Two weeks ago I took you on an eight-lesson cruise around eBay: Seven Things I’ve Learned Selling on eBay.
Now I’ve reeled in six Musings of a Flopping eBay Fish Seller.
1 Don’t Mess With Low-Profit Items — Effective yesterday, if I can’t earn at least $5 free and clear, I refuse to list it on eBay. Period. Why should I? I’m supplementing my too-low income, not merely engaging a hobby or indulging an addiction. If I must, I’ll combine items. For instance, instead of listing a single 1000-Peso Mexican coin, I did a lot of three. Not only does it take the same amount of time to list, I can offer buyers a better shipping rate. And my per hour income is more worth my time.
2 If You Must Relist, Raise the Price — That’s right. Mark Roth will give his wannabe buyers one opportunity to buy at his lowest price. If they think they can out-wait him for a lower price, I’ve just forewarned them. 
3 Offer Free Shipping — Yes, free is a four-letter word, but it’s what makes the Internet go around. So leap aboard the Ferris wheel (or is it a merry-go-round?). But first count the cost (yours!) of free…and factor that into your starting bid or your Buy It Now price. 😯 Yeah. Really and truly. If I have an item I would list for $8 with $5 shipping, I’d list it for $13 with free shipping. I like to see that round orange FREE shipping graphic on my listing! (And the Free Shipping in the search results.)
4 Check Completed Auctions — So I have some old boxes of Amoco Parowax. Are they eBay material? Probably. Do I want to mess with them? Sure. Should I? I don’t know, yet. First (of course), I search eBay to see if there are any current listings. If current auctions aren’t moving the things at prices that meet Lesson 1 above, that’s Strike One. Next, I adjust the search results to show only completed items. If the results also fall short of Lesson 1, that’s Strike Two and Strike Three. I’ll just leave those old boxes of paraffin in the kitchen cupboard where I spied them two days ago. 😆
5 Check Amazon’s Listings — I like listing on Amazon because usually I don’t have to take pictures and mess with detailed descriptions. And I can leave my item there as long as I want. Sure, they charge a higher commission and might not charge enough for shipping, but I price accordingly. (On February 15 I sold an old and never opened Lego set for $35 on Amazon, excluding shipping. The day before on eBay, three auctions for the same thing closed at $15.99, $16.00, and $33.99. Why mess around with eBay?!)
6 Try eBay’s BayEstimator — I think it’s still in beta or demo mode, but it seems to work. I think it still needs plenty of tweaking, but you might find it helpful. I know it’s a corny name, but go ahead and give it a twirl.
That’s all for now. This took far too long. 🙁
Do me a favor now? 🙂 Please click the Facebook Like button at the right and/or use the sharing buttons below. Thanks!
Oh, and also visit my current auctions?