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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Getting Rid of Your Stuff - Donate or Sell?

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At some point in everyone's life they come to the realization that they have too much stuff. First you need to decide whether you want to donate or sell. There are several options to consider:

1. Donate to a charity. If you give to a nonprofit charity get a receipt for a tax write off next year. Some thrift shops accept donations at their store but others won't. The Salvation Army near me accepts drop offs behind the store while our Goodwill doesn't. There are also thrift shops run to fund shelters and soup kitchens. Give them a call before driving out. If you have large items that are too heavy for you or won't fit in your car, some places come to your home. The charities that come to my home are Purple Heart and ACRC (American Cancer Research Center). If you want to donate something large to a non-chain charity just give them a call. Perhaps an employee can swing by your home with their pickup one day. That's how I unloaded my old couch.

2. Donate directly to a needy family or cause. Perhaps you know a family on a tight budget that could benefit from your contribution of outgrown clothes for their kids. Ask them if they could use something that's still good, but about to be tossed because you've outgrown it. Your church might know of someone in need. Make some calls. I ended up donating a perfectly good, but old and now too small, refrigerator to the local fire department to use in their lunch room.

3. Sell it on Craigslist.com. This is free to you. Choose the city in their listing that's closest to you and get started. It's your option on how interested parties contact you - phone or email or confidential via craigslist channels. I use the confidential choice. I highly recommend you put up at least two photos of different angles and maybe any details that make your items look appealing. Give good descriptions and measurements. Mention whether several strong people are needed to pick the item up and whether they might need a pickup truck or SUV. See what everyone else is doing for similar items on Craigslist and be better than your competition! I sold an IKEA loft bed for $100 recently. I got 4 emails in the 1st day. My advantage - I had photos when the competition had none, and my price was a little cheaper.

4. Sell it on Ebay. This is not free. There is a charge to list your items and they take a commission off the final sale price. Because of these two charges, the system doesn't work very well with small ticket items. If you can, bundle small items together as a lot. For example, instead of selling my daughter's outgrown clothing piece by piece, I put all the fall/winter clothes of the same size together as a 30 pc lot and scored $101. Do a search for similar items to see what opening bids and final selling prices are. Sometimes it's emotionally difficult to start something at a low price but that's what sparks the excitement in bidders. The clothing auction I mentioned started at $10 (yes, I prayed it wouldn't sell that low and was very nervous at first). What's great about Ebay is that it's like a yard sale that isn't ruined by bad weather and the whole world is your market. I have sold to the USA and Canada. My friend sold a lot of clothing to a lady in Spain. Regarding shipping - that's paid by the buyer in addition to the final purchase price. You just type in the weight (don't forget the box) when you set up the auction. Ebay is linked to the post office's chart of zones and shipping speeds and the shipping price automatically comes up to you and the bidder when they check out your listing. By the way, you will need a Paypal account to buy or sell on Ebay.

5. Post a flyer with tear-off tags listing your phone number, the item and cost. There's the bulletin board at the grocery store, gym, lunchroom or bulletin board at work. Ask friends to post at their work, too. I sold my 82 Datsun 210 by handing out homemade flyers to my coworkers. Ends up the cousin of one of my coworkers needed a car! Also try the bulletin boards at the local colleges. I sold a table to the mother of a soon-to-be college-bound girl who needed dorm furniture on the cheap. That one was posted at my gym.

Good luck to you!

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