Ebay selling tips please

[mominwestlake]

My daughters have been playing with AG dolls for several years now. I would buy items I thought they'd like or items I thought might be retired and save them for later(not to mention what I bought with "the code"). Well, I still have a lot of those items and my girls aren't asking to get those particular things. Example: 2 Marisols, her trunk, and her accessories. I thought 2 of my daughters would have asked for her but they asked for Kit and Elizabeth instead. I am thinking about selling them on ebay to make money for Christmas. We have 5 kids to shop for at Christmas not to mention cousins, teachers, grandparents, etc. I would like to make extra money from ebay sails since our budget just doesn't spread that far. Can anyone give me any tips- day of the week to list, how long the auction should run, etc?
Also, do you think we'll make more if we wait until October? My oldest did sell her Kailey last year and a few of her AG clothes and I sold a Magic Attic Doll but we were happy with any amount of money we made.This time I want to make money since times are tough for us now financially. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ August 25, 2006 01:50 PM: Message edited by: mominwestlake ]</font>

[T. Lynn]

You could also list them here for sale. It will save you ebay fees and I know there area a couple of people looking to buy a Marisol doll.

I'd be interested in her trunk if you'd like to sell on this board...(sent you a PM)

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ August 25, 2006 02:08 PM: Message edited by: T. Lynn ]</font>

[emsmombuysdolls]

If you want my honest opinion, skip ebay all together. The ladies here are very wonderful. They will pay/offer fair market values for your items and you won't have to worry about listing fees and final value fees. If you do go to ebay, chances are a great number of us would be bidding on your items. Just skip the middle man. Or list on Craig's List in your area. Again, no listing fees and final value fees. As a seller, I would try to avoid ebay. They don't treat their sellers very well. That is just my two cents.

[Gomunk]

You could always offer them on the board [img]wink.gif[/img] , as a way to avoid ebay fees. Just take pictures, make an album (like on imagestation) and put a price in a description.
As far as ebay goes, if you still want to take that route, the best times to list are in the evening, about 8-9 once everyone on the east coast and east coast are home. Thursday, Friday, and the weekends are peek times and a lot of people get paid on Fridays. Do some research and see what others are selling the same items for (use "ending soonest" when you sort). 7 days is usually what most items run for, but you can opt for a 10 day auction so that more people get to see your items. I hope this helps.


ETA: I agree with EmsMom. As a seller on ebay I feel like I get raked over coals when I sell anything. I have 5 sewing orders on my board in my sewing room, and 3 of them came from here. I accept Paypal, and only have to deal wiht the Paypal fees (which aren't too bad and kind of cancels out since I get cash back when I spend). IMO your dolls will go to better homes than if you sell them on Ebay. When you sell on here you know that you are selling to an AG fan and they will love your doll.

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ August 25, 2006 02:13 PM: Message edited by: Gomunk ]</font>

[tylermads]

I agree with everyone else. I am an ebay trading assistant so I sell often. Recently I sold two large lots of AG items and the fees were unbelievable. Try doing a completed search on ebay and then list them here or on Craigslist for the average amount sold. You will end up making hte same or more after you factor in the amount of money saved from fees. However, If you do decide to list on Ebay, Be sure to give us your ID so I can check them out!

[judiaci]

If you do decide to sell on e-Bay, October is a good time to sell. Also, the beginning of November is a good time. I would make sure I stated the shipping charge exactly so that you do not undercharge or overcharge. Some people will not bid on an item if they feel the shipping charge is a rip off.

Also, good pictures are a must! I ususually run auctions 1 week either Sunday through Sunday or Tuesday through Tuesday. Do not list the items late at night when no one will be up to bid on them as they get close to closing. It seems that most of the bids come in the final minutes of the auction. Good luck!

[mominwestlake]

Well, I think I will try to sell here first but how do you know how much to ask? I will need to get pictures together too. 4 of my children go back to school next week and then I will have time to go through my goody closet, see what I want to sell, take pictures, etc. Also, my daughter has the plastic AG hangers and wants to sell some to earn some money for school clothes that I won't pay for. How much should she ask for them? Thanks for all the grreat advice.

Megan

[EmilyMarie]

What about returning some items to AG for credit on future purchases? Marisol is probably best sold here or on ebay, but maybe the non-retired items can go back for credit. I would think people would rather buy items still available from the company rather than ebay.

Decent pictures are a must. I agree with the sunday/sunday or tuesday/tuesday days for auctions & anywhere between 7pm-10pm central time. That works for us anyway. Titling your item properly is a must also. Typing in the words american girl to search brings up TONS of stuff, a lot of which isn't even real american girl product. I've noticed some people use the words pleasant company american girl or pleasant co american girl & follow that with the particular girl they've got such as Kirsten. Like Pleasant Co American Girl Work Dress for example.

Get the item(s) packed for shipping & either weigh them at the post office or invest in a postal scale. The USPS has free boxes you can get online & the workers there will give, or should be able to give, you a zip code chart & flier of prices. Exact shipping or a dollar or so more is fair. But some items are too big to put exact shipping in because costs are based on zip code. That's why I suggest you know the weight so when someone emails to ask you can quote because you'll know the weight plus their zip code. If you guesstimate there's the chance you'll not charge enough or far too much for shipping.

ALWAYS include delivery confirmation. For priority it's 50 cents & parcel post it's 60 cents. Free or 14 cents if you print your own labels. Outfits most likely will be under a pound so priority ship would be $4.05 plus 50 cents so charge $5. We save packing peanuts from AG orders so the only things we have to buy are padded envelopes & packing tape. We save packing materials from things we win on ebay too.

We just hate to pay high shipping so we try & keep our costs down as much as possible.

Ebay fees are charged depending on the price you start your item at & also a final value fee at the end. Buy-it-now costs too. We like to start out at $9.99 for 35 cents & see where the auction goes. Sometimes you don't get what you paid for the item if you do that however.

I have a hard time deciding fair value for an item though, so that's why we usually start out at $9.99. We let the buyers decide how much they're willing to pay.

Good luck & have fun!

[Kenshinchan]

To find the right price to list items for, you can check completed auctions on eBay and see how much items are selling for. If you want to be polite, take off a couple bucks when you post here, since you don't have to pay listing fees, or, offer free shipping. Not sure if that's necessary, though.

Hangers may be worth selling on eBay. I actually called AG about a month ago and they had them in stock to buy (as "replacement parts") for 50 cents apiece. On eBay, it looks like they tend to fetch more than that. If your DD wants 50 cents apiece (plus shipping), you can probably sell them for that here, though; if they're the white ones and you shipped through the Post Office, I'd buy for that.

(IF AG isn't selling the plastic hangers at the moment, your DD might be able to get more than 50 cents apiece for them more easily.)