EBay?

I asked this question over on another board, but have no responses yet, so I'll ask it here.





I've never tried selling on Ebay, but it’s crossed my mind. I was wondering about others experiences. Is it a big hassle, or is it fairly easy? Are the fees high? Thanks.

It all depends on what you're telling and at what price. Most people go to e-bay looking for bargains.



I do sell on there plus I have an E-Bay store. My big sellers on there are my pip berry candle rings. I do sell some crafts from time to time but not anything to amount to much.



They're fees can be rather costly if you list with them and don't sell anything, but ifyou're selling you can mostly make enough to cover your fees.



I forget the exact % they take from your final sale, but I know it costs to list your items and it also costs if you want to show a picture of it on the gallery.



If I can be of more help or if you have any other questions, please give a yell.

Thanks for your response, Debbie. Is the Pay-Pal and its fee required also? I'm just trying to add up all the costs. My stuff is hand made, with a lot of labor involved. I'm just trying to figure out how to best market and sell it. EBay may not be a good option for me.

<font color="royalblue">If you accept credit cards through paypal, then they will take out a percentage of what you get paid, even if it's not a credit card transaction. </font>

Ebay and Paypal are from the same gene pool. [img]images/smiley_icons/oh yes.gif[/img] They're tied together very closely! My best advice would be for you to go ahead and register with both. That way, you can get more information about how they operate.

Like Debbie said, what you sell and for how much is dependent on what your sales are. You'll have listing fees, a sales commission (if your item sells) and, if you get paid via Paypal, you will have another fee for that. Each fee is minor but put them all together and they can add up.

There are LOTS of other auction sites out there but Ebay remains the most successful.

Thanks for the feedback. I don’t believe that I’ll fool with Ebay just yet, if ever. My stuff is hand made and very complicated to make. My overhead and labor is already close to the product price. Adding more fees would discourage me from even continuing to make the items. I’ll just keep trying to sell them off of my Picturetrail site. If that don’t work, I’ll try something else.

With my experience at ebay, it has been wonderful. I havn't done it lately because of my new craft store. and it depends on what you are selling. I have not had good luck selling my home made items... but then again, if you have something that is totally diffrent, those things sell. What I sold the most of was rubber stamps, and sizzix items...those were a big hit. It is not a hassle. it is actually very easy and fun!! I say it is worth trying. I was afraid at first, but one night I just did it! I sold my kid's clothes as well. I did it for only 3 months, until i ran out of things to sell..LOL. I made almost 2,000. in just 2 months. My husband was so thrilled! anywho, my advice is to try it for about a month.

one more thing, you really should invest in a mailing scale if you decide to try it out. I got mine for about 15.00 on ebay..LOL this is a must when trying to figure out shipping and handling on the item. When i first started out, i lost a some money on s/h because I didn't know what to charge for shipping. also once you find out how much the package is you need to send go to the usps.com to calculate the cost. other then that, have fun.

Let us know if you decide go try it out.

I hope this has helped. let me know if you have any more questions. I would love to answer any of your questions.