How to screw up your first ebay auction.

punkmaggit

punkmaggit

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So, my first dip into the online auction site, and I put up my FFVII, VIII, & IX all black label complete. http://cgi.ebay.com/Final-Fantasy-V...yZ139973QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I thought it would do at least semi-well, seeing as how complete FFVII black labels go for around $60 - $80 themselves.

$61.98? That's it?! Either he's really lucky, or I'm really unlucky, or both. Or, I forgot to include certain keywords like "RARE OMFG" and "WITH THE MOTHER fuckING MANUALS!!".

:(
 
i just sold all three of mine i got a pawn shop for 70 dollars on craigslist...i just think the crisis core hype is dying down and so is the value of he other games.
 
it might of helped you to put 7 8 and 9 in the title along with the roman numerals so people who search final fantasy 7 will get your auction up as well.
 
this is why if you have "valuable" items you should separate the auctions..

i would have done each one separately.. probably would have garnered you more money for the same effort.

EDIT:.. the game isn't RARE.. FF7 is probably more abundant then most other non-sports titles on the PS1.. the correct term is SOUGHT AFTER.. not "rare"..
 
When I first began posting auctions on Ebay, I copied the titles of the last 5 most successful auctions (auctions with the highest bids) on the "auction completed" search because it seemed like they were doing something right to get peoples attention hehe.

I was able to sell my complete FF7 for a little over $100 and the person who won your auction got a steal. :cry:
 
[quote name='urzishra14']this is why if you have "valuable" items you should separate the auctions..

i would have done each one separately.. probably would have garnered you more money for the same effort.

EDIT:.. the game isn't RARE.. FF7 is probably more abundant then most other non-sports titles on the PS1.. the correct term is SOUGHT AFTER.. not "rare"..[/QUOTE]

He probably knows that... but on ebay... it is all about getting people to search and look at your listing
 
I know this is a horrible idea, but you might as well just not ship the items and come up with some BS excuse why. And give them a refund of course. It's not like you have tons of positive feedback to ruin with one negative.
 
[quote name='lionheart4life']I know this is a horrible idea, but you might as well just not ship the items and come up with some BS excuse why. And give them a refund of course. It's not like you have tons of positive feedback to ruin with one negative.[/quote]

That is what a d-bag would do! :bs:
 
Damn man, that really sucks, I jus got 90 for a ff7gh ( + FF8 crap condition)

to help in the future, probably what hurt ya was no numbers
Better luck in the future, I think we all screw up the first one.
 
That's why I don't shop on Ebay. Happened to me ounce. Seller said it was lost in the mail. He was a B&M store owner tho, so I filed a complaint on the BBB. He was pissed LOL.
 
[quote name='lionheart4life']I know this is a horrible idea, but you might as well just not ship the items and come up with some BS excuse why. And give them a refund of course. It's not like you have tons of positive feedback to ruin with one negative.[/quote]

If you do this to me, you're getting a negative and reported to eBay. Please package my games carefully, I'm looking forward to playing them.
 
As a seller DONT EVER BACK OUT OF A SALE for no legitimate reason, especially because it didnt sell for enough. That is what a reserve is for or a minimum starting bid that you would like to get for an item. I have over 2000 sales on ebay the last 8 years and have lost some money on a few items ( once I sold an auction for the starting bid of 99 cents on an item that cost me $20) and I still shipped it to the winner and took it as a learned lesson. I have 100% feedback and always follow through with sales with fast service. You can be reported to ebay if you dont follow though and earn deserved negs which will now put your auctions lower on searches since ebay started making feedback affect your listings and how they show up. Next time sell valuable items separately, start it at the minimum you would want for it and you will be fine.
 
The reason you got so little is because you ended your auction at a crappy time. Most people I know were either at work or school. Had you ended your auction later today, you would have done better.
 
your title is bad. You have VII twice and no VIII and no 7, 8, 9 and no Playstation, PS1, RPG. All those are key key words to use to bring up your auction on searches. Live and learn I guess.
 
You could eat a negative and not ship out the item, if you don't care about your reputation. Just be sure to give a refund properly and notify the buyer ASAP.
 
A couple tips I can give you is ALWAYS use all the title space you're given. Add something like "set of three" or "non-GH" or "MINT" even "RARE" if that's your thing. They don't charge you per character so be sure to take advantage of that. As other CAGs said, you should always add the number AND roman numerals to maximize search results. Also as said by djbooba, the auction ended at a bad time. The best possible time I've found to end auctions is around 7PM PST. Around then everyone who is searching for deals on eBay more than likely will babysit the computer for deals. That leads to auctions jumping $20-50 in the last minute because everyone is watching it like a hawk. I live in PA so the best time I've found for me to get deals is 6-7AM because it's 3-4 in the morning on the west coast so much of my would-be competition is asleep and I only have to deal with fellow east coasters.
 
