Learned an Expensive Ebay lesson

**CrotalusHH** · 05-21-2012, 09:38 AM

I put a very custom brush up for sale. I did it with no reserve because I was told that I could end the auction and cancel the bids if I didn't like the price.

I waited until the last 5 minutes because the bids were going up, but they still had not risen to the point of even covering my costs on the materials.

So I went to end the bidding. KINGS X! You can't end the bidding in the last 12 hours. Never again. I would have just kept the brush and used it myself before letting it go for that price. The guys hasn't paid for it yet. Maybe he won't and I can cancel the sale.

**Merkur25** · 05-21-2012, 09:49 AM

It is against the rules but I have already won a item on Ebay to have the seller cancel the auction afterwards due to the fact it sold under the value of the item. It is against Ebay rules but really, its Ebay

**CrotalusHH** · 05-21-2012, 10:49 AM

If I had been able to stop the auction, I would have. I'm not going to refuse to send it now.

I'm sure there are sellers out there willing to do that. I'm not one of them.

My auctions will have a reserve from now on, rare as they seem to be.

**Price** · 05-21-2012, 10:54 AM

A good rule of thumb would be to set the starting price of the auction at the lowest price you could stomach letting it go for.

**insomniac** · 05-21-2012, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by CrotalusHH

My auctions will have a reserve from now on, rare as they seem to be.

The best thing to do, honestly.

**global_dev** · 05-21-2012, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Price

A good rule of thumb would be to set the starting price of the auction at the lowest price you could stomach letting it go for.

sometimes people won't even begin bidding on that...

**Manning** · 05-21-2012, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by Price

A good rule of thumb would be to set the starting price of the auction at the lowest price you could stomach letting it go for.

Thats my recommendation. Operative word is "stomach". Its usually much lower than what I would be happy with, but a price that wouldn't make me want to lose my breakfast over it it sold that low.

Because price fluctuations are so great on eBay it can be very difficult to determine what an item will sell for. If it doesn't sell because your price was too high, then you can always relist it.

**denim** · 05-21-2012, 11:44 AM

Given the change in rules several years ago where eBay stopped protecting sellers, I stopped selling there.

**TCP** · 05-21-2012, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by Price

A good rule of thumb would be to set the starting price of the auction at the lowest price you could stomach letting it go for.

+1 Unless you know that is an item that will cause a feeding frenzy, don't start with the price too low! I love to start a nice Fatboy at $0.99, free shipping and no reserve.

**Champion of Capua** · 05-21-2012, 11:53 AM

The best thing to do really is offer it to your brothers here on BST. If nobody bites here than by all means take the recommendations of those gentleman with the above suggestions.

**rebos** · 05-21-2012, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by denim

Given the change in rules several years ago where eBay stopped protecting sellers, I stopped selling there.

same here. one bad experience as a seller and that was all it took. i was out $100 in the end.

**CrotalusHH** · 05-21-2012, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Champion of Capua

The best thing to do really is offer it to your brothers here on BST. If nobody bites here than by all means take the recommendations of those gentleman with the above suggestions.

I showed the brush on here and barely got any reply at all. I think one person said, "nice". I don't have vendor privileges..... One person asked if it was hung with a magnet. Nobody asked if it was for sale and I didn't want to get in trouble by advertising it. I got my post removed for doing that on "another" site.

$28. This thing took hours to make.

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**global_dev** · 05-21-2012, 02:03 PM

that's very different than putting it actively on the BST.

**GreekGuy** · 05-21-2012, 04:41 PM

Successful selling on ebay requires knowing what you're doing.

You can start at $1, but that only makes sense if you KNOW you're going to get a lot of bidding, or if you have no idea what you have (like most sellers) and just let the market take it where it does.

As others have mentioned, you could have listed it on the BST, but for anything on ebay you need at least 2 people who want to pay x amount for something for a good auction. Next time, do a BIN, or start the auction for more. I don't mean any offense when I say this, but its not like its a butterscotch simpsons. How many people do you think are actively searching on a regular basis for horn handled brushes? Probably not that many.

**roklein** · 05-21-2012, 04:49 PM

Lessons learned. If you learned something, then it wasn't a total loss. Look at it that way. Next time, you know what will work better for you.

**rebos** · 05-22-2012, 03:53 AM

Originally Posted by global_dev

that's very different than putting it actively on the BST.

+1

and I think you would have done better putting it in the B/S/T. why not try that?

**Techichi** · 05-22-2012, 05:35 AM

Refund the guy's money, then PM him and explain.

**kaiseris** · 05-22-2012, 06:19 AM

Originally Posted by Techichi

Refund the guy's money, then PM him and explain.

IMHO it doesn't work that way. You can end up with negative feedback.
Few years ago I bought a car stereo head-unit on eBay. Price wasn't that low but guy started telling tales how his child dropped it on the floor... I got my money refunded an left it a that. But now I think I should have left a negative feedback.
Once it's sold it's sold.

**ras120** · 05-22-2012, 07:03 AM

I took a peek at your ended listing, and here is my hopefully constructive analysis. For starters, the handle design is certainly going to be a matter of taste, and (please don't be offended) "marital aid" is the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw it. The handle also looks like it would be very slippery when it has water and shaving cream on it. I wouldn't be very interested in a brush that's difficult to hold onto.

As for the listing, you showed essentially the same picture four times. You need to photograph the item from different angles and show some closeups of the knot to give the buyers a better "feel" for it. It's really important to provide buyers as much of a "see, feel, touch" experience as possible through your pictures, and it's no coincidence that the items (mostly talking razors here) that routinely sell for the most money on eBay have a lot of high quality pictures in the listings. Where are the specs? The only measurements you provided in your description was the size of the badger knot as it came from the manufacturer. What is the handle height and diameter? What is the loft set at? Where did you purchase the knot? Buyers might have thought that the loft was set at 65mm, which would be ridiculously floppy.

Again, I hope you take what I say in the constructive manner in which it is intended. I certainly don't mean to belittle the work and effort you put into making this brush.