First Item I Sold on eBay & Lessons Learnt
I was going through some earlier pictures in my backup CD today and it brings me to a recollection of the first item I sold in eBay. I thought I would write this post to tell you about it. But, it was disappointing to find that I had deleted that picture. I still remember what my first item was 3 years ago, perhaps of some lessons I learnt. It was an Elba Steam Iron.
This picture is taken from Elba’s website. But it is very similar to what I sold and mine was a little purplish pink. I redeemed that from Bonuslink. Back then I wanted a steam iron, but in the end nobody in the house wanted to use it.
So, I thought I’d just try auctioning it off in eBay. It was brand new, still in box and comes with warranty card. You see, I had just created my eBay account, was quite excited and crazy looking all over the house for something to sell. *rub hands with glee*
I took pictures of the steam iron, with my new shiny shawl as the background *duh* and published it in ebay.com.my. It gathered a few bids. I also received an email from a grandmother offering to buy my iron with a very large sum for her grandchild in Nigeria. I was jumping with joy, I asked my sister how much would it costs to send the iron to Nigeria. My sister asked if I am crazy. *sob*
I kept looking for an answer until I landed in the local eBay forum. And I learnt that emails from Nigeria are scams *rolling eyes*. First lesson – Nigerians are scammers.
The 7 days auction soon ended with many bids and the highest bidder was a Malay guy. Very excited again, I sent out the invoice. But there were no reply that I thought it must be a joke someone had played on me, until a few days later. This buyer requested me to meet him somewhere to pass him the iron. (“What?!”)
I got quite worried. But I decided to see him. Since we will be meeting in public places like Starbucks or Supermarket, and being the daring lady I am, I think I have got nothing to be afraid of *hehe*. And you know what, he turned out to be a genuine buyer. Phew!
He paid me the bid amount, but I ask for postage to be paid as well (hey, since I drive here to meet you) and luckily! He just paid without refusing! Whew! Second lesson – describe in detail your sales terms.
So, that was my first item sold online and in eBay. It also marks the start of my money-making journey with the internet! *wink*
Lesson learnt from my first item sold in eBay:
- 1) Ignore emails from Nigeria or Romania. They are scams.
- 2) You usually get these scam emails when you sell expensive electronic items like handphones, irons or printers. I am not sure why, but when I started to sell other items, these emails never seem to appear anymore
- 3) Use sentence like “COD and self-collection is not available for this item” in your listings if you feel uncomfortable to offer such services.
- 4) Put something like “Postage charges is also applicable for COD” if you would like to charge for hand delivery and state the areas you cover.
Hey, have you sell anything online before? Or is there anything you intend to sell off as your first in eBay? *grin* You gotta tell me about it!!
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I know I am pushing my luck, but what the heck
“Yeah, I am planning to sell off my soon-to-be-made orang-utan t-shirt”
Jenny,
I know this is very off topic. BUT, you are using a Compaq laptop V2000 series. Haha. I can’t help but notice it. The 1st thing I saw wasn’t the US money, but rather the laptop. Oops.
Can’t help it. I used to worked in a computer shop!
Oh… I sold something on the net before. It’s a brand new HP Printer which I sold for SGD$120. I had to meet up the person too! Same as you.
The first item I sold off was a dopod 838pro. It’s kind of hard as there’s so many bid coming in and I couldn’t be sure which were the sincere buyers.
After much sms and postings, finally sold the set to a nice gentleman.
Nice experience actually provided I don’t get cheated.
sell Doraemon shirt. LOL.
oh so that means most buyers from local buyers? not from other countries?!
confused…
I have such a problem with my memory that I can’t for the life of me remember the first item I sold on eBay. I know that Ina Steiner’s Auction Bytes Blog posts this info from readers.
Have you signed up for her newsletter? She really knows about eBay. But it is in America. She goes to eBay Live and interviews a lot of people.
Ok sorry for rambling
was fun to read your story, besides, learn something since I have zero experience in selling online
mm.. I learn new thing today. No wonder I was always stuck at ebay.com.
Last time I didn’t even bother to explore/research on ebay.com.my because I don’t think there are many potential customers in malaysia on ebay, instead of lelong.com.my
Mm.. after reading your article, I think I change my mind. time to troll ebay.com.my more..
thanks alot jenny. you’re still my queen :p
hi jenny, normally your customer is from ebay.com or ebay.com.my? or others? you set up ebay online store in .com or also need to set up another 1 if i wanna sell in .com.my? or we actually can share the online store no matter .com or .com.my? erm…. do u understand what i ask
Jerry, traffics in ebay.com.my is local. of course, you do get international buyers once in a blue blue moon. To get most traffic, do that in paid sites like ebay.com or .uk or .au, .de etc…
Dede, my customers are from international mostly UK, USA, AUS, Sweden & Italy. Depends on what i wanted to sell, if i want to get rid of things in the house, i’d sell in ebay.com.my. you should start with ebay.com.my, it is free and you learnt many things before hopping to ebay.com.
thanks jenny.
That kills alot of my question marks in my head.
oic.. hmm… how much is it charge if i want to list something at ebay.com ??
Interesting experience Jenny~ By the way, I never sell anything online successful before.
As I just simply put something that I would like to sell but end up no one is interested. 
Oh I wish I were going to eBay Live this year, but nope.
I am planning on going next year though and am already working on my goal to get there!