We had money put back for the upcoming trip, and we'll be good to go in that respect, but with the rising gas prices, we decided to see if we could raise a bit more. After scouring through 15 years of accumulated junk.....er......collectibles, we found that the only thing we have that is worth anything at all is......Nelson's World Wrestling Federation stuff. My friend Karen helped us sell 72 Hasbro Figures, Two Rings, and some accessories for a cool $260. The figures are going to their new home in Canada, to a collector who will hopefully take care of them as good as Nelson did. We have more things in the WWF world that we want to get rid of, but this was a good start.
Which brings me to the subject of ebay itself. I've never sold on there, so when an ebay drop-off opened up a few miles up the road, I decided to give it a shot. I sold an antique musical instrument a few years back (which I rescued from the dumpster at school) on consignment on ebay through the local music store, and so I figured that I knew what I was in for. I was wrong.
After being told to catalogue everything and much work, I was basically told by them that I needed to pay them an $80 non refundable listing fee, all the final value fees and Paypal fees, AND a flat 30% after all that was taken out. I politely declined, and called my friend Karen who knows how to sell on ebay. I took the photos and gave her the info, and she did the rest.
We set a reserve - the bottom line, won't accept any less price. She started the auction at $.99, and put it up for 10 days. And we waited. And waited. And watched. Watched auctions don't bid - or at least quickly.
By the end of the first weekend, it was up to $51. Several days went by, and I saw that it suddenly went to $150 - the reserve price. The next morning, it was back at $51 - the person who bid decided they didn't have the money, and retracted. CURSES!
By the last day, it had hopped back up to $150. At the beginning of the last hour, it was at $207. I decided not to check again until it was done, and it stopped at $260, plus shipping (not cheap - it's a lot of stuff and takes a big box). Fine by me.
So today, after a lot of e-mailing back and forth and setting additional shipping costs (as ours were only for the US), Karen called me tonight to tell me what we cleared after Paypal took their 3%. She said "You owe me for the listing fee - do you want me to deduct it from the proceeds?". I asked her how much. She said "Oh, it's $5.70". I said "HUH?!?!?" She double checked, and that is what it is.
So I understand that the guy up the road is running a business, and he needs to make some profit, but jeez! A whopping $80 just to list it?? That's massive profit (don't ask me for the percentage - I suck more massively at math)!! Totally unnecessary to charge that much, ON TOP OF the final value listing and Paypal fees, and BEFORE the 30% consignment charge.
He was a nice man, and I'm sure his wife was a nice lady, but I still can't get over the disparity. Even accounting for them to take the photos (I did well with 6, I think it was - maybe 8 at the most) it just doesn't add up. Plus, he runs a shipping business too, so he's making a healthy profit from the shipping. He even insinuated that my stuff wouldn't bring in much money. Well, I'm happy to clear what I did. It will pay for one of my hotels, freeing up some money for the ever-rising gas prices.
Ebay drop-off? I think I'll pass.......
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