Ebay and Barbie

My daughter cleaned out her movie collection over the weekend. There's a pretty decent market for Barbie items so I decided to put her Barbie DVD's up for auction on Ebay. Rather than bother with listing them individually, I set them up as a collection. By doing this my target market is the younger girls who don't have very many or no Barbie movies yet. Moms and grandmothers will be the ones who are most likely to buy so I put the listing of titles in pink and purple to appeal to the little girl in them. (I would never use such colors for something manly like a jackhammer!)

I did some research - these movies go for $15 to $20 at the stores. Obviously I am not going to get new prices but I put this info in the item description to remind people of how much value they are getting. I also did Ebay research and found out that the average Barbie DVD goes for $9. I mentioned that in my listing to show people what to expect once the bidding (knock on wood) starts.

To hopefully cause some excitement to the first few bidders, I started the bidding at $20 which is only $2 per DVD. Much cheaper than the historical average selling price and way cheaper than buying new. Even when you factor in the shipping, it's a deal.

Speaking of shipping, I like to give my winning bidders a choice of shipping options. The cheapest and slowest is Media or Parcel Post. Media is for books, movies, music etc. The fastest is Priority Mail. The winning bidder pays for the shipping, not the seller.

I recycle boxes, packing peanuts and bubble wrap. There are also gift shops that I can visit that will give me boxes and excess packing peanuts for free. The only things that I end up buying are packing tape and bubble wrap.

I took a few pictures of the movies against a neutral background. The photo came out kind of dark so I lightened it, then saturated the colors back to being pretty close to the original. The first picture on an Ebay listing is free. I would never put something up for auction without a picture. Bidders need something to see which helps pique their interest and most bidders are wary of buying something sight unseen.

The fee I am paying Ebay is 35 cents for the listing which is based upon the initial bidding price that I set. If my DVD's sell, Ebay will also get a very small commission. There are different percents for different final selling prices so I can't say what they would be until it's all over.

Nowadays, Ebayers have to have Paypal accounts which is fine with me. I have an account and have been Ebaying for a few years now with no problem.

So, if you happen to be in the market for Barbie DVD's, check me out on Ebay - my ID is 4mervlygurl and the item number of this auction is 190281744039

I will add to this article once the excitement (again, knock on wood) begins!

Progress of auction:

Weds - put item up for auction, bidding will be open for one week

Thurs - got one bid already plus 3 more potential bidders are "watching." Right now the winning price is $20.

Fri - a second bidder has joined in. The price is now up to $26. Still have 3 "watchers."

Sat - no new bids but the number of "watchers" has increased to 6.

Sun - there are now 3 bidders and the price is up to $31. There are now 10 "watchers."

Mon - no change

Tues - up to 4 bidders, price is now $33, and "watchers" has increased to 14

Weds - ended up with 8 bidders and the final selling price was $71.00

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