Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: Woogie on April 14, 2008, 06:34:56 PM
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I`m about to wack one of my valve amps on ebay so I was just wondering if anyone has any tips to offer me.
Postage tips, should I leave valves in etc
Cheers
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Which amp?
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the laney mentioned in his tagline?
anyway, my tips would be to start bidding at 0.01p, add a reserved if it makes you feel secure. lots of pictures and description, plus a headline which has some keywords in. you might want to point to some previous auctions of similar items to show what the going rate is. research postage costs before the auction.
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Yeah the Laney.
Doesn't ebay charge for photos? So I could link to an external site like imageshack.
I will wack it in seconds out in a minute.
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i think it does, but i think its worth having one as a gallery pic
EDIT: just realised my first post in this thread might have seemed sarcastic - in fact this wasn't the case.
by gallery picture, i mean paying 30p extra (or whatever) to get that small picture which appears on the left on the listings page. i think thats worth it.
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You get one free gallery picture, but you can link (or embed) other images that are externally hosted. That's what i did (though my amp didn't sell :(), and it keeps selling costs down. The starting price is quite crucial- don't set it too high or it won't sell :)
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How much lower than what I want should I set the starting price?
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Have a look at some other sales, and just wait a week or two and see how other people who are selling similar amps do it, and which is most succesful.
Personally, I would set a reserve price of a realistic minimum you would want for it, and start the bidding low
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Doesn't ebay charge for photos? So I could link to an external site like imageshack.
It's only £1.35 (or something like that) for 12 supersize photos and a gallery photo. Next to nothing when you're selling something for a couple of hundred quid or more.
If you really want to keep selling fees down, don't have a reserve price - they charge based on the reserve price and the final selling price. And you pay that reserve prive even if it doesn't sell.
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I looked into selling on ebay recently and jesus christ the fees are extortionate!
From my experience buying on ebay though, too high starting price is a bit of a killer unless you get lucky.
Lower priced auctions with no reserve will generate interest, a couple of guys will try their luck at silly prices dreaming that they might get lucky, and then some other guys will think that maybe they could get lucky with slihtly more realistic prices, and end up feeling each other out, some or all may give up or it will develop into a bidding war, and then the real serious offers will swoop in in the last 30 seconds.
The other strategy that seems to have some success is starting the bidding higher but still at a low price, low enough to attract people hoping they can get a bargain (rather than a steal), e.g just under (or maybe same as) your lowest acceptable reserve price. This will have fewer bidders overall but the bidders will be more serious about buying for a realistic price. If you do this then don't bother with a reserve price, it tends to put people off a little (removes the "maybe i can get lucky" element and early interest)
One thing to bear in mind though is that buyers and sellers can have different ideas of what something is worth, yet Ebay seems to be remarkably consistent in terms of what items end up selling for (started at 99p many items end up going for similar amounts). So the advice given above about checking out ebay for a few weeks prior to listing should definitely be listened to, so you can get an idea of the kind of prices people are going to be wanting to get the item for, and set your start price accordingly.
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The other strategy that seems to have some success is starting the bidding higher but still at a low price, low enough to attract people hoping they can get a bargain (rather than a steal), e.g just under (or maybe same as) your lowest acceptable reserve price.
That's my approach - I'm not interested in getting 30 bids from people who think I'm going to sell them a guitar for £5. All I need are two bidders who'll compete with each other at a serious price. Or in the worst case, one bidder will have to do. I just set the starting price at the absolute bare minimum I'd be prepared to accept. If that puts people off, so be it.
I actually find reserves more offputting, because you're just taking a shot in the dark. Reserves are totally pointless - they don't benefit the seller in any way, the only beneficiary from a reserve price is eBay because it gets more fees.
If I want to spend £380 on a guitar but someone has one ending in five minutes for £400, I'll probably pay the extra 20 quid. But if he has a reserve of £400 and no bids, I'll probably bid my £380 - no guitar for me, no sale for him.
