ebay – The Evil Auction Site?
Not so, well I don’t believe it is.
It’s a perfectly legitimate way for the public to sell unwanted or no longer used items to others who have a use for them and are willing to pay. As for the claim that it will be the end of many a tackle shop, I say get in there and start selling yourselves, it’s an open market. You’ll find many retail shops now using it.
I have had some brilliant deals both buying and selling, I haven’t been conned much, but when I have been it was my own fault. Like the time I saw an auction ending for some Rapala (I thought) lures and like a fool stuck in a quick bid. Only after I had won them did I reread the listing to find they were “Rapala like” and that mistake cost me £6, but it was a valuable lesson that I have never repeated.
So, here are some dos and don’ts about dealing on ebay (it seems to be spelt all in small letters) so that you don’t get your fingers burnt and get the best possible bids on any tackle you are selling. (I am cutting my own throat here, stupid as ever!)
BUYING
Don’t be impetuous when you see a listing and you think it’s something you would want. Always spend a little time reading the fine detail of the item, study the pictures, how much text is included to describe it, does it have a strong brand, brand new (marked BNIB sometimes)? Most important of all look at the seller’s star rating by clicking on it.
The star rating tells you how many different people/accounts this member has dealt with before, not (please NOTE) how many transactions he has made. You only get another star when you deal with a different person, deal with the same person 20 times and you still only get one star. Watch out for RED minus feedback (“splats”, I call them), but that’s not the complete story.
A red splat means someone has posted unfavourable feedback because he is totally dissatisfied with the item or service or lack of both. There could be a legitimate reason for this because when some dealers are trading with so many different customers, they’re bound to get the odd one that is just grumpy, not the ‘full shilling’, or just plain crooked.
I was about to buy a cheap MP3 player and saw the guy had 1 red splat amongst 800 or so perfectly good deals and it was recent. With ebay you can look back at all the deals and I found it where the buyer said he had received a broken item and the seller said he hadn’t supplied that particular item. So then I look at the buyers history and found that previous to this purchase, he’d bought a similar, but faulty, item from Singapore and he must have then bought the good one from the UK dealer and sent the broken one back to him as faulty. Crafty, but it didn’t work! The seller had an otherwise perfectly good record, I bought one and was happy with it.
Watch too, how much the seller is charging for shipping. With ebay you don’t pay sales commission on the P&P so some load it up to save paying commission. Just bear it in mind when you are bidding and if someone is prepared to bid more, let them.
When you do find an item check it out. By that I mean try and get a valuation on it, if it’s new do a Google search to see if any other shops are selling it and how much for. Base your offer on that price taking into account the fact that you may not be getting the same kind of guarantee in that it’s an internet based sale and may not be a full shop. Your rights to a swap or rectification if it breaks may be limited.
ONLY BID WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO LOSE
It’s like gambling and dealing on the stock market. If the dealer is unknown or in another country and doesn’t use Paypal (WARNING!) then tread very carefully. It could be good, for example, I’m thinking of buying a genuine ushanka (look it up) from a guy in Russia, but he has over 4000 stars and he’s paid via Paypal, which means I can get some money back if it all goes pear-shaped.
If everything checks out and it’s something that you really want don’t go chasing the bid, by that I mean, if someone has already bid or bids over you, don’t then try to win it back. Remember, it ain’t over until it’s over so you haven’t lost it yet. Chasing the bid just increases the price, to more than you can or wanted to afford, maybe.
Best if you DON’T bid for it at all straight away. Mark it with “Watch this item” and just keep an eye on it until it’s closing. Then, if it is still below what you are prepared to bid, place your bid within the last half minute leaving no time for others to outbid you. This is called “sniping”, but there’s nothing illegal about it and lots of buyers use the practice to get items a little cheaper. All the top boys in auction houses do it.
When you do make a successful bid and win (HOORAY!) pay with Paypal. If you don’t have funds in your Paypal account it can be charged to your credit card or debited directly to your bank. You can, should the goods be faulty or there is a dispute, alert ebay and they can then credit your Paypal account if you were wronged by the seller.
Always remember though, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware)!
SELLING
From a sellers point of view ebay rips strips off newspaper advertising, whether in the local press, or through the page that Angling Times and Angler’s Mail used to run. They were good in their day and I did many a deal using their services, but today the Internet is faster and you can get more information and can have some limited dialogue with the buyer/seller, ask them questions etc.
First thing to think about is what time you want the auction to close. Peak viewing hour is between 20:00 and 21:00 and weekends are twice to three times better than through the week. Then you have to plot back with the number of days of listing that you plan to have the item up for.
