Well like half the world seems to do I’m cleaning out all the excesses of my life onto eBay. I’ve only been in the UK a little over three years and in that time I’ve moved three times so I don’t have an overly large amount of stuff but even so I rarely throw away anything that’s still useful. I give it away or store it away. Being in the technology industry I tend to acquire various bits of equipment and books. Whether that be through stuff I buy, I’m given or receive through training or various other means. Over time you either end up using them regularly, not actually ever needed or they are superseded.
So when I last moved almost six months ago I started putting things aside into a plastic crate that was labelled eBay. Ever since then I’ve been meaning to get around to put the various stuff up on the site. I’ve slowly got myself organised by signing up for an account as well as a paypal account, photo documented all the items and listed them in a file so I knew all the things I had to sell. The list kept growing, the crate filled and started being piled up on top but still I never got around to actually putting things up for sale. I had to get organised! After all tech devices (not that it all was) tend not to appreciate in value while sitting around gathering dust. The next thing on the list was to google how to optimise my returns. More procrastination!
So the week before last I actually did finally get off my proverbial butt and start to put some items onto the site that has been made famous world over. I decided not to put everything on at once but to slowly add things and use some of the items of less value to experiment with. Oh so much stuff to fill in. You have to decide on categories, photos but worst of all postage… how much to charge, what type. First class or second class. Argh!
I eventually got it all sorted, items listed and now just had to sit back and wait and watch the cash flow in. Well over all I didn’t do too badly for first attempt. Some of the items sold, some didn’t but overall it wasn’t too bad. I won’t be giving up the day job though! I do wonder about some people and things at auctions. I got a free prepay mobile phone from when I moved carriers. When I listed it on the site the vendors price was £25, mine sold for £31. I’m not sure if that was the rush of adrenaline of sitting at a computer, the fact it was out of stock or discontinued or something else but you’d think people would do some research (I might prove myself and idiot by being shown up for not doing my research and finding the carrier has replaced the phone since.
Since the first round of sales I’ve discovered and read about some other tips for selling on eBay. The first was list your items on Thursday night between 17:00 and 20:00 for a ten day auction. That way the auction ends between 17:00 and 20:00 on a Sunday night. Apparently when everyone is browsing the net dreading going back to work the following day. Monday is apparently good with everyone at work browsing the net with Mondayitis.
The other sort of similar site that seems to be taking of is FreeCycle. What I don’t sell might well end up on there.
Anyway I have to go and search through the next cupboard and find more things to sell. I’m might just be getting addicted!
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