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+1 on everything Philly said.
I have 650+ transactions on ebay, split between sales and purchases and I don't think I've ever bought something with a reserve price for the same reason that Philly gives.
Keep it transparent when you sell. If a buyer has an idea of how much something is going to cost they'll be more likely to follow your listing and not keep looking for another item the same or similar.
Start your price at the bare minimum you would let it go for with no reserve. It can be worth it to put up a competitive 'buy it now' (BIN) price as well sometimes. Just do a search on completed items (the same as you're selling) first before you do though.
A good example of this was a Yamaha Magic Stomp effects unit that I bought new for £60 in Guitar Guitar Glasgow. I had hardly used it and thought a BIN price of £40 might be ok.
I decided to do a quick search on completed listings for the unit and was surprised to find that they were going for between £100-130 used. It seemed that I got mine in a sale of some sort.
Mine sold for £120 ... BIN price :D
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It can be worth it to put up a competitive 'buy it now' (BIN) price as well sometimes. Just do a search on completed items (the same as you're selling) first before you do though.
Yeah, once or twice I've used the price I originally paid for something as a BIN price - when I thought it might realistically be achievable. I figure that if I can break even it's a good result, I've hardly ever made an actual profit.
Sometimes you'll be lucky and get the one person who really, really wants that particular item and can't wait - and then you can make more on the BIN than if they'd waited for the auction to play out. :)
But most of the time I don't have a BIN price in mind so I go for the basic auction. Sometimes you'll make a surprising amount of money, other times you'll have 50 people watching but only get one bid. Luck of the draw.
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Sometimes you'll be lucky and get the one person who really, really wants that particular item and can't wait - and then you can make more on the BIN than if they'd waited for the auction to play out. :)
Several times I've used buy it now above prices that I'd be willing to pay simply to save myself the hastle of:
Waiting for the item to appear on the bay again, or the hastle of having to wait 5 days for the next auction only to find that the bids go above what the buy it now price of the auction 5 days ago had been.
At the end of that drama I would end up with no item. So often I just buy it now.
EDIT: Apologies for what is easily the worst phrasing I have EVER written. I seriously commend anyone who made it to the end of that post without a quizzical look on their faces.
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EDIT: Apologies for what is easily the worst phrasing I have EVER written. I seriously commend anyone who made it to the end of that post without a quizzical look on their faces.
Why thank you. :)
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How much you guys reckon then?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Laney-VC30_W0QQitemZ130214326443QQihZ003QQcategoryZ10171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
That's a 2x10 with the naff speakers and it's been gigged. £200 with two bids and almost a week left.
Should I start mine at £250?
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Sorry to bump but I need to put it up tonight.
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They seem to go for about £380 new?
I think £250 might be a bit ambitious for a starting price, but would you be prepared to take any less than that if you only get one bid?
Bear in mind you'll have listing fees, the final value fee and PayPal charges(?) to suffer out of whatever price it sells for.
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Hmm. I guess new valves in it don't count for anything?
I was really hoping for £250 but I know amps depreciate alot unless they are vintage.
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I don't know - I suspect new valves are a bit like new pickups in a guitar.
The buyer just gets a set of valves, a pair of pickups. It's not adding much value from their perspective.
But you should go for what you want to get, don't settle for a really low price if you're not going to be happy with it.
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I guess I can wack it on at £250 and see what happens
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Also, you get the most bids if you put it up for international sale. I personally sold a gps system to a guy in Australia and it ended up okay, as did my brother, who sold some Oakley's to a guy in Sweden, and it ended fine too. But both items got over 30 bids from countries such as the US, Australia, Sweden, Israel, Canada, Spain, and the UK.
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I guess I can wack it on at £250 and see what happens
Why don't you whack on a price which will come to £250 AFTER all the charges?
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you're more likely to get bids if you start it REALLY low (i.e. a quid). If it doesn't get to where you want it to be then just remove it from eBay before the listing ends. Remember to reserve the right to end the auction early, saying it is listed for sale elsewhere.
