Selling on Ebay

MIhunter · Nov 13, 2011

At the end of August, I started selling coins on ebay. I came across $160 in ikes and my son didn't want me to dump them but sell them. This started my education of ebay. Ultimately I sold all of the ike for a small profit ($20). I then went on to start selling other coins that I had found but didn't want to keep. Pre1960s jefferson nickels, I keep 1938DS, 1939DS, 1942D, war nickels, 1949S, 1950 Philly&D, 1951 D&S, 1955 philly. The rest I put into lots of 40 coins and sold. I also sold 1960s nickels that were in AU-50 or better condition. And I sold extra 1940s and 50s wheat pennies, NIFCs half dollars, 2009-2011 quarters.

Fees are everything on ebay
you can list 50 items per month without paying an insertion fee. Also they will have one day specials a few times a month where there will be no insertion fees or for 1 cent per item.
Otherwise ebay takes 9% of the sale price and 9% of the shipping and handling fee.

You will need a Paypal account to receive payment and they charge 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. That kills a small transaction (<$2). I found out later than I could change to 5% and 5 cents per transaction. The break even point between the two types of fees is $12. You will do better with 5% and 5 cents for transactions below $12. Since most of my sales were less, I switched.

At first I charged a shipping and handling fee of whatever I thought I needed to pay for postage. Later I raised it to cover the fees that I was being charge to avoid selling a coin for a small profit that would soon be taken away by fees.

Definitely check out the competition!! If you want to sell 1940s wheat pennies, see how other sellers are listing their coins and what are they charging.

Be careful with packaging! Twice I mailed an Ike in a regular envelope with a 1st class stamp and got an email from the buyer that the envelope arrived with a hole in it and no coin. I had to send another or refund his money. After that I taped the ends of all envelopes with scotch tape to re enforce them.

Overtime I got better with fees and expenses and my profit improved. In October I sold $17.10 face value of coins for a profit (after fees, postage and face value of coins) of $44.

Now, I am taking a break from selling. The time spent wasn't worth profit. I can make more money in less time in my regular profession. Now I am throwing back into the wild the coins I don't want.

Diver_Down · Nov 13, 2011

It would be interesting if you broke it down by denomination. I have my suspicions from my past experiences, but no data to back it up. In general, Wheaties are always worth it. I've never sold Ikes myself, but I've seen others for what seems a small profit. Nickels on the other hand were always never worth it. In some cases, after ebay fees, shipping costs, paypal fees, I ended up selling them for slightly below face. I used to keep the older nicks, but now just feed them back into the wild as it wasn't worth it.

Dok Holliday · Nov 13, 2011

Although I may never use this information, I appreciate you adding to the brain that is T-Net. I come here because people like you add knowledge like this. The most people that add knowledge like this makes me more likely to add my own, as I see a return on my brain investment.

Thank you, and may your Michigan State football team die in a fire. On Wisconsin!

brendan1414 · Nov 13, 2011

MIhunter said:
At the end of August, I started selling coins on ebay. I came across $160 in ikes and my son didn't want me to dump them but sell them. This started my education of ebay. Ultimately I sold all of the ike for a small profit ($20). I then went on to start selling other coins that I had found but didn't want to keep. Pre1960s jefferson nickels, I keep 1938DS, 1939DS, 1942D, war nickels, 1949S, 1950 Philly&D, 1951 D&S, 1955 philly. The rest I put into lots of 40 coins and sold. I also sold 1960s nickels that were in AU-50 or better condition. And I sold extra 1940s and 50s wheat pennies, NIFCs half dollars, 2009-2011 quarters.

Fees are everything on ebay
you can list 50 items per month without paying an insertion fee. Also they will have one day specials a few times a month where there will be no insertion fees or for 1 cent per item.
Otherwise ebay takes 9% of the sale price and 9% of the shipping and handling fee.

You will need a Paypal account to receive payment and they charge 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. That kills a small transaction (<$2). I found out later than I could change to 5% and 5 cents per transaction. The break even point between the two types of fees is $12. You will do better with 5% and 5 cents for transactions below $12. Since most of my sales were less, I switched.

At first I charged a shipping and handling fee of whatever I thought I needed to pay for postage. Later I raised it to cover the fees that I was being charge to avoid selling a coin for a small profit that would soon be taken away by fees.

Definitely check out the competition!! If you want to sell 1940s wheat pennies, see how other sellers are listing their coins and what are they charging.

Be careful with packaging! Twice I mailed an Ike in a regular envelope with a 1st class stamp and got an email from the buyer that the envelope arrived with a hole in it and no coin. I had to send another or refund his money. After that I taped the ends of all envelopes with scotch tape to re enforce them.

Overtime I got better with fees and expenses and my profit improved. In October I sold $17.10 face value of coins for a profit (after fees, postage and face value of coins) of $44.

Now, I am taking a break from selling. The time spent wasn't worth profit. I can make more money in less time in my regular profession. Now I am throwing back into the wild the coins I don't want.

Interesting on that bit about the ike. I sent out aa morgan dollar once in an envolope and the same thing happened. i believe they feel a big coin and steal it in hopes of it being silver. whats stoppin them?

quiksilver · Nov 13, 2011

These are the types of topics i like to read about, thank you.

Diver_Down · Nov 13, 2011

brendan1414 said:
MIhunter said:

At the end of August, I started selling coins on ebay. ...

Be careful with packaging! Twice I mailed an Ike in a regular envelope with a 1st class stamp and got an email from the buyer that the envelope arrived with a hole in it and no coin. I had to send another or refund his money. After that I taped the ends of all envelopes with scotch tape to re enforce them.
...

