Selling hand tools

Re: Selling hand tools

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>Hi, Thom. ebay works but you can also post them here for free on the 'Classifieds' board.

E-mail

Jim in Burlington On

>Sent you a e-mail seems it's not working. Send me a e-mail I'm interested.

Re: Selling hand tools

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>LN tools sell for almost new price on ebay, especially if you still have the boxes. Other quality tools also go for high prices, as long as you convey the quality in your description and photos. Also, start your asking price very low to get the bidding going. Don't worry if no one bids until the last few minutes, that's when the serious buyers step in via sniping. Also, enter your offerings on a Sunday afternoon if you want 7 day auctions and Thursday afternoon for 10 day auctions, there are apparently piles of people looking for something to do on Sunday afternoons.

Pam

Re: Selling hand tools

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Forgot to mention that you should sign on to Paypal.

Re: Selling hand tools

Jim Shaver - Oakville, Ontario

>Hi Pam,

I was reading your post and nodding in agreement...I used to sell items on Ebay a good while back, I always selected a 10 day sale and postyed my items late on a Thursday night...two weekends and West Coast bidders were my focus group....it worked out great.

I have not sold aan item on Ebay in over four years...I'm not sure if much has changed but Paypal was super easy and most reliable...

Take care,

Jim

Happy New Year

Re: Selling hand tools

ThomD

>Thanks Pam, good ideas. about Ebay.

Re: Selling hand tools

Jim in Burlington On

>Does e-bay charge you 15 percent of what you sell plus a listing fee?

Re: Selling hand tools

Jim Shaver - Oakville, Ontario

>Hi Jim,

I do not know the rates, but they had a few. They were based on intial posting auction value, final sale price. I know it is detailed clearly on Ebay, but the charges were not that high when I used them...but that was awhile ago.

Take care,

Jim

Thom, check Ebay 'completed auctions'

Wiley Horne--Glendora, CA

>listings for the search '(lie,lee), plane'. There are a zillion misspellings of Lie-Nielsen.

Anyway, as Pam said, the last time I looked, any LN plane that looked good and was presented with good pictures, and especially if it is mint in box--would go for 90% or so of the new price. You can get a feel for the current situation by looking at the 'completed auctions'.

Wiley

Also Sent E-mail

RJ in Selby

>Please send an e-mail back. I also tried sending you one but didn't work.

Re: Selling hand tools

ThomD

>I haven't sold anything in quite a while, and only sold a few things at that. I don't remember the fee being anything near that high, but then I have heard a bunch of disgruntled ebayers over the years. I don't personally use Paypal, since it seemed a creepy pradigm with Canadian banks. I had heard there were some Canadian banks that provided an ebay approach, but I haven't seen that at BMO.

Re: Thom, check Ebay 'completed auctions'

ThomD

>Thanks Willey!

First thing I do when I get anything is throw out the box! I'm just here to make all those boxed original guys wealthy, in the future.

Re: Selling hand tools

HC Sakman

>Try the classifieds here in Woodcentral Tom.

BTW, what have you got?

Chico...

Re: Selling hand tools

ThomD

>I did look through there, thanks for the idea.

I haven't even looked at what I have. I do have a few LN planes. Mostly I have 2 of everything ever made for woodworking, if not 6. My shop is so stuffed, it's like a 747 crashed through the front door, climbing over all the junk. I do generally take pretty good care of stuff. The LN stuff in mint. But there is so much stuff, I wasn't trying to scare up business so much as come up with a plan.

A friend of mine who was getting rid of my bows and guns, walked through my shop and said about the WW stuff "It's going to be one hell of an estate sale!". Unfortunately this guy's store burned down with all my stick and stone throwers in it, so that didn't work out too good. I'm figuring it might be better to work something out myself before it gets too late.

Re: Selling hand tools

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I haven't sold anything in a couple of years either; but the fees weren't all that expensive. Paypal has been great for me, too, once they tuned up their system after the first few months. Bidders bid more and pay faster if you take Paypal, no bounced checks. Their fees are a bit more than ebay was, but don't remember the details.

And they're paying more interest than the average retail bank, so I'll often stash a couple thousand in my account and gradually draw it down.

Pam

Thom!

Scott Burr in really rainy Ben Lomond,CA

>YOU SUCK! there got that out of the way. I'd like to see the list.

