Selling on ebay

bbauer · Feb 5, 2012

Hey,

I was just wondering if anyone has ever sold anything on ebay, and if so if they have had much luck. I have been going around to antique shops and such, buying pipes and cleaning them up to smoke, however now i have more pipes than i could possibly ever smoke in a week or two. I have been thinking and i think I might want to start selling some of the ones that are still nice, but just not my favorites and might not get smoked very much.

Before i do so however i have a few questions

1) how/can I be successful at selling pipes on ebay or anywhere else for that matter?

2) how do i know what price to ask/accept for the pipes?

3) how many pipes do most people have in their rotation, and how often do you get around to smoking all of your pipes? basically what is a good number of pipes i should have at a time?

pstlpkr · Feb 5, 2012

BB you should get some pretty good answers to your questions.

Don't be surprised if opinions vary widely.

I'd be interested in seeing some of the answers as well.

Good luck... this could be a very good string.

shaintiques · Feb 5, 2012

I buy and sell on ebay. I have sold all kinds of things. It is best to do researh on pipes similar to yours on ebay itself to help you dictate opening bids. Before posting on ebay however I would list them on here for a fair price, again use ebay and popular pipe sites such as p&c. To help you figure out what is fair. Remember that smoked pipes are often worth less than half of what they were new unless it s something spectacular.

shaintiques · Feb 5, 2012

I rotate probably 8 pipes, but I have many others that are an occasional glorious smoke.

sherlock · Feb 5, 2012

I don't sell pipes on ebay, but I have sold some coins and other things. I agree with shaintiques use ebay to price the pipes you are going to sell. The other advice I would give is make sure you give a good description and pictures. Pictures will help you to sell.
I have about 10 pipes in rotation at the moment, but this changes.

ssjones · Feb 5, 2012

I have sold on Ebay without issue, but prefer to market my few estates here or in other pipe forum classifieds. A lot less hassle, less costly and you are dealing with decent folk on the forums. Ebay is the wild-wild west. View and watch a lot of ads of brands you have, that will give you your starting point. A thorough description and good photos will make you more successful on Ebay. I've snagged a few deals on ebay due to a practiced eye for ads with awful pictures and/or information. So, don't lose out with a poorly written ad. There are some trusted ebay sellers on this forum and others. Watch their ads for style/substance. Some uber sellers (Pipestud & coopersark) have such a good reputation, their auctions typically do well where the same pipe sold by an unknow would bring less. A little luck is also involved, Ebay can be a oddly fickle mistress.
I have 18 pipes in current rotation. I don't see a real need for any more, but of course I want more

scotrob · Feb 5, 2012

wow- big question!
i regularly sell on ebay and usually make a small/medium profit. i tend to buy pipes from ebay which are good condition and in need of restoration AND which are sold by people who generally don't know their value (e.g. attic clearances etc.). I tend to stick to several name brands which I know well (e.g. Dunhill) and I always auction my pipes, starting at 0.99, or maybe 4.99 for a very good Dunhill. Best result I ever got was buying a Dunhill for GBP 30 and selling it for GBP 110! But most pipes dont do that well.
Ebay is a great source of marketing and price information too; simply check completed listings and you will see which pipes sell well and how much they sell for. Experience is the best teacher here however, and we all make mistakes to begin with (i.e. buying a great pipe which does not even break-even on resale)
You will also find that sellers fees are high on ebay, which is one reason I am looking for other outlets (such as here, or ebid, which has lower fees)- that said, ebay is still a great tool for getting price guides as I have said.
good luck!

batdemon · Feb 5, 2012

I have 21 in rotation but it is not equal rotation. Some get smoked more often than others but they all get their turn. I have bought on Ebay far more than I have sold. I think I would give them a chance on here and then post the ones left on Ebay. : puffy

