What's On Ebay?

Finally :) Here is my first post on Ebay. From a number of people I have heard that they are scared of Ebay. I have heard that it is hard or they have heard stories of people not paying. I have only had very positive experiences with Ebay and with a little work it is quite easy to do!

Where to start?

1. Sign up for an account with Ebay. There will be a button that says "Register" right under "New to Ebay" - they make it easy. Then all you have to do is fill out a small form, pick a user name and you can begin to look around. You can look around as a guest but you can't watch an auction unless you are registered. And by watch I mean follow.

2. What are you going to sell? For a lot of us moms the thing we have the most of are kids toys and clothes! I would say the easiest thing to sell is clothes - mostly because they are cheap to ship, store and list. The buyer pays shipping but who wants to pay $15 to ship a toy but a larger toy could cost you that much and you don't want to lose money by charging to little but you don't want to turn buyers away by charging too much - see the dilemma?

3. Once you've decided what to sell you need to research your item. Look up the item you intend to sell and see how much others are getting for it. If the item isn't selling then you can easily donate it or set it aside for a consignment or yard sale without worry that you've lost money.

****Here's why I find Gymboree to be the easiest to sell. Gymboree has lines specific to its clothes. For example - I listed a dress on Sunday (see picture below) that comes from Gymboree's Ice Cream Social line from last year. But how do I know that? Some lines I remember but when I can't I check out Gymbohaven. It's a free site that lets you know what item came from what line. If you can't remember what year you bought your item from Gymboree check the tag - 95% of the time the tag will be a year ahead of the line (clothes I buy today will say 2008 on the tag because that is the year in which they were made).****



Preparing to list your item:

1. Make sure your item is clean and pressed Presentation is everything!

2. Take a very clear picture. The best camera with the best angle is very important. If you have a picture of your child in the outfit and feel comfortable putting that up I would do it. It's like modeling - works for magazines, works for Ebay. DO take your own pictures becuase this is the clearest way to show the item as it is which means you are not mis-representing yourself.

3. Check your item thoroughly for any blemishes - you will want to note them in your item description. You can sell items with minor blemishes as long as you make the buyer aware of them.

Your homework: prepare some items for Ebay and look around to get an idea of the sale price. Check back later this week and I'll share how to list your things.

In the meantime take a look at one of my current listings to get an idea for what it looks like and how it sells:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=160310883579