eBay Tips

As a buyer, I've just been fleeced of L75. The seller had lots of +ve buyer feedback but the seller feedback wasn't so good. I should have checked properly. One expensive lesson learned!

As a buyer again, I did really well when someone auctioned a Dynax 400SI with 'two Sigma lenses'. Starting bid was L49 and the lightweight Dynaxes don't fetch much. I emailed the seller and found that one of the Sigmas was a 105 Macro. I bid and won for L75 including postage. A single bidder, a dealer popped in near the end and chickened out when my max limit, upped 5 minutes before the end, was enough. The camera was ok, with 35-80 lens and the battery worked. I sold it locally for L40. One Sigma lens was actually for a Nikon. I sold that locally too, for L25. That left me with a mint Sigma 105 macro and very nice padded camera bag for a net cost of L10. Moral? Look for job lots, cherry pick what you want and sell the rest on INDIVIDUALLY. Individual items almost always fetch more.

As a seller, watch what the successful sellers are doing. There's one guy I noticed who consistently gets more for his stuff than others. Turns out he's listing in several groups.

Ebay often have cheap days. Watch out for them.

I've started using Auctiva. It's free and you can include lots of big photos for nothing. Photos sell lenses, especially if you post pictures that the lenses have taken as well. If you use Auctiva or similar then the photos are free so you may as well post them.

Pack the goods well and get them out quickly. If a person pays by cheque and the item isn't too expensive, check out their feedback and if ok, wait for it to arrive obviously, but don't wait for it to clear. They won't risk their feedback for a few dollars/pounds/etc. All you need to do is hold off feedback for a couple of days until the cheque has cleared. They get their goods quickly and you get good feedback.

I usually start at 99p with no reserve and sensible postage. High postage used to work to inflate the price a bit but people are getting wise to it and it will often reduce the total price fetched. This approach fell flat recently, and a Danish guy got my superb 35-70 F4 for L15 including postage to Denmark. But that's life. Mostly it gets extra bidders.

Yes. When I say 'groups' I mean categories.

For instance put lenses in:

Photography > Camera Lenses > For 35mm SLR > To Fit Minolta > Auto Focus Minolta Lenses

Also in: Photography > Camera Lenses > For Digital SLR

This way you catch film and digital buyers.

I agree about conflicting items, but if you use Auctiva you can use it to promote complimentary sales. So if you have a 28-105mm then a buyer might also be interested in a 100-300mm.
Offering reduced postage for both as well will encourage people to bid on both and push the price up.

No duty or tax is payable from EU countries to the UK or any other EU country. It is a free trading bloc and any VAT differences are waived.
Further advice is it's probably easiest to use Paypal as you then deal in your own currency. Be aware though, ebay just quotes currency market conversions, but Paypal's conversion rates are similar to commercial tourist rates with a buy and sell spread. This means you'll end up paying a couple of percent more if you have to convert from one currency to another.

Edited by eccles - 22 November 2007 at 18:56

I should add that the duty free rule only applies to items purchased for your own use, hence the mixed results when bringing back car-loads of booze from Calais. :)

I am listing some items on ebay for the first time. Am located in the US. Have had a whole bunch of questions from international buyers asking if I will sell internationally -- not sure if it is worth the risk? Is there anything I should look out for? A lot of the users have low feedback scores - how do I make sure I don't get burned? Any particular countries a problem? I have been asked from Canada, Israel, France, and czech republic so far. Thanks for any thoughts.

Thanks for the suggestions.

laguire, don't be afraid of Malaysia and surrounding countries. There is a booming photography culture there and you will probably get lots of bidders from that area.