How do I sell on ebay?

[valleyboy]

Just thinking of parting with a few painted figures after my recent wargames room clean up. Its finally dawned on me that I have too many projects on the go with Napoleonics in 3 scales, SYW, ECW etc etc etc.
I have some odds and ends that could be sold off and the proceeds could be donated to my friend to help him buy more of those expensive Empress ECW figures :o
I have briefly considered selling off my SYW stuff
I have 9 painted Samurai Cavalry, some Polish Winged Hussars, a Dystopian wars Russian fleet etc etc that I'm mulling over along with the Empress Miniatures NZ wars figures that I brought to Ayton for Tim's ACW game a few years ago

The problem is that I've never done anything like this before and wondered what the pitfalls and problems might be- how much are figures worth for example, how do you sort postage and work out the cost, how do you set a reserve etc and perhaps most importantly how not to get fleeced by some sharp operator
Any ideas?
Whats a ball park figure for a figure?







General advice gratefully accepted!
Edit an old photofuckit picture

[FreddBloggs]

What scale and make are the winged hussars?

[valleyboy]

28mm TAG Miniatures Fred, I bought them to paint up for a LAF painting comp years ago

[FreddBloggs]

How much for them, including p&p?

[goat major]

i'm no expert (more of a buyer than a seller) but here's a mish mash of observations

- you can do a search of items sold (select "include sold items" in the filter) to get a sense of going rate.
- you can choose to do a "buy it now" price which means the price is fixed. You can also choose to allow people to make offers. If you have a sense of your price then it does no harm to list it at the upper end of that and see if you get a taker or any offers. If you arent in a rush then you can start to modify down the price if you dont get a buyer.

- auctions carry the obvious double sided variability. If you make the starting price too high then people may not bid. If you make it too low someone may get a steal of a bargain if they are lucky. You may get a great price you may get a low price - thats auctions.

- if you are listing several items then saying you'll combine postage is helpful - i know i tend to look for that when buying

- You need to find out the actual postage cost and make sure that is covered either in your starting price or explicitly as P&P.

- i would never list anything as delivery outside the country. Too much faff. Given where you live you may think the same.

- Make your pictures really clear and detailed. Fuzzy pictures of painted figures are a real turn off. And although there's loads of people saying they are pro-painters the proof is in the picture (and yours sell themselves i would say!)

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Worth remembering that eBay now charges on the postage as well as the item itself, so factor that in.

As a further option to "buy it now/make an offer" and open auction, you used to be able to fix a reserve, below which the item wouldn't sell. Does eBay still do that?

Every so often, eBay offers free listings; might be worth waiting for.

I would also emphasise GM's point about making the photos clear; I know this doesn't apply to you, but there is nothing worse than seeing a pile of unpainted figures from which it is impossible to tell who/what they are supposed to be.

[Jeremy]

I think he should save all this necessary heartache and just post these to random Forum members.

[Tim Hall]

Kerry, what prices are you thinking about? I would be interested in those Empress Brits if they were not devastatingly expensive. I have fond memories of them and they are so nicely done.

[valleyboy]

Thank you
I shall have to trawl ebay to get an idea of an approximate or range of worth of figures as I have no idea as I never look. Essentially I'm looking to clear some space and justify buying more ECW figures so am not looking for premium prices. I'm also aware that postage costs from NZ are likely to be prohibitive.
There is also an NZ equivalent called Trade Me that I could consider using in the light of Simon's comment re posting overseas

[goat major]

Kerry you can specify an option on your eBay listing that you will only deliver to your own country