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Selling Cards Online: Questions from an eBay newbie

1968forEver1968forEver Posts: 19
edited January 24, 2021 11:28AM in Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum

Hello Everyone!

Longtime lurker, first-time poster. About a month ago I decided to start selling off my childhood baseball card collection from the 60's and 70's to supplement my retirement income. My thoughts were to start with selling ungraded cards on eBay, however it hasn't gone the way I had hoped. Here are a few questions I hope to get answered and I apologize if they've been asked before, which they probably have:

(1) Why is it so difficult getting feedback, and are there any legal tips and tricks for me to get them without begging?

( 2) Much of what I've read has suggested setting the minimum bid very low, however I've had several sales so far where I've ended up giving decent cards away for 99 cents, or worse, a penny. Any suggestions on keeping this from happening in the future without setting a threshold or scaring potential buyers off by setting the minimum bid to high?

(3) What's a watcher worth? Please say that 5-times fast before answering. Seriously, if you don't receive any bids (early on) but you get several watchers, is that a good thing? Will they most likely come back and bid?

Finally, I've been estimating how a card might be graded and then using the PSA website to see what that grade card has sold for in the past. However, it seems like what people get most of the time is much less, even when graded. Is there something I'm missing?

Thank You,
Jim (1968Forever)

Comments

  • paulb71paulb71 Posts: 319 ✭✭✭✭

    In my armature opinion I only purchase graded material online unless the price is to good to pass up on for raw items , if you are listing an item that is in high demand for example early 70’s cello pack with a star on top graded psa 8 or higher you already know the bidders will be in a bidding war as opposed if you are bidding on a say late 80’s cello with no stars you may not get much activity , so if I was selling items online that are not in high demand I would go with a buy it now price so you will get at least the minimum you want for an item

    After you sell an item and receive payment just message the buyer and tell them you left them positive feedback they in return should leave you feedback

    I watch items that I believe is in a buy it now mode overpriced or a item where the bidding is already more then I want to bid but I want to see the final outcome

  • JRR300JRR300 Posts: 1,368 ✭✭✭✭

    A lot will depend on the type of cards you're selling and what you're feedback rating is. I steer away from sellers who are new to the game. Many sellers who are not real collectors will list as near mint or better, but a novice look at the pix will show otherwise. Also, as you probably already know, condition is king; soft corners will severely limit your final price and the number of serious buyers.
    Watchers show a few things. People will watch, wait until the end and bid so someone doesn't run up the price. Also as mentioned above, people will watch it to see what the final sale is. Maybe they have a similar item and are thinking about selling.
    Finally, put a couple of pix up here...let the people here see and give their advice. Many here have helped me out.
    Just my opinion. Good luck.

  • emaremar Posts: 697 ✭✭✭✭

    Hi welcome!
    I haven't sold on ebay in a while. Probably a good idea to sell your less valuable cards first to establish a solid rating.
    Buyers are skeptical of new sellers.
    Good scans are important. Include the zoom feature on your listing.
    You're probably better off giving feedback as soon as transaction is completed. Might prompt the buyer to do the same when card arrives. Then again, probably won't help.
    From my experience, watchers are useless. That's what they do, watch.
    Build that good rating!
    Good luck!

  • JoeBanzaiJoeBanzai Posts: 11,800 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @1968forEver said:
    Hello Everyone!

    Longtime lurker, first-time poster. About a month ago I decided to start selling off my childhood baseball card collection from the 60's and 70's to supplement my retirement income. My thoughts were to start with selling ungraded cards on eBay, however it hasn't gone the way I had hoped. Here are a few questions I hope to get answered and I apologize if they've been asked before, which they probably have:

    Hi Jim! Welcome.

    (1) Why is it so difficult getting feedback, and are there any legal tips and tricks for me to get them without begging?

    Feedback is kind of meaningless when only one party gets to leave it. Many don't bother, I leave it most of the time, but sometimes wait and do several at once. I had to beg to get feedback when I first started selling, so PayPal would give me my funds. After I got enough to clear that up, I stopped caring if people left it. I make sure I package my items well and ship quickly and everyone's been happy so far.

