Where to sell N Gauge stuff

[njee20]

Yep, definitely payment upfront, always. Or cash on collection if you're amenable to such things (no issue not wanting to do that I'd say though).

[MJKERR]

Equally, when listing on eBay UK you have an option to change the dispatch time
I select 5 days
This means with the auctions ending on Sunday it gives the buyer 5 days to make payment (Friday)
I then send ALL the parcels on the same day
If the last buyer pays on Wednesday I can then send on Thursday
I then withdraw all the funds from my PayPal account
Once the parcels are sent I then marked the items as dispatched in eBay, and that is usually the end of the process

In most cases the buyers pay on the Sunday evening or Monday morning, a few after that but it is rare
As each payment comes through I prepare the parcel, usually on Monday evening

[davecttr]

I appears I am pricing too low on the porium. either edge up the prices until interest stops or auction, but I have no idea of how to do an auction

[Webbo]

Dave

Much as I'm not a great fan of EBay's and PayPal's charges, the former does provide potentially international exposure for your goods and so potentially a higher price and the latter provides security of the monetary transaction. These things don't come for free.

What bothers me more about EBay is that the buyer holds all the cards. If the buyer says the item does not arrive, then you as the seller are obliged to pay a full refund. I've had three situations in which I almost had to refund the buyer. In the first, the delivery card had fallen out of the buyer's mailbox as he found out later. In the second, the buyer asked me to send the item to a third address and then had forgotten he had asked me to do so. And in the third, the item took a month to arrive versus the 7 days or so that it should have. Two of these situations were the buyer's fault and who knows what happened in the third, but I was getting ready to provide refunds in each case. No seller's protection from EBay in sight.

What I think many people don't realise is that spending the extra $$ for registered mail or tracking really benefits the seller not the buyer. As a seller I don't use these mechanisms unless the buyer asks for them. I add the cost to the buyer's postal costa which can make them quite a bit higher. Based on my experience, I judge the failure rate of the delivery system to be 1% or less. It just doesn't make sense to me to add 10% to the buyer's bill to insure against the 1% possibility of loss especially on sales that are not of large value.

Webbo

[Intercity]

Ebay seems to be the main channel, as an international buyer I have bought many things from the U.K., sure I pay a lot more for the ebay global shipping, I don't get a choice in that, however I've never had a shipping problem through them, and they provide full tracking (sometime a slight delay on updates).

It's disheartening to read advice being given to you not to sell internationally, if it is a concern or an issue then at least open your mind to people who do have a proven history (talking outside of ebay for this, and applies more to forum sales such as on here)

The private sales I have partaken in have used PayPal, when I choose send money it has an international option and asks me to verify which country I'm sending money to, PayPal shows the exact conversion amount so the recipient should get the exact amount requested, for the sender PayPal adds a small fee but it's pennies on the dollar, and is in this day and age not really an amount that should cause issues

[MJKERR]

I appears I am pricing too low on the porium. either edge up the prices until interest stops or auction, but I have no idea of how to do an auction

I searched items by davecttr, nothing was found

If you have no experience of any type of auction it can be concerning when you either start the auction at too high a price or too low a price
The key here is interest

Some buyers wait until the last minute in the hope of a bargain
Some buyers wait until the last minute to see what the interest was, to see if they can afford it
and so on

If you have a spreadsheet, send me a PM and I will return it with a column for
Start Auction price Nporium
Start Auction price eBay UK
Expected sale price
Postage cost (Royal Mail Signed For or Special Delivery)

[njee20]

Yes, I've also not seen anything for sale by you.

I wouldn't bother with auctions on here (sorry), the market's too small.

If you want maximum returns just stick things on eBay with a 99p start price, on a Sunday night and let them run for 7 days. Get involved in the international seller programme, it's zero hassle, expands your market significantly, and foreign buyers are tempted to the UK listings because of the favourable exchange.

Or, My offer still stands to send me a list and I'll probably buy a load!

[longbow]

As a non-EU buyer I find that Hattons pre-owned site often trumps eBay UK once you allow for deduction of 20% VAT, lower postage costs and their no-quibble returns policy.

[davecttr]

You can't see any items for sale by me?

Let me explain!

My name on here is davecttr which I use on various other forums, especially those concerned with cruise holidays. davecttr is also part of my email address.

On RMWEB I am davetheroad because I used to work for the Highways Agency

My Facebook name is Dave Trainor. Why Dave Trainor? registering as Dave Ferguson, my real name, caused lots of hassle and confusion. I then needed to use facecloth to trace my cousin who lives in Australia and suffering nostalgia decided to use my maternal grandfathers name of Trainor as he was a LMS/BR driver at Upperby shed in Carlisle. I found her by the way.

Confusing eh!

apologies for the confusion

ps - I have tried deleting my Facebook Dave Ferguson account but it just ignores me so I gave up.

[Newportnobby]

Thanks for all the extra detail, Dave, but there's nothing listed under your forum name

[davecttr]

Thanks for all the extra detail, Dave, but there's nothing listed under your forum name

Dave has been listing them of the Facebook N'porium which has a lot more items for sale than on this forum. Still run by Tank.

Yes, I am Dave Trainor over there

[njee20]

Ah ha, that makes sense, I was also looking here.

[MJKERR]

Yes, I've also not seen anything for sale by you

There appears to be an issue with the search by member username
I searched mine and nothing was found!
It does not search all categories, you need to select a category!

[MJKERR]

ps - I have tried deleting my Facebook Dave Ferguson account but it just ignores me so I gave up.

The process takes 3 months, you delete the account, it must be inactive for 3 months, then you can delete it
I managed to delete a facebook account a few weeks ago after waiting the required 3 months
The icon changes from eye with cover to spyglass to confirm the 3 months has passed

[njee20]

Yes, I've also not seen anything for sale by you

There appears to be an issue with the search by member username
I searched mine and nothing was found!
It does not search all categories, you need to select a category!

I didn't search - just went to profile and did "show posts", which returns all your for sale items.

I tend to think inbuilt searches on forums are atrocious and just use Google instead!