16. Hi Terry, just wanted to let you know about that Flikr badge. Currently it is not center aligned, if you are anything like me… if you see it once, it will drive you mad. Here is the CSS to fix it.

    If you look in your text widget, where you pasted the Flikr badge code, you should see something like this:

    .zg_div {margin:0 5px 5px 0;width:117px;}

    Change that to:

    .zg_div {margin:15 auto;width:117px;}

    That gives it a bit of room up top and bottom, the 15, and the auto says to give it automatic margins on the left and right. I just tested it in firebug, that should do the trick for you. Keep up the good work.

  17. And remember to check the buyer’s/seller’s overall rating and read individual comments of people who have conduced transactions with them. You may want to set thresholds. For example, I prefer to deal with customers who have had at least 10 completed transactions and who have an overall rating of 98% or better. These thresholds may change depending on the value of item involved and the risk level that you’re comfortable with. For example, I’ll use a different criteria if I’m buying/selling something valued at $25 vs. something that’s valued at $250. You should also determine how long the customer has had the ebay account.

    When I’m the seller, I won’t deal with a customer who has unpaid item strikes or other payment issues. When I’m the buyer, I won’t deal with a seller who has a history or no or slow shipments or product quality issues.

    Ebay does allow you to filter bids from customers that you’d rather not conduct business with – eg, out of country, those without PayPal, those with insufficient history or negative ratings, etc.

  18. Hi Terry, I enjoy your blog very much, read it regularly and appreciate all the time you take to share.

    This is for those who feel (or suspect) that selling on eBay is hard. If I were new to selling, the article and reader comments would totally scare me off eBay – so I’d like to add a bit of context from my own experience, and hope it helps a few folks.

    I’ve bought and sold occasionally on eBay for over nine years. When I started selling, the above concerns about the selling experience were absolutely true. Selling was difficult at best and often infuriating – selling functionality and help were confusing, you had to devise your own recordkeeping process, there was a considerable amount of risk, etc. That’s why third-party services such as Auctiva, Andale and Vendio found such a market. eBay finally wised up, and in recent years has completely streamlined the selling process. They’ve added workflow tools; the ability to create templates; a fulfillment process; payment services (PayPal); seller protection; and integration with USPS & UPS such that (IMO anyway) the average novice can start selling with a minimum of homework. I dropped the third-party selling app long ago, and my selling effort is pretty much limited to marketing my item – i.e., taking a few pictures and writing an accurate description. My saved template takes care of most of the rest. I’d like to offer two eBay selling tips in addition to all the good ones above:
    1) Completed auctions are a great resource for description and price – you can see the recent range of prices (successful and otherwise) and see how the higher-selling items were marketed/described
    2) If the item is valuable and you don’t want to let it go for a fraction of its worth, use Reserve Price in combination with a low starting bid. Reserve Price does cost $2 and does annoy some buyers (some will even ask what the reserve price is and get cranky if you choose not to tell them) but for me it’s worth knowing that any sale will be at least for the minimum I set.

    I have used Craigslist and yes it’s easy, but if I want the best return with the least risk and least overhead, eBay is my choice.

  19. It’s funny I stopped using eBay ages ago. Then ended up being just like my local flea market, filled with people selling the same new junk at far from good prices. Add in the fees and the trouble getting refunds should a sale go bad, the poor protection from scammers from both eBay and PayPal and I had had enough. I switched to Amazon.com and their Marketplace. I have made a lot more money through them for a lot less effort. You just have to find the item you want to list, select sell yours enter answer a couple questions, set your price and your done. I can literally list 20 items on Amazon in less than 5 minutes.

    The have done very well protecting me the one time I had a problem with a seller, their shipping is kept fair and honest for both the seller and the buyer (no $200 items for $1 with $400 shipping). Just a whole lot easier.

    As for the whole auction thing, well I have never been a fan of them. Set your price, someone wants it and pays it and its done. I see no point in making people bid up something as long as I get what I want for it that is all I care about.

    Try it you may like it. eBay is going the way of the dodo especially with their fees, poor support, hoops you have to jump through when a bidder doesn’t pay not to mention all of the cr@p that is listed by morons trying to make a living selling made in China knickknacks.

  21. In regards to selling you iPhone, do you remove the SIM card before you sell it. If not, how do you get rid of your phone number which seems to now be associated with it. Even though i’ve wiped/restored the phone, when i plug it into iTunes, it shows my phone number. My solution was to remove the SIM card, is there a better way to deal with this? Thanks for your help.

Comments are closed.