eBay selling advice

catii said:
I was really surprised when my Executor sister sent me a really heavy box, telling me that it was part of my share of our parents' estate. Then I was shocked, when I saw that it was all Sterling flatware, because I had never seen them use silverware over the course of 60 years! Sister agreed that she had never seen it, either, & guessed that it was our grandparents'. In any case, there was no emotional content in disposing of it.

I finally got tired of auction sites, & Replacements' offer was lower than I was willing to accept. So I took the simplest road, & melted the 250+ inherited pieces of Sterling flatware into several 100 Troy ounce bars. I used to make jewelry as a hobby, so I had all the equipment I needed. They aren't "pretty bars," but I did the melt back when silver was selling for around $16, & I'm glad that I was patient!!

Right now, I'm using one bar as a paperweight to keep the fan from blowing some papers that I'm digitizing, so I'm actually getting some use out of the silverware! All the other bars are in our big vault, waiting until silver tops $50! We don't need the $$, but I'm sure that we can figure something fun to do with about $20K!
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How do you certify that home melt bars are really silver when it comes time to sell?
 
COcheesehead said:
If you are using the selling template correctly, eBay will give you an accurate shipping estimate. Always make the buyer pay for shipping.
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This is what I always thought, but lately I see lots of “free shipping” listings. My sense is that buyers have gotten so used to free shipping from Amazon that it’s become more the norm. I suppose as a seller you’d need to bake that into the asking price. Thoughts?
 
pdxgal said:
This is what I always thought, but lately I see lots of “free shipping” listings. My sense is that buyers have gotten so used to free shipping from Amazon that it’s become more the norm. I suppose as a seller you’d need to bake that into the asking price. Thoughts?
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There's no such thing as free shipping. It's just a marketing gimmick. For ebay, when you use product research to check sold comps, pay attention to how many of them used "free" shipping. That will give you a sense of what the norm is for that item. If you find that most did use "free" shipping, then yes, you just add the cost to the item price. Whether you charge $20+$5 shipping or $25 with "free" shipping ultimately doesn't matter. Just keep in mind that postage is based on destination as well as size and weight so make sure you add enough to the price to cover shipping to the farthest point.
 
pdxgal said:
This is what I always thought, but lately I see lots of “free shipping” listings. My sense is that buyers have gotten so used to free shipping from Amazon that it’s become more the norm. I suppose as a seller you’d need to bake that into the asking price. Thoughts?
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In the selling template, eBay will tell how many listings for an item include free shipping. For my listings it’s usually a small percentage. I don’t do free shipping.
 
ocean view said:
Yes, I did consider sold items when setting my prices, so I feel like they are just low-balling me. I guess I’ll just keep tweaking my listings until I find the right balance. Today I turned off the “make an offer” option for those items where I was already giving a volume discount.
Thanks for your input
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Yes everyone will low ball you but more likely your stuff is not worth what you think it is worth. No one is buying Silver services anymore, too much work.. that fancy china with the gold or silver trim that can’t go in a microwave is almost useless to most people nowadays. Collecting was once a thing but it has fallen out of favor despite the amount of u store it places being built, garages so full of stuff there is no room for a car! Selling off my fathers stuff was more like finding folks to just take stuff off my hands…. If not a verifiable antique…. Forget it!
 
I don't allow offers. I set a reasonable price and things always sell. Although, if you're selling hundreds of items you almost have to use the offer feature. You can't sit on things forever.
 
I allow offers because I want to get rid of what I am selling. Sometimes people just want $5-$10 off and that’s fine with me.
 
Retired Expat said:
Yes everyone will low ball you but more likely your stuff is not worth what you think it is worth. No one is buying Silver services anymore, too much work.. that fancy china with the gold or silver trim that can’t go in a microwave is almost useless to most people nowadays.
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So far this year, I've sold about $12,000 worth of china, much of which has the gold and platinum trim that you mentioned. LOTS AND LOTS of people still buy and use fine china. Same for silver. I don't sell much personally but plenty of sellers do.

Of course, I love when people think like you because those are the people I will buy a set of china from for $50 and turn around and sell it for $500 or more. I can't tell you how many times people tell me "nobody wants china". Fine with me. I'll keep raking in the bucks reselling that stuff that "nobody wants".
 
I just listed an item using the selling tool. eBay told me the suggested starting price, the median selling price and how many have sold with free shipping. In this case 38%. I use those as guides.
 
COcheesehead said:
I just listed an item using the selling tool. eBay told me the suggested starting price, the median selling price and how many have sold with free shipping. In this case 38%. I use those as guides.
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I would not trust ANY of that info. Absolutely do your own research. Check comps with product research. Never do anything based on eBay’s recommendations and absolutely avoid any AI tools they offer.
 
disneysteve said:
I would not trust ANY of that info. Absolutely do your own research. Check comps with product research. Never do anything based on eBay’s recommendations and absolutely avoid any AI tools they offer.
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I find them very useful and inline with looking at prior sales.
 
