Selling on EBay the Easy Way
Some of you may not want to go through any of the hassle of selling on EBay. The truth is that creating the ad is only one portion of the process. You still have to deal with the buyer -- collecting the money, packing and shipping the item, and hoping for good feedback.
You can have someone else do it for you. The company is ISold It, and there are about 140 franchises in major cities. There's one here in Pasadena. I haven't tried it yet, but I will, and report back to you soon.
The company's pitch is straightforward: Bring in the item and walk away. ISold It takes the photos, creates the listings, packs and ships the item, and sends you a check. If it sells, that it--and you get roughly 60 percent of the purchase price. Not everything sells, and you have the option of picking up the item or letting the store donate it to a local charity.
In addition to EBay's fees, ISold It charges a flat $5 per item plus 30 percent of the first $500 and 20 percent over $500. You can view the current auctions to see how they're doing.
EBay Goofs -- and Bargains
If you're on the buying end of EBay, you're probably aware that you can get amazing bargains if an item is misspelled. That's because you might be the only buyer using the same misspelling -- and become the only buyer. To find all the misspellings, you just have to use Fat Fingers. Play around with it. Some searches come up with nada; others, such as the one I did for a Nikon camera, came up with some good hits.
And while you're poking around, take a quick, easy look Toolhaus. Just enter the user's EBay user ID and get to see any negative feedback about that person.
Two EBay Books
I don't know if you still read books, but I have two to recommend.
"eBay: The Missing Manual" is a comprehensive tome -- over 400 pages. Written by Nancy Conner, it covers everything you need to know about buying, finding, and selling on eBay. (ISBN 0596006446; about $17 on Amazon.)
"The eBay Survival Guide: How to Make Money and Avoid Losing Your Shirt" also talks about buying and selling, but provides more insider tips than the Missing Manual. (ISBN: 1593270631; about $14 on Amazon).
Do you have a favorite EBay tool? Drop me a note in Comments below.
Kill Some Time
You want to learn how the Ctrl-Alt-Delete combination (better known as the three-fingered salute) came into existence? Watch this short video with the explanation -- and make sure you catch Bill's reaction.
Editorial change: I fixed a rather dumb typo caught by an alert reader [Thanks, Steve!]
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If you're going to be listing a bunch of items at the same time, eBay offers TurboLister, a tool for doing mass listings. It's very cool, and it's free.
The eBay toolbar for the browser is an excellent tool also, for tracking your sales, bids, items you're watching, PayPal, etc. - and also tells you if you're on a PayPal or eBay phishing site. Also free.
tomb - A grave or other place of burial.
tome - A book, especially a large or scholarly one.
There is another company offering ebay drop off store services in Euope. The name of it is MyDrop2Sell.com