No good deed goes unpunished

I agreed last week to sell some things on ebay that my neighbor considered worthless.

Now that they are sold, he is complaining about the price. The selling prices are right in there with the completed items prices.

A recent thread asked why people don't trade fair on ebay. My question is why do people ask you to sell things that they have rotting in their garage, then bitch about the selling price? Or the % you want for your time?

I have sold my last item for a friend on ebay. I won't even buy an item to sell, because they might find out that THEY wanted (and I gave them) $10 for the item, and I sold it for $20. Fergeddabout the items I bought for $10, and couldn't/didn't sell. That's different!

I now give lessons on how to ebay. Price - $200 per day.

If it is so Goddamned easy and a person can make so much money, YOU DO IT!

If you do ebay, don't tell anyone.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB
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You are 100% right, selling stuff for friends is a big no-no. Never do it. You should have asked alt.marketing.online.ebay first, they would tell you that as well.

Some people think that it is great that they "let me get a 10% commission" on some $20 POS item.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus12137

I saw pretty much this exact same scenario play out between two neighbor ladies a while back... I remember thinking how glad I was not to be involved. Those two, once close friends glare and snap at one other a good bit now. It's sad really... they're the only two 'ripples' in our otherwise tranquil neighborhood.

Erik

PS, Along the same lines, another good bit of advise is to never sell a used car to a friend or neighbor... It'll come back to haunt you every time.

E
Reply to
Erik

Wait till you have a customer or friend who is hot for an item..and you get it for them on Ebay..after they have been looking at the same photos you have..and after you pay for it via pay pal....decide they dont want it..or tell you that they couldnt wait and bought one somewhere else.

Cash up front now BEFORE I make the first bid.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

But, but..... I really, really want that bridge. I promise I'll pay you as soon as it gets here. Ok?

dennis in nca

Reply to
rigger

Hm. So this whole ebay trading assistant thing I'm thinking of, not so much then? Thing is, I enjoy the process, but I've cherry-picked through my crap (wups, I mean stuff) already, so all the good crap is gone already. Except for my tooling stuff, I haven't sold any of the good extra crap (I mean stuff) yet, so if you see tooling from me, it's good stuff, not crap. Or something like that.

The going rate seems to be 20-30%, from what I've been reading. I would think you'd adjust that depending on if the guy doing the selling also has to research and write the descriptions. That's most of the work, after all.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Hinz

I would not be a trading assistant myself. It is better to resell stuff or be in some other line of business. In any case, if it is a business type arrangement, like a 21st century e-pawn show, that is a business. But selling stuff for friends with unrealistic expectations, is not something that I would like to do.

That, and shipping, and dealing with shipping, and problems... On anything but most expensive items, I would not charge less than 30% in any case.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus29580

"Ignoramus29580" wrote

I had thought of this when the ebay drop off points first started up. Problems are: you get stolen merchandise. You get a shady class of people, and unless you are operating from a storefront, they come to your home. And "friends" usually enter into the deal, and then get to putzing around ebay and their expectations go up. My wife had a friend that had some very expensive chairs made out of all things, golf clubs. These chairs were $700 each new. She wouldn't take less than $400 each for them, so we put them on with that as a starting bid. Time to take pictures, time to write the description, time to answer questions. They did not sell, and we still haven't gotten paid for our work. That should have told us something about selling for friends.

The guy would never come up with a figure, so I said 50-50. We're talking about items that sell on ebay for $10. I've worked as hard for $5 before, but that was back when minimum wage was $1 per hour.

I have now come up with a stock answer for people who want me to ebay for them.

"I don't mix ebay and friends. But, I WILL teach you how to do ebay for $200 per day." Haven't got to try it on anyone yet, but out of about six friends I have sold for, I have yet to have a positive experience. It's just not worth it.

I weld, and make items such as potracks, gates, and widgets that people need. I do repair welding. I can make $100 easily in an hour, and I don't have any hassle. Usually the biggest concern the people have is, "When can I pick it up?" I have yet to have an unsatisfied welding customer.

When money is involved, you find out people's true belief's. And anyone who says, "Oh, it's not the money, it's the principle" is a liar. It's the money.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

A good thought.

Yep, how typical.

I would just say, it is very easy, I can teach you, but you need to sell it yourself.

Yes, the money, and aggravation.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus29580

Reply to
Mike Berger

It's really more of a test to see who isn't a real friend.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

"Cydrome Leader" wrote

If you want to test a real friend, just toss in a little money or puffneffski.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

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