Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

Many people will not buy anything from someone who has zero or only a
few feedbacks. This is especially true for more expensive items. And
fewer bidders = lower selling price.

If I were you, I would buy several things on ebay first to build up
my positive rating to 15 or 20 before I started selling things. This
shouldn't be hard to do. You can buy many staples on ebay at prices
less than walmart sells them for, even with shipping costs, as long as
you are willing to purchase in larger lots. Try purchasing a crate of
toilet paper or a 50 pack of gillette razor blades next time you run
low. This is a very easy way to build up your rating.

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

"Joshua Nelson" <spam_box@ev1.net> wrote in message
news:b102b6e4.0309171012.1ba40da6@posting.google.c om...
> Many people will not buy anything from someone who has zero or only a
> few feedbacks. This is especially true for more expensive items. And
> fewer bidders = lower selling price.
>
> If I were you, I would buy several things on ebay first to build up
> my positive rating to 15 or 20 before I started selling things. This
> shouldn't be hard to do. You can buy many staples on ebay at prices
> less than walmart sells them for, even with shipping costs, as long as
> you are willing to purchase in larger lots. Try purchasing a crate of
> toilet paper or a 50 pack of gillette razor blades next time you run
> low. This is a very easy way to build up your rating.

Actually Josh, the first thing I sold on EBay was an old set of Mopar long
ram manifolds. I have a feedback of 1 at the time. These things were selling
for about $3-400 at swap meets at the time. The final bid on them was $665
dollars. Not bad for something that was given to me, and had been sitting in
the basement for about 15 years. I didn't even have the carbs or linkage for
them, which are the hard parts to find. Of course I was instantly addicted
to EBay. :)

As far as the feedback, you're right, everyone starts a 0. I have never had
a problem with a new bidder personally, nor have I ever got a bad check from
anyone. Maybe I'm just lucky in that regard. I have read repeatedly that the
highest risk EBay buyer statistically is someone between 8 and 20 feedback.
I don't know where they got that number, but that's what is often said in
the EBay newsgroup.

Chris

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

"Joshua Nelson" <spam_box@ev1.net> wrote in message
news:b102b6e4.0309171012.1ba40da6@posting.google.c om...
> Many people will not buy anything from someone who has zero or only a
> few feedbacks. This is especially true for more expensive items. And
> fewer bidders = lower selling price.
>
> If I were you, I would buy several things on ebay first to build up
> my positive rating to 15 or 20 before I started selling things. This
> shouldn't be hard to do. You can buy many staples on ebay at prices
> less than walmart sells them for, even with shipping costs, as long as
> you are willing to purchase in larger lots. Try purchasing a crate of
> toilet paper or a 50 pack of gillette razor blades next time you run
> low. This is a very easy way to build up your rating.

Actually Josh, the first thing I sold on EBay was an old set of Mopar long
ram manifolds. I have a feedback of 1 at the time. These things were selling
for about $3-400 at swap meets at the time. The final bid on them was $665
dollars. Not bad for something that was given to me, and had been sitting in
the basement for about 15 years. I didn't even have the carbs or linkage for
them, which are the hard parts to find. Of course I was instantly addicted
to EBay. :)

As far as the feedback, you're right, everyone starts a 0. I have never had
a problem with a new bidder personally, nor have I ever got a bad check from
anyone. Maybe I'm just lucky in that regard. I have read repeatedly that the
highest risk EBay buyer statistically is someone between 8 and 20 feedback.
I don't know where they got that number, but that's what is often said in
the EBay newsgroup.

Chris

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

Joshua Nelson wrote:

> Many people will not buy anything from someone who has zero or only a
> few feedbacks.

The same is true of liars, like yourself.

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

Joshua Nelson wrote:

> Many people will not buy anything from someone who has zero or only a
> few feedbacks.

The same is true of liars, like yourself.

