Any eBay seller aficionados out there?

[rogerg]

Hey all,

The other day I thought I'd finally get around to trying to sell my old Epson 3000 printer on eBay. They go for around US$450 in the states, so figured it was worth a shot.

Problem: I'm a eBay newbie. I've sold some stuff for business a little in the past, but not much. And this printer is causing my challenges.

I have questions regarding (as a seller) charging for postage "ad-hoc" kind of thing, to try and satisfy potential buyers in the eastern states. I had listed it as pick-up only because I feared such hassles.

I'd rather not discuss it here in an open forum, but if anyone is familiar with selling perhaps you could drop me a PM? Much appreciated! This is causing some stress :(

Thanks,
Roger.

[turbo_pascale]

I'm posting the answer on the forum, as there are lots of us selling astro-bits to each other, and it is a general issue that is worth covering.

Firstly, you can calculate postage with Australia post from their website for parcels. Link here: http://www1.auspost.com.au/pac/

They used to have a neat little PDF with postcode zones, and pricing structure so you could work out the "most expensive" zone that you could possibly send to, and use that as your baseline figure. I can't find it anymore, and the version I have is 2 years out of date.

The maximum parcel weight with Australia Post is 20kg. Note that the hardest part is that they will either weigh it, or measure it's dimensions, and charge you the higher rate.

If you send registered post, you automatically get insurance for up to $100 of value. You can also purchase extra insurance for $1.20 per $100 of value.

Knowing all of that, if you need to put a price, calculate the furthest place from you that you're likely to send it, and put that in as a postage price, but you can offer "adjustments" for shipping on eBay if you can get the buyer to tell you what postcode you are sending to. Alternatively, invite them to ask a question on pricing to their postcode and email them.

Don't forget to factor in the packaging costs (ie box, bubble-wrap, tape etc etc). My wife sells a lot of stuff on eBay, and the HUGE rolls of bubble wrap we have are scary (she purchased a bulk lot which was 2 rolls that are 6ft long and 3 ft wide)

If you're sending anything even vaguely fragile, or expensive, then I would definitely send it registered and insured, and put fragile/glass stickers on it if it is a scope or something like that. I work behind an Aussie Post delivery centre, and they way those guys toss parcels around, I would be very sure to package it very, very well.

As for your specific item, if you have the original packing foam inserts, I would highly recommend shipping it that way.

Turbo

[Glenhuon]

I've done a bit of selling on Ebay too and Turbo has pretty well covered the points to note. With bulky or heavy items I usually go to the Aus Post web site and work out sending to country WA from here (Cootamundra), and put that as a postage example in my item description, noting that it would be less for shorter distances.
Pack things well, Aus post could break an Anvil :)

Cheers
Bill

[rogerg]

Thanks guy's.

This printer is too big to send via Australia Post - the dimentions are greater than they permit, even though it's just under the 20kg limit.

I guess the thing is, I don't mind saying to people "yes, happy to freight it anywhere in the country at a cost to be sorted out when you've bought it" .. but I'm not sure how to add that cost on ? how to know that I'll be able to charge them for it, and they won't just say "but I've paid for the auction amount".

I suppose what you're saying is I could put the shipping cost as the maximum a freighting company would charge, and include the packaging, but for me that's about $200. If someone picks up, I don't want them to be scared by having to pay that $200. ?

I've had several people ask if they can organise a courier to pick it up. So in that case it'd be a packaging cost of $90 and they pay for the actual freight.

Perhaps the way I should be doing it is to put $200 postage and "discounts may apply" or something? hmm...

to be honst I just wanted pick-up, as packaging it is a bit of a pain :)

[Glenhuon]

I'd be inclined to just put it up as pick up only if its too big for Aus post Roger. Sometimes the courier freight can be more of a hassle than its worth.

Cheers
Bill

[citivolus]

It is easy to add an "other" category for shipping, which refers the buyer to the body of the listing. When they go to check out, they just request a total from you, you set it in their invoice, and they pay the total.

Request that potential bidders contact you for a shipping quote, and you will be set. Give them an approximate idea of shipping costs in the text of the listing, so that they don't get a big surprise if they forget to ask for a quote.

Regards,
Eric

[rogerg]

This is what I wanted to hear, I didn't know this is possible. I feared they would pay for it all in a blink of an eye leaving me short changed.

Any catch, like situations where that won't happen? (where I won't be able to provide a total)?

:thumbsup:

Thanks,
Roger.

[citivolus]

eBay does do it as a bit of an honour system, but if you set "pick up" and "other" as your shipping methods, the user will have to enter a shipping amount at checkout time if they don't select pick up. I'm going from memory here, but as long as you had in your listing to "contact me for a shipping estimate", you would be covered with eBay if a buyer didn't pay the full shipping amount. You would then go into "my eBay", select the item and set it as "unmark item as payment received", and send the buyer a new invoice.

As an update to your price estimate, the last Epson 3000 to go on eBay Australia went for $356, pick up only, in NSW. It only had two bidders. Your market in Perth may be substantially smaller, pushing the selling price down unless you use a fixed price listing.

If we assume the current market value of the printer is $350, and it costs $200 to send it somewhere, be prepared to sell it for well under $200 if there is no local market :(

Regards,
Eric

[ballaratdragons]

Cheryl does all her ebay selling by AustPost, but if you need to sell something that needs to be sent by courier, Courier companies are quite happy to provide quotes to different states. You can include in your ebay ad the cost of courier to each state. Just something worth considering.

When I look at things on ebay, I like to know the total costs when I read the ad. Not work it out later.

[dugnsuz]

That's the way I do it - work out postage costs or an approximation and show that up front so the buyer knows how much they'll pay (or very close to it if couriers are involved)
Cheers
Doug:thumbsup:

[rogerg]

Thanks heaps for everyone's input, you've all helped a lot (PM's too).



yeah.. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to even get a buyer on eBay, thinking I'd have to end up selling it for $50 or something useless in the local papers. I have experienced in the past the huge gap between US and estern states prices vs local prices for second hand.

I'm quite happy so far with the response - lots of watchers, lots of questions. But I still expect it might go for not much more than my initial $99, or not at all.

Oh well, that doesn't bother me. Thing is, I haven't used it for years, and it's anoying me filling up my office (it's huge). I want the space, and if I get something for it that's a bonus :)

Roger.

[mill]

I'm quite happy so far with the response - lots of watchers, lots of questions. But I still expect it might go for not much more than my initial $99, or not at all.


You would be surprised at the amount of people bidding at the last moment or with auction snipers.