The joys of selling online

July 24, 2009

Posted in: Life

I prefer selling stuff locally by using online classifieds, such as Craigslist, Kijiji, or RedFlagDeals.  It saves a lot of trouble wrapping up items and paying shipping.  But sometimes you got to resort selling outside of your city for more exposure.   That is where eBay or other forums come in.

I hate paying eBay and Paypal fees. Such a pain in the ass.  Luckily for eBay, for every 30 days you can post 5 free listings!  Sweet! Time to start posting random crap I don’t need.  Depending on the item, I usually have a starting price of $0.99.   To come up with a shipping cost, I just pull out any random number from my ass.  Usually I set a low shipping price to make my listings attractive.   But, wouldn’t I lose money on the item if I set a low shipping cost and starting bid?

That is where my mom comes in.  Instead of buying postage from the Postal Office, I use stamps.  The answer: my mom gets stamps from work.  If anyone bought something off me, then that answers your question to why the box was covered with stamps.  Sometimes the costs of shipping is greater than the total amount of the item sold, LOL.

I don’t spend on packing materials since when I order stuff online, I just reuse the materials.  Only thing I have to buy is tape.  Whatever, I just go to the dollar store and buy a roll for $1 +tax.

Additionally if I have to ship smaller items, I get packing envelopes for free from my friend who takes them from work.

eBay is usually my last resort, or when I sell stuff that is hard to sell locally or elsewhere.  Do you sell stuff online?

“Mom! I need more stamps!”