making sure to obsessively photograph, document, track and insure everything.
(Man, locating and pulling all the boxes from storage, making sure all the bits and bobs are accounted for, photographing, and just organizing all of this generally is going to be a pile of work! Here's hoping it's worth it!)
I wouldn't go overboard. Keep in mind what your time is worth. I spent a whole Saturday, photographing individual comic books to set them up as lots, and after 3 weeks only sold about $30 worth. So that wasn't even worth my time. Of course, comic books literally aren't worth the paper they're printed on these days, but just don't knock yourself out trying to make things error proof. I'm a photographer by trade, so my photos tend to be better than throwing it in the corner and snapping a pic, but I kinda get the impression that my photos are "too good" and buyers don't trust them. I had a guy message me the other day and asked me to send him photos of "my" figure and I told him that they were, and he said he thought they were the production photos.
I had another guy, I was selling a loose Slave I Action Fleet, the pictures indicated as such, but I had duplicated an older listing that had the condition as New, so despite the fact that I had three 1600 x 1600 pixel images clearly showing a bunch of loose items, and I typed into my description, "Listing is for the items as pictured" he expected to receive new, packaged items because of one tiny mistake I made in the listing. He ended up filing a claim on me. I felt it was pretty clear, but he was like "a picture doesn't mean anything, you need to stand behind your listing" . . . eBay thunked me, gave him his refund, plus took money out of my account to cover his return shipping (I shipped it to him for $4 USPS First Class, they deducted $11 for UPS Ground. . . feckin' crooks). Those are the types of stories people talk about as far as "horror stories". . . if a buyer wants to screw you, they'll screw you, and pictures aren't going to change that.
The worst part of eBay is the people that just message you to ask questions and don't buy. They'll want to make a deal, or ask you to hold it until they get paid in two weeks, or want more pictures. . . just generally things that waste your time.
For 99.9% of my buyers, they'll never send me a message before they buy, confirming anything. The ones that ask questions before, those are the ones you worry about.
Also ... any advice about international sales? I'm in the states, so selling/shipping/taxing here is pretty straight forward. What are the pitfalls there?
Should I limit sales to "US buyers only"?
On eBay, in the International shipping section of your listing, set it to use the "Global Shipping Center" or whatever it's called. Then you'll send the item to eBay's hub in Kentucky, and eBay will ship it to the international destination. You don't deal with the customs stuff at all, and eBay takes the hit if it never shows up. There are pitfalls for the buyer though as eBay will follow the rules and declare it at the full value and as whatever the item is. Most international buyers will insist that you declare as a gift at less than $30, but **** 'em, right?? It covers your ass as a seller.
FWIW, I really don't even bother listing my stuff here. As you mentioned before, most everyone on these forums already have what you have, and if they don't, they want a deal. And for most of this stuff, I'm not willing to take a loss on it, I'd rather hang on to it.
For my items, I just figure a flat shipping price into the cost of the item, plus 10% fees and list it up with free shipping. If you can manage it, set your handling time to within 2 days and you'll get the "Fast N Free" tag which will help you in the search results. Ship via USPS and you can schedule free pick-ups on their website. So, it makes it much easier to ship things out without having to drive somewhere to drop it off.
If it hasn't sold in a few weeks, I drop the price and add in a shipping rate, so it ends up being the same price. Some people like the $200 free shipping, some prefer $180 plus $20 shipping, it is what it is.
You get 20 free listings per month on eBay, so don't be afraid to get greedy. It's better to start high and lower it if it doesn't sell. Some of Sideshow's old Star Wars stuff is doing pretty well, I sold my Yoda for about 2.5x the retail price a few weeks ago. But I can't sell my modded ANH Vader for the cost of the parts I've put into it, so it's just really bizarre what the market is doing. People on this forum talk about how awful HT's stuff is and how much better SSC's is, but the buyers out there, or lack thereof, don't really reflect that.
) are about to get very empty!
