can some one tell me a e-bay? could I make pillows and sell them on there ? Someone was telling me about it but i cant find a link . thanks in advance kelly

-- kelly (milkgoats12@aol.com), December 14, 2001

Answers

About the biggest thing on the web these days.

www.ebay.com

However, you are competing against everything else - like Wal Mart. And whoever buys from you is going to have to pay you for postage or freight as well - which may price ordinary pillows out of the market. I'll leave people who use it to tell you more.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), December 14, 2001.

Kelly- don't be discouraged. Go to www.ebay.com and do a search under pillows, or whatever else you want to sell. See what is being offered, what kind of prices they are bringing, and then decide if there is a demand for your product. You'd be amazed at what people will buy!

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), December 14, 2001.

Kelly you simply won't know until you try. Theme pillows and getting them into every catagory you can. Say you embroider goats on them, these could sell very well if the goat folks can find them, and so you want them in the generic search for goats! Maybe even in the agriculture section. Plus in the home, bedding section. Just go to ebay.com and do a search under pillows, once you find something similar to what you do, see if the prices they are getting are worth your time. Note that lots of items go unsold because of to high of price. Make it clear how much shipping and handling is, and how you want payment. Take a clear crisp small photo, lots of times if the pic is so large, I will back the computer off it, because I don't want to wait. I buy all the time, haven't started selling, but we will. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 14, 2001.

Hello Kelly,

I have been selling on Ebay for about three years. I sell finds that I get at yard sales and flea markets as well as crafts. The crafts that I have been successful with have been hand crafted doll furniture and my wife's homemade lye soap.

Do of search of similar items that you want to sell to see if they are selling and how much each one is going for. Use this time to note the style of salemanship each seller is using. Note also the shipping and handling and methods of payment. Look at their photos and compare all of it with what you want to put on Ebay.

The secret of success, I believe is to maintain as many positive feedbacks as possible. The buyers will leave a positive feedback each time you have satisfied them with your products and services. The secret to failure is of course the opposite....negative feedbacks. One of my pet peeves when buying on Ebay is to check the seller's feedbacks. If I see a bunch of negatives then I am hesitant to purchase anything from them.

You can design you own pages within the limitations of the free downloads offer by Ebay or spend a little money and buy a very creative software package. I personally like to keep my selling basic and only use the downloads available for free on Ebay. I think that all that "dog and pony" that some sellers put on their pages is not needed and quite a nusisance to view.

You will have to set up an account with Ebay using a credit card. They automatically will bill you for each auction that you post. Most of mine run about 30 cents each plus Ebay's percentage of the sell of the item, when you sell it.

They have a feature called My Ebay that allows you to keep a record of you Ebay activities including your own personal searches and auctions. They also have a feature call About Me that allows you to make a webpage that your buyer can view to learn more about you and your crafts, etc. I would definitely advantage of all their features. I do as long as they are free.

I do not have any auctions as of this moment but, if you want to view my profile, etc. you may. Just go to Ebay.com. Then go to search. Then type in my username "Espresso42 under the seller part of the search. You can then get an idea for how you want to set up your features. I have 189 positive feedbacks. When you see this number next to my username, double click on it and you will see a list of feedbacks along with a short history of my doings on Ebay since the beginning. Next to the 189 you will see the word ME. That is the webpage that I set up for Ebayers to view my lifestyle. Unfortunately, the picture I had posted was erased and I have to put in another but, my description about myself and my family is available.

If you have any questions that I can answer please do not hesitate to email me, or post a question on my other website that you will see at the bottom of this thread.

Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), December 14, 2001.

There is a thread on one of the Mining Co. BBs that discusses selling crafts on eBay. Some of the postings are very informative. Several of the posters have been selling through eBay, apparantly quite successfully ...

If you want to go there to check ... here is the URL

http://forums.about.com/ab-artsandcraft/start

Another good site is http://www.1x.com/advisor

This is more art related, but there are a lot of similarities ... doesn't specifically address eBay selling, but a lot of information about Internet advertising, websites and selling via Internet.

SFM in KY

-- SFM in KY (timberln@hyperaction.net), December 14, 2001.

Would somebody please post what ebays % take is?

How to handle 2k size transactions??

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), December 14, 2001.

eBay charges on a $2000 transaction would be $3.30 to list it (assuming you set the minimum bid at $200 or more) and, assuming it sold for $2000, eBay gets another $38.23 for a total take of $41.53. They get you coming and they get you going.

-- fred (fred@mddc.com), December 14, 2001.

ok, there's a way around those large transaction fees. This works most of the time. Set a reserve price much higher than you expect to get. Want 2k, set the reserve to 3k with a very low open bid. You'll still get bidders likely up to whatever the item is worth but the auction will close without a winner because your reserve price wasn't met. Then go on the listing and get the list of bidders. Email the highest or 2nd highest bidder privately and offer to let them have the item. At that point Ebay has nothing to do with the transaction and can't collect any 'final value' fee.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), December 15, 2001.

Dave I like the way you think. Think eBay would say its not "protected", but charging people this "final value fee" would be like a newspaper charging you to place an ad and then charging you some more based on how much you sold the item for. Once should be enough.

-- fred (fred@mddc.com), December 15, 2001.

yeah it wouldn't fall under their 'protection' but you'd likely never need that. In these transactions it's easy to protect yourself as a seller. If you're a buyer, use a visa/mastercard and you'll have plenty of protection if something goes wrong.

The last item I sold in that range was a Vendo 56 Coke machine. Instead of doing a listing, I threw some pics up on a personal website and emailed bidders I found on Ebay that were bidding on old coke machines. I didn't spam them, I just casually mentioned I had a machine for sale that they might be interested in. I also went to a few collectors message boards and directed them to my website. I took offers for 1 week and got a better price than I would have on Ebay.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), December 15, 2001.