On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 03:45:09 GMT, Ignoramus12137 wrote:
On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:24:15 -0800, SteveB wrote:

I have sold my last item for a friend on ebay. I won't even buy an item to
sell, because they might find out that THEY wanted (and I gave them) $10 for
the item, and I sold it for $20. Fergeddabout the items I bought for $10,
and couldn't/didn't sell. That's different!
If you do ebay, don't tell anyone.

You are 100% right, selling stuff for friends is a big no-no. Never do
it. You should have asked alt.marketing.online.ebay first, they would
tell you that as well.

Hm. So this whole ebay trading assistant thing I'm thinking of, not so
much then? Thing is, I enjoy the process, but I've cherry-picked
through my crap (wups, I mean stuff) already, so all the good crap is
gone already. Except for my tooling stuff, I haven't sold any of the
good extra crap (I mean stuff) yet, so if you see tooling from me, it's
good stuff, not crap. Or something like that.

Some people think that it is great that they "let me get a 10%
commission" on some $20 POS item.

The going rate seems to be 20-30%, from what I've been reading. I would
think you'd adjust that depending on if the guy doing the selling also
has to research and write the descriptions. That's most of the work,
after all.

Dave

"Ignoramus29580" wrote

I would not be a trading assistant myself. It is better to resell
stuff or be in some other line of business. In any case, if it is a
business type arrangement, like a 21st century e-pawn show, that is a
business. But selling stuff for friends with unrealistic expectations,
is not something that I would like to do.


I had thought of this when the ebay drop off points first started up.
Problems a you get stolen merchandise. You get a shady class of people,
and unless you are operating from a storefront, they come to your home. And
"friends" usually enter into the deal, and then get to putzing around ebay
and their expectations go up. My wife had a friend that had some very
expensive chairs made out of all things, golf clubs. These chairs were $700
each new. She wouldn't take less than $400 each for them, so we put them on
with that as a starting bid. Time to take pictures, time to write the
description, time to answer questions. They did not sell, and we still
haven't gotten paid for our work. That should have told us something about
selling for friends.


The going rate seems to be 20-30%, from what I've been reading. I would
think you'd adjust that depending on if the guy doing the selling also
has to research and write the descriptions. That's most of the work,
after all.

That, and shipping, and dealing with shipping, and problems... On
anything but most expensive items, I would not charge less than 30% in
any case.

i


The guy would never come up with a figure, so I said 50-50. We're talking
about items that sell on ebay for $10. I've worked as hard for $5 before,
but that was back when minimum wage was $1 per hour.

I have now come up with a stock answer for people who want me to ebay for
them.

"I don't mix ebay and friends. But, I WILL teach you how to do ebay for
$200 per day." Haven't got to try it on anyone yet, but out of about six
friends I have sold for, I have yet to have a positive experience. It's
just not worth it.

I weld, and make items such as potracks, gates, and widgets that people
need. I do repair welding. I can make $100 easily in an hour, and I don't
have any hassle. Usually the biggest concern the people have is, "When can
I pick it up?" I have yet to have an unsatisfied welding customer.

When money is involved, you find out people's true belief's. And anyone who
says, "Oh, it's not the money, it's the principle" is a liar. It's the
money.

Steve

Yeah, that's the going rate for a business. That's probably why
friends ask these guys to sell for them instead. If they were
willing to eat the 30% fee, they wouldn't impose.

Dave Hinz wrote:

Hm. So this whole ebay trading assistant thing I'm thinking of, not so
much then? Thing is, I enjoy the process, but I've cherry-picked
through my crap (wups, I mean stuff) already, so all the good crap is
gone already. Except for my tooling stuff, I haven't sold any of the
good extra crap (I mean stuff) yet, so if you see tooling from me, it's
good stuff, not crap. Or something like that.


Some people think that it is great that they "let me get a 10%
commission" on some $20 POS item.


The going rate seems to be 20-30%, from what I've been reading. I would
think you'd adjust that depending on if the guy doing the selling also
has to research and write the descriptions. That's most of the work,
after all.

"Yeah, that's the going rate for a business. That's probably why
friends ask these guys to sell for them instead. If they were
willing to eat the 30% fee, they wouldn't impose. "

If they were friends, they wouldn't be asking for a discount from the
going rate.

Real friends don't take advantage of their friends.

False ones do.

TMT