If I want, can I sell to the bidder directly? I don't really know how bidding/ selling works. For example, if I want to stop the auction after someone has bid, and maybe use a different sending method or w/e, can I due that? Does the buyer pay through eBay, or can I just use eBay as a place to notify people of the product and sell directly to him without going through eBay? Thanks.
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Selling on eBay
- Thread starter zorg
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Please visit eBay.com and read the intro paragraphs for buyers.
If you don't understand the terms and conditions, then don't use eBay.
Terminating an auction early to sell to one bidder is technically possible, but do it often and get banned. Plus it irritates the hell out of those who were bidding in good faith. You can put a paragraph into the auction saying the item is subject to local sale and may be terminated.
In your auction description you can set the method of payment you will accept. On method is through eBay's subsiduary, PayPal, if you sign up for an account. That's the only way that payment is mediated "through" eBay.
You could specify payment only by money order, but nobody would bid because there is no protection for the buyer and they will view you as a scammer.
The main thing is, within the rules set by eBay, you must define all of the terms of your auction in your auction. You cannot alter those terms later. For example, you can't say "free shipping" and then when bought, say "Oh no shipping is $20". Make sure your terms are clear and accurate.
If you don't understand the terms and conditions, then don't use eBay.
Terminating an auction early to sell to one bidder is technically possible, but do it often and get banned. Plus it irritates the hell out of those who were bidding in good faith. You can put a paragraph into the auction saying the item is subject to local sale and may be terminated.
In your auction description you can set the method of payment you will accept. On method is through eBay's subsiduary, PayPal, if you sign up for an account. That's the only way that payment is mediated "through" eBay.
You could specify payment only by money order, but nobody would bid because there is no protection for the buyer and they will view you as a scammer.
The main thing is, within the rules set by eBay, you must define all of the terms of your auction in your auction. You cannot alter those terms later. For example, you can't say "free shipping" and then when bought, say "Oh no shipping is $20". Make sure your terms are clear and accurate.
zorg said:
Well that `d be called Cheating and may come close to FRAUD. You just cant use ebay to notify people and then sell it directly instead and not pay ebay it`s fees.
But if you mean that you want to have a personal transaction with the person and dont want the payment through Paypal etc, you`ll be fine as long as you pay ebay the fees it demands. And yes, you have an option to end the auction early and sell it to the highest bidder if you wish to.
It`s not at all necessary to pay through ebay`s PAYPAL. But since you are new to ebay, I wont recommend it at all. Paying/receiveng the payment through paypal reduces the risk of a fraud. It`s highly recommended to use PAYPAL and stay away from direct p2p transaction when you are buying/selling through ebay.
Watchers will wait untl the last few minutes of an auction and snipe to get the best deal. There's not much incentive for anyone to move the bidding up in the first few days because that just means it'll cost them more money in the end iff they win. The idea is to get a bidding war going in the last couple hours. Recently I sold a microphone and in the last 20 minutes it went from about 375.00 to just shy of 600.00. Funny thing is, I only payed a little over 500.00 for the mic brand new....two years ago. So yeah if you have an in demand item (and macs definatley are) your odds of doing well on ebay go way up. It helps if you have a good seller rating though.
Some watchers simply watch to see how your item will fair, because they have a similar item. I do this all the time to keep track of potential earnings and trends for an item I am about to sell.
Also, if you were to list on eBay and pull it, you are still charged the fees. They are NOT REFUNDED IF YOU END EARLY.
Another thing. You CAN NOT cancel an auction once it has less than 12 hours left. You can cancel bids, but not the auction. And no person can retract bids after 12 hours are left.
Also, if you were to list on eBay and pull it, you are still charged the fees. They are NOT REFUNDED IF YOU END EARLY.
Another thing. You CAN NOT cancel an auction once it has less than 12 hours left. You can cancel bids, but not the auction. And no person can retract bids after 12 hours are left.
I will just add my ebay link here, for more "publicity." Tell me what you think...http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=9728023648&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MESE:IT&rd=1
Your auction is very unimpressive. Your title probably is not bringing any lookers, because it lacks the word DUAL! And you have a dual g5 config. You are not going to get a good price for this. Those who are lucky enough to click and take a look are going to cash in big time.
