WCroadie

What stem and what's the size?

urbanknight

Pictures of the actual product raise the final bid in my experience, even if you're selling a brand new product. It's the psychology of the buyer. If they can see it, they want it.

AnthonyG

Lots of good advise. Now I don't want to be a downer but you shouldn't underestimate the negative effects of being a zero feedback seller. My recommendation is that you should have at least 5-10 positive feedbacks as a buyer before you venture into selling. Sure you CAN sell on a zero feedback and I've seen it tried on numerous occasions but those sellers rarely achieve good prices for their items unless its VERY rare and buyers are prepared to take a risk. Buyers want to see that you have a commitment to eBay and your not just a fly by nighter.

Now if you want to sell first you need to have a well presented listing. Good pictures, good description, accept PayPal, have your postage worked out and my advise it to offer a good buy it now price ONLY. Don't start with a 99c opening bid auction as a zero feedback seller. The risk of it ending badly for you is HIGH. You will be considered a high risk seller and buyers will use risk limiting stratergies. So do your research of completed listing. Find out what items are selling for and choose a buy it now price that is less than the top of the market but a price that you can live with.

Regards, Anthony

urbanknight

^ Good point. Don't sell big ticket items as a new seller, as few people will be willing to take the risk and you will end up with low selling prices.

cycle17

+1 On both having a few items purchased first...i.e. not being a zero feedback seller. That makes buyers wary. All the other advice that has been posted here is solid, including using a Buy It Now price and a reserve.

Good Luck.

substructure

130mm Ritchey WCS Carbon Stem

kwrides

Lots of really good advice here.

I would add that I do not allow people with zero feedback to buy from me either. I have had 2 really bad experiences with this and no longer allow it.

One time I had a winning bidder who decided not to pay. I lost my listing fees and had to re-sell. The #2 bidder had already purchased elsewhere, so I lost a good deal of money.

The other was a buyer who had never used Paypal and couldn't figure it out, so tried to make me the scapegoat.

I'm a VERY helpful seller. I worked it out with both people above after many many emails offering guidance and then finally agreeing to lose money on my part...not a good experience.

mascher

Keep your eyes peeled for stuff that, I don't know, easily excitable people bid on too, and how it's listed - I was surprised to find so many people buying old broken ipods, and when I listed mine, which was broken but actually still working, I got a measly 25 bucks for it when people were getting what I thought were insane prices (60-75) for totally busted ones in terrible condition.

In this case, because I was honest, articulate and described my item well, a seller with 100% +ves, and I got the shaft - when I paid closer attention to the completed items, the ones that went for ridiculous $$$ were the ones listed as OMG L@@K BROKEN IPOD 1G 2G 3G 4G 5G VIDEO C@@L MP3 OMG KOOL with only a picture of a smashed ipod as a description - because who else would pay $75 for a non-functional 2G ipod?

I don't think that would actually work for cycling gear though, just in case you hit 10 cent listing day and you start looking around for some other junk to list All my cycling gear went for exactly what it was worth, much to my chagrin.

I agree with whoever said they won't buy from someone who can't format an auction or a sentence correctly, and when they don't list any shipping price at all (which is rare now, but we've all been burned, right?). And anything subjective besides the functional description like "this bike is great, I mean really great, it's like totally light and awesome and great too" is pretty annoying unless the person is actually funny. I'm also annoyed by when people describe at length what a square dealer or how rigorous their standards are too, but that's pretty personal.

garysol1 

And watch your spelling. I have been watching Powertap's on Ebay. You would be surprised how many people list them as Power Tap's......2 words. Most buyers never even search that spelling so consequently they fetch less money.

Peek the Geek

+1000