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Remember to reserve the right to end the auction early, saying it is listed for sale elsewhere.
This is against ebay rules, and they will pull your auction if you are reported.
Just as general comments, if it's a large item with a fairly well established value ( for example a nearly new amp), I'll often use a BIN price only, so its a sale and not an auction. I've had a lot of success using this recently, and I've found people are often willing to pay a little over the market value, as they don't have to wait for an auction to end. If it doesn't sell at the end of the listing, you can relist for free (maybe at a slightly lower price).
If the item has a somewhat more unknown value (like some vintage Celestions I'm selling at the moment), I'll always stick it up on an auction with the lowest bid set at the absolute minimum I would consider selling them for (in this case £35).
I cannot understand people setting 99p first bids for expensive items. It certainly doesn't attract anyone who is remotely interested in paying a fair price for your item, so why bother.
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So what charges do I have to pay?
Say the amp sells for £250, how much goes into my pocket?
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So what charges do I have to pay?
Say the amp sells for £250, how much goes into my pocket?
They take approx 10% of the selling price I think. One one hand it seems extortionate. But on the other hand they give you such an enormous market to sell to.
In the end we all have the choice whether to take it or leave it.
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wow, that's quite a bit.
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Now I think about it, maybe its a bit less. I'll check for you.
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Sorry, It's about 5% actually for a £250 item.
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I think the final value fee is 3% of the final value, including the shipping charges. But then you've got your listing fees and PayPal charges (if that's the payment method).
Overall, you can expect to end up with about 92% of your total proceeds, I reckon.
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I think the final value fee is 3% of the final value, including the shipping charges. But then you've got your listing fees and PayPal charges (if that's the payment method).
Overall, you can expect to end up with about 92% of your total proceeds, I reckon.
No, checkout http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/fees.html . It's pretty much 5% for a £250 item. Varies a tiny bit depending on your initial bid (or reserve) amount.
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I think the final value fee is 3% of the final value, including the shipping charges. But then you've got your listing fees and PayPal charges (if that's the payment method).
Overall, you can expect to end up with about 92% of your total proceeds, I reckon.
No, checkout http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/fees.html . It's pretty much 5% for a £250 item. Varies a tiny bit depending on your initial bid (or reserve) amount.
By golly, you're absolutely right! :o Thanks for pointing that out.
I was calculating the percentages from my own sales, and it looks like they've sneaked up the fees in the last few months. Last year it was working out about 3%, but the ones I made recently were indeed about 5%.
That's a bit more than an inflation increase, isn't it! :evil:
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PhillyQ: I am sure that is nowhere near the inlfation increase... but lets not go into this.
FARKING HATE THIS GOVERNMENT!
Also, remember long descriptions for the items, PhillyQ's are some of the best descriptions I have seen.
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Also, remember long descriptions for the items, PhillyQ's are some of the best descriptions I have seen.
Thanks, Will :) . I'm never sure whether I go on too long (much as I do here :oops: :roll: ....), but I figure too much information is better than too little. And I'm paranoid about failing to mention any flaws - I want people to know exactly what they're getting.
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By golly, you're absolutely right! :o Thanks for pointing that out.
I was calculating the percentages from my own sales, and it looks like they've sneaked up the fees in the last few months. Last year it was working out about 3%, but the ones I made recently were indeed about 5%.
You're right, they did increase the fees rather sneakily I think. I'm not quite sure when it happened. I just noticed one day that they were noticeably higher than they had been. I'm sure there had been no obvious notice to account holders informing them of the raise.
SO once you account for Paypal fees as well, you are looking at nearly 10% of the total amount that goes in fees.
Having said all that, there is still nothing else that compares with the huge market that ebay exposes you to.
It's a pity there's nothing in the UK like the "Craigslist" they have in the USA. Although I don't know what sort of fees they charge. Anyone know ?