Selling games on GG/Fleabay tips

[SegaAges]

I have never sold anything on these sites. I figured that since alot of you sell games on these sites, I would ask for some tips.

I know how much I want to make from these, but am afraid that if I set a 0.01 start that somebody will walk away with it for that price or much lower.

Is there any rhyme or reason to starting prices?

Obviously I will just set the BIN to the lowest I would take for the game

[brykasch]

Tips-

1. Photos, photos photos, can't stress that enough, yes it costs more but you get one photo free so make the most of it. If your selling a game take the manual and cart out so people can see it all.

2. Don't underestimate shipping. eBay doesn't do a great job of this when it comes to boxes. If you need to get the box ahead of time get the dimensions and weigh it even if its on a bathroom scale. You can choose a flat rate but some items like games movies etc the max you can charge is 4.00. If your going to ship priority do it, some may not worry about it if you charge priority and you ship first class, others will raise a huge stink.

3. Be thorough and honest in you auction description. Nothing worse then saying no scratches etc and find out it skips worse then a drunk person down the sidewalk.

4. Have a disclaimer. Tell a little about your auctions, time frame in which you ship out, how you pack items etc. Tell em your deadlines for payment. Regions you will ship to, and payment accepted. It really saves a lot of e-mails. you will still get some, as people are stupid and wont read, even if eBay tells em you wont ship there or they ask if you want a money order etc. Only use PayPal, seriously.

5. I would recommend being a buyer first, it gets your feedback up a smidgen, then start slowly, you don't realize how much work it is till you sell 75 items in a week.

Communication goes A LONG way!

A lot of what I have learned is from time, and mistakes, I've paid extra for shipping out of my own pocket because of mistakes, done partial refunds etc because of simple mistakes

[brykasch]

When you list an item, eBay will give you a ballpark on what an item usually goes for. Its not always accurate. Don't list an item for .01 unless you know its going to sell well, otherwise you end up giving items away.

[Cornelius]

Tips-

1. Photos, photos photos, can't stress that enough, yes it costs more but you get one photo free so make the most of it. If your selling a game take the manual and cart out so people can see it all.

If you are a little bit internet savvy, you can host your pictures on something like Photobucket and post them in your item description that way. For small-scale people like me (and the OP, presumably), this is a great way to do more pictures for free. Oh, and I agree, lots of photos has always seemed to boost the prices I get. They are the most labor intensive part, though

My experience taught me that if I'm selling something like SMB3, you are best off starting your auction at the bare minimum you'd accept, or do a BIN. For something like Bubble Bobble 2, you'll do fine starting it at $0.99 (assuming you don't misspell the title or something else boneheaded). And again, this is for small-timers that aren't interested in sitting on an item for weeks or months to get the most money out of it. Obviously you can do more research and put up a BIN that will make you a bit more money and it will sell, but that takes longer.

For some things I've switched to selling on Amazon. It is actually easier than eBay for me, but that might be because I got experience selling on eBay first. Depends on what you have, though: cheap stuff --> ebay, mid-range stuff --> Amazon, expensive stuff --> ??? wish I had some (roughly speaking).

[megasdkirby]

For some things I've switched to selling on Amazon. It is actually easier than eBay for me, but that might be because I got experience selling on eBay first. Depends on what you have, though: cheap stuff --> ebay, mid-range stuff --> Amazon, expensive stuff --> ??? wish I had some (roughly speaking).

I considered Amazon and had had great success. However, I read carefully the A to Z Guarantee and it scares me alot.

For instance, let's say I want to sell the GPS there. Someone buys it and is not happy. I tell them to return it but I will deduct a restocking fee, which is permitted on Amazon. The buyer sends it back WITH Delivery Confirmation. It never arrives to me, and the DC code reflects this (never says "Delivered"). According to Amazon, the buyer can file an A to Z Guarantee, and I will ALWAYS loose the claim and I will loose my money, even though I never got the item back.

Is this correct!? I surely hope not.

Otherwise, with games I don't see that though. Thankfully, Amazon seems to have a strict policy against returning opened sealed video games, which is very helpful. And even if they do return it, it's only 14 days. So with sealed games, I don't have a problem. it's with other items due to their A to Z Guarantee claim. I know this happens applies to games as well, though.

[brykasch]

Dunno about the a-z guarantee, I have only sold movies and books, and not had an issue yet. I like amazon because I can just list it and whenever it sells it sells, no constant re-listing etc.

[mobiusclimber]

*knocks on wood* I've yet to have a problem w/ Amazon's A to Z guarantee. I even basically told someone (who may or may not have been trying to scam me) to go take a hike, but that time was probably pretty close and I could have ended up eating it if they'd pursued things. But so far, no real problems. I always let people return stuff to me, and I've only had a few returns so far. Never had anything go missing, dunno what would happen if I did tho. I hope I don't find out any time soon.

I used to love selling cheap stuff on Craigslist, but seems like the market has seriously dried up (unless I wanted to give stuff away and even when I practically am I can't get too many non-spam non-cheap ass dealer emails). I mean I used to get $5 and $10 for common NES carts, and now I can't get $2~4 for them. I'd never bother taking stuff like that to Ebay unless I wanted to sell in a bundle (and pretty much give it away, and if I wanted to do that, I'd just list some freebies on here instead).

GameGavel can be a great place to sell, but it's slow unless you want to sell for cheap. I use it for selling "unusual" stuff, but that doesn't really work too well either. I've also been using eCrater lately, but only getting cheap sales on there. It's really slow too.

[SegaAges]

Hmm, I didn't think about Amazon. That might be another place I will want to pursue.

Basically, all of the stuff I have is pretty dirt common, or is stuff that many people are not looking for (N-Gage games).

I appreciate the advice, and anymore that you have I will happily accept as well. I may not be able to do the Amazon thing right away since I am looking for a job in other states. With eBay, I can setup auctions around that time. With Amazon, I would not have that option.

[Cornelius]

Amazon has a 'vacation' setting that just takes a couple clicks to turn on or off. Very handy. However, with cheaper stuff like what you have you are probably better off on eBay with $4-5 starting bids (or whatever is appropriate).

[mobiusclimber]

With cheap stuff I usually bundle it together. This actually tends to get more than I expect (just don't start off too low or you might end up with only one bid).