:

bigvan · Feb 5, 2012

I have around 80 pipes in rotation, but that's not what I would consider the "necessary" amount. If you have a six pipe rack, and fill those slots with good quality pipes which you enjoy smoking, I think you'll have all that you'll ever need.
I've bought and sold many pipes on eBay. I suggest you "lurk" ebay sales as much as you can to get a better grasp on pipe marks, carvers, values, etc. Book mark Pipestud, Coopersark, Judd, and some of the other major online sellers and watch what they sell and what values those pipes go for.
Personally I think placing reserves on auctions restricts the interest in the auction. A lot of buyers don't want the hassle. I know I don't.
Keep in mind that selling low end pipes will probably produce more sales, but with smaller profit. High end pipes have a higher risk of underselling, but can bring greater reward.
Good luck.

fallsguy · Feb 5, 2012

I have 5 new pipes on Ebay right now. You need to do some research on the brand of pipe, as well as it's condition, and what you paid for it in the first place. bigvan gave you some good advice. If you think that you can sell it at a reasonable price and make a few dollars,go for it. Just don't set the price too high to start. Best advice would be to try a couple and see what happens.

aussielass · Feb 5, 2012

The key to success on ebay is photos, photos, photos followed by DECENT description. Learn to use the html facility so you can drop very large, detailed pics in the guts of the auction ... so much preferable to using greedBay's pissy little picture thingie that costs you a bleedin' fortune over & above the blood, sweat & tears they already extort!
The bigger/better the pics and the more comprehensive description (even pointing out faults/issues) the less problems you'll get from dipsticks later, no nasty surprises for the brainless out there, and there's a huge proportion of those. This will also ensure you're driven less mad by fewer buyer questions, most of which deserve to be published for their blatant stupidity.
Go in on the basis that your buyers know absoutely nothing, they're ALL newbies who haven't got a clue and you'll be far more successful.
Never, but never upset a buyer - they can leave you negatives but you can't reciprocate, no matter how evil the prick/pricklette was.
LMFAO - do I sounded jaded? Prolly because I am, sold $20k per month on ebay for 5 long & mentally tormenting years to come out with 10,000 f/back at 100% positive but, oh, the stories I could tell you. I dealt only with hunters, bikies and collectors of Franklin-Friggen'-Mint they're far from being the easiest people to deal with

DO NOT restrict your shipping to your own country only, you cut out a vast market of people wanting to buy who'll spend far more than your own cash-strapped people, especially tobacco if you're willing to ship - there's a HUGE untapped market there but so many dumbasses don't believe they can ship it out of USA which is ridiculous, they can!

hnryclay · Feb 5, 2012

I have sold some things on EBAY, but like the others if I had to sell a pipe I would list it here or other like minded places. You can get a good idea for what people will pay for a particular pipe by watching EBAY. However sometimes things go amazingly low, or high for no real reason. I have about twenty pipes that I smoke regularly. I switch pipes after every bowl, and rest them at least a day in between. I also divide my pipes up by blends, so it takes several to accommodate my tastes. If need be I could get by with as few as 2 meerschaums, or 7 briars, that however would make life a bit bland.

randyb · Sep 5, 2014

I guess I'm resurrecting an old thread, but I have started to liquidate a collection on ebay this month and am simply amazed at the number of bids and inquiries I'm getting from places like China, Japan, Russia, etc. Pipe smoking must have really taken off in China in recent years! Has anyone else had an experience like this?

ssjones · Sep 5, 2014

Yes, that is my recent experience. Ebay has a new 2nd party international shipping option that works quite well on a sellers end. They pay you for the standard shipping, which is to an airport in Kentucky. The buyer pays them additional for shipping to their country. No fuss, no muss.

peckinpahhombre · Sep 5, 2014

As a Canadian, I personally avoid any seller who uses that 2nd party shipping option. As a buyer you are guaranteed to pay duties because you pay them up front (as opposed to taking your chances in a normal mail lottery) PLUS you pay an outrageous fee for the service. Just my view. Others may differ. I am pretty sure though that this is the reason the big sellers don't use it - I think it would dry up a large chunk of their potential non-US bidders.

