Give me some eBay tips

**Kimberlina** · 09-24-2005, 08:32 PM

I haven't listed anything for sale on eBay in well over 5 years, and have some books I want to list,

I have 3 new copies of an out-of-print, hard-to-find book that I know will sell well. I can also get my hands on new books for $16 that sell for at least $50 on eBay.

I have no clue what I am doing anymore because eBay has changed so very much since the last time I used it. Any and all tips are appreciated, and if you feel like walking me through it start to finish, so much the better.

Thanks!

**bamamomto4** · 09-26-2005, 11:35 PM

I dont sell many books,and really the only thing that I can think of is make the title all caps. I dont know why I think that helps lol .I guess it just makes it stick out more. And I wouldnt add any like *~* things in the title.

I do know on ebay they have a quick little thingy where you enter the barccode and it brings up a ton of info on the book. It's neat because it adds a lot that you wont have to and more detailed.

I cant think of anything else ,but when you go to list and need help,I'd be glad to help any way I can. I'm no expert,but dont mind helping if I can

GOOD LUCK!!

**dolphin** · 10-13-2005, 12:56 AM

I've been selling about 2 years now. I sell alot of books and magazines. The 1st thing I do when I decide to sell a book is to go to the completed items listings after entering the title or author of my book. I usually find one that has been sold recently. If there are several listed, I check them out and see which ones sold for the highest price and I check to see what category it was listed in and what the starting price was. I also check to see if they put something in their listing that I wouldn't have thought of. But I never copy their text.

Then I pick "Sell An Item Like This" in the top of their auction and then just list mine the way I want to. You can also use the barcodes and it will bring up the book, a stock photo of it, and while you are listing, it will sometimes even give you the low and high that the book has sold for and it will suggest a starting price. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. Lots of mine are out of print also and so in that case, I review the best place to list it and go for it. The best selling books I've had luck with are Craft and Woodworking books and magazines. Health and fitness don't seem to sell well nor does books that we best sellers. Maybe it's just me.

I always list my items for the very least that I want for them. I can't do $.99 cent auctions, can't afford to do it and I've seen way too many auctions end for $.99 cents. If I make $3.00 off of any book after fees, I feel I made money.

Always offer media mail for books and if the price isn't more than $5.00 difference, offer Priority too. I do get some people who want it. Also offer to ship to Canada. Lots of my sales are to Canadians.

Use the shipping calculator and figure the cost yourself or you will be deluged with emails asking for the cost. Easier to just list it. I add $1.13 to all media mail. (I don't add anything to Canada shipping price as theirs is so high and you can't do delivery confirmation.) This covers the cost of the bubble envelope and when they pay with paypal, I use the USPS Shipping Service through Paypal and only have to pay $.13 cents for delivery confirmation. You print out your shipping label and tape it to the box or evelope and take it to the Post Office, so nice! I never send out anything without delivery confirmation within the US even if I have to eat the cost of it.

There are have been lots of changes on ebay but I bet after you list a couple of books and complete the sale, you will see it is pretty much the same.

Something else I do occasionally is to the the Community Message Boards and read the posts there. I never post because some of those posters are mean and nasty but you can glean a lot of good and helpful information from there, especially the boards for newbies. I'm still learning.

If you have any questions, just ask. I'll try to help.

**forestdale** · 10-13-2005, 01:21 AM

My only tip is to have complete virus protection when you go onto ebay. I got a virus from there and a friend of mine 2000km away phoned this morning to say she also got a virus from ebay.

BTW, Norton doesn't protect you. I was using that.