Task 12: Sell something on eBay

Over the years I've bought a few things on eBay, using the Buy Now option by default, as my attempts to bid successfully for anything at a price that seemed reasonable always came to nought - or I wanted it enough to offer the Buy Now price. Listening to my friend Linda talk about bidding techniques, I realised there seemed to be quite a knack to it and presumably the same applied to selling. As I love selling things and can't persuade Peter to stagger up before dawn to do any more car boot sales, I decided it would be an interesting challenge to sell something on eBay.

Dutifully I read all the guidance I could find, which was plentiful, and then had to choose what to try and sell. The idea of the DVD of Hell or High Water, which I'd bought on eBay to watch for one of the other challenges, was appealing. I wouldn't want to view it again and there was a pleasing symmetry to seeing it go as it had come. Also I could streamline the effort involved by using much the same blurb as my seller had. Simple.

Or not. You may notice that my photo of the DVD looks rather blue:

That's because I took it in the conservatory and I'd forgotten that the replacement roof had an anti-glare tint. Still, I reckoned it would do as it wasn't really a question of trying to present the charms of the DVD in the best possible light - someone would either want it or they wouldn't, and price would be the determining factor. I decided to offer free postage, as I find it irritating when you see something advertised quite cheaply, only to find they're charging way over the odds for postage. I wanted the starting price to be sufficiently low to be sure of selling it, so that the challenge would be achieved, but on the other hand it would be satisfying to make enough for the effort to be worthwhile. I therefore chose £3.99 as the Buy Now price and £2.99 as the starting bid price. What I hadn't realised is that the Buy Now price has to be at least 40% higher than the starting bid price, so it was bounced until I made the necessary adjustment.

As it's the holiday season, I thought it would make sense to opt for a 10 rather than 7 day selling period, to maximise the chances of getting a sale. It was handy finding that you can set your start time and date in advance, so I set it to start (and therefore end) at 7.15pm, when most people would be back from work and hopefully in the mood to buy. I hit the relevant button and waited for the action to start. It did, immediately, with a message saying that it had been rejected because the start date had already passed. It took me a while to realise it was a 24 hour clock and I'd selected 7.15am, not pm. Duh. I made the correction and sat back with some excitement, waiting for a bidding frenzy (in my dreams).

To my surprise, it sold in less than an hour to someone using the Buy Now option. Rather a damp squib, really, but at least I'd learned how the system worked. I'm now keen to try it again with something more ambitious, so I'm roving the house, looking for an interesting and easily postable object that we no longer want. A combined compass and whistle, anyone?