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iMike97

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 7, 2011
41
0
New York
I have an iPhone 5 16GB White AT&T in great condition with Apple Care +! I want to be able to get the most money for it on eBay. What do I have to do to be able to?

Thanks in advance!
 
Clean your phone. Get good angles on it and make sure the lighting is good. Make it look as professional as possible and put good detail in the description.
 
Like the others said images are the most important thing.

You need good and sharp closeup images with good lighting. Make sure you follow all the rules on eBay and describe your phone perfectly.

I even take images of it going in the shipping box.

If you get a buyer who asks a lot of questions and seems to be an *******, ban him from bidding!:p
 
Be very careful how you list it. I went with ebay last week and finally sold a 1 week old Flawless iPhone 5 16gb for Verizon. Sold it for $426.00. Till all was said and done, Postage fees. Paypal fees, OUTRAGEOUS ebay fees? I was ahead $9.54 cents. Hardly seems worth the effort given the decent prices that some resellers are offering, Just my opinion though.
 
Be very careful how you list it. I went with ebay last week and finally sold a 1 week old Flawless iPhone 5 16gb for Verizon. Sold it for $426.00. Till all was said and done, Postage fees. Paypal fees, OUTRAGEOUS ebay fees? I was ahead $9.54 cents. Hardly seems worth the effort given the decent prices that some resellers are offering, Just my opinion though.

Hold on. You sold it for $426 and ended up with $9.54 cents left over for you?
How is that possible? Ebay and paypal fees are around 12% combined and then postage that I usually charge the buyer for.
 
Hold on. You sold it for $426 and ended up with $9.54 cents left over for you?
How is that possible? Ebay and paypal fees are around 12% combined and then postage that I usually charge the buyer for.

I can only assuming he is referring to how much money he "made". Meaning he is also subtracting what he paid for the phone in the first place.

EDIT: But even still, a 16GB iPhone 5 should have cost $250, max, after taxes. So I am not sure how that adds up... If it was a week old phone, why not just return it in the first place? :confused:
 
I think he's taking into considering the original purchase price of the phone
 
Aside from what has already been said, I recommend listing it so that it ends in the evening. If you are listing it while everyone is at work (i.e. mid day), you likely won't get as much for it.
 
I can only assuming he is referring to how much money he "made". Meaning he is also subtracting what he paid for the phone in the first place.

EDIT: But even still, a 16GB iPhone 5 should have cost $250, max, after taxes. So I am not sure how that adds up... If it was a week old phone, why not just return it in the first place? :confused:

Weird, I don't get it either:D
 
Like the others said images are the most important thing.

You need good and sharp closeup images with good lighting. Make sure you follow all the rules on eBay and describe your phone perfectly.

I even take images of it going in the shipping box.

If you get a buyer who asks a lot of questions and seems to be an *******, ban him from bidding!:p

I go one step further and video tape the boxing... Weird to make the opposite of an unboxing video (of course, unboxing vids are weird too)...

ALSO - MAKE SURE TO SHIP INSURED AND REQUIRE A SIGNATURE.
 
ALSO - MAKE SURE TO SHIP INSURED AND REQUIRE A SIGNATURE.

That's very important and never never forget that. Ship with signature confirmation. And if you got a few dollars extra put insurance in case it gets lost or damaged in the mail to be 10000% covered.
Even if you send it with priority and delivery confirmation all the buyer has to say is I never got the package.
Maybe the mailman left it and someone stole it from my mailbox or in front of my door.
Had that happened to my uncle last year.
PayPal refunded the money back to the buyer and the seller got stuck without money or a phone.
Delivery confirmation shows that it got delivered at the location but not if the actual person really got it and signed for it.
You should have proof for everything so you don't get hosed.
People are not honest and play dirty. They are out to get something for nothing if you overlook a minor detail.
 
Very good idea.
I'm going to start doing that from now on. I don't want to get stuck dealing with another weirdo:D

How they respond in a email is important. I also check their feedback, really important to see "feedback left for others" as this is where I am really strict and will ban them quickly. It has kept me out of trouble for over 675 transactions! (knock on wood)

----------

I go one step further and video tape the boxing... Weird to make the opposite of an unboxing video (of course, unboxing vids are weird too)...

