Not quite an eBay virgin

[great central]

Ladies and gentlemen, your indulgence if I may?

My modelling interest went for a walk a good many years ago now and doesn't seem in any hurry to return, so with this in mind and the fact I'm already the wrong side of 65, still working full time, mainly because I enjoy my job, and I have many 'projects' that are now unlikely to even get started let alone finished I'm looking to sell some of them on.

The money would come in useful, as I seem to be spending a bit on various cars, and maybe clearing the decks a bit might encourage me to actually get on with something?

I've used eBay in the past but not for many years now and there often seem to be a good number of negative comments and potential pitfalls mentioned.

I wonder if some of you would be so kind as to give me a bit of a tutorial on what to look out for. I do have a PayPal account but I've never really used it to receive money.

For instance, as far as I can figure out it seems most transactions are now required to be done through PayPal, when I last used it cheques (remember them?) were considered perfectly acceptable.

I do realise that there's probably all these kind of things covered in the various topics but it would be helpful if a regular user could summarise them please?

  Thank you in advance.

 

Neill (GC)

[Michael Hodgson]

You don't need a paypal account to sell these days, but buyers can still pay using that (and almost everyone will).  Proceeds of sale less ebay fees will go into your bank account as ebay have just changed the rules for most people.  You will need your bank account details on ebay.

 

You need to take good quality photos of items of rolling and  write a decent description, listing any faults such as missing couplings etc.  This can be tedious.

In the case of locos, it is certainly worth saying how well they run (or that they don't if applicable)

It may be sensible to sell wagons as job lots of at least 3 or 4 so that P&P isn't excessive.

List as auctions not buy-it-now, and a low starting price is OK as people do bid if it's less than the item is worth. 

Don't expect to sell a complete layout.  Used track, controllers and scenery may sell but generally not for very much.. 

 

Current new models are vastly better quality than what the trade produced twenty years ago, but at the end of the day it's worth what somebody is prepared to pay, and ebay does give everybody a chance of seeing what's available.  You will probably get less than you expect on many items and perhaps be amazed at how much something goes for that it highly sough after.

 

If you still have the original boxes, include those  - may increase what you get.

 

For items likely to fetch more than about a tenner it is worth waiting until ebay send you an offer for cheap listing or the ebay fees can be a bit much.

[Graham108]

18 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

ebay send you an offer for cheap listing

Do you need to register for such things? I've been a user of ebay for years but I never get anything from them.

[great central]

Thanks for that Michael, I find the linking of my bank account to eBay a bit worrying, probably due to having it hacked some years ago, but I suppose if it's now a requirement everyone's in the same boat.

Most of what I'm looking to sell is either older RTR or kits, bits and pieces I've picked up over the years. 

I presume fees are based on a percentage of the sale price, as per most other auctions?

[Michael Hodgson]

I used to get an unsolicited message about once a month, valid for 2-3 days allowing me a £1 max final value fee for up to 100 items. 

 

They don't make the offer to everyone at the same time, and it's unclear what their selection criteria are.  It might be based on my profitability to ebay or level of sales, but I don't know.   For historic reasons I have two user ids and have had the offer on one and not the other a few times.

 

They have recently changed their approach and I think they are sending offers of something like a percentage off their usual fee, but I've not seen anything since they rolled out their new fee structure - and therefore not yet relisted the items that didn't sell

[Michael Hodgson]

3 minutes ago, great central said:

Most of what I'm looking to sell is either older RTR or kits, bits and pieces I've picked up over the years. 

I presume fees are based on a percentage of the sale price, as per most other auctions?

Some unbuilt kits can be worth quite a bit, especially if you can also supply the required extras like motor/gears.wheels

Built kits vary in value, depending on standard of build/paintjob, and of course on how well they run.

Fee is an initial fee (waived for private sellers) plus a formula listed on the ebay site, depending on how much it actually sells for, including P&P charge.