Maybe I have overlooked it, but eBay now allows you to search on an image, not just a word search.
 
Slightly off-topic, but I was wondering if any of you use ebay promotions. I've always avoided it, because I'm not affected by promotions. But I guess it make shopping easier for some. I don't understand how much it costs and if it actually helps. Any enlightenment for me?
 
cheyrl said:
Slightly off-topic, but I was wondering if any of you use ebay promotions. I've always avoided it, because I'm not affected by promotions. But I guess it make shopping easier for some. I don't understand how much it costs and if it actually helps. Any enlightenment for me?
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I’ve used it once or twice. Attractive items sell on their own without the extra cost. I avoid it now.
 
disneysteve said:
So far this year, I've sold about $12,000 worth of china, much of which has the gold and platinum trim that you mentioned. LOTS AND LOTS of people still buy and use fine china. Same for silver. I don't sell much personally but plenty of sellers do.

Of course, I love when people think like you because those are the people I will buy a set of china from for $50 and turn around and sell it for $500 or more. I can't tell you how many times people tell me "nobody wants china". Fine with me. I'll keep raking in the bucks reselling that stuff that "nobody wants".
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I was really surprised to read this. My friend inherited some good China and we looked to see if it was valuable and it wasn’t. We tried to sell it on Facebook marketplace and next-door unsuccessfully. We then been donated it to a thrift store and started to notice that many of our thrift stores have China sets.
 
I never use the promotions and rarely allow offers. I set a fair price and it will eventually sell. I'm usually in no hurry. I never use the ebay selling tool to set price because it seems to disregard the condition of the item. For example I sold an item yesterday for $54.99 in less than 2 hours from when I posted it. Ebay suggested selling it for $28 or $29. In looking at the comps, the ones in the $28 dollar range were either used and/or in poor condition. Mine was new, never used, and was sold in the original undamaged box.
 
cheyrl said:
Slightly off-topic, but I was wondering if any of you use ebay promotions. I've always avoided it, because I'm not affected by promotions. But I guess it make shopping easier for some. I don't understand how much it costs and if it actually helps. Any enlightenment for me?
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It's a money grab by ebay. I've actually been told that verbatim by someone I know who works for ebay.

ebay is very vague in describing what added benefit you will get for promoting your items. Supposedly it makes them show up better in searches, but there's literally no way to prove that. Plus if you promote your items at 2% and everyone else promotes theirs at 3%, you'll still be lower down than everyone else. And then of course ebay suggests promoting at ridiculous levels like 11% or 15%. Just ignore that.

Here's what I say in our ebay groups. A high quality listing for a high demand item will sell fine without promoting. A low quality listing for a low demand item won't sell even with promoting. Rather than throwing money at it, focus on creating high quality listings - great photos, keyword-laden titles, detailed descriptions, competitive prices, a good return policy, and great customer feedback. NO AI! Absolutely no AI images or descriptions. Some sellers report using AI to help write their titles so that might be okay though I don't do that either.
 
Teacher Terry said:
I was really surprised to read this. My friend inherited some good China and we looked to see if it was valuable and it wasn’t. We tried to sell it on Facebook marketplace and next-door unsuccessfully. We then been donated it to a thrift store and started to notice that many of our thrift stores have China sets.
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Not every pattern has good value but plenty of them do. Not on Marketplace or Next Door though. You'd need to sell it on ebay or to Replacements. Those are the two places I sell mine.

And yes, thrift shops have a ton of china and it's usually pretty cheap. That's where I buy most of the stuff I resell. It's a gold mine when you know what you're doing. I can walk into Goodwill, spend $50, and get $500 worth of china.
 
freedomatlast said:
I never use the promotions and rarely allow offers. I set a fair price and it will eventually sell. I'm usually in no hurry. I never use the ebay selling tool to set price because it seems to disregard the condition of the item. For example I sold an item yesterday for $54.99 in less than 2 hours from when I posted it. Ebay suggested selling it for $28 or $29. In looking at the comps, the ones in the $28 dollar range were either used and/or in poor condition. Mine was new, never used, and was sold in the original undamaged box.
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Ignore ALL recommendations from ebay when it comes to pricing, shipping cost, promotions, or anything else financial. Their recommendations are completely worthless. The only reliable way to know how much to charge for something is to check sold comps with Product Research on ebay.
 
disneysteve said:
Ignore ALL recommendations from ebay when it comes to pricing, shipping cost, promotions, or anything else financial. Their recommendations are completely worthless. The only reliable way to know how much to charge for something is to check sold comps with Product Research on ebay.
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Shipping cost? I weigh my items and it calculates the cost - at a profit for me. I don’t find that an issue.
 
Good for you all for selling China and making $$$. For me I found unless its rare its worthless. You guys can sell my Waterford crystal and tiffiny glasses. Lol.
 
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