I seriously need to 'thin' my collection (i.e. reduce it by about 75% ). However, it's been about 10 years since I sold anything on eBay so I'd appreciate some advice, given that so much seems to have changed over that time. What's the best selling strategy? There seems to be a gathering trend to list stuff for an astronomical price on a BIN - seller 'rebral' seems to be the leading proponent of this method although there are others. Unfortunately most of the stuff listed in this way doesn't seem to sell so that's not a method I'd wish to emulate. Otherwise I could start the auctions at 99p and let the items find their own level but we're talking of the likes of Jacobeans here, and I wouldn't want to take the risk of them selling short. I guess I could set a reasonable reserve and hope that doesn't put off potential bidders. What has been others' experience of selling? Best prices seem to come from overseas collectors but I'm a bit wary of sending stuff out of the country unless I know the person already from CPL/CCS. Any thoughts...
I don't tend to set reserves. Instead I use the starting price as my reserve. I've not sold many lamps on Ebay but have sold plenty of stoves. If I think it will attract overseas bids, I always insist that the buyer pays for shipping by UPS and ask them to message me for a quote. I also state in the listing that I am only responsible for shipping to the address provided by the buyer. If that address is a 3rd party shipping agent in the UK, then my responsibility ends when delivery is made to that address.
Thanks Terry - many interesting points there. I'd considered using the starting price as a sort of reserve but for something like a Jacobean this would have to be several hundreds of pounds. There's a danger that a high starting price seems to deter bidders because no-one wants to be the first to commit themselves to spending a large sum in one go, whereas a lower starting price seems to draw bidders in and then they start to complete with each other and the price rises steadily (hopefully, anyway!). What's the conventional wisdom about auction length? Previously I listed everything over 10 days because I thought that would give more potential buyers a chance to spot the listing. All that happened, though, was a series of early bids followed by nine days of little or no activity then a flurry of interest in the few last hours before auction end. Maybe something like five days would make more sense, although I think it's always worthwhile to have a weekend during the auction period. I think my idea always was that my responsibility ended when I delivered the item to the Post Office / courier company and got a receipt. Thereafter, the responsibility wasn't mine because from that point on, I had no control over what happened to the item. Naturally, I was happy to assist with any subsequent claims by providing documentation and so on. I always specified delivery to a home address only and would delete bids from folk using third-party delivery companies. What's the situation these days with eBay/PayPal chargebacks should the buyer claim non-delivery, damage or whatever...
Well I buy a lot of stuff on eBay and nothing puts me off bidding like a reserve price. People like to think they might get a bargain. BIN with best offer might be your best bet.
@David Shouksmith you need a collector that would come to your door and relieve you of some of the excess. Surely you can find someone around here. One thing to note about eBay reserves is that you pay I think 3% of your reserve price whether the item sells or not. Other than that I hardly sell anything and certainly not lamps, so I can't really add anything.
Not sold much on it but always only accept paypal and only post to paypal registered address. Ok you pay a small fee but it gives some protection to buyer and seller.
