Dad Street

Before becoming a member of the eBay Parent Panel I hadn’t had much experience buying and/or selling on eBay. Since partnering with eBay I have definitely had some success selling nearly $800 worth of product. Not bad for things that were literally sitting around the house, right?

Selling on eBay can be a great experience and it’s relatively easy. However, there are some things you want to make sure you’re aware of before you start your selling experience. Today I’m going to cover two mistakes I made that would have yielded me more money and I wound up learning the hard way. Looking back what I’m about to talk about might seem like common sense but I got wrapped up in the excitement of selling.

Confirm Your Shipping Fees!

Now this isn’t really such a big deal with smaller items since you’re going to have minimal variance (generally speaking) with lighter/smaller items. However, when you’re shipping larger items things can have quite a bit more variance. I was selling my stroller with accessories. This was a relatively large item and with all the accessories certainly weighed a bit. To be honest I suppose I just felt lazy at the time so I used the tools eBay has to estimate shipping costs. Now you can use the tools they have online to calculate costs but like I said, larger items deserve more research. After I sold my stroller I took it down to my local UPS store to ship it out. I was expecting some slight variance perhaps. When all was said and done I was a good $60 off though! Yikes! It would have taken 30 minutes out of my day to have taken the stroller down to UPS FIRST! Had I done that, I would have saved quite a bit of money and frustration. To make matters worse, I actually left a vital part of the stroller in my car and had to ship that separately! That added another $20 loss to my shipping saga.

So, if you’re shipping a large item on eBay go to your local shipping company FIRST. Also, take the time to make sure you have ALL the parts of the item you’re selling together before shipping. Again, these things seem like common sense and in a way they are. However, sometimes you just want to get rid of whatever you have and/or you’re just wanting to get that extra cash in your pocket. Take a few more minutes to make sure you have solid ship numbers and I guarantee you’ll end the transaction with the most money in your pocket.

Test Before You Sell!

This was another lesson I had to learn the hard way. I was selling an older Wii System I had. I hadn’t used it in over a year and thought I could use the money instead of something else to collect dust. I placed the Wii for sale with all the accessories and someone won the bid. Just before I sent it out I decided to make sure everything worked. Everything worked the last time I used it but that was a year ago. As it turns out my kids (2 and 3) had gotten into some of the game disks and they were scratched beyond operation. I also found out that one of the controllers didn’t work. It turns out that the batteries that were in there leaked after being in there so long and destroyed it. I felt so horrible that I had already sold what was advertised as a perfectly working Wii only to find these problems. I emailed the winner and explained what I found. She was pretty disappointed and I actually wound up giving her back $50.00 as a gesture on my part to make amends.

So, even if you “know” something works make sure you test it out BEFORE you post your item for bid. My other advice has to do with accessories like the games I included. I would offer those for free in your listing. If an accessory doesn’t work great or is not in great condition it’s much easier to deal with it if it’s advertised as free. Had I advertised my games as free it would have been easier to claim that a refund wouldn’t be in the works. Of course, your integrity is the most important thing and going back to my original point as long as you’ve honestly tested everything and advertised the item as it is you’re in a good place. I made the mistake of not testing first and I was honest at the end and then made amends. Unfortunately, my amends cost me $50.00 extra bucks I would have kept had I done my due diligence.

Selling on eBay is fun and can yield you some great extra cash for items that might be just sitting around your house. However, as easy as it is to sell online it’s also easy to make costly mistakes. You may feel anxious to get the show on the road and get that product sold. That’s completely understandable and taking just a few extra minutes before and during the transaction will certainly pay off.

Happy Selling!

I am a member of the eBay Parent Panel which is a paid sponsorship between eBay and DadStreet. The views and opinions expressed on this site are mine and cannot be bought. However, I may want to buy yours if I run out of my own.

Who knew that eBay was hooking up with parents? Well I didn’t know until they reached out to me not too long ago. Lo and behold these guys know our houses are filled with things just waiting to be hooked up with eBay.

