Warbird Information Exchange

So what should I know about selling stuff on EBay?

And waht advise would you give me before I jump into selling several items on E-pay?

Tim

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www.tailhookstudio.com

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John,

Not to sure what you clarify as small ticket items. I have over 800 positive feedbacks (900+) counting second time buyers. Eighty + percent of our items have been less than $10.00. Most of our Military airplane embrodered hats are at a buy it now price of less than $10.00. Our shipping charge is $3.00 for first class mailing boxed. The actual cost of postage + the box is around 2.80 before the new postage went in.

This embroidered Sabre hat went for $7.95



The Stearman was embroidered on a mesh hat and sold for even less




This B-24 also went for under $10.


These are only a few of our items .. In fact we have sold embroidered T-Shirts for $9.99 plus shipping.

I only add these remarks as there are a number of honest sellers on Ebay.

_________________
Jerry
S/Sgt. - USAF Radio Operator '52-'56
C-119 "Flying Boxcar" - Korea & Japan

Volunteer: National Museum of the US Air Force (2007-2016)
LTM 381st Bomb Group Memorial Association

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I usually charge a flat rate for shipping. Whatever priority mail rate is + a bit of padding to cover the cost of things like packing materials, my time, and the trip to the post office, etc. I agree that there are some people out there that go hog wild with their fees, but I've had people get huffy with me trying to tell me how much it "costs" me to ship, quoting postal rates only, saying that my extra $1.30 is gouging. Whatever.

As for selling; Common sense. There are a million people out there that think they're going to get rich quick with no investment, try not to be one of them. Sell what you know and are comfortable selling, over-communicate with the people you're selling to ("Here's your invoice", "thanks for the payment, I'll ship your item thursday", "hey, it's thursday and I shipped your item, here's your tracking number, thanks again." etc.) and be mindful of the people you deal with.

It may be worth your time to set up a separate checking account tied to a debit card for your transactions. It lets you keep the 'business' separate from your normal funds. In the past I've set up a checking account and savings account. Paypal has access to the checking account, but not savings. It gave me a way to keep money away from their grubby little fingers in case of a dispute. (the only dispute I had came from a guy that wanted me to ship to a third party. I told him I wasn't comfortable with the deal, and offered him a refund. Except that guy checked his mail about once a year. He sicked paypal on me before he bothered to read anything i sent him.)

Also, check up on the tax laws in your state. At some point, the party's going to end for eBay and Paypal and they'll have to start turning sales records over to the states and feds, you may as well be ready for it. I've tried to keep the amounts I sell low just to be safe, but there are people who are making a healthy, tax-free living out there. Uncle Sam's going to come calling for his share sooner or later.

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Phil K.
Yankee Air Museum
Systems Admin / Ramp Crew / Professional Photo Ruiner

One of my sales I posted last night has caused me to get this question, "what is my buy it now price". I did not set the auction up with a buy it now price, would I be bad edict to give him a price and option to buy it at that price? or should I just go forward with the auction as is. I want to be a "good" seller but I could use the cash (for more toys that I will use, well part of a toy).

Tim

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www.tailhookstudio.com

Ignore it Tim that's a dumb Q since clearly it's a straight auction.
Has a rule I don't screw with a auction after I start.
Lots of times people will ask you to end your auction early and they'll
buy at a certain price. I never do that cause it's against the rules and unfair to other bidders. just mu $.02.

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Don't touch my junk!!

If you didn't post a "buy it now" price, then there is now "buy it now" price. There are enough scammers out there that responding to something like that can be more hassle that it's worth.

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Phil K.
Yankee Air Museum
Systems Admin / Ramp Crew / Professional Photo Ruiner

Thanks Jack and Chico

But I don't think I have the rating to have a “Buy it Now” option to me yet. So the auction will go on.

Tim

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www.tailhookstudio.com

Jack or Anyone else

I don't want to be bothered shipping things out of the country so I've stated no international orders. Should I open it up to that. I'e been asked on to auctions to ship over seas (Hong Kong and S. Aferica). Is this some scam or just more "Dumb" questions?

Do any of you ship out of the country and what is your advise on it?

Tim

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

Make things as clear as possible to avoid confussion and get good results.

Descrbie item as best as possible. Put option to contact you if they have more questions in case its really complicated.

AS IS! This one I have found out is really important. Even when you have described the item as best a possible, there are still those that feel they did not get what you promised, the AS IS claus can really save you some serious aggravation.

How fast do you want payment. Some folks usually place a must be paid by time line. Most ask for money within ten days or less.

What type of payment do you accept. Pay Pal being the most preferred method, but not everyone has it. Money Orders or Cashiers Checks are the second best option and it is totally up to you on the personal checks.

Shipping. If possible mention shipping method, USPS, UPS, DHL and so on.

Shipping Charges. When I have sold I items in the past I always mentioned that I will charge actual shipping charges, unless I really had to do something special. Flat rate charges have usually discouraged me from buying from some sellers when starting bid is .99 cents and shipping is $40.00 bucks! Some folks are just trying to cover their possible loss if the item does not fetch what they really wanted for it.

And of course, never ship until payment is received!!!!

So, be clear and set your terms that you are happy with.

Good Luck!

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Maybe I'll make it in larger letters and in bold next time, but I thought that it was clear enough.

I'm not opening a business just unloading some "stuff" from my house that I don't want taking up room. But who knows what the future might bring?

I've very grateful for all the help.

Tim

_________________
www.tailhookstudio.com

We have shipped embroidered WWII airplane hats and shirts overseas when requested if we will do so.

Payment was thru Paypal so no hassle there. We shipped by Post Office and all the info including labels was done thru the PO web site. However, we purchased the label witout postage and paid the postage when we took the item to the PO for mailing.

It's not very difficult and have shipped hockey memorabilia to Canada as well.

_________________
Jerry
S/Sgt. - USAF Radio Operator '52-'56
C-119 "Flying Boxcar" - Korea & Japan

Volunteer: National Museum of the US Air Force (2007-2016)
LTM 381st Bomb Group Memorial Association