Now, I am taking a break from selling. The time spent wasn't worth profit. I can make more money in less time in my regular profession. Now I am throwing back into the wild the coins I don't want.

Click to expand...

Interesting on that bit about the ike. I sent out aa morgan dollar once in an envolope and the same thing happened. i believe they feel a big coin and steal it in hopes of it being silver. whats stoppin them?

I wouldn't suspect so much the theft, but the sorting machines which are brutal on the mail. The slightest bulk will get snagged and the contents lost. Also, don't discount fraud. If the seller is trying to compensate the fees by padding the shipping cost and then proceeds to ship the item on the cheap, then the buyer might consider getting a "rebate" by claiming loss. eBay/Paypal will always side with the buyer.

Lawrence · Nov 13, 2011

Never ever send a hard object in a regular paper envelope. Use a cardboard or bubble mailer. The sorting machines that do standard envelopes will squeeze the item out like when you wring the last toothpaste out of the tube.

goverton · Nov 13, 2011

Ebay and Paypal is such a "Rip" these days.....one can hardly make a profit enough to fiddle with online selling.

I try Craigslist for the most part. Have prospective buyer meet me at my work(Lot safer). Pay cash right then.
No fees, no shipping cost.

If you know what to do, you can list in different cities on craigslist and ship to person buying if he pays via Paypal
with confirmed address.

dossier · Nov 13, 2011

About taping up the edges of envelopes.. That makes a lot of sense. I always have my items insured when I send them. When I shipped a Kennedy half worth over $150 I had it insured. But the post office wouldn't let me ship an insured item in a regular envelope. I had to use a padded envelope. When I asked why, she told me items can easily fall out of envelopes in the manner you described. I think that was code for postal workers get their tips that way :dontknow:

lol

This is a good thread, I've ebayed since 2006 and I still learned some new stuff. Those policies change so often that you have to do your research yearly before assuming you already know how ebay/paypal works.

GEOFF · Nov 14, 2011

I used to sell other stuff(non PM) at eBay and have way more +feedbacks than my post number. Now I stopped due to various circumstances (mostly due to the annual fee heists) but I'd add in my 2 cents...

I hate eBay due to it's FVF hungry schemes and add Paypal (eBay owned) fees, thats about ~20% from the Final Value. You would think eBay has lowered its listing fees due to restructing lately, no, it only hiked up the FVF and others. In the end it still makes more from you than before.....

Generally speaking my profit is between 40%-50% and eBay/Paypal takes half! Not to mention the tiny fees you have to pay if you are not careful (thumbnail pic, reserve fees, additional pic fees, etc). I have never spent more than the basic but eBay's listing system can be very tricky.

I'd have to do all the work, (listing, receiving payment, transfer to account, packaging, shipping, customer arguing, etc) and eBay takes half my profit. NO THANK YOU.

Given, eBay has massive traffic and that could be a plus, but if you are not in a rush to sell, try eCrater.com, its totally free. I love it.

dossier · Nov 14, 2011

ahsq said:
I used to sell other stuff(non PM) at eBay and have way more +feedbacks than my post number. Now I stopped due to various circumstances (mostly due to the annual fee heists) but I'd add in my 2 cents...

I hate eBay due to it's FVF hungry schemes and add Paypal (eBay owned) fees, thats about ~20% from the Final Value. You would think eBay has lowered its listing fees due to restructing lately, no, it only hiked up the FVF and others. In the end it still makes more from you than before.....

Generally speaking my profit is between 40%-50% and eBay/Paypal takes half! Not to mention the tiny fees you have to pay if you are not careful (thumbnail pic, reserve fees, additional pic fees, etc). I have never spent more than the basic but eBay's listing system can be very tricky.

I'd have to do all the work, (listing, receiving payment, transfer to account, packaging, shipping, customer arguing, etc) and eBay takes half my profit. NO THANK YOU.

Given, eBay has massive traffic and that could be a plus, but if you are not in a rush to sell, try eCrater.com, its totally free. I love it.

Half your profit? I think you're misinformed. Ebay takes 9%, paypal takes about 3%. The monthly fees you pay are the 9%. The additional fees you pay are up to you, and they tell you your total fees added up at the bottom of the page before you click 'list.'

GEOFF · Nov 14, 2011

dossier said:
ahsq said:

I used to sell other stuff(non PM) at eBay and have way more +feedbacks than my post number. Now I stopped due to various circumstances (mostly due to the annual fee heists) but I'd add in my 2 cents...

I hate eBay due to it's FVF hungry schemes and add Paypal (eBay owned) fees, thats about ~20% from the Final Value. You would think eBay has lowered its listing fees due to restructing lately, no, it only hiked up the FVF and others. In the end it still makes more from you than before.....

Generally speaking my profit is between 40%-50% and eBay/Paypal takes half! Not to mention the tiny fees you have to pay if you are not careful (thumbnail pic, reserve fees, additional pic fees, etc). I have never spent more than the basic but eBay's listing system can be very tricky.

I'd have to do all the work, (listing, receiving payment, transfer to account, packaging, shipping, customer arguing, etc) and eBay takes half my profit. NO THANK YOU.

Given, eBay has massive traffic and that could be a plus, but if you are not in a rush to sell, try eCrater.com, its totally free. I love it.

Click to expand...

Half your profit? I think you're misinformed. Ebay takes 9%, paypal takes about 3%. The monthly fees you pay are the 9%. The additional fees you pay are up to you, and they tell you your total fees added up at the bottom of the page before you click 'list.'

Hmmm, has eBay scaled back its fee heists? The last time I check its about 20% (total profit - total fees paid)...hmmm...eBay charges 9% on shipping now too??

hmmm, I think I am not mistaken. eBay is raking more and more.....