[quote name='Nikadimas']A couple tips I can give you is ALWAYS use all the title space you're given. Add something like "set of three" or "non-GH" or "MINT" even "RARE" if that's your thing. They don't charge you per character so be sure to take advantage of that. As other CAGs said, you should always add the number AND roman numerals to maximize search results. Also as said by djbooba, the auction ended at a bad time. The best possible time I've found to end auctions is around 7PM PST. Around then everyone who is searching for deals on eBay more than likely will babysit the computer for deals. That leads to auctions jumping $20-50 in the last minute because everyone is watching it like a hawk. I live in PA so the best time I've found for me to get deals is 6-7AM because it's 3-4 in the morning on the west coast so much of my would-be competition is asleep and I only have to deal with fellow east coasters.[/quote]
That's why I stay up late.
 
Always put a reserve price. People kept telling me I'd get more bidders if I didn't put a reserve price on all my auctions, so I put up a couple of PSP games with no reserve and a starting price of $0.01. I got one bid and ended up selling them both for $0.01 plus shipping.
 
Don't eat shit, just ship them out and learn from your mistakes. Your title was terrible, always look at completed auctions to see how to word stuff like that. I know it sucks and i've been there before but you're better off getting in the habit of honoring sales
 
I've always thought "bundling" games was a mistake or a the very least the way to lose interest in your auction very quickly.
 
[quote name='rainking187']Always put a reserve price. People kept telling me I'd get more bidders if I didn't put a reserve price on all my auctions, so I put up a couple of PSP games with no reserve and a starting price of $0.01. I got one bid and ended up selling them both for $0.01 plus shipping.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='VipFREAK']I've always thought "bundling" games was a mistake or a the very least the way to lose interest in your auction very quickly.[/QUOTE]

Same here, I only bundle crap I couldn't sell otherwise with games I know would sell.
 
There's nothing you did wrong really... sure you might've gotten a few more bucks had you ended at a different time or used a better title (and actually listed "VIII" instead of "VII", which I'm guessing is a typo). You definitely should've put "lot" in the title... people eat those up.

But... these kinds of thing happen all the time. You're not guaranteed to get any specific amount of money for anything you sell on Ebay. If you wanted to sell the item at a specific price, you should've listed it as a fixed price auction.
 
[quote name='Vinny']. If you wanted to sell the item at a specific price, you should've listed it as a fixed price auction.[/QUOTE]

Winner.
 
I would go on and eat the loss and ship it, that's part of the business. Besides, reputation spreads quickly on boards like this. If you fail to ship this out, I know people like me will never do business with you. And believe me, there is a lot of lurkers around here like me.
 
When selling on Ebay, the seller and buyer enter into a legal binding contract. You should just ship the games, and learn from your mistakes. If you're feeling lucky, you can contact the buyer, explain the situation, and they MIGHT (big might) mutually agree to cancel the auction
 
[quote name='Vinny']There's nothing you did wrong really... sure you might've gotten a few more bucks had you ended at a different time or used a better title (and actually listed "VIII" instead of "VII", which I'm guessing is a typo). You definitely should've put "lot" in the title... people eat those up.

But... these kinds of thing happen all the time. You're not guaranteed to get any specific amount of money for anything you sell on Ebay. If you wanted to sell the item at a specific price, you should've listed it as a fixed price auction.[/quote]

Bingo
 
aside from the lack of actual digits the worst thing was the choice of end dates.

the friday before a major holiday is not the day to end an auction. many folks took the day of to extend their weekend, and those that didn't probably didn't spend much time on their computers as they have other things on their minds.
 
I wouldn't have used the picture in that auction. If games are listed in mint condition, then pictures of the discs/manuals in (or out) of their cases would have been better. Ebayers love pictures of the item, especially if the bidder can tell nothing is being hidden.

I once bought three card from a TCG. The pictures were slightly blurry and I ended up with one foreign card.
 
[quote name='Vinny']these kinds of thing happen all the time. You're not guaranteed to get any specific amount of money for anything you sell on Ebay. If you wanted to sell the item at a specific price, you should've listed it as a fixed price auction.[/quote]


Yeah, but the problem is depending on what it is it won't sell at all unless it's really desireable. Hell, I've done buy it now with an option of best offer. Nobody ever does best offer... -.-

Although, oddly I did Ninja Gaiden sigma recently and got an offer that I accepted. I got more than I thought would for that game.
 
