The Best Online Reborn Help Forum!

Well, I've set up my ebay account and pay pal it wasn't that difficult but boy take about doing a web page,I've tried and tried in 2 different places untill it's driven me mad. That's a doozy.June M from Oz

Rosemarie, there are several different ways you can do this . . . you can use Ebay's system which is nothing fancy, just go to the link about selling and it will give you the format to fill out. They do charge by the picture and like I said, it is very basic. The second option is upload your pictures to a picture hosting site, and then build an auction from something like Rob's Help. That is a little more complicated but if you have the time to fool with it, you can get a very nice looking auction. The third option is to use a combo picture hosting/auction building site. That is what I do. I use Inkfrog and it is quite easy to use and makes nice looking auctions. I think you can get a 30 day free trial with Inkfrog too. It is $9.00 a month so if you only list occasionally, that would probably not be your best option. Still, it is worth it.
My best advice on Ebay though is to be very careful . . . they have all kinds of options you can add to your auction but that really racks up your fees. There have been months that EBay has made more off of my dolls than I did! So don't list anymore than you can afford to lose in fees. And remember, there are also final value fees and Paypal fees. All total, I would say it would be fairly easy to spend at least one third of your asking price on eBay fees so be careful and be aware of this when you go to price your items.
I think those of us who sell on EBay have a love/hate relationship with it. Ebay tends to side with the buyer and if you have a problem, you will find out quickly that Ebay is not going to be much help. For instance, if you list something as a Buy It Now, be sure you put in the option of immediate payment required. Otherwise you might get some yahoo who just has fun going around hitting the BIN button on auctions. Then you will have the nightmare of trying to get back your final value fees from EBay which they do not relinquish kindly. Or you might get a scammer buyer who wants to pay you extra and then have you send it to their cousin in Tim Buc Too, immediately notify EBay of those and then file for your non paying bidder fees. But realize that you will be sitting and waiting while Ebay decides who is right and who is wrong in these cases. So, not to discourage you but realize that selling on eBay has a set of headaches all of its own and EBay has no customer service, they will just run you around the bush. I also set limitations on my sales, I only sell to the United States, Great Britain and Canada. The most problems I have had have been other countries where they don't speak English well plus you get into problems with shipping out of country as each country as it's own rules on what they allow and don't allow. Also make sure you block bidders who have several negative feedbacks, those are trouble right from the start. Bidders with 0 feedback may also be a problem, I generally email anyone who has 0 feedback and ask them to email me back so that I know they are a real person with a real name and address. Scammers tend to open and close and open and close accounts so the 0 ones can be an indicator of a problem. If you are ever in doubt, CANCEL their bid. That is your right and might save you a headache later on.
Other than that, Good luck, selling on Ebay is like raising a child, you never know what you are going to get along the journey and there will be successes as well as failures and nights where you want to pull out your hair! But if you learn as you go along and try to avoid the common mistakes, you can make some some money with Ebay sells.

You are welcome, please feel free to ask any more questions that you have about EBay. It is a trial and error process and if I can save someone else the "error" part of it, I am happy to do so. Thanks for the complements on my dolls! I do love my Apple Valley toddlers and have more and more fun every day with creating new toddlers! BTW, if you are ever up for creating your own website, I love using homestead. It is very simple to use and well worth the $16.00 a month I pay for it. I actually use Ebay as more a form of advertisement for my web site, although I can only put a link to it on my Me page on EBay. But many times I will have someone buy a doll from me on Ebay or bid on a doll and then they will go to my web site and buy or custom order a doll. So two (or more) sales for the price of one Ebay listing!

Why don't buyers leave feedback when thier satisfied? I get so frustrated when they do this. Example, I sold little Colin on ebay and the buyer emailed me how much she loves him so I thanked her and gently reminded her to please reflect her satisfaction in my feedback. Then she emails me that so loves reborns but can't always get all the ones she loves and tells me about another doll sonewhere she saw and how it would make a great sister for Colin. I told her some sellers and websites had layaway to help people and again gently reminded her of feedback she emails me back do I know of any sellers??????!!!!??? I just want to scream sometimes I take pride in my babies and my feedback I receive for them. Am I being nuts? I've had a couple incidents similar to this. Emails how much they love the baby and then nothing as far as feedback.

Yep gotta love it! LOL never heard from her again nor did she leave feedback. Oh well.

Hi everyone- reading all your Ebay info- and yes it is a learning experience as you go along. Please also be aware of brokers who buy your doll and the sell overseas and the tell Paypal that they never received the doll and try to get their money back. This hasn't happened to me. Luckily my buyers are all genuine people so far and paid up front and left nice feedback. Just be aware. One is called "Airlines America Inc." and they have about 48,000 feedbacks! So that is a red flag. Take Care!

I am soo glad that I haven't came across them cause i think i would freak out lol

Your welcome :) I got lucky so far I cancelled the transction before I shipped anything out and got all my my and listing fees back. You know I will be keeping a closer eye on the bidder's identity from now on!

Well actually my first tip was from Kristi right here in the forum. I had to do is click thier me page on ebay and there is was...all the info:

"With the official parnership with eBay Group (eBay and PayPal), we introduce eBay items to the World 2nd biggest eCommerce Market, Japan on sekaimon.com. We have office in San Jose/California, Tokyo/Japan and a logistic center in Carson/California.

*** About our business ***

On behalf of millions of Japanese Buyers, we make bid on eBay and pay to you via PayPal when we win the item in auction. The item you sent to our location in Carson, California, is strictly inspected by our QA team. If the condition is OK enough, we re-ship it to Japan.

You have nothing to do with our customers in Japan. We handle everything. However, please understand that we might contact you along the agreements and policies on eBay as a Buyer.

Our business is supported by eBay and PayPal. Have you any problem between you and us, please feel free to contact us or eBay/PayPal support center.

Thank you again for your business. "
Then it goes on the list all their ebay ids they have.

I found out the reputation through a basic web search and it was all over and nothing good about them and thier buyer techniques. I would have love to have the money but not that way, I just didn't like the whole idea of it and had bad feelings so I thought better safe than sorry.

Have you gone to their site? Whole reborn section:

http://www.sekaimon.com/ItemView.do?displayNum=25&srch_sekaimon=false&srch_max_price=&item_sort=5&page_number=4&disp_mode=srch&srch_category_id=237&srch_min_price=&srch_trs=&srch_seller_id=&aspectDomain=&srch_seller_cnd=&wayOfBid=ALL&aoSearch=AND&srch_keyword=reborn+dolls&page_mode=srch

They even show the original auction! I wonder is that with permission?

Not sure but I'm on ebay forum trying to ask if anyone knows how to contact ebay. They are not user friendly. I can't find anywhere to get an e-mail addy. the contact us just keeps taking me around and not answering my questions or giving me the info I need.

Yes... good luck on that.  I don't think eBay wants us to contact them.  Can't tell you how much I HATE the menus that they use to try and pinpoint the problem so they can just direct you to a standard response that usually does not solve the problem.

Well. so far, nothing. Just disgruntled forumers like us stating that it can't be done. Figures. Big business is not necessarily good business IMHO.