@David Shouksmith I normally just advertise on a buy it now price and keep it going for thirty days as usually i'm not in a rush to sell, but if the price is fair it usually sells, you can add a best offer if you are willing to take less which may cost an extra 50p ish, ebay will take 10% of the final value fee + 10% of the postage fee which is naughty but what choice do you have and paypal take approx 3% i think, Ebay will offer you deals although i can't remember if that is straight away, i get 100 free listings a month and a deal i have at the moment is they won't charge more than £1 in fees on anything for four days but its the first time i've had that, there may be listing fees when you start but they are not much if i remember correctly, I have sold lamps that have ended up in Taiwan and Japan but the buyer organised his own forwarding company in the UK and paypal covered me to the UK address so no worries, i am also wary of sending overseas just in case, plus i don't have a printer so have to use Royal Mail / Parcelforce which are expensive, a printer is handy if you have the use of one to print your own labels and get cheap courier prices from Hermes etc, You could also try Gumtree, things don't sell as well on there as Ebay but they do sell and there are no fees to pay, if someone wants to pay by paypal and use the pay for goods and services option then paypal will take a percentage from you, you can ask them to add the extra charges if your worried about the extra money loss , i normally just use a paypal fees calculator like this one, PayPal Fees Calculator Also if you do sell on either its a good idea to add extra things like Tilley, Tilly, Paraffin, pressure lamp etc in the title so it shows up in more searches
@David Shouksmith I think I have read (here?) somewhere that overseas shipping Companies/Airlines do not care for Liquid fuel filled Devices in their cargo, and so as a rule they scrapp every find - empty or not. At least this is a notion that has held me away from the ebay flameshop. Haavar
@David Shouksmith you could always save yourself a lot of grief or: listing, fees, packaging, more fees etc and bring some of them to Newark next year. ;-) How do we find you on eBay please? Regards, Jeremy
@X246A to find him on eBay, just keep an eye out for the posh stuff, I heard mention of a Jacobean further up didn't I?
There are two Jacobeans to go, a Vapalux parallel-base handlamp and a mint in box Phoebus 665 which is just the start of it. One of the Jacobeans is shown in the lamp reference gallery and the other is in the same condition although the brass (chalice) and copper (tank) are reversed in the two lamps. I can't figure out why Tilley made them that way but they did. ML96 Jacobean I'm probably going to delay the sales for a couple of months because someone has flooded the market with a collection of lamps he bought recently, thus depressing prices for all sellers, including himself. Basically, anything in my collection is for sale except high-end Tilley or Bialaddin/Vapalux unless I have duplicates. If anyone wants to make me an offer for anything of mine shown in the LRG, I'll be happy to consider it...
I've three Jacobeans in total, Henry, hence the two that can go. I've taken pictures on my phone but this 'puter doesn't seem to be able to find them in there anywhere... I've got two cameras but I can't find either and I'm not buying another one. I think we've been down this road before!! Edit: I found a camera by simply looking in the pocket of a coat I last wore about six months ago. Amazingly, the battery still held charge which was just as well because then I'd have had to locate the charger. The card thingie is stuck in this camera so I have to use a lead to download images. Naturally, I couldn't find a suitable lead although, during the search, I did find the battery charger which I didn't need. Eventually I managed to pull a lead off something else, so:- Guess which one I'm keeping! I need to go and lie down now...
I'd keep them all and sell only the common lamps... I'm sure you have enough common lamps to make a living for a couple of years in a sunny island... Nicola
I would keep the one in the middle David, nice colour to it. Then again I might be tempted to keep the one with the twist going in the opposite direction. And then there's the one with the wide decorative band which I don't have.
@David Shouksmith bit awkward to communicate at the moment, I'm down at the Dorset steam rally. I'd be interested in the phoebus 655 I'll be home tomorrow evening, so can talk easier then if that's possible.
David owes me BIG TIME for all the photos I have not published of him making fireballs. I am seeing him tomorrow, so I feel sure that he will give me one of the Jacobeans in gratitude.
Is that the so-called 'Hospital Lamp' based on the SL61 with a handle added and supplied in a wooden box with various accessories, including reflector/shade - known in the Army catalogue as the 'Lamp, Paraffin, Pressure, Hospital and Survey'? If it is, I have only one in my collection so none for sale, sorry. These days, they don't seem to come up very often on eBay, either...
Yes, I vaguely remembered having a second example somehow/somewhere and now you mention it, I did pass it on to you at Newark last year!! I thought I was losing the plot for a minute there... How's that motorbike coming on?
There seems to be a trend to sell lamps in parts. I often see parts from the same seller that are obviously the parts of a single lamp at high starting prices.
It's not David The owner got in touch with a museum and they said that owing to the rareness of it, it's worth more left in its original condition , rather than being restored Never mind, still got plenty to do
