soap box: I don't get it. I've been selling/trading Joes fo 10 years now and I can't think of one sale where I profited unexpectedly. Two of my auctions on evilBay for 25th Anniversary army builders just went for pretty much $2 a figure - complete/mint figures - army builders!!! I don't gouge on the shipping, so factor in shipping materials, gas, ebay and paypal cuts, and my time spent giving them good service and it's frustrating! I know that's the risk you take when using eBay but I very rarely get an asking price and I can't recall ever having a successful auction as a seller.

Yeah, yeah, I know, sour grapes, spilt milk and all that. But karma has to kick in SOME time...

I pulled my complete Night Raven auction down because some other dude's incomplete Night Raven went for $152 last night and mine was still stuck at $0.99!

_________________

I know exactly how you feel. It's been the same for me for years. I can't sell even the hottest item on Ebay. I always scratch my head when I see other people do it. I'll see people post about "unloading their extra and unwanted stuff and making some money back. I just doesn't work that way for me. I have to basically give it away to get rid of it. I've never been successful with the secondary market.

_________________

Maybe they don't like Canadians?

I tried to sell a 25th Snake Eyes with black Timber and the only interest I got was a question about the card because the guy wanted to get at least a AFA90 out of it because it was only what he collected... It was the only time I ever tried to sell on Ebay and I didn't like my experience.

_________________

Most after-Xmas auctions are bigger risks than any other time

Being from Canada could pose a problem for some buyers, just as it does for sellers not wanting to ship internationally

As for the Night Raven, sometimes people lock on to the first auction they see and don't bother searching for another until it's over. And it could be one of those cases of just two people getting into a bidding war

(as I wait for Mattycollector.com's red screen of death to refresh) Well at least it's good to know I'm not the only one then.

When I think of the countless trips I did, gas & money, visiting TRU and Wal*Mart in my area to get 4 Snow Serpents at $8/figure - and to sell 'em off at $2/figure...c'mon I'm not being greedy, I could have dealt with a resale of $6/fig at least.

Whelp, I think I just ordered my Battle Armor He-Man successfully!

_________________

I don't sell toys to make money. I'm no good at it. I'll clear things out I no longer want. It is great for clearing out the junk from the stuff I really want. But I don't expect to make money. If I break even I feel lucky.

_________________

The one thing I have noticed about the Joe market in the past two years is that it is consistently inconsistent. There are certain sellers whose items ALWAYS command a premium price. You can easily buy mint, complete '83 Cobra Troopers for under $15. But, there are three or four sellers who always get at least double that for the same figure.

Whenever I see abnormally high prices for a figure or vehicle, it can usually be traced to these same few sellers who seem to have an unending supply of vintage figures and an equally unending supply of buyers who will pay a 20%-40% premium over what other, similar items are currently ending at. It's a market I've never been able to tap into, though.

_________________

I hear ya, I'm not in the business of selling toys to make money either and you're right - it's a great way of clearing out things you don't need. I decided that I'm no longer going to support the modern-stuff because it wasn't bringing me joy seeing all the missing characters in the line-up that will never get made. But I wasn't expecting to make a profit from reselling. It's like I can't catch a break - I'm actually losing more money by getting rid of them lol. About the only thing worse than this is if I just tossed them in the garbage.

As for my Night Raven (and Skystriker) they're so bloody big they can't fit at the top of my bookshelf or display cases because they're all against a wall and the wing-spans are wider than the shelves. And I don't particularly want to hang them from the ceiling. Sure wish I could get $150 for it like that other seller though...

_________________

I had a guy bid on my Tomahawk, and win it for $115. He paid me yet, and the auction ended Sunday. He also has 0 feedback

_________________

I don't use Ebay unless I buy stuff. I don't sell on there anymore. For loose items, I usually sell them on a Joe forum, for about what I want. And they usually sell, my advice would be to ask for just a little less (10-15%) of the highest selling similar items on Ebay. I can usually get that, and yojoe's forums are great for moving items.

_________________

Indeed!
I also use http://www.ecrater.com to sell extras. That way all I have to pay is the Google Checkout fee. I still request people pay for Paypal's fees because I despise eBay.

Ebay is useless these days. After Christmas is always slow, but a good time to prepare for the coming year and recover/update inventories... and rest.

_________________

As much as it annoys us that know better, there really are people that bite on the hype that people put in their auctions. (VHTF! Super RARE! Super MINT!) You know what I mean. When I list, I use those on items it really applies to. I am not going to attempt to trick someone into thinking something is rare when it isn't. But when it really is, I want to drive that point home.

Also presentation is a big deal. If you have an auction that only has a picture and some plane black text, it is going to sell for less. By the same token, if you overwhelm your listing with a bunch of heavy pictures and flashy crap, it will also likely sell for less because your item gets lost in the crap. You have to find a happy medium where your auction stands out, but is clear and to the point.

What do your auctions look like in that regard?

_________________

Well I'm guilty of the former - a couple pics and plain black text, but I just get straight to the point. For auctions that I'm selling that's much more expensive/costly, I'll provide more pics. I've got two examples of both currently going (link in my sig).

Like pluv-er mentioned, breaking even is as good as it gets, but I usually end up losing more times than I care to think about. For my previous auctions that just finished I had 31 watchers at one point, hoping for a nice bidding war in the dieing seconds...nothing happened. I advertise on a couple Joe boards, auctions ended on a Friday evening, my feedback rating is not too shabby at all, and I've been around for 10 years!

Ahh things could be much worse I suppose, but it helps to vent it out a little.

_________________

I am by no means the super power seller. I have been on eBay since 1998 and my feedback is still only in the 200's. But I feel that I have managed to do fairly well with the refinement of my auction presentations.

Here is an example of one of mine I just listed... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :MESELX:IT

Personally, I think the pictures that eBay hosts suck. They are too small and you have to click through them if you capture a shoppers attention that far. I always put the photo(s) in the description so it jumps out at the shopper. Past that, I make the text bigger and center it. Give it a nice bright heading and a couple of other points. Not too much, but it does the job I think.

_________________