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Tips for Selling Your Twins’ Toys on eBay
I’ve just held my tenth garage sale of the year—in cyberspace, that is. You see I’m hooked on eBay.
It started innocently enough with a piece of vintage Fiesta, that highly collectable colorful dinnerware from the 1930s and 40s. I had collected the stuff for years and had one piece that I never used and frankly didn’t want any longer. I thought of selling it. I knew that it was worth more than what I paid for it ten years ago, but short of opening a booth in an antique mall, how would I ever get a fair price? Then it hit me. I would auction it off on eBay. The transaction was successful to say the least, and no sooner had I cashed the check than I turned my attention to my garage and an old Mission-style dining room chandelier that was gathering dust.
Another successful sale. Now I was hooked.
Unlike a traditional garage sale where you haul all your merchandise out onto your driveway on a Saturday morning and negotiate with people who think that $10 is too much to pay for your Ethan Allen end table, there is no haggling on eBay. You decide on an opening price or “bid,” list the item online, and you let the marketplace decide how much they’ll pay. Sometimes people still won’t be willing to fork over $10 for that end table (maybe your Ethan Allen is more IKEA), but if it’s the real deal and priced correctly, they usually are. That’s part of the excitement and lure of eBay—you just never know what people are looking for and what they are willing to pay for it. Or, as Meg Whitman, eBay’s former President and CEO explains, eBay brings “otherwise unlikely sellers and buyers together.”
Allow me to illustrate: My husband and I had acquired some of his grandmother’s mid-century, Danish teak furniture. Although well made, I didn’t think they were worth much. Two items in particular, a scuffed up coffee table and a couch frame with broken leather straps, were clogging our already cramped garage. I listed them on eBay knowing that the furniture would be exposed to a much wider audience, and hoping that we’d get $50 for the pair. The closing bids? $175 and $125 respectively. It seems that a prominent Danish architect, Greta Jalk, designed them. Who knew? (Several astute collectors e-mailed me with the information after studying the photographs on eBay.) And to think I would have sold them at a garage sale for $20.
Looking For Some Extra Cash?
With our current economic downturn, wouldn’t it be great to painlessly earn a bit of extra cash? Yet you don’t need a collection of antiques in order to do so. At the moment, I’m concentrating on my kids’ closets and all the toys, clothes, and baby paraphernalia that they’ve either outgrown or never use any longer. I recently sold a Travel N’ Trundle portable bed for almost half of what I paid for it two years ago. (My son had only used it about six times and it was it pristine shape.) A Leap Frog LeapPad (also in great condition) went for $23. Three preschool boa rd books by Eric Carle, $8. Those prices are way more than what I would have gotten for them if I had sold them at a garage sale or to a local consignment shop.
That’s not to say that the average consumer can’t find a bargain on eBay. To the contrary: If you need a Travel N’ Trundle and you don’t want to spend $65 plus tax for a new one, isn’t $30 for one in great condition a deal? My girlfriend buys many of her kids’ clothes on eBay for a fraction of their in-store value. She just looks for items that say “NWT,” or “New With Tags.”
But “gently used” clothing sells well on eBay, too. I sell kids’ clothing in a lot—three pairs of jeans with three tops, for instance—and start the bidding low. Halloween costumes are big sellers, as are video games, educational software, and toys. (Surely you have plenty of all those just hanging around collecting dust, don’t you?)
As a consumer, you’ll find stuff on eBay that you’ve been searching for and can’t find because it’s no longer made. For instance, I recently discovered a wheel center cap for my old Toyota Corolla that was stolen off of my car and the local auto parts store hadn’t stocked in years. I turned to eBay and there it was—four for $10. And on more than one occasion, I’ve bid on Lego sets that have been discontinued for my twins. Be forewarned—the closer it gets to Christmas, the higher the bidding goes as frenzied parents drive up the price.
The ABCs of Ebay
So how does eBay work exactly? First, you have to become a member. The sign up process is fast and pretty benign. (You don’t need to divulge any serious information about yourself to join although you’ll have to give up a little more such as a credit card or checking account number if you want to sell on eBay.) Next, you choose a screen name and a password so that you can log onto your own personal inventory site called, “My eBay.” Here you can keep track of everything that you’re selling, buying, or “watching.”
If you’d like to sell an item, you choose a category in which to list it. (Everything is arranged by categories.) There’s a small insertion fee (the cost to advertise or list your item), and a final value fee for each item that actually sells (eBay takes a small percentage of the winning bid). If you’d like to list your item in more than one category, there’s a charge for that, too, as well as a host of other little marketing extras such as bold face, supersize image, and so on. But if you’re auctioning off simple, inexpensive items, it’s best to keep to the listing basics and steer clear of all the others—they’ll just eat into your profits.
Next, you’ll need to come up with a title (try to include all the search words a prospective buyer would use in searching for the item) and write up a description of your item and its condition. You can sell one item at a time or two dozen—it depends on your enthusiasm. You’ll also need digital pictures to upload to eBay’s system. Don’t worry, it just takes a click of a button—you don’t have to be a computer whiz. Finally, when the auction is over you’ll need to collect your money (PayPal is the fastest and safest way) and ship out your item.
Tricks of the Trade
Curious? Read on for a few tricks of the trade from an at-home mom who’s been there.
Do a Bit of Research Before you sell your first item, take a little tour of eBay (click on “New to eBay” icon for a short tutorial). Or play around for a while. Use the search box to find items, and then try out the “browse” feature and scroll through the dozens of categories. See what other items similar to yours have recently sold for. Take note of how people write up their titles and descriptions.
More is Better One of my personal pet peeves when shopping on eBay are people who either don’t offer enough information in their descriptions or only show one fuzzy photo. Granted, when you shop on eBay, you do take a leap of faith in your fellow man that they’re on the up-and-up, but I’m always suspicious of people who innocently omit information.
When listing your item, look at it carefully and note any and all abnormalities. Describe it completely—color, shape, and exact size. And don’t forget plenty of good photographs. It only costs 15 cents to list additional photos (the first is free) so why be cheap?
List Only the Best Items in pristine shape get top dollar—those that are one step from the junk heap do not. You wouldn’t want to buy a stained baby blanket or a broken bike for your child and neither would the rest of the eBay community.
Listing Tips Always check out what other people have written about items that are similar to yours—they may offer valuable insight. If your item has several different names or different spellings, be sure to use all of them in your description to maximize the number of buyers directed to your auction via the search bar. Set a realistic opening price—eBay shoppers are savvy. I usually start the opening bid with the lowest price I’m willing to accept. Others start with an insanely low opening bid and set a reserve price in the hopes of drawing more attention, but that costs more money and sometimes backfires. And when it comes to shipping, think twice about charging a “handling” fee—a big turn off to many folks, especially moms on a tight family budget.
Do Unto Others Remember your feedback profile—a system where eBay buyers and sellers rate their personal dealings with you—can make or break your reputation, so always treat others online how you’d like to be treated yourself. Answer e-mails in a timely and courteous manner; ship out payment or packages when promised.
Now roll up your sleeves, scour those basements and attics, and list those items on eBay! Not only will you make a bit of cash but you’ll also be organizing your home—a double dose of heaven for any busy mom.
—Christina Tinglof is creator and editor of Talk About Twins, and the author of five books including Double Duty: The Parents' Guide to Raising Twins, from Pregnancy through the School Years (2nd Edition) , and Parenting School-Age Twins and Multiples .
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