Always Impressed with Ebay

[zboss]

All,

My wife and I are currently ebaying a ton of household stuff in preparation for cruising. I am AMAZED at the size of this market... people will buy ANYTHING. Stuff that is old and outdated, stuff that I was literally going to just toss in the trash... is selling.

For example, a run of the mill 10 year old polaroid instant camera. A set of bluetooth outdated headphones that is about 7 years old. A camera battery from 2002... junk by most standards... all selling. Amazing.

Anyhow - for those of you that are in the same process be sure to list everything on ebay and craigslist simultaneously. If you sell it on craigslist, you can stop the ebay sale.

As a rule of thumb I have been starting at 1/3 the value of the item new. If it doesn't get sold, I am putting it in the "donate" pile or "yard sale" pile.

[Cheechako]

There are a lot of things to dislike about Ebay, but it sure has made the market for used goods great. Where else can you advertise selling to millions for nearly nothing! If you really wanted to deal with it all, you could buy at yard sales and sell on there to make an income of sorts... provided you had a good sense of what to buy....

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by zboss

. If it doesn't get sold, I am putting it in the "donate" pile or "yard sale" pile.

You will also have a huge trash pile.
We had to chuck out 13 garbage bags of good stuff that we couldnt even give away to friends, aquaintences and people along the street.

Your lifetimes treasures in the garbage dump... its a bit of a shock. But better when they are gone!

[David M]

Ebay is definitely one of those things that has its extremes of the good and the potential bad if you are not careful. It's still the Wild Wild West even with Paypal.

[GrowleyMonster]

I am into straight razor shaving, restoration, modification, and collecting and I get most of my finds on ebay. A typical ebay rescue razor might be over 100 years old and good for another 100 years, and go for $10 to $20. The same razor in an antique shop or flea market will go for 2x that, or more, and even totally useless blades with huge chunks of edge broken off are sold in shops for $30 or more. Ebay is my source, and also where I dispose of unwanted razors. Even something as specific and esoteric as straight razors is incredibly well represented on "the bay". Gotta love ebay. Hey they got boats too, sometimes.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by zboss

All,

My wife and I are currently ebaying a ton of household stuff in preparation for cruising. I am AMAZED at the size of this market... people will buy ANYTHING. Stuff that is old and outdated, stuff that I was literally going to just toss in the trash... is selling.

For example, a run of the mill 10 year old polaroid instant camera. A set of bluetooth outdated headphones that is about 7 years old. A camera battery from 2002... junk by most standards... all selling. Amazing.

Anyhow - for those of you that are in the same process be sure to list everything on ebay and craigslist simultaneously. If you sell it on craigslist, you can stop the ebay sale.

As a rule of thumb I have been starting at 1/3 the value of the item new. If it doesn't get sold, I am putting it in the "donate" pile or "yard sale" pile.

the market for those cameras is heating up for some reason ,can you still get film?

[David M]

Polaroid 300 Film 10 Pack (PIF-300) : Target

Amazon.com: Polaroid 600 Instant Color Film - 3 Pack: Camera & Photo

Polaroid : Film Cameras & Accessories - Best Buy

[Cotemar]

I had a few of these Old Bellows Cameras in my house when I bought it as part of an estate. They looked really rough in their storage cases. What a marvel off engineering.

I was going to through them in the trash, but just couldn't.

Sold each on eBay for over $400

[zboss]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

You will also have a huge trash pile.
We had to chuck out 13 garbage bags of good stuff that we couldnt even give away to friends, aquaintences and people along the street.

Your lifetimes treasures in the garbage dump... its a bit of a shock. But better when they are gone!

That's true... we have already thrown out a TON of crap. Its so difficult mentally because I JUST KNOW I am going to need XYZ. Then I have to remind myself that if its been sitting in my basement unused for years and its not worth putting on ebay or craigslist then I should just toss it.

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

the market for those cameras is heating up for some reason ,can you still get film?

Polaroid does not make it anymore but 3rd parties do. Its not cheap - I found some online for about $25 a "roll". My understanding is that they have made a comeback do to smartphone apps like instagram.

Also, as you know they are popular for bars on the out islands.

[BlueSun]

Before we left in 2011 we sold an enormous amount of our crap on ebay, and like you it amazed us, a) what people would buy, and b) how much they would pay. Thank god for rampant consumerism....