Lol my first ebay auction is going great. Its FF7 for pc and its at 40 bucks with 15 mins left. We will see where it lands. With my money im gonna get GTA 4 :).
 
[quote name='Slim Gatsby']If you do this to me, you're getting a negative and reported to eBay. Please package my games carefully, I'm looking forward to playing them.[/quote]

Amen. I won a Threads of Fate game early last week, and it still hasn't arrived. Meanwhile I've ordered and sold a bunch of other items off ebay, amazon, and goozex after that (and through this week), and they've all come and gone to their respective destinations already. This is the game I wanted, and if he's pissed and sitting on it because I got a scratched up, disc only, previous rental for $13 instead of $40 like some of the other auctions, I can go ahead and make his life hell.
 
I've only gotten one lucky Ebay win (Lunar 2 hardcover guide, near mint condition, $34 shipped) and was lucky the guy sent it. I felt kinda bad for him as the guide that sold a day before his sold for $61 and the guide that ended hours after his sold for $54. There was absolutely no reason why his sold so low... I was shocked when I got the "Congrats, you won" email.:lol:

From what I've seen... I've sold a few items well below average and a few well above average- they just even out in the long run. Now, I just do the fixed price though because of too many damn deadbeats.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone - I'm going to just eat it and send it out to the guy. *whimper* Lesson learned.

It's interesting that time would really make a difference. I'll note to sell them more on the weekends rather than 3:00 on a Friday afternoon.
 
Weekends are a bad time as well.

After 4+ years and nearly 500 transactions I've found the absolute best time is to end an auction on a Monday night. Usually I try to end it around 10 pm EST (my time zone), so over on the west coast it's evening as well.

I have no idea why Monday nights are so popular, but I've sold the same item for $70+ on Monday nights whereas other weekday nights the item goes for around $10 less. Weekends are really bad for me, as I would typically get up to $25 less.

EDIT: Also, I would strongly consider shipping to Canada as well. It's slightly more risky, but out of the hundred+ items I've sent to Canada I've had just one person cause problems for me. Ever since our dollar went to crap more than half of what I sell crosses the border to Canadians taking advantage of the market rates.
 
[quote name='VioletArrows']Amen. I won a Threads of Fate game early last week, and it still hasn't arrived. Meanwhile I've ordered and sold a bunch of other items off ebay, amazon, and goozex after that (and through this week), and they've all come and gone to their respective destinations already. This is the game I wanted, and if he's pissed and sitting on it because I got a scratched up, disc only, previous rental for $13 instead of $40 like some of the other auctions, I can go ahead and make his life hell.[/quote]

I was just being a schmuck, I didn't really win the auction. But no, seriously, OP, congrats on making the right choice and upholding your end of the deal.
 
[quote name='punkmaggit']I'll note to sell them more on the weekends rather than 3:00 on a Friday afternoon.[/quote]

Sunday at 8-9 p.m. eastern is the best time.
You get lots of bid during the last 5 minutes of an auction.
Shipping to Canada or UK is fine but only if you use tracking.

I had a seller list a "VHS 4000 VCR" that is worth about $400. Unfortunately the model number was supposed to be 40000, and I won myself a real bargain at only $110. WE sellers needs be very careful how we list items & make sure to avoid mistakes, because mistakes are costly.
 
[quote name='davyd']

EDIT: Also, I would strongly consider shipping to Canada as well. It's slightly more risky, but out of the hundred+ items I've sent to Canada I've had just one person cause problems for me. Ever since our dollar went to crap more than half of what I sell crosses the border to Canadians taking advantage of the market rates.[/quote]

You deserve a prize.
 
and you can get a confirmed adress in canada and some european countries, and with the US dollars so low you actually want oversea buyers bidding.
 
theres a few things i noticed:

1. you should have specified the system that its supposed to be played on (at least Ps1 or Psx would have been fine) and added actual numbers along with the roman numerals. there are probably alot of other auctions just like yours. i see the same lots over and over.

(im not sure what time you started and ended the auction but..)
2. also, you should start your auctions around 8pm-1am at night cause thats when most people are home/awake. post the auction on a monday so it ends on a friday night. 7 day auctions start in sunday and it ends on a saturday night, thats when theres plenty of traffic on ebay.

3. take alot of pictures, ALOT! detailed ones too and you can host them on photobucket.com. you dont even need to know HTML to put the pictures in ebay you just cut and paste from PB.

4. you should offer lower shipping to compete with other auctions like yours. you loose what, $2 to $3 but yours might end more than theirs.
 
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