Dock of the 'Bay

I know I haven't posted much this week. That's because as we head into the holidays, my office will be closed for winter break, and I'll be using vacation time to bump it up to a full two weeks off, so I need to get my monthly deadline stuff squared away before heading out the office door this evening.

I've also been making a little extra scratch for holiday gifts by selling some stuff on eBay (including stuff that I bought on eBay that didn't quite work out for one reason or another), which takes up a fair bit of time. First you have to take pictures of whatever it is you want to sell (in my case, it's mainly clothing, shoes, and a couple of watches that have fallen out of the rotation). It amazes me that 15 years into the existence of eBay, there are still people who think it's possible to sell something without providing a picture of it. Or, you get one blurry shot from too far away, with a description that reads like this: "Coat, black. Worn only a few times."

Thanks so much, that was really helpful. That leads to step two: a detailed, informative description. I like to put a bit of my personality into this part, including information about where I got the item, how long I've owned/used it, its original retail value. What I NEVER do is say how much I paid for something, because that's irrelevant. What matters is how much you can get someone to pay for it now. Knowing what the item was once worth is a good way to frame your opening bid as a bargain while making sure the auction is worth your time (assuming the item sells).

A couple of months ago, I had an urge for some now boots (I believe I mentioned this in my post about boots from a few weeks ago). During that time I bid on some US-made Red Wing boots that were not really what I was looking for, but were nice-looking and in good condition. I have a tendency to place bids on items that I'm only semi-interested in, figuring that fate will decide whether or not I'm supposed to own them. In this case I won the auction, but the boots just didn't quite fit me right (which is why I didn't include them in the boot post).

So last week I finally got around to taking some pictures and posting the auction in an attempt to turn them around and find them a good home. Within a few hours I'd received a message from a guy in the United Kingdom who was interested in the boots, asking if I would consider opening the auction to bidders from outside the US. Generally speaking, I try to avoid this, because it makes things more complicated, and because the likelihood of being a victim of fraud is much higher with international bidders. That's not intended to be derogatory or prejudiced; it's simply an unfortunate fact of trying to do business on eBay.

In this case, the guy's feedback profile had almost 2300 entries, with a score of a perfect 100%, so I figured I was safe letting him bid. Apparently Red Wings are a big deal in the UK, and are hard to get there. As soon as I'd adjusted the auction, I was contacted by someone in Japan with the same request. This person also had 100% feedback, but only 10 feedbacks. This can be a red flag for trouble, or it could just be someone new to eBay. I stalled by answering that I would take 24 hours to consider the request and research shipping costs. The next day I received another request from Japan, this time from another seasoned bidder like the one from the UK. I decided to go ahead and open the bidding to Japan, figuring that with so much interest, the boots were bound to sell.

The auction closed last night, and the winning bidder turned out to be from Virginia, making my life a little easier. The boots sold for $76 plus shipping, which is 50% more than what I paid for them (though I don't always get so lucky). The other cool thing is eBay's arrangement with the US Postal Service regarding shipping. Typically I get the item packaged up the night the auction closes, then the next day, after receiving payment, I print a shipping label and stop at the post office on my way home from work and use the automated postage machine.

Now I don't even have to do that: from the eBay site you can buy postage using PayPal (essentially withdrawing against what you've just been paid by the buyer) and print the label. At that point the package is ready to go, and you can drop it off at a post office or, if you are using USPS-supplied boxes, which are free, even call for a pickup.

The biggest problem for me is refraining from using the ensuing PayPal balance to buy more stuff on eBay.