I agree entirely with only using PayPal for payments. eBay is full of scammers that bid on items, then play games with payments. They'll offer to send you a cashier's check for $500 over the cost of the item with a "friend" doing the pick-up and receiving the balance. When the "cashier's check" bounces, you're out the item, the cash, and probably having unpleasant conversations with the cops. Craigslist is even worse.

I actually had one try a variant with me. PayPal for payment as long as I'd ship to his "brother" in Egypt (iirc). Since there was no way to track delivery, once it arrived the buyer just files a "item not received" with PP and gets their money back.

PayPal only. Start with US-only at the beginning. Be very clear in your item description, particularly about the condition of the item. ALWAYS use a trackable shipping method (priority mail, UPS, FedEx).

@caffeine_dude: That's an excellent point. It will take a couple of days to get PayPal to confirm my new banking information, so that I can complete the seller information on eBay. This is fine, because I still need to get busy taking pictures. I have a friend who says that most things look best with a black background and good lighting, and when I look at similar items there, bad photography seems the most limiting of mistakes people have made.

I have many items that would sell for $5 or $10, and I'll stick with those for at least a month, until I build up a reputation.

{I can't help it. I just can't. At least my reputation won't depend on how many questions I ask. ;-) }

Pictures speak 1,000 words. Take many many and then sort which one doesn't have a blur or is lighted just right. Additional photos of close up imperfections if not obvious is always good. Presentation is important too. Also description. Work for your money and you will get more. I see more and more people put nothing or "good" as the whole description. NO. Sell it to them, describe every and anything. Be a pitchman (girl).

If you don't want to ship internationally. You can restrict those people from bidding/buying your items in the buyer requirements.
Just a suggestion, hit the "preview your listing" before you hit the "list your item" button. To see if it's the way you actually wanted it.

@sirlouie: Thank you very much! I'm off to Staple's to buy the labels I saw, earlier.

After reading the advice about searching for similar items, I've discovered that there's an actual demand for items I almost threw away. Who knew?

At least this will keep me off the streets, and out of trouble. Thanks very much for your informative posts. I think I'll try the "start it at this price and see what happens" suggestion, rather than a reserve.

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I frequently use eBay to make my shipping labels, especially for USPS. I have a UPS CampusShip account through work that gets me better rates than Paypal's, but otherwise, it's easy and convenient because of the integrated nature with Paypal.

I have been a member of Paypal for a long time, so as far as I know, there isn't a holding period mandated on new accounts. I know they can do that, but I haven't had that happen to me for a very long time. I could be wrong for newer accounts but I can usually withdraw as soon as the payment clears (which is instantly for credit card payments, and maybe 4 days for e-checks). One of my accounts has a reserve hold on it (long story) but they still release 95% of my funds immediately.

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@w00tgurl is correct - you can set a Reserve amount for a fee.

Assuming you are using the auction format, then you can do any of the following:

1. Start the bidding at any price (for example, a penny). This is the best choice for a "hot" item - that is, one that will be bid on extensively. The lower your starting price, the lower your "insertion" fee (the fee that it costs to list on eBay); however, your first 50 insertions per month are free regardless of starting price. Every one beyond that costs from between $0.10 and $2.00 per listing, depending on what your starting price is.

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@w00tgurl: I'd rather have a reserve, then. I have already found the "seller protection" area, and will sign up for it. I would like to believe that people looking for antiques and collectibles are not the sort that would take advantage of a lady of a certain age...on the other hand, I know better.

I have no large items. The largest thing I have (that I don't want to keep) is perhaps 14 inches in height. I have precisely one zillion boxes used to ship wine, and plan on reusing many of them. The only difficulty in using wine boxes is that you have to be sure to cross out the fact that they contain wine. I have markers, and know how to cross out the words, so I have that one covered.

@hackman2007: You also provide excellent advice. I would probably go out of my way to avoid local pickup, for the same reason that I mostly avoid Craigslist. I just feel safer. I had never thought about the tracking information not being there, however, and that's just one more nail in the coffin for local pickup. :-D

One of the positive things from having eBay do the labels is that the seller would then be notified. Bonus!

I have learned a lot about how to pack items from the items that I've received from Housewaresdeals.com, which always arrive in perfect condition. Often they pack one box inside another, when items are fragile.

@sirlouie: Perfect. You are just what I needed. All my items are either antiques or collectibles. Categorizing them is the easy part (for me, in this case).

If I use the auction format, can I set a minimum amount? I don't mind having it go for whatever the market bears, since anything I get is profit. All the items I am selling came in auction lots with usually one, or perhaps two items that I wanted, and several that I do not. I would want them to sell for at least some fraction of their actual value, however.

I have already seen enough people say it to know that I only want to use PayPal. I'm in the process of having a new bank account verified (and I mistyped the account number first time out, and the login process is too complicated for PayPal to deal with).

I see that eBay will make shipping labels, and I know that Staples sells shipping labels that seem to be meant specifically for eBay. Is using their labels good?

@w00tgurl: You can do cash with local pickup but you should never do local pickup with Paypal. All the buyer has to do is file an "item not received" or "item not as described" claim against you and you will lose since you do not have any tracking information.

I've sold on eBay for years and can probably answer many questions you might have. Basically, what I'd suggest is this:
1. Determine what category your item belongs in.
2. Determine whether to use auction format (people bid until the timer ends) or buy-it-now format (like a store, you set a price, and they buy it).
3. Determine a bidding start or selling price.
4. Create the listing.
5. Collect payment via Paypal when the item sells.
6. Ship the item.

I can go into more detail on any of these ... what would you like to know? (I'll be on deals.woot every once in a while.)

One of the more useful questions was one asked a few months ago, about selling on eBay.

http://deals.woot.com/questions/details/3801fbf3-ba55-405b-b050-49c7814dac52/what-are-some-tips-for-selling-on-ebay

I've also seen recent things that made me very careful to not link any credit cards to my account. I already have a PayPal account (I made it the same time as I'd made the eBay account).

I'm not looking to get rich, although I'd prefer to turn a small profit.