Selling

I used to do a lot of selling on eBay in 2000 through 2023.

Meg Whitman was the CEO of eBay and I really admired her. I didn’t agree with some of her politics (she ran for Gov of CA as a Rep at some point) but I was tempted to vote for her because I had been watching some of what she was doing.

But eBay was huge back then, and really growing in the late 1990’s as well. I was into buying tickets on Ticketmaster and then reselling them. It was so much fun. Scoring the tickets at a good price. Listing it on eBay with a fun description and title. Optimizing for how it came up when you searched. Watching the auctions for bids happen at the last second. It appealed to my potential gambling addiction or compulsive OCD with technology, with buying low and selling high. One of those things. Or all of them.

Tangent, I read an article that referenced “‘Success Addicts’ Choose Being Special Over Being Happy” and I’m scared to read it. I read a blog on finance ABOUT the article and I resonated too much with it. So I need to read it. At some point.

But really, just give me all the dopamine hits, I guess.

G was cleaning out his closet, extremely low in his bank account, and found two of these treasures that were unopened and listing for $400’ish each on eBay.

Of course, you could buy them a few years ago for $100’ish.

But they aren’t sold anymore, so lucky him!

J had some things to say about his anguish over selling his beloved GI Joes when he was young and finding how much they are worth in today’s dollars. But it’s G’s toys and his decision and he wanted to sell them.

I briefly talked to G about what I saw in terms of prices. They had at least 5-10 listed products with a Buy it Now price of $475. If there were that many that were not selling then they are clearly not going for that high.

I watched for a week. There were two bidding wars happening and one sold for $330 and the other for around $275. I don’t remember exact prices but it was around there.

So I talked to G and we decided to list the first one in a bidding war and the 2nd one for a Buy it Now after.

In retrospect, I should have switched that around! But I did want to see what would happen.

I had to wait another week because I was giving G the agency to direct the project and he had to take pictures. So that took a little bit. 🙂 But he took really good ones!

Then I amused myself by writing a hysterically funny description to inspire trust, and uploaded all the awesome photos and launched the listing.

I found out later that you can schedule it. That was nice for the next one because I wanted it to end around dinner time/bedtime across the country. That’s when people can be at their computers because the bidding war usually comes down to the last minute!

Or so I thought.

We had some good bids in the first few days. It was immediately up to $90, then a few day later up to $270.

We had 45 bids and 11 different bidders, which was thrilling.

But I got really obsessive checking it the last hour!

I was convinced something more would happen. But it didn’t end until 6:15pm.

I was checking at 6:10, at 6:11, at 6:12. I was getting super disappointed that it was going to sell for $275!

But nope… the VERY LAST FEW SECONDS it went insane. I couldn’t refresh fast enough to see that $40 jump in the last 20 seconds!!

I totally do that too when I do bidding wars.

It’s smart, dang it.

Crazy! But I was pretty happy with $315.

Until I figured out that they took 14% so G’s take was under $300.

I guess “listing for free” is quite different than “selling for free”. Ha!

The 2nd listing was over the 4th of July holiday, or leading up to it. I did a Buy it Now for $375.

If there were 10+ listings for all over $450, then I wasn’t going to get another immediately “Buy” for that price.

I think the pictures and descriptions were quite better than anything else out there so I was happy that the bidding action sold for over $300.

I decided to list it Buy it Now for $375 and then evaluate after the holiday was over. I wasn’t in a hurry so I could afford to dangle a little offer out for a week.

Once I listed it, I got an offer for $340 within 15 minutes.

Oooh, that was hard. I didn’t end up making a decision. I had 24 hours.

I actually didn’t even bother asking G about it.

I wanted to wait to see if anything else came in. It didn’t and then 24 hours came and went and I just let it go without responding to it.

Then, a few hours later it was officially sold! By a different person from the initial bid!

And now I’m regretting not listing it for $415, haha!

But still, I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

Less happy with the $50 coupon I got in my email, I should have waited a few more days to list.

But G ended up with $580 into his bank account and I had a lot of fun selling on eBay again.

So what did I learn!?

• Try “Buy It Now” at a higher price if you’re not in a rush.
• Watch the market as listed prices aren’t always selling prices.
• Schedule auctions to end at peak times (like dinner hours).
• Photos and descriptions matter, always gotta stand out! M
• eBay fees are real so plan for that 14% cut.
• Don’t jump at the first offer because patience can pay off.
• Check for coupons before listing, always always, timing can save money.
• Letting others lead takes time, but it’s worth it for the lesson.
• The thrill is still real, yes, bidding wars are addictive.
• You won’t always guess right, but it’s still fun.

Now what else can I sell?