Can anyone offer tips for selling a few things online? I guess I'm looking at Amazon, eBay and maybe Craigslist. I'm not sure about Craigslist from a safety standpoint. Do you meet the person in a store parking lot or something? As far as on Ebay or Amazon, is there an easy way to estimate the shipping costs? I'm only looking to sell a few items I own every now and then. I don't want it to be a full time business.
jleadbet, thanks for asking this question.. I have a few things that I would like to sell on ebay.. but never got around to finding out how.. I'll watch this thread to learn more.
I have sold stuff via Craig's List. I meet at a public location like Starbucks. I am a frequent customer, so I feel very safe making the exchange there. It's been a long time since I've sold anything on eBay. I used to pass the shipping cost onto the buyer. The buyer pays for shipping. The same thing applies to Amazon.
You can definitely make transactions safely through Craigslist if you and the other party agree upon a public location. eBay's fees are getting ridiculous because they take out a portion of what your item sells for + a portion of your shipping price, and there is quite a bit of competition in terms of price on eBay. I use USPS's shipping calculator to get a rough idea of what the shipping for an item is, then I pass the shipping on to customers. UPS also has an online shipping calculator and it's pretty handy as long as you know the weight/measurements of your package and the place you're sending it to. I haven't sold on Amazon, but I think they require a monthly fee which just sounded too high for me. You'd have to pay that monthly fee regardless of whether or not you sold items, so that's why I'm still with eBay (because I haven't found anything better). You can try a site called Yardsellr as well. I like buying and selling on Yardsellr because it gives you options as to whether you want to pay the site's fees, or if you want your customers to pay.
I have purchased and sold from Craigslist. I met the person at their place of work, it was agreed upon by the two of us, it worked out fine. A public place is the safest thing when exchanging product for money. I sold a car and the person came to my home, I felt safe with them but people where with me.
Having transactions in public is really the safest thing to do as far as craigslist goes. Also always have someone with you and make sure the time of the exchange is in the morning or afternoon not late at night. I prefer taking my chances on eBay or amazon though that way you don't have to meet up with the person.
My advice would be to make sure you take the best possible photographs. A poor photograph will reduce your income significantly, in my experience. A good photograph will help you maximise your online selling income.
I usually sell from Etsy, but I've recently opened up an eBay shop. I use the USPS website to calculate shipping. There's a link on their homepage and it's a very simple tool. The biggest issue is if you don't have a scale on hand for postage and aren't entirely sure of how much something weighs.
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There's also a really cute and unique website to sell your items called Bonanza. They're based in Seattle and have a really cute homepage and style that kind of looks like eBay and Etsy had a baby. The only drawback to Bonanza is that because it's only been around a couple of years, it doesn't get the same traffic as eBay, so you have to tweet or use Facebook or do something to let people know you have items for sale. The people on Bonanza that sell the most aren't shy about promoting themselves and letting people know their booth exists. I like the hometown feeling in their forums, the friendly staff and the hip, indie Seattle flavor. It's pretty soulful and charming for a site where people sell their old junk.
WePay is not a place to sell items online or start a business. It's a Paypal alternative that 2 young guys started in the old Paypal headquarters office. A lot of sites that you would sell your items on require Paypal or Google Checkout, so if you use a new service like WePay ,you might find that the auction site doesn't allow it or people might not buy your items because they don't have Wepay accounts to pay you.
I watched a programme on the Crime channel a few nights ago about the Craiglist killer. I have never used Craiglist and I don't intend to after seeing that. There will always be a risk when meeting strangers online and that's not a risk I'm prepared to take.
True. We had a news story in Florida where a guy thought he was buying an Xbox 360 and a guy showed up with an empty Xbox 360 box, kicked his butt and took his money and jewelry. I'm skittish about buying things on Craigslist but if I see an ad for a garage sale on Craigslist ,I check it out.
I've never had any bad experiences with craigslist personally, but there's always a risk when dealing with strangers. Of course, there's a risk of getting scammed for pretty much any online commerce.
Ebay is safer and so is Amazon. Craigslist is a waste. I'd go with the first two. Craigslist is also a very poorly designed site overall. Looks so cheap.
How exactly does this system work? How fast were you able to sell your first item? I have personally had no luck in selling clothes so I end up donating them because other sites like ebay turned out to be useless for me. I would really love to know any tips or suggestions that you have about that website!
Wow. Craigslist seems to be a very bad alternative from all the kidnapping cases and now this story of abuse. I just don't know which program or website to trust anymore. it just makes me sad that innocent people are getting hurt because of such nonsense. It just shows the kind of risk the person is putting themselves in with dealing with people they have never met. It's a scary world out there.
Well there's this site calledLog In where you can find buyers based on your state so you might want to give it a try. I have not sold any item online yet so I can't really give any tips aside from just shipping the item to avoid such cases as the ones mentioned above.
I personally like Craigslist for things I don't feel like shipping. We have sold a lot of furniture via Craigslist but I only ever have strangers over if my husband is home. For smaller items we always meet in public. Ebay is good for smaller items and they sell way faster than Craigslist because you get national --even international exposure. I have been scammed on Craigslist once though, I met a guy to buy a high end laptop. Turns out it was stolen. I called the cops and turned it in. I was out $350. They never did find the guy. Even though I met him at the address he gave me, the police later said that he didn't live there. We did the whole transaction in the driveway which at the time didn't strike me as odd.
Craigslist is generally very safe. Most of the stalker/killer stories are people selling themselves and or trying to find a date via craigslist. If you want to sell furniture or big ticket items craigslist is the ONLY way to go. I've sold on ebay and it's really very easy. I've actually been looking around my house trying to find new things to sell on ebay!