If you’re a parent like me it doesn’t take but a quick glance to your left or right to realize you’re surrounded. You’re not just surrounded, you’re overpowered, dethroned, buried, and over taken by stuff. Now look, I’m not talking about being a hoarder I’m just talking about having kids. My wife and I live in a very small house.

I like to call it a cottage.

So in this cottage we have always agreed that less is more and we shan’t (yes, I said, “shan’t”) have too much stuff. Well apparently these kids decided that they were going to make their own rules. It doesn’t take long to look around and see the scooters, bouncing balls, those jumpy things, the push car things, games, puzzles, books, dolls, toy cars, the home phone…

Wait!! There’s the home phone!

Sorry, anyway the point is they accumulate so much stuff it’s hard to see where their beds start and the living room couch ends! The other day my wife and I were thinking it was probably time to figure out what toys they’re still playing with and which toys they’ve just outgrown. We (and when I say, “we” I mean she) sat down and started going through all of them. What a chore! Of course, O was a bit resistant at first warning us we better not take her toys! It wasn’t long before she was on board too though.

There are quite a few options for unloading those unused toys. One great option to consider which can actually help to fund that piggy bank or even the college fund is to list it on eBay. I have used eBay many times over the years but to be honest didn’t even think of doing this until I teamed up with them. What a brilliant idea! I’m so glad I invented this amazing idea that nobody has ever thought of. Nobody has ever thought of this. Wait, this means I’m amazing! Wow!! I’m going to make money and esteem myself at the same time?

Wait, I think I just totally had a caffeine sparked insane tangent there.

Okay, let me come back.

I’m back.

Okay, so anyway as I was saying. I think this is certainly an option to consider when going through all those unused toys and books. You’ll make it easier to ~~clear out some space for the next set of toys~~ to be able to walk and you’ll be adding a few bucks back in to the old budget.

To get started check out this quick and easy 3 step process!

Traveling away from my wife and kids is always so hard. It’s especially hard for me knowing I’m going to be away from O and Jake. Of course, I miss my wife but she knows I’m leaving, she’s knows I’m coming home soon and whether it’s through Facebook, email, texts, or phone calls we can always count on being able to talk to each other any time of day. My kids on the other hand are a different story.

O is of the age where she gets that you’ll be leaving for a while and that you’re likely coming back in short order. Jake, however, is a different story. He’s still just 22 months and while he may vaguely understand you’re leaving I’m not convinced he really knows what that means or what the impact is.

I’ve found the best way to help ease any anxiety children might have about parents leaving is to communicate and communicate often. Of course, this will differ depending on the age of the child. For my two little ones, 3 and under, I’ve found a good little heads up that a trip is forthcoming helps. About a week out from my trip I’d reach out to the kids letting them know that I would be taking a plane somewhere. Both of them are familiar with planes as they recently flew to Israel so I think that helped put a familiar and positive thought in their mind. I would do the same the days leading up to the trip as well. On the morning of the trip I’d remind them that we’re going to talk every night and hopefully even see each other (via Skype). I think letting them know that we’re going to talk and/or see each other real soon shortens the amount of time they feel they’ll be “away” from you.

While I’m away I make it a point to call them even though sometimes they’re so preoccupied with things they don’t seem interested in talking. I love snapping a picture of myself and texting it to my wife’s phone. They can see what I look like right then and there. Often times I’ll make a funny face so I can still “play” with them even if I’m not right there. Of course, my wife returns the favor by sending me pics and/or videos of those little ones. Below is a recent video of them that my wife sent me.

Traveling can be very hard and I know every time I leave I just miss them so very much. While the tips I mentioned were meant to be designed to help with the anxiety children might feel when a parent leaves town, I’m beginning to wonder if they’re not really meant for me instead! I like to think they’re helping my children but I do suppose they could be just fine all along and the real baby is this Daddy missing his family when he’s away.

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