Robert O’Reilly | Film Editor
The tension is unbearable. My brow is damp with sweat. There’s only ten minutes to go and my nerves are completely shattered. Come on Superbrawl IX, I know you can hit the tenner mark. I’m like a stationery gunslinger with my jiffy bag and black permanent marker at the ready but I still keep forgetting to refresh the page. I can hardly believe the bidding has gone as high as €15 for a second-hand grappling tape from the early eighties.
In case you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about, I’ve decided to try and sell my unwantables on eBay. Recessionary times do indeed call for some necessary action and I could certainly do with a bit of extra cash in my barren wallet. God bless the internet. So where did all this online auctioneering craziness begin?
Well, eBay.com was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, a French-born Iranian-American. One of the first items he put on his new site was a broken laser pointer that, to his amazement, sold for $14.83. And the rest, as they say, is history. Now the biggest online marketplace in the world, eBay, has an incredible 233 million members, and around 27 million items are up for sale on the site at any given moment. Seriously, that’s a lot of second hand socks. And it’s pretty easy to set yourself up as an eBay entrepreneur. All you need is something to sell, a few items of stationery, and to be able to follow some simple guidelines. A shrewd business sense and some virtuous patience won’t go amiss either.
Setting up an account is as easy, you just need a seller name to make Alan Sugar shake in his boots and a hacker-busting password. Then you’re well on the way to selling off your old Sonic Youth records and dusty Star Wars figurines. It’s wise to upload photos of your stuff as items without pictures tend to not sell as well. A quick digital snap will do the trick for you. But if you’re a bit of a Scrooge, remember that only the first picture is free, each subsequent picture costing 15 cents each.
The postage costs of every item are decided by each seller, and it’s advisable not to price people out of a sale with extortionate postal rates as this will harm your profits in the long run. Also, be careful not to charge too low as well, especially with regard to worldwide postage, as this will damage your eBay balance sheet in the short term. You can set postage rates to send stuff to any country that has eBay listings if you wish but it’s easiest to just set your rates for Ireland, Europe and the rest of the world.
To sell on eBay, a PayPal account is another vital necessity. If you didn’t know already, PayPal is an online service where you can make and receive payments using your bank account or credit card. It can also be used to transfer money from your eBay account straight into your bank account or to make payments to other eBayers as well. After giving a user name and password on the PayPal website, you can then join your PayPal and eBay accounts together by simply clicking a link. Now you really are ready for some hot marketing action.
In Ireland this year alone, more than 24,000 homes have been beating the credit crunch by selling stuff on eBay. Incredibly, a bed sells on eBay.ie every three minutes or so and a pair of shoes finds a new owner around every 40 seconds. So prepare to go head to head with your neighbours in selling your bunks and brogues. It’s also a good idea to browse on eBay first to see what sells well. Obviously the best indication is if certain types of items have any bids on them, but there are countless goods on eBay that remain without bids, so do a bit of study first and see what’s popular. After putting about 20 Lord of the Rings part-work figurines up for sale a little while ago, I sat back and rubbed my greedy palms together in anticipation of a PayPal windfall. However, after relisting them several times, only three Bilbos sold for me in the end.
As with any other marketplace, some sellers will try to pass off fake items as the real deal. It’s impossible for eBay to know whether an item is legitimate and chancers do sometimes rip people off with fake Nike runners and dodgy mobile phones. The best way to spot fraudsters is to check out their profile. When you buy or sell an item you can leave feedback on the buyer or seller’s profile. Make sure to read any feedback comments as this will give you an indication of the type of person you are dealing with. Somebody with a low profile rating should definitely be avoided, and always communicate as much as possible with the person you are dealing with as well. More often than not they will answer any product queries that you have. Another thing to watch out for is the wording of items up for sale. Famously, some artful online dodgers managed to sell Xbox boxes for more than €300 apiece. That’s Xbox cardboard boxes minus the actual Xbox consoles. The empty boxes were sold even though it was clearly stated that the buyers were actually selling an empty box and not a real Xbox. So, please remember to always read the fine print. As with all online transactions (and college essays as well), please proceed with caution but do your research first.
So, why not stock up on some jiffy bags and take a trip to the nearest attic for some supplies. It’s a good way of clearing the house to make some room for future Christmas presents and also making a bit of cash to buy them as well. By the way, if you find any old Star Wars toys, I know somebody who will gladly relieve you of them. Free of charge of course.
