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How to price an item you want to sell?

P

phas3

macrumors 65816
Original poster
So I have some brand new items that I'm looking to sell. However, I do not know what to price them so that people will buy. What are some guidelines you guys for selling items on ebay/caigslist/forums?
 
How to price it? Well look online for your item in similar conditions to yours and then look at the price people are setting up. Then go from there...

As per selling, avoid eBay, too many horror stories now a days. Craigslist is local, so stick to local buyers, avoid checks, accept cash only and meet in public places (like a mall or coffee shop).

In my experience, Craigslist sells faster. Also, CL you get to keep your total profit.
 
For eBay, search completed listings and see what the item has sold for recently.
 
Well, this is new stuff so this doesn't apply. But I've always had success listing things on eBay for a penny.
 
I would determine the venue where I plan to post it. Then I'd attempt to discover the empirical distribution of prices for the item/similar items at that venue. Based on how quickly I'd like to move the item, choose a price informed by that distribution. This is the price at which I'd like to move it: I keep this information private.

Now you can choose all kinds of strategies in order to get an offer that meets or exceeds that price, and you get to play a game. This something I find rather ugly, but many thrive in such a scenario.
 
aside from craigslist and ebay what other sites are a good place to sell items?
 
I have used Ebay, Craigslist and Kijiji for all my sales over the years. I research the item I am selling and start from there on Kijiji by asking what I want for it. I mainly use Ebay as I have a loyal customer base (13 years selling) plus Ebay has a huge traffic flow to their site. When I sell on Ebay, I will start all items at $0.99 and let it go. In the majority of cases I find it sells for more than I expected. I never get disappointed by getting less than I expected, as it generally evens itself out if you are selling a lot of things. I also make sure appropriate shipping is charged, no matter the selling price. I do this because of the fee's Ebay charges, which is 10%. Craigslist is a roll of the dice sometimes for me. I do not like dealing with the scams that show up every once in a while. But again, on Craigslist I ask for what I want. These are probably the better of all the sites for selling out there unless you open your own website.
 
leftywamumonkey said:
Did you ever set a reserve or just let it ride?
Click to expand...

On eBay they charge you a bunch of money for a reserve in addition to the high fees they already charge for an auction-style listing. For an auction listing with a reserve price they charge you 11% of the final sale price.

If it's a common item (ie an ipod) it will sell for about what you'd expect.

I usually sell items at a fixed price with the "or best offer" function. The fees are significantly lower in this format.
 
adk said:
On eBay they charge you a bunch of money for a reserve in addition to the high fees they already charge for an auction-style listing. For an auction listing with a reserve price they charge you 11% of the final sale price.

If it's a common item (ie an ipod) it will sell for about what you'd expect.

I usually sell items at a fixed price with the "or best offer" function. The fees are significantly lower in this format.
Click to expand...

Yikes! I didn't know they charge you 11% if you have a reserve price.
 
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