Things you wish you knew before selling

[ericsells75]

I'm curious to know, after habving sold on eBay for awhile what are some of the things you wish you knew when you started that you know now? Just my curious brain wondering and I thought it would be a nice little break from the managed payments sucks threads 🙂

[femmefan1946]

That the complaints about fraudulent dealings are outliers, and scams are uncommon.

And Managed Payments sucks.

[t_bjarnason]

Start small and work up to the bigger items. I did it completely backwards, which left me open to a TON of risk now that I look back. 

I also agree with @femmefan1946 - fraudsters and scams are more common than we like to believe. Always have your guard up. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

More of a starter suggestion.

If you are selling random sized items start with Canada first. Proceed slowly to USA and International. And let calculated shipping be your friend unless you are selling low value paper type items that can be sent letter rates safely.

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

Actually, femmefan said that they are not common.

[Anonymous]

That "ebay" would stray so far from the original idea.

[t_bjarnason]

Of course it's a starter suggestion; it's something I wish I knew before I started LOL 

[t_bjarnason]

Ah yes, you are correct. I misread what they had said. @femmefan1946 is correct though, the vast majorit are not scammers or out to get us. I guess the one thing that I wish I knew was all the kinds of scams that ARE out there and the signs to watch out for. 

[ricarmic]

Having started over 20 years ago things are very different now.

If I were to make a current world suggestion that also applies to when I originally started (assuming it was available then - I have no idea because I didn't look for one).

I think it would be knowledge of the value and insight that discussion boards like this provide, along with the fact that it needs to be tempered against the bias generally towards all things bad. ie this is a great place to learn about all the scams, buyer/system problems etc, but that it does not mean all buyers are scammers/problematic and that the systems don't work at all. As femme said the vast majority of buyers/transactions in most categories are good but you don't hear about them here. 

It is probably worth noting that I've dabbled with other discussion boards here and on other sites over the last few years, this is the only one that I've stuck with. It adds value to me, and as a result that's why I try to give some value back as I am able.

[femmefan1946]

Another thought, newbies are often shocked when they take home only 80% or less of the selling price.

It helps to know what your actual costs are and what your fees will be, before launching into online selling to earn money.

[byto253]

How patient you need to be for some items to sell.  A lot of people look at sold prices and just think, oh someone sold my widget for $150 and expect it to be snapped up at that price.  However, the seller that got $150 flogged it for 2 years and got lucky at some point because someone broke grandma's widget while she was away and they were desperate for a replacement.    There is a decision between holding out for the better price vs. getting a reasonable return and moving on.