    ( 2) Much of what I've read has suggested setting the minimum bid very low, however I've had several sales so far where I've ended up giving decent cards away for 99 cents, or worse, a penny. Any suggestions on keeping this from happening in the future without setting a threshold or scaring potential buyers off by setting the minimum bid to high?

    Double edged sword here. I refuse to start bidding on a lot of my items that low. Set your opening bid low enough for your satisfaction, but don't be surprised if no one bids. I have won some items at ridiculously low prices.

    (3) What's a watcher worth? Please say that 5-times fast before answering. Seriously, if you don't receive any bids (early on) but you get several watchers, is that a good thing? Will they most likely come back and bid?

    >
    Watchers are generally good, but sometimes they aren't interested in bidding, they just want to see what it sells for.

    Finally, I've been estimating how a card might be graded and then using the PSA website to see what that grade card has sold for in the past. However, it seems like what people get most of the time is much less, even when graded. Is there something I'm missing?

    I don't really understand your question here. Sellers generally over grade their ungraded cards, so a lot of people buy only graded cards. The grading card companies aren't perfect, but they generally do a good job. People generally think their cards are nicer than they really are, and PSA seems to have been grading cards "tougher" than in the past. It seems to me buyers don't want to gamble that the card will grade as high as they would like, not to mention the wait times.

    If you have a specific question about a card, post a picture. Pictures always help!

    Joe

    Thank You,
    Jim (1968Forever)

    2013,14 and 15 Certificate Award Winner Harmon Killebrew Master Set and Master Topps Set
  • swish54swish54 Posts: 700 ✭✭✭✭

    @1968forEver said:
    Hello Everyone!

    Longtime lurker, first-time poster. About a month ago I decided to start selling off my childhood baseball card collection from the 60's and 70's to supplement my retirement income. My thoughts were to start with selling ungraded cards on eBay, however it hasn't gone the way I had hoped. Here are a few questions I hope to get answered and I apologize if they've been asked before, which they probably have:

    (1) Why is it so difficult getting feedback, and are there any legal tips and tricks for me to get them without begging?

    When I first started selling, I would include a print out of the invoice in the package. I'd hand write something along the lines of "Thank you for your purchase blah blah, positive feedback has already been left for you, I would appreciate appropriate feedback in return." Or something along those lines. That seemed to help, but now that I've built up my feedback score, I don't care anymore. I think now, it's a little over 50% of the time I get feedback in return. Some people leave feedback at bulk like once a week or once a month, so it could take time.

    ( 2) Much of what I've read has suggested setting the minimum bid very low, however I've had several sales so far where I've ended up giving decent cards away for 99 cents, or worse, a penny. Any suggestions on keeping this from happening in the future without setting a threshold or scaring potential buyers off by setting the minimum bid to high?

    When I was first starting out selling, I would do 10 day auctions starting at .99 and was never really satisfied with what I would get. So since I didn't need the money right away, I started looking at recently sold listings and started going the BIN/BO route with an auto accept/decline so I wasn't wasted with lowball offers. What I've found is if I auto accept, the buyer is notified right then and they generally pay right then as well...I don't have to chase them down to pay which is nice.
    Items take longer, especially if they are easily found, but you get what you want out of it in the end.

    (3) What's a watcher worth? Please say that 5-times fast before answering. Seriously, if you don't receive any bids (early on) but you get several watchers, is that a good thing? Will they most likely come back and bid?

    I personally think having watchers is a good thing. People watch for a lot of reasons already stated above. If someone is in the market for a card and they like yours and they see watchers on it, it could make them send a better offer or just hit BIN because of other peoples interest and fear of missing out.

    Finally, I've been estimating how a card might be graded and then using the PSA website to see what that grade card has sold for in the past. However, it seems like what people get most of the time is much less, even when graded. Is there something I'm missing?

    Be careful with this, especially with raw cards. Graded cards sell for more for a reason...they are graded. People aren't going to buy graded card prices for raw cards. Personal preference, but I would not call out what you think it would grade or even the condition. You're backing yourself into a corner and asking for a return in a couple of ways 1. If they send it in expecting to get a 7NM because that's what you said it is, and it comes back a 5 or 6EXMT, they'll want a refund because it's "not as described." or 2. They receive it in hand and are a harsher judge of condition than you and they think it's lower condition than you, they'll want a refund too. When someone asks me what I think a raw card will grade, I try to say politely that I'm not a professional grader yada yada. Something along the lines of: I try not to guess what a card would grade without sending it in to a professional. I don't have the proper tools like a third party professional (PSA/Beckett) would have and don't want to get the hopes up of myself or my buyer only to potentially be disappointed in a lower grade.