Starting your auction at $1,500 does not attract bidders. Most will skip over you. A 7day listing with only 147 views is an indication of that.
Since you have no bid, I would recommend revising and adding Dual to the title. Remove the spaces between the numbers and GHZ and GB. Most people type them together. Add the numbers on the end if you have space.
There may be some other improvements you can make as well. I can't really think of any at the moment.
Starting your auction at $1,500 does not attract bidders. Most will skip over you. A 7day listing with only 147 views is an indication of that.
Since you have no bid, I would recommend revising and adding Dual to the title. Remove the spaces between the numbers and GHZ and GB. Most people type them together. Add the numbers on the end if you have space.
There may be some other improvements you can make as well. I can't really think of any at the moment.
Try looking at your grammatical errors.
It should read "The monitor has no dead pixels and is in excellent shape. The hard drive will be reformatted for the winning bidder.", or something similar.
You can set a reserve, but that also looks bad. Things like this sell when you have an atractive well layed out auction. You could have started it at $.99 and it would have gone as high as you wanted if you had the auction looking smoking. eBay is tricky like that. To ensure that you get the amount you want you can set a reserve though.
zorg said:
zorg said:
I have been ebaying for many years. You simply need to change your thinking. If you want the best sale price you need to do two things for an item with large demand (like a newish Mac computer). First is have no reserve price. Second is start the bidding at $1. I do the same for ALL my auctions and only get burned on very low demand items (and if they have no demand I could not have sold them with a higher set price anyhow, could I?). On items in demand the price ALWAYS goes beyond what you would hope for simply because of the number of people bidding. As your auction stands now, you might get lucky and get a bid, but you might not.
Another thing hurting you badly is your lack of a substantial feedback history. Having a rating of only 1 is keeping MANY potential bidders away (in your favor however is that you have had the account set up for three years--but with almost no activity people will wonder what is going on). Too many scammers use ebay. They set up accounts, advertise big ticket items, collect the money, and then disappear. Many will fear that of you. I myself would not buy such an expensive item from someone new to ebay (unless I could pick it up locally and pay cash for it--I don't fear getting robbed because if picking it up locally and paying cash was MY idea then I don't suspect the seller put the auction up with the hope of getting a local buyer to buy and pay cash so that they could rob them. And secondly you will likely be coming to their home or a place familiar to them, increasing their chances of being caught if they did rob you.)
You have a nice machine. It has a large demand. But people want a bargain on ebay and are shopping for price and for the safest sellers. You offer neither (at least on the surface).
Apple offers in their refurbished section a dual 2 ghz for $1549. Granted it only has 512mb of ram and no monitor. But a buyer there gets a warranty and a guarantee of it working perfectly and peace of mind. With an unknown seller on ebay a buyer gets none of that. That is worth $.
Anyhow, I hope you can sell it, but if not relist it using my technique and I know you will be pleased in the end.
Oh, another thing. If the auction ends with no bids, relist it in two auctions. One for the monitor and one for the computer. Including the monitor drives some away because many already have a monitor and don't want to pay more for your auction because of the included monitor and because of the extra shipping cost and because they then have to dispose of it somehow. If you sell the monitor separate you will make more overall anyhow.
PS Because you take personal checks, if the buyer pays that way, make sure the money clears before you ship.
PS II Consider listing something on ebay as locked in stone. Once listed it is to be sold via the high bidder. Period. Any other way will eventually drive future bidders away.
That is where you are wrong. That item would not sell for $50. Ever. You have 16 people watching it, if it started at $.99 you would have bids and competition starting already. That is how eBay works, whats the point of some bidding on yours at $1500 when they could bid on a lower set auction and potentially win it for less? Looking at the completed auctions in your category you started at the average selling price.
You need to learn eBay and its nuances before you start selling high ticket items and getting burned or not driving competition because of bad listing practices.
You need to learn eBay and its nuances before you start selling high ticket items and getting burned or not driving competition because of bad listing practices.
zorg said: