Selling your accordion on eBay?

[Soulsaver]

I thought it might informative if we could pool our knowledge on the costs (& more) of the various ways to sell the spare accordion you've grown out of/inherited etc.

I know of Gumtree, Preloved, eBay and various outlets that will sell on commission or for a fee or free (?) but not sure what each do for their fees?
And of course before (or as well as) you using those routes you could list them on the 'for sale' here.

I suspect the ebay thread could get busy, so rather than it get complicated by other ways to sell mixing in with the ebay posts, can we keep this one to ebay only? I'll start another thread for 'Commission' sales, of which I know little or nowt about.

 

[Soulsaver]

Reminder: You can try it on here, too - its free...!

<COLOR color=#0000FF>EDIT: as at 09/09/13 ebay are offering 12 pictures featured free! Check if you do a BIN 30day that offer still applies. And this may be temporary - they havent said

So Ebay. Im going to discuss UK private sellers processes & fees here. If youre in other countries youll need to do your own research and are welcome to comment on the differences here, too.
These terms are believed correct at 01/06/2013. If its critical to you, do your own research to ensure things are correct & havent changed.

These fees also apply to straps, cases, stands etc. but..

Books & sheet music MAY have different fees if listed in the Media section; but if listed under musical instruments they will be subject to the same fee structure.

And it may be worth mentioning that there are differnent ebay fee structures for other categories - media, property, cars for example. The following applies under the Musical Instruments category.

There is a few ways to list your accordion:

Auction - runs for a maximum of 10 days. You can chose to start it immediately you complete composing your listing or for an additional fee (£0.06) you can schedule the start time and date. It always finishes at the time you (schedule to) start it, but you can choose 3,5,7 or 10 day duration auction.
Start it low and youll get the most action & interest but risk your item going for a bargain basement price; start it high and risk getting no interest & no bids.


Fixed price (Buy It Now (BIN)) You can schedule the start date for a BIN, free. And you can select 3,5,7,10 30 day or until cancelled duration but watch pic pricing on the longer ones (see below).

Fees: There are 2 sets of fees always - Insertion fees (can be free in some circumstances) and Final Value fees.

Then there are optional upgrade fees (see below).

And if you receive PayPal payment, there are PayPal fees (indicative 3%, more info to follow). You may see people with listings asking for cash on collection, but ebay policy is you must be prepared accept PaPpal payments - so you will need to set up a PayPal account (I believe) before you can list on ebay.

Basic Insertion fees include 1 off (reasonable size) picture. In addition there are upgrade fees for more pictures and better enlargements, feature listings etc.

Note upgrade fees are nonrefundable in most, if not all, circumstances.

Upgrade fee info here: http://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/fees-optional-listing-features

For indicative purposes (FIP) each additional picture is £0.12 ea; or a picture pack of enhanced enlargements 6 for £0.90 There are also super size picture & other options, see link.

Watch out for for a catch in long term fix price listings (above 10 day) as picture prices essentially triple so £0.36 each, £2.70 for the small pack.
<COLOR color=#0000FF>EDIT: as at 09/09/13 ebay are offering 12 pictures featured free! This may be temporary - they havent said

Reserve priced auctions: Min reserve is £50. Fees, see above link for detail but FIP: £100 + reserve price , fee £1.30 + 3% of reserve price, £150 max fee.

For simplicity Ill cover basics.
Insertion fee;
Auction starting 0.99 or below: Free for private sellers for 100 items per month after that
£0.01 - £0.99 Free or £0.10
£1.00 - £4.99 £0.15
£5.00 - £14.99 £0.25
£15.00 - £29.99 £0.50
£30.00 - £99.99 £1.00
£100 or more £1.30


Fixed price BUY IT NOW (BIN) insertion fee £0.40 Minimum BIN selling price £0.99


Final Value fees:
Auction or BUY IT NOW or reserve all the same FV fee. If your item SELLS, same FV fee structure applies: 10% of final value or £75 max.

