First time selling. Need help

[zurgcorp]

Hello guys, I'm going to sell on ebay for the first time. I'm not new here, but have never done any sellings.

What should I start from?

Is it free to sell here or I should pay fee?

How to calculate shippings cost? Should I visit loacl post office and ask them for price or is it fiexd? (I'm going to sell it in US only.

Can I start selling even wen I don't have sold anything? 

[retrose1]

My first piece of advice is to NOT list anything worth over $25 until you have at least as much recent selling feedback as the dollar value of the item you are listing.

Next - do NOT list anything large or heavy to start with, you may find that postage will eat your profit.

After that - Do NOT sell Internationally at the start.  Find the blocks in your ebay preferences and apply them, the same with paypal.  Do not think that saying you don't ship Internationally in your listing will work.

As far as fees on ebay go - all sellers get 50 free to list basic listings, ebay has a some upgrades that cost extra, and usually will tell you about it.  When you sell the item, ebay charges 10% or the selling price PLUS 10% of what you charge to ship the item.

As far as postage costs, it goes up the further away you have to ship.  The post office has some Priority Flat Rate envelopes and boxes that I almost exclusively use.  Check the website to order some.  If what you are selling is a pound or over, they would be the best way to go.  The PO website is helpful for figuring out the ship costs.

The ebay sell your item form does explain a little, try one out - but just cancel it when you are done to see how it works.

[aramintaca]

Is it a phone or a computer? If it is, please spend a few hours reading the seller board and the shipping and returns board. Can your item fit in a flat rate priority box, or is it light enough to go first class?

[lindyslucky]

Also, do not take Ebays advice on how much to list items for.

Do your own research on an items value. 

Look at how many of the items like yours there are for sale and how many have sold.

Look at the sold prices. Some items are not worth listing after fees.

Dont expect items to move quickly. Things can take months, even years to sell.

Dont sell items that you can't afford to lose. If there is a dispute, the buyer will almost always win and get to keep your item. 

Take good pictures. Put measurements in the description.

we rarely list condition. Your good maybe another's fair. We just describe & photograph flaws.

Excpect to make mistakes. Be careful. Ebay has many rules. Opinions, understanding  and application can vary. It's like the Supreme Court when it comes to rulings, but the Supreme Court changes.

As soon as you begin to figure things out, ebay will change something. There are updates spring and fall. 

There is a long learning curve. It's not easy.

Read a lot on the community. The best pitfalls are described here.

(but don't get too hung up here on the boards or it's all you will do!)

Welcome to the wild world of selling on eBay.

Best of luck!

[3933lotus]

All great advice!!! Good work

[zurgcorp]

Thank you for the solution, I will do a small resaerch before I make a final decision.

I'm going to sell a screen monitor, it's haeavy enough. It's around 40 pounds in eom box

[zurgcorp]

Thanks a lot for your reply. So if I sell an item ebay would charge 10% of the sell price, rigth? even if it's my frist listed item?

[castlemagicmemories]

You also get charged ten percent on the shipping cost.

And don't forget there is a Paypal fee.

[retrose1]

OP, if the item sells for $100 and costs $75 to ship then ebay will charge you $10 for selling AND $7.50 as the fee on the ship charge.  So you will owe ebay $17.50 to sell the item.  Even if it is your first sale.

But don't spend the $82.50 for about 6 months.  ebay and paypal have very liberal return/dispute policies and there are buyers that will take advantage of new sellers and scam them.  Electronics are very high risk on ebay.

ETA - and paypal will charge 3.5% so that would be another $3.50 out of your hundred.

[miketuch11]

When you're pricing your item, search for one just like yours. Check off used, and "completed listings". That way you get a feel for if the item is moving or not. If you see the same listings over and over, and no green numbers, you can be pretty sure your item isn't selling, or those sellers are asking "too much".
If you see nothing but green, consecutive days or weeks, you got yourself a hot item. We all like that.

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

You'll also have limits on the number of listings and total dollar amount you can list at first, and there's a waiting period with paypal before you have access to that money, and then the transfer from paypal to your bank can take a day or two as well. I mention this in case you're trying to pay a bill due next week.

It won't happen that fast a first. Both want to see a history of successful sales before giving full reign of the account. I've been selling for a handful of years and I still have Ebay limits but they are quite generous and I'm not concerned about it. At first, I was a bit over zealous and ended up paying listing fees.

[itsjustasprain]

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@zurgcorp wrote:

Thank you for the solution, I will do a small resaerch before I make a final decision.

I'm going to sell a screen monitor, it's haeavy enough. It's around 40 pounds in eom box

---

Oh God. No. Just... no. There are so many things that can go wrong with that that I dont know where to start. 

Okay - to begin with. If it arrives damaged - or even if the buyer CLAIMS that its damaged - you are on the hook for a refund either with or without paying to have it shipped back first. The OEM box is not meant for mailing. You may end up selling to a scammer anyway. Start out with small and not expensive items. Selling a monitor as your first sale will not end well.

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

This item may be better suited for fb market area

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

First I want to say DO NOT SHIP that item.     You will have to double box it and then use a LOT of peanuts and packing material.  Enough packing material so that the box can be thrown or dropped at LEAST 4 feet and the screen not damaged.   OR have a heavy box drop on it from the conveyor belt.  

If the buyer says the item is damaged then YOU have to pay return shipping and refund in full.

I would list this on the classified section everything else> every other thing.   Then have the buyer pick the item up and pay you cash in person.  There is a fee to list on the classified but for a popular item it might not be a bad idea.   There are no final value fees when you use classified.   No ebay MBG.   You can also share contact info in classified listings to make arranging pick up easier.  This is NOT allowed in regular ebay listings. 

   You can do a local pick up only listing on the regular ebay site but it is trickier.   If you want to know how to do that let me know.  

 If you do plan on selling more then  you should check out this video on how to calculate shipping:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/How-To-Video-Using-Calculated-Shipping/m-p/27321805?n...

You can also research a shipping price using this :  http://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator  Change to package rate.  

[comics-scifi-collectibles]

I wanted to clarify what I meant by a classified listing:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Member-To-Member-Support/Classified-ad-listings/qaq-p/27727964#M151214...