Advice selling on ebay

[Kathy A. Miles]

I was hoping someone could offer some advice about selling on ebay. I do woodburning, and I've just completed a large one of Titanic that I've thought about putting up on ebay to see how well it does. I don't know anything about ebay however, so I was hoping someone here does?
Thanks much,
Kathy

 

[Tracy Smith]

I don't know anything about selling on Ebay, so I can't help you there.

But your woodburning sounds intriguing. Can you post a picture of your Titanic here on the board? I'm sure everyone would be interested to see it.

 

[Mike Herbold]

Kathy:
I buy on eBay constantly (2-3 items per week), mostly Titanic books and magazines, and what I look for is a picture of what is being offered and the track record of the seller. If there's no picture, I usually don't bid. Find out how much it will cost to ship your item, because that's often an important consideration for the buyer and the seller.

Don't start your price too high -- you can always put a reserve price on it to protect yourself. Titanic Tarn Stephanos (who often does start with high prices) buys and sells a lot of good material on eBay. If he doesn't answer this thread, I'd suggest you drop him a line direct for advice.

 

[Tarn Stephanos]

Hi Kathy and Mike

Ebay is a great forum from which to buy, and sell Titanic items (Or anything else for that matter). If you sign up, there are various step by step tutorials on the Ebay site that will take you through the process of buying or selling. Its seems complex at first, but its actually very easy. Some amazing pieces turn up- such as the 'Bell album', with the unpublished photos of Titanic officers. to numerous unpublished Titanic photos, to letter mailed form the ship, etc. Working with Ebay is like riding a bike- after experince, as easy as pie.
Always accompany your auctions with a photo,which you can upload and attach to your Ebay auction via pongopix.com. Without a photo, chances are very low it will sell. People want to see what they are biodding on. The Gallery option is expensive, but further increasues coverage of the auction, and liklihood youll snag bidders.
Ill agree, starting the price high is a way to scare of bidders- a mistak I keep making. Keeping the high reserve price secret may be the best option to avoid scaring away potential bidders, and to lure them in.....

Good luck! The rarest Titanic books in my collection all came from Ebay- My Shipbuilders book, my Lightoller,Thayer,Gr acie and Beesley book were all from Ebay...

Good luck!

Peace

Tarn Stephanos

 

[Tracy Smith]

I got my copy of Stenson's biography of Lightoller, and Harrison's "Titanic Myth" from Ebay, as well as a number of books on other topics.

 

[Kathy A. Miles]

Hi guys, thanks for the input, this is all new to me. Here's a small pic of my work. I welcome critics and opinions.

 

[Tracy Smith]

Oh, it's absolutely gorgeous, Kathy! I would love to have something like this. I hope you do more of it.

 

[Kathy A. Miles]

Thanks Tracy, I have no idea what I'm going to set as an opening bid though, as I've never sold something like this before. It's about 20 inches across on basswood.
Thanks,
Kathy

 

[Tracy Smith]

I suppose your opening bid should be the absolute minimum that you would accept for it.

You might browse and see if there are others selling woodburned items on Ebay and see how much they are selling their work for. It would serve as a general guide to get started with.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Pretty good IMO. Hope you get a good price for it.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Mike Herbold]

Kathy:
This is absolutely beautiful. What is the actual size? Now that I've seen what you are offering, my advice is different.

Do you really want to sell it? If I created something that nice, I'd hold onto it and show it to my friends.

The THS regularly asks $40 for Ken Marschall prints. In its last few editions, the BTS has had limited edition prints by Julia Malkin selling for about $60 (37.95 pounds).

Unlike paintings and photographs, which can have prints made, yours is a unique item.

In the early 80's I worked in Israel and bought two woodburnings. One was about 12x12 of the Jaffa Gate which was about $50, and the other was a 18x48 panorama of Old Jerusalem which was about $250. These were all hand made, but they were not necessarily one of a kind.

If I was capable of creating something as nice as you have, it probably would not be for sale. Do not worry about how much you can get for it. Rather, decide at what price you would be willing to part with it. At what price would you say to yourself "Now I'm sorry I put it up for auction." If nobody wants to pay your price, display it proudly on your wall.

So, in this case, rather than starting low, I'd start at the minimum price that you want to part with it.

That being said, I'm anxious to get in a bidding war with Tarn.

 

[Kathy A. Miles]

Well I have gotten it onto ebay, and I wanted to thank everyone for their posted and private advice and comments. I tried to take everything into consideration when setting it up. Prior to this, I'd never even been to ebay!
Cheers,
Kathy

 

[Colleen Collier]

Kathy. Just a note to say that the woodwork you do is beautiful! My husband wandered by and thought it was a drawing. When I told him what it was, he almost couldn't believe it. Keep up the good work, and good luck to you in selling on ebay!
Colleen