Flog It On Fleabay

I have come to the conclusion that I’m a bit of a hoarder. I have a garage full of boxes of things that “may come in handy” filled with items that I can barely remember what they are used for. I daren’t throw them out because I will inevitably find a use for that RS232 interface lead – or whatever it was.

I have been trying to clear the house up recently. Some things can go to charity shops and I’ve found homes for others via Freegle and the like. However, I had two sets of perfectly serviceable Winter wheel sets that needed to find new homes. I had asked at our local garage whether any of their mechanics could make use of them but, as I discovered, the wheel specifications can be quite specific and as it was none of them had a car that would match the Toyota and Volkswagen wheel sets. However, one of the guys did suggest that I “Flog it on ebay”.

I’ve occasionally bought things on eBay. In particular they are very good for second hand car parts but I have never actually tried to sell on there. I think what put me off is the whole shady character thing but the system is quite well protected. What I wasn’t sure of was the whole protocol of selling and its associated etiquette. For the most part I just ran with the suggestions of the site although I did lower my initial asking price as I definitely wanted to get rid of the things.

As it was, both items sold and the first set was picked up by a chap in Fife who was very prompt in paying and picking the wheels up. The other buyer also paid straight away but didn’t pick up until Friday as he was working in Aberdeen (although actually just lives around the corner from me.)

I think I have learned a couple of lessons, though. First of all, it is worth having a “Buy Now” price as this enables anyone who just wants the thing to buy it there and then. Secondly, there are quite a few chancers out there. After one of my items sold I was contacted with an offer to pay double what the eventual selling price was. I’m pretty sure that this is completely against the rules of the site and it is also very unfair on those that had put genuine offers in (if he really wanted it for that price he could have put an offer in to start with). I suspect the other thing is that having the option to deliver by post would increase the potential top price but for the wheels this would be a fair whack as they weighed in at 70Kg in total.

I do have a few other things to get rid of so it may be worth giving this another go. If nothing else, I actually have a bit of extra Christmas cash in return for some things that I was actually quite happy just to give away.