We'll do you better than ebay...

Ebay the way

Todd Hughes

>I sell LOTS of stuff on the ebay, try to keep 30-40 things up all the time including lots of tools. Is really the way to go for something like this I think. I sell most everything I put up and do very well I think. I used to sell at shows etc. and I will never go back to that. Ebay fees are very low compared to live auctions I figure them out to be about 5% and again I think you get the highest prices there that the ordinary guy will be able to get for his stuff.

...Pams advice was very good esp. about starting the auction low. I don't think anything puts off bidders more then starting an auction off high. I use a reserve on many if not most things but I try to put it fair and like I said I sell most everything I list. A reserve is good too as it in many cases acts like a second bidder and will raise your final price up. Paypal is probably a good idea for you. Personaly I don't use it though I go though periods where I think I should. I'm a "power seller" on ebay and they send me all kinds of graphs and infomation on trends etc. most of which I never even open but they did send me info saying according to thier data if you use paypal your item goes for 2% more then the same non paypal item. Only thing is that I believe paypal charges the seller 3%. If I used paypal and if most people used it [and i think they would] it would cost me about $1,500 a year I figure. Kind of hard to decide to use it thinking that way. Also I'm a slow head and seems complicated to me but maybe someday I will take the plunge. Interesting the handful of times when a person said they wouldn't bid since i don't take paypal and I told them they could pay me though a girlfriends account they never won the auction anyway.

If you do sell on ebay is very important that you take muiltple photos and have them as clear as you can. This really makes a difference. Also important to have detailed descriptions and leave nothing out or to the imagination. If you have a LN no 4 just don't say you are selling a LN no. 4 that is in excellent condition but instead go into detail about the plane and it's condition and how it is a "better made" [hey guys we are trying to sell something now!] copy of a classic etc. talking it up. Don't leave anything out or take anything for granted even then lots of people miss stuff. I often get a question like "how long is that saw blade" and this is after I clearly state in the auction " Saw has a 26 in. straight blade"

After selling many thousands of items I can say the vast majority of ebay people are fine though like any place else you do have your jerks. I have probably about 2% that don't pay for what they buy and about all you can do is put in to ebay for a refund on your listing fees. Forget about leaving them a negative feedback , doesn't bother most buyers and it is guaranteed to get you one in return. I have 10 negatives out of 5,000 feedbacks and most of that 10 never even paid for what they bought and left me a negative because I left them one.

......I think you will do well with them on the Ebay and is always fun to watch your stuff get bids and climb higher and higher ....Todd

Paypal questions

john jesseph

>Can you use a credit union account for recieving paypal payments? How much is the fee? I don't want to tie up our main bank account in some paypal mess, but we have a measly savings account that would be fine.

John Jesseph

Re: Paypal questions

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I'm not sure, John. When I joined 3 or 4 years ago I set it up as a business account, interfacing with our corporate checking account and debit card. This has worked fine for me, but Paypal probably has different rules for personal accounts and has probably changed some things I don't know about.

The best thing to do is go to Paypal and try to set up an account, see what happens.

Pam

Re: Paypal questions

Greg B�tit, Vergennes, VT.

>Paypal took Credit Union checking account just fine.

Greg

Service the buyer, not yourself.

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>Make things easy and on the up-and-up.

Paypal is a must....I dislike transactions running as long as a month using checks, and my PO is 17 miles away for MO's, which are inconvenient for all. Add to that Bidpay only takes Visa when I use M/C, and non-paypal account sellers simply don't get my business.

No handling fees. Pisses folks off.

Weigh your items in the free Priority Mail boxes the PO provides and use the Ebay shipping calculators to save time and emails.

Offer the sale to overseas buyers and accept Western Union wires as payment. Most grocery store chains like Safeway these days run WU tills, so getting your money is reliable, and those foreign collectors can run the price up dramatically. Your local PO can mail something almost anywhere for cheaper than the Ebay shipping calculators, so offer postage refunds for any excess.

I like my auctions to end at 9pm EST Sunday.

Finally, offer a full refund for any reason if the buy pays the return postage. That's essential if you don't have a 99%+ history of any weight, but even with 500 perfect transactions, I'm dead certain the combo good pics, overseas buyers and a guaranteed refund pays off in significantly higher sale prices.