[AY Mod]

11 minutes ago, great central said:

I find the linking of my bank account to eBay a bit worrying, probably due to having it hacked some years ago, but I suppose if it's now a requirement everyone's in the same boat.

 

If it's an old account and you've never changed your eBay password do so before you sell anything. They had a sizeable data breach a few years back.

 

Just to be on the safe side.

[96701]

Think about getting a tripod for your camera if you don't already have one. It makes photographing things much easier.

[forest2807]

Poundland is good for parcel tape, bubble wrap and other wrapping essentials, and cheaper than a Post Office.

Ebay’s £1 selling fee offers appear to have turned into £3 offers, (that’s the offer I received today at least, maybe the £1 offers will return), perhaps due to the new system and sellers not paying PayPal fees any more.

Look within the model railway category on eBay and buy some flat pack boxes that are specifically designed to be the right size for locos/coaches. I recently bought 50 at less than a pound each.

Royal Mail small parcels are a maximum of 45x35x16cm. Most single items of rolling stock will comfortably fit within those limits. Buying a postage label through EBay and printing at home reduces the cost of a 2nd Class transaction a little - by 20p I think but if anyone knows differently they can put me right!

h

Hope that helps a little.

[Hroth]

Presenting your items is important, a few clear photographs can help a lot.  Too many ebay photos seem to have been taken at the last minute using a phone camera in poor light. They're fuzzy, the background may be inappropriate and in some cases the vendor is holding the item in their other hand...

 

If you have a digital camera with an optical zoom and a tripod socket, then you're well on the way. If not, have a look on ebay for a compact camera with an optical zoom. Anything above 5 Mp will be fine and as mentioned by 96701, a tripod is an essential item to keep the camera rock steady. 

 

You don't need too many photos. One from either side, one from underneath (especially for a loco!) and a couple of detail shots if there is anything of interest.

If you're selling a loco, frame it so you can see from coupling to coupling.

It might be helpful to glue some track to a board, with a neutral coloured piece of card behind so locos, coaches or rakes of wagons can be photographed neatly.  And on a nice day, you can take the whole lot outside and photograph in natural light!

 

Sorry for the rant, but I've seen too many ebay listings where the photographs put me off bidding!

 

[Phil Parker]

You don't need a mega camera, but plenty of light (free outside) and a clean background such as some white paper will help a lot. Take lots of photos and only use the good ones. If it's out of focus, delete it.

 

Think about the buyer when writing a description. The more detail you put in the happier they will be to bid.

 

Make sure you list in the right area of the site.

 

Or, ignore all this and see your stuff snapped up for no money by people who will then relist it properly - that's what all the "get rich quick on eBay" schemes were years ago. I once met someone whose husband did this, and in a year, raised enough money to take a family of 4 on holiday - to Australia!

[cessna152towser]

13 hours ago, forest2807 said:

Buying a postage label through EBay and printing at home reduces the cost of a 2nd Class transaction a little - by 20p I think but if anyone knows differently they can put me right!

Check first if your local post office will accept this.   My local post office refused to accept a parcel with an eBay pre-printed label as they said it was underpaid.  Wouldn't let me pay the excess and I had all the hassle of paying full price at the post office and claiming a refund from eBay on the unused label.   Since then, another post office elsewhere in town told me that they would have accepted an eBay prepaid label.

Edited May 14, 2021 by cessna152towser

[great central]

Thank you all for the various tips, plenty to think about. 

 

[John M Upton]

Forget about buying postage labels through eBay and use the Royal Mail's online click and drop facility instead.  Far easier to use, you still get it cheaper than over the counter and they take card or PayPal.

 

You can then drop off nice and quick at a Post Office (they will scan it in and provide a proof of posting receipt) or drop it a good old fashioned post box.

 

[Esmedune]

I would recommend following the main items on eBay, so that you can see what kind of prices people are asking, and more importantly, what prices things actually sell at. Looking at the list of a particular item and thinking, "Oh the go for {so much}" is not the case, as you will see items that are over-priced not selling and getting relisted. Follow the cheap listings and see what they eventually get.

