eBay

mewgirl1 · ‎10-27-2018

Getting ready to list a small wall clock. Clock does not work. Don't know why it doesn't work or whether parts are missing. It is from my deceased grandmother's home (born 1894) and it may have belonged to her parents, or she could have purchased. What is the best way to word this listing? I started with Seth Thomas Wall Clock with Stand DOES NOT WORK PARTS MAY BE MISSING. Then I decided, heck I'm not listing that on my main TRS ID, then I came here to find out what the best way to list something where in reality I don't know what it is, what's wrong with it and whether or not all pieces are present.

luckythewinner · ‎10-28-2018

If you do not know what you are listing, there is always a danger.

If you don't mention missing parts and parts turn out to be missing, that invites a SNAD if parts are missing. But if you say "parts may be missing" you are reallly saying "parts may not be missing" and that invites speculators to buy on the hope it is compete - and return if it is not.

IMHO the only safe listing is to choose a condition that says "not working - for parts only" and list explicitly what is included.

clearsphere · ‎10-28-2018

It's nice and there's a market-but there's a chance you could end up paying round trip ship which would be if buyer returns.

a_c_green · ‎10-28-2018

@mewgirl1 wrote:
I went ahead and separated the shelf from the clock, although it pained me to do so. Once sold a donkey figurine with a horse figurine missing her tail because the horse had been the donkey's friend for the 50 years I had had them.

Right, but realistically, the shelf is just a shelf, and has no real connection to the clock. Let's focus on the clock here...

While it's easy enough to determine that the clock doesn't work, I see no reason to suggest that it's missing parts as well. Assuming that the pendulum is present (which I hear it is) and the movement is still inside the clock, it's not likely that anyone would have cannibalized, say, one gear wheel out of it for some reason. Just say Not Working and leave it at that. If anyone wants to make a bigger fuss after receiving it, they're going to do so anyway.

As for shipping it, though, I don't know if the risks will outweigh the return. A local pickup would be better. (I have not seen the dimensions for this clock, but it looks like it has a pretty good mass to it that would need double-boxing.) I'm not a clock expert, but this doesn't seem like a high-value item to me.

As for the shelf, that looks like a nice vintage piece for sale separately, and with proper padding, would survive shipping just fine.

mewgirl1 · ‎10-28-2018

@juststuffisell wrote:
I was going to tell you the shelf does not go with the clock.

The shelf looks to be from the period, and could be sold separately as it looks like a nice shelf.

I would strongly recommend you set a fixed price on this. In addition I would recommend you have this packaged by a third party shipping company that has experience with clocks. I've had success this way with bits like this arriving without fuss.

The other people have responded quite nicely on the listing details.

I list stuff that I don't know "what is" at auction the first time, just in case I have something rather than nothing. Then I change it to fixed price and start lowering the price to get rid of it.

nowthatsjustducky · ‎10-28-2018

@mewgirl1 wrote:
I list stuff that I don't know "what is" at auction the first time, just in case I have something rather than nothing. Then I change it to fixed price and start lowering the price to get rid of it.

I go the other direction. I use my own intuition to decipher search results for just a ballpark range and start high, lowering gradually every few listing cycles. Two of my best examples happened just within the past year, with my most recent being just today.

Granted, both of those were on Etsy, but I did do the pricing "research" here to get that ballpark range of prices to work with. The most recent was a neat old Thorens ballerina music jewelry box that had been wound up too tight. That went up over there yesterday morning, and it turned into a $100 cash infusion just an hour or two ago.

The other was back in May, with an old touchtone duck phone like I remembered from Silver Spoons back in the 80s. It was neat to have, but not having a landline any more, I figured it was time to see if it was worth anything. Searches here at the time showed about $50 to $150 (inconclusive), and one that had been bid up to $250.

So, I toss it up on Etsy, and less than a week later I am $300 richer and the phone was on its way to Canada.

So for me, there is rarely ever any need to run auctions, because I can just play the long game with any given item and wait it out. I do not think there is anything in my inventory that is so critical that it must sell fast fast fast. Everything goes in its own time. But it looks like I am starting to do a retiree ramble; so time to get today's listings up and process the items shipping tomorrow. (Also had a nice $150 sale and a $35 sale here yesterday on my main account. The $150 was a Philips Norelco grooming kit, totally new in package that I picked up for $10.50 at the Salvation Army.)

If it works, sell it. If it works well, sell it for more. If it doesn't work, quadruple the price and sell it as an antique.

-- Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #80

nowthatsjustducky · ‎10-28-2018

And after all of that, I forgot to add the one other piece of advice I meant to post.

You can at least mention in the listing that the clock is currently right twice a day. 🙂

If it works, sell it. If it works well, sell it for more. If it doesn't work, quadruple the price and sell it as an antique.

-- Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #80

softersilk · ‎10-28-2018

@mewgirl1 wrote:
Getting ready to list a small wall clock. Clock does not work. Don't know why it doesn't work or whether parts are missing. It is from my deceased grandmother's home (born 1894) and it may have belonged to her parents, or she could have purchased. What is the best way to word this listing? I started with Seth Thomas Wall Clock with Stand DOES NOT WORK PARTS MAY BE MISSING. Then I decided, heck I'm not listing that on my main TRS ID, then I came here to find out what the best way to list something where in reality I don't know what it is, what's wrong with it and whether or not all pieces are present.

I would do this:

1) List as LOCAL PICKUP ONLY.

2) Check "local pickup" in shipping.

3) In the title, say "PICKUP IN [your city]

4) In the listing, you say:

>>> Pickup in [city] only

>>> We are unable to ship

>>> Payment at pickup only.

>>> We cannot accept Paypal for local pickup.*

That is entirely compliant with eBay policy. I have done that many times with big stuff like furniture. I sold 2 pianos that way and other stuff.

*Per Paypal policy you lose all seller protection if you accept it for local pickup. Buyer can file INR and you lose even if you have a receipt. No Paypal, no chargeback or scam.