eBay selling costs??? *beginner*?

Question

I have never sold anything on eBay before.
I have 100% positive feedback as a buyer(never had a neutral or negative comment) I am PayPal verified with a confirmed address.

How much will it cost me total, using eBay and PayPal to sell my "like new" $200 digital camera on ebay? Is it more or less expensive to use buy it now? Should I use a reserve? Does eBay send you boxes to ship the stuff from your house to your buyer?

I am a poor college student and I think I have like maybe $50.00 in my bank account at the moment, so I really need to sell this camera with as little cost to myself as possible, while still recovering the cost of buying it.

My 7.1MP Nikon Coolpix 7600 point and shoot digital camera has only been used maybe 5 or 10 times, still works great, and still has original packaging, photo CD, and instruction booklet, along with computer cables. Box still looks brand new, as do the photo CD(never used) and instruction booklet. I bought it new towards the end of 2006

Answer 1

eBay charges fees to list your auction based on the starting price. They also charge for any 'extras' including a reserve, a buy it now, featured listings, etc. Their fees are very clearly spelled out when you go to list your item. They also charge a percentage of final selling price (which decreases as the final price of the item increases).

To get an idea of what your item will fetch on ebay, do a search for completed items and you will see what they generally sell for. This will help you calibrate yourself and your expectations.

If you need to re-coup a certain amount of money from your item you need to either put a reserve on it (which may discourage buyers) or put a higher starting bid on it (which also may discourage buyers).

You will not recover the full cost of buying the camera. People buy stuff on ebay to get a deal, not pay retail. Part of the retail price on things include the flexibility to easily return it. The hassle of dealing with suppliers when items don't work, etc. This is part of the reason things sell for a discount on ebay.

eBay does not send you boxes to ship the stuff. You are on your own for that. It would really benefit you to know what it will take to send this camera out to someone. If you undercharge for shipping you will end up with less money yourself and if you overcharge people will be less willing to bid the item to it's value. I'd suggest Priority mail because you can get the boxes for free at the post office :-)

Answer 2

They do that because of the insertion fee cutoff. It's more expensive to post $50 than it is $49.99. A Buy It Now option costs more but you can make it up later on. To get it more viewable, you have to pay for extra features. You're better off using Amazon or having a yard sale. eBay screws over its sellers especially when buyers are unhappy for no reason.

Answer 3

First, all the fees are listed on eBay. It has fees for everything. The more you start your bidding at, the higher the fee. If you use Buy It Now, there is another fee. If you use more then one picture there is an extra fee. Also, after you sell your item, there is a final price fee. The the fees are listed on the eBay site.

Second, you can go to www.usps.com and order a bunch of things for free, like boxes & envelopes.

Answer 4

Hello,

I put together a page on mahalo.com called How to Sell on eBay:

http://www.mahalo.com/how_to_sell_on_ebay

I think it has a lot of helpful links, and I hope it helps you.

Mahalo,
Sara