Shameless Braggadocio: An eBay Story


So, I’m no newbie to eBay. I’m on the site all of the time for this and that, scoping out deals. If I’m floored by a price at a brick and mortar, off to eBay I go. Scarves, hair conditioner, my french press; all have entered my life by way of this magical wonderland of auctions. However, selling items has always seemed to be a daunting task. Time consuming… will or will it not sell? How much do I charge for shipping? What if someone in Australia is interested in the listing? The sky will fall and I will never want to sell again.

Drama aside, I had a mini chunk of change stashed away in a cabinet waiting for a new home, my HTC Aria was ready to be sold. I did what any self-professing geek would do and googled the hell out of the thing… then called in my hubby. Veggieboy, the eBay Whisperer.

“What do you want to get out of it?” He asks.

“It’s worth nothing to me stashed in a cabinet, so I’ll check the ‘Completed Listings’ and see what it’s going for.” (The Completed Listings on eBay are the items that were actually sold by way of a completed auction. Not all items listed are guaranteed to sell, based on any number of reasons; priced too high, not enough market interest, among other things.)

So it appears there is a pretty healthy interest in the phone still, many months after its release. There were lots of options, at a range of opening bids and Buy It Now prices. Well, I decided the best way to get any attention is to offer up some free shipping. Everybody loves frees shipping. I sure do. I priced it right at average and made the decision to eat the five bucks to send it Priority.

Veggieboy walks me through the best options for shipping/handling based on my circumstances, and after working through the product description and copious forms, the phone is posted! Woo-hoo!

As I pick up the phone to jokingly check on the progress, “Is it sold? Is it sold??”

Veggieboy lovingly reminds me, “Now, sometimes it takes a while for listings to show in search results. Got to give the engine a chance to work in the new info.”

My eyes went wide as I peeked a Paypal payment confirmation, resting silently atop my inbox. The phone sold before I even had the opportunity to close out my browser window.

“Boom-baby! eBay rocks.”

Yes, this was my first experience selling… I should go ahead and quit while I’m ahead.

 

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