    Thank You,
    Jim (1968Forever)

  • mtcardsmtcards Posts: 3,340 ✭✭✭

    Dont sweat the feedback, most buyers understand that the FB system is a joke. A good seller could have one or two idiot negatives for no reason, while a shady seller could have built up feedback by buying a lot of cheap items.

    As for the sale prices ending low, if you start an auction at 99 cents and the card only sells for that, then its likely that the card is not worth a lot. I see people on facebook marketplace or craigslist trying to sell late 80's/early 90's cards for $5-$10 simply because they either "book" for that or because they saw someone else trying to sell it for that. In reality, those cards are worth under a buck at best, then you have to figure the buyer still has to pay shipping. Selling anything on ebay that wont sell for at least $5 is a waste of time, IMO.

    Finally, a watcher is worth what you might hope its worth. Generally, its either someone that has the card you have and is wondering what it will sell for if they tried to sell it OR its someone who is interested in the card, but may decide not to buy it or the bidding has gotten higher than they are willing to pay. Either way, a watcher, in terms of money is worth about zero.

    I would be interested to know which cards you sold for a penny and what you thought they should sell for, just to try and give you advice on whether or not you were expecting too much or truly did give a card away for nothing

    Good luck, but remember my tagline

    IT IS ALWAYS CHEAPER TO NOT SELL ON EBAY
  • PNWcollectorPNWcollector Posts: 311 ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 24, 2021 8:09PM
    1. Upload high quality pictures. Minimum of two pictures- front of card and back of card. Make sure the card borders and the background have contrast.

    2. If you are running auctions, make sure you schedule the auctions to end at a time when traffic and views will be the greatest. I'm on the west coast, and it seems like auctions that end in the 5-6PM window (Pacific Standard time) do well, corresponding to 8-9PM Eastern. You can schedule your listing days, weeks, or months in advance and have them end at a certain time. Have the listings end 20 seconds apart so that they don't all end at the same time- that'll give the folks who wait until the end to bid some time to bid on multiple cards.

  • Thank you to all who took the time to answer my questions. You've all been very helpful and I learned a lot.

    Much Appreciated!
    Jim :)

  • @1968forEver said:
    Hello Everyone!

    Longtime lurker, first-time poster. About a month ago I decided to start selling off my childhood baseball card collection from the 60's and 70's to supplement my retirement income. My thoughts were to start with selling ungraded cards on eBay, however it hasn't gone the way I had hoped. Here are a few questions I hope to get answered and I apologize if they've been asked before, which they probably have:

    (1) Why is it so difficult getting feedback, and are there any legal tips and tricks for me to get them without begging?

    ( 2) Much of what I've read has suggested setting the minimum bid very low, however I've had several sales so far where I've ended up giving decent cards away for 99 cents, or worse, a penny. Any suggestions on keeping this from happening in the future without setting a threshold or scaring potential buyers off by setting the minimum bid to high?

    (3) What's a watcher worth? Please say that 5-times fast before answering. Seriously, if you don't receive any bids (early on) but you get several watchers, is that a good thing? Will they most likely come back and bid?

    Finally, I've been estimating how a card might be graded and then using the PSA website to see what that grade card has sold for in the past. However, it seems like what people get most of the time is much less, even when graded. Is there something I'm missing?

    Thank You,
    Jim (1968Forever)

    Hi
    I’ve been selling cards for about 20 years on ebay and agree with what’s been written above already. I’d just like to add PLEASE post anything above what you’re willing to lose via recorded delivery (or the US equivalent) as ebay do not back the seller in disputes over lost items. They will simply ask for your tracking details which you won’t have if you post standard delivery hence you lose out every time. I’ve had a lot of things go ‘missing’ in the past so I now post almost everything via recorded delivery.
    Cheers
    NaithG

  • Thank you for the feedback. Much appreciated!

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