Newbie
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I did not see anything other than the standard advice in this article so thought I'd pass along some ideas. Sorry, but some of my current favorites I'll hold onto for my own use. I am a capitalist like us all.
First and foremost, any advice on how to minimize Ebay fees should encourage people to minimize use of Ebay. There are too many other venues actually work better for certain items. There are alternative online auction sites with their own strengths and weaknesses. Too often then seem to be clones of Ebay and mimic the flaws of Ebay but with lower fees. Not a better mousetrap, just less of a bite. If they are in the early stages; still free of listing fees; then they are a great way to keep an online "store" for potential buyers. .
The one that I have had the most success with has been Craigslist. I have sold many too large to ship items as well as some high dollar items locally. Most instances the buyer has picked up the item from my house with cash in hand. I have also met some buyers at a midpoint to save them some travel time. Sometimes the money paid is more than I expected from Ebay and I think it has to do with buyers liking to see and touch the item before paying. Trust is a valuable commodity I have never had anyone back out or even try to change the deal when they arrive.
Now for Ebay methods if that is where you're committed to selling. I'd like to pass along some that I have seen over the years. Naturally if any are considered fee avoidance, they are ones I've never done myself. Fee avoidance is only natural though as we're all selling to try to make as much money as we can. Any trick or loophole to reduce our cost is something that you're going to try.
Just to reminisce a bit, the absolutely greatest method of all time of course is no longer possible. No one that knew about it passed it along to anyone else for fear of Ebay finding out and shutting it down. Alas, they did and it is gone. It used to be possible to list an auction with a high opening bid amount. If towards the closing moments of the listing (probably 12 hour timeframe rule) there were no bids, you could edit the price down to $9.99 and Ebay would credit the original listing fee and charge based upon the $9.99. Naturally you'd edit the listing to something only worth $10 so you wouldn't lose any money on the deal if it sold.
So what current methods are available to save on Ebay fees?
Manage your relist credits.
Just because you may not plan on relisting that Golden Widget that you couldn't sell does not mean you can not utilize its potential relisting credit. Simply relist and then edit the listing to something new and of the same appropriate price. I say to relist and then edit because I use Auctiva to schedule the relist. The scheduling is a nice feature but their editing function is limited to price/title/duration. The real meat of the listing is then editing after it is live. Even if you actually relist the same item, find someway to increase its value to make it more likely to sell the second time around. If you had 2 similar widgets, combine them into a single relisting and adjust the shipping and handling to reflect the extra content. Ebays search and updating of listings is much more efficient now so you do not get lost after an edit like you used to.
Utilize Bonus Items within your listings
I just checked and Bonuses are still legal (at least for now) Suppose you have an Atari Video Game system to sell. You can start the auction only include the console with power supply or other basic components. You can then set Bonus levels where other parts and pieces are included as a Bonus when met. Just be certain to not include any Bonus items in the title and set clear exact price points for when something is earned. It works on many levels (some of which I won’t spell out for you) and can also lead to some up selling (if you work that way, of course I don’t) at the close of the auction. Selling a "base" unit can appeal to someone that only needs that part while also allowing another bidder to run up the price for a more robust system. I’ve sold entire book collections using that method where each $10 increment in bidding would get the next four books in the series. It did upset some people but I was able to “guarantee” $120 worth of books, in three listing cycles, with only 3 9.99 listing fees paid. The people that complained I am sure were upset that they couldn’t steal the entire lot at the $10 opening bid and they were not serious bidders anyway. Often, if someone sends a question that indicates some issue with how I list an item, I’ll respond and in the same moment add them to my blocked bidders list.
Second Chance Offers:
If you have 2 of the same items, make sure to price it so you’re likely to get more than one bidder hooked. If you have 2 of the same but one is easily in better condition; list the WORST one first. If it sells with a back up bidder, you then offer the under bidder the original item while upgrading the winner to the better one. I have never had a winner not appreciate a free upgrade and I’d much rather sell 2 items quickly than to try my luck on the second one for another listing cycle. Often, the 2 bidders (if you’re lucky) will be the entire potential market for that item and you’ll capture the sale before it goes to someone else.
Offer a discount for payments other than Paypal.
It is not often that someone will take the discount but I typically offer 2% off the total if they send me a check or money order. On small items it is less likely but on $50 and up, there are some takers. It really doesn't save me a lot of money but allows me to educate potential buyers on my cost and it makes them more sympathetic to my shipping charges.
Self promote you other similar items within your own listings.
From using Auctivas scrolling Store Window to making mention of being able to combine item A with similar item B (listed separately) for shipping savings. May just get someone to take a look and one person buys 2 lots, Paypal fees are reduced on the combined payment.
Yea, yea, yea, I know. No recent selling activity on my account. We all have multiple user Id’s don’t we?
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