One little trick we found effective was to offer delivery on larger items (like our fridge, washing machine, lounges etc within a 50km radius of our house (we lived in a large city so our local market was still quite large) for a small fee ($25 I think? Only enough to cover our fuel). We had a station wagon and trailer at the time which made this possible. A number of people told us that the delivery was the key reason they bid on our item, not a competitors. One couple was so grateful that we delivered our old treadmill to them that they practically forced us to take a 6-pack of beer as thanks, and smothered us with praise and handshakes. All the while we were thinking to ourselves "hang on, you paid us to bring it here, AND paid top dollar for a 10 year old treadmill! Thanks though..."

The rest of our gear we either donated or it went out on the curb for the councils hard rubbish collection (more than half of which was picked up by passers-by, or "bin-scabs" as my husband called them).

Good luck to anyone heading down the downsizing path - despite the hassle and inevitable wrench of breaking the cycle of consumerism and ownership so ingrained in us, getting rid of all our junk was the best feeling ever, and I don't miss any of it.

[Cheechako]

It's amazing trying to get rid of all those things we accumulate. Last time I went cruising, we had yard sales etc and sold a lot of stuff. Then donated a lot of stuff, then took it to the dump. In the end we saved stuff, family heirlooms etc, and packed a 10x10x10 storage unit full with furniture and maybe 15 boxes. When we returned from cruising and went through the stuff, it was like..."why did we save this?" we probably cold have gotten rid of another 10 boxes and never missed it....

[Suijin]

I've been using Ebay since 1998, in large part because they were a client of mine back then. I have bought and sold a ton of stuff over the years. It is definitely true that people will pay more than something is worth, often, depending on the item. I don't know if it's buyer's auction fever or what, but it's an durable phenomenon.

These days for stuff that I just want to get rid of, I list it $1.00 with free shipping, or actual shipping costs. I've found that this actually generates the most interest and ultimately the highest price as browsers will see it and put it on their watch list, hoping that they can snag it near the end for cheap. With it on their watch list they keep checking it and soon they are invested to the point where they bid, even if it's at the last minute. The bids are fast and furious at the end and when the smoke clears someone has paid top dollar, lol.

One word of warning. ALWAYS send a sold item with tracking and delivery confirmation. The reason is that if you don't, they can simply complain to Ebay that they never received their purchase and Ebay will promptly refund them and charge you. In the old days buyers and sellers could rate each other, but currently only buyers can leave negative feedback for a seller, not vice versa, so there are lots of buying sharks out there with positive feedback for the simple reason that there is no way to leave them anything else.

Interestingly, there are people who make a living finding stuff on Amazon on sale and listing it on Ebay for the same price, with a $15.00 shipping charge. They have Amazon Prime so they don't pay for shipping and after the auction closes they simply purchase it and have Amazon send it directly to the buyer. They pocket $15.00 each sale for minimal work. It's against Ebay rules but it's rampant.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by zboss

All,

My wife and I are currently ebaying a ton of household stuff in preparation for cruising. I am AMAZED at the size of this market... people will buy ANYTHING. Stuff that is old and outdated, stuff that I was literally going to just toss in the trash... is selling.

For example, a run of the mill 10 year old polaroid instant camera. A set of bluetooth outdated headphones that is about 7 years old. A camera battery from 2002... junk by most standards... all selling. Amazing.

Anyhow - for those of you that are in the same process be sure to list everything on ebay and craigslist simultaneously. If you sell it on craigslist, you can stop the ebay sale.

As a rule of thumb I have been starting at 1/3 the value of the item new. If it doesn't get sold, I am putting it in the "donate" pile or "yard sale" pile.

Funny! I've had really bad luck with ebay. I've been charged more for ad fees then I've actually made. I guess no one wants good boat parts. Some of it almost new.
I stick with craigslist. At least I don't lose except my time.

[captain58sailin]

You did it to me GrowleyMonster, I have always had an abiding interest in straight razors, I went on ebay, I am now the proud owner of several straight razors, which I did not need. Hopefully it has satisfied my straight razor fetish. I am a sucker for old gear!

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

You did it to me GrowleyMonster, I have always had an abiding interest in straight razors, I went on ebay, I am now the proud owner of several straight razors, which I did not need. Hopefully it has satisfied my straight razor fetish. I am a sucker for old gear!

Even though one straight razor can last over a hundred years, you still never have enough of them. I have probably 10lbs of razors. I dont count them any more. They are addictive.

Badger & Blade - Home is your friend. I am Slash McCoy over there. Got a YouTube channel too. Happy shaves.