sueisallaboutquilts

I haven't heard of it being against the rules though. That just doesn't make sense! :)

MTS

Step slowly away from the ledge. That's right. Step back down on to terra firma. Good. Whew. Disaster averted.

Many good points have already been made.

Susie is totally right about putting your feedback at risk.

The fees quoted upthread (35% plus ALL fees or 50%) are pretty standard for 3rd party sellers. Anything less and you might as well do it for free.

Unless they've got a garage full of verifiable antiques and legit collectables, taking 10% of a $20 sale is NOT going to reimburse you for your time spent researching the product, cleaning it, making sure it's in salable condition, writing the witty copy to sell the product, photographing and packaging and shipping the item. For $2???

Some other thoughts:

Suppose nothing sells. How are you going to get compensated for ALL the time you've already put into the project?

Plus, YOU are going to be the one to tell them that Auntie Mary's beloved heirloom widget is NOT worth $800, but it's a plastic pos from China worth $1 and not even worth listing.

Home stuff? Go do a search on eBay and see how many thousands of that particular item are already listed. What's the plan to make theirs stand out?

Furniture? How are you shipping furniture?

And who is storing this stuff while it's for sale? Win win for the family because they got it out of their house and it's now taken over your living room. ;-)

When are you going to turn over the funds (after fees) to the family for things that do sell? A buyer has up to 45 days to file a claim. On YOUR ID and PayPal account. Do you wait for feedback to be left or the full 45 days? If the buyer paid via PayPal backed with a credit card, they have 60 days.

Just saying. ;-)


Here's another option:
Let them compensate you to run and manage a garage sale for them instead (with a minimum charge of $x). At their garage.

You can label everything, place the ads (including on CL), be there at 7AM and spend the day. You can charge a flat fee or take a risk on the percentage of total sales. They can leave the house for the day so they don't have to deal with it. And everything left over can be donated and they can have the tax deduction for it (and someone ELSE comes and takes it away - triple bonus!!!).

btw, if the stuff is really valuable, you should take it to an auction house. Or have an antiques dealer come and look at it and perhaps offer you something for it. You won't get "retail" price but you couldn't/wouldn't be sure you would on eBay either.

JulieTN

AMEN>>>>>> absolutely AMEN...great post with terrific advice --- :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
JUlie

jdiane318

MTS, you are always a wealth of knowledge and advice. I always assume that everyone is up front and honest with their items. Your comments were very eye-opening and thought provoking. MTS - The Voice of Reason

jillaine

MTS, will you marry me? ;-)

np3

ewwwwwwwwww!

I think this means you decided not to sell the things on eBay?

jillaine

(What are you "ewwing"?)

I'm going to sell the furniture (not easily shippable) items on Craigslist; and the easily shippable items on eBay.

That said, I think i like the yard sale idea...