HOW TO SELL (OR NOT SELL) ON EBAY?

As a person who sells regularly on ebay I must ask this question.

Why? Because if I sell on ebay I should know how to sell on ebay.

As it turns out these are two totally different things.

Just because I sell on ebay does not mean I know HOW to sell on ebay.

Mostly I just fly by the seat of my pants and hope for the best. Research is important and sometimes I take several days or a week before I list something if I have a gut feeling that it is good and just can't find anything to back up the feeling.

I have had some good luck on ebay in the past. I have picked up things for cheap and done my research and had good results. Of course, the things I make the most money on are things that take a while to sell.

For example, I had a teak dog that I picked up for $4 and flipped in 33 days for $750.

Such a good puppy!!!!!!

And there was the vintage textbook on the art of visual perception that I picked up for 42c and sold for $142. Sorry, I don't have a picture. It was just an ordinary old, from 1950, textbook that just happens to be THE reference book for visual perception classroom study. But this book took over 9 months to sell. And it sold to a book dealer so I have no idea how much he marked it up to sell to his customer.

And most recently this little liquid treasure.

I picked this little gem up for $1 at a sale for our local museum. Sitting totally out of place on a table with lots of linens and knick knacks and some old hair curlers. It seems that this is the old, original formula and it was sealed, in the original box, and people want it. I "let it go" for $180 which was $20 off the asking price. To a model/actor  in Los Angeles!! And it sold in just under 30 days.

All of this good luck on ebay almost makes up for the jerk potential customer last night. I had a pair of lightly worn but still very wearable Ralph Lauren chinos for sale that had ended on 6-30. Apparently this customer had put them on watch and when I didn't relist right away felt the need to make an offer. Even though that was not an option.I thought, because of the wear(the pockets and hems were frayed), that $10.99 was a very fair price. They were over 13 oz, so I had a flat rate envelope as the shipping method. He was "generous" and offered me $10 and he also wanted free shipping. My response? "Are you serious? If I sold these at this price with free shipping I would loose money. I sell on ebay because I have bills to pay."  His response? "understood". Such a way with words, this little devil ;)

OK so apparently I don't really know how to sell on ebay. According to this guy I should offer free shipping on everything and basically give it away too. Ebay is pushing everyone to offer free shipping. My Mom always told me that nothing is free. Same thing with ebay shipping. I could jack up the price to more than cover my shipping and offer "free" shipping. But I try to stay competitive with my items by offering them at a fair price and reasonable shipping.

After all, gas is expensive for everyone. For the customer who is looking for an item and for me when I go looking for items to sell on ebay.

I guess I just need to learn more about this thing called ebay.