Questions about Ebay selling.?

[Joe]

So this is my first time selling something on Ebay and im just curious to know on the List as an Auction - Enter a starting price. For example if i entered £150 in the starting price section will my item ever be sold for below that price?

[hiddenmyname]

The starting price is usually the minimum you will accept for that item. So in this case no it wouldnt sell for under £150. The higher the starting price though the higher the fee and it may put people off. You can have a reserve price (also for a fee) so if it doesnt reach say £150 it wont sell.

[Deep in Thought]

Yes, it can not be sold for under your designated start price. However, if you set the start too high I probably will not get any bids. It's usually wise to set the start price at a bit over the least amount you would be willing to take (remember that fees tend to run around 10%). Some sellers of popular items take a risk and start it too low in hopes of encouraging a bidding frenzy. That strategy sometimes works and sometimes does not. There is no certainty, though.

You can easily get a good idea of the best price for an item. Do an eBay search for the item type and click the "Competed Items" box on the left, then at the top set "Sort" to "highest first". The listings with green prices are what similar items sold for over the last few weeks. I always do this type of search before setting a price.

[Fairdo4all]

No, the starting price is just that, bids start at £150. Though it is not called it starting at £150 is setting a reserve price.

As a first time seller be careful ! You have 2 options, sell on open auction or set a fixed 'Buy it Now' price. The buy it now is self explanatory, the price you put on it is the price it will be sold for (if it sells), there are no bids. On open auction you put a starting price and that is where bids start at. ebay try to encourage people to start bids at 99 pence, that is crazy. Put say a camera that is worth 100 quid on open auction with a starting price of 99p and you could be unlucky and just get the one bid - 99p. It makes sense to put the starting price as the absolute minimum you will sell for, that will reduce the number of bids you get but will stop you getting your fingers burned.

Just be aware that you do NOT actually get what the final selling price is. You will lose approx. 15% in ebay/paypal commissions.

There are 3 charges -
1. Listing fee [think advert cost] this ispretty cheap, often only 40 or 50 pence (unless you are selling a car, when the listing fee is £10 )

2. Final Value fee. [think auctioneers commission] this is 10% of the total sale price including p&p.

3. Paypal Fee. You HAVE TO offer paypal as a means of payment, you can accept other means but you must offer paypal. [think of this as banking charges[. This is 3 3/4% of the sale price.

paypal take their fee out of the money you get for the item straight away. The listing fee and final value fee's are taken out monthly.

As a new ebayer without a feedback record you will not get premium prices for your items, once you have a dozen positive feedbacks people start trusting you more and are prepared to bid a bit more. The key to selling is to think like a buyer. What would YOU want to know about the item if it were you thinking of buying an item you have never seen from a seller you will never meet. What you want to know is probably what prospective buyers will want to know as well so describe your item in detail. Be careful about terms like "as new" because one persons view of that is not necessarily the same as some one else's view !

[darryl l]

If you are starting an auction at £150 that is the lowest if one bid u will receive more bids price goes up. If you have as buy it now that's it no auction £150 is what you get. But don't forget Ebay fees I sell all the time they take about 9% and paypal fees 2.9-3.9% in service fees. So really estimate about 13% less you will receive approx of what ever you sell.