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

> Actually Josh, the first thing I sold on EBay was an old set of Mopar long
> ram manifolds. I have a feedback of 1 at the time. These things were selling
> for about $3-400 at swap meets at the time. The final bid on them was $665
> dollars. Not bad for something that was given to me, and had been sitting in
> the basement for about 15 years. I didn't even have the carbs or linkage for
> them, which are the hard parts to find. Of course I was instantly addicted
> to EBay. :)

Did you sell those via local pickup? I have found people to be more
trusting with low feedback users when they can pick up the item in
person because you can verify everything before handing over the cash.
If you shipped it by mail, I bet you would not have found someone to
pay that much to a zero feedback user.

Of course there are always exceptions to the rule... but my
experience as both a buyer and a seller has been that all else being
equal, generally the higher the feedback of the seller, the higher
the ending price of the auction.

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

> Actually Josh, the first thing I sold on EBay was an old set of Mopar long
> ram manifolds. I have a feedback of 1 at the time. These things were selling
> for about $3-400 at swap meets at the time. The final bid on them was $665
> dollars. Not bad for something that was given to me, and had been sitting in
> the basement for about 15 years. I didn't even have the carbs or linkage for
> them, which are the hard parts to find. Of course I was instantly addicted
> to EBay. :)

Did you sell those via local pickup? I have found people to be more
trusting with low feedback users when they can pick up the item in
person because you can verify everything before handing over the cash.
If you shipped it by mail, I bet you would not have found someone to
pay that much to a zero feedback user.

Of course there are always exceptions to the rule... but my
experience as both a buyer and a seller has been that all else being
equal, generally the higher the feedback of the seller, the higher
the ending price of the auction.

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

> The same is true of liars, like yourself.

Cal Wheeler,

You need a new schtick. You sound like a broken record.

You keep trying so hard to convince everyone I am a "troll" - going so
far as to use my name, make up untrue things about my personal life,
and post them in public forums. Meanwhile, you have worked your poor
lil' self up into such a froth that you contribute nothing meaningful
to the forum.

On the other hand, I, the person who you keep trying to convince
everyone is a "troll," am the one of us who is actually trying to talk
about jeeps.

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

> The same is true of liars, like yourself.

Cal Wheeler,

You need a new schtick. You sound like a broken record.

You keep trying so hard to convince everyone I am a "troll" - going so
far as to use my name, make up untrue things about my personal life,
and post them in public forums. Meanwhile, you have worked your poor
lil' self up into such a froth that you contribute nothing meaningful
to the forum.

On the other hand, I, the person who you keep trying to convince
everyone is a "troll," am the one of us who is actually trying to talk
about jeeps.

Re: my first e-bay experience...
 

"Joshua Nelson" <spam_box@ev1.net> wrote in message
news:b102b6e4.0309180617.2c485017@posting.google.c om...
> > Actually Josh, the first thing I sold on EBay was an old set of Mopar
long
> > ram manifolds. I have a feedback of 1 at the time. These things were
selling
> > for about $3-400 at swap meets at the time. The final bid on them was
$665
> > dollars. Not bad for something that was given to me, and had been
sitting in
> > the basement for about 15 years. I didn't even have the carbs or linkage
for
> > them, which are the hard parts to find. Of course I was instantly
addicted
> > to EBay. :)
>
> Did you sell those via local pickup? I have found people to be more
> trusting with low feedback users when they can pick up the item in
> person because you can verify everything before handing over the cash.
> If you shipped it by mail, I bet you would not have found someone to
> pay that much to a zero feedback user.
>
> Of course there are always exceptions to the rule... but my
> experience as both a buyer and a seller has been that all else being
> equal, generally the higher the feedback of the seller, the higher
> the ending price of the auction.

Actually, I shipped these. I think the overall trust of EBay users has
changed somewhat. Mainly due to the fact that people have found ways to scam
buyers, and in some cases, sellers. Even though I have over 300 positive
feedback, I still find people aren't nearly as trusting as they used to be
in regards to EBay transactions.

Chris