response 1 of 31:

Jun 6 00:18 UTC 2006

well, I have yet to offer something for sale on ebay although I have
bought plenty of things. Is it difficult to sell stuff if you dont have
a rating as a seller?

Also, how do to determine how much to charge for shipping? Do you go to
the post office and have them weigh it? I would be half tempted to try
to send things Fed Ex because we are allowed to ship from my company's
mail room (at our expense of course) but it is kind of expensive
sometimes. 

Anyways, I got a free printer from Dell when I bought my laptop and I
dont need it so I thought I might try to sell it on ebay. Even though it
is brand new in the box, it cant be worth much since I imagine that
since they were giving them away free, a lot of people ended up with
printers they dont need. 

response 3 of 31:

Jun 6 00:57 UTC 2006

RE: #1

you cant really get a seller feedback rate without selling stuff... :)

the shipping cost is easy, ebay lets it do the math for you.
or you can set a preset amount.
i found that with the help of ebay and usps.com ive been very much on 
the light side as far as shipping costs. and you can recycle almost 
any box into a shipping package, keep in mind the local post office 
supplies FREE boxes and bubblelined envolopes if you mail your stuff 
there. ive saved a ton of cash with that.

i also found for when you mail it out from home that a little scale i 
won for 5$ saved me a lot of time and hassel.

response 5 of 31:

Jun 7 23:27 UTC 2006

Also, the Ann Arbor recycling station lets you take away things like flattened
cardboard boxes and styrofoam peanuts and newspaper.  Just about packing
central, all you add is tape.

response 7 of 31:

Jun 16 03:27 UTC 2006

NEW QUESTION

does anyone know of a place to download or copy the little graphics 
people use in their feedback?

ill post an example in a few minutes when i find one.

response 9 of 31:

Aug 11 16:01 UTC 2006

i guess its just something you do whe you have more freetime than 
usual...
:)

response 11 of 31:

Sep 16 21:50 UTC 2006

damn, im seriously gonna start looking at the BUY_IT_NOW sections 
instead of bidding.
i just got 3 video games for under 15$ each shipping included, plus 
you get it without waiting and bidding on the item.

response 13 of 31:

Dec 22 03:05 UTC 2006

Walter, find out exactly what it would cost to buy the same items on a china
replacement website.

Figure out exactly how much you're willing to pay for those items.

Do not enter a bid until just before the auction closes (look at the item for
when it ends, and remember to translate Pacific Time into your local time).

Enter exactly the amount you're willing to pay.  No more, and certainly no
less.

If you are the highest bidder, you will get the item for the next lowest bid
plus the current increment (bid increments change as the price gets higher).

It does not matter how high your bid is, you will only pay what the next lower
bidder is willing to pay, plus the increment.  This is why you need to bid
the actual highest amount you'd be willing to pay.

You want to wait until near the end of the bidding period so that your bid
doesn't get nibbled up by someone trying to figure out how high it goes.  

You want ot wait until near the end of the bidding period so that other people
don't realize that you are interested in the item.  

You want to bid your highest actual bid so that someone doesn't win it for
an amount that is less than what you'd really be willing to pay.

You want to bid your highest actual bid so that you don't get swept into a
bidding frenzy, trying to stay ahead of someone else.  

Some of us engage in "sniping" which is the practice of not entering our bid
until less than a minute remains in the auction.  I'd not recommend this
unless you've tried it on a few items where losing doesn't matter so much.

Bid once, bid late, bid your real price.

response 15 of 31:

Dec 22 04:49 UTC 2006

yea, ken (krj) suggested that method, decide the most im willing to 
pay, bid that and let it ride. if you win great, if not try a diffrent 
auction, if your lucky you get it cheaper that you expected, 

i have won several things this way, plus you dont get cought into a 
biddin g war and pay more than you want to pay

response 17 of 31:

Dec 22 13:19 UTC 2006

I put a reminder to myself on my calendar.  I even put the time at which I
need to make my bid.  Then I get online, sync my laptop clock with the ebay
clock, and starting about 10 minutes before the bid ends, sit poised with my
finger ready to send off my first, best, and final offer.

Several times I've come back to an item to discover that the bidding had
already taken it above my cutoff point.

"Grabbing it late" will always work, if your bid is truly your best and
highest bid.  If you get it, you've paid what it is worth to you, or maybe
less.      If you don't get it, it's because it was worth more to someone else
than it is to you.  

On a couple sterling silver place setting pieces, I've actually bid what it
would cost to get it from Replacements.  I still got it for much less than
that.  But I figured out that I really was willing to pay the going retail
cost because the pattern had been out of production for so long.  

In other cases, I used the Replacements figure and calculated 1/2 that amount
as my top bid, figuring that I was willing to pay what Replacements would buy
it for, but not what they would sell it for.  

response 19 of 31:

Dec 22 13:57 UTC 2006

true. true.
also look for the item in BUY-IT-NOW
you can score stuff quick, cheap, and easy

response 21 of 31:

Dec 23 05:09 UTC 2006

ive won a few items with people who cant type....
see site: http://www.refundplease.com/

response 23 of 31:

Dec 23 13:55 UTC 2006

Checking eBay just now, i'm still winning!  :)

Re: #17 - I didn't bother pricing it as replacements.  My gut says $40
would be mostly okay for a nice looking & interesting but useless &
inconvenient clutter (the first & most i've bought in a long time).

Re: #22 - Yep.  I bid early & low on another set (this pattern, far 
larger) a year or two ago.  A friend called when the auction was about
to close, and i talked to him instead of going on-line to bid; the set
sold for a price i'd have paid. 

Thinking about it, my eBay bidding seems to be much more about cheap
entertainment than actually buying things.  Bidding early & low on an
occasional nice-looking thing makes many hours a bit more interesting
(will i win???), but costs very few dollars.  Or maybe i've just
rationalized my poor strategy.