To be successful on eBay you have to set up several different accounts to bid up your own item. This isn't ethical and eBay claims they don't allow it (even though, unless you are blatant, they tend to look the other way as long as they get their fees). Veteran eBayers know many trick like this. This is one of the reasons so many people hate eBay.

ebay can be fickle at times. If I'm selling something I always watch auctions a few weeks in advance to see what my items might sell for. If it's less than I want to let it go for at the time I'll just wait until I see it going for about the price I'd be willing to sell it for. You MUST have a complete description and offer every ounce of personal information about the item you can. People don't want to just see a description pulled off a company website listing weights, diameters, etc. Pictures, the more the mo better, are an absolute must. Every angle and as many as you can stuff on there. You have to earn peoples trust through item description. Once you earn someones trust they are more apt to bid on your equipment.

Although I'm sure this happens it isn't necessarily true to be successful on ebay. I've never bid on my own auctions and have sold thousands of dollars worth of things. You just have to have something that you can talk someone into thinking they must have.

I sell quite a bit, and I find that the two most important things are:

1) Lots of GOOD photos: include the photos that you yourself would want to see. Make sure they're clear, bright and include close-ups...the bidders trust you more if you provide detailed photos.

2) a personal description: often talk about what your selling, and why. Why is often one fo the first things I ask when buying, even on Ebay. e.g. "I loved these wheels, and I hate to see them go, but my new bike uses 700c wheels so these 650's just won't get used anymore. Hopefully they find a good home - they're a great wheelset, very true and with great hubs."

I don't bid my own auctions up, and because of my photos and descriptions I find I don't need to. I also generally don't lie about what I'm selling - people will see through that pretty quick. e.g. "Zipp 404's, bought in 2003, only 40 miles." Yeah, right. 40 miles my ass.

Keep it simple, personal and true...and take lots and lots of pics.

Also, answer all questions asked to the fullest extent and make sure you post them on your auction. Check it out here's a good example from one of my auctions. Leave nothing out adress everything and put the buyer at ease.

Q: whats your phone number? I would like to ask you more questions please. Nov-14-06 A: My phone number? That's sort of an odd request and I'm not quite comfortable just giving out my phone number to you. Sorry. It has nothing to do with me being shady or anything like that. It just doesn't seem like a safe practice for me to give you my phone number especially with the short email and request you sent. Send me another email expressing your concerns and questions and then we'll proceed from there. If I feel that you are truly interested in my wheels and may be a potential buyer we'll proceed from there with a phone call if necessary. I can assure you now, however, that these wheels exist, are exactly as described in the description, I am an upstanding person, have no interest in deceiving you, and if you purchase the wheels you will be pleased with the product. Please respond at your convenience. Sorry I couldn't just give you my number but I must be cautious just as you must. I'd prefer to call you as well if a phone conversation is to be had. Thanks in advance, Chris

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that they're aren't ethical sellers on eBay. I just personally know some individuals who make a living on ebay and I would characterize their behavior as less than ethical.

I think a great deal of being successful on eBay is knowing what is hot. I have had items take off and bring more than I expected and other items that were duds.

No apology necessary. I didn't take any offense.

It's true. Hot is good - for the seller, that is. A couple of years ago you could get great deals on Cervelo's, but today they are all way overpriced on Ebay - they're the "bike du jour" as far as Ebay is concerned.

And if you want to ensure the item doesn't sell for too low, you can set the opening bid to whatever price you're comfortable with, or put the opening bid at $1 but have a reserve price of whatever you'd be comfortable selling it for. Both options have more fees than a $1 opening bid with no reserve, but especially on high ticket items that I'm not sure how much interest there will be, I use them.

Your best bet is to sell bike parts for free here on ST. I have never met a dishonest person on this site. Some even bend over backward for fellow members -- I've had lots of stuff shipped out before they've received payment. Ebay/Paypal will stick you with all kinds of fees and the place has attracted the real scum of the earth with every scam imaginable.

If your only selling occasionally, one thing you can do to maximize your sale, is to contact second and third place bidders on recently concluded auctions for same item and let them know you are selling the same thing. I bet if you had tried that on the BB you might have gotten another bid or 2.

I have never bid on my own stuff, and almost always gotten what I expected or more, sometimes way more. Look at past auctions of items and pickout the ones that went for a high price and see what they have in common, look at the ones that went low. What catagories did they use, more than 1? Any different wording that might have worked better.

I found a bit of research usually pays off.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

I'd like to buy these wheels please... :)

It was a Truvativ BB for a triple. I tried some tri sites (I think I even tried slowtwitch) but no takers. Just watching some people bid so high on some stuff I thought I'd give it a try. Next time I'll try more pics, The lines "I'd love to keep it but...", and I need to promote my fast shipping, with a tracking number and insured. Hopefully next time it will go better.

I don't think there is much interest these days for a Isis style BB (assuming that is what you were selling). In fact, I tried to sell a brand new FSA crankset that takes an Isis and only got $20 out of it. My hope was to get enough $$ to by two used chainrings for my bike -- $70 -- but I didn't come close with an entire new crankset (chainrings included). Buyers are fickle.