[Barclay]

This is interesting as I too am preparing to sell for the first time. I had looked into it a while ago and it seemed that monies received could just stay on your Paypal account, thereby obviating the need to link it to a bank account. I daresay I would spend more than I receive so this would be perfectly satisfactory. Is this no longer the case or did I get the wrong end of the stick?

 

Many thanks.

[friscopete]

On 14/05/2021 at 20:51, cessna152towser said:

Check first if your local post office will accept this.   My local post office refused to accept a parcel with an eBay pre-printed label as they said it was underpaid.  Wouldn't let me pay the excess and I had all the hassle of paying full price at the post office and claiming a refund from eBay on the unused label.   Since then, another post office elsewhere in town told me that they would have accepted an eBay prepaid label.

Just use Royal Mail click and drop .Its easy and for 70 p they will collect it  too which means I can send insured stuff all over the world without leaving my home.As to selling, be completely accurate in your description .I have sold trains that were crap and described them as such ,pile of junk is another good description if it fits .Some one will love it .The magic "sold as is 'covers a lot and please see photos covers another lot .tell em the truth .

       For instance If I was  to sell my lated repainted and motored  H0n3 brass loco I would describe it as DC,nice slow smooth runner,runs through peco switches,Scalecoat paint ,remotored with square can motor .no glued on componants.All drilled out for DCC ,lights ,speaker etc .Sold"As is"  due nasty habits of brass locos to suddenly show their age when mailed and parts falling off.Double  bubble wrapped  ,ie loco  box inside another larger .

hope it helps

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by friscopete

[Blandford1969]

43 minutes ago, Barclay said:

This is interesting as I too am preparing to sell for the first time. I had looked into it a while ago and it seemed that monies received could just stay on your Paypal account, thereby obviating the need to link it to a bank account. I daresay I would spend more than I receive so this would be perfectly satisfactory. Is this no longer the case or did I get the wrong end of the stick?

 

Many thanks.

You can't have money paid to paypal now, only to a bank account. There is a separate thread on what quite a few people think. Personally I've just cancelled all 856 of my listings and will not do any selling on there for a while to see what happens. 

[Nick C]

Something that's not been suggested yet - sell some of it though here! You'll need the "World of Railways Plus" membership to list stuff on the RMWeb classifieds, but if you've got quite a few things to sell it'll probably work out cheaper than the eBay fees - they charge 10% of the total including postage if you don't get one of the "max £1/£3" offers, so you'd only need to sell £800 worth (a handful of locos at current prices) to cost more than a year's one-off gold membership...

[Michael Hodgson]

4 hours ago, Nick C said:

 if you've got quite a few things to sell it'll probably work out cheaper than the eBay fees - they charge 10% of the total including postage if you don't get one of the "max £1/£3" offers,

 

Out of date - the percentage has gone up to 12.8% plus 30p, but you used to have paypal fees on top of that (unless you managed to get cash on collection or payment by cheque etc), money which is now going into Ebay's coffers

[GWR-fan]

While I do not sell eBay items in the UK,  I have sold several thousand model railway items from "OO" to garden "G" scale.  When I list an item I provide numerous images plus a detailed accurate description.   I arrange a listing with a view to it being me that is buying the item.  If I purchased it would I be happy with the item or would I believe that the seller had deceived me with an erroneous description or carefully aligned images that failed to reveal any damaged or missing parts.  I once purchased a West country loco that the seller had arranged the images so that only one side of the loco was visible.  He failed to mention that the right side air deflector was missing.  Prior listing ensure that the item runs well and detail any defects so that when you compile the listing nothing is missed.    Also be prepared to receive the most inane and stupid questions in response to your listings or the frustration due to potential buyers not taking the time to actually read the listing.  Many simply look at the images, ignoring the description,  particularly if you have a few rules to be followed in your listing as to your conditions of sale.