Selling Yourself Short and Giving Stuff Away on eBay

Aiming High. 

When it comes to selling on eBay the same age old questions come up ...

"What is this item worth?"

"How much am I going to list this at?"

"How much profit do I expect to actually make?"

My advice would be, when in doubt aim high.  We always try to start our Buy it Now listings a bit higher than what we think the item will actually sell for because with the Best Offer function in place you can almost always assume someone will come in with a low ball offer based on what you have for your Buy it Now price.  If I want to make 19.99 on an item I might list it at 29.99 or 34.99.  If I want to make $49.99 on an item I will probably list it at $69.99 or $74.99.

Also, we always always ALWAYS have the buyer pay for shipping.  I get the appeal of listing items with 'free shipping' but I just like to charge them for shipping rather than bother with factoring in the shipping cost into the actual price of the item.  For the most part buyers aren't stupid and they are going to figure out that the shipping cost is not actually 'free' and it's just tacked on to the price of the item.

And what is there to lose when listing high?  Sure people might scoff and pass over your item because they think you are ridiculous ... but the flip side is that people might actually stop on your item because it IS listed high.  It spikes curiosity... What is so special about THIS lot of Care Bears? Even though the answer is nothing - they stopped and looked at YOUR Care Bears instead of someone else's ... and maybe, just maybe they will make a 'low offer' which just so happens to be what you would actually like to make off of the item.

See what I'm getting at here?

So don't be afraid to list your item a little higher than you think it's worth.  Of course, if you list it way too high it probably won't sell ... but it's easier and makes more sense to list high and lower your price later, than short change yourself.  You worked hard to find that interesting, unique, quality item - don't give it away!

Happy Hunting!

The eBay Freshman