You can have a 3 day, a 5 day, a 7 day and a 10 day, but usually, unless you have more than one of the item to sell, the 5 day is just as good. The longer listing doesn’t get you any extra money in the bidding, I have found. So, if you want the auction to end on a Saturday night, you have to put it up on Monday night prior.
You can do this in the listing (I think it costs you all of 6p extra) by entering a date and time when the auction is to begin otherwise, the listing will go live the minute you have completed it and it will end 3 or 5 or 7 days, whatever you requested, after that.
When you give a title to the listing always put the brand name first, such as DAIWA, and then what the item is (ie: DAIWA 12FT HARRIER HEAVY FEEDER ROD) always in capital letters too. This will make it stand out in the listings and you won’t need to buy the BOLD option for your letters or any other options to help it stand out. The brand name does the job.
Warning: Don’t use multiple brand names like “ROD BAG (fits DAIWA, SHIMANO, NASH, DRENNAN, FOX)”. You may get your listing barred! Multiple brand names are not allowed as some unscrupulous people use them to get listed in members’ searches.
Take some good pictures of the item. Use a decent digital camera, keep it steady, watch the flash doesn’t cause great shadows or heavy reflections and that it’s IN FOCUS! You might need to use a tripod if you have one, but if not take plenty of pictures and choose only the best.
Picture the item from several angles or if it’s a rod, take one of the handle and lower part of the tip, one of the graphics proving it is what you say, and another of the joints to show they’re good and not worn out or broken. Take them against a plain background, buy some coloured paper to set them on rather that the kitchen table. One seller always used a chair to set different rods on and one time I asked him “How much for the chair, please?”
Pictures cost 12p each after the first which is free, so don’t skimp – a picture speaks a thousand words! Always include a picture in the title that goes in the listing. This costs 15p and it is worth it, but don’t have it enlarged when the viewers run their mouse over it, that costs nearly a quid and it irritates many punters. Don’t buy the bold option either, nor the highlight feature, they’re a waste of money if the product is a good one and desirable.
BE HONEST!
SELL the item with your words, describe it nicely and enthusiastically, but DO NOT lie! Be accurate with your description and if the item has a slight scratch or blemish, buyers will thank you for pointing it out before. Better than risking getting a RED splat!
Tell them how much you’ve enjoyed using it and what service it has given and how much you hope it will continue to do so. DO NOT just say “Here’s a rod for sale, bid now.” because you will get nowt. You have to use the formatting features, choose nice fonts and coloured text, embolden text to make it stand out, but above all – SPELL IT CORRECTLY on this one occasion.
Always choose a Theme and Picture background for your listing. It costs just 7p extra and it’s a bit like window-dressing, it’s not for sale in itself, but it does make what you are selling look a darned site better. Have the pictures spread within your listing, left or right or best photo on top as somehow this has always attracted more determined bidders from my experience.
Choosing a starting price is important. If you are confident and there is a strong brand attached to the item (Shimano, Fox etc.) why not start it at 99p, it looks good and recently ebay announced that items with a starting price of 99p would be free to list (although there may be other extras to pay). DO NOT put a reserve price on it since bidders will get sick of trying to enter a bid only to be told that the reserve has still not been met. And don’t put in a high starting bid and a reserve, that’s just being stupid.
Having done all of that, decide how much it will cost to post or ship the item. Rods up to 1.5 metres can go through parcel post, but reels can go first class. It’s not all that much more than second class relatively speaking and for your buyers it’s quicker and they’re paying for it. If the item is expensive (over £30) send it insured or by Special (Next Day) Delivery, which includes a high level of insurance.
The quicker your buyer has it the sooner your mind will be settled and you get the star rating via feedback. Look up the Royal Mail website for prices of all the services, but beware of foreign enquiries, postage to abroad is costly! If the rod is over 1.5 metres you may have to find a courier company to take it (there will be some recommendations in the forum attached to this article – I’ll bet).
That’s about it except don’t forget to leave the feedback (for the stars) and don’t forget to pay your seller’s bill from ebay. It’s not that much considering the number of people that see the listing (far more than with a newspaper) and with Paypal you can transfer money back out to a bank account. Currently, it’s free for transfers over £50, I believe.
Overall, I have had some cracking deals out of ebay, like an £80 E.T. rod brand new for £25, a £50 Daiwa reel for just £10, and 10 spools of Shimano line once for just £2.50 including the postage. I have also sold some nice items, a Cardinal 54 reel for £82 that I’d bought for just £14, and more recently a Daiwa rod that I only expected £35 for went for £57. So, good luck with your sales and bidding, but I hope you don’t outbid me.