 

[Glenn]

So after all that information what will it cost me to want an auction for an accordion for which I will not accept less than 500 quid, 3 reasonable photos, auction open for 1 week, payment via Paypal?

 

[goldtopia]

An accordion auction website with buy now would be a good idea (possibly with sections for other instruments as some also have other instruments). The auction website instead of being integrated as part of the Accordion Forum could be as a seperate website with a very strong obvious link to this sister website and vice versa. This would enable it to be also found as another website in a seperate browser search for those from other forums or not in a forum at all.

 

[Soulsaver]

So after all that information what will it cost me to want an auction for an accordion for which I will not accept less than 500 quid, 3 reasonable photos, auction open for 1 week, payment via Paypal?

Glad you appreciated it, Glenn. Which bit cant you work out from the info provided?

 

[goldtopia]

Of the many accordion players on this forum there may be someone clever enough and willing to build the website for a small fee. There are webmasters who specialise and sell ready made sites like e-comerce that can be tailored to suit., but I dont know who they are. I have made a few websites but an auction website is far too big a job for me. http://www.motleyminstrels.co.uk

 

[smdc66]

So after all that information what will it cost me to want an auction for an accordion for which I will not accept less than 500 quid, 3 reasonable photos, auction open for 1 week, payment via Paypal?

£1.30 insertion fee, if you list auction style but accepting bids from min. £500, + 10% £500 if sells for £500 , + paypal fees 3% £500

when i used e bay i could add several photos for free and believe you must have linked pay pal account to trade

cant be bothered to do the sums :|

 

[smdc66]

soulsaver thanks for the above info - will be useful i'm sure - i will be also interested in non ebay sale methods and techniques as the whole business seems puzzling :hb

 

[Soulsaver]

So after all that information what will it cost me to want an auction for an accordion for which I will not accept less than 500 quid, 3 reasonable photos, auction open for 1 week, payment via Paypal?

£1.30 insertion fee, if you list auction style but accepting bids from min. £500, + 10% £500 if sells for £500 , + paypal fees 3% £500
:|[/quote]
Thanks Dave :tup: ... Also assuming he qualifies as a UK private seller...

 

[Soulsaver]

Also (again assuming he qualifies as a UK private seller) he could list at £0.99 with a reserve of £500. I'll do the numbers later, assuming nobody does 'em first.

 

[Soulsaver]

Ok Assuming you qualify listing at £0.99 start price, £500 reserve, 3 basic pics irrespective of selected duration (auction is 10 day max):
For a reserve price item the insertion fee is based on the reserve, not the start price.
£1.30 for the insertion reserve price £100+ item.
3% of £500 for the Reserve 'upgrade' = £15.00 (FTAOD: non refundable even if it doesn't sell)
I off pic free, +2 off @£0.12 = £0.24
So £16.54
And if it sells:+10% FV Fee
And if paid by PayPal + 3%
So if it sells at £500 & paid by PayPal £1.30 +15.00 +0.24 +50.00 +15.00.. all inclusive of vat.

However there is an additional advantage of 'reserve' of which, not many are aware: If only one person bids, and their proxy bid exceeds your reserve, the bid is advanced at the auction end to match your reserve and you get the sale.

 

[Glenn]

Great. Thanks for the calculation. I have a better idea now how it works.
Thus from the 500 I must pay around 80 in costs to ebay and paypal.
That is around 16%.
That puts the 30% that was mentioned earlier in perspective. I assume the extra 14% goes into the guarantee. Doesn't sound so bad then if the guarantee is indeed a decent one.

 

[simonking]

I've sold two accordions on eBay, people there seem to be mainly interested in paying too much for complete crap (and I've bought my fair share!). Unfortunately, I was trying to sell fully working instruments so they didn't get as much interest and as high prices as I had hoped. Plus they make you accept Paypal from buyers which I think is cheeky as there are then extra fees involved - even worse if it involves an exchange rate - AND then perhaps hold your money for a month or two!

 

[smdc66]

3% of £500 for the Reserve 'upgrade' = £15.00 (FTAOD: non refundable even if it doesn't sell)


how about saving this cost and just setting a minimum bid price £500 instead of a reserve

(ps didnt fully understand what you said about reserve and auction if only 1 bidder - that thing not a lot of people know :? )

 

[Soulsaver]

3% of £500 for the Reserve upgrade = £15.00 (FTAOD: non refundable even if it doesnt sell)


how about saving this cost and just setting a minimum bid price £500 instead of a reserve

[/quote]
Absolutely agree, I was just stating the other option to achieve a min £500 and to attract some bidding. I would also add, reserve price items tend to put bidders off, in my experience.

 

[Soulsaver]

(ps didnt fully understand what you said about reserve and auction if only 1 bidder - that thing not a lot of people know :? )

[/quote]

So if you place a bid for say £500 on a reserved item that started at 0.99, your bid shows as 0.99.
If, unbeknown to you, the reserve was £600 & no other person bids the auction would end and you wouldnt get the part because your bid was 0.99 (and your proxy £500 bid) was too low.

But in the same circumstances had you bid £700, although the bid would only show 0.99 all through the auction waiting for other people to bid, even if no one else bids, or they bid up to any value less than the reserve, at the auction end, your bid would be increased to meet the reserve and youd win it at the reserve price, £600 in this example.

 

[smdc66]

eBay sellers beware: Its fees now eat into postage costs

The online auction website usually takes a 10% cut of the overall price of an item, known as a Final Value Fee. From today, this fee's extended to include any postage costs

Previously, sellers received the full amount listed for postage.

eBay says the move is aimed at encouraging sellers to offer free or low-cost postage.

Those who list postage as what it'll actually cost to dispatch the item will end up out of pocket, as eBay will now take a cut of this figure.

Plus, eBay rules state that you can't increase postage costs to cover eBay or PayPal fees.

So if you have an item costing £10, and postage costing £2, then under the old system, you would have only lost £1 in fees, meaning you would have effectively made £11 (disregarding PayPal fees, which are typically 3.4% plus 20p per transaction).

Now eBay will take £1.20 overall, leaving you 20p down.



How does the Final Value Fee work?

Once a buyer pays for an item, the seller's PayPal account is credited with the full sum, minus PayPal's own fees (typically 3.4% plus 20p, as mentioned above).

The Final Value Fee is due once eBay has invoiced you for all transactions made within that month. Your monthly statement should detail all eBay fees you have incurred and you then have a month to pay.

For private sellers, the Final Value Fee is usually 10% (some items are excluded). If you have a business account, it varies from 5-11%.

For sellers offering more than one postage option, the new Final Value Fee will be taken from the delivery option selected by the buyer.

If a buyer chooses to collect an item rather than have it posted, as there's no postage or packaging to pay, the Final Value Fee will only be taken from the item cost.

eBay says the change "has been made to reward sellers who offer free or competitive postage, in line with customer expectations".

 

[PaulS]

Theres more;

40+ selling on eBay tricks

 

[Soulsaver]

quote: eBay sellers beware: Its fees now eat into postage costs.

I sympathise with ebay to some extent on this one. Some of the wise asses on there were A)selling penny items and charging £2 postage = no fee on final val & no fee on postage - rip off customer, too. B) selling high value items (accordions for example) in auction starting £1 and charging £800 shipping - seriously. Again avoiding any but the smallest fee.

 

[colinm]

Be very careful on ebay, look at this one 161106521918 the sellers name etc is clearly on display towards the end, but these adverts crop up frequently
Ebay does very little about them , its a case of buyer beware, you must get to know that the seller can be trusted if you do not inspect the item
Paypal also sometimes retain money and do not say why