ALSO - MAKE SURE TO SHIP INSURED AND REQUIRE A SIGNATURE.

All excellent ideas. Something like you video and good past history with eBay goes a long way when eBay has to decided who is going to get stuck.

There are some crazy people on eBay.
 
How they respond in a email is important. I also check their feedback, really important to see "feedback left for others" as this is where I am really strict and will ban them quickly. It has kept me out of trouble for over 675 transactions! (knock on wood)

I hear you. Spend a little time to do your homework and have a little less to worry about.
But you're still not 100% what kind of individual you will end up with and if they're going to try to pull a fast one on you.
 
I hear you. Spend a little time to do your homework and have a little less to worry about.
But you're still not 100% what kind of individual you will end up with and if they're going to try to pull a fast one on you.

Agreed, I have tried CL and with even with higher eBay fees, I have consistently sold my items for more on eBay. You can not beat the sheer quantity of people looking at your item.

That homework helps keep the odds in your favor.
 
My Bad applejuiced, I should have explained. My best offer with a reseller was $350. Gauranteed till the end of October. I sold it for $426 on ebay plus $8.75 shipping. $434 and change. Paypal took $12 and change right off the top. I had a fairly high reserve, so I didn't lose money and ebay whacked me an outrageous $49 and pennies to sell it. In the end? I made $359 and change with ebay vs $350 without any hassle. Seems like a no brainer to me. I know what I'll be doing next year. ebay used to be great. but no more. F$#K them. Just my experience though.
 
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How they respond in a email is important. I also check their feedback, really important to see "feedback left for others" as this is where I am really strict and will ban them quickly. It has kept me out of trouble for over 675 transactions! (knock on wood)

Unfortunately, scammers get clever. I have heard of scammers buying other accounts, running a couple dozen to hundred scams on them, and then dumping the account. So all recent feedbacks given and received look legit (because they are... just for somebody else entirely).

There really is no way to 100% safeguard yourself. The fact that you have hundreds of feedbacks (and presumably no recent address, or other account changes) eBay will tend to side with you. For those with something like three feedbacks, a scammer can get away with more. There are a LOT of people that sell iPhones with very few feedbacks (they just want to dump their old device to get a new one) and those are the people at a higher risk.
 
Agreed, I have tried CL and with even with higher eBay fees, I have consistently sold my items for more on eBay. You can not beat the sheer quantity of people looking at your item.

That homework helps keep the odds in your favor.

CL is such a waste of time sometimes.
You get people calling and wasting you time. Telling you they will meet you and they never show up. Lowballing you or agree on a price and then show up with $50 short cause that's all they got now and other bs.
Its a pain....
 
It was a one week old iphone because my original one was replaced under warranty. This was more than likely a refurb.
 
Getting the most money & eBay don't go together. Ebay Charges you 10% of your final sale price and on top of the Paypal (owned by eBay) take about 3% of your total sale price away.

Getting scammed and ripped off and eBay go very well together.
 
My Bad applejuiced, I should have explained. My best offer with a reseller was $350. Gauranteed till the end of October. I sold it for $426 on ebay plus $8.75 shipping. $434 and change. Paypal tool $12 and change right off the top. I had a fairly high reserve, so I didn't lose money and ebay whacked me an outrageous $49 and pennies to sell it. In the end? I made $359 and change with ebay vs $350 without any hassle. Seems like a no brainer to me. I know what I'll be doing next year. ebay used to be great. but no more. F$#K them. Just my experience though.

Oh, that explains it then.
I agree, way easier with the reseller. Not sure if the additional $9 after doing all this work and risking selling it on ebay is worth it.
I'm with you on that man.
 
CL is such a waste of time sometimes.
You get people calling and wasting you time. Telling you they will meet you and they never show up. Lowballing you or agree on a price and then show up with $50 short cause that's all they got now and other bs.
Its a pain....

I had this happen more times than I want to count. Now I just have them come to my place. We live in a ~120 year old wool mill converted to lofts, so there are roughly 200 units in the building. I don't give them a unit number, just building number, meet them in the recreation room, and what's done is done. I also only take/answer texts via google voice. If we agree on something I take the time to actually talk to the guy.
 
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