How to sell your wares for less than peanuts, how to snare a bargain (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: haydn96

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	22/10/09 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Declutter and makes pin money,

Disadvantages: Pins is all you are likely to be able to buy from the money you make

Ebay is an internet auction site which enables sellers to sell a wide variety of goods, both new and second hand and also services in both an auction format or a buy it now, at the advertised price type of sale.

I have been using ebay now for both buying and selling for 4 years. Initally although I would browse I was a bit scared of buying. But, the more generally good experiences of others eventually tempted me...I started by buying new items only at first. Although there were and are bargains to be had, by the time the postage had been added I found I didn't save much compared with shopping around. However, I am happy to buy second hand goods and this is where I find ebay comes into its own.

I tend to shop with ebay having an idea what I am looking for before I start searching. Otherwise I can spend hours surfing the site! I do not enjoy going physically to the shops to shop so ebay not only saves the leg work but also cuts down on costs. I have also found it beneficial to get better bargains by waiting until the last few seconds of an auction to place a bid....I then bid with the highest amount that I am prepared to pay for a particular item and if I win well hey! fantastic I usually get a bargain but if I lose...its gone to someone else at a higher price than I wanted to pay anyway. I find that shopping late at night tends to find less competition in the auctions which tends to mean that there are more bargains to be had.

With regards to selling I have found more recently that second hand items which I tend to sell, clothes mainly that the kids have grown out of are generally selling for peanuts! When ebay fees, paypal fees etc as well as postage charges, bearing in mind that in some categories ebay are enforcing free postage and packaging then the outcome is that the seller is not making money out of selling their wares on ebay. In many cases the seller perhaps tends to be working for far less than the equivalent of the minimum wage and its not worth the bother.

There are however alternatives to ebay, selling in the local paper, newsagents shop, amazon, ebidder and gumtree.... but I will leave my experiences of these for other reviews.

Summary: Getting less and less worthwhile selling, but bargains to be had at times out there!