ssjones · Sep 5, 2014

I sold one pipe to a gentleman in Canada and some tobacco to a buyer in China. I would have shipped to Canada, but not China. I told the Canadian buyer I could have saved him a few bucks. He didn't mention any issues with customs. The tobacco was snapped up in less than an hour by the Chinese buyer. I'm not sure it would have sold that quickly without the shipping option.

peckinpahhombre · Sep 5, 2014

There is no "issue" with customs by using that method - the third party acts as a customs intermediary, so the buyer pays up front all of the duties and taxes (and the 3rd party remits them to the government) and then the third party tacks on a big fat fee on top. It is just a much more expensive shipping cost. That said, I have used it once or twice, but I always lower my top bid for the item so it doesn't cost me any more if I win. Thankfully, I have seen very few pipe ebay auctions that use it (or perhaps they just opt out for Canada? I don't know, but I have rarely seen it for pipes.)

peckinpahhombre · Sep 5, 2014

Hey Al, I googled the Global Shipping program and, man, there is sure a lot of debate about it. On one site devoted to ebay sellers, one guy summed it up very well:

I’m an eBayer presently living in Canada for a while.
I think every US seller should be aware that IME Canadians **hate** the GSP. With a passion.
Many people I’ve talked to are now refusing to bid now on items with GSP listed as the shipping method. There are 3 problems with it.
1 – It takes significantly longer that any other shipping method, even than the post office.
2 – Pitney Bowes seems to make a lot of mistakes, I mean, every shipper makes mistakes, but PB seems to be worse than even the post office.
3 – Canada Customs doesn’t actually charge duties on items below a certain value. Officially it’s $60 for gifts and $20 for regular items, but my experience has been they don’t levy charges on anything less than $60, probably because their costs to process the fees are more than they get from the charges.
This means that the customs & brokerage charges Pitney Bowes levies on items less than $60 are wasted fees than nobody wants to pay. Which leads me to Problem No. 4:
4 – The Pitney Bowes brokerage fee isn’t calculated exactly until the auction closes. It can be higher than the estimated amount posted on the listing. It usually isn’t too much higher, but people want to know what they’re going to pay when they bid on something. This thing has led to some really hard feelings on the part of some buyers, and I know a few who have reneged on purchases because of anger at Pitney Bowes charges they weren’t expecting.
I personally have given up on having anything to do with the GSP. I’ve taken the time to email a few sellers who I think are good people and who list good items to let them know about the problems they’re causing for themselves, and I hope this message lets a few good people know about how this is being received by international buyers.
Also, FWIW, a couple of folks from England have said their postal service doesn’t usually levy charges on items under 50 Pounds, and one Korean guy said the informal limit for no fees in Korea is around 100k Won (about $100)
Pitney Bowe’s fees on amounts like that are significant. All so you can have your package take longer to arrive?
Korean guy hasn’t had to deal with the GSP yet, but says he would avoid it if something interested him that had it showing. The English guys say they’re also having nothing to do with listings showing GSP.
Just so all you US sellers know.

Now, that said, the program does give the seller some protection. One impetus for the program was that sellers often had to ship internationally with no tracking number, and so they were exposed in terms of proving delivery. At least in the case of Canada this doesn't hold - you can get a tracking number on cross border shipments since Canada Post and USPS have systems that communicate. Not sure about other countries.
I will say that the first time I saw this program in play I was shocked at the cost - nearly 30% of the winning bid.

daveinlax · Sep 5, 2014

There is no "issue" with customs by using that method - the third party acts as a customs intermediary, so the buyer pays up front all of the duties and taxes

Yeah this prices many overseas buyers out of the market. I closely checked this out when I sold a couple high end Danish pipes this spring. The eBay Global Shipping Program costs made the pipes untouchable. 8O

randyb · Sep 6, 2014

YIKES! I guess I had better rethink using the GSP option, I didn't realize the fees and shipping time were so high. I thought I was really limiting my exposure by specifying "US Shipping Only", but I didn't want the hassle of dealing with the international paperwork myself. Doesn't sound now like this was the right solution.

Selling on ebay

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