Tips and advice for selling vacuums on ebay

[s2_82]

Hey guys I haven't posted in ages. Lately I've been wanting to sell a vacuum on ebay.

Have never sold vacuums on online, just curious if I can get some tips/advice on selling there from someone that does it on a regular basis..

Any advice is greatly appreciated,
Thanks!
Steve

 

[weltron]

eBay

My advice is this: Take lots of pictures and describe the machine to the best of your ability. Package the vacuum with bubble wrap, and also I would use packing peanuts.

 

[s2_82]

Thanks for the advice, Alex

To the admin of this site:

I meant to have this thread go into the contemporary section (I'm not actually selling something in the super market area) if you could please move this thread there, that would be great!

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[rowdy141]

Not ALL buyers are equal.
Be prepared for them to either;
Swap-out your nice parts for crud and return them...
Claim they never arrived...
Claim they arrived damaged...

PayPal will refund them instantaneously.
You'll be lucky to get SOME parts back.
Their "Proof of posting" may be for a used brick!

Ebay will hide the Buyer's details for as long as possible.
You'll be held to ransom with the threat of poor Feedback.
AND you'll lose two-way Postage.

Argue with eBay and they'll shut you out.
Remember; PayPal and eBay are in it together.

 

[gregvacs28]

I've sold lots of vacuums, and lots of things on Ebay.  As has been said before, take lots of pictures from all angles, and describe to the best of your estimates what you know about the item. 


 


Also, when packing the item, be sure and take pictures at the different stages of packing and upload the pictures and send to buyer to let them know what to expect.  


 


Always use a double box, reinforced boxes, or a heavy duty box when shipping.  Packing success means when the box is packed, nothing moves around on the inside.  That means everything is well insulated from damages during shipping.  


 


Anticipate that the box will be dropped, tipped, bumped, and damaged during shipping and make sure your vacuum is going to be protected from that.


 


I don't know about Rowdy's experience.  I've not had any issues like that. As long as you impart to buyers that you mean to treat them fair; you shouldn't have problems with bottom feeders.

 

[alexb1186]

As someone who has been doing this for the past year....

1. Get a box first and measure it. In the shipping calculator add 2 inches to the actual measurement and use a weight of 75 lbs if you do FedEx. I was using the actual weight and my FedEx costs were coming out sometimes $10-$15 more than the calculator eating up my margins, and it turns out they charge by dimensional weight depending on box size. Even if your Convertible weighs 20 lbs, they will charge you based on if it weighs 40 or 50.

2. Be a bubble wrap whore and cover every inch, buy the big rolls from ULine and you can get a lot covered and costs less overall than Home Depot. Also newspaper is a better packing material than peanuts depending on the weight so raid your stores for copies of the free community newspapers.

3. Be sure to put in your ad "Being sold as-is," photos of a glam shot (the machine turned on) and any and all flaws.

4. If you are selling multiple machines, be sure to label each box what machine it is!!!!

5. UHaul Sport Utility Boxes are your best friend for machines that don't disassemble easily (Concepts, Innovation, Dial A Matic, self propelled Eurekas for example)

6. I always have my listings start and end on Sunday nights. My thinking is that everyone is at home settled in and not going out for the evening, therefore they can bid!

 

[vacuumdevil]

Don't just take lots of pictures but take pictures showing the machine is clean and in good condition Pictures of the brush roller area in dirt collection area.

 

[s2_82]

Great tips everybody thanks

@alexb1186 I seriously didn't know that fedex likes to charge by dimensional weight..

So let's just say for a 12"x12"x12" box, round up to 14"x14"x14" and put 75 lbs even if it weighs 35 lbs?

Is it worth even investing in a postal scale?
